Skyward Sword review thread [Newest Reviews - Cubed3 10/10, GC: A, AusGamers: 7/10]
- Thread starter EatChildren
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electroshockwave
Member
No, you're thinking of a different Shane.Bluemercury said:
Alexios
Cores, shaders and BIOS oh my!
No it's not a good thing because the pointer use is far inferior to almost every other implementation out there, it's used heavily from the various ranged weapons to the first person looking around, and requires frequent recentering as it often goes way off when switching from sword fighting to menus to pointing, something that never, ever happens with sensor bar powered pointing which works exactly the same way every time no matter how you waggle inbetween. You can get past it and enjoy the game regardless but pretending it's as good as it could or should be, or better, is silly. Especially when they could have offered both options, with Motion Plus taking the pointer over only when losing sight of the sensor bar (similar to Red Steel 2), with an option to turn the latter off and have it always use the Motion Plus.The Lamp said:
Your Wii remotes sound screwy though, or you forgot there are sensitivity settings for their cameras (although even the lowest should pick up anything at 6 feet). 10-12 feet is the distance I usually play Wii from and never encounter any issues despite the low sensitivity setting I use (because there are windows almost right behind the TV and higher sensitivity could pick up more than the sensor bar and cause issues), cursorless House of the Dead 3 and Ghost Squad are both dreamy like that.
brandonh83
Banned
LOL
"The dowsing rod sucks. They should have had waypoints just like every other game."
ohgod
and this comment on that video
"This video was very informative. I think that people should wait until the next Zelda comes out on the Wii U, and have some innovation. Shane is right, Zelda need to be impoved, alot. Hell, even the might Miyamota had some problems with the remote."
OHGOD
"The dowsing rod sucks. They should have had waypoints just like every other game."
ohgod
and this comment on that video
"This video was very informative. I think that people should wait until the next Zelda comes out on the Wii U, and have some innovation. Shane is right, Zelda need to be impoved, alot. Hell, even the might Miyamota had some problems with the remote."
OHGOD
RPGCrazied
Member
And its not a dowsing rod, Link uses his sword to do that. Someone wasn't paying attention in the game, lol
brandonh83
Banned
"they need to bring this game up to the standards of its competitors"
I didn't realize Zelda had competitors. Maybe I should just stop listening to this before I puncture my groin with an ice pick.
I didn't realize Zelda had competitors. Maybe I should just stop listening to this before I puncture my groin with an ice pick.
The Dutch Slayer
Member
The only one I can think of is Darksiders but that has some long way to go to be compared to Zelda. (and I love Bouth Darksiders and Zelda).brandonh83 said:
Alexios
Cores, shaders and BIOS oh my!
No clue but it definitely doesn't sound right... Tried cleaning the sensor bar? Sometimes it's the little things. My Wii has been replaced once but the sensor bar is still the same close-to-launch one as I only sent the main unit in for repairs, I don't know if deterioration is common for them...The Lamp said:
@ jarosh
There are a bunch of things I disagree on with you speaking from someone else who has beat the game. I'm gonna warn people here however...it'll contain SPOILERS so don't read or quote this post if you don't want to be spoiled.
The first thing I disagree with is mainly your views on the combat. You are completely correct that most of the enemies in the game don't really require it, but there are still various enemies in the game like the Skullatas that require the use of the Motion Plus so I think it's fine. You're also forgetting that most of the bosses require it and make fantastic use of the combat, especially the fights with
The swordplay controls is also very good and natural similar to the controls of the items so I don't see how anyone can really complain about it. It's disappointing that there isn't as many challenges with the swordplay as I would've wanted, but it serves it's purpose and is still superior to any combat system in any Zelda game ever.
I also disagree that linearity hurts this game. The thing is that this game isn't really designed to be open ended and is more structured along the lines of Super Mario Galaxy than something like Ocarina of Time. The level design is very different from the other 3D Zelda games and calls completely for linear design, as the entire game is basically a series of trials and challenges that you as the player are going through. This game is basically a series of pure gameplay with dungeon design integrated into the entire structure of the game itself. Arguably the only thing I think that's intended to be open ended is the sky overworld, but unfortunately much like the Great Sea there isn't really much to do aside from a couple islands.
