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

The answer is incredibly obvious. And yes, I had trouble at first too. Use your net.

My roommate was watching me play and I know how crazy it makes him when I just dick around in games, so I decided to try to catch a bird with the net to mess with him. I was pretty surprised when it worked.

So awesome.
 

Mistle

Member
Hey, can somebody link me to a Youtube video of the scene [post dungeon 6]
when going through the gate of time for the first time? i want to rewatch it to refresh my memory of the story. and hear the music again :p

I'd search myself but I'm sure it's not a good idea spoiler-wise.
 

MisterHero

Super Member
I think you just have to look past the inconsistencies in this game haha... For instance, the fortune teller, and how the stores all want bugs and materials from a world that they don't think exists.

One thing I noticed was Fledge says the phrase "two birds with one stone", which is weird as there are no small birds above the clouds, nor would they be harming the big one with stones :p
Gondo's ancestor was apparently able to escavate below the clouds with the help of Scrapper. While nothing can breach the cloud barrier, the Fortune Teller's original Crystal Ball did come from a high-altitude landmark

Some, not all, were aware of the world below the clouds
 

Mgoblue201

Won't stop picking the right nation
catch birds in the forest.
I should've thought of that. Thanks.
The answer is incredibly obvious. And yes, I had trouble at first too. Use your net.
It probably is obvious, but Zelda games can be incredibly arbitrary at times. Why, for example, as I'm searching for paper to use in a certain sidequest, can't I take a book from the library? It's extremely limiting.
 
I should've thought of that. Thanks.

It probably is obvious, but Zelda games can be incredibly arbitrary at times. Why, for example, as I'm searching for paper to use in a certain sidequest, can't I take a book from the library? It's extremely limiting.

That's true. I was trying to give a hint, but Crunched beat me anyway so it didn't matter :lol
 

Anth0ny

Member
Which is absurd. They did it right in WW, what's different now?

They did a lot of things right in previous Zelda games. For some reason, shit is different now =(

But that is really one of the dumbest decisions in the game. You're forced to have 2 game files, basically.
 
I should've thought of that. Thanks.

It probably is obvious, but Zelda games can be incredibly arbitrary at times. Why, for example, as I'm searching for paper to use in a certain sidequest, can't I take a book from the library? It's extremely limiting.

Yeah, my first thought was to go to the classroom. There is a sheet of paper lying Right There on the desk. But nope! You gotta use a
love letter
. What.
 

leroidys

Member
I didn't have any problems. That's really the fight that requires the most precise movement, so I can imagine incorrect input being very frustrating.

I just didn't like it because it encourages you to flail/waggle like crazy to
destroy his sword
and then jab, which never works well for me. I don't think it required anywhere near the precision of other fights, even just midbosses.
 

MisterHero

Super Member
Yeah, my first thought was to go to the classroom. There is a sheet of paper lying Right There on the desk. But nope! You gotta use a
love letter
. What.
You have do it because they tell you not to.

That's the best part.

I just didn't like it because it encourages you to flail/waggle like crazy to
destroy his sword
and then jab, which never works well for me. I don't think it required anywhere near the precision of other fights, even just midbosses.
You can also use consecutive spinslashes, that helped me greatly.

You could further abuse it with a Stamina potion. :p
 
For a game so focused on backtracking and repetition, (minor spoilers for what I can only assume is the last dungeon),
I can't tell if the Sky Keep is meant to be an endcap perfectly summarizing this theme, or if it's unintentional salt in the wounds.

The lowest point of this game for me is absolutely the sheer repetition of areas. So far it looks like the final dungeon is entirely that :( The whole "let's take the whole experience and condense it into a final, nostalgic dungeon" would be a lot more powerful if not for the fact I had already been revisiting the 3 areas over, and over, and over.

I just started, but hope it gets better.
 

Tuck

Member
For a game so focused on backtracking and repetition, (minor spoilers for what I can only assume is the last dungeon),
I can't tell if the Sky Keep is meant to be an endcap perfectly summarizing this theme, or if it's unintentional salt in the wounds.

The lowest point of this game for me is absolutely the sheer repetition of areas. So far it looks like the final dungeon is entirely that :( The whole "let's take the whole experience and condense it into a final, nostalgic dungeon" would be a lot more powerful if not for the fact I had already been revisiting the 3 areas over, and over, and over.

I just started, but hope it gets better.

The
final dungeon
is usually like that. Ganondorf's Tower (OoT), the pre-Majora challenges on the moon (MM), Ganondorf's Tower (Wind Waker). They all have you do things in rooms styled after places you have already been in. Wind Waker even makes you reface the bosses! The only 3D Zelda game that did not do something like this is TP. I thought it was clever. I don't see why people hated returning to old areas.. Almost every time you were doing something new and fun.
 
