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

H

herzogzwei1989

Banned
guess what guys, I just got paid and now can afford Skyward Sword. I'm about to walk down to GameStop in De Soto Square Mall in Bradenton, Florida! So awesome, I'm so happy


So how is the game?? Will i like it if i LOVED Twilight PRiness (favorite Zelda ever) ?
 
JimboJones

JimboJones

Member
herzogzwei1989 said:
guess what guys, I just got paid and now can afford Skyward Sword. I'm about to walk down to GameStop in De Soto Square Mall in Bradenton, Florida! So awesome, I'm so happy


So how is the game?? Will i like it if i LOVED Twilight PRiness (favorite Zelda ever) ?
Click to expand...

I really liked TP and I really like SS. Some things have been improved some things are worse but it's still a Zelda game so you should probably know what to expect.
 
T

The_Darkest_Red

Member
Just finished the third dungeon.
Oh how I missed you, Super Mario Sunshine!
That was probably one of my favorite dungeons in a Zelda game ever. Creativity, variety, charm, and excellent level design were all on display, and the whole thing was topped off with an excellent boss fight.

I'm loving the game so far.
 
A

Alrus

Member
Finished the fifth dungeon. That whole part was just great, although I think I liked the pre-dungeon better than the dungeon itself (but the boss fight was great!). Seriously, that whole area is damn beautiful, I loved it.

Now on to do some side-quest, it's been a while.

I'm really happy I got into the game more after the first few hours felt so frustrating. I'm better with the controls and I the last few parts have been so great I always want to play more.

Edit: By the way what was the puzzle in the fifth dungeon that Fi was supposed to spoil? I don't remember anything particularly difficult here and she never interrupted me except to tell me that the boss door was a boss door (which she only started doing after the third dungeon for some reason...)
 
K

Keru_Shiri

Member
herzogzwei1989 said:
guess what guys, I just got paid and now can afford Skyward Sword. I'm about to walk down to GameStop in De Soto Square Mall in Bradenton, Florida! So awesome, I'm so happy


So how is the game?? Will i like it if i LOVED Twilight PRiness (favorite Zelda ever) ?
Click to expand...

You're in for a great time, I personally think it's a dramatic step up from TP so far, and I loved TP.
 
T

The_Darkest_Red

Member
I really don't mind Fi so far. I mean, I see her as kind of a joke because of how obvious everything is that she says, but the way it's presented makes me laugh it off instead of feeling annoyed.

If it was, "Master Link, maybe we should try to get behind this huge door and see if something interesting is there!" I would probably get tired of it quickly, but it's more like, "Master Link, there is an extremely high probability that something incredibly important is behind this huge door" it just kind of makes me chuckle and get on with things.

I'm also not one of those people who's bothered by the pace of the game or the dialog, though.
 
R

Red

Member
I'd like to add to my last post that by "dead space" I meant more than just emptiness. SS does a much better job creating a living, energetic world than any Zelda game before it. TP created a decent illusion of a busy Castle Town, but didn't allow you to talk to anyone. SS not only features more interactive NPCs, but encourages you to talk to them through sidequests. The Skyloftian knights flying around are a great touch and show that Link isn't alone in the skies. Same for the occasional stray Loftwing. Even the flying squirrels that sometimes skydive with you build the world in a way that Zelda hasn't seen before.

I think previously, Majora's Mask came closest to a living world through its NPCs and their personal stories (it is more complete than SS in a lot of ways). Wind Waker played a little with a world interested in Link with its dolphins and seagulls, but it never went far enough. There were no other boats on the sea, for example. SS IMO has the most comprehensive 3D Zelda world so far.

I have to replay Majora's Mask. That's the only other game I think comes close. It also remains my favorite 3D Zelda after playing Skyward Sword.
 
Deputy Moonman

Deputy Moonman

Member
Crunched said:
Jarosh: the dead space in Twilight Princess is due to the size and breadth if each area. By no means is it as awful as Wind Waker, but it is still a drag traveling through a vast and empty Hyrule field. Each proper area is also so huge that despite being able to teleport, it can take a while to get from point to point within each area.

