• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword |OT| Home of Punkin' Chunkin' Champion 2011

A

Amir0x

Banned
Divvy said:
I never even got to the second dungeon in Spirit Tracks. That train was such a buzzkill.
Click to expand...


The train is singlehandedly what keeps it from true Zelda greatness status. It was that awful.

I still liked it 'cause the puzzles and dungeons were quite good (similar to Skyward Sword, in that respect), most of the time... but that fucking train.
 
M

MatthewB92

Member
Question about post 6th dungeon
How do I get that damn goddess cube in the lava? If it has to do with something I don't have yet just say wait.
 
J

JumpingTheGun

Banned
funniest gaming moment of the year for me. dont read if you havent completed the 3rd dungeon.
The music suddenly changing to whiny horns when Goose announces what he will call the ground below upon his first arrival.
 
Z

ZedIndyLil

Member
Amir0x said:
The train is singlehandedly what keeps it from true Zelda greatness status. It was that awful.

I still liked it 'cause the puzzles and dungeons were quite good (similar to Skyward Sword, in that respect), most of the time... but that fucking train.
Click to expand...

Would you say Phantom Hourglass has "true Zelda greatness"? Not trolling, genuinely curious; I never got far enough in the game to form an overall opinion, but I know it was a polarizing game.

I'm rather depressed because I've determined that I probably don't have any time to put into SS until after the new year, which may make it the first console Zelda to be put on the dreaded Backlog Pile. And this is the first new game in forever I've really wanted to play...
 
D

Do The Mario

Unconfirmed Member
I am only just passed the first dungeon and have explored the sky.

My early impression so far is that this is the best game I have played in several years! In fact, it is so good that I have yet to open my copy of Super Mario Land!

I love the graphics and art style, the game feels like a painting at times.

The controls are excellent and work as advertised.

The world strikes a nice balance between exportation and offering a properly tailored experience.

The characters are also charming and the dialogue funny.

Currently shaping up to be my favorite Zelda since A Link to the Past.

I hope the rest of NeoGaf is enjoying this game as much as I am.

(p.s they really should have skippable dialogue, at the very least, when you read a conversation for a second time).
 
W

wrowa

Member
[Nintex];32962423 said:
Nope, SS and TP are two totally different games with different goals in mind and in that sense I expect Zelda Wii U to be quite different from these two as well.
Click to expand...

I think one could say that SS is sort of an Anti-TP. It's great where TP was bad (areas, more diverse puzzles, world & characters, creativity, worth of rupees), and it's bad where TP was great (dungeon design and, well, dungeon design).
 
D

Divvy

Canadians burned my passport
Amir0x said:
The train is singlehandedly what keeps it from true Zelda greatness status. It was that awful.

I still liked it 'cause the puzzles and dungeons were quite good (similar to Skyward Sword, in that respect), most of the time... but that fucking train.
Click to expand...

The most annoying part was that you couldn't just put the game down while the train was going. They had to put in stupid enemies that mess you up if you're not paying attention.
 
W

wrowa

Member
Not-exactly-endgame-but-very-close-spoiler:
Have those let's call it "Dragon Rooms" in Eldin Vocano any kind of purpose? There are two of them, and both have some kind of pedestal, but I couldn't figure out if there is anything to do in either of them...

MatthewB92 said:
There are no rocks. it's just a pool of lava with those fish things that spit curse at you. I bet I have to shot something on the roof right?
Click to expand...
Wait.
 
F

fernoca

Member
Through dungeon 5; amazing ride so far...literally. XD


wrowa said:
...where TP was great (dungeon design and, well, dungeon design).
Click to expand...
But that's the thing, so far..dungeon design to me is better in every psossible way in Skyward; while Twilight Princess that snow/house just bored the hell out of me(even when others swear by it); and I still really liked Twilight Princess (unlike the "worse Zelda mentality from months/years ago).

Same way I really like Fi; but others prefer Midna..and in my case I didn't care that much for Midna, neither fapped to "OMG Midna's Lament did you hear that song?"...while I can already name 3 songs I love in Skyward (Dungeon 4, Dungeon 5, pre-Dungeon 3).

Is why I still say, that people shouldn't buy or not buy this game based on others opinons, but just get it, play it for a few days and then form their own.
 
M

MalpercioGoC

Member
I just finished the game, and I must say, I am pleased.

I absolutely loved the fact that they incorporated both Zelda's Lullaby and the classic Zelda theme into the game, and how they did it as well.

I really enjoyed a lot of the end game story moments as well. Stuff like "wow! I just created the Master Sword!" or "Am I actually obtaining the Triforce?

