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

ShockingAlberto said:
I am such a pro at Zelda

Did you know I beat Ganon?!
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You're doing it wrong. I remember in elementary school when the SNES first launched and some kid at recess says "I beat Super Nintendo last night." Referring to Mario World and I guess not knowing about other games and just thinking SMW was going to be the only SNES game.

Feep said:
I mean, you explore the three main areas, I guess. Those are all highly linear, which is fine, but doesn't offer me the feeling of exploration I sought.
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Sounds like another Zelda that is going to be amazing, just not necessarily the ideal Zelda game that many fans want. 4/10
 
Doesn't waste much time praising or nitpicking about tangencial stuff, the cuts right to the chase. Go watch the IGN review, that was a pathetic "cream my pants" festa.
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The best review doesn't need to be compared a worst review to show its merits.
And nitpicking is exatly why I am saying that he is not giving a good review out of the game. His impression fails to intergrate these points and give an over all impression out of the game.

Also, I seriously doubt some of his complaints being valid, such as Ghirahim not being a memorable character.

Easy to answer, it's the most informative of the reviews around from a person thats intimate with series and an expert Zelda player.
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That doesn't add any inherent value to his opinion. There are lots of different people intimate with series with very different views regarding the series, which can be in a tiny minority.
 
oatmeal said:
The 3D Zeldas have lacked density.

MM probably had the best overworld in a 3D Zelda purely because it had very little empty space.

TP's was bad, OoT was bad, TWW was a great idea, but the lack of anything out there was bad. SS seems like it's more of the same...big empty sky, and then the dense land below (without the interconnectivity).

The land below sounds like it would have been the perfect overworld, had they all been interconnected.
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I think that TP is the best in this regard. If the overworld is too dense, then there is little sense of exploration for finding hidden secrets. You actually had to search the TP overworld. WW was fun but far too predictable. You could count on finding an island in each quadrant.
 
brandonh83 said:
You're doing it wrong. I remember in elementary school when the SNES first launched and some kid at recess says "I beat Super Nintendo last night." Referring to Mario World and I guess not knowing about other games and just thinking SMW was going to be the only SNES game.
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Heh, reminds me of my younger self when I used to say "well my Sony is better than your playstation!" (I was serious >_>).
 
No, I have not played the game, but I'm going to post my response to the negativity in a few of the reviews that I have read.

First, a lot of positive things have been said about a lot of the elements in SS. It appears (I do not know), that these positives make up the majority of the game -- amazing sword controls, amazing dungeons, amazing bosses, and fun exploration with your bird. Now, I would guess based on other Zeldas, that that is the majority of the game right there. In addition, a lot of incredibly huge positives have been ignored by most every "AA" review such as a 3D camera that doesn't require player-input it's so good (a huge achievement in any 3rd person adventure), great enemy variety that demonstrates the uses of your items and sword, and generally good design that makes the game easy to play.

What is left for negatives include backtracking (OH NO METROID), which, for me, adds a love for the environment rather than a tedious exercise. Also, there is the silent realm which you must backtrack in... which again, is fine for me and probably a very little amount of the game.

There is the odd negative that the game is linear, which for me is a funny little negative that could actually mean the game doesn't just leave you with no objective. In reality, every other Zelda game has been linear, and it has been a choice for the player to make it otherwise. The other funny little negative is that the overworld is sparse in design, which, in all honestly, has been the truth for every 3D Zelda overworld ever. For me, the space adds to the unique zelda feel of adventure -- riding my horse across a vast land, riding my boat into uncharted water, riding my bird into the beyond.

I feel the difference from the AA and AAAA reviews is simply a realization of what matters in a Zelda title. For some, that will be (I guess) unhampered design with zero "flaws," and for the others, a successful mix of what Skyward Sword offers.

In all, I have a feeling that if SS was a new franchise, it would be praised to no end for its superb gameplay, great dungeons and bosses, and good use of items and densely-packed levels. I feel like this game is on a "zelda curve" and is expected to never frustrate or something.

EDIT -- "Zelda Curve" means that every Zelda game exists in a world of dialogue spanning 25 years of what a Zelda game should be. This means that we have established things like "the overworld should be DENSE" and "backtracking through the Silent Realm is unforgivable on the level of Phantom Hourglass' backtracking!" In reality, these are design choices that are probably carefully decided by the team, and have decided are good elements. The dialogue that exists, however, creates an expectation that few other games have. Thus, the "Zelda Curve"
 
oatmeal said:
The 3D Zeldas have lacked density.

MM probably had the best overworld in a 3D Zelda purely because it had very little empty space.

TP's was bad, OoT was bad, TWW was a great idea, but the lack of anything out there was bad. SS seems like it's more of the same...big empty sky, and then the dense land below (without the interconnectivity).

