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[Togglesworlh]

Only two buttons for items, Oppressive time limits, only 4 dungeons, Empty Ocean, Triforce Quests, Empty Overworld, Lacks charm are all valid complaints as well. People gona hate. The point is, those complaints don't dominate the discussion of those games anymore. Heck, the amount of good will Majora's Mask has mustered over the years since its release is mind boggling to me. I was there when it released, that game was completely in the shadow of OOT. Now its "best Zelda, best Nintendo game, best GAME". Where were you people all these years? I wasted so much time on IGN boards defending that game.

I find the phrase "you people" offensive!

I have many, many complaints about the Zelda series as a whole and for each individual game over the years. But I haven't yet played one that I don't like. That doesn't make the complaints invalid.

Also I liked Majora's Mask more than Ocarina of Time from day one. Dunno what to tell you. In my experience, among my friends, MM was always the better game. It wasn't until I discovered the internet that I realized, nope, people like OoT more.

 

[_woLf]

So I finally just started playing this.

I really, really like the intimacy between Zelda and Link.

 

[Typographenia]

Ooookay, so I beat the fifth dungeon now-

Spoiler

I wish I had played just 10 more minutes before getting off last time. FINALLY! THE HOOKSHOTS! I cleared out my list of "need hookshot to do this" very quickly. Also, I didn't mind the collection thing too much since the area was much easier to see threats and locations compared to the forest.


I loved the entire sand sea stuff. The robot captain with the mustache and hat, the boat traveling through time water/sand, the minecart expedition, the invisible ship, and everything. It was just really fun, and I had a blast playing through it.

It had completely slipped my mind that I didn't have the bow yet, and it hurt deeply when I got it and realized that. I'm not sure how I feel about the controls. It handles alright, but I've always had slightly shaky hands, so fine detail movements was annoying at times.
Wasn't wild about the boss fight. Well, I mean, I liked the boss fight itself just fine, but the design was so... incredibly lazy and bland. It felt way out of place from anything else in the game, and I was in a state of semi-shock/disbelief when it revealed itself. It might possibly be my least favorite design of anything from any Zelda game ever. Just so... lazy. So, so lazy.


I finished helping Forge out with his pushup dilemma, but then he wanted to play a game of tossing pumpkins while I shoot them and I lost my temper a bit... A lot. I was almost yelling at the screen, haha. The timing on that game is ridiculous. I think I spent around 200 rupees (that includes winnings compensating for some of it) before I finally got the piece of heart. Screw you, Forge, I'M NEVER TALKING TO YOU AGAIN.

Got some more heart pieces and bought the last upgrade to my pouch, so I'm rolling with the two extra heart medals. I think I'm up to 17 or 16 hearts at the moment. Feeling pretty boss.


Got my final song, and I headed down to the volcano. Man, what a bummer of an upgrade for the sword after the first one. You go from "longer sword + 2X damage!" to "yeah, you can dowse for more stuff." Great! I never use the dowsing because it's pointless! I just run to places I haven't been and, what a surprise, that's where the thing I'm looking for was! I dunno, maybe it will be useful later, but I was mad, haha.

Looking forward to see just what happens next!

 

[The Awesomest]

His name is Fledge, not Forge, lol. There's a video of someone doing the pumpkin-tossing thing super-easy by

Spoiler

shooting the pumpkins right out of his hands.

I tried it though, it's not as easy as the video makes it seem.

What did you think of the Captain's

Spoiler

abandoned home, his dead wife and kids, and the happy pictures of his crew?

 

[_Isaac]

His name is Fledge, not Forge, lol. There's a video of someone doing the pumpkin-tossing thing super-easy by

Spoiler

shooting the pumpkins right out of his hands.

I tried it though, it's not as easy as the video makes it seem.

Well that's impressive.

Spoiler

I thought you meant he shot the pumpkin while he was holding it, which is something I tried.

 

[Typographenia]

His name is Fledge, not Forge, lol. There's a video of someone doing the pumpkin-tossing thing super-easy by

Spoiler

shooting the pumpkins right out of his hands.

I tried it though, it's not as easy as the video makes it seem.

My apathy towards his character becomes even more apparent.
That person is a showoff (but awesome). Freaking stupid pumpkin toss bull crap... I HATE YOU FLEORGE.

What did you think of the Captain's

Spoiler

abandoned home, his dead wife and kids, and the happy pictures of his crew?

Spoiler

That was his wife and kids!? Oh man, I wondered what was up with that. I saw more robots around in places, and I made a mental note to come back if I had a means of bringing a crystal with me, but I never really thought about it.

