The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

[PSI Wind]

Got in the mail today and LOVING it. I really love the expressions and animations of the characters and I love how vibrant the world is. The controls are very well done, but it seems sometimes the sword doesn't always register my movement, but it doesn't happen all the time, and it's not the stab like Tom McDerp said so it's minor. The Faron Forests had me confused for a bit to finding the last Kikiwi, and I loved that because it's been awhile since I've been lost in a Zelda game. Groose is possibly my favorite new character ever, especially with this line:

I don't think I'll be reaching the first dungeon anytime soon. I'm gonna go around the sky and find anything I can and collect the two Goddess Cube rewards that I unlocked from the Deep Woods.

[Saint Nathan]

Impa disappears at the end for two reasons. One, it's a Nintendo game what the hell did you expect, for her to just roll over and die? Two, it's been thousands upon thousands of years since Zelda sealed herself. Literally. She even says that right before she gets sealed. Impa was either living dust or kept alive by magic at that point.

It's kinda like complaining that Obiwan didn't leave a corpse. Well, yeah. There's a point to that. Magical force-y stuff.

[JezMM]

Thing is though:

It just wasn't clear that she was dying. It had a more "travelling to another plain of existence" vibe to it, and COME ON. This game is rated 12+ and they mention death and blood all the time. Ghirahim gets a bloodless but very... suggestively violent sword tugged out of his torso. I think if they wanted to show she was dying she could have flopped over (or at least sat down to keep her dignity). Ganondorf's death in Twilight Princess was a clear death despite being artsy about it. Just... yeah, if that was her dying, they just didn't communicate it well enough. There was also nothing especially weak about her up to that point, she just came off as calm and reserved.

By the way guys, I finally beat the harp mini-game in the lumpy pumpkin. Got a meager weak clapping for my efforts, the fuckers. There seemed to be an implication that if you play better you'll win something extra. OH BOY.

(I have no advice by the way, you just really have to learn the beats of the song).

Edited November 27, 2011 by JezMM

[Marcello]

You know I hope for once Nintendo sticks with an art style. It's kind of annoying how it changes after every game and this one is beautiful. I'd love to see how it looks on the WiiU.

By the way guys, I finally beat the harp mini-game in the lumpy pumpkin. Got a meager weak clapping for my efforts, the fuckers. There seemed to be an implication that if you play better you'll win something extra. OH BOY.

(I have no advice by the way, you just really have to learn the beats of the song).

I tried that once and got totally raped. Since then, I've been too scared to go back xD

Edited November 27, 2011 by Christmas MaRCELLOF

[DistantJ]

Miyamoto on this game: "We spent six months making the game, and another six months fine-tuning it."

So not 5 years of development at all, which, well, makes me a lot more forgiving of all the fetch quests and things...

[Indigo Rush]

Miyamoto on this game: "We spent six months making the game, and another six months fine-tuning it."

So not 5 years of development at all, which, well, makes me a lot more forgiving of all the fetch quests and things...

Wait, what?

Source for this?!

[Velotix von Skruviktorrius]

You misread the quote. It took them five years. In the final year, which was only added because Nintendo were not quite convinced the product was ready to ship, six months were spent on further coding and the other six on fine-tuning.

[TrueBlue]

Huh. All these mixed comments are making my anxious for when I finally get round to playing the game. I mean, there's a lot of positive reception for it, but still. It always seems that the minority are very articulate when it comes to criticising the game.

Edited November 27, 2011 by Ringo ~

[Tailikku]

As if the game wasn't enough, Akira Himekawa has confirmed on her Twitter account that she will be doing an adaptation of the new game!

Edited November 27, 2011 by Tailikku

[Noir]

You know I hope for once Nintendo sticks with an art style. It's kind of annoying how it changes after every game and this one is beautiful. I'd love to see how it looks on the WiiU.

For reals? That's like one of my favorite things about the series. I think if the art style never changed it would get horribly dull, and I find it fun to see what new ideas they come up with for it. Plus it gives (almost) each game a unique identity and I think that's nice.

This game's style is my favorite, but even then, I don't think I really want to see it again. I'd like the next game to be more realistic actually, like the Wii U tech demo. It would be a swell way to show off the system's graphics. Just so long as it's not horribly brown with hideous NPCs like TP.

