Final Fantasy 14 director / producer has lots of praise for Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom

In an interview with Famitsu, Final Fantasy 14 director / producer Naoki Yoshida shared lots of praise for The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom.

Yoshida was asked about the game he’s been most impressed by out of the ones he’s played recently. His top pick? That would be The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom.

Yoshida brought up “how the resources were used, how it was made, and the game design.” He felt that the team focused “all of their efforts on the fun of the game” yet also “kept production costs to a minimum”. Even if it meant the title wouldn’t achieve massive sales, making it fun was the important point.

Yoshida told Famitsu:

“All recent games are interesting, but I was particularly impressed with The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom. This may be a bit of a geeky topic, but even from a creator’s point of view, there were many points that made me think, ‘Wow, that’s amazing,’ in terms of how the resources were used, how it was made, and the game design.

In fact, the base resources used in that work are almost the same as other Zelda works. In other words, by focusing all of their efforts on the fun of the game, they kept production costs to a minimum. That’s why, with the understanding that sales may not grow as explosively as the main game, they are challenging themselves to ‘figure out how to make it more fun.’

However, in order to achieve a balance, they deliberately do not use original resources. This idea does not come about overnight. It is very interesting to know who came up with that form and how they did it.

I don’t think that a method of saving costs, sharing resources, and investing in a system framework would come out of the ideas of young people. That work was born because the knowledge of veterans and the sensibilities of young people worked very well together as a team. I　would like those who are aiming to become game developers or those who have just started their careers to play that work from that perspective. For me, it is a work that is extremely noteworthy.”

The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, which was the first original entry in the series from Grezzo, launched last September. The game actually received a new update a few weeks back that made improvements to the echoes menu system.