I much prefer SS's compact layout, where every few feet there is an enemy encounter or opportunity for light platforming. That kind of thing is reminiscent of the 2d games, where mostly every square of the map featured something to do.

I also prefer flying, where every objective and location is clearly marked and visible at all times, to TP's vast labyrinthine Hyrule. I'm up for exploring, but given the choice of exploring an epic nothingness and a tightly designed, compact zone, I'll take the latter.

Take Lake Hylia for instance. Swimming in TP is so cumbersome, and the area is so massive that it takes something like 3 minutes to swim from one side to the other. That doesn't seem long, but when you have nothing to do for those 3 minutes except hold forward it becomes a problem.

In general, movement in SS is faster and more fluid as well, which allows for easier traversal and a quickened sense of pace.

I think something like Dark Souls or Arkham City handles the type of exploration TP attempted quite a bit more deftly.
Click to expand...
I disagree. I greatly appreciated the larger zones and think that there was plenty of hidden things littered throughout each area in TP, or enough to at least make the areas interesting. I don't like games that cram a bunch of stuff everywhere for the sake of making every space have something. The larger spaces in OoT and TP complimented the use of a horse (or wolf). The larger areas also added nice pacing and gratification for when you were finally able to move faster or warp zones instantly. At the beginning of both games, it's a little slow getting around. Later you get a horse, which speeds up the travel time. Eventually you end up with different songs to warp you to the different areas. The slow movement in the beginning makes you really appreciate the faster travel times later. And when you warp to different locations, you know that you're actually saving time and skipping real areas that can be explored. It feels good and rewarding. It's the same thing as slowly getting better and better weapons and items with game progression. If you started out with all of the good stuff at the beginning, there would be no sense of accomplishment and no satisfaction in having the stronger weapons. Maybe I'm alone, but I feel like a connected over-world, that can actually be traversed on foot, makes the game more rewarding in the end.
 
R

Red

Member
Deputy Moonman said:
I disagree. I greatly appreciated the larger zones and think that there was plenty of hidden things littered throughout each area in TP, or enough to at least make the areas interesting. I don't like games that cram a bunch of stuff everywhere for the sake of making every space have something. The larger spaces in OoT and TP complimented the use of a horse (or wolf). The larger areas also added nice pacing and gratification for when you were finally able to move faster or warp zones instantly. At the beginning of both games, it's a little slow getting around. Later you get a horse, which speeds up the travel time. Eventually you end up with different songs to warp you to the different areas. The slow movement in the beginning makes you really appreciate the faster travel times later. And when you warp to different locations, you know that you're actually saving time and skipping real areas that can be explored. It feels good and rewarding. It's the same thing as slowly getting better and better weapons and items with game progression. If you started out with all of the good stuff at the beginning, there would be no sense of accomplishment and no satisfaction in having the stronger weapons. Maybe I'm alone, but I feel like a connected over-world, that can actually be traversed on foot, makes the game more rewarding in the end.
Click to expand...
I like connected overworlds as well, but I have a problem with huge sections of emptiness. I thought TP did a much better job than Wind Waker at encouraging exploration, but I prefer the constant doing of Skyward Sword.

I see the most important thing in a game as interactivity moment to moment. Skyward Sword keeps you connected to the game world more consistently.

But it's of course opinion in the end.
 
T

The_Darkest_Red

Member
Crunched said:
Reminded me of a cross between
fludd and the gust jar from Minish Cap.
Click to expand...
Ah yes, I forgot about that. I still need to finish
Minish Cap
.

Hollywood Duo said:
I never considered it from that angle,
I just assumed it was the natural evolution of the gust jar from Minish Cap
Click to expand...
The way the sand disappears when you spray it reminded me so much of how the mud dissipates in SMS.
 
M

maharg

idspispopd
Crunched said:
I'd like to add to my last post that by "dead space" I meant more than just emptiness. SS does a much better job creating a living, energetic world than any Zelda game before it. TP created a decent illusion of a busy Castle Town, but didn't allow you to talk to anyone. SS not only features more interactive NPCs, but encourages you to talk to them through sidequests. The Skyloftian knights flying around are a great touch and show that Link isn't alone in the skies. Same for the occasional stray Loftwing. Even the flying squirrels that sometimes skydive with you build the world in a way that Zelda hasn't seen before.