As far as the final moments go, though, I enjoyed the final battle with Ghirahim much more than I did the fight with Demise - it seemed too short and almost "easy" to be the final boss. Then again, I had a Guardian Potion, potion medal, and Health Potion++ on me. I couldn't help but notice visual similarities between Demise and future iterations of him/Ganondorf.

Overall, a great game. Gonna set it down for a bit, maybe go back and hit the sidequests I missed, and then come back and do
Hero Mode
later.
 
V

ViewtifulJC

Banned
fernoca said:
Is why I still say, that people shouldn't buy or not buy this game based on others opinons, but just get it, play it for a few days and then form their own.
Click to expand...

If you are on NeoGaf and you have to be told this...

youre DEFINITELY got getting into NeoGaf Gold sub-forum in the 2012 update
 
R

rollingstart

Banned
Amir0x said:
The train is singlehandedly what keeps it from true Zelda greatness status. It was that awful.

I still liked it 'cause the puzzles and dungeons were quite good (similar to Skyward Sword, in that respect), most of the time... but that fucking train.
Click to expand...

That's the problem with calling Spirit Tracks a good game. Most of the game is riding the train. Technically Spirit Tracks is a train riding game. The dungeons are thrown in to break up the monotony of riding trains.

Really, if you got rid of the train and flute, Spirit Tracks has great dungeons. And it has a dope snake whip. Link literally uses a snake as a whip. Dr.Jones be shamed.
 
E

EmCeeGramr

Member
wrowa said:
I think one could say that SS is sort of an Anti-TP. It's great where TP was bad (areas, more diverse puzzles, world & characters, creativity, worth of rupees), and it's bad where TP was great (dungeon design and, well, dungeon design).
Click to expand...

Dungeon design in SS is fucking fantastic.
 
R

richiek

steals Justin Bieber DVDs
Welp, I finally got the sword for the first time, and I gotta say I love the sensation of swinging the sword around. It's very responsive and I thought diagonal swings would be difficult, but they're not hard to pull off at all. That Gamespot review was totally off the mark in that regard.
 
W

wrowa

Member
EmCeeGramr said:
Dungeon design in SS is fucking fantastic.
Click to expand...

Calling it bad was an (intentional) hyperbole, and every single one (well, apart of the second dungeon; that one is easily the worst 3D Zelda dungeon ever) is very enjoyable but the dungeons are also far too simple and short to be called fantastic. Especially not compared to Twilight Princess's dungeons, which in total are easily the best designed ones in the 3D Zelda history.

It's a side-effect of putting the focus on area design, I think. Something I was completely okay with.
 
I

IceDoesntHelp

Banned
wrowa said:
Calling it bad was an (intentional) hyperbole, and every single one (well, apart of the second dungeon; that one is easily the worst 3D Zelda dungeon ever) is very enjoyable but the dungeons are also far too simple and short to be called fantastic. Especially not compared to Twilight Princess's dungeons, which in total are easily the best designed ones in the 3D Zelda history.

It's a side-effect of putting the focus on area design, I think. Something I was completely okay with.
Click to expand...

what the hell am i reading?
 
D

Do The Mario

Unconfirmed Member
MiamiWesker said:
Same here, seriously some of the best dungeons of all time.
Click to expand...

Agreed,

ST had great boss battles (the fire dungeon boss was amazing), dungeons and puzzles.

The train inspired overworld while decent did overstay its welcome (notably because of the one hit kill demon trains and repetition).

ST really does not get the credit it deserves.
 
W

watershed

Banned
Okay I take back some of my bitching from earlier. Post 6th dungeon
doing the music note collecting was actually pretty fun for the faron wood section. The only part I didn't like was the note where you had to dive off the three. I missed like 3 times. At the volcano now, its okay so far.
Still I thought the game was building momentum towards something else that would be epic.
 
E

EmCeeGramr

Member
Second dungeon was really fun.

The dungeon design is a lot better than TP's "run left, run right, run forward," which includes the completely overrated City in the Sky (or in the case of Temple of Time, run forward then run back).
 
F

Forkball

Member
Played for about 4 1/2 hours, still not at the first dungeon yet. I did spend a lot of time flying around the sky, but sadly most people said "come back later!" The combat and the story are the highlights, but I found the graphics and art style to be bland outside of some good character designs. OH BOY I'M IN THE WOODS AGAIN NEVER BEEN HERE BEFORE IN A ZELDA EVER.
 
M

MalpercioGoC

Member
Ushojax said:
It's cool that you can get Fi to give you info on all the NPCs as well as the enemies. Some of the flavour text is great.
Click to expand...

