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

spekkeh

Banned
Oh man, hey nintendo, I appreciate you guys trying to give me as much game as possible, but throwing in a stupid escort mission just because LOL WE ACCIDENTALLY LANDED AT THE BOTTOM OF THE MOUNTAIN INSTEAD OF THE TOP feels incredibly contrived, and it's not much fun

Density of play man, every inch of the game world is utilised to the max..

by revisiting it six times in a row.
 

aparisi2274

Member
The idea of the escort mission was dumb. But it was probably vindicated by bow+arrow sniping fun.

I just finished that mission and about to enter the
Fire Sanctuary
.

So I know I asked this earlier, but do you think this next dungeon will pose a real threat for me with 15 hearts and 3 bottles of red potion and 1 bottle of Red Potion +
 

AniHawk

Member
I just finished that mission and about to enter the
Fire Sanctuary
.

So I know I asked this earlier, but do you think this next dungeon will pose a real threat for me with 15 hearts and 3 bottles of red potion and 1 bottle of Red Potion +

probably won't need it until the boss fight
 

_Isaac

Member
The idea of the escort mission was dumb. But it was probably vindicated by bow+arrow sniping fun.

Yeah I liked the sniping, but the robot was a horrible person to escort. I didn't get hurt all throughout but I guess I had missed a bowman somewhere and it had started attacking the robot. "Help! HALP!" he yells. I couldn't spot the bowman right away, so I try to retreat and get to safety, but this guy is just frozen in fear. I failed the mission because of it. Oh well.
 

Shiggy

Member
So finally finished this title. When Ghirahim appeared and danced, he really reminded me of David Bowie in Labyrinth, so it's quite funny that the poster above just mentions this.

So what did I like?
+ bosses, they were all great, even though the Ghirahim fights did not always work as well as they should've. The final boss was kind of disappointing though
+ controls, without motion controls I would've avoided this title altogether
+ lack of empty overworld
+ the first time you visit Eldin and that green world

I did not like
- backtracking; they should've added more worlds
- the lack of a real story
- sidequests became kind of the same thing with always having to find something in the end
- desert, why not go for a more interesting and diverse locale?
- lacklustre soundtrack; this became evident when the credits and the grand credits theme appeared. This made me kind of sad as none of the tunes were memorable when I can still remember various Wind Waker tunes, even though I did not even nearly see that title's ending.
- motion controls did not work as well as I had hoped because of the technology used in the Wii Remote Plus.

All in all, I only played through this title because I wanted to finish it. I really loved the controls but I did not really enjoy leaving Skyloft, especially with no real incentive to revisit past areas.


One question that's left open: Did the credits stutter at times? I'm not sure whether it was the TV's or the Wii's fault.
 

Chuckpebble

Member
So finally finished this title. When Ghirahim appeared and danced, he really reminded me of David Bowie in Labyrinth, so it's quite funny that the poster above just mentions this.

Ha. Awesome. I'm not even done the game yet, I'll be looking out for that. I was just giving him Bowie's voice in my head, which reminded me of this old thread just now. If I recall, that was not the original thread title.
 

ThatObviousUser

ὁ αἴσχιστος παῖς εἶ
Mine didn't stutter but I bought a new Wii the same day I got SS (old one had a crappy disc drive.)

The only stuttering in the game was sometimes with those electric crab things. When one or more were rolling close to the screen the framerate dropped like a stone. Only happened like twice though, the rest of the game was perfectly smooth. Well, as smooth as 30fps can be.
 

_Isaac

Member
I got my Wii a year or two after it launched. I don't seem to recall any stuttering, but sometimes I don't notice these things. I remember Ocarina of Time would slow down like crazy during the last boss with Ganondorf. I thought it was a feature. Ha!
 

Amory

Member
Every time I play a zelda game there's like, three distinct phases of the game that I notice. The first is when I'm happy with the length of the game and the amount of content it contains, and though I'm still having fun, I'd be perfectly fine with it ending sometime soon.

The second phase is when the game is dragging on longer than I'd like, but I feel like I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and so I continue forward because I'd like to see the ending.

The third is when I hit the inevitable final final FINAL final quest and say to myself "oh come on, you've got to be kidding me."

So I guess I've reached the third phase of Skyward Sword (
just got asked to go back to all three places yet again, talk to some dragons, and learn a song.
)

very well, zelda, but you're overstaying your welcome as usual
 
Just beat it tonight fully completed. i believe it took me about 50 hours, I didn't check though.

I'll definitely agree with the ones who say the final battle was awesome and also Midna > Fi. But overall, I really enjoyed the game WAY more than TP.

