New Zelda: Echoes Of Wisdom Update Is Finally Fixing Its Most Frustrating Feature

Oh snap! Welp time to replay. Here, Lynel,Lynel! And my crows…who’s a good murder of thieves? You are, yes you are!

fyi, this feature is also available when playing the game on Switch 1

Weren't the terrible blur effect and the framerate hiccups the biggest issues?

@Gohanjin I’ve never heard this complaint before. It was all frame rate and some people hated the blur while others thought it was an artistic decision.

I really enjoyed this game, but I cannot imagine ever wanting to go back to it. It's a strange one.

Perhaps I'll feel different in a few years.

Thank Hylia, they finally added favorites! Even with sorting, sometimes it would take me awhile to find specific echoes I wanted. I found this more problematic than the frame rate. I didn't really have issues with the latter outside of the busyness of Castle Town.

Haven't played it yet but glad to read this. When I read the headline this was the first thing that came to mind. Was already waiting to play it on Switch 2 but nice to see they added it to the Switch version as well and not make it next gen exclusive.

@Uncle_Franklin
Exact same here. I enjoyed it. But it just wasn’t memorable at all. Hardly playing it tbh and it was just last fall. No desire to replay it either.

Between this and the Switch 2 version of the game, I think soon will be time for a replay!
I LOVED this game so much.

Good thing it's just an option. Last thing I'd want is to watch out for an update every time the game sits on the main screen after a session.

@Uncle_Franklin YMMV, Echoes remains one of THE Zeldas in my book, on Switch and beyond, and not just because of finally doing justice to the franchise's titular character.

Now we just need A Link to the Past in the style of Link's Awakening

Echoes of frame drops still linger

Still would have preferred a wheel but something is better than nothing

Still baffling this went through and was approved by the producers.

I just finished the game yesterday! I enjoyed it even without the update but agree that the echo menu is rough.

Rad, I'll pick it up tonight with my Switch 2!

Thank you for fixing your mess Nintendo. Now I had a reason to finally start this game after my sister already finish it.

Imagine if this game was worked around on for Wii U, where you could summon Echoes on the Wii U Gamepad. It would have worked incredibly well. Forget being ahead of its time, Echoes was a generation behind.

I'm really starting to appreciate the value of playing games a while after launch. I was already waiting to play Echoes of Wisdom on Switch 2 for the performance boost, but this might end up being an even bigger improvement.

For the ones thinking that the blur effect is an "artistic choice", uhhh nope... This is to get a few little extra frames performance wise. For ex, this can be removed in Fantasy Life on the PC version but not on the Switch version, simply because the Switch 1 is unable to run the game properly without it. Hopefully, the S2 upgrade will give us the ability to remove it. And anyone saying that it is a nice thing to have it, then good for you but it is literally hurting my eyes after a while. It doesn't look or feel natural at all.

@Gohanjin I’m not a fan of the blur effect either. If it is a tilt shift effect, they should give the option to disable it.

Seems like it would be more effective for cut scenes or zoomed out shots. Things close to my character should not be blurred.

It never bothered me, but the game is so easily borkable with a few echoes anyway so I really only used those for most of the game. Still a fun lighthearted game in the series though. Hopefully they use the concept again and develop it a little further.

@Gohanjin Nooo, I didn't notice that, or not that much. My main problem was the 130 things I had to search for!

I beat the game but it's doubtful I will return to it any time soon even with the updates.

Why not report that this update also applies to the original Switch console family. Or is NL trying to justify SW2 at every turn.

This game didn’t need any fix regarding the selection of echoes, people were just lazy! If you go to the menu, and press any number of echoes, those would be among the “last used” in the quick menu, so if those who had an issue played with the menu a bit, they would find out. It’s like bringing more food to obese people instead of teaching them to solve the issue. Don’t be lazy people and use your brains first! Players these days expect the games to be played automatically for them….

I honestly didn't find issue with the Echo selection on this game, but I can definitely see how narrowing down the list improves things. A welcome update if it finally puts this discussion to rest.

@Gohanjin
And does turning off the blur in Fantasy Life decrease the framerate?
I ask, because blur effects typically do the opposite. They cost (!) performance, although usually not much.
The only way I can think of how it could increase performance is if it is used to hide something else. Like loading low res textures on objects in the distance then blur it to make it less obvious.
I don't think that would work at all for this game. Too obvious.

On the other hand, Tilt Shift is a well known effect used in media for ages. It is used to make the things on screen look more toy like.
This fits perfectly into the overall artstyle of the game.

@Gohanjin
You'd think Nintendo would lock both LOZ: LA & EOW at 60fps with these Updates. But you'd also think they'd mention it if that were actually the case. Why dismiss or even undermine the biggest issue that plagued both titles that can easily be corrected for S2?

I dropped the game because of this (and the art style). Maybe I'll go back if it's really fixed. I couldn't believe how they could fumble such a core mechanic and really didn't get the praise the game got. Well...

@Gohanjin
With fantasy life do the other versions of the game let you turn off the blur or is it just the PC version since from what i gather its not uncommon for PC games to let you adjust effects like that whether they are artistic or not.

Thats not to say that it shouldn't be an option since there are other console games which let you toggle similar depth of field effects and things like that (along with similar options for things like motion blur and screen shake) can definitely make for a more pleasant experience for people.