The land below sounds like it would have been the perfect overworld, had they all been interconnected.
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Fuck, you exploated that nail. Those are exactly the problems of overworlds in 3D zelda games.
Feep said:
It isn't that I necessarily mind Zelda not having a "large" overworld, but I associate Zelda games heavily with exploration, with a world full of fun secrets and little details to discover and minigames to play. Skyward Sword does not deliver in that regard. There isn't even five hours of content beyond the main quest, unless you obsessively hunt for every bug and collectable for fairly pointless upgrades. And those are fetch quests.
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And more yes here.
ShockingAlberto said:
I am such a pro at Zelda

Did you know I beat Ganon?!
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I'll take a wild guess here, so i could be very wrong, but i think TSA could kick the shit out of you running Zelda games. :)
 
Mgoblue201 said:
I think that TP is the best in this regard. If the overworld is too dense, then there is little sense of exploration for finding hidden secrets. You actually had to search the TP overworld. WW was fun but far too predictable. You could count on finding an island in each quadrant.
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It was still too large, and there weren't many secrets to find in any of the chunks. It was very very barren.

Look at LTTP for what I'm thinking of. Every screen had something going on.

Dense.
 
Here's an amusing anecdote: I went to preorder Zelda at Gamestop a couple days ago, and this is what happened.

Me: "Hi, I'd like to preorder the special edition of Skyward Sword please."
Employee: "Cool man. Just a minute"
*types some shit into the computer*
Employee: "And you wanted that for 360?"
Me: *blank stare*
Employee: "360, right?"
Me: "Uh, what?"
Employee: "Did you want that for 360 or PS3?"
Me: "... I want it for Wii?"
Employee: "OH. Skyward Sword. I thought you were talking about Skyrim. My bad bro."

Fucking Gamestop
 
Refreshment.01 said:
I'll take a wild guess here, so i could be very wrong, but i think TSA could kick the shit out of you running Zelda games. :)
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When did Zelda become a competitive game?
 
oatmeal said:
Damnit, I was joking.

Trying to put 8/10 out there...repeatedly.

I don't know when they're going up.
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Aw shit :(
We need to see Gamespot's score. I hope it's an 8.5 or a 10, either or. The forums will explode either way :P
 
hyduK said:
Eh, at least OoT wasn't that big. And it didn't give you the illusion that there was something to do, like WW did.

Majora's Mask had the best overworld though, straight to the point.
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Majora's Mask has the best everything that isn't a large number of dungeons.

And now combat I guess if Skyward Sword's is really as good as people have been saying.
 
Mr. Paer said:
Here's an amusing anecdote: I went to preorder Zelda at Gamestop a couple days ago, and this is what happened.

Me: "Hi, I'd like to preorder the special edition of Skyward Sword please."
Employee: "Cool man. Just a minute"
*types some shit into the computer*
Employee: "And you wanted that for 360?"
Me: *blank stare*
Employee: "360, right?"
Me: "Uh, what?"
Employee: "Did you want that for 360 or PS3?"
Me: "... I want it for Wii?"
Employee: "OH. Skyward Sword. I thought you were talking about Skyrim. My bad bro."

Fucking Gamestop
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Should've kicked him in the groin. Hate it when clueless Game/Gamestop/wherever employees do this.
 
walking fiend said:
Also, I seriously doubt some of his complaints being valid, such as Ghirahim not being a memorable character.


That doesn't add any inherent value to his opinion. There are lots of different people intimate with series with very different views regarding the series, which can be in a tiny minority.
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Man, but you need to understand the value of "filtering" information. That's why i said he put on his review very subjective touches, the Ghirahim one is a prime example. Do you know what i did with that TSA opinion (Ghirahim)?

I took it directly to the trash and focused on the ones that could be more objective, were better explained and elaborated.

Even considering the above the fact remains that for a person that wants a critical piece about the game TSA stuff is the best one so far. Too bad it's not being taken more into account by insecure people.
 
Mr. Paer said:
Here's an amusing anecdote: I went to preorder Zelda at Gamestop a couple days ago, and this is what happened.

Me: "Hi, I'd like to preorder the special edition of Skyward Sword please."
Employee: "Cool man. Just a minute"
*types some shit into the computer*
Employee: "And you wanted that for 360?"
Me: *blank stare*
Employee: "360, right?"
Me: "Uh, what?"
Employee: "Did you want that for 360 or PS3?"
Me: "... I want it for Wii?"
Employee: "OH. Skyward Sword. I thought you were talking about Skyrim. My bad bro."

Fucking Gamestop
Click to expand...

You should have said that you wanted to preorder The Legend of Zelda: Skyrim Sword for Vita and to not ask anymore fucking questions.
 
Refreshment.01 said:
I'll take a wild guess here, so i could be very wrong, but i think TSA could kick the shit out of you running Zelda games. :)
Click to expand...
The best thing I've seen that runs a Zelda game has been the Wii.

I've yet to see TSA run a single Zelda game but I presume the graphics wouldn't be very pleasing.
 
Sorry to do this again, but I've been away all day, what did I miss? Any meltdowns? I'd like to believe we were prepared enough for the 8/10s.

Also, a 10/10 from Eurogamer is great news.

I wouldn't go so far as to say that SS is a polarizing game (8/10s are supposed to be great games, I can't get worked up over a sub-9 score), but I don't mind that Zelda has finally been recognized az a niche series. Not everybody is supposed to love these games, and that's fine.
 