That's awesome! I never even noticed thought to try that - I only ever used Fi the same way Navi/Tatl were used, to give some info about an enemy.
 
A

Amir0x

Banned
DBebm5 said:
Would you say Phantom Hourglass has "true Zelda greatness"? Not trolling, genuinely curious; I never got far enough in the game to form an overall opinion, but I know it was a polarizing game.

I'm rather depressed because I've determined that I probably don't have any time to put into SS until after the new year, which may make it the first console Zelda to be put on the dreaded Backlog Pile. And this is the first new game in forever I've really wanted to play...
Click to expand...

No. To me, not counting CDi games, Phantom Hourglass is the absolute worst Zelda game. It has the worst puzzles, the worst dungeons, the worst story, the worst everything, the worst graphics (its molested Wind Waker style offends me more now than going back to replay Ocarina of Time on N64), the worst music. And it's all coupled to the easiest difficulty level in the franchise history. One boss can literally be defeated in mere seconds. It's still an 'ok' game, because it has Zelda's core mechanics, but it is FUCKED up.

wowra said:
Well, I disliked it at least. I don't think there was ever a 3D Zelda dungeon as simple and short as that one.
Click to expand...

I think there needs to be a redefining of what dungeon means in this game. Even though when you get to the place or whatever we're calling it a dungeon, CLEARLY the pre-dungeon areas might as well BE dungeons. You solve almost as many puzzles and environmental challenges as the dungeons themselves. Actually, sometimes more!
 
E

EmCeeGramr

Member
Thinking of final bosses, I just realized when you get down to it, nearly every Zelda game's essence can really be captured with a description of its final boss.

I'd go into more detail, but I'll just give a few examples: Zelda 1's required experimentation and knowledge and you weren't quite sure what to do, Zelda 2's was insanely difficult as it forced you to fight yourself, Wind Waker's had you fighting a remnant of the past while history is washed away around you, Twilight Princess's took place in a giant ugly brown texture as unnecessary shoehorned OoT nostalgia hit you for half a heart of damage, and Phantom Hourglass has a bunch of dumb unimaginative shit you didn't care about.
 
K

Kard8p3

Member
EmCeeGramr said:
Thinking of final bosses, I just realized when you get down to it, nearly every Zelda game's essence can really be captured with a description of its final boss.

I'd go into more detail, but I'll just give a few examples: Zelda 1's required experimentation and knowledge and you weren't quite sure what to do, Zelda 2's was insanely difficult as it forced you to fight yourself, Wind Waker's had you fighting a remnant of the past while history is washed away around you, Twilight Princess's took place in a giant ugly brown texture as unnecessary shoehorned OoT nostalgia hit you for half a heart of damage, and Phantom Hourglass has a bunch of dumb unimaginative shit you didn't care about.
Click to expand...

Do Spirit Tracks and Skyward Sword.
 
E

EmCeeGramr

Member
Kard8p3 said:
Do Spirit Tracks and Skyward Sword.
Click to expand...

Spirit Tracks had you doing imaginative shit with a train and on a train in which two friends who really trust each other worked together to stop a menace.

Skyward Sword, not to give anything away, has a fight that issboth familiar and unique, the culmination of something you've done multiple times but now transformed into entirely different, and if you let your guard down and act thoughtlessly you will get your ass kicked. Also, it takes place in a really breathtaking setting with great music.
 
TDLink

TDLink

Member
Ok, I have two sidequest questions:

1. Where the heck is Beedle's....beetle? I have searched all over the place.
2. How do I get into Zelda's room? I notice there is a crack in Karane's room but all i can do is roll into stuff and that isn't doing anything. I can see there is a gratitude crystal in there.

Thanks in advance for the help.
 
E

EmCeeGramr

Member
TDLink said:
Ok, I have two sidequest questions:

1. Where the heck is Beedle's....beetle? I have searched all over the place.
2. How do I get into Zelda's room? I notice there is a crack in Karane's room but all i can do is roll into stuff and that isn't doing anything. I can see there is a gratitude crystal in there.

Thanks in advance for the help.
Click to expand...

1. Go to Bug Island and talk to Stritch.
2. Go onto the roof of the school and look at the chimney. Once you're inside, don't forget to look through the grate, lol.
 
C

cajunator

Banned
Amir0x said:
Well, I beat it. I think I'd settle on a 7.5 score, about equal to Spirit Tracks in my mind which I liked, but didn't adore.

I just want to highlight something. Prior to the game, we discussed a sort of Metroidvania type interconnected world where you kept returning to areas with new abilities and then unlocked new areas. I love the idea. But this game has literally three different forms of revisiting the same area, even if one is more constricted than the other, and it just drags on and on and often becomes the BAD type of backtracking.

