The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

[Kolzig]

How can it be that the game is finally launching after ages of waiting on Friday in Europe and Sunday in USA and nobody has created yet a thread about this?

I'm absolutely excited about Skyward Sword, actually much more than about Skyrim. I have almost no interest in Elder Scrolls series. I tried Oblivion for a while, but it just didn't seem interesting at all. From Bethesda's works I liked Fallout 3 a lot more. I do admire the apparently amazing huge world of Skyrim, but that's about it.

So yes, the reviews have been raving about the game all over, maybe even a little bit suspiciously a lot, but from what I've seen I think all the positive writings are worth it.

Me myself am a kind of Zelda failure. I've tried several times ages ago to play Link to the Past, Oracle of Ages, Minish Cap and Phantom Hourglass and I've got stuck in each one at some dungeon. What I get more out of this game, is when I get to watch one of my crazy friends play the game through with such a crazy passion. Just like he has done with every Zelda game made so far, except for the CD-I horrors.

So here's some funny trailers I happened to notice today.

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Zelda Williams tries to take role, but Robin has too much XP and levels.

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This one is like telling the life story of my crazy friend, with the exception of the next generation which does not exist in real life.

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So yeah, I'll make a promise. I will try my best to make this the first Zelda game I shall complete.

But one thing is for sure, again there are way too many good games coming out during the last three months of the year. This is not good for the games market performance, Nintendo especially is at fault when they are pushing everything out during Oct-Dec and almost nothing during the rest of the year.

[miffy495]

I have a preorder and am super stoked for this game. I agree: nuts to Skyrim. This and Saint's Row the Third are the two things I'm looking forward to most this year.

[Erkki]

Does it require the MotionPlus thingie? I'm not buying a peripheral just for this, otherwise I'd play it.

[Kolzig]

Yes, it does require the Motion Plus because Miyamoto and Aonuma have tried to build the game to take advantage over the better movement that the Motion Plus brings with it. I gave away my old original Wiimotes last year and bought from Japan while I was there the new ones that have Motionplus built in.

Shame there aren't more games that have required that.

I wonder will the limited edition gold wiimote look good, or will it be cheaply done? It's really strange that they are not offering golden nunchuks at all, that should come with it or at least as an option to buy.

[Erkki]

Is the motion detection really that much better with MotionPlus? I didn't notice any problems with the Twilight Princess' controls.

[Roderick]

I think the reason there hasn't been a thread about any of the Nintendo blockbusters yet is that there is a growing feeling of alienation from Nintendo in the community. I notice it everywhere, including with myself.

For some reason, I just can't get excited about Zelda or Mario anymore. I know that these games are going to be fantastic, but... I don't know what it is.

I'm sure that when I get my hands on Skyward Sword (Or Mario 3D Land for that matter) I'll love it completely.

[Nappi]

It is probably used to determine the wiimote orientation so that you can control the sword movement with more accuracy. Oh, and there is the flying bug thing.

I'm still unsure whether I should get this or not. On the one hand, the graphics look quite bad already, the lack of true overworld sounds worrying and the ballet dancer villains don't quite work for me. On the other hand, it is a Zelda game.

[Sno]

Is the motion detection really that much better with MotionPlus? I didn't notice any problems with the Twilight Princess' controls.

Really? Reeaally?

The haphazard and unresponsive motion control ruined my experience with that game, I couldn't tolerate control that only did what i wanted it to do some of the time. Anything more complicated than waggling the remote was disastrous. Seriously, can you imagine if it actually required precision out of some of the advanced maneuvers? If there wasn't room for a control scheme that fails to register maybe as many as a fifth of your inputs? The only reason it was playable is because it was balanced to be so effortlessly easy, it gave the motion control a lot of room to be shitty without completely destroying the game.

I seem to like Twilight Princess a whole lot less than most people, though. I just thought it was kind of in general the least interesting Zelda game Nintendo has ever put out. Nintendo gave fans what they wanted, and what fans wanted kind of sucked. Lesson to be had: Ignore the fans.

To be fair, i like the DS games even less.

That said, i want to believe that a game that was built from the ground up for the use of motion control and released at the end of the platform's life will work better than a game that had it haphazardly bolted on at the start of the platform's life. (I really wish i had instead played the Gamecube version of Twilight Princess, i'm sure it would have been a much more tolerable game.)