[DistantJ]

Huh. All these mixed comments are making my anxious for when I finally get round to playing the game. I mean, there's a lot of positive reception for it, but still. It always seems that the minority are very articulate when it comes to criticising the game.

The best way I can put it... If you like the 2D (Link's Awakening and earlier) Zeldas better you'll most likely love this one, it's much more about exploring hostile environments and treasure hunting and much less about character interaction and story. Treasure hunting is now a major part of the main quest rather than being mostly sidequests (aside from the goddess cubes) which was the biggest frustration for me. The overworlds are less like living, breathing kingdoms and more like obstacle courses/treasure hunts before the dungeon, there's never a feeling that you've wandered into a new country/community like in past 3D ones.

So I'd say it's more like A Link to the Past and less like Ocarina of Time and it's offspring, and considering I didn't care much for aLttP but a lot of others did, I can see a link... <- pun ...intended?

It's kind of... RAW Zelda, you know? Nothing but the basics, and personally I had come to love what the series was becoming, how Ocarina breathed so much more life and personality into the formula, and I'd say Skyward Sword owes much more to the NES/SNES games.

Edited November 27, 2011 by DistantJ

[#EndyGate]

So I saw the final boss

The guy who played it made quick work of him, and the fight doesn't look all that interesting, I was hoping for something a lot more epic. Also, Ganon(dorf) is apparantly Demise's reincarnation (or at least a physical reincarnation of his hatred), similar to how Link and Zelda are reincarnations of the hero and goddess (if I'm following everything right)

Edited November 27, 2011 by Cero Claus

[JezMM]

I personally found the final boss crazy hard mainly because:

Fi tells you skyward strikes won't work here... thus the thought of using them was completely wiped from my mind. Try fighting phase 2 without letting lightning hit your sword. You CAN occasionally do damage to him, which caused me to think I was doing the right thing - I just wasn't doing it well enough. I had to consult the shiekah stone to find out you can do fancy skyward strikes during the second phase like he does. It seems obvious in retrospect, but because of Fi's wording it just never crossed my thoughts. Yes he was doing them, but Fi said they don't work "here". I was still "here" even after it got all lightning-y.

[Sami]

Wait, you guys didn't like the final boss? I thought it was up there with Wind Waker, personally. Way cooler than the crap from Twilight Princess and Ocarina of Time.

[JezMM]

I dunno. Wind Waker was awesome thanks to the setting. This was certainly an improvement on TP presentation-wise (though I found TP's more fun because, yeah I just knew what the hell I was doing).

I am getting really bored of sword fights for final bosses now though. I kind of knew it would be one because, the gimmick obviously, but that's more the fault of following two games that had sword fight final bosses rather than the game itself's problem. I just hope the next game has something more like Majora's Mask's final boss. Just... yeah something different. I also kind of wish the backdrop had stayed that perfect blue (at least until phase 2), again, just for something a bit more surreal.

Oh, one other random disappointment about the ending:

I wanted to plunge the Master Sword into the Pedestal of Time. 8C

Edited November 27, 2011 by JezMM

[Sami]

Oh, that reminds me:

So does the position of the Master Sword confirm that there's a game that takes place between this and OoT for sure? I mean, there's already a Temple of Time in this game, yet the Master Sword ends up in the Goddess' Grounds or whatever it was called. How did it go from there to the Temple of Time?

[Noir]

Considering there was a time gate or whatever in the Sacred Grounds I don't see why, a few centuries or however long later, it could have become the Temple of Time from OoT.

[Jetronic]

Btw anyone bring this up yet? - http://edition.cnn.c...word/index.html

CNN reviewed skyward sword, and boy is it bad.

Edited November 28, 2011 by Jetronic

[lounge]

Btw anyone bring this up yet? - http://edition.cnn.c...word/index.html

CNN reviewed skyward sword, and boy is it bad.

You should see the comments people are saying on there. It's freakin' hilarious!! I haven't played SS yet, but I don't understand why CNN and Gamespot say this zelda offers nothing new, is stale and underwhelming. What do they expect? For me Twilight Princess was the stale one. This game is already looking way more appealing to me than TP. Motion controls is the way to go for zelda. It's up to Nintendo to keep perfecting the formula and design.

[canderson]

Wow, i's disappointing reading mixed views of the final boss in this game. I guess I'll form my opinion when I get up to him. Hopefully, it's at least challenging.