I think previously, Majora's Mask came closest to a living world through its NPCs and their personal stories (it is more complete than SS in a lot of ways). Wind Waker played a little with a world interested in Link with its dolphins and seagulls, but it never went far enough. There were no other boats on the sea, for example. SS IMO has the most comprehensive 3D Zelda world so far.

I have to replay Majora's Mask. That's the only other game I think comes close. It also remains my favorite 3D Zelda after playing Skyward Sword.
Click to expand...

Halfway through your post I was going to ask you if you'd even played Majora's Mask. I don't see how anyone could consider any other Zelda to have a more 'living energetic world' than MM. That is the top of the Zelda charts on that count. It's more complete than SS in every way as far as I've seen so far.

So, I'm done the third dungeon and about to enter the fourth and... I'm really ambivalent about this game so far. Every now and then it's just brilliant. In a lot of ways the best Zelda in a long time.

But oh god, the ways it drags things out on both small and large scale... I think I was ten hours in before I felt like the game was really giving me a chance to not have my hand held through every little thing, and a large part of that is weird little things like having you re-talk to the shopkeepers for each individual item instead of being able to just choose something and buy it. Or having to rotate the boss keys to make them fit. And obviously the fetch quests. Oh god the fetch quests. None have been the worst in the series so far, but the volume of them is very trying.

Flying, though, is a lot of fun. It's a great new take on the sort of thing Wind Waker tried (and failed) to do with the sea. Giving you free motion from the start was a good decision here.

If it weren't for the fights between the first and second dungeon that basically teach you how to properly use the sword, I might have given up on the game a while ago. That's when the game really clicked for me, but I remain annoyed by the drag-it-out techniques that seem omnipresent.
 
D

decoyplatypus

Member
Crunched said:
I'd like to add to my last post that by "dead space" I meant more than just emptiness. SS does a much better job creating a living, energetic world than any Zelda game before it. TP created a decent illusion of a busy Castle Town, but didn't allow you to talk to anyone. SS not only features more interactive NPCs, but encourages you to talk to them through sidequests. The Skyloftian knights flying around are a great touch and show that Link isn't alone in the skies. Same for the occasional stray Loftwing. Even the flying squirrels that sometimes skydive with you build the world in a way that Zelda hasn't seen before.

I think previously, Majora's Mask came closest to a living world through its NPCs and their personal stories (it is more complete than SS in a lot of ways). Wind Waker played a little with a world interested in Link with its dolphins and seagulls, but it never went far enough. There were no other boats on the sea, for example. SS IMO has the most comprehensive 3D Zelda world so far.

I have to replay Majora's Mask. That's the only other game I think comes close. It also remains my favorite 3D Zelda after playing Skyward Sword.
Click to expand...


SS's world has an admirable level of density, but I don't think it's more "alive" than WW's. Skyloft does nothing that Windfall Island didn't do. In fact, the pictograph quest and the back-and-forth with the two families that trade places are both longer and richer sidequests than anything in SS. WW also had two additional "towns" (Outset and Dragon Roost) and probably just as many characters around the world map (we'd have to compare the number of Mogmas and Gorons in SS vs. the Gorons, Tingle slaves, deep sea divers, and mini-game operators in WW). There may have only be two other boats on the sea (Beetle + diver guys), but there were also fish to consult in every tile.

WW's map should have been 15% smaller, and it absolutely would have benefited from more interesting pirate fortresses and at least a few larger landmasses, but even bloated with empty space it does a very good job of enticing you to explore "one more tile."
 
