The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

[JezMM]

Okay, just finished it. I'll keep my post as spoiler-free as possible, but still, better to wait and not have your expectations coloured by my vague opinions if you're still working through it.

Firstly, the characters are WONDERFUL. I can't say I went on a sidequest frenzy or anything, but what I did do, I enjoyed. There is not a single NPC in this game I don't like or feel somehow sympathetic towards. The actual physical character design is sublime as ever too.

The graphics are also gorgeous. I love the watercolour painting effect they use for distant scenery, though it is a crying shame that we legit Wii owners must suffer it in pixel-vision. Y u no upscale Wii games on Wii U Nintendo?

Soundtrack also was REALLY strong this time. Twilight Princess had some great tunes but, one thing that I hated in Twilight Princess was how weak the dungeon themes were. Much better this time. The way the music swelled the first time I hit a time crystal thinger during the desert mines dungeon (can't remember the name now) was eargasmic.

I had no problems with the motion controls. A single mini-game involving the harp is my one exception, I am finding them nowhere near responsive enough to keep up with the ridiculous pace-changing demands of this mini-game. It has a habit of thinking I'm strumming back when all I've done is stopped strumming forward and wish to hold my posistion for a moment. Occasionally tilting controls (flying/swimming/flying bug thinger) became awkward but simply pausing and re-centering the cursor fixed that, didn't even need to re-calibrate.

The Goddess trials were pretty awesome. At first I was dissapointed that every trial was the same (since the first one is courage I thought it was meant to be pant-shittingly scary for that reason, and the other tests were going to be more wisdom/power related and totally different), but it's such a neat gameplay thing I'm glad they challenged us with further levels of it. The first one is a bit easy when you get into the groove of it.

Okay... guess I'll get onto the bad stuff now.

First little thing, I hated how limited the envioronments were in this one. You go to a forest, volcano, desert... okay good, got all the staples out the way. Now for Act 2 of the adventure! You go to... the forest again, but slightly more watery. Oh, the desert again, but... slightly more piratey. And... the volcano again but slightly more... umm... nope it's just more lava and stuff.

The plot was lame. Really lame. SO dissapointing. The first half an hour was wonderful, then it falls back onto a plot as basic as every other Zelda - actually I'd daresay more basic than Wind Waker and Twilight Princess. Ocarina of Time gets a free pass on grandfather clause. Majora's Mask gets a free pass because the emphasis is on how all the NPCs are affected by the big picture, not the big picture itself. This though, was just so painfully basic. Especially after previews and reviews talking about how this game was going to have a deeper, more emotional story, I just didn't feel it.

NOW GETTING INTO STORY SPOILER TERRITORY BE WARNED.

As said, the half an hour of exposition was good but just not enough. Your Princess In Another Castle syndrome was just frustrating, especially considering when you catch up with her she's cut off from you, and then when you catch up with her AGAIN... she's cut off from you, AGAIN. It made it hard to care about her being sealed away in the temple when I only have had about an hour of happy times with her at the start of the game and that's my lot. I was really hoping to form a closer bond by going through the adventure with her far more than I did.

I just really wanted this game to make me cry, or at least gasp. It certainly made me laugh, lots of great humour, can't fault it for that, but on the emotional front, or even interwoven, twisting storyline, I really, really was let down. Again, during the end, I found it hard to find Fi's leaving emotional when she was just a helper robot throughout. I liked her personality for sure, her deadpan-ness was often amusing, but she was still nothing compared to Midna or Tatl.

Funnily enough, the most emotional moment for me was looking round the room of photos in the robot captain's house. The music was so peaceful and nostalgic sounding there. It was also one of the only sections of the game which had a "backstory" to the dungeon that coincided with your macguffin-based visit.

Ghirahim was a great villian, and as cool as his last battle was, I kind of wanted the satisfaction of finishing him off myself. He deserved better really. Which leads me onto...