Anyways, I probably won't play Skyward Sword, but i really actually do want to. It's largely a case of holyshitskyrim that is preventing me from doing so.

[toblix]

I wish they would make another sweet 2D Zelda game like Minish Cap.

[Sno]

I wish they would make another sweet 2D Zelda game like Minish Cap.

Now i'll just sound like a guy who hates Zelda, because i didn't like Minish Cap either. Heh.

[Kolzig]

I wish they would make another sweet 2D Zelda game like Minish Cap.

You need Capcom/Flagship for that.

[miffy495]

lots of angry things

Wow. Maybe you had a bad Wii remote or something? I didn't have anywhere NEAR that many problems. Hell, I don't remember any problems at all. While the art style and tone of the world was kind of boring, I quite enjoyed the dungeon design and had a really fun time actually playing the game. I still think that what Zelda needs more than anything else is a real Wind Waker 2, but none of the games have ever been BAD.

Also, Minish Cap is one of the best games, so .

[Roderick]

We got Wind Waker 1.5 in Phantom Hourglass, which I thought was a terrific (2D!) Zelda game. Spirit Tracks was charming, but had some issues.

Edited November 17, 2011 by Rodi

[Sno]

Wow. Maybe you had a bad Wii remote or something? I didn't have anywhere NEAR that many problems. Hell, I don't remember any problems at all. While the art style and tone of the world was kind of boring, I quite enjoyed the dungeon design and had a really fun time actually playing the game. I still think that what Zelda needs more than anything else is a real Wind Waker 2, but none of the games have ever been BAD.

No, i did not have a bad Wii Remote, certain gestures in that game are simply unresponsive and finicky, it is a known issue with that game. I don't think most people even think about how much leeway they're giving the motion control when they're playing, especially if they're otherwise enjoying themselves. As i said, for me it's not that it was unplayable, it's that there were problems at all. If the control scheme doesn't work flawlessly when it's being bolted to the game in place of a control scheme that would and in fact did work just fine, i have no patience for it.

And, man, that game... It's not bad, it's just... Ehhh... No, it's bad. It's a shit game. I don't like Twilight Princess. I was just so bored by it. I mean, for example, some of the items seemed like they were really scraping the bottom of the barrel. You ended up with incredibly situational things that only ever served just one purpose, not quite the ingenuity of the traditional Zelda arsenal on display in that game.

Also, Minish Cap is one of the best games, so .

I think Minish Cap has an overworld that, despite being way too small, is incredibly tedious to navigate. I also object to having missable items in a Zelda game. (There's a few important upgrades that are easily lost forever, it's dumb.) Though I will grant you one thing, that game had some great dungeons.

So for the record, there are only five good Zelda games.

LTTP, Ocarina, Majora, Wind Waker, and fuckin` Four Swords Adventure. (This is the one that needs to be remade, the GBA game is boring.)

No. No Link's Awakening. Childhood grudge. I have a first run copy with a bunch of gnarly bugs in it.

[Simon]

The Minish Cap was the last Zelda game I completed, it had some excellent puzzling and just this charm about it that kept me interested. I think it's my favourite! Although I haven't revisited it for years as my friend is still 'borrowing' the cartridge

I gave up on Twilight Princess eventually, due to general boredom...I did pick up my 2007 savegame a few months ago and do Snowpeak Ruins, which was a fairly good dungeon, but then I lost the momentum again. I can't believe it will actually be worth finishing. I tend to agree with Sno about that, Nintendo gave the fans what they wanted and it's just not up to scratch.

Also had to abandon Phantom Hourglass because I couldn't face another descent into the Temple of the Ocean King, that whole story structure was ridiculous. That definitely put me off even trying to get into Spirit Tracks...is that an improvement?

Anyway, I reckon Skyward Sword will break the spell of unfinished Zelda for me now - so many things I've read about it have specifically praised how it freshens the whole stinky series up, which is encouraging. I'm surprised how little hype I've seen so far.

Shocked that people really are over Zelda. Anyway, I'm still falling for it, can't wait! Mine should arrive tomorrow...

