Skyward Sword review thread [Newest Reviews - Cubed3 10/10, GC: A, AusGamers: 7/10]
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Criminal Upper said:
That was a bit too drastic, should've said that certain areas look outdated, referring to the common issues already pointed out...low poly count and blurry textures. Compared to what? The visual highlights of Wii & GCN - MP3, Starfox Adventures, and so on. Not saying that those titles always looked great.
But talking about the choice of style. Just take a look at this screen grab. That really shows how well the style hides some of the Wii's and Zelda engine's shortcomings!
In TP these textures would've looked outright bad, now they are somewhat blurry, but still fitting.
walking fiend
Member
Yes, but we all know SMG has tricks to let it look better; like being on isolated asteroids.StevieP said:
I suppose. If by them you mean someone who judges games by the quality relative to the console it is actually on. For a Wii game, the new Zelda game is likely one of the best on the system and should be judged as such. It's not on an HD system and should not be expected to live up to that visual standard.Crunched said:
walking fiend
Member
SS also looks amazing in a lot of scenes we have seen, like the one in Bazaar, which look better than a lot of places in SMG.udivision said:
But, there are levels in SMG (like the one with rabbits or the giant worm one) which are incredible, but they are on asteroids then.
walking fiend
Member
I actually get the texture, they are blurry, but models are pretty good imho, specially the characters seem really high poly and smooth.Shiggy said:
Cygnus X-1
Member
TruePrime said:
Textures-wise, probably yes. But again: who gives a damn as long as art design is so fucking brilliant? Other M had the textures and textures alone and we know how the final result was.
I liked and thought Other M looked and played well.Cygnus X-1 said:
Beyond that, as I said before I'm not a fan of this art style, I have and will always prefer the style of Twilight Princess.
Honestly this will be my last Zelda so long as they stick with it. Not that it's bad but when alot you see this and think how beatiful it looks I find it lame and want TP Link back, or I always think of the Wii U demo.
It's only a small part of it honestly.Kard8p3 said:
I want Voice acting, I want a TP style Link. I want a more heavy focus on story.
Frankly these things will likely never be met and thats okay. However I do want them and while it's okay that Zelda won't cater to my interest going foward at the same time I have little interest in playing them withou these things.
So Skyward Sword is kinda my good bye to the franchise.
walking fiend
Member
I agree, I noticed it in the new trailer where Ghirahim barges in and in the magma areas where the walls are lit. But still, the game overall looks impressive visually, and how it looks will never be something that I will complain about.Shiggy said:
I don't really care about review scores, actually I only care because of sales-age reasons, but it still doesn't make sense to complain about a Wii game being jaggy, of course it is going to have aliasing.
I then suggest you to read reviews:
walking fiend
Member
What has voice acting got to do with heavy focus on story?!And more cut-scenes means more focus on the story? I hope they never do this to ZeldaTruePrime said:
Honestly, I am really happy that Nintendo and Miyamoto don't really pay much attention to what may please fans, specially the potential fans...
tbh, during the first few hours of the game the only part that really amazed me graphically, was the open field near the village; it was so good to run (well, whatever is the word for a wolf running) around the field and enjoying the view.
That's all well and good. I like the FF type story telling using VA and Cutscenes. It's just what I like.walking fiend said:
Also no need to be a dick about it, I stated up front that isn't what Zelda was about and that I would leave happily after Skyward Sword, I didn't try to say it needs to be the way I want or anything.
Also using me as what potentail fans would want is a very stupid thing to do.
walking fiend
Member
em, FF didn't have VA for like the first 9 games, but anyway, I get what you mean; but I believe this is called a more 'cinematic' experience, rather than heavy focus on story.TruePrime said:
And sorry if I was a dick
really exhausted after all the talk we have the other day about VA.It's all good (though to be fair I love X, XII and XIII so yeah) I also get that Zelda fans are have alot of passion, even more so with some of these elements. It's why I tried to stay as clear that I didn't think Zelda should or needed to change, just that I'm at a point where it's time for me to move on.walking fiend said:em, FF didn't have VA for like the first 9 games, but anyway, I get what you mean; but I believe this is called a more 'cinematic' experience, rather than heavy focus on story.
And sorry if I was a dick
walking fiend
Member
I know. Actually, FF X is the only jRPG that I actually desired to finish, and a major reason of it was VA. But I just don't think it'll suit Zelda games as well; and I am not sure if others will like it after they actually do this, but maybe that's getting ahead of myself.TruePrime said:
Kandinsky said:
Again. Parts of it looked perfectly fine, but especially the areas in the beginning (Ordon, Faron Woods) and the fields looked pretty weak.
You played games such as Starfox Adventures? They might've had some ugly textures too, but they never felt that out of place as in TP.
I just realized I haven't given proper thoughts on the gamepro review, so here goes:
1. it's confirmed that there are no dynamic day/night shifts. I still want to know the reason for this but goddamn it I wanted that so badly.
2. I'm very surprised that there is a lack of exploration. Is it possible that the reviewer didn't get a chance to complete the game 100% thus having this feeling?