The only thing that really stands out for me is maybe the ho-hum Harp implementation. It was just awful. And it seemed there just wasn't many secrets to be found (namely bombable walls). But, minor gripe. This is definitely one of my favorite Zeldas

Yeah was looking at that Conference reveal thread. Wow. Is it just me or are those initial batch of screens for the press look rendered in HD ala Dolphin? Looks sharper compared to in-game.

Also can anyone tell me what Hero Mode actually entails? Is it harder, are there extra scenes? What?

Also does anyone use the Ocarina cheat engine? Any fun codes worth trying (aside from the beneficial ones like Instant Text and turning off Fi/Bug notifications)?
 

_Isaac

Member
Also can anyone tell me what Hero Mode actually entails? Is it harder, are there extra scenes? What?

Also does anyone use the Ocarina cheat engine? Any fun codes worth trying (aside from the beneficial ones like Instant Text and turning off Fi/Bug notifications)?

IGN has a wiki explaining it a bit.
http://www.ign.com/wikis/the-legend-of-zelda-skyward-sword/Hero_Mode

Zelda Wiki said:
**Hero Mode Differences**

Enemies will deal 2x damage and will not drop hearts upon defeat, forcing Link to rely on Potions and the occasional seat for healing.

Hearts cannot be found in plants or pots either. (Unless you are holding a Heart Medal.) Fairies, however, will still be available to find or capture in bottles.

Bugs and Treasures carry over from your previous save file.

Certain dialogues, especially at the beginning of the game or when talking about hearts, are slightly different when in Hero Mode.

If you beat the game on Hero Mode, it will prompt you to save your game, which will be saved at just before the final boss. The ending is otherwise the same as normal mode.

After first obtaining the Goddess Sword, its Skyward Strike will be at full power; that is to say, it has the same charge time and distance as the Master Sword.

When you obtain the Master Sword again in Hero Mode, the charge time for your Skyward Strike is instantaneous. In other words, merely raising your sword to the sky will charge your blade instantly.

Since, by beating the normal game and unlocking Hero Mode, you've already seen all the cutscenes in the game, you can skip them at any time. You don't have to, but sometimes it helps when you've tried something several times (such as the Imprisoned) and the game shows you the same cutscene every time.

When you meet the Shiekah Stone at the beginning of the game, he'll tell you that you've already cleared all Skyward Sword's puzzles to unlock Hero Mode, so he'll just go right ahead and open up all the hints in the entire game for you.
 

Mistle

Member
I have a launch Wii.

SS had absolutely no slowdown during the game (maybe once or twice for a second when I hit timeshift stones in large areas), but the landscape-panning in the credits ran at like, 15fps
 

spekkeh

Banned
I just remet with Zelda, man that was awesome. I wish there would've been much more of that. They have the first really good and believable interaction thing going between Link and Zelda and then they decide to do fuckall with it for 90% of the game.
 

ced

Member
Well this is going to be the 2nd Zelda game I'm not going to finish. 1st being Phantom Hourglass, where I could no longer go through that fucking temple again.

I got to the point in the game where I'm now returning for a 3rd time (maybe even the 4th time?) to the volcano and I'm expected to stealth around it in the same locations.

I still like the 1:1 sword controls, but everything else control related sucks to me. There are still way too many game mechanics that need to be evolved, it's like playing the same game I did back in the late 90's.
 

PokéKong

Member
I just remet with Zelda, man that was awesome. I wish there would've been much more of that. They have the first really good and believable interaction thing going between Link and Zelda and then they decide to do fuckall with it for 90% of the game.

Indeed, I suppose they wanted your desire to have that back again to be your motivation to keep you going, but once you got to a certain point of the game where realize there probably wouldn't be any Zelda interaction until the very end, it kinda killed the story and made the bookends the only parts that mattered.

I wish they realized the value of Zelda as an active character, and took a page from Spirit Tracks where they find a way for her to always be there. Or just ANY way to not feel so darn lonely, having literally nothing but computers and dopey animals to keep you company.
 

Dr.Hadji

Member
Well this is going to be the 2nd Zelda game I'm not going to finish. 1st being Phantom Hourglass, where I could no longer go through that fucking temple again.

I got to the point in the game where I'm now returning for a 3rd time (maybe even the 4th time?) to the volcano and I'm expected to stealth around it in the same locations.

I still like the 1:1 sword controls, but everything else control related sucks to me. There are still way too many game mechanics that need to be evolved, it's like playing the same game I did back in the late 90's.