M

Metroid Killer

Member
Crunched said:
I like connected overworlds as well, but I have a problem with huge sections of emptiness. I thought TP did a much better job than Wind Waker at encouraging exploration, but I prefer the constant doing of Skyward Sword.
Click to expand...
I guess I will quote myself from a couple of pages back concerning the issue:

Metroid Killer said:
What was great about the Ocean is that it served as a way to journey, nothing more, nothing less. In TP I was letdown because I expected to go explore the many hyrule fields and find secrets everywhere, but they were so large and barren of stuff.
When sailing in Wind Waker the adventure was not to discover secrets everywhere around in the ocean, the adventure was to find the next island, or whatever was on the horizon.
WW and TP's overworld were both large and vast, but the way they presented made a big difference imo.
Click to expand...

I think the way the two games approach the overworld is completely different. TP followed the same overworld recipe from the original Zelda, where you are supposed to go search for hidden stuff in every crook and nanny, in WW the focus was on traveling.
I think despite having different focuses both overworlds were too big/barren for their own good, but I felt it much stronger with TP. The field north of Kakariko(where the Eldin bridge is located) was especially poor being the biggest area in the game, but at the same time having the least amount of secrets.

I'm happy with the SS solution though.
 
B

brandonh83

Banned
Also, where I'm at, after these new story developments, am I to assume that
perhaps this Demise character is going to reincarnate himself into Ganondorf much like Hylia reincarnated herself into Zelda
? Seems like the obvious thing going on here, if this game is truly the establishment of all the major plot points across the series.
 
L

Let me in

Member
I just passed the third trial:
It seems I am about to enter the sixth dungeon and I noticed an area of Lanayru still seems washed out on the map. Is there yet another area to be explored here? Just a yes or no, no spoiler...
 
B

brandonh83

Banned
OMG

"You can now claim the Triforce"

sqVLu.gif


I just hope it doesn't suck as bad as it did in WW
 
E

EvilMario

Will QA for food.
Going back to collect Heart Pieces now. I know which will be the toughest to get..
damn these mine carts! 1:06 is my best right now. Need to get under 1:05 :(

edit: Just got 1:04.03. Nevermind!
 
M

MechaX

Member
The_Darkest_Red said:
I really don't mind Fi so far. I mean, I see her as kind of a joke because of how obvious everything is that she says, but the way it's presented makes me laugh it off instead of feeling annoyed.

If it was, "Master Link, maybe we should try to get behind this huge door and see if something interesting is there!" I would probably get tired of it quickly, but it's more like, "Master Link, there is an extremely high probability that something incredibly important is behind this huge door" it just kind of makes me chuckle and get on with things.

I'm also not one of those people who's bothered by the pace of the game or the dialog, though.
Click to expand...

Outside of Fi solving one puzzle for me NOT at my request, I can't say I find her as annoying as a lot of other video game NPCs out there. I find a sort of humor in Fi in how she's played so completely straight, but she is always behind the curve and slow on the uptake than everybody else. I wonder if something got lost in translation, since there is no way Nintendo could have written Fi like this on accident. Whether it be an objective that two NPCs have already explicitly told Link to do or if it's me running to a crack in the wall with my bomb already primed, I'm always like "Okay Fi, that's nice."

Plus, when it comes to her bullshit probabilities, I'm personally curious on whether there is an instance in the game where she's actually wrong about something.
 
L

Lord_Byron28

Member
decoyplatypus said:
SS's world has an admirable level of density, but I don't think it's more "alive" than WW's. Skyloft does nothing that Windfall Island didn't do. In fact, the pictograph quest and the back-and-forth with the two families that trade places are both longer and richer sidequests than anything in SS. WW also had two additional "towns" (Outset and Dragon Roost) and probably just as many characters around the world map (we'd have to compare the number of Mogmas and Gorons in SS vs. the Gorons, Tingle slaves, deep sea divers, and mini-game operators in WW). There may have only be two other boats on the sea (Beetle + diver guys), but there were also fish to consult in every tile.

WW's map should have been 15% smaller, and it absolutely would have benefited from more interesting pirate fortresses and at least a few larger landmasses, but even bloated with empty space it does a very good job of enticing you to explore "one more tile."
Click to expand...