The
final dungeon
is usually like that. Ganondorf's Tower (OoT), the pre-Majora challenges on the moon (MM), Ganondorf's Tower (Wind Waker). They all have you do things in rooms styled after places you have already been in. Wind Waker even makes you reface the bosses! The only 3D Zelda game that did not do something like this is TP. I thought it was clever. I don't see why people hated returning to old areas.. Almost every time you were doing something new and fun.

That's what I'm saying. That trick, the theme that makes the final dungeon a perfect test and reminder of our past experiences, is far weaker when we're forced to pretty much do that exact thing the entire game.
 

Papercuts

fired zero bullets in the orphanage.
The
final dungeon
is usually like that. Ganondorf's Tower (OoT), the pre-Majora challenges on the moon (MM), Ganondorf's Tower (Wind Waker). They all have you do things in rooms styled after places you have already been in. Wind Waker even makes you reface the bosses! The only 3D Zelda game that did not do something like this is TP. I thought it was clever. I don't see why people hated returning to old areas.. Almost every time you were doing something new and fun.

I loved the Sky Keep, but I can see why others wouldn't. The thing SS does different to the other zeldas is that the entire game is focused on those 3 areas as-is. You go to the forest, volcano, and desert. Then you do it again. Then you do it again. Then the final dungeon, you do it again. For some I can see why that would be annoying.
 
I loved the Sky Keep, but I can see why others wouldn't. The thing SS does different to the other zeldas is that the entire game is focused on those 3 areas as-is. You go to the forest, volcano, and desert. Then you do it again. Then you do it again. Then the final dungeon, you do it again. For some I can see why that would be annoying.

I didn't do myself any favors trying to 100% the game, either, so I was revisiting them far more times than that. Ah well. Learned my lesson, I guess
 

Tuck

Member
That's what I'm saying. That trick, the theme that makes the final dungeon a perfect test and reminder of our past experiences, is far weaker when we're forced to pretty much do that exact thing the entire game.

Ah I understand. Fair point.
 

Divvy

Canadians burned my passport
Just beat the game. Wow what a fantastic ride. I think I've got to think about it before I can talk about my experiences, but it was definitely a game that stood equally with the other 3d zeldas.
 
I think you just have to look past the inconsistencies in this game haha... For instance, the fortune teller, and how the stores all want bugs and materials from a world that they don't think exists.

One thing I noticed was Fledge says the phrase "two birds with one stone", which is weird as there are no small birds above the clouds, nor would they be harming the big one with stones :p

The "surface is a myth" premise was just a terrible idea and should have been jettisoned. They could have believed almost anything else--it was an uninhabitable blasted wasteland, or it was overrun with dangerous monsters (which it is)--and everything else would make more sense. Instead you've basically got a very small town of people who think that all of existence is a small town on a floating rock. In fact, how ridiculously inbred must Skyloft be? And what's the maximum population before they have to start chucking people off the island without a bird? And and and oh nevermind.
 

Forkball

Member
Just beat the second dungeon. Pretty fun, those Lizalfos were way tougher than I imagined. I really loved the motif and while the boss fight was pretty much what you'd expect after you just got the bomb bag, it managed to still be a bit new and interesting. But man that
Shiekah was a cock-blocking bitch. I DIDN'T SEE YOU FIGHT THAT GIANT MONSTER.

Now back in Skyloft to do some tedious fetch quests.
 
The "surface is a myth" premise was just a terrible idea and should have been jettisoned. They could have believed almost anything else--it was an uninhabitable blasted wasteland, or it was overrun with dangerous monsters (which it is)--and everything else would make more sense. Instead you've basically got a very small town of people who think that all of existence is a small town on a floating rock. In fact, how ridiculously inbred must Skyloft be? And what's the maximum population before they have to start chucking people off the island without a bird? And and and oh nevermind.

I'm thinking there are more people around somewhere tbh. They said that the knight ceremony had been going on for 25 years and you only see maybe 2 or 3 actual knights in the entire game.
 

maharg

idspispopd
It should be said that LTTP explicitly tells you where the dungeons are hidden and in what order to do them, though it's probably not quite as bad as future Zelda games.

It tells you where they are, but not how to get to them (in the dark world in particular this is often not at all a trivial distinction). And it gives you an order to do them, but at a lot of points you can bypass that order without too much trouble. And the game doesn't go apeshit because of it or try to funnel you directly to the next dungeon as well as most of the sidequests that are along the way like in SS.