Finally, I didn't care for the final boss much. Confusing as hell and hard to the point it became unfun and totally broke the flow as after 5 failed attempts I had to give in and return to the sky in the hope of gathering more heart pieces and eventually, resorting to the Shiekah Stone for the method of beating him. Which was EXTRA annoying because I was doing it entirely wrong - and yet I was still able to land the OCCASIONAL hit on him, thus giving me positive feedback for my actions, making me assume I was doing it right, just not doing it well enough, which was wrong - that's just terrible game design, simple as.

So yeah, the final bit of gameplay kind of left a sour taste in my mouth I have to admit. For shame.

Oh, and the framerate chugging so much on the credits sequence was also a bit mood-breaking too.

Just, bluuuh very very mixed thoughts.

I'll need to play a bit more and enjoy some post-game stuff, but right now I can honestly say, despite the downright gorgeous quality of the gameplay, lots of little niggles would currently place this as my least favourite 3D Zelda. It's still an AMAZING game, but, all the same, just didn't enjoy it as much as the others.

[The Kid]

If you really look at the Legend of Zelda games they haven't been the best on writing, any of them. It's not that they're bad stories or anything, but most of them consist of "Go save the princess" or "gather these stones" at their core. Orcarina of Time may have had a little more detail in the writing department but not enough to really make it stand out. Majora's Mask was my personal favorite as far as the story goes, just because it deviated from the other story lines in a significant way.

[JezMM]

My problem was just that (big story spoilers)

There weren't any twists. Nothing like Tetra being revealed to be Zelda, or the Great Sea being revealed to being above Hyrule. Nothing like Midna sacrificing herself for Zelda or Ganondorf's involvement. It was just Zelda is gone. You reached Zelda! Zelda is gone. You reached Zelda! Zelda is gone. You beat the bad guy! All is well. REAL FINAL BOSS. All is well. Nothing surprised me at all. And also, we get to know Groose better than we get to know Zelda, the girl Link, and we as players by extension, are supposed to be in love with.

I know Zelda games "have never been that amazing with story" but that's not an excuse. It was strongly implied that this one was gonna really bring the story-telling into the 2010's level of quality and it didn't. In fact it went several steps backwards from Wind Waker and Twilight Princess, for me.

Again, characters = brilliant.

Plot = naff.

Edited November 23, 2011 by JezMM

[DistantJ]

Here's my beef with your complaints -Mark-. Since when did OoT have writing beyond: "Ganondorf is bad, go get those rocks. Oh no, those rocks helped Ganondorf. Go get these medals to beat Ganondorf", and other than that there was nothing. I find following after your friend desperately trying to reunite with her better writing than that.

Yes but that was 1998. Since then has been Majora's Mask, Wind Waker and Twilight Princess, all of which had some spectacular stories.

- whole post -

Completely agree, with pretty much everything you've said here...

Edited November 23, 2011 by DistantJ

[-Mark-]

Wow, I just realised that. Nowhere in the box does it actually say that MotionPlus is required. Don't they usually make it as obvious as possible with a huge 'Requires Wii MotionPlus' icon?

Regarding my post, I'd say that it's the presentation of the plot that bugs me. I love how, especially in Wind Waker, each dungeon is like a miniature side-story in itself. You'd reach a new island, meet the locals, who would usually have a problem. You then have to help them solve their problem by going into the dungeon to save someone, or get an item for them. Yes, it was the same basic thing, but it was dressed up with much better substance and reasoning. It felt so much more satisfying.

As I said, Skyward Sword feels more like it gives you excuses to go to dungeons, rather than reasons. It's the same basic thing, but it feels like one or the other depending on how well they flesh out the plot characters surrounding them.

Skyward Sword as a whole feels like a good game that sadly just throws excuses at you to encourage your progress. Game itself is generally fine, but it's very poorly held together and feels a little distant as a result.

