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[MarkMclovin]

OK, so moving on from my previous gripe about the filler between each

Spoiler

flame

dungeon, the run up to #5 is fucking great, fair play. Now that I'm expecting it, it isn't bothering my at all and I don't think I'm even at the dungeon yet.

Spoiler

I've just found the invisible ship.

God Daaaaamn, the music as well.

 

[PaddyOCanager]

Just went back to this game after taking a break to play other things. I must say I'm enjoying it much more than I was previously. I took some advice from this thread and started taking my time with the game - exploring, doing side quests and whatnot. I'm enjoying the motion controls more as well. Glad I took a breather, playing it before was like a chore but now I can't wait to hop back in. Also I turned the sharpness on my TV all the way down and the game looks beautiful.

EDIT: Also, the music is amazing.

 

[Angry Fork]

After 2 weeks: was the gamespot score right or wrong in your opinion?

 

[Joe Shlabotnik]

After 2 weeks: was the gamespot score right or wrong in your opinion?

I'm in the middle of what is apparently the worst part of the game and I'd still say a 7.5 is way off, even on a 1 - 10 scale normalized around 5. And it's ridiculous in the usual "7.5 - mediocre" scale. The raft of perfect 10s are equally strange although if the scale was modest enough (four stars, 5/5 maybe) I might still give it a perfect score.

The game has a handful of bewildering design choices, but I think it's still my favorite Zelda game since the N64 entries.

 

[maharg]

Unless you find proof that this is the case I believe this is just heresay, no video on youtube (that I have seen) had Fi Popping up without the button glowing.

Um, no. It's not like hitting down on the D-pad accidentally is a likely thing to happen, and many people (including myself) in this thread have *personally* experienced it.

There is definitely a mechanism whereby if you do something the game perceives as 'wrong' on certain puzzles Fi will forcefully come out and tell you how to solve it. If you want to see it for yourself, go through the game to the

Spoiler

Lanayru power generator puzzle and move the hands around the wrong way once

and she'll pop out on her own to tell you how to do it. Note:

Spoiler

if you do the wrong positions before turning on all the generators, she'll just pop out immediately upon turning them all on

. There's probably other, earlier, instances of this as well.

 

[The Technomancer]

After 2 weeks: was the gamespot score right or wrong in your opinion?

Oh way off. I have my gripes about the game, and in a vague emotional way I wasn't really "feeling" dungeons 3-6, but everything since then has been golden gravy and I love this game even with its flaws.

 

[zoukka]

After 2 weeks: was the gamespot score right or wrong in your opinion?

Right because the whole system is rotten and the rows of 10's don't tell us anything about these games.

 

[JimboJones]

Just beat the 5th dungen last night, all I could think when fighting the boss was

Spoiler

why am I fighting Mike from Monsters inc

 

[MisterHero]

After 2 weeks: was the gamespot score right or wrong in your opinion?

It was bullshit

anything that could be considered filler is actually entertaining and is fairly brief, even

Spoiler

Tadtones

. The controls are fantastic for the most part.

I would've dropped the game if they put Minesweeper right before the Master Sword though. My only other issue is the Lumpy Pumpkin mini-game; I even got used to playing the songs when I needed to. It's not as easy to remember and play as OoT's Ocarina but SS is much more than that.

I beat the game in ~65 hours and I'm still missing 4 Heart Pieces and a Life Medal. No regrets at all, actually.

Right because the whole system is rotten and the rows of 10's don't tell us anything about these games.

Oh so it's about proving an agenda. Okay

I sure as hell don't trust the media but I do trust EAD Tokyo. It was well-placed on Nintendo's part.

Just beat the 5th dungen last night, all I could think when fighting the boss was

Spoiler

why am I fighting Mike from Monsters inc

Indeed, they're pretty simplistic designs like SMG and even Donkey Kong Jungle Beat. I'm also reminded of LttP's art direction*, or the Eggplant Wizard from Kid Icarus.