I also feel like this game is like a true 3D conversion of 2D Zelda when it comes to level design. Every level is condensed and contains a lot of content and every area feels like it's integral and important to the gameplay. This is also a comparison to Super Mario Galaxy in how that game was a conversion of 2D Mario in 3D, while this is a conversion of 2D Zelda in 3D. You have 2D Zelda level design philosophy, and challenging gameplay that focuses on combat similar to Zelda II. In a lot of ways Skyward Sword is pretty much the perfect representation of the 2D Zelda in 3D, while still remaining fresh.
Complaints against Fi are pretty valid, but I highly disagree that they tried a Midna with her.
, however she really didn't involve herself with the story too much. Groose, Zelda, and
are more along the lines of Midna than Fi is. Groose is easily one of the most developed and badass characters in the entire Zelda series which makes up for Fi being meh. Zelda is pretty solid too but it's unfortunate that, like you said, the game's plot/story basically keeps you in mystery most of the game so you barely get to see Zelda.
The game's story is really light, there is a surprising lack of it and while it's still a more important game that most Zelda games including The Wind Waker and Twilight Princess in terms of plot, the game leaves more things vague than I expected it would. The game really is pure gameplay and that's really the focus of Skyward Sword till like near the end-game.
Edit: Oh and another thing I'm surprised you haven't complained about the
That was genuine shit. Unique idea, terrible execution and just as bad as the light tears hunt from TP. Funnily enough hunting in tears in Skyward Sword is some of the best parts of the game.
There are a bunch of things I disagree on with you speaking from someone else who has beat the game. I'm gonna warn people here however...it'll contain SPOILERS so don't read or quote this post if you don't want to be spoiled.
The first thing I disagree with is mainly your views on the combat. You are completely correct that most of the enemies in the game don't really require it, but there are still various enemies in the game like the Skullatas that require the use of the Motion Plus so I think it's fine. You're also forgetting that most of the bosses require it and make fantastic use of the combat, especially the fights with
Ghirahim and Demise.
I also disagree that linearity hurts this game. The thing is that this game isn't really designed to be open ended and is more structured along the lines of Super Mario Galaxy than something like Ocarina of Time. The level design is very different from the other 3D Zelda games and calls completely for linear design, as the entire game is basically a series of trials and challenges that you as the player are going through. This game is basically a series of pure gameplay with dungeon design integrated into the entire structure of the game itself. Arguably the only thing I think that's intended to be open ended is the sky overworld, but unfortunately much like the Great Sea there isn't really much to do aside from a couple islands.
I also feel like this game is like a true 3D conversion of 2D Zelda when it comes to level design. Every level is condensed and contains a lot of content and every area feels like it's integral and important to the gameplay. This is also a comparison to Super Mario Galaxy in how that game was a conversion of 2D Mario in 3D, while this is a conversion of 2D Zelda in 3D. You have 2D Zelda level design philosophy, and challenging gameplay that focuses on combat similar to Zelda II. In a lot of ways Skyward Sword is pretty much the perfect representation of the 2D Zelda in 3D, while still remaining fresh.
Complaints against Fi are pretty valid, but I highly disagree that they tried a Midna with her.
They try to give her character development at the end but wasn't really successful
Impa
The game's story is really light, there is a surprising lack of it and while it's still a more important game that most Zelda games including The Wind Waker and Twilight Princess in terms of plot, the game leaves more things vague than I expected it would. The game really is pure gameplay and that's really the focus of Skyward Sword till like near the end-game.
Edit: Oh and another thing I'm surprised you haven't complained about the
Water Dragon tadpole hunt.
Bluemercury
Member
brandonh83 said:
What standards are those really?? i've been reading about Skyrim and it seems that is the same type of game as oblivion yet you dont seem to hear the sentence " its same old thing...."
AzureRonin
Member
The Lamp said:
Maybe you have the sensor bar position in settings the opposite of what it should be? You can set it to be on top of the set or at the bottom. Maybe the tracking is off as a result?
brandonh83
Banned
Bluemercury said:
This game looks nothing like TP, WW, MM, or OOT. In terms of the gameplay and layout of the environments it looks decidedly different.
That's not even what I was really talking about. That comment was obviously made with Assassin's Creed or Skyrim in mind.
butter_stick
Banned
The presentation of Zelda is still firmly rooted in the 32/64bit era. Graphics have improved and the cutscenes are more ambitious, but it's still presented in the same way it's always been. That's the area they need to bring up to date. Personally it's not a big deal, but I can see where people are coming from.
Bluemercury
Member
brandonh83 said:
Buit what are those standards???i've just yesterday saw skyrim and its still very identical to Oblivion which was a good game but full of problems, many of which passed to Fallout 3 and im not even talking about the infinity of bugs present. But i would really like to know what these GT experts standards are.....besides Graphics of course...
