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

Ether_Snake said:
ALTTP's instruction manual's art still illustrates what IMO a Zelda game should look like. It should be much closer to traditional light-Tolkien-esque fantasy rather than JRPG abstract designs. It seems all of that has been sacrificed to support a collection of mini-games.
can you explain how "JRPG esque design" is the result of "support of minigames ?"
 
Ether_Snake said:
Go to bed.

Come back with a reply of some sort tomorrow.
What is there to reply to, exactly? You've posted nothing approaching coherency.

And don't do the dismissive "go to bed" bullshit on me. That's stupid and condescending, two adjectives that I'm sure you've been well-acquainted with over your life.
 
brandonh83 said:
Dated in what way, I mean beyond the technical side of things?

Most of the negatives would stem from the technical limitations of the Wii in different ways, so I don't see why that gets a pass.

They did mention some other elements like the lack of voice acting (which I honestly don't care about) that leads to the generic flapping jaw animations, the level up system for your inventory that was kind of clunky, etc.

It's all in the review, just watch it again. It was very well done and the game received a high score as well as what sounded like a resounding message of Buy This Game.

I don't see a single thing wrong with the review at all.
 
I just remembered another negative that has been mentioned by a few different places: the harp kind of sucks because it's not really interactive like the instruments have been in the past.
 
farnham said:
to be fair.. zelda gets shit for using the same formula over and over again while games like halo, gears, uncharted, call of duty (to name a few) get high praise for exactly that

I know, but to me this was never a valid criticism. It's fine to criticize it for things that don't scale up over time. For example an overly-cluttered HUD that looks like it was designed by Fisherprice, voices replaced by grunts to save cash on translation, outdated save/load system, the same basic go-to-dungeon/get-item/finish-dungeon formula, etc., are all valid criticism.

But the idea that the world's design has to change is non-sensical since hardware upgrades allow for major improvements with practically each title, enough so to keep things fresh, and it doesn't mean it always has to be in the same exact village. It just needs to stay true to its foundation, which was definitly NOT a flying school where people race on birds, trains, etc.

ShockingAlberto said:
I was going to say "I don't think anyone's mad about the score, people are just talking about the content of the review," but then I realized Ether_Snake probably just saw Haunted's quote in another post and made some sort of weird connection in his brain without actually reading Haunted's post.

Which is honestly hilarious.

No I didn't read his quote. Better luck next time.

WHY SO ANGRY?
 
The Mana Legend said:
I hate Gametrailers writing in their reviews, but at least the videos are well made and have that guy that can actually TALK. Unlike these Gamespot reviews ... uncharismatically shitting his way through a mumbling mess.
I really like GT reviews based on the video editing and Brandon Jones's voice too.

A little OT, but this reminded me of how odd Ryan Davis's old GameSpot reviews used to be where he used to seem so quiet and shy. He's fine on Giant Bomb, but some of the GameSpot reviews were a bit quiet. It's nice that he's come into his own now. :)

I just found this too. @_@
 
Mzo said:
I just remembered another negative that has been mentioned by a few different places: the harp kind of sucks because it's not really interactive like the instruments have been in the past.
I kinda wish they'd just not bothered with an instrument. It's easily the worst in recent games.
 
Medalion said:
As offensive as it sounds

At least they were open to say it... most other sites claim to be unbiased but there are people who work at these places who faves and hated gaming systems/companies

It's typical GameTrailers conduct. Their score usually doesn't match the content of the review. Whatever.

They'll tear a game apart and give it a 9 or praise a game and give it a 7. I don't pay attention to score.
 
Ether_Snake said:
I know, but to me this was never a valid criticism. It's fine to criticize it for things that don't scale up over time. For example an overly-cluttered HUD that looks like it was designed by Fisherprice, voices replaced by grunts to save cash on translation, outdated save/load system, the same basic go-to-dungeon/get-item/finish-dungeon formula, etc., are all valid criticism.

But the idea that the world's design has to change is non-sensical since hardware upgrades allow for major improvements with practically each title, enough so to keep things fresh, and it doesn't mean it always has to be in the same exact village. It just needs to stay true to its foundation, which was definitly NOT a flying school where people race on birds, trains, etc.



