The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

[Nintendoga]

I'm really liking Link in this game. He actually has a personality like WW Link. Then again SS and WW are the only two games where Link actually has a personality. In most games like Oot he just makes the same face.

Zelda: You saved Hyrule, killed Ganon, restored peace to the land, and won my heart! How do you feel?

Link:

[Noir]

Flight controls strain the wrist due to the awkward way in which you have to hold the controller.

I genuinely believe you're holding the controller wrong because the flight controls felt entirely comfortable and natural.

Rolling bombs requires you to turn the entire controller upside down, when doing an actual rolling motion would have sufficed.

Except you do roll bombs with an actual rolling motion...

There's nothing wrong with not liking motion controls by virtue of just being motion controls, but these two things really struck me as a bit silly. Personally I enjoyed the controls for almost everything they were used with and was only bothered when I found myself having to recenter the cursor far too much. I'll agree though that using M+ for pointing could've been done without, because using the sensor is much easier.

[Soniman]

Im still trying to figure out why the hell we needed motion controls for swimming, other than that, the motion controls work fine.

[Conando]

I'm really liking Link in this game. He actually has a personality like WW Link. Then again SS and WW are the only two games where Link actually has a personality. In most games like Oot he just makes the same face.

Zelda: You saved Hyrule, killed Ganon, restored peace to the land, and won my heart! How do you feel?

Link:

HEY. He has faces in Twilight Princess. They're just derp faces is all. Seriously, what was wrong with his face in that game?

Rusl:"Link, you're going on a grand Adventure."

Link: (Derpy grin)

Edited January 3, 2012 by Kringle Of Fate

[Jetronic]

If you get over 64 cuts, it rolls your actual score back to 1

[Marcello]

I was using a Wii Remote plus as well.

Because pointing is not controlled through the IR sensor, the cursor feels disconnected from reality. It feels like I'm slowly pushing a boulder uphill, no matter which direction I point in. It isn't nearly as fast or accurate as every other cursor I have ever controlled. If I point my controller in the middle of the screen and move it, I expect it to move the way it moves in literally every single other Wii game ever made. When the wiimote doesn't recognize a fixed point in reality as the "center", it makes everything more confusing and annoying to accomplish. Rather than allowing me to be "lazy", I have to use much more effort to both re-center the cursor, and then try my hardest to move the damn thing over what it is I want to shoot.

Also, your Galaxy comparison doesn't work. In the ball stages, you held the wiimote straight up and used it as a joy-stick, with no twisting motions needed. However, the manta ray and bird racing in the Galaxy games is the same as what I'm talking about. But the fact that annoying flight controls were used in other games is not an excuse for the same annoying flight controls being used in Skyward Sword.

I am not doing anything "wrong" here. I tried to play the game exactly the way it told me to. And to me, it is plainly obvious the game is doing something very, very wrong with the way it controls.

How is pushing down the D-Pad "much more effort"?

[Jetronic]

Next Zelda game with have a different art style

“With Wind Waker, the graphics were suited to handheld gaming. Also the game ended with Link embarking on a journey, so it left open the possibility of what comes after the game. With Skyward Sword, positioning it as the first Zelda game means everything else connects to it and comes after it. It becomes a little bit difficult to do something else within that world and certainly much more difficult to do something that comes before it.”

quote and picture from gaf

And like the op there I'm a bit sad that we might not see an art style like skyward sword in true HD, probably not for the longest time. But I can't wait to see what we get next.

[lounge]

I really like Link in this game too. Even his baggy pants I like. I remember the first time I saw them, I was like what the hell is up with that?! I just beat the pirate ship. I still can't get over how addicting the game is. Everytime I play it I can't stop. I still don't get how people are having trouble with the motion controls. I never have to recalibrate at all. The only thing that sucks is swimming with the wii remote. And I like how now if you need to help someone in town for a sidequest there's a bubble over their head. Little things like that make things so much better than past games.

Honestly the only thing bugging me about the game right now is the dungeon music and some of the field music. Seriously that Lanayru Mining Facility and a lot of the other desert area and pirate areas have some of the most ridiculous, repetitive, annoying, outdated composition and sound quality I've ever heard in a video game. Like who the fuck in Nintendo composed those tracks?? They should be fired. Seriously, Zelda deserves better than that. I mean the beginning of the game had beautiful, gorgeous music with those cinematics, and the forest areas. But now... I really don't like this inconsistency. Even Super Mario Galaxy 2 had a better overall soundtrack.

[PSI Wind]

Next Zelda game with have a different art style

quote and picture from gaf

And like the op there I'm a bit sad that we might not see an art style like skyward sword in true HD, probably not for the longest time. But I can't wait to see what we get next.

Not very suprised. Every Zelda except the litteral sequals (Majora, DS games) have had a different art style.

[Jeffhog]

Say, did anyone ever notice this?

Creepy similar design is creepy.

[Marcello]

I think quite a few people noticed. I didn't notice how strongly they resemble each other, though..

[speedfreak]

Yeah, people noticed that way back when we first got the original concept art. Of course the Master Sword girl theory is the one that panned out though.

[lounge]

I just finished it. I swear if I didn't have the potion medal, upgraded elixir and upgraded stamina potions with me I would've died against Demise so many times. I 99%'d the game with the exception of getting the Hylian Shield. I knew it was somewhere in the game from talking to a gossip stone, but I didn't know where. It wasn't until I looked it up just now that you have to do boss rush mode. The thing is that stupid dragon didn't tell me he'd give me a prize for completing it. I assumed the mode was just for fun so I didn't attempt it. Not that it really mattered since the Goddess Shield was more than enough. But I love upgrading my stuff.