3. The first act is 15 hours long, which pretty long, but nothing too mindblowing, but the second act take up 25 hours (totaling 40 hours)? WTF?!! Even if you enter the old dungeons again, there seems to be some content that reviews aren't talking about here.
4. I'm actually very pleased to hear about the way backtracking is handled (despite the reviewer giving it a negative notion). It seems like the areas will always be updated based on your progression, nice!
5. I'm not tech savvy so I don't know anything about technicalities. Hell I don't even know what poly count is! But I loved the areas shown in SS so far so I really don't relate to his criticism. Not saying it's not valid, I just don't connect with it.
All in all I think it's very well written, yet somehow I think this game will be more like MM than other games. Contrary to popular belief, I honesty think they strayed too far from the usual Zelda formula with this title. Some people will love it, others will be heavily disappointed. I can already smell the backlash coming.
1. it's confirmed that there are no dynamic day/night shifts. I still want to know the reason for this but goddamn it I wanted that so badly.
2. I'm very surprised that there is a lack of exploration. Is it possible that the reviewer didn't get a chance to complete the game 100% thus having this feeling?
3. The first act is 15 hours long, which pretty long, but nothing too mindblowing, but the second act take up 25 hours (totaling 40 hours)? WTF?!! Even if you enter the old dungeons again, there seems to be some content that reviews aren't talking about here.
4. I'm actually very pleased to hear about the way backtracking is handled (despite the reviewer giving it a negative notion). It seems like the areas will always be updated based on your progression, nice!
5. I'm not tech savvy so I don't know anything about technicalities. Hell I don't even know what poly count is! But I loved the areas shown in SS so far so I really don't relate to his criticism. Not saying it's not valid, I just don't connect with it.
All in all I think it's very well written, yet somehow I think this game will be more like MM than other games. Contrary to popular belief, I honesty think they strayed too far from the usual Zelda formula with this title. Some people will love it, others will be heavily disappointed. I can already smell the backlash coming.
Alot of people said the same thing about FF when we headed into FF X, in fact I was one of them, screaming and bitching about how FF shouldn't have voice acting.walking fiend said:
I was wrong though, and I enjoy it. However there is even a group off FF fans who don't like it, well there is group who only wants vairants of 1-6 and anyone thing else is bullshit and your heathen for liking it and the same goes on for titles after VII as well.
Thing is Zelda at least for now isn't going to make the jump and I don't blame Nintendo, I can see why they don't. Just that's isn't my bag.
Weirdly enough I didn't use this style of game Cinenamatic because I don't like any of the top Tier games in the genre. Uncharted and other such games don't do it for me, that is why I tried not to use it.
For the most part yeah.Nintendo-4Life said:
Last thing I would want is for Zelda to become some kind of linear path like I view Uncharted or FF XIII.
The only thing I really want is an Art style like TP, along with when Midna and Zelda are talking to have Nintendo to hire good VA's to give them more substance (this is personal I know) as well as the other scenes they have. They don't need to add hours and hours worth of Cutscenes, well in my dream version anyway there is no need for that.
Personally, I just don't see the point of VO really. However, I don't think it would ruin the experience in anyway if they decide to include it (provided they bring good VAs as you said).TruePrime said:
I think Nintendo should take a stab at it. If it works, great! If it doesn't, at least they tried.
As for the art direction, I would like to see them try something new yet again. I'm growing fond of these different art styles. I'm not ready for them to go the TP route yet again (they can still do realistic with a different presentation though).
That I'm actually all good with.Nintendo-4Life said:
It really doesn't need to be TP, it does have it's issues and frankly the world would be a better place if we never see Humans look like that again.
I'm just in a weird place because to me, VO really does add something. I like to walk away feeling as if the characters made the largest impact as possible and to me, it is easier and more enjoyable to do this through VO. The Gibberish just doesn't do anything for me and unlike others who take and add their own personal voice, or creat a voice for the characters they come across as empty and lacking overall because my mind doesn't just create that for them.
This is a similar reason as to why I dislike Silent lead characters people just graph a personality on to, but it's worse for me personally when the whole world is like that.
To be fair, FFX ultimately didn't make the case for voice acting. That accolade goes to XII...flawless.
But, ultimately I agree with you. I think too many people get too hung up on the perceived "tradition" of the Zelda series, which is what keeps it from ever truly evolving. The hatred of voice acting is part of that. I don't think a lack of voice acting has any more to do with tradition than just the simple fact that the series dates back to a time before voice acting in games was possible. I don't think voice acting would hurt the "essence of Zelda" in the slightest. 3D and orchestrated soundtracks didn't.
Frankly, I have yet to hear an argument against voice acting that didn't sound like my grandaddy bitching about the superiority of typewriters.
royalan said:
While XII nailed VA, X had some great stuff. Both Tidus and Yuna did very well in most of the scenes not involving the laugh (and they did great for what the scene was meant to do) plus X-2 had some fabulous voice acting whenit came to Yuna talking about Tidus and between Shuyin and Lynne.
But as you said it was XII that ironed out most of the stuff, I also enjoyed the majority of XIII's cast, even with some of the terrible stuff they had to work with.