I'm going to replay all the Zelda games in release order this year

Time for another update. I've just completed the third dungeon now.

The graphics for this game are really nice for the most part. Scenery often looks very lively and charming, they really leaned in on the whole plasticine look with this one. Some cutscenes have been sort of lame though, mainly due to the minimalist video-gamey animations of characters. The cutscene after the third dungeon in particular was cheesy.

I'm really enjoying the references to previous games that consistently occur in EoW. Some of these are VERY obscure, too. I mentioned it in the last update as well, but it's nearly non stop, and yet never overwhelming. Some new references I've noticed since the last update include bombfish from Twilight Princess, Guay from Ocarina of Time (which are honestly one of the best echoes to create, go figure), and most of all, a side boss encounter in the Eastern Temple (the same one from ALttP) which was Smog, a boss from the Crown Dungeon in Oracle of Ages (the same dungeon I complained had the worst music I've ever heard in a video game lmao). He had almost the exact same technique as he did back in Ages, honestly quite cool to see that boss make a return.

The bosses have been super creative so far. They generally make great use of not only your echoes but also your ability to briefly turn into "the swordsman" . The boss of the second dungeon took me way longer than I'd like to admit to beat, it felt more like a slow effort attempting to actually inflict damage rather than a fun boss fight. Maybe I was doing something wrong though, I don't know.

Not everything has been great. Creating echoes to fight enemies has gotten incredibly old. It can be innovative and creative at times, but when I'm trying to defeat a simple enemy, it's somewhat frustrating cycling through your echo choices just to select one that might have a fighting chance against the enemy. The swordsman ability is too short lived to be used outside of extreme circumstances like boss battles . There came a point where the echo system stopped feeling new and exciting and instead made it feel like I was being forced to play a Zelda game with my hands tied behind my back.

I have no clue how far into the game I am. I've done a bit of exploring around the world (since I was curious about it since I noticed before the last update that much of the overworld is a remade version of Hyrule from ALttP ), and I'd estimate I've uncovered about 70% of the overworld map. I'm going to be very busy over the next week or so but we'll see what kind of progress I can make.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/5/564567d4.jpg