[JezMM]

Wow, I just realised that. Nowhere in the box does it actually say that MotionPlus is required. Don't they usually make it as obvious as possible with a huge 'Requires Wii MotionPlus' icon?

Edited November 24, 2011 by JezMM

[Conando]

Gorko is great. All the NPCs in the game are pretty great actually, which could be why people say their are parallels with Majora's Mask. The surface is pretty lonely, I agree. I think that might be the point, though. Gotta love those Mogmas, however.

[Marcello]

Am I the only one getting cougar vibes from Mallara/Pipit's mom? I think she wants a piece of Link.

Also blow at her with the Gust Bellow.

[Silencer226]

I finally found time to sit down and play this. I made it past the first dungeon... I got killed 3 times by fucking Skulltulas... FUCKING SKULLTULLAS! Once I got the beetle I began genocide wiping out all skulltullas. Then got to the boss fight with Ghirahim, which I found to be pretty frustrating to be honest with all of you. I did not enjoy fighting him at all, the advice Navi 2.0 gives doesn't really help at all either, or maybe I'm just dense. And after beating him, I called it quits for now and I'm going to go eat Thanksgiving dinner.

[JezMM]

I also found Ghirahim a pain I have to say. I always found the second phase of his battles a ton easier because even after beating him twice I still have no idea how the hell you hit him when he catches your sword. He only makes sense once he's also using a sword.

Ironically I find the final time you fight him way easier because it was just clearer on what to do.

Edited November 24, 2011 by JezMM

[Old dead account]

I finally found time to sit down and play this. I made it past the first dungeon... I got killed 3 times by fucking Skulltulas... FUCKING SKULLTULLAS! Once I got the beetle I began genocide wiping out all skulltullas. Then got to the boss fight with Ghirahim, which I found to be pretty frustrating to be honest with all of you. I did not enjoy fighting him at all, the advice Navi 2.0 gives doesn't really help at all either, or maybe I'm just dense. And after beating him, I called it quits for now and I'm going to go eat Thanksgiving dinner.

You can kill Skulltulas with the beetle? How?? I just wailed at them until they flipped over and gave them the finishing blow.

I also want to so say that I hate motion controls. Hated them in the Mario Galaxy level that required them, hated them in Twiligh Princess, Hated them in Prime Trilogy, though I got used to them. I love them here though. They've treated me very well so far. Why couldn't they have been this good from the beginning of the Wii's life?

[Noir]

You can kill hanging Skulltulas by cutting their silk with the beetle.

Also I honestly can't understand how you like the motion controls in this but not in Prime Trilogy. But anyway.

[DistantJ]

Thought I'd make light of some of the nerdraeg on YouTube...

[JezMM]

Also I honestly can't understand how you like the motion controls in this but not in Prime Trilogy. But anyway.

Prime relied on the sensor bar for aiming which can be a pain because it limits how far you can point the Wii Remote. With Zelda all the motions and aiming can be done from any angle you like. It also means pointing to the edges of the screen to turn is a lot easier. In non M+ games you have to point at a very precise sweet spot because if you point too far the Wii Remote loses track of the sensor bar and it brings up the ole "POINT YOUR WII REMOTE AT THE SCREEN" cursor reset many a Wii game have.

[DistantJ]

Conduit 2 did it best, it uses InfraRed to point and aim but then uses MotionPlus once you go 'out of' the screen area.

[JezMM]

Oh, out of interest, how much did everyone here "embrace" the motion controls with the bow and arrow? Personally I found it all the more satisfying to draw back the bow Wii Sports Resort style with the C button every single time, even when I didn't need a full power shot.

I know some people find Motion Controls immersion breaking, but I find once you're in a groove with them they heighten the level of satisfaction and player feedback the game provides.

