Summary
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdomhas certainly broken a major tradition with its choice of protagonist, putting Zelda in the lead rather than Link, who has held the role in every mainline installment since the series' 1987 origins. However, that doesn’t meanZelda: Echoes of Wisdomhas forsaken every franchise tradition.
In fact,Zelda: Echoes of Wisdomdoes a thorough job of including plenty of nostalgic callbacks to the series' past in favor of longtime fans. One particularLegend of Zeldatraditionhas made its way intoZelda: Echoes of Wisdom, but with a satisfying spin on it that somehow improves it. TheZeldatradition in question is grass cutting.
Zelda’s Spin Easily Mows Down Grass in Echoes of Wisdom
Grass-Cutting Has Long Been a Tradition in The Legend of Zelda
There may be plenty of methods in theLegend of Zeldauniverse for obtaining helpful items like rupees and hearts — like breaking pots and boxes — but none of these methods are quite as satisfying as cutting grass. Throughout theLegend of Zeldaseries, players have been able to use Link’s sword to cut grass scattered around Hyrule, often revealing hearts, rupees, and crafting materials. It’s one of the easiest methods inThe Legend of Zeldafor farming said items, especially sinceLink essentially carries his own personal lawn mowerin his iconic blade.
InZelda’s early days, the feeling of being able to use Link’s spin attack in the middle of a cluster of grass was unmatched. There was something rather cathartic about it, especially when the spiral of Link’s sword would create a perfect circle on the ground. It became even more rewarding in recentgames likeZelda: Breath of the Wildand its sequel,Tears of the Kingdom, due to the plethora of items that could be collected by simply cutting grass.
Players would then regularly take their discoveries to online forums, pointing out the grassiest regions in Hyrule and what could be farmed from them.
Cutting grass inThe Legend of Zelda, trivial as it may seem, has never necessarily needed to be improved. That being said, once something is improved, the shortcomings of its previous form are laid bare for all to see, thereby accentuating the improvements all the more and discouraging backsteps of any kind. Such is the case withZelda: Echoes of Wisdom’s approach to cutting grass, which highlights one key shortcoming that has always been present in the series tradition, despite the fact that it has likely fallen under the radar until now.
Zelda’s Spin Is an Improvement on the Franchise’s Grass-Cutting Tradition
Somehow,Zelda: Echoes of Wisdomimproves uponThe Legend of Zelda’s grass-cutting tradition by granting its titular protagonist a skill that Link has never had because he has his sword. As Nintendo put it during Ask the Developer Vol. 13, The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom — Part 3, “We were initially thinking that Link would be the protagonist. But when we focused on the gameplay using echoes and had Link copying and pasting things into the game field, the sword and shield got in the way.” In the same way that Link’s sword got in the way of himcreating echoes inEchoes of Wisdom, his sword also “gets in the way” of any improvements to cutting grass.
With her Spin ability, Zeldacan instantaneously spin through the grass, mowing it down along the way. Rather than needing to stop for a moment to swing a blade or charge it up for a spin attack, Zelda can use her Spin ability an unlimited number of times with a very unnoticeable cooldown between each one. It’s a very subtle way of improving one of the longest-standing traditions inThe Legend of Zeldafranchise, but it is nonetheless a very worthwhile addition to the latest game and one that will hopefully start a chain reaction in future installments.