That part is pretty cool. A mini-metroid sprung right up from an old space. Thought it was pretty genius to be honest.
 
Random thoughts

Okay, just finished the game, for all of the impressions that said "WOW AT THAT FINAL BATTLE" or whatever, I was seriously underwhelmed/disappointed by it. I was able to go in without knowing how to beat any of it, and was able to comfortably beat both parts with just one red potion. LAME. This game was one of the most love/hate games I've ever played...I guess if I had to score it I would give it 2.5/4 stars, but damn there were so many problems.

Going from playing Skyrim to this was hard. It really is kind of a disappointing game to look at--at times, the art style is great (love the pastel look), and at others the bad textures and blurry look just take over.

Why didn't Nintendo just use IR for aiming? It would have been 100x better. The controls were so damn awkward half the time because you had to recenter, and the game registered the center of your aim at a delay after pressing the item button. Hard to explain but it was a huge problem with the controls for me.

Again, though, lame final battle. When I won I didn't actually think it was the end because it was so freaking easy.

EDIT: Oh and the cutscenes are so horrible. I've been trying to think of a game to compare this one to and only one has come to mind, MARIO SUNSHINE. When your storytelling reminds me of that game, you know something is wrong.

Finally am I the only one who discovered the sheikah stones super late in the game? I didn't find one until I reached near the final temple/boss. That does not bode well for people who actually need them.
 

aparisi2274

Member
I am going to play again tonight and try to get through the
Flame Sanctuary
so that I can try to put this game to bed this weekend.

I will say this, the one thing I truly hate is the arrow. Every time I try to aim, I have to constantly center it for some reason. It was a real bitch when I was trying to fight the boss on the Sandship. arrgghh...
 

Dr.Hadji

Member
I will say this, the one thing I truly hate is the arrow. Every time I try to aim, I have to constantly center it for some reason. It was a real bitch when I was trying to fight the boss on the Sandship. arrgghh...

Point at the screen before you activate the bow. You shouldn't have to recenter.
 

Joei

Member
I can't be the only person who wants to throw my controller at the tv in disgust trying to get the mine cart heart piece? The tilting to speed up seems hit or miss, it seems to speed up when it feels like it and just when I think I have the whole tilting the wiimote the right way around a corner thing down, boom, nothing... he just rides on very, very slowly.
 

Davey Cakes

Member
I can't be the only person who wants to throw my controller at the tv in disgust trying to get the mine cart heart piece? The tilting to speed up seems hit or miss, it seems to speed up when it feels like it and just when I think I have the whole tilting the wiimote the right way around a corner thing down, boom, nothing... he just rides on very, very slowly.
Hmmm. I certainly didn't experience this. It took me a few tries to get the winning time, but I felt fully in control. The tilting worked where it was supposed to. Make sure you're taking the best route, because there are a couple of options.
 

zychi

Banned
So I beat Hero Mode 100%, and the only significant difference I see is
the Triforce on my save file.
Am I missing anything else? I know there was a
few dialogue differences I didn't pay attention to,
but I'm curious what else you get out of all the hard work?
 

_Isaac

Member
So I beat Hero Mode 100%, and the only significant difference I see is
the Triforce on my save file.
Am I missing anything else? I know there was a
few dialogue differences I didn't pay attention to,
but I'm curious what else you get out of all the hard work?

What would you have liked?
 

aparisi2274

Member
Played for 3hrs tonight and I finished the
Fire Sanctuary
. I used a Guardian Potion and blew through the boss there.

I am ashamed to admit that during my 2nd encounter with the
imprisoned
, I lost the race to the top and it was "Game Over" 2nd time through, I was able to get past it.

The cinema's that took place after that were KICK ASS!!!

I have a theory about Grannie. I think it's
Impa
, who has guarded over that door for a thousand years...

I just saved back on Skyloft, and am prepared to go seek out
The Triforce
.
 

Shiggy

Member
I can't be the only person who wants to throw my controller at the tv in disgust trying to get the mine cart heart piece? The tilting to speed up seems hit or miss, it seems to speed up when it feels like it and just when I think I have the whole tilting the wiimote the right way around a corner thing down, boom, nothing... he just rides on very, very slowly.

I completely ignored that as I wanted the game to be over as quick as possible.



Okay, just finished the game, for all of the impressions that said "WOW AT THAT FINAL BATTLE" or whatever, I was seriously underwhelmed/disappointed by it. I was able to go in without knowing how to beat any of it, and was able to comfortably beat both parts with just one red potion. LAME. This game was one of the most love/hate games I've ever played...I guess if I had to score it I would give it 2.5/4 stars, but damn there were so many problems.