I don't think this is the case, Skyward Sword is actually very cutscene heavy and while I've always considered Zelda to be kind of relative to the idea of 16 bit RPGs are like puppet shows rather than cinematic storylines, Skyward Sword is very cinematic and emotional. I kind of take back what I said about it before as I now think the game would've benefited from voice acting from all the characters, including Link. Twilight Princess wouldn't have, but I think Skyward Sword would'vebutter_stick said:
The dialogue is also very good and I would've loved to hear the lines spoken by proper voice actors
brandonh83
Banned
Bluemercury said:
I don't know. I don't suppose I'm any kind of authority to be talking about this in the first place considering my personal stance and taste in games. I mean Zelda could make advances, but I just beat Modern Warfare 3 last night and it's the same Call of Duty. However it's fun, and it works, because its a tried and true formula. Modern Warfare 3 added a couple of things, made some very minor adjustments here and there, but it was the same game I played 2 years ago but with new levels (kind of) and set pieces. I enjoyed MW3, just as I enjoyed the first two, but it certainly did not make any notable advancements. At least not on the level that these guys are verbally lambasting Zelda for.
I find that to be a shred hypocritical but what do I know.
cool_dude_2049
Banned
So I keep hearing about Dolphin and I know nothing about it. Can anyone tell me where I can get some more info? Is it something where I can play retail discs or something illegal like downloading roms? My wii makes a loud humming sound when I play and if I could play it through my laptop and hook it up to my t.v. rather than modding my Wii and loading games through the USB, that'll be better.
Sadist said:
Went to my local Game mania and they said it's not possible to give out the game before rls date because they keep check in their systems and whoever does break street date could get fired lol.
Shame, getting Zelda today would have been a nice bday surprise for me.
butter_stick
Banned
If you compare the cutscenes of something like Mass Effect 3 to Zelda, Zelda is clearly a generation behind. The fact Nintendo manages to be emotive in Zelda considering the Wii hardware is to their credit, but its unquestionable the experience feels almost retro at this point, and stylistically hasn't evolved too much.Big One said:
These things don't reduce my personal level of enjoyment, but I think they're valid enough points that I'm not going to discredit people that have these issues.
brandonh83
Banned
Mass Effect doesn't have good cutscenes though. They're very sterile and robotic. Unless you're talking about those huge overproduced marketing trailers or whatever. I don't see how Zelda would benefit from such.
Watching some of the reviews out there, I'm becoming very excited for this. It's pretty clear that they are not simply running through the motions again. Ocarina of Time has been the foundation for most Zelda games since the 90s and I've been waiting for something different. This really seems like a significant leap in a lot of ways.
I can't tell you how happy I am to hear that the score was mostly orchestrated. Not only is the quality high, but the tunes themselves are quite powerful and moving from what I've heard. I haven't really enjoyed a Zelda soundtrack since Zelda 3 (well, the GB game had great music as well, but Zelda 3 is tops). The music of OoT and every other recent Zelda game has been rather boring and played back with very low sound quality.
I can't tell you how happy I am to hear that the score was mostly orchestrated. Not only is the quality high, but the tunes themselves are quite powerful and moving from what I've heard. I haven't really enjoyed a Zelda soundtrack since Zelda 3 (well, the GB game had great music as well, but Zelda 3 is tops). The music of OoT and every other recent Zelda game has been rather boring and played back with very low sound quality.
Eh I don't really think it's a generation behind aside from the lack of voice acting. The characters in the game do things, a lot and there's several really dynamic cutscenes (there's just only a few of them cause the game is light on the story). I'm not really sure how you define it as a generation behind, what exactly are the requirements for this? Cause I'm not seeing it. In comparison, Darksiders is considerably less of an cinematic game that Skyward Sword, and Darksiders feels very current gen.butter_stick said:
Alexios
Cores, shaders and BIOS oh my!
