Skyward Sword review thread [Newest Reviews - Cubed3 10/10, GC: A, AusGamers: 7/10]

zoner said:
Curious which embargos go up when in general for the holiday.

I imagine we won't see diddly on Revelations due to the franchise's past reviews until the day it's out or the day before. Sounds like Skyrim is early this week along with Skyward Sword and maybe Saint's Row. Some clarification would be great though.
Skyrim one day before release, SS one week.
 
wrowa said:
It's a mistake to assume that something has to be creative in order to be brilliant. Skyward looks great despite being more or less just a combination of the two most popular styles of the series - and while combining something might mIght not be very creative, the result is striking despite that. Because to my mine the combination makes it look like the quintessence of Zelda graphics.

See, I think TWW is more pleasing, and I like the TP artstyle better, too (at least what we saw of it in the Wii-U video).

This feels a lot more bland to me. The pastel colors are muted, and it lacks some of the vibrancy of TWW.

But this is judging it off of videos, and i hate to do that, because when you get to play it and you see how it all fits together...it can make more sense.
 
elrohir said:
aed5b03690f955dc19412adea2d57238.jpg

That's not Ganon, Ganon isn't in this game. That's
the Imprisoned
.
 
BY2K said:
It's the opening scene, it's nothing really spoilerific...

Kard8p3 said:
That's been out there for over a month. You'll see that within the first minute of starting the game.

Doesn't matter. If someone comes in here, is on a complete media blackout and just wants to see how well SS scores in reviews he wouldn't be happy with that.

Better safe than sorry.
 
MUST. NOT. CLICK. IT.
Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

I can't spoil myself. I think Final Boss is just too much for me to even spoil.
 
Neiteio said:
This fellow is the final boss, though I'm not sure Nintendo is too happy about this asset floating around:

Too bad it's Nintendo who released that assets.

Plus, this is a week old.
 
Neiteio said:
This fellow is the final boss, though I'm not sure Nintendo is too happy about this asset floating around:

SPOILERS: Final boss
The most interesting thing there is not the character, either. And I don't think it's been confirmed he's the final boss.
 
This is the review thread guys. If you want to discuss spoiler stuff, please take it to the usual thread(s).
 
Crunched said:
It's WW and Okami for me. This gen's lookers have been Donkey Kong Country Returns, El Shaddai, that Miyazaki-looking Level 5 game, and hopefully Skyward Sword.

Smart art design trumps technical prowess nearly every time for me. Okami is still my favorite looking game.

Ha, this is super surreal to read because I've got just about the exact same opinion, down to every single game you listed (well, except switch DKCR with Journey).

And yet, Skyward Sword leaves me completely cold. I keep checking this thread hoping to become excited for the game but it's just not working. It's actually super frustrating because on paper the game should be fantastic but every video, screenshot and piece of information from reviews I've consumed just makes me annoyed. I don't know how you manage to fuck up a style inspired by Cezanne paintings but somehow Nintendo found a way. It just looks so mediocre and wildly inconsistent and not-well executed. That stupid looking bird, Link's dumb looking face, some downright terrible enemies and bosses mixed with the occasional cool looking one, townspeople that only look okay because of vestiges of Wind Waker influence, super bland dungeons, a sea of clouds that should look spectacular but somehow doesn't, it just lacks so much cohesion and AGH I'm frustrating myself because I want to like it but it just looks so bad to me.

This little rant should mean nothing of course to the people who love Zelda for non-art reasons but for art-whores like me it's just mad disappointing and it's been really weird reading universal praise for the art direction.
 
randomkid said:
Ha, this is super surreal to read because I've got just about the exact same opinion, down to every single game you listed (well, except switch DKCR with Journey).

And yet, Skyward Sword leaves me completely cold. I keep checking this thread hoping to become excited for the game but it's just not working. It's actually super frustrating because on paper the game should be fantastic but every video, screenshot and piece of information from reviews I've consumed just makes me annoyed. I don't know how you manage to fuck up a style inspired by Cezanne paintings but somehow Nintendo found a way. It just looks so mediocre and wildly inconsistent and not-well executed. That stupid looking bird, Link's dumb looking face, some downright terrible enemies and bosses mixed with the occasional cool looking one, townspeople that only look okay because of vestiges of Wind Waker influence, super bland dungeons, a sea of clouds that should look spectacular but somehow doesn't, it just lacks so much cohesion and AGH I'm frustrating myself because I want to like it but it just looks so bad to me.

This little rant should mean nothing of course to the people who love Zelda for non-art reasons but for art-whores like me it's just mad disappointing and it's been really weird reading universal praise for the art direction.
I know exactly what you're saying. Of the flaws you mentioned, the bland dungeons and dull cloudscape are probably the worst offenders, followed by Link's cross-eyed vacant stare and the muddy whitewashed textures. I'll differ from you, though, in that I think the enemies look fantastic. The Bokoblins, in particular, have really grown on me, and the SS version of Lizalfos is the best yet (love the Hellboy-like guantlet). That gold statue boss that looks like Christopher Colombus crossed with Sheva is drop-dead gorgeous, too. Also, I should add this version of Zelda herself is my favorite yet, and Ghirahim, of course, is quite cool.
 