* http://gallery.zeldalegends.net/thumbnails.php?album=36

 

[victreeb3l]

is the beetle the best weapon/tool ever introduced in any zelda game? just the fact that it lets you survey your surroundings as well as its other uses make it an incredibly important asset to have.

i really hope this or something like it returns in the future. make it a staple like the bow.

 

[DarkKyo]

Halfway through

Spoiler

the Skyloft temple(about to get second piece of triforce).
How much game do I have left? Like under an hour?
Will it tell me the point of no return or have I passed it?

 

[JimboJones]

is the beetle the best weapon/tool ever introduced in any zelda game? just the fact that it lets you survey your surroundings as well as its other uses make it an incredibly important asset to have.

i really hope this or something like it returns in the future. make it a staple like the bow.

Yeah it's alot of fun to use, scouting ahead areas, annoying enemies from afar, reminds me of the first time I got the Nikita missles in MGS, much better than the boomarang.

 

[Evlar]

is the beetle the best weapon/tool ever introduced in any zelda game? just the fact that it lets you survey your surroundings as well as its other uses make it an incredibly important asset to have.

i really hope this or something like it returns in the future. make it a staple like the bow.

I think so, yes; and the fact that

Spoiler

they give it to you so early

really changes the nature of the puzzles. It's no longer about what you can see from where you're standing, as you can launch your own little remote drone at pretty much any time in the game unless you're flying or swimming.

 

[Green Mamba]

Halfway through

Spoiler

the Skyloft temple(about to get second piece of triforce).
How much game do I have left? Like under an hour?
Will it tell me the point of no return or have I passed it?

You're very close to the end. And the game warns you when you reach the point of no return.

 

[ace3skoot]

Halfway through

Spoiler

the Skyloft temple(about to get second piece of triforce).
How much game do I have left? Like under an hour?
Will it tell me the point of no return or have I passed it?

fi will let you know when your at the point of no return and you have the option to proceed or not, you are at the end game now pretty much, you can still do side quests and whatever before that though.

 

[Levyne]

Halfway through

Spoiler

the Skyloft temple(about to get second piece of triforce).
How much game do I have left? Like under an hour?
Will it tell me the point of no return or have I passed it?

Maybe 60-90 minutes left.

The point of no return is very clear, don't worry. Pretty big spoiler:

Spoiler

It's going into a Dark portal to follow someone

 

[DarkKyo]

Thanks! Can't wait to see the shit that's about to go down at the end. Going to be so awesome.

 

[TheCongressman1]

I like the beetle, but I think it's way too relied on in SS. If it were to return in the next game, I'd hope it was an upgrade of some sort or at least harder to obtain.

 

[BGBW]

I like the beetle, but I think it's way too relied on in SS. If it were to return in the next game, I'd hope it was an upgrade of some sort or at least harder to obtain.

I liked it simply because it was a great way to examine a room.

 

[Hero]

I liked it simply because it was a great way to examine a room.

Same here.

 

[TheCongressman1]

I liked it simply because it was a great way to examine a room.

Yeah, sometimes I think I made things too easy on myself by using it that way. I think it makes things a little too easy. It has a pretty long flight time, it doesn't run on magic, and it can drop bombs. It's the ultimate tool. You really don't need much else...

 

[Doc Holliday]

I just started playing, I'm in the 3rd area. I remained pretty much spoiler free, didn't read the reviews and i have stayed cleared of this discussion.

I have one question, is the entire game like this? I mean do I always have to collect x amount of keys before entering a dungeon? I'm hoping the map opens up a bit. Starting to miss epona :/. Awesome game so far but the "dungeon" before a dungeon thing is a little weird.

 

[Joe Shlabotnik]

I just started playing, I'm in the 3rd area. I remained pretty much spoiler free, didn't read the reviews and i have stayed cleared of this discussion.