Going from playing Skyrim to this was hard. It really is kind of a disappointing game to look at--at times, the art style is great (love the pastel look), and at others the bad textures and blurry look just take over.

The final boss was a bit underwhelming. The Ghirahim part was fine and everything but then the real final was well, quick over. I also didn't like that you needed the waggle move to end the game.
The graphics were what was to be expected from the Zelda team. They just don't seem to be the ones at Nintendo that are able to push it to the max.


Why didn't Nintendo just use IR for aiming? It would have been 100x better. The controls were so damn awkward half the time because you had to recenter, and the game registered the center of your aim at a delay after pressing the item button. Hard to explain but it was a huge problem with the controls for me.

Stupid decision indeed.


EDIT: Oh and the cutscenes are so horrible. I've been trying to think of a game to compare this one to and only one has come to mind, MARIO SUNSHINE. When your storytelling reminds me of that game, you know something is wrong.

I loved how the characters talked and there was neither a giggle or anything, just the background music. It feels like the Zelda team is stuck in 1998. Especially from a game design point of view.
 

Xun

Member
IR definitely would've worked better for aiming, but perhaps they used the WM+ so they didn't have to include a floating Navi? Although having said that you could probably could get away with not having it.

The sword combat for the most part worked superbly, as did the nunchuck for the shield and rolling. I just wish other elements weren't implemented, such as using the Wiimote for flying, swimming, and any other gimmicky thing they used it for.

Also I'm tempted to play TP again soon, but the Cube version this time.
 

Davey Cakes

Member
I still don't see why IR is so much better than Motion+ aiming. In terms of precision they're the same, and the latter doesn't require you to be pointing directly at the screen.

I will say that it would have been nice if the turning speed (while aiming) could be tweaked. Turning while in pointer mode felt a bit slow to me.
 

Dr.Hadji

Member
I loved how the characters talked and there was neither a giggle or anything, just the background music. It feels like the Zelda team is stuck in 1998. Especially from a game design point of view.

I would love to know where all these "progressive" action/adventure games are that people are playing. I must be missing out on some incredible advances in design if a game can make Lanaryu Desert look old and busted.
 

Xun

Member
I would love to know where all these "progressive" action/adventure games are that people are playing. I must be missing out on some incredible advances in design if a game can make Lanaryu Desert look old and busted.
Indeed.

There's really no games like Zelda out there... aside from Zelda.
 

ThatObviousUser

ὁ αἴσχιστος παῖς εἶ
I still don't see why IR is so much better than Motion+ aiming. In terms of precision they're the same, and the latter doesn't require you to be pointing directly at the screen.

Uh, no. M+ aiming isn't nearly as accurate as IR aiming.
 

Kai Dracon

Writing a dinosaur space opera symphony
Uh, no. M+ aiming isn't nearly as accurate as IR aiming.

This claim is getting tossed around but it's misleading.

M+ aiming is perfectly accurate. It is as responsive to the movement of the wiimote as IR aiming.

It is not, however, inherently LOCKED to the alignment of the wiimote as IR aiming.

If you try to play the game by pointing at the screen, it will not seem like IR aiming. The game isn't designed to work that way. The wiimote is an air mouse in the case of this game.

Preferring one method of control or the other is entirely up to the individual. But people need to stop perpetuating the myth that SS's control scheme is "less accurate" than other Wii games. It has the same technical limitations as every other Wii game, no more, no less.


I would love to know where all these "progressive" action/adventure games are that people are playing. I must be missing out on some incredible advances in design if a game can make Lanaryu Desert look old and busted.

Not all, but most, of the criticisms of Skyward Sword boil down to the fact that the team didn't copy the direction of western games precisely and try to equal them toe-to-toe. Gamers follow trends and tend to be affected by what's fashionable. Western games are fashionable. Western style RPGs are what is "standard" now. Games with full voice acting are considered "high budget", because people see budget only in terms of audio visuals, not things like design. It's like the Eurogamer review of Sin & Punishment 2 said: it was the highest budget game you'd play all year... in terms of design budget.

The level design and play mechanic concepts in SS are really sophisticated. They are advanced, polished, intricate evolutions of the kind of mechanics Nintendo is trademarked by. It's just that they're not goddamn Skyrim. So it is old poopy and made of fail.

The reason why Mario Galaxy is worshiped without the benefit of having yet become old and re-examined, is because there is no fashionable competition in 3D platform games. There is no Super Bethesda Brothers that has "progressive" features like full voice acting and ten hours of cut scenes for the modern gamer to drool over and conclude such things are the mark of "real games". So people's appreciation of the style of say, a Mario game, isn't nearly as clouded as it is with a Zelda game.