I highly disagree with your assessment of WW. WW had a few sidequests and yes they were more involved than SS but SS had a lot more sidequests and to 100% SS you have to interact with just about every single person in Skyloft. I think there are maybe two or three people who you never have to talk to, to 100% the game. On top of that almost every single character(including the Mogma, Gorons, Kikwi, Water people) all have a few sentences description of their personality and who they are. Also the sidequests are far more varied from
bug catching, locating special items and people in all three regions below, delivering items to people in a short amount of time, rescueing people, two love related sidequests, helping someone grow stronger, harp playing, cleaning someone's home, pumpkin balancing, sword slicing, archery, etc.
This game has characters spread out everywhere in all areas and almost all have unique personalities and most of them you are required to interact with to 100% the game unlike WW, OoT or TP.

MechaX said:
Outside of Fi solving one puzzle for me NOT at my request, I can't say I find her as annoying as a lot of other video game NPCs out there. I find a sort of humor in Fi in how she's played so completely straight, but she is always behind the curve and slow on the uptake than everybody else. I wonder if something got lost in translation, since there is no way Nintendo could have written Fi like this on accident. Whether it be an objective that two NPCs have already explicitly told Link to do or if it's me running to a crack in the wall with my bomb already primed, I'm always like "Okay Fi, that's nice."

Plus, when it comes to her bullshit probabilities, I'm personally curious on whether there is an instance in the game where she's actually wrong about something.
Click to expand...

The developers or translators(I can't remember) said they made Fi the way she is intended to be humorous but I think they kinda messed up with the execution. Yes she is captain obvious and is slow on the uptake but I don't think the writing or something doesn't translate into humorous instead it translates to a lot of the time just being annoying. Fi does have a few funny moments on how unsubtle, blatant disregard for others when speaking to Link.
 
B

BGBW

Maturity, bitches.
Shame they didn't have a figurine gallery again, but I suppose Fi fills the role of providing information on all the characters.
 
V

volmer

Member
Regarding the music in the game, I really liked this piece that plays when you
first speak to the woman in the sealed temple
. I think it evokes a strong feeling of history and age.
 
DownLikeBCPowder

DownLikeBCPowder

Member
Finished the second area,
Volcano
. Still really, really digging this game. I think this game looks absolutely gorgeous and only Nintendo can make N64ish textures (door to swordmaster shop? Maybe any door?) look appropriate and fitting. I love even what should have been an awful grass texture is a beautiful mix of colors.. The splash looking design is just phenomenal to me. Game is so far exceedingly easy, but seems to progress at a pace that I'm enjoying so I am completely forgiving for the time being. I love the design decision to make "overworld" areas dungeons in themselves, but I feel it should have been offset by a little more in the sky. Hell, flying is cool enough, particularly being able to jump off at a really high altitude and make it pretty far just drifting. Pretty bad ass, but there should have been more to do this with. A Skies of Arcadia sky with lots of places to go (well, more populated even would be nice) and areas designed so that you could freefall from area to area even if it's minor platforming. Link's movements feel upgraded, fresher than ever. Link has needed something like this for a while. Looking forward to more progress.
 
R

Red

Member
brandonh83 said:
Also, where I'm at, after these new story developments, am I to assume that
perhaps this Demise character is going to reincarnate himself into Ganondorf much like Hylia reincarnated herself into Zelda
? Seems like the obvious thing going on here, if this game is truly the establishment of all the major plot points across the series.
Click to expand...
That's basically what I got as well.

I am expecting
Demise to get his hands on the Triforce, then realizing he can't use it because he isn't human.
 
A

Akuun

Looking for meaning in GAF
Finished first dungeon. I was very glad to see that in a dungeon, Fi shut up and didn't offer any more advice than Navi did. I was really afraid she would solve every puzzle or point out every door for me.

The game is starting to get fun. I really liked how
the main bad guy didn't do the "show up to reveal that he is a big bad guy, then summon a monster and disappear" cliche. He actually fought you as the first dungeon boss, and it was clear that he was totally toying with you the whole way, despite the encounter being appropriately challenging.
I didn't expect that at all, and it was a very pleasant surprise.
 
E

Effect

Member
Akuun said:
Finished first dungeon. I was very glad to see that in a dungeon, Fi shut up and didn't offer any more advice than Navi did. I was really afraid she would solve every puzzle or point out every door for me.