That said, LttP is clearly where the trend started. TLoZ and Link's Adventure were both very flexible and non-handholding games and LttP started moving towards more plot and more helping the player.

The frustrating thing is I think they hit the right balance right off the bat in LttP but they keep going farther and farther.
 
Instead you've basically got a very small town of people who think that all of existence is a small town on a floating rock. In fact, how ridiculously inbred must Skyloft be? And what's the maximum population before they have to start chucking people off the island without a bird? And and and oh nevermind.

See, they wouldn't have had this problem had they had more islands... I just can't say it enough. What a waste.

I do agree that they should have known about the surface. It would have made so much more sense.
 
Been having a blast here, but the mini games are absolutely kicking my ass. I finished most of them, but man, it took a bit. Just about done with 45 hours in, excited to see how this turns out.
 

Papercuts

fired zero bullets in the orphanage.
I'm thinking there are more people around somewhere tbh. They said that the knight ceremony had been going on for 25 years and you only see maybe 2 or 3 actual knights in the entire game.

This is why not having anything beyond skyloft and the pumpkin bar annoyed me. There was history to the place but the sky itself was so barren it didn't show. None of the people in the school beyond Zelda and Pipit even had any parents mentioned.

I loved the scene where
Groose came to the surface, it was great to see his reaction to everything down there. But his reaction to things like birds down there make it even odder when you just sell region specific bugs to the collector, or use them to upgrade items. If they had no idea what it was like on the surface, they'd have no idea what that stuff was.
 

mdtauk

Member
This is why not having anything beyond skyloft and the pumpkin bar annoyed me. There was history to the place but the sky itself was so barren it didn't show. None of the people in the school beyond Zelda and Pipit even had any parents mentioned.

I loved the scene where
Groose came to the surface, it was great to see his reaction to everything down there. But his reaction to things like birds down there make it even odder when you just sell region specific bugs to the collector, or use them to upgrade items. If they had no idea what it was like on the surface, they'd have no idea what that stuff was.

Perhaps life expectancy is very low, there was a graveyard.
 

Electric Brain

Neo Member
This is why not having anything beyond skyloft and the pumpkin bar annoyed me. There was history to the place but the sky itself was so barren it didn't show. None of the people in the school beyond Zelda and Pipit even had any parents mentioned.

I loved the scene where
Groose came to the surface, it was great to see his reaction to everything down there. But his reaction to things like birds down there make it even odder when you just sell region specific bugs to the collector, or use them to upgrade items. If they had no idea what it was like on the surface, they'd have no idea what that stuff was.

I always just figured that Skyloft and the surrounding area was just a part of the greater world. I've just a city/state.

it's a simplistic story, and this a simplistic world. I'm not expecting some Lord of the Rings level of detail.
 
I just didn't like it because it encourages you to flail/waggle like crazy to
destroy his sword
and then jab, which never works well for me. I don't think it required anywhere near the precision of other fights, even just midbosses.

if you look closely, you'll see little "magical" arrows pointing towards the weak spot in his sword. you have to be quick and consecutive about it tho
 

Pachinko

Member
Well I finished
dungeon 7 and the final girihmen fight
. Man that fight was pissing me off, fighting that guy is the worst part of the whole game and they make you do it 3 goddamn times. ARGH. I figured I'd do the next bit (final bit?) tomorrow so that I'm not up half the night finishing the game.

I'm of the opinion so far that it's a fantastic game marred by stupid problems. Some people might bitch about the fetch quests because of the sheer number but , at least the first time you travel to each section of the game it's the easiest way to get the player to memorize a location and how it fits together, go find some shit. It's actually GOOD game design BUT they didn't really need to have the player find so much stuff at each location. Also , I'm firmly of the belief that although motion + controls are neat and all , every single thing in this game could have also been done with a dual analog controller with 8 buttons (such as the standard dual shock or 360 pad). I think my biggest issue with the whole sword swinging mechanic is that it's not really true 1:1 movement, it's as close as can be without breaking the game. because of this I find myself constantly wishing, in the heat of the moment that the game would simply do what I'm telling the controller to do but instead it does something else. A prime example being thrusting- the game seems to set up the most annoying enemies to only be damaged by a thrust and they make it obscenely unreliable and difficult to do that specific move. For something that's such an integral part of the game why does it have to be so finicky? I do recall having issues thrusting in twilight princess as well, or at least some kind of sword move that was required to fight ganon at THAT games ending that I had a real hard time with. Parrying perhaps ? Either way.

I'll save my final thoughts for when I actually complete the game , hopefully tomorrow. Even with my current squabbles it's still a new zelda game which pretty much lumps it in the top 99% of all games out there.
 