I have one question, is the entire game like this? I mean do I always have to collect x amount of keys before entering a dungeon? I'm hoping the map opens up a bit. Starting to miss epona :/. Awesome game so far but the "dungeon" before a dungeon thing is a little weird.

No, you don't literally have to collect key parts before every dungeon. But there is almost always some kind of "dungeon-y" task to get into the each dungeon. The overworld is much more quest- and puzzle-oriented than previous games.

 

[The Technomancer]

I just started playing, I'm in the 3rd area. I remained pretty much spoiler free, didn't read the reviews and i have stayed cleared of this discussion.

I have one question, is the entire game like this? I mean do I always have to collect x amount of keys before entering a dungeon? I'm hoping the map opens up a bit. Starting to miss epona :/. Awesome game so far but the "dungeon" before a dungeon thing is a little weird.

Nope. The pre-dungeon 4 section is probably the worst one though, after that it picks up.

 

[DarkKyo]

I just started playing, I'm in the 3rd area. I remained pretty much spoiler free, didn't read the reviews and i have stayed cleared of this discussion.

I have one question, is the entire game like this? I mean do I always have to collect x amount of keys before entering a dungeon? I'm hoping the map opens up a bit. Starting to miss epona :/. Awesome game so far but the "dungeon" before a dungeon thing is a little weird.

Each dungeon has a bit of a questing segment before it which usually takes around/over an hour or something like that. At first I felt like it was just padding but I think the pacing was great now and they grew on me in general. You're gonna find a lot of other solving-outside-of-dungeon-puzzles throughout the game besides these particular pre-dungeon segments. The game is probably only 50% dungeon.

 

[Tuck]

Maybe 60-90 minutes left.

The point of no return is very clear, don't worry. Pretty big spoiler:

Spoiler

It's going into a Dark portal to follow someone

And even then,

Spoiler

If you die, you get put back right before the point of no return.

 

[TheCongressman1]

Since the beetle does everything better, it would be a perfect bonus item for doing a side quest or something.

That's perfect.

They could have included the boomerang in SS. They could use the blue path indicator that they have for throwing stuff. It would fly in an oval shape and you pick the angle.

Awesome game so far but the "dungeon" before a dungeon thing is a little weird.

I'm with you, man. I don't mind elements of it in the overworld, but the areas really are just big dungeons. I'm starting to feel like that ended up watering down the actual dungeon design.

 

[maharg]

I think the Beetle is one of the things that sets this game apart and it's a far better 3d equivalent to the boomerang than the 3d boomerang ever has been.

 

[GregLombardi]

Holy shit @

Spoiler

the "Sword Bamboo" master or whatever he claims himself to be. Is it me or is he simply a representation of all game players that have played Zelda in the past? He is hilarious! Like...did the developers really consciously comment on old Zelda players getting fat, unable to swing a sword, and eating due to stress?

 

[The Technomancer]

I think the Beetle is one of the things that sets this game apart and it's a far better 3d equivalent to the boomerang than the 3d boomerang ever has been.

Yeah, the Beetle is definitely the iconic item of this game, and probably the most useful as well.

 

[Anth0ny]

After 2 weeks: was the gamespot score right or wrong in your opinion?

7.5 is too harsh. But the 10s for this game are absolutely ridiculous. I'd probably give it a 9.0 at best. This game is far from perfect, but still very good.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Coo, that makes me feel a little better. I just really enjoyed the breaks between dungeons in past games. Flying right now in skyloft doest feel as fun as horse riding or even sailing like past games.

 

[Evlar]

I think the Beetle is one of the things that sets this game apart and it's a far better 3d equivalent to the boomerang than the 3d boomerang ever has been.

I'm glad there wasn't a single "connect the dots" mechanic in this game (like several previous 3D iterations of the boomerang). That was always so clunky.

I'd be fine if the boomerang never returned to 3D Zelda. All hail the Beetle.

 

[Red]

7.5 is too harsh. But the 10s for this game are absolutely ridiculous. I'd probably give it a 9.0 at best. This game is far from perfect, but still very good.

