The introduction of cooking and item combinations in recent years The Legend of Zelda entries have a major flaw. It’s no secret how the latest Zelda games have pushed hard for a greater sense of freedom and experimentation compared to their predecessors. Of Breath of NatureRunes, for Tears of the KingdomUltrahand, for Echoes of WisdomWith the Echo ability, everything serves to encourage the player to explore the land of Hyrule in their own way.
So the implementation of mixing cooking and smoothies in these titles certainly aligns with that focus. The variety of different mixes and effects these creations bring is a great way for the player to let loose and experiment.while taking advantage of items that are likely clogging up your inventory. As great as this addition to the Zelda series, there is one glaring aspect to its implementation that proves to be a detriment to each Zelda general difficulty of the game.
How meals and smoothies work in BOTW, TOTK and Echoes Of Wisdom
Meals and smoothies offer a variety of benefits
Meals and smoothies seem like a great complement to their respective Zelda games thanks to the way they benefit the player’s journey. If Link approaches a pan BOTH or TOTKor Zelda’s requests from a Business Scrub in Echoes of Wisdom, Creating recipes initially seems like a simple task used to complete a quest or free up inventory space. In BOTHfor example, most players’ first attempt at cooking will be to obtain the Old Man’s Warm Doublet, thus protecting them from the icy mountains of the Great Plateau.
However, the main benefit that cooking or blending smoothies offers is the many status effects included in these meals or smoothie recipes. Finding the right combination of items to mix can result in a variety of boosts, from increased attack or defense, faster swimming speed, extra stamina, or resistance to extreme weather conditions. This serves as the main incentive for the player to use this mechanic in these Zelda games, with BOTH, TOTK and Echoes of Wisdom offering a variety of side quests and challenges to help the player discover useful recipes.
Meals and smoothies work tremendously when focusing on their status effects, encouraging experimentation by consistently rewarding the player for their ingenuity. It helps to add a strategy level to each respective Zelda titleas players will use certain recipes and their effects to aid in battle or to access previously dangerous areas. The way players use these effects to ease their journey feels natural and adds to the sense of freedom that runs through every part of the game. BOTH, TOTKand Echoes of Wisdom.
Meals and smoothies made battles too easy
Health replenishment can be easily explored
Despite how well implemented the status effects are, meals and smoothies falter when it comes to the need for health replenishment. Echoes of Wisdom severely reduces hearts dropped by enemies to encourage players to use smoothies, while BOTH and TOTK forcing the player to rely only on the items and meals at their disposal. At first glance, this doesn’t seem like a big problem, just adding to the experimentation and strategy of the cooking and mixing mechanics.
The problem lies in how easily this can be exploited in each Zelda game. Essentially, there is no limit to how much a player can choose between cooking a meal or preparing a smoothie, and the abundance of items the player will naturally collect (especially in BOTH and TOTK) means that a player can easily create dozens of recipes at once. Not to mention the enormous levels of health included in some recipes, with some meals in BOTH and TOTK granting temporary hearts, causing the difficulty to plummet as long as players maintain a constant supply of food.
This simple exploration removes any sense of tension that may come with enemy encounters in these Zelda games, as the player has almost unlimited health. The usual strategic and cautious approach that is probably expected will disappear as players simply throw themselves into battle, stopping and consuming a meal or smoothie every time they are hituntil they finally emerge victorious. This single flaw in the mechanics results in the creation of a glorified easy mode for every Zelda game that seriously undermines the rest that these titles have to offer.
How Future Zelda Entries Should Change Item Customization
A different approach must be taken to health replacement
The problem of restoring health in BOTH, TOTKand Echoes of Wisdom it is indicative of a larger change needed in cooking and mixing mechanics. Its implementation can work wonders as a strategic tool with many status effects that can help the player’s journey through Hyrule. Unlike health replenishment, similar status effects cannot be stacked and therefore cannot be exploited in the same waymaking its inclusion feel much more natural. Keeping the focus on status effects and removing health replenishment would certainly make meals and smoothies fit much more comfortably in the future. Zelda entries.
Meanwhile, restoring the traditional method of health restoration that was adopted by previous Zelda starters might be the way to go. As familiar as it may be, there’s no denying the increased tension it brings to battles when the player doesn’t have help to turn to immediately. Furthermore, the reward of hearts lost when defeating an enemy provides a sense of accomplishment and rest which simply cannot be replicated by BOTHand, TOTKof, or Echoes of Wisdomthey are easily exploitable meals or smoothies.
Ultimately, the use of item combination and cooking is a worthy inclusion in the Zelda series. The incentive for experimentation it provides is appropriate to the more open approach adopted by more recent Zelda inputs, which is unfortunately hampered by the exploitation of your health replenishment, preventing the resource from reaching its full potential. However, if rectified, cooking or mixing in the future The Legend of Zelda Entries will serve as a useful tool in the player’s journey to restore peace to Hyrule.