[Roderick]

Temple of the Ocean King gets such bad reactions, which I find baffling. There's such a great sense of progress and the dungeon is incredibly well designed, giving you cool shortcuts and new ways of experiencing it as you acquire new gadgets and abilities. When you finally get to the end and you can just slaughter all those damned armored phantoms, it feels great.

Spirit Tracks was fine, but generally a lot more 'meh' and I couldn't finish it because the final boss was frustratingly difficult.

[miffy495]

Spirit Tracks was a significant improvement over Phantom Hourglass. I'd definitely check it out if you enjoyed bits of Phantom Hourglass but got sick of the repetition.

[Roderick]

Wow, we're really saying the exact opposite thing there, Miffy. I suggest you back the fuck down.

[Simon]

Ha! Yeah, I can see what they were trying to do with the Temple of the Ocean King, but even with new gadgets and shortcuts I did find it a drag to know I was going back there for a while. Once I'm done with Skyward Sword perhaps I'll finally crack the last stretch of Phantom...there is a lot to like about the game otherwise.

[miffy495]

Hey, Phantom was still really good. I liked it a whole lot and never had a problem with the TotOK myself, but I can certainly understand how people would. I also thought that Spirit Tracks was a better game though. Maybe not necessarily a better ZELDA game, what with the train things limiting world exploration a bit (really though, not much more than anything else. Just because you can move around Hyrule field while going from A to B to C doesn't mean there's anything worth doing there) it does serve to make it a significantly more portable-friendly experience. I liked it very much for what it did, and actually remember you saying in the past that the boss was super hard. No idea what your deal with that was, honestly. If felt pretty in line with everything else the game has to offer for me. Subjective thing, I guess, but you're the only person I've ever heard that from.

Short answer: No, YOU back the fuck down.

[Tanukitsune]

So.... am I the only one who has played the game?

It seems like they took a bit of each Zelda and put in a blender and make a delicious smoothie of ADVENTURE!

I can't say too much without spoiling, but I feel like I have to re-calibrate way too often, the sword never seems to swipe exactly like I want it to.

And the thing that is really bothering me is

that the sword has some AI hologram and later you meet ROBOTS. What does mean to the timeline? Does this take place in such a far future that Hyrule managed to create a futuristic world that got destroyed? Or does it mean that this game takes place so far in the past the these remnants are lost? I don't know what to think of this highly advanced society and I'm going to wait until I progress more and find out more about them?

I love the beetle, it's like remote boomerang, but slower.

The bird (did it have a name?) is half Epona, half boat? The sky world doesn't seem to have that much to explore compared to Wind Waker, but I think it's balanced by having each area itself having a lot to explore.

Story-wise, I don't know where it's going, but mechanically and gameplay wise the menu's blanks practically tell you what's going to happen.

The game also seems to be more forgiving in a way? I died in a middle of a dungeon only to notice that all the progress I had made had NOT been lost.

And the bug catching is the new fishing, it should be stupid, but I'm having fun doing it! The upgrade system is pretty decent, not too complex or not too much, you can only upgrade each item a few times and you only need a few items to do so.

It's strange how most things seems to be modified or taken from other Zelda, yet it feels original.

One final spoiler:

The game kinda has it's own Gold Skulutula thing, except instead of finding gold bugs to break a curse, you help people to get "Gratitude Crystals" to make a demon human and you get 5-10 with each side quest, so I don't think if will be as annoying.

Oh, it also made laugh quite a few times!

[miffy495]

Still waiting on my copy from Future Shop. Really want to play this game. Your thoughts just make me want to get into it more.

[Tanukitsune]

I think I'm getting the hang of the WiiMote Plus and the combat in general is becoming more fun and rewarding.

I wouldn't say I have too much money, because there are items I can't afford yet, but in every temple I've been I've had to leave to buy something to empty my wallet.

There is a guy who buys the bugs but he only buys three types of bugs at a time, and it can get annoying to get all the bugs sold.

The game has a limited inventory of sorts, you have a pouch where you carry your shield, bottles, extra ammo pouches and other non-essential special items.

The game actually analyzes your inventory and says how well suited it's for the area.

[Tanukitsune]

Tingle cameo!

[miffy495]

Cameo means he's not in it more than that? Boo.