Now I'm sad. : (

 

[SecretMoblin]

Truthfully, I hated the pumpkin minigame.

Skydiving would have been great had it not been the randomness of the wheel.

 

[Typographenia]

Truthfully, I hated the pumpkin minigame.

Skydiving would have been great had it not been the randomness of the wheel.

Speaking of diving, I discovered yesterday that holding the wiimote straight down makes Link do a nose dive, and it's SO COOL!

I keep wanting to see how long it goes on for, but then I chicken out because I don't want to waste time being scolded by the skyloft knights.


Oh, and seeing your avatar, SecretMoblin, reminded me of the second visit to Faron when you talk to

Spoiler

the elder kikwi and he makes you promise not to tell because "it's a secret to everyone." Made me laugh. : P

 

[SecretMoblin]

Oh, and seeing your avatar, SecretMoblin, reminded me of the second visit to Faron when you talk to

Spoiler

the elder kikwi and he makes you promise not to tell because "it's a secret to everyone." Made me laugh. : P

Heh, yeah, there are actually two different NPCs that reference it pretty close to each other in the storyline, if I recall correctly. Nintendo's been good about including it in the games.

 

[aparisi2274]

FINISHED!!!!

What an awesome game, and even better ending!

Spoiler

I was able to get through the first two phases of Ghirahim before I had to use the Guardian Potion +. Once I finished him, and moved on to Demise, I was still invincible, so that fight was pretty easy too

All in All I give this game a 9/10.

 

[butter_stick]

No way Nintendo keep waggle in Zelda after the lukewarm reception to SS.

 

[SecretMoblin]

Watch as they remove sword control entirely so that combat consists only of thrusting the Wii U screen forward to parry.

Muahahahahahahaha

Spoiler

The controls really weren't that bad, guys.

 

[sphinx]

No way Nintendo keep waggle in Zelda after the lukewarm reception to SS.

Reception was definitely unimpressive but it corresponds to a release in a more or less dead nintendo home console, when people have either given it away, sold it or just plain don't care anymore.

We sadly can't compare it to twilight princess because since it was released on Wii, any hypothetical scenario "what if it remained a gamecube exclusive?" is just pure speculation and waste of time if you ask me.

but Majora's Mask provides a more similar case and in that sense I think it performed on par or even better than that. Zelda Wii U is soooo far away that I can almost bet it won't sell like Twilight princess either, even with the dudebro treatment. Launch period helped TP a lot.

 

[butter_stick]

Reception was definitely unimpressive but it corresponds to a release in a more or less dead nintendo home console, when people have either given it away, sold it or just plain don't care anymore.

We sadly can't compare it to twilight princess because since it was released on Wii, any hypothetical scenario "what if it remained a gamecube exclusive?" is just pure speculation and waste of time if you ask me.

but Majora's Mask provides a more similar case and in that sense I think it performed on par or even better than that. Zelda Wii U is soooo far away that I can almost bet it won't sell like Twilight princess either, even with the dudebro treatment. Launch period helped TP a lot.

Odds were always against SS, but there's enough of a negative reception to the controls, and clearly an inability to have much crossover appeal with casuals, that I don't see why they won't go back to the controls more successful games had. Motion controls are supposed to increase accessibility, but SS hasn't sold to the Just Dance crowd or anything.

 

[spekkeh]

So I finally just started playing this.

I really, really like the intimacy between Zelda and Link.

If they could've kept that up it would easily have been the best Zelda ever to me. Wouldn't mind a Zelda game that played out more like a love story than an epic battle with Fate.

 

[daedalius]

So I just got to the part where you have to collect all of the

Spoiler

notes for the Song of the Hero in flooded Faron Woods

I cursed... a lot.

So much filler in this game, it just seems blatant at this point.

3) Just Dance crowd? Zelda? You're getting the wires crossed. Zelda has not, will not, and can not sell to that crowd. Motion control (outside of its few stupid uses like tightrope walking) was supposed to make a more engaging attack system for us "hardcore" (ugh I hate labels) which are the people who BUY Zelda. And they did. Instead of "press A to win" you had a lot more dynamics to the combat.

You read it here first folks, enemies holding their weapons at 90 degree angles blocking you is a more engaging combat system.

What a joke, play bayonetta or something.

 

[StevieP]

Odds were always against SS, but there's enough of a negative reception to the controls, and clearly an inability to have much crossover appeal with casuals, that I don't see why they won't go back to the controls more successful games had. Motion controls are supposed to increase accessibility, but SS hasn't sold to the Just Dance crowd or anything.

1) Only on GAF and similar forums.

