We played The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom Pretty consistent over the past week and it’s safe to say we’ve really enjoyed it. Certainly, the frame rate could be improved (Not that that bothers anyone) and the lockdown can be a bit rough, but overall it’s a fun time and a nice return to top-down Zelda.
However, there is one problem that we have encountered time and time again. A single thorn among the roses makes every adventure feel more like a chore than it really is. We’re talking about that damn Echo selection menu.
You know the one. Whenever you want to pick up an Echo other than the one you’re holding (usually a bed, we won’t lie), you have to hold right on the d-pad and scroll through each line of options until you find what you’re looking for.
At first, it wasn’t too bad. With just a handful of Echoes in your belt, choosing is easy and you’ll be picking up a Table, Spear Moblin or Pot in no time. But as the options pile up (and oh boy, do they pile up), so does the search for what you’re after.
There are several filter options – Last Used, Most Used, Last Learned, Cost and Type – that help narrow your search, but even after choosing the right order, we still found that it often took too long to find the Echo we were after.
It’s a word hangover Tears of the KingdomOf course, the game uses a roughly similar system when choosing the Fuse item, but it all feels more annoying in Echoes of Wisdom.
While not ideal, you can play TOTK for long periods of time without opening the selection menu, continuing the game as normal. But there is no such option in Echoes of Wisdom. Puzzles, combat, even navigation are built around the summoning system, and while the ‘Most Used’ tab is handy enough when out and about, it’s often just a matter of time before we go crazy. frantically scrolling to find a monster of which we picked up four. a few hours ago and haven’t had a chance to use it yet.
What bothers me more is that we can think of a number of different ways to improve the selection menu. The simplest approach that comes to mind is a few more menu lines. That screen is big enough to have a few more options on it, and the ability to skip 10 useless items with a simple swipe down certainly makes things a little quicker.
What about an additional ‘Favorites’ tab, where you can select some Echoes to appear as a separate line? We could get even crazier and bend that line into a circle à la Animal Crossing: New Horizons‘ tool selection. Just like that, you have all the tools you need for a chosen location (like in a dungeon) and you don’t have to scroll through rows of pots to get them.
It’s possible that certain groups of items could be mapped to specific buttons so you can switch between recent items quickly. Or a separate upgrade could let us choose default options for combat, exploration, and puzzles, similar to TOTK’s Autobuild. We are not saying that these ideas are pure gold; We’re simply pointing out that the one-line selection menu quickly feels inadequate – especially when those Echo options start spreading out into the hundreds.
But what do you think? Would you fix Echoes of Wisdom menu problems using any of our solutions or do you have your own? Maybe it doesn’t bother you at all and we’re just being picky! You can share your thoughts with us in the following poll.
Any other ideas? Be sure to let us know in the comments.
