Is Skyward Sword HD a good Zelda game?
- Thread starter ChoosableOne
- Start date
- Opinion
Schmendrick
Banned
Probably the worst Zelda and the only one I started and never bothered to finish.
The controls are crap and the game itself is just... Boring.
The controls are crap and the game itself is just... Boring.
Physiognomonics
Member
Forget Zelda. It's just an awful game. Sure it looks and feels like a zelda but it's such a chore to play.
UltimaKilo
Gold Member
It's a very good game. Play it. Looks incredible in 4K.
NeoIkaruGAF
Gold Member
Yes it is. The hate is ridiculous.
There's some really grating design choices, but for me, the worst one was having to fight a certain boss repeatedly throughout the game. Essentially every other "dealbreaker" people often mention is merely an annoyance. The game obviously suffers from a lack of focus and from wanting to experiment with many things at once on a system that couldn't be squeezed much further, so overall it's not great. But its highs are very high. The dungeons and bosses are excellent, the motion controls mostly work, some setpieces are fantastic.
There's some really grating design choices, but for me, the worst one was having to fight a certain boss repeatedly throughout the game. Essentially every other "dealbreaker" people often mention is merely an annoyance. The game obviously suffers from a lack of focus and from wanting to experiment with many things at once on a system that couldn't be squeezed much further, so overall it's not great. But its highs are very high. The dungeons and bosses are excellent, the motion controls mostly work, some setpieces are fantastic.
DeathGuise
Member
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Dr. Wilkinson
Member
The only reason I finished it back on Wii in 2011 is because there was far less competition for great games back then. Had to take one when it came. Not so anymore. I'd have never put 40 hours into Skyward Sword if it released in the last 5-10 years. Just so many amazing games that are worth putting that kind of time into, why waste it on mediocre games.
tomato shrub
Member
It's realistically like a 7/10. When it came out, I was still a hardcore Nintendo fanboy and even then I couldn't bring myself to say it's truly great. If there's any other mainline Zelda you haven't played, tackle that one instead.
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Aldric
Member
I think it's the only bad mainline Zelda game and one of the worst first party Nintendo games from one of their historical franchises.
The structure is a clusterfuck. The sky overworld is completely devoid of interesting things to discover with the exception of the pumpkin inn that might as well have been a part of the main town. Speaking of towns Skyloft is the only village in the game, all the other races are just scattered around the surface which adds to the feeling of artificiality of the world. The surface itself comes off as a succession of amusement park activities instead of a coherent, believable whole. The three main areas are extremely unbalanced, with only the desert being remarkable and the other two ending up boring at best. The dungeons are overrated (the Sandship is the only standout) with Ancient Cistern being the clearest example of style over substance (mechanically worthless, simple puzzles get spoiled by reading signs). If that wasn't egregious enough, Fi is a horrible companion character that never shuts the fuck up, spoils puzzles solutions out of nowhere and has nothing of worth to contribute when you ask her for hints. The gameplay scenarios are subpar, with the tadtone collecting, robot escort mission or first dungeon backtracking fetchquest being particularly miserable. Items are uninteresting with the exception of the beetle, the Imprisoned is a terrible boss that outstays its welcome immediately yet has to be fougth thrice, the pacing is disastrous with the endgame feeling like a slog and of course the motion controls are gimmicky and turn both traversal and combat into a shallow nuisance.
The game does a few things right (Skyloft is one of the series best towns, the music is great, timeshift stones are a legitimately genius mechanic and the Mogmas are a very likable new race I'd like to see return in a future game) but overall it's a mess and a definitive proof they ran out of ideas for the AlttP/OoT template and that it was more than time to shake things up and rethink the formula.
The structure is a clusterfuck. The sky overworld is completely devoid of interesting things to discover with the exception of the pumpkin inn that might as well have been a part of the main town. Speaking of towns Skyloft is the only village in the game, all the other races are just scattered around the surface which adds to the feeling of artificiality of the world. The surface itself comes off as a succession of amusement park activities instead of a coherent, believable whole. The three main areas are extremely unbalanced, with only the desert being remarkable and the other two ending up boring at best. The dungeons are overrated (the Sandship is the only standout) with Ancient Cistern being the clearest example of style over substance (mechanically worthless, simple puzzles get spoiled by reading signs). If that wasn't egregious enough, Fi is a horrible companion character that never shuts the fuck up, spoils puzzles solutions out of nowhere and has nothing of worth to contribute when you ask her for hints. The gameplay scenarios are subpar, with the tadtone collecting, robot escort mission or first dungeon backtracking fetchquest being particularly miserable. Items are uninteresting with the exception of the beetle, the Imprisoned is a terrible boss that outstays its welcome immediately yet has to be fougth thrice, the pacing is disastrous with the endgame feeling like a slog and of course the motion controls are gimmicky and turn both traversal and combat into a shallow nuisance.
The game does a few things right (Skyloft is one of the series best towns, the music is great, timeshift stones are a legitimately genius mechanic and the Mogmas are a very likable new race I'd like to see return in a future game) but overall it's a mess and a definitive proof they ran out of ideas for the AlttP/OoT template and that it was more than time to shake things up and rethink the formula.