I wonder how much more I have left with the game. I just received the 3rd Sacred Flame.

I don't think Twilight Princess' final boss was crap, minus the final part. Windwaker's final boss was amazing, especially the setting.

I haven't played any other Zelda game besides those 2.

Edited November 28, 2011 by canderson

[DistantJ]

Wait, you guys didn't like the final boss? I thought it was up there with Wind Waker, personally. Way cooler than the crap from Twilight Princess and Ocarina of Time.

CRAP FROM TWILIGHT PRINCESS AND OCARINA OF TIME???

Resist... urge... to... claim... lies... and... fabrication... ironically....

I am getting really bored of sword fights for final bosses now though. I kind of knew it would be one because, the gimmick obviously, but that's more the fault of following two games that had sword fight final bosses rather than the game itself's problem. I just hope the next game has something more like Majora's Mask's final boss. Just... yeah something different.

Definitely... Dark Beast Ganon should have been the final in Twilight Princess in my honest opinion... In Wind Waker, well, I wanted him to take on a badass final form rather than just that silly puppet thing.

As for the CNN review, I love how when publications give the game 10/10 people shout at naysayers 'the critic has a right to his opinion!' but then the same people cry foul when a negative review shows up.

The gameplay is slow, with plenty of moments of inaction. Its pace is almost leisurely as Link goes from one mission or dungeon to the next. There's no sense of urgency

^ Exactly how I felt about the game.

I lolled at one of the comments:

This is disgusting as a fellow Journalist to read

^ Worst journalist ever.

[Marcello]

I personally found the final boss crazy hard mainly because:

Fi tells you skyward strikes won't work here... thus the thought of using them was completely wiped from my mind. Try fighting phase 2 without letting lightning hit your sword. You CAN occasionally do damage to him, which caused me to think I was doing the right thing - I just wasn't doing it well enough. I had to consult the shiekah stone to find out you can do fancy skyward strikes during the second phase like he does. It seems obvious in retrospect, but because of Fi's wording it just never crossed my thoughts. Yes he was doing them, but Fi said they don't work "here". I was still "here" even after it got all lightning-y.

Seriously? I always just dodged his strikes to the side and jump striked him. Sure I got hit a few times, but it worked bretty good. In the first phase I just went kamikaze (AKA Cut'n'Run) on him xD

Edited November 28, 2011 by Christmas MaRCELLOF

[JezMM]

Seriously? I always just dodged his strikes to the side and jump striked him. Sure I got hit a few times, but it worked bretty good. In the first phase I just went kamikaze (AKA Cut'n'Run) on him xD

I tried that but just couldn't get the timing down at all.

If I went too far away he'd always charge rush me, if I went too close his skyward strikes would get me every time, even if I did dodge in time, one side-step jump was never enough to get out of range.

[The Kid]

I dunno, Twilight Princess's final boss was kind of lame for me. I was a little disappointed.

Orcarina of Time's final boss was pretty epic though.

[JezMM]

I had no problem with Twilight Princess' last boss. ALONE it would have been lame, but I kind of consider it to be a 4-parter boss from the battle against Zelda so the whole package was brilliant. In fact my only real dislike was that the arena was so boring (using the same barriers from all the other fights in Hyrule Castle... meh). It played great, but it could have been more dramatic looking.

Also it's kind of a case of (going into spoilers since I'll be mentioned SS's last boss here):

Wind Waker was brilliant - we hadn't had a straight up sword-fight before, and it utilised all of WW's swordplay improvements wonderfully.

Twilight Princess... well they had improved the swordplay even MORE so again, it utilised everything really well. As long as you haven't been outright ignoring the golden wolves to meet with the ancient guy (I still like to think he's OoT Link), you have a LOT of techniques to utilise. Essentially Twilight Princess' sword improvements were taking all of the QTE event-styled PUSH-A-NOW sword moves from Wind Waker and making them usable whenever you liked, but... well, yeah, that was cool!

Skyward Sword... see this is sort of more awkward since well... the whole GAME has shown off the sword improvements to their maximum potential. By all means the final boss should have contained swordplay, but I wanted a bit MORE variety before we reached that bit. Also it's the case where I'm like... well is this how Zelda final bosses are gonna be from now on? Always swordplay... but a BIT deeper than last time! First two times were fine, but even though the sword is the whole point this time... it still felt like too little progression, not different enough.