A 9 -- so far from perfect.

 

[Damon Bennet]

I'm glad there wasn't a single "connect the dots" mechanic in this game (like several previous 3D iterations of the boomerang). That was always so clunky.

I'd be fine if the boomerang never returned to 3D Zelda. All hail the Beetle.

loved the boomerang in wind waker.

 

[Princess Skittles]

Holy shit @

Spoiler

the "Sword Bamboo" master or whatever he claims himself to be. Is it me or is he simply a representation of all game players that have played Zelda in the past? He is hilarious! Like...did the developers really consciously comment on old Zelda players getting fat, unable to swing a sword, and eating due to stress?

Um. No.

 

[Joe Shlabotnik]

Holy shit @

Spoiler

the "Sword Bamboo" master or whatever he claims himself to be. Is it me or is he simply a representation of all game players that have played Zelda in the past? He is hilarious! Like...did the developers really consciously comment on old Zelda players getting fat, unable to swing a sword, and eating due to stress?

Heh, I think you're reading into that a bit much. He's just supposed to be

Spoiler

the typical high school / college jock who got old and fat.

 

[Poyunch]

I don't know man. Marking multiple targets with the boomerang in Wind Waker and seeing it fly off and hit everything in succession was awesome. The Beetle is fun but it's not for quick actions.

 

[irriadin]

Currently in the middle of the last dungeon. Spoilers reflect everything in the game until that point.

I've had an interesting experience with this game. The introduction up to the end of the first dungeon felt very fresh to me. I loved it! Especially how

Spoiler

Ghirahim is the first boss, and a constant occurrence. I felt it gave the game a bit of unique twist, rather than the typical "Go into the boss room and fight a huge monster that has been sitting there waiting for you."

I have to admit being disappointed in the atmosphere in much of the game, however. Unlike some of the more memorable segments in, say, Twilight Princess or Wind Waker, Skyward Sword just doesn't reach the same heights. At least, not yet.

One aspect of the game they just nailed is the recurring boss,

Spoiler

The Imprisoned. Every battle the thing gets harder to take down. In fact, I remember being rather disappointed in the second encounter, until he started to climb the walls! I barely made it out of that battle. To say that I felt a great deal of apprehension and excitement at the third encounter is an understatement. I came out of that battle 1 heart and probably mere seconds away from total defeat.

A vague sense of disappointment had been growing on me during the second half of the game, until I entered the last dungeon.

Spoiler

I haven't finished it yet, but wow! This is probably my second favorite last dungeon in a Zelda game (let's face it, Link to the Past's final dungeon will probably never be surpassed.) The puzzles involved are refined, the battles are quite difficult, and the fact that I'm actually collecting the triforce just lets me know that some serious shit is about to go down.

I'm really excited to see the ending!

 

[ced]

I finally started this over the weekend. I don't like or find motion controls to be an improvement over traditional gamepad ones, but I'm bearing with it.

This is going to be a stupid question, but what's up with the red goblins and blocking? It seems like they change their blocking from top, right and left, but no matter where I slash them they just block it. Is the only way to hit them waiting for them to start an attack and hope your reflexes are fast enough to hit them first?

The 1:1 sword controls are pretty fun actually, it's the rest of the controls that really drag down the game for me. Having no camera controls is awful, hitting Z every 3 seconds to be able to see is not a good solution to this.

Visual style is great, as are the character animations while in conversations. This has easily my favorite Zelda (character). Not sure I like the 2D vaseline covered effect in the distance, but it does stay consistant with the water color like style. Oh and Fi's voice reminds me of beetle boy in Okami, not sure if this is good or bad.

I really think it's time for Nintendo to move on from the Ocarina of Time design, having such limited controls and movement is showing it's age.

 

[GregLombardi]

Heh, I think you're reading into that a bit much. He's just supposed to be

Spoiler

the typical high school / college jock who got old and fat.