This is why not having anything beyond skyloft and the pumpkin bar annoyed me. There was history to the place but the sky itself was so barren it didn't show. None of the people in the school beyond Zelda and Pipit even had any parents mentioned.

I loved the scene where
Groose came to the surface, it was great to see his reaction to everything down there. But his reaction to things like birds down there make it even odder when you just sell region specific bugs to the collector, or use them to upgrade items. If they had no idea what it was like on the surface, they'd have no idea what that stuff was.

Yeah there is some of that stuff.
the gear collector allows you to upgrade something that requires 2 ancient flowers and so I upgraded it. An hour or so later I have to use an ancient flower to restore the robot and he claims he has never seen it before and he thinks it is extinct.
 
Even weirder during some of the later game sidequests
that have you transplanting creatures from the surface to Skyloft, and both parties are just like, "huh, that's kinda weird" and that's the end of it

It shouldn't be a big deal, but with the game focusing so heavily on story and atmosphere, it really sticks out
 

HeySeuss

Member
Ok, I need some non-spoiler assistance with gratitude crystal collecting. I have 70 at the moment and my dowsing says there are some in Zeldas room which is locked, and also points to Bealtreux(sp?) house as well. Can I get a hint as to what I'm missing to get these?

Also, how do I trigger Beedles sidequest? I've bought everything in his shop.
 

Mistle

Member
Wow, they really didn't bother with giving the
Hylian Shield
a proper origin story, did they? lol. Would have liked to see some story to it's existence. In regards to that though:
Do I seriously have to go through boss rush again if I want the piece of heart, and then AGAIN if I want to find out what the final prize is? That's crazy... when you click "quit", you should get all the previous awards ._.
What is the final prize anyway? And also, what do I get for completeing the Silent Realms again? I enjoyed them, but I really can't be bothered doing them again unless it's something good.

Anyway, I honestly loved doing all the [post-dungeon 6]
dragon quests. There were heaps of cool mechanics and ideas, and none of it felt tedious or "filler". All quality gameplay imo. It felt fresh. The flooded Faron was awesome, as was fighting the Imprisioned again and being catapulted on top of a flying-version of itself. So cool. The Eldin area was great, I was wondering if SS would have a stealth section with guards :p Having to retrieve the items to progress was a nice touch. And guiding the cart in Lanayru was simple but fun, not to mention the dragon for that area being amusing haha.

Also, haha, I just got the perfect Fun-Fun Island landing! Through all the hoops and landed on 50. A peice of heart as expected, and the 500 rupees isn't too shabby.
I guess I'm nearing the end now. Pretty sad as I'm loving the game, but I am interested to see how it all ends.
 

Uchip

Banned
Wow, they really didn't bother with giving the
Hylian Shield
a proper origin story, did they? lol. Would have liked to see some story to it's existence. In regards to that though:
Do I seriously have to go through boss rush again if I want the piece of heart, and then AGAIN if I want to find out what the final prize is? That's crazy... when you click "quit", you should get all the previous awards ._.
What is the final prize anyway? And also, what do I get for completeing the Silent Realms again? I enjoyed them, but I really can't be bothered doing them again unless it's something good.

Anyway, I honestly loved doing all the [post-dungeon 6]
dragon quests. There were heaps of cool mechanics and ideas, and none of it felt tedious or "filler". All quality gameplay imo. It felt fresh. The flooded Faron was awesome, as was fighting the Imprisioned again and being catapulted on top of a flying-version of itself. So cool. The Eldin area was great, I was wondering if SS would have a stealth section with guards :p Having to retrieve the items to progress was a nice touch. And guiding the cart in Lanayru was simple but fun, not to mention the dragon for that area being amusing haha.

Also, haha, I just got the perfect Fun-Fun Island landing! Through all the hoops and landed on 50. A peice of heart as expected, and the 500 rupees isn't too shabby.
I guess I'm nearing the end now. Pretty sad as I'm loving the game, but I am interested to see how it all ends.

that shield was never the best one in the game though nor was it really important
 

Mistle

Member
Ok, I need some non-spoiler assistance with gratitude crystal collecting. I have 70 at the moment and my dowsing says there are some in Zeldas room which is locked, and also points to Bealtreux(sp?) house as well. Can I get a hint as to what I'm missing to get these?

Also, how do I trigger Beedles sidequest? I've bought everything in his shop.
No real spoilers:
You can get into Zelda's room. Just have a look around (perhaps outside >_>), you'll figure it out. You can get in there anytime day/night, but the crystal is only there at night. Also, check her wardrobe..