Overall WAAAAY better than TP or WW. This and super mario galaxy 2 are two of the most amazing, polished games I've played on Wii. I always get this feeling everytime I beat a zelda game like I can't believe it's over. Very emotional game. I managed to clock in over 50 hours into this game. The most I've ever spent completing a game ever. All thanks to the upgrade system, harder difficulty, motion controls, and compact nature of the game.

Bravo Nintendo!!! Now just another 5 years for the next main zelda.

[Nintendoga]

Guess I'll be the odd one of the group.

Haven't finished the game yet, but just got past the second dungeon. This game is really starting to wane thin on me I guess.

I understand this is a Wii game, but does every single thing have to be done with motion controls? I like the sword and shield motion controls, but everything else is so bleh. It feels so monotonous and repetitive to me whenever I must jerk my Wii-mote up and down or left and right every minute of the game to solve not just a puzzle, but almost everything else n the game. Hell, I'm surprised running isn't a motion control.

Speakin of which, the Stamina meter is getting on my nerves. It's a cool idea and I like that they implemented it, but who the hell gets tired from running, climbing after 7-10 seconds. Did they try to make the game appeal towards us Americans in that way, or something?

The graphics by the way, are utter shit for a Wii game. Yes, the art style is beautiful and amazing in it's own way, but the textures of the enviorment/ character models are so poorly done. Take away the art style and you pretty much got a GC graphics game. I know games like SMG2 and Sonic Colors have way better graphics then this, both having had less development time then this game. I also know Nintendo aren't ones to do amazing graphics, but for a game that's been in development since 2007, to look worse then a game from 2006, says something.

Otherwise the story's okay, but it lacks that great start that almost every other 3D Zelda game has. Oot, MM (to an extent) and WW, got you into the story and game within roughly 30 minutes to an hour. 2 hours and a half into this game, and I'm just so bored by it. It suffers the same thing TP had, a slow start. I know some people said it gets better after 3-4 hours, but that is just unacceptable to have to trudge to a game for hours before finally being able to get into it.

Like I said, I guess I'm the odd man out, and maybe I should keep on playing to see where the game goes, but for now it's such a bore to me. I just need that motivation that I hope the game will bring me.

[lounge]

Guess I'll be the odd one of the group.

Haven't finished the game yet, but just got past the second dungeon. This game is really starting to wane thin on me I guess.

I felt the same way when I played Twilight Princess. You shouldn't force your self to like something. It should just come naturally.

[Soniman]

Am I the only one who found Demise somewhat easy?

[Conando]

No. I destroyed him completely in both normal and hero mode.

[lounge]

Demise was NOT easy for me. I mean if I didn't have that elixir plus potion with the potion medal, I would've died 10 times. Once his sword became electric I just couldn't touch him. That's a thing I love about the bosses in this game, they took a while for me to figure out.

[Nintendoga]

Most of us haven't beaten the story yet. Spoilers please.

Then again, the game's been out for 2 months now, so I guess maybe I'll just stray from this topic till I beat the game.

Edited January 7, 2012 by Nintendoga

[JezMM]

I still found the final boss really unintuitive. If you're supposed to use Skyward Strikes to defeat him, don't have Fi highlight in red YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO USE SKYWARD STRIKES HERE.

That is, and always has been, instant Zelda communication to the player that "this is most certainly the case, and we discourage you even trying". Changing the situation halfway through was just bad design, especially because it's heavily implied that Demise has the upper hand in this place so of course HE'S able to capture lightning. His sword is like 5 times bigger than yours!

The fact that you CAN barely damage him without skyward strikes is the icing on the cake, because it implied to me I was fighting him correctly, but was just too shit at avoiding his attacks to be successful.

Terrible, terrible communication design. I didn't expect it of Nintendo.

[speedfreak]

I didn't think it was that bad. I just checked with Fi when I was having trouble and she let me know about the lightning. I was kinda let down with the final boss though. After all that build up, and the fact that he was the source of all the evil in Hyrule, he went down way to easily. Really could have used one last form. Honestly Ghirahim felt like he put up a much bigger fight. Demise goes down with one chest stab thing while Ghirihim took four and then still came at you with two more "forms". Sure Demise also had lightning in his chest stab but he still felt like he went down too easily.

[JezMM]

Yeah, I admit I'm kicking myself for not just asking Fi after he changed form. I also kept quitting without saving after dying because I didn't want to have to stock up on fairies again, which meant I never got any of her "player has died on this boss -> give additional hints" messages. Should've taken my defeat like a man.

Sure Demise also had lightning in his chest stab

I love how that came out so scientific sounding.

[Marcello]

Well, you can defeat him without the Skyward Strike.

[lounge]

I didn't even know I could use lightning. I originally kept running behind him but I kept getting shocked. So I just waited for an opening and kept stabbing him. I guess the fact that you had to fight Ghirahim first made up for a lack of final form. I was surprised by how evil looking Demise was. That was awesome.

Also, did anyone else find that giant, tentacle boss at the pirate ship completely unintimidating as soon as he showed his face. Seriously, that is the worst boss design I've ever seen in a zelda game.

[Marcello]

I liked Tentalus, but when I saw her, I thought she'd fit more in Kameo.