Jenn Dolari @dolari@driveinsaturday.org

Gonna try to keep this Echoes of Wisdom complaint spoiler free, but there may be some small technique based spoilers:

Okay, I'm not liking this trend in Zelda games. I first noticed it in Tears of the Kingdom and it's now VERY obvious in Echoes of Wisdom: Withholding gameplay information.

I do try to play these games without any walkthroughs the first time. But in TOTK and now here, I'm having a heck of a time trying to beat bosses and when I fail repeatedly, I'll look at a walkthrough.

Both times now, I'm finding that the solution is to use a technique I've been taught (like the spin for cutting grass), but that the technique has a hidden quality: defense. No one says this. No one tells you this. It's not even in the description. But it's the only way I was able to get through one sub-boss so far.

Same with a later boss, where I couldn't beat him despite landing multiple hits for, like, thirty minutes. Turns out, I finally gave up and looked through a walk through, and saw that, again, there was an object that literally has no description, that you have to use to stun the boss, THEN attack him.

I was hoping the TOTK was just the one-time they'd try ramping up the difficulty by simply not telling you information, but it looks like it's happening here, too. While it's not a deal-breaker (I mean, the walkthroughs have the information), it certainly makes beating the bosses a lot less rewarding, and will really hurt future gameplay if they keep this up.