I'll just use pre-4th dungeon stuff to highlight the difference.

GOOD backtracking:

You got a
Water Scale
! Now you can
swim under the water to access the Deku Tree!

BAD backtracking

You need to
prove yourself in this lame time trial fetch quest! All you do is go around this area you've been to now, like, THREE or FOUR times combing already, where virtually nothing is changed except there are statues that chase you!

GOOD backtracking:

You go back to
the Water Dragon and open up a previously inaccessible dungeon in the Faron area!

BAD backtracking

Holy fuck I have to
go back through the Water Temple, with virtually no differences except new enemies? For a bottle of water? REALLY? This is sub-Corruption quality, sub-shovelware dev levels of padding.

To me, this illustrates the core problem the game has outside of the unreliable controls and handholding issues. They need to cut all the fat wherein you're getting abilities so you could START backtracking, and implement it into the standard traversal the first time. For example, if you complete a dungeon you should GAIN the ability to let you backtrack immediately... through use of your tools, or whatever. You should not have all this needless and frankly unfun fat that is just between me and getting to areas I haven't seen yet. It's one thing if you're going to REALLY mix it up, it's quite another if you're going to be lazy about it and just have the same area with new enemies.



They didn't ditch it; they just provided the illusion they did by calling it "dowsing" and adding a lame extra step to the process. They actually devolved the streamlining.
Click to expand...

A lot of the backtracking so far hasn't bothered me. I enjoyed it and the
miniboss in the water temple (its not really one) was fun to fight. All the doors and puzzles were unlocked so it was just a matter of quickly running to the end of it and getting the water
. Not hard or time consuming at all. Was it necessary? Definitely not, but I had fun with it. I similarly have enjoyed the fetch quests and the other backtracking in the game. I'm honestly not seeing whats so bad about it. Before I couldn't comment because I hadn't done it, but I have already played through a good portion of the backtracking parts and have not found them anything but enjoyable. I'm sure mileage varies with different people. It worked for me.
 
A

Amir0x

Banned
cajunator said:
A lot of the backtracking so far hasn't bothered me.
I enjoyed it and the miniboss in the water temple (its not really one) was fun to fight. All the doors and puzzles were unlocked so it was just a matter of quickly running to the end of it and getting the water.
Not hard or time consuming at all. Was it necessary? Definitely not, but I had fun with it. I similarly have enjoyed the fetch quests and the other backtracking in the game. I'm honestly not seeing whats so bad about it. Before I couldn't comment because I hadn't done it, but I have already played through a good portion of the backtracking parts and have not found them anything but enjoyable. I'm sure mileage varies with different people. It worked for me.
Click to expand...

spoiler tag plz.

right we've been over your thing on this game - everything is ok, nothing is wrong, the game works perfect, you're in love, you like the most bizarrely awful gameplay segments and will beg no apology for it, damn it!

More seriously, if you don't find the backtracking through places like
the Water Temple retread bad (which, by the way, did have one new door locked... you had to dig up in another room while being bombarded with lame and unfunny text from the mole guy. And while fighting lame enemies)
then you're just clearly more... forgiving... of faults then I am. I wouldn't accept such things from a shovelware game, I won't accept it from one of the best franchises going.
 
G

Guevara

Member
Outtrigger888 said:
Really like the game but the combat is just not clicking with me. I actually dread fighting a basic enemy.
Click to expand...
I agree, especially with guys with
electrified swords
. I know how the game wants me to attack them but it's just impossible for me. If I try to do a directional slash there's always a little angularity so I get shocked. Basically I just bomb everything and if I can't bomb it I run by.
 
L

Lingitiz

Member
Guevara said:
I agree, especially with guys with
electrified swords
. I know how the game wants me to attack them but it's just impossible for me. If I try to do a directional slash there's always a little angularity so I get shocked. Basically I just bomb everything and if I can't bomb it I run by.
Click to expand...

If you don't lock on, its incredibly easy to kill them. They basically stop blocking.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom | Review Thread
Analysis Review 2 3 4
156
8K
Jsisto replied
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Artbook & OST Announced for Summer 2024 (Japan Only)
News
13
1K
EverydayBeast replied
Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars – Reforged | Review Thread + Mini OT
|OT| Review 2
52
3K
amigastar replied
Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom | Preview Thread
Opinion 2
68
5K
MMaRsu replied
The Nintendo Switch isn’t going out quietly - The Verge
2
87
6K
AngelMuffin replied
Top Bottom