No I didn't read his quote. Better luck next time.
YOu may want to actually consider that a lot of people enjoy those things you mention, as well as them having a traditional place in this particular franchise.
the HUD can be reduced to nearly nothing it is customizeable. Voices are a preference thing, and the semi-silent treatment works for the Zelda universe. The save system is fine. The dungeon/overworld formula is visibly different in this game as well. So no, they really arent valid criticisms, only preferences. In which cas,e go back to Skyrim because you obviously dontl ike the Zelda formula anymore. Well thats fine, but don't make silly demands that fuck up the game for those of us who still like those things. A lot of criticisms are because the game doesn't go where YOU want to go, but you also are not me, or many other Zelda fans.
 
butter_stick said:
I wonder if Nintendo think they can get away with Zelda in 3-5 years not having voice acting. I guess they probably do :/
well mario went from no voice acting to voice acting and then back to no voice acting, so i don't think they consider it that big a deal.
 
butter_stick said:
I wonder if Nintendo think they can get away with Zelda in 3-5 years not having voice acting. I guess they probably do :/

Frankly, after Other M, I'm going to go with "It'd better NOT have voice acting!"
 
Mzo said:
I don't see a single thing wrong with the review at all.

It lacks any sort of coherent structure or organization; it darts all over the place like a 4-year-old trying to tell a story. If we had the text of the review transcribed, then this would be even more obvious.
 
butter_stick said:
I wonder if Nintendo think they can get away with Zelda in 3-5 years not having voice acting. I guess they probably do :/

what are you talking about getting away are you saying they should do it and it be for best NO!
 
butter_stick said:
I wonder if Nintendo think they can get away with Zelda in 3-5 years not having voice acting. I guess they probably do :/
They'll add it when the testing comes in that says they have more money to gain with it than without it.

There was a rumor a while back that this game was going to go full-on Hylian voices at one point with a still silent Link. Phi's auto-tuned gibberish and Zelda's song were going to be the big reveals of that. But the game was coming up against it and the multiple localizations and worldwide release slowed everything down.

I don't know if I place a whole lot of faith in the veracity of that rumor, but Zelda totally sings, so who knows. Maybe there was hope for bigger things.
 
onipex said:
Well they can.

It's part of the charm. It makes you feel like you're in a distant land in a fantasy culture, a time of old. To me at least.
After hearing Mario talk I want Link to keep his mouth shut.
 
AniHawk said:
well mario went from no voice acting to voice acting and then back to no voice acting, so i don't think they consider it that big a deal.
Zelda being the type of game it is, the lack of voice acting is starting to be a pretty major negative for me. I know the odds are VA would be terrible, ruin the game and kill the series, but they're gonna have to take the risk soon.
 
Mzo said:
I just remembered another negative that has been mentioned by a few different places: the harp kind of sucks because it's not really interactive like the instruments have been in the past.
Who cares really? This stuff always remind me of Greg Kasavin review of Deus Ex; giving it an 8.2, because lock picking was boring...


Zelda being the type of game it is, the lack of voice acting is starting to be a pretty major negative for me. I know the odds are VA would be terrible, ruin the game and kill the series, but they're gonna have to take the risk soon.
It's still a major attraction point for me...
 
The thing with Zelda is that if you try to change too much, you can really fuck up the dynamic, and frankly that will piss off a lot of fans of the series and is generally a very bad idea. Let's see what people think of the changes in Skyward Sword and go from there. If there is unilateral agreement that the next game could benefit from voice acting or some other big change, let nintendo decide. They have started incorporating short snippets of garblish in recent games, like Zelda singing in this one, so give it some time to filter through.
 
cajunator said:
YOu may want to actually consider that a lot of people enjoy those things you mention, as well as them having a traditional place in this particular franchise.
the HUD can be reduced to nearly nothing it is customizeable. Voices are a preference thing, and the semi-silent treatment works for the Zelda universe. The save system is fine. The dungeon/overworld formula is visibly different in this game as well. So no, they really arent valid criticisms, only preferences. In which cas,e go back to Skyrim because you obviously dontl ike the Zelda formula anymore. Well thats fine, but don't make silly demands that fuck up the game for those of us who still like those things. A lot of criticisms are because the game doesn't go where YOU want to go, but you also are not me, or many other Zelda fans.

The above post is a (second) perfect example of why I comment so rarely on this series. It has become an us VS them mentality, an outright imaginary war.

What I don't like about the series anymore is seen as an attack on what people like about it, and what I say I'd like to see is seen as demands, and me saying these things could apparently somehow chip away at what the fans still hold onto. Like the Zelda series has materialized into an idol of some sort and you are either a follower or not.

Somewhere, they forget we are talking about a product, like people talk about books, movies, or TV shows.

Yes, I have an opinion, and you can do nothing to diminish it, no matter how much it bothers you:p
 
The big benefit of voice acting is that it would force them to be a lot more concise.

Nintendo will probably need to make changes with their localizations soon. Supposedly they're hiring out for an internal voice director to be salaried at Treehouse for future projects.
 
This is why Zelda will never have voice acting:

Link.jpg
 
butter_stick said:
Zelda being the type of game it is, the lack of voice acting is starting to be a pretty major negative for me. I know the odds are VA would be terrible, ruin the game and kill the series, but they're gonna have to take the risk soon.

Oh yeah so many A-RPG have voice acting!

they Fallout 3... oh wait no it dont they Elder Scrolls... oh wait no that dont too
 
I actually think that they'll go against it just because they would actually want them to say Link's name in the game, and not just use generalizations like other games do with VAs and a named protagonist.

I kinda think they would make a semi-big deal out of not being able to name your character after yourself, as far as dev. talk goes. I don't think they'd half-ass it either, so it's all one or the other, and I just don't think they want to commit to not letting you name your character, or having to resort to pronouns for character references.
 
walking fiend said:
Who cares really?
I find it really surprising that with the push for 1:1 motion controls we're given a musical instrument in a Zelda game that we can't use the motion controls to play.

It doesn't register as a negative for me, but it's still a weird oversight given the way the series has been handling these things for the past few games.
 
Ether_Snake said:
The above post is a (second) perfect example of why I comment so rarely on this series. It has become an us VS them mentality, an outright imaginary war.

What I don't like about the series anymore is seen as an attack on what people like about it, and what I say I'd like to see is seen as demands, and me saying these things could apparently somehow chip away at what the fans still hold onto. Like the Zelda series has materialized into an idol of some sort and you are either a follower or not.

Somewhere, they forget we are talking about a product, like people talk about books, movies, or TV shows.

Yes, I have an opinion, and you can do nothing to diminish it, no matter how much it bothers you:p
Its a case of your requests being potentially harmful to the dynamic of the series without careful transition. I dont want this game to end up anything like Skyrim except maybe in the scale of the overworld, which being on an HD platform will surely be able to provide anyway on WiiU. Unless you can come up with how Hylian can be used in the game with full voice acting WITHOUT sounding utterly stupid, then let it go. This game isnt characters speaking in english. It isnt them speaking in any known language. We also dont want it sounding like Okami. As for the dungeon dynamic, as I said, let Skyward Swords layout be analyzed and played through, and see how it works out. The series has always been about items, puzzles and dungeons. There is no benefit in significant changes to the formula.
 
Ether_Snake said:
The above post is a (second) perfect example of why I comment so rarely on this series. It has become an us VS them mentality, an outright imaginary war.

What I don't like about the series anymore is seen as an attack on what people like about it, and what I say I'd like to see is seen as demands, and me saying these things could apparently somehow chip away at what the fans still hold onto. Like the Zelda series has materialized into an idol of some sort and you are either a follower or not.

Somewhere, they forget we are talking about a product, like people talk about books, movies, or TV shows.

Yes, I have an opinion, and you can do nothing to diminish it, no matter how much it bothers you:p
Have you ever thought that actually those who criticize the game are trying to label the fans as dumb people who cling to an archaic franchise?

I can quote you exactly these type of posts from last 24 hours. It's good to step down from your high horse, you know
 
Ether_Snake said:
overly-cluttered HUD that looks like it was designed by Fisherprice

that is optional. you can choose from three HUDs


Ether_Snake said:
voices replaced by grunts to save cash on translation,

nintendo has explained time and time again why they did not use voice acting for zelda. they want the player to think they are link.

xenoblade or last story all have a lot voice acting yet they are games that did not have the budged or importance of zelda (sadly imho because both games are awesome)


Ether_Snake said:
outdated save/load system,

this i dont get. why do you need to have the same save and load system (quick save or whatever) in every game ?

zelda mm had a really restrictive save system but that made the game so fun

Ether_Snake said:
the same basic go-to-dungeon/get-item/finish-dungeon formula, etc.,,
wait a sec. you just said that its no valid criticism to my following post "to be fair.. zelda gets shit for using the same formula over and over again while games like halo, gears, uncharted, call of duty (to name a few) get high praise for exactly that"
 
On the age-old topic of Zelda voice acting: I'm okay without it (never really bothers me, honestly...) but if they do put it in, I'd prefer a Hylian constructed language ala Shadow of the Colossus. Spend money on one stellar voice cast.
 
jump_button said:
Oh yeah so many A-RPG have voice acting!

they Fallout 3... oh wait no it dont they Elder Scrolls... oh wait no that dont too
I think you have your genres a little mixed up. Zelda doesn't belong anywhere near those other two games.
 
Without it, the game kind of just has that charm of reading a book to me, and is something you just can't get with voice acting. Half the arguments in here, to me, read like books vs. movies, which is better? I don't think there's one right answer, but both still have relevancy and are enjoyable mediums that deliver fun, just in different methods.
 
jump_button said:
Oh yeah so many A-RPG have voice acting!

they Fallout 3... oh wait no it dont they Elder Scrolls... oh wait no that dont too
It doesn't need voice acting for every piece of dialogue in the game. But theres no reason why good voice acting in cutscenes would be a bad thing.
 
Mzo said:
I think you have your genres a little mixed up. Zelda doesn't belong anywhere near those other two games.

Some like to compare them, though.

And uh... Fallout 3 and Elder Scrolls do have voice acting... jump_button. Unless you're trying to say something I don't get.
 
Thoraxes said:
I actually think that they'll go against it just because they would actually want them to say Link's name in the game, and not just use generalizations like other games do with VAs and a named protagonist.

if they ever went full-on english, i think the easiest workaround would be to have two voice files, one with generic name (like, 'the hero') and another one with 'link' and the game would recognize if the person chose link's name or went their own route and fill in the blanks.

of course the best compromise would be to have a hylian language thing.
 
walking fiend said:
Have you ever thought that actually those who criticize the game are trying to label the fans as dumb people who cling to an archaic franchise?

I can quote you exactly these type of posts from last 24 hours. It's good to step down from your high horse, you know
I dont even know why these guys say shit like this considering Uncharted 3 is in my fucking Playstation 3 console right now. I mean seriously, its not like Im sitting in my basement with only a Wii saying it is the only great thing about gaming. But Zelda is something special that I hold very dear, and changing it significantly is not something that many of us fans want. Sometimes things Nintendo does with its franchises are experimental, but sometimes it keeps things the same BECAUSE THEY WORK FOR THE SERIES. If you change something too much then it becomes something else. It ceases to be that which you loved before.
 
I think the point Is Zelda is still visually remanisant of Ocarina of Time in a lot of ways. When reviewers say the formula feels tired even though there's obvious gameplay differences, I think it's the visual language of the game they're talking about. Eventually Nintendo need to move away from everything looking like Ocarina with better graphics. Things like the way the camera pans when you enter a new area, the camera angles during dialogue, just the way the game is framed, it's all very retro at this point.
 
Nintendo does experimenting with voice acting pretty often. It's just not always consistent.

Epic Yarn was completely narrated like a storybook and that worked. S&P2 had full dialogue and a Japanese language track as an option and that game probably didn't make back its localization costs.
 
cajunator said:
The thing with Zelda is that if you try to change too much, you can really fuck up the dynamic, and frankly that will piss off a lot of fans of the series and is generally a very bad idea. Let's see what people think of the changes in Skyward Sword and go from there. If there is unilateral agreement that the next game could benefit from voice acting or some other big change, let nintendo decide. They have started incorporating short snippets of garblish in recent games, like Zelda singing in this one, so give it some time to filter through.
I think in general they don't want to make too drastic a change too quickly. If they make another terrible localization disaster like other M, then the damage might be unrepairable.
 
I don't understand what people want when they say that the formula feels tired. What the hell do you want man, a different game? There's plenty of those out there.
 
ShockingAlberto said:
Nintendo does experimenting with voice acting pretty often. It's just not always consistent.

Epic Yarn was completely narrated like a storybook and that worked. S&P2 had full dialogue and a Japanese language track as an option and that game probably didn't make back its localization costs.
man, i forgot about s&p2. why even bother hiring the va studio for the day to do that?
 
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