[ThatGuyJay]

So 4 days ago I was in a dilemma to either pick this or Sonic Generations and I am glad I picked this. I usually hate motion control games and always use a gamecube controller when I can, but I have to say the controls are quite comfortable. The only time I have trouble with it is when I'm diving or swimming (I hate swimming in this game). I'm on the fifth duengon so far. I think the fourth boss is like my favorite boss of all Zelda games I've played. The upgrade system is really cool. I thought I would hate the saving systems but it feels like you pass by a saving place every 2 minutes. I kinda wished there were more town islands like how Wind Waker. But I like how the sky isn't as big as the Great Sea.

I don't really find this game that difficult, it'd just puzzles that are obvious that confuse me. I actually didn't get a game over til the end of the second duengon (I hate instant game overs). You really have to realize when you play this you just can't go around waggling the wiimote and expect to win all fights. I haven't picked up my wii in like a year because I just got tired of motion controls but I think this game got it right. I kind of wished all Wii games were like this.

I don't use the Shekiah stones, when I'm

stuck I try to use Fi, but all her advise sucks except for when I'm fighting enemies. I usually just stand around for a long time til I figure things out (The entrance to the first duengon literally took me like 30 minutes to figure out, thats when I realized I was a dumbass).

Overall, this is the only Wii game besides Mario Galaxy that doesn't have a controller option that really captured me and so far I think this is the greatest game the Wii has to offer and is utilizing what the Wii's motion controls to the fullest. Again, the only time I have issues with the controls is when swimming and diving (seriously, FUCK the Fun Fun island, bitch stole all my rupees).

[Silencer226]

You can kill Skulltulas with the beetle? How?? I just wailed at them until they flipped over and gave them the finishing blow.

You can't kill them with the beetle, but it comes in handy when fighting the hanging ones.Those things were seemingly invincible to me at first, I'd knock them around to get their weak point to show, but hitting it was another story.

So, when do you get a decent shield, the wooden one sucks and I've pretty much relied on dodging so far, which has actually been more useful at keeping me alive than the fucking shield.

Edited November 24, 2011 by Silencer226

[Ekaje]

The shield is more meant for being a last resort when your dodging fails, also use the parry more if you haven't been already, it's very useful for countering and creating openings to get attacks in.

Future shield spoilers:

You'll be able to buy an iron shield before entering the second area, it is fire resistant, but is vulnerable to attacks in the third area, for which you'll want to use the wooden one again.

Edited November 24, 2011 by Ekaje

[Silencer226]

The shield is more meant for being a last resort when your dodging fails, also use the parry more if you haven't been already, it's very useful for countering and creating openings to get attacks in.

Future shield spoilers:

You'll be able to buy an iron shield before entering the second area, it is fire resistant, but is vulnerable to attacks in the third area, for which you'll want to use the wooden one again.

I see, thanks for the information. It's just that with previous Zelda's the shield has more or less been like a lifeline to me but in this one dodging and parrying feels more natural and I'm greatful for that because it makes combat a lot more fun... except for Ghirahim... that stupid ...grabswordfag (yes I made up a childish word to describe a character).

[ThatGuyJay]

Okay so I lost to a boss for the first time and it was the fifth one and as cheap as that piece of shit, I think it's my favorive boss of all Zelda games. No fuck that, of ALL TIME.

Edited November 25, 2011 by ThatGuy

[Jetronic]

[JezMM]

^ Obviously. How have you guys been playing it?

[Ferno]

This shall be the new common occurrence for kids who get LoZ:SS:

*parents come home*

...

*see's the furniture slashed and destroyed, ceiling fan knocked out of the ceiling, windows broken, carpet slightly on fire, and footprints all over the walls*

Kid: "*breathing heavily* I DID IT- *breathes* I BEAT THE FINAL BOSS."

[Noir]

The boss of Ancient Cistern actually was such a challenge that I was getting totally into it, standing up and swinging my arm like I was really holding a sword. By the end of it I was sweating.

And really, what is a boss that doesn't make you sweat?

Shit.

(That ended up being my favorite boss in the series, possibly favorite boss, period)