He's

Spoiler

wearing Link's clothes

!

 

[Jackano]

Welcome back (from a more than 1 month anti-spoiler personal blackout). Finished it of course. I even finished my own review of it so here is my short but final troughts:

- I think that's the best Zelda since something like a decade; Feel free to rank it alongside any 3D Zelda but OoT.
- I don't like the world structure, lack of liberty, no connections between the Firon/Ordin zones ruins it (my main con here - and only 3 zones?);
- Several evolutions in the formula that's good, but that's not a revolution. For example only a few items, most of it only WM+ adapted items.
- Great music, characters (including Faye yeah I like her especially after the ending sequence), and story.

 

[MisterHero]

I finally started this over the weekend. I don't like or find motion controls to be an improvement over traditional gamepad ones, but I'm bearing with it.

This is going to be a stupid question, but what's up with the red goblins and blocking? It seems like they change their blocking from top, right and left, but no matter where I slash them they just block it. Is the only way to hit them waiting for them to start an attack and hope your reflexes are fast enough to hit them first?

You're going to have to learn how to Shield Bash/Counter in this game. If not for opening your enemies up to attack, it's also to add longevity to your shield (simply blocking their attacks will damage your shield).

He's

Spoiler

wearing Link's clothes

!

all the knights are

Spoiler

wearing Link's clothes

also I liked the nod to the Red and Blue Tunics that knights wear; the knights who save you whenever you fall off of Skyloft

 

[Metroid Killer]

Faye

First time I've seen anyone call her Faye. Not to be an ass or anything, but the proper pronounciation is Fai.

 

[GregLombardi]

You're going to have to learn how to Shield Bash/Counter in this game. If not for opening your enemies up to attack, it's also to add longevity to your shield (simply blocking their attacks will damage your shield).


all the knights are

Spoiler

wearing Link's clothes

also I liked the nod to the Red and Blue Tunics that knights wear; the knights who save you whenever you fall off of Skyloft

I don't know! I think there's more to this than meets the eye. I demand someone ask in an interview.

 

[The Technomancer]

Oh also, I was kind of iffy on the sword controls in the early game, but now that I'm in the late game (and

Spoiler

have kicked Girahim's ass repeatedly in boss rush

) I really find them incredible. I think it was the Stalfos fights before

Spoiler

the Triforce of Wisdom

that were my first real "oh man I am so excellent at this" moment.

 

[jonno394]

I havent been in this thread since I finished SS on the 26th. I'm sad to see all the negativity, but each to their own. Personally this has become my favourite Zelda. However, i'll be honest that my "favourite" Zelda usually changes each time a new console Zelda comes out (ie Zelda 1 changed 2, changed to ALTTP, changed to OOT, changed to MM, changed to WW, CHanged to TP, Changed to SS)

I'm really in the mood to replay this again.

 

[Theonik]

You're going to have to learn how to Shield Bash/Counter in this game. If not for opening your enemies up to attack, it's also to add longevity to your shield (simply blocking their attacks will damage your shield).

I actually hardly used the shield in the game and did just fine. I basically only used it to kill those pesky plants which throw stones at you.

 

[dcdobson]

I havent been in this thread since I finished SS on the 26th. I'm sad to see all the negativity, but each to their own. Personally this has surpassed Wind Waker as my favourite Zelda. However, i'll be honest that my "favourite" Zelda usually changes each time a new console Zelda comes out (ie Zelda 1 changed 2, changed to ALTTP, changed to OOT, changed to MM, changed to WW, CHanged to TP, Changed to SS)

I'm really in the mood to replay this again.

I mean, there's definitely been some negativity, but I feel like the overall reception has been overwhelmingly positive, at least in this thread. I personally think it's the GOTY, but Zelda's long been my favorite series, so take that for what it's worth.

 

[Jackano]

First time I've seen anyone call her Faye. Not to be an ass or anything, but the proper pronounciation is Fai.

French in-game spelling ^^