Why do I suspect Zelda games get re-examined five years later and judged to be classic is because: after the initial warped expectations and false comparisons have long since faded and been forgotten, people find you can still replay a Zelda game and the strength of its design and concepts - even with legitimate flaws taken into account - makes them better than 98% of what anyone else ever turns out.
 
M+ aiming may not be as accurate (in the way Kajima explained) but IR aiming does get jittery around the edges of the sensors vision. I definitely prefer SS aiming to the Wii version of TP. Not having to point at the screen to aim makes the game more immersive because I go into aim mode with no problems. With TP I get that message saying point the remote at the screen at least 50% of the time when I aim.

I wonder if they can use them together, to stabilize the cursor or give a better sense of space to the M+.
 

Shiggy

Member
I would love to know where all these "progressive" action/adventure games are that people are playing. I must be missing out on some incredible advances in design if a game can make Lanaryu Desert look old and busted.

I'm usually not playing too many action adventures, I'm rather concentrating on puzzles, visual novels from CING, platformers. So I might be the wrong person to ask. Still, Skyward Sword was one of the most boring experiences I had on Wii. I only tried Zelda because I loved the swordfighting controls in Wii Sports Resort and they also made Skyward Sword more accessible for me.
I will not judge whether other games do it better, I'm just not interested in titles such as Skyrim, Mass Effect, or whatever. I'm judging games on a game by game base.
 

Busaiku

Member
So is there any way to check if I've gotten all the Goddess Cubes?
I'm pretty sure I have, I haven't been detecting it, but maybe I'm just not pointing towards the right places.
 

Xun

Member
Speaking of M+ versus IR.

Perhaps if it uses motion controls again Nintendo should give us the option? Likewise to other controls that could've used the analog stick.
 

Link83

Member
Just finished this, and really enjoyed it :)

If I had to nitpick though:-
- Text scrolling was far too slow, even with the A button held down
- Info popups everytime you collect a bug/treasure after reloading was very annoying.
- Wish the Wii Remote Plus had a magnetometer built in so it wasn't necessary to keep recentering.
- The traditional 'new item' jingle was a bit too 'dramatic' for me, and made some of the cutscenes feel disjointed. I'm not saying they should get rid of it, but perhaps it could have been more mellow/slower paced.
- I dont need Fi to tell me my health is getting low, the incessant heart beeping sound was enough!
- Disliked the spider webs, it was really annoying when you got stuck in them and had to shake the wii remote and nunchuk to break free. Those blob enemies also annoyed me for the same reason.
- Birds pooping on Link....really? :/

One question that's left open: Did the credits stutter at times? I'm not sure whether it was the TV's or the Wii's fault.

Don't worry, mine stuttered too.

I'm curious though.

For people with or without the stutter where are you from?

I have a launch Wii.

SS had absolutely no slowdown during the game (maybe once or twice for a second when I hit timeshift stones in large areas), but the landscape-panning in the credits ran at like, 15fps

Yep, my credits stuttered badly too :( It really spoiled the scenic panning shots for me. I'm playing the PAL version, so i'm curious to know if this is a PAL specific problem?

Also, did anyone else notice some vertical lines 'overlayed' over the top of the picture? They were particularly noticeable when flying in the sky, but also anytime there was an unsual lighting effect (Such as the interior of the
sandship
) A google search for 'zelda vertical lines' revealed that Wind Waker and Twilight Princess also suffered from the same problem, so I assume its a flaw in the game engine? Theres a picture showing what they look like in this thread:-
http://boards.ign.com/nintendo_wii_lobby/b8270/207341991/p1/
I would be interested to know what the specific cause is, and if there is any solution?
 

Joei

Member
Why do I suspect Zelda games get re-examined five years later and judged to be classic is because: after the initial warped expectations and false comparisons have long since faded and been forgotten, people find you can still replay a Zelda game and the strength of its design and concepts - even with legitimate flaws taken into account - makes them better than 98% of what anyone else ever turns out.

I hate to jump in here, but for me this game has 0 replayability. I've replayed every Zelda game I've beaten, and while I'm not done with this yet (almost though, I just got the last song) I see no chance that I will pick this up again. I much prefer the open-world feel of the previous games than this directed "dungeon" over world feel. I feel like this game is really exhausting and I'm just wanting it to be over. And while the worlds do have a lot of content and are fairly well designed, like Faron Woods for example, they don't offer much in ways of exploration for me.
 
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