ShockingAlberto said:
The best thing I've seen that runs a Zelda game has been the Wii.

I've yet to see TSA run a single Zelda game but I presume the graphics wouldn't be very pleasing.
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it looks kinda like any 360 shooter.
 
It's a 95 on MC with 24 critic reviews, and most of them are in fact perfect or near perfect scores.
Why was everyone freaking out again?
 
Rehynn said:
Sorry to do this again, but I've been away all day, what did I miss? Any meltdowns? I'd like to believe we were prepared enough for the 8/10s.

Also, a 10/10 from Eurogamer is great news.

I wouldn't go so far as to say that SS is a polarizing game (8/10s are supposed to be great games, I can't get worked up over a sub-9 score), but I don't mind that Zelda has finally been recognized az a niche series. Not everybody is supposed to love these games, and that's fine.
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Four-million selling niche.

Atlus would murder someone for that kind of niche.
 
oatmeal said:
You're just arguing for the sake of arguing.

Your impression of Oblivion is pretty valid, though it's not as detailed and well thought-out as TSA's...=
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I have not started evaluating how valid his points are, but merely that his impressions whether valid or not fail to draw a complete picture of the overall impression you will get from the game.

As an example, he complains about:

The First Two Dungeons
If they are short, why get upset so much? Unless whole of the game is short, is it?

The Warp System
How much do you need to do what he described?

Backtracking to Skyview Temple
Again, how much time is spend on this?

Backtracking in General
Once again, how much time is spend on It? (And also I am seemingly in the minority that didn't hate Temple of the Ocean King)

The Silent Realm
Once more, how much time is spent on them?

The Visuals
Again, fails to express how much of the game looks good. Does it most of the time looks good? Cause this has been my impression. But he implies that sometimes its good, the rest is not.

And while talking about nitpicking:
You Don't Lose Health if You Fall in a Hole
 
NEO0MJ said:
Don't you know that there is no timeline?
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Cy1bi.gif
 
ShockingAlberto said:
Four-million selling niche.

Atlus would murder someone for that kind of niche.
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Not the best choice of words, I admit.

However, I still maintain that it's not a mainstream title.
 
Vulcano's assistant said:
I'm going to do with GT's what I did with IGN's review. Open the video and scroll down. Listen to the review but avoid the spoilers.
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God that guy who voices the GT videos. He has the voice of an angel.
 
TheNatural said:
ibpkPy.gif
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Nintendo just sliced themselves in the foot.

I don't know how much the rest of you know about Zelda series (I'm an expert), but dungeons and overworld are huge parts of it. It's not like it is like MW3, which can become awesome by enjoying it like assholes. If Nintendo screws some factors over developing Zelda, they bring shame to themselves, and the only way to get rid of that shame is repentance.

What this means is the Zelda fanbase, after hearing about this, is not going to want to purchase Zelda Wii, nor will they purchase any of Nintendo's games. This is HUGE. You can laugh all you want, but Nintendo has alienated an entire audience with this development cycle.

Nintendo, publicly apologize and cancel Skyward Sword for Wii or you can kiss your business goodbye.
 
So...the side quests are ultimately meaningless fetch quests and few in number and just for upgrades? :(

Why do you do this to me Nintendo....you're never going to get a unique system like the masks in Majora with meaningful sidequests ever again.....8C
 
Mr. Paer said:
Here's an amusing anecdote: I went to preorder Zelda at Gamestop a couple days ago, and this is what happened.

Me: "Hi, I'd like to preorder the special edition of Skyward Sword please."
Employee: "Cool man. Just a minute"
*types some shit into the computer*
Employee: "And you wanted that for 360?"
Me: *blank stare*
Employee: "360, right?"
Me: "Uh, what?"
Employee: "Did you want that for 360 or PS3?"
Me: "... I want it for Wii?"
Employee: "OH. Skyward Sword. I thought you were talking about Skyrim. My bad bro."

Fucking Gamestop
Click to expand...

This moron should be sued right away for favouritism

Leonsito said:
I expect a 8.9 from Gamespot, 7 for Destructoid and 9.4 for GT.
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A 7/10 better being very well motivated.
 
ah it's a good thing i don't care much about side quests and mini games. probably why i like twilight princess so much. i just want a meaty main quest and if skyward sword delivers on that front, i'm more than happy.
 
_Alkaline_ banned? What happened?


jarosh said:
ah it's a good thing i don't care much about side quests and mini games. probably why i like twilight princess so much. i just want a meaty main quest and if skyward sword delivers on that front, i'm more than happy.
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Agreed. Really anticipating what you think of the game, jarosh.
 
Comment of the day has to be this under the EG review:

"I saw the score.
I watched the trailer.
I'm hugely confused.

How in fucks name can this be as good as Skyrim?

I have a Wii. Tried the best fifteen games available for it, only Super Mario was decent if it was actually 1993.
I'm sorry but this reeks of fanboyism."

Cracking stuff!
 
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