2) Why not go back to those concepts, too? I mean ridleyscott has a whole posting history full of opinions as to how to make Zelda "sell like it used to" - you should read up on it! \)

3) Just Dance crowd? Zelda? You're getting the wires crossed. Zelda has not, will not, and can not sell to that crowd. Motion control (outside of its few stupid uses like tightrope walking) was supposed to make a more engaging attack system for us "hardcore" (ugh I hate labels) which are the people who BUY Zelda. And they did. Instead of "press A to win" you had a lot more dynamics to the combat.

 

[Emitan]

I played through most of the combat by wildly flailing my arm to defeat Bokoblins before they started blocking. The combat does not have more depth.

 

[sphinx]

Odds were always against SS, but there's enough of a negative reception to the controls, and clearly an inability to have much crossover appeal with casuals, that I don't see why they won't go back to the controls more successful games had. Motion controls are supposed to increase accessibility, but SS hasn't sold to the Just Dance crowd or anything.

there are some people who don't like it but "enough of a negative reception" ??? you mean taking metacritic for example? I really don't see many complains, there are some complains related to what some gamers consider filler and useless backtracking but controls is definitely not something this game got wrong or is known to get complains for.

I played through most of the combat by wildly flailing my arm to defeat Bokoblins before they started blocking. The combat does not have more depth.

to a certan extent, true, you can waggle and shake and come through but some foes are a real pain in the ass when you just try to shake the wiimote to get through.

and considering that there is a HUGE difference in dificulty from a regular Bokoblin to the

Spoiler

Skull Pirate midboss in the ship

, I am not sure the phrase "It doesn't have any depth" applies completely.

 

[daedalius]

and considering that there is a HUGE difference in dificulty from a regular Bokoblin to the

Spoiler

Skull Pirate midboss in the ship

, I am not sure the phrase "It doesn't have any depth" applies completely.

Oh you mean the boss where I just had to attack from the left side every time and it hit him, until he took out his

Spoiler

hook

and then I just attacked with an upswing. Super hard fight!

I fought the jpop demon in the fire temple last night, cool 90 degree angle blocking bro.

 

[ASIS]

No way Nintendo keep waggle in Zelda after the lukewarm reception to SS.

Reception to controls (outside of GAF) has been great.

 

[Typographenia]

Spoiler

The controls really weren't that bad, guys.

They aren't, but they are my least favorite thing of the game. I hate that nearly every fight I get into feels more like a battle to get the commands to respond like I want them to, rather than a battle against whatever I'm facing.

It hasn't ruined the game for me, but it's an unfortunate blot on an, otherwise, very enjoyable package, for me.

 

[Myriadis]

Oh you mean the boss where I just had to attack from the left side every time and it hit him, until he took out his

Spoiler

hook

and then I just attacked with an upswing. Super hard fight!

I fought the jpop demon in the fire temple last night, cool 90 degree angle blocking bro.

Still more depth than mashing B to win, which is how it is in the other Zelda games.

 

[Chuckpebble]

Still more depth than mashing B to win, which is how it is in the other Zelda games.

Yeah, but you still had the ability to control the sword direction with the thumb stick in the older games and it was useful to a much lesser extent. The more significant change to combat for me is the fact that you can no longer turtle behind your shield infinitely, which is kind of cool. Don't get me wrong though, I do enjoy the sword play.

 

[daedalius]

Still more depth than mashing B to win, which is how it is in the other Zelda games.

So what you're saying is no Zelda actually has any combat depth, I can agree with that.

 

[SecretMoblin]

They aren't, but they are my least favorite thing of the game. I hate that nearly every fight I get into feels more like a battle to get the commands to respond like I want them to, rather than a battle against whatever I'm facing.

It hasn't ruined the game for me, but it's an unfortunate blot on an, otherwise, very enjoyable package, for me.

I pretty much agree with this, but they weren't my absolute least favorite part of the game. That prize would have to go to either the

Spoiler

Volcano section where you have to recover your items,

or the

Spoiler

tear hunts, which felt like a chore.

 

[The Awesomest]

Yeah, but you still had the ability to control the sword direction with the thumb stick in the older games and it was useful to a much lesser extent. The more significant change to combat for me is the fact that you can no longer turtle behind your shield infinitely, which is kind of cool. Don't get me wrong though, I do enjoy the sword play.

wait what

...WHAT

 

[Xun]

wait what

...WHAT

Yeah.

It was very subtle but it worked.

That's why I think SS could be done on standard controls quite well.

 

[Dr.Hadji]

I played through most of the combat by wildly flailing my arm to defeat Bokoblins before they started blocking. The combat does not have more depth.

You say that like you can't cheese almost any action game. Zoom+Slow-mo+Punch wins Viewtiful Joe even on Ultra V-Rated.