The game is starting to get fun. I really liked how
the main bad guy didn't do the "show up to reveal that he is a big bad guy, then summon a monster and disappear" cliche. He actually fought you as the first dungeon boss, and it was clear that he was totally toying with you the whole way, despite the encounter being appropriately challenging.
I didn't expect that at all, and it was a very pleasant surprise.
Click to expand...

Talk of her constantly talking is a massive exaggeration and insanely overblown I feel. She comes out by herself at key points. Like Navi her icon will flash but and you can decide if you want to answer or not. I'm past the third dungeon now and she hasn't been an issue at all for me.
 
R

Red

Member
Effect said:
Talk of her constantly talking is a massive exaggeration and insanely overblown I feel. She comes out by herself at key points. Like Navi her icon will flash but and you can decide if you want to answer or not. I'm past the third dungeon now and she hasn't been an issue at all for me.
Click to expand...
She gets worse over time, because she pops out automatically for the same things over and over again. Not a game breaker, but it's unnecessary hearing that there may be a boss behind a boss door every time.
 
F

fernoca

Member
I think (and I'm probably reopening a can of worms wit this :p); that Fi is one if not the only the character in this game that could've benefited from voice-acting and a few would've probably enjoyed her more that way.

Fi, during the entire game reminded me of a toned-down, less obsessed with killing Glados (from Portal/Portal 2). From the fact that she was just an artificial intelligence that accompanies Link through his journey, to the gibberish voice that sounded similar to Glados auto-tuned voice in the games.

Fi, was this AI that didn't understand Link's motivation to look for Zelda. To her, Link was just this human that she was supposed to guide and make sure he kept focused on "his quest". So, she was supposed to sound sarcastic or make feel Link dumb (at first) and also by constantly stating the obvious. You can even see this the few times you're given multiple choices to answer something to her and the way she replies back.

Look at many posts on this forum, were people don't get the sarcasm of others or get pissed off at the way some think and reply back with "do I need to write 'in my opinion' every time?". There are emotions (or lack of them) that are lost in written text, even more when the character's supposed to be an emotion-less artificial intelligence guiding someone through a new world...
at first
.

I still really liked Fi, and don't mind voice-acting in the game; but still wonder if that would've at least made a difference in this case. Same way that Glados sometimes pops around in the game to explain things you already know, but since she sounds sarcastic and is part of her character; one just laughs and continues playing. To many, it would've been "more acceptable" if after hearing someone saying "Link go to the forest and get this"..and have Fi appear in auto-tuned voice saying "Master, there's a 95% probability that if you go to the forest, you'll find that". Instead of just reading it; since many feel as if they're just reading the same thing..twice.

Or maybe it was just Nintendo's plan to "state the obvious" as I mentioned earlier, for the people that spam A or the people that don't read/care about the story bits.

Who knows.:p
 
R

RagnarokX

Member
Crunched said:
She gets worse over time, because she pops out automatically for the same things over and over again. Not a game breaker, but it's unnecessary hearing that there may be a boss behind a boss door every time.
Click to expand...

"There may be a boss door key in that boss door key chest. You know the chests that you've encountered before that all had boss door keys in them? Well this one that looks exactly like those might have a boss door key in it."
 
MisterHero

MisterHero

Super Member
I think Fi had the potential to be interesting after
you fix Scrapper
but I haven't finished yet so I don't know if that storyline will go anywhere.
 
S

SecretMoblin

Member
Effect said:
Talk of her constantly talking is a massive exaggeration and insanely overblown I feel. She comes out by herself at key points. Like Navi her icon will flash but and you can decide if you want to answer or not. I'm past the third dungeon now and she hasn't been an issue at all for me.
Click to expand...

The problem isn't her icon (even though the flashing can get annoying), it's that damn beeping. It's totally absurd that she gives you a new dowsing target, says "go exactly here", and the thing beeps and beeps until you either go into first person mode or you leave the area. It certainly doesn't ruin the game, but it's another one of those things that has an easy fix.
 
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