Not sure about Batreaux though, or Beedle. I got to Beedles island at night time but I haven't triggered a quest, if there is one..

that shield was never the best one in the game though nor was it really important
True. It's just the "iconic" Zelda shield, so I thought maybe they'd touch on it. Not a big deal that they didn't though.
 

HeySeuss

Member
Sweet thanks. I'm not 100% sure there is a Beedle sidequest but I could have sworn that I remember someone in this thread talking about one. It probably has to do with his prized bug he holds at night.
 
Okay so, I guess I'm getting close to the second dungeon, have to find those key pieces, got three of them. Dousing points me to a path that's blocked by rocks it's by the area where
The one "dressed in black" extends the bridge for you
, but the bomb flowers (by the fallen watchtower) seems to be too far away. Did I miss another path, or is there some kind of trick? Help?

Also, since this is my first post in this thread. I've been digging the game so far. I'm surprised, that aside from typical tutorial dialog, the game doesn't hold your hand and isn't as brain-dead easy as much as recent Zeldas. Seemed to resemble Okami in that aspect.

Only thing that bugs me is Motion control for sword fights. I'm getting more and more adept, but there are times where it won't read a thrust/stab when it should. And other times when it's a little wonky.
 

Mgoblue201

Won't stop picking the right nation
It tells you where they are, but not how to get to them (in the dark world in particular this is often not at all a trivial distinction). And it gives you an order to do them, but at a lot of points you can bypass that order without too much trouble. And the game doesn't go apeshit because of it or try to funnel you directly to the next dungeon as well as most of the sidequests that are along the way like in SS.

That said, LttP is clearly where the trend started. TLoZ and Link's Adventure were both very flexible and non-handholding games and LttP started moving towards more plot and more helping the player.

The frustrating thing is I think they hit the right balance right off the bat in LttP but they keep going farther and farther.
Only a few of the dungeons, such as the third dungeon in the dark world, were difficult to access. Most required only minimal effort or a quick puzzle (for example, pressing a switch in the light world to drain the water in the dark world). But, in general, I agree that there is far less hand-holding. From what I remember, for example, the game won't tell you outright that you need the book from the library to access the second dungeon.
Okay so, I guess I'm getting close to the second dungeon, have to find those key pieces, got three of them. Dousing points me to a path that's blocked by rocks it's by the area where
The one "dressed in black" extends the bridge for you
, but the bomb flowers (by the fallen watchtower) seems to be too far away. Did I miss another path, or is there some kind of trick? Help?

Also, since this is my first post in this thread. I've been digging the game so far. I'm surprised, that aside from typical tutorial dialog, the game doesn't hold your hand and isn't as brain-dead easy as much as recent Zeldas. Seemed to resemble Okami in that aspect.

Only thing that bugs me is Motion control for sword fights. I'm getting more and more adept, but there are times where it won't read a thrust/stab when it should. And other times when it's a little wonky.
I'm trying to remember the solution. Can you use the beetle to activate the bomb?

Also, I find that stabbing straight ahead should activate the move every single time. If you deviate at all to either side, then it may work.
 
Progress update:

Im a hour or so into Eldin now...

Man, this game makes me feel like a kid again. I'm already at almost 8 hours but it has flew by as I'm just REALLY taking my time, soaking everything in, like all the little details like the individual members rooms in the Academy and what not. Deliberatly NOT playing any other games. No distractions.

Another thing, I don't care if it's needless busy work or ultimately pointless but I love that a Zelda game has an actual economy for once. I'm actually spending my rupees constantly buying upgrades, refils, etc., and I love it! I really love the collecting bits as well. I mean, I don't know if this was Nintendo going for the MoHun crowd, but I really appreciate here and it certainly makes the world seem less empty.

Also, anyone else here get a real Studio Ghibli vibe from the art design? I mean, I guess that's the highest compliment I give to this team because this game truly looks wonderful!

If anything, my only dissapointment is in the music. I mean, alot of the time it's just there. Too many ambient tracks ya know.
 

Sober

Member
So decide to pack it up for the night but all I have left is
the final fight with Demise

Also, the final Ghirham fight was way better than I expected and pretty much waggle free. The only thing was the last phase
they give you way more time than you need to properly destroy his sword correctly; I spent like 5 minutes trying to waggle it apart but he'd always shift it's position and screwing it up.
 

Mistle

Member
If anything, my only dissapointment is in the music. I mean, alot of the time it's just there. Too many ambient tracks ya know.
The music is amazing imo. The only ambient stuff is the dungeon tracks (which are still great). Otherwise everything else is memorable. At least, by the end of the game it is, after you've spent a considerable amount of time in all the areas.
 
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