Zephyranthes
Member
I have really mixed feelings about Skyward Sword. On one hand, it's a very pretty game, and there are some great things about it that are worth experiencing: exploring Skyloft, a couple of the dungeons, everything to do with Ghirahim, and the final boss, to name a few. On the other, so much of the game that exists between those high points just feels lifeless and dull. The sky realm outside of Skyloft is largely empty with little to do (in stark contrast to BotW or TotK where the overworld is genuinely interesting and rewarding to explore). There is a recurring boss fight that is terribly designed and not very fun to fight besides. Fi is also really annoying, even moreso than Navi in my opinion.
darth.shrimp
Member
I only played the Wii version, and I loved it. Not sure how the Switch version compares.
It probably has the worst minigames in the series though.
It probably has the worst minigames in the series though.
Dr. Wilkinson
Member
I can think of one standout dungeon in particular, the Ancient Cistern, I think? The rest I thought were fairly safe/ mediocre by Zelda standards. Which at the time, (when most of a Zelda game was the dungeons) was a very high bar.
Dr. Wilkinson
Member
The forced motion controls really never resonated with me. I found the pre-final boss fight with Ghirahim to be extremely difficult and required a high degree of mastering of the motion controls for the sword, and at that point I knew the game was basically done, so I just called it quits, & watched the true final boss fight on YouTube in HD. Absolutely zero desire to revist the game, ever. Typically with Zelda games, I want to replay them every few years. At least that has always been the case with OoT & WW. And TP to a much lesser extent.
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Woopah
Member
I rarely if ever replay games, but with SS I didn't even have the desire to finish it, which is very rare for me and a Zelda game. I've completed nearly every game in the franchise, but got bored of this one.
Daniel Thomas MacInnes
GAF's Resident Saturn Omnibus
I only played the Wii version for a short while three years ago. I was too busy with a newborn daughter to take care of, so I didn't see that much of the game. That said, what I did experience I really enjoyed. I loved the art design and the motion controls for the sword.
CityHunter1981
An Absolute Desaster
Not a fan, I prefer all Zelda games before Skyward Sword.
My main critic with the game is:
- it didn't felt like one world, but more like levels because it's not connected at all.
- Fighting the same big boss 3 times got really boring and it's also an annoying boss fight.
My main critic with the game is:
- it didn't felt like one world, but more like levels because it's not connected at all.
- Fighting the same big boss 3 times got really boring and it's also an annoying boss fight.
digital_ghost
I am a closet furry. Don't you judge me.
There is a reason mum didn't let us say the (s)word
James Sawyer Ford
Banned
It is better than Tears of the Kingdom
darrylgorn
Member
Robb
Gold Member
This will probably be a hot take but to this day (especially with the switch re release now) I still think SS is one of the best games ever made. It sounds great, it looks beautiful, the dungeons are amongst the best in the series if not the best. The overworld is linear yes, but it's meant to be that way because the overworld itself now pretty much functions like a dungeon being more about solving puzzles then exploring (which is probably why the actual dungeons themselves aren't as long as previous games). And as much as I love botw/totk, dungeons are probably my favorite aspect of zelda, so it really clicked with me. What also clicked are the motion controls. Unlike most wii games, SS really showed what motion controls (or at least wii motion plus) was capable of and really mixed up the combat to make it not feel like past zelda games. Every new encounter felt unique and, imo at least, the motion controls are very responsive. Then you have the side content which unlike most previous zelda games is actually really good and not annoying. The side quests are fun and even though they aren't MM like they really give skyloft and its denizens itself a sense of place. And the collectible goddess cubes are wayyy better and more fun to collect then things like the bugs and poes in TP. Then there's the story and characters that I'd argue are also the best in the whole franchise, which itself isn't even a hot take. Yeah I get that the game has a lot of backtracking but most of it is fun imo. The constant imprisoned fights are probably the games' only negative to me really.
LavitzSlambert
Member
Lore/story is top tier, and some of the dungeons were actually good. But even without the waggle controls, it was a very low tier Zelda. Between the generic repeated boss fights, the timed collect-a-thon segments in between dungeons, the busy work running around, and the failed concept sky islands (which were actually fleshed out more in Tears of the Kingdom, though still mostly underutilized), I'm not sure how Nintendo greenlit this game. Then again, it was during the same time period as Spirit Tracks and Phantom Hourglass, so I can't be THAT surprised, I guess.
Madserb2023
Member
Played it recently and is as I remembered. Great dungeons, if not the best in the series combined with some of the worst filler content I have experienced. There aren't many games that if you cut half the content, the game would be better. It's basically basically the inverse of their most recent games.
Shake Your Rump
Banned
I can't believe people are dissing the Wii Remote controls. It was pretty cool back then! I never had any problems.
This game made me have serious ludonarrative dissonance. During most of the game, you are chasing after people who somehow get through to the end of all the dungeons without touching a thing. Literally boulders and such will be blocking the path, but they are always ahead of you. It was so bizarre.
This game made me have serious ludonarrative dissonance. During most of the game, you are chasing after people who somehow get through to the end of all the dungeons without touching a thing. Literally boulders and such will be blocking the path, but they are always ahead of you. It was so bizarre.
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Im glad I played it, it was a fun game, but the backtracking was strange. Without all that it would have been a tighter and better experience. Also the Wii motion controls seemed like a novelty. I really wish I could have just pressed buttons or swiped a stick to swing the sword.