RichIGN on Twitter said:
Holy hell this is clever design... #ZeldaSS

RichIGN on Twitter said:
One unfortunate part about a Zelda review. A dungeon like this is a key reason why this game is amazing - I wouldn't dare spoil it. #ZeldaSS

He's about 40 hours in. So it sounds like the later dungeons gets really clever and impressive.
 
Caelus said:
Considering this is one of the more expressive Links, you need to explain yourself.
He looks cross-eyed whenever they show his face in trailers...? I'm not sure how to explain myself better than that. Just look at any of the trailers where Link is all awe-struck. He's still the second most expressive Link, though, following the one in TWW.

It's a moot point anyway since we'll hardly be seeing Link's face during the game. And Zelda is sooo cute, so who cares? <3
 
BY2K said:
He's about 40 hours in. So it sounds like the later dungeons gets really clever and impressive.

40hours? Wow. I'm sure that's exploring for heart pieces and stuff. Apparently this Zelda has side quests other than getting heart pieces, love to learn more about those.
 
Neiteio said:
I know exactly what you're saying. Of the flaws you mentioned, the bland dungeons and dull cloudscape are probably the worst offenders, followed by Link's cross-eyed vacant stare and the muddy whitewashed textures. I'll differ from you, though, in that I think the enemies look fantastic. The Bokoblins, in particular, have really grown on me, and the SS version of Lizalfos is the best yet (love the Hellboy-like guantlet). That gold statue boss that looks like Christopher Colombus crossed with Sheva is drop-dead gorgeous, too. Also, I should add this version of Zelda herself is my favorite yet, and Ghirahim, of course, is quite cool.

Yes, the statue boss is the one that I think looks great, although I wasn't fond of the "now it's time to hit me" animation, looked way unnatural. Not a fan of the goblins at all, I think they were going for like a Vedic motif or something but it just doesn't work. It's just weird to me that the same artists who produced spectacular Wind Waker designs are turning out off-putting charmless stuff like this now. I was ready for impressionistic surreal amazingness or even a rehash of WW charm but that didn't really happen.
 
Neiteio said:
He looks cross-eyed whenever they show his face in trailers...? I'm not sure how to explain myself better than that. Just look at any of the trailers where Link is all awe-struck. He's still the second most expressive Link, though, following the one in TWW.


I'm not an expert on eyes, but I'm pretty sure his gaze is staring at one point in space, so it shouldn't look cross eyed... I looked in the mirror and I look the same... I think.

I agree his face looks rather stupid there, but he looks great in other places:

 
I just hope it looks better than TP on my HDTV. Some of those textures were pretty bad. Though how much of the gamecube assets it was using, who knows.
 
Going to use a 42'' plasma with S-video, 480p. While it looks awful during loading screens (systems on HDTV aren't the exception), the colors are pretty vibrant.
 
RPGCrazied said:
I just hope it looks better than TP on my HDTV. Some of those textures were pretty bad. Though how much of the gamecube assets it was using, who knows.
TP used all Gamecube assets. 16:9 and mirrored world aside I'm pretty sure the GC and Wii versions were visually identical.
 
GrotesqueBeauty said:
TP used all Gamecube assets. 16:9 and mirrored world aside I'm pretty sure the GC and Wii versions were visually identical.

Playing on Dolphin in HD with widescreen hack enabled, yes - they do look identical. Apart from the HUD of course.

Quadrangulum said:
I'm willing to wait for a good Dolphin build and configuration before I even try the game.

Fuck that, I'm not that picky. I'll play through it straight away on my Wii next tuesday and enjoy it, and then again on my PC (with framedrops and issues, but awesome graphics) - just like I did with Xenoblade.
 
Only two more weeks. My hype is a raging inferno now. I'm so glad that Super Mario 3D Land will distract me for that last week. I haven't been this hyped since Brawl, and I remember those last few days being hellish on my patience.
 
Nintendo-4Life said:
Count again.
3 - One
4 - Two
5 - Three
6 - Four
7 - Five
8 - Six
9 - Seven
10 - Eight
11 - Nine

Anyhoo, there won't be a new console Zelda in the ten years that TWW was released, so my point stands.

This will likely be the worst Zelda ever made.
 
About 11 days to go, and the hype is going through the roof. I'm happy I went into a media black out a couple of months ago, apart from a few tidbits (thank you, bastards who don't use spoilertags :(). Inject your Zelda into my veins, Nintendo.
 
My innocence is taken, I've been spoiled, the horror!

Anyways I just wanted to say it kind of sucks that America is not getting this game first but whatever, maybe that is standard policy. As far as I am aware we are the strongest Zelda market.
 
oatmeal said:
3 - One
4 - Two
5 - Three
6 - Four
7 - Five
8 - Six
9 - Seven
10 - Eight
11 - Nine

Anyhoo, there won't be a new console Zelda in the ten years that TWW was released, so my point stands.

This will likely be the worst Zelda ever made.
3 to 4 = one year
4 to 5 = two
5 to 6 ='three
6 to 7 = four
7 to 8 = five
8 to 9 = six
9 to 10 = seven
10 to 11 = eight
 
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