With The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom releasing later this week, the upcoming title, which casts Zelda as its protagonist, instead of Link, is the latest game to to be covered as part of Nintendo’s “Ask the Developer” interview series. Across three chapters, many questions were asked of Series Producer, Eiji Aonuma, and Directors, Tomomi Sano, and Satoshi Terada.
When talking about Echoes of Wisdom, Aonuma, and Sano discussed the strategic benefits of Echoes and Bind when used against enemies:
Echoes of Wisdom Devs on the Benefits of Strategizing with Echoes and Bind:
Eiji Aonuma: I’ve actually played through this game eight times already, and there is one technique that I only discovered on my eighth playthrough. If there’s a lot of distance between an enemy and your echo, then it can be hard for the echo to attack effectively. So what you do is you bind the enemy and move it closer to the echo that you copied. This way, your echo can attack much more effectively, making your life easier. (Laughs)
But sometimes other enemies notice and try to attack me. So you have to be careful about that. (Laughs) As I play through this game again and again, I keep wanting to try methods and techniques other than those I had previously thought were the “correct” ones. I’ve even started to feel that if I haven’t found my own personal methods and techniques, then maybe I haven’t uncovered the real appeal of the game yet.
Tomomi Sano: Speaking of binding, I love binding enemies and making them fall down pits. (Laughs)
Eiji Aonuma: Ah, that’s a dirty trick. (Laughs)
Tomomi Sano: We talked about covering up pits because this indeed seemed rather dirty, but when I actually tried it, it wasn’t so easy to pull off, and I ended up accidentally falling down the pit instead. (Laughs)
Eiji Aonuma: But when that happens, you don’t feel frustrated; rather, it’s funny, and you can laugh at your mistake. Thinking, “Well, okay, that’s fair”. (Laughs)
Tomomi Sano: It really made me appreciate how important this kind of game design is, where players are actually able to do the things that they come up with.
Eiji Aonuma: This kind of freedom is also a key part of the “Legend of Zelda-like” feeling found in recent entries in the series.
For the full interview, why not click here to check out Ask the Developer Vol. 13, The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom – Chapter 4:
Ask the Developer | The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom (Participating Developers)
- Eiji Aonuma | Senior Officer, Entertainment Planning & Development Division (and Series Producer)
- Tomomi Sano | Entertainment Planning & Development Division, Production Group No.3 (and Director)
- Satoshi Terada | Director, Grezzo