Reception to controls (outside of GAF) has been great.

Wiimote Zelda controls >> buttons
Touch screen Zelda = greatest controlling action/adventure game
Rhythm Heaven Gold >>> Rhythm Heaven
Other M controls >> Prime controls
Canvas Curse > Any traditional Kirby platformer

Love me some touch/motion controls.

 

[Forkball]

I'm post sixth dungeon, heading towards

Spoiler

Lanayru Desert for the last piece of the song

. The

Spoiler

tadtones

were not as bad as I imagine. Yes, it was an annoying fetch quest, but I only messed up on the long chain once so I didn't find it to be TOO frustrating. Not as cool as the Eldin section, though.

 

[Myriadis]

So what you're saying is no Zelda actually has any combat depth, I can agree with that.

That's what you are saying. Even though the combat is not not that deep in Zelda games (except maybe Zelda II and Skyward Sword) it is still better than Prince of Persia (especially 2008) and Assassins Creed.

wait what

...WHAT

You can control it a bit when you're Z-Targeting. Standing still moves the sword vertically, always from top to bottom, and walking allows you to swing horizontally, either from left to right or vice versa, depending on how you hold the stick, either left or right. Moving the stick forth is a thrust. It isn't that percise, especially since you have to run to perform these.

 

[Emitan]

Oh you mean the boss where I just had to attack from the left side every time and it hit him, until he took out his

Spoiler

hook

and then I just attacked with an upswing. Super hard fight!

Yeah, same thing I did. He never blocks that way so he's a free win.

 

[Anth0ny]

Still more depth than mashing B to win, which is how it is in the other Zelda games.

Everyone forgets about Zelda II =(

Dark Souls' combat makes Skyward Sword's look like crap. No motion controls required.

 

[Stage On]

Beat the 5th temple on Monday and I have to say that there are a few points about this game that have almost frustrated me to the point of giving up.

When the motion controls work well on some stuff they are amazing. I absolutely love the Beetle and the Whip... But when they don't work it's hair pulling.

I can't seem to get link to go where I want when Skydiving no matter what I try. The part where you have to jump off the statue early in the game Pissed me off to no end since I had so much trouble nailing the landing and they did not explain how to do it properly.

Then there is the harp. I don't have very a good sense of rhythm and the explanation given made no sense at all. Getting it to play right so that I could advance had me in tears feeling that it was bull that something so stupid was holding me back.

Btw who thought it was a good idea to turn the boss keys into a puzzle onto themselves? I Absolutely hate that since the controls to manipulate them in a 3d space really don't feel like right at all and it's far more frustrating then just unlocking the damn things like in past Zelda games.

Then the minecart section, God that was annoying. Sometimes Link would lean towards a direction and stay that way no matter what I did. I was nearly ready to give up the game completely before I finally got thought it out of pure luck.


This is the first time I've wanted to throw a controller since I was a child. I've never been this frustrated with a Zelda game before and it's driving me nuts. I want to play games to have fun not drive up my stress level.

 

[Chuckpebble]

wait what

...WHAT

Yeah, when you had a Z-lock you could control the sword directions. Neutral on the stick was overhead slash. Side to side were sideways slashes and pressing forward did a stab. That's been in since Ocarina. Forget how exactly it was useful in that game though.

 

[Effect]

Will finally be able to get back to this tonight I hope. I keep the box on my bookshelf next to my bed and every time I look at I feel bad about stopping to play the game to play Skyrim. However this long break doesn't worry me about getting back into the game. The information you can get out Fi should be more then enough to bring me back up to speed about where I was in the game. I think this could very well be why she was designed the way she was. Perhaps Nintendo realized that a lot of people take breaks from playing Zelda. However might be lost when they come back but Fi addresses that. The combination of the information you ask of her and being reminded what items when you go back for a new play session might be apart of them addressing this. Granted they should give you the ability to turn it off and it should only pop up if the game detects you hadn't played in a few days. As I stand right now, about to get back into the game, I really appreciate that these aspects are there.

 

[daedalius]

That's what you are saying. Even though the combat is not not that deep in Zelda games (except maybe Zelda II and Skyward Sword) it is still better than Prince of Persia (especially 2008) and Assassins Creed.

Ok, I wouldn't say either of those games have good combat systems either.

Final boss is the only decent enemy design in the entire game, he actually looks like a powerful being bent on destruction, and

Spoiler

Ganon

.

I actually thought the final fight with jpop demon wasn't too bad, had some interesting mechanics at least, though slowing down massively to make sure my strike goes where he ISN'T blocking just makes it feel meh.