It's a different approach, not an outdated one, outside Wii jaggies and what not. Not every game wants or needs constant Hollywood blockbuster type cinematic "qualities". They have subtle movevements where needed, such as Zelda's fingers when she's playing the harp, exaggerated movements where needed, such as the theatrical reactions of the various characters, similar to Wind Waker, and generally whatever is necessary to convey what they want, and what they want isn't Mass Effect or Uncharted. That you personally prefer one or the other doesn't mean anything outside that, a preference you project as a standard. Link isn't going for the cool mature badass factor to get Solid Snake poses with the sweeping camera at the tip of the sword looking back to him. It's The Sleeping Beauty, not The Lord of the Rings. That's an analogy, even The Sleeping Beauty has a far more serious tone than much of The Skyward Sword, but obviously doesn't go for the "cool" angle of The Lord of the Rings movies. I'm sure that if they ever take that direction the production "values" will be there. But that wasn't the intent here and I don't see how you missed it.
butter_stick said:
You probably picked the worse possible game for your comparison. The Mass Effect series' cutscenes are universally awkward and have nowhere near the style that any post-OOT Zelda has. Something like Uncharted or Red Dead Redemption might be a better one.
butter_stick
Banned
You're confusing production values and quality. I laugh at how tacky Mass Effect is, but it is unquestionably a more impressive production.brandonh83 said:
butter_stick
Banned
I don't play Mass Effect on account of it being shit, but I watched some cutscenes from the beta that leaked and it's very visually pleasing, even if mentally retarded.Ushojax said:
brandonh83
Banned
butter_stick said:
Sure but they're aiming at Mass Effect to have a very sci-fi film feel, like Blade Runner. Zelda isn't striving for anything of the sort.
Also it's on outdated hardware compared to what Mass Effect is running on. I just don't find it to be a very fair argument. Two different games with two very different aims.
butter_stick
Banned
I'm not saying put space ships in Zelda's cutscenes.brandonh83 said:
Obviously Wii's hardware holds it back, but MGS managed to put out impressive stuff on PS2. Zelda doesn't exist in a bubble.
Thrillhouse
Member
Why on earth would anyone want a Zelda with Mass Effect/MGS-type of cutscenes? They're all shit compared to even the worst movies, so why bother trying to be one?
brandonh83
Banned
butter_stick said:
MGS put out impressive stuff on PS2 because that was a huge focus of that development. That's something that the MGS series is known for. What's Zelda known for? Puzzles, dungeons, secrets, that Zelda atmosphere that you can't find anywhere else. The cutscenes are give or take, they're not a big component of the franchise and hopefully never will be.
Why should Zelda adopt something that it doesn't need? For the sake of being able to say "well folks, now we're talking, Zelda has Hollywood style 30 minute cutscenes, now it can finally compete with Mass Effect!" ?
butter_stick said:
Production values aren't everything.
You could argue that Pixar has more impressive production on a technical level than Ghibli but if someone said to me that Ghibli should be more like Pixar I would probably gouge out their eyes.
Like other people have said, Zelda has its very own stylistic identity that does not necessarily need higher production values.
Honestly Zelda needs to keep its own identity, comparisons to all these other games is interesting but pointless.
It has survived as long as it has because it has very strong sense of self and Nintendo know what they can do better than anyone else (and probably know what they can't do as well as other devs).
butter_stick
Banned
Zelda has tons of cutscenes. By all accounts SS has more than ever.brandonh83 said:
I'm not saying it needs to be a generic Hollywood gaming game, I'm saying not enough has changed in the presentation since Ocarina and Wind Waker. Whether or not this affects you is irrelevant. I'm just saying that if it's a complaint someone has, to me it seems perfectly valid.
walking fiend
Member
I am sure production values of Transformer is considerably higher than Citizen Kane (where's Ani?butter_stick said:
)butter_stick
Banned
It's not either/or. Increased production values doesn't mean losing what makes Zelda Zelda. Pixar movies don't look like Transformers, doesn't mean the production values aren't comparable.krYlon said:
As an example, I really like the villain in SS (not enough to remember his name, clearly). But he would be more interesting if he had a voice. The lack of voice acting in no way improves his personification. It's only a negative.
AgentOtaku
Member
dark10x said:
All of it's grower material but when it grows, it GROWS
Also this:
Queen Rutela
Probably my favorite track in the entire 3D franchise and I only heard it recently
butter_stick said:
That's why I said "not necessarily". I'm saying it's not important (IMO).
I don't see what the huge benefit would be for Zelda games to have better production values in their cutscenes.
I'd rather they concentrated on gameplay, art and level design, like they always do.
But of course, we all have different opinions and different tastes. I get that.
brandonh83
Banned
butter_stick said:
A voice acted Ghirahim? do you even realize how fucking horrible that would be? I mean think about it. I don't think there's a voice actor out there capable enough to not do something that would be a total embarrassment.