I'm almost done with Echoes of Wisdom and as puzzle and Dungeon design goes, they knocked it out of the park. The story is standard zelda fair but there's nothing wrong with keeping things simple. Despite it's smaller scale, the "Can I really get away with this " aspect of the mechanical freedom from Breath, Tears and ImSims is still here. I also appreciate that a lot of the music is unique to this game while clearly being inspired by the previous games. They're Princess Zeldas versions of these themes. Its a nice touch.
The only negatives I have are there's performance issues especially in the Faron Wetlands. Frames dip considerably in that section. Its also a little too easy as far as bosses and combat go. I recommend starting on heroic difficulty
Overall, a pleasant Christmas suprise that's stands well with the best 2D entries.
8.5 (if they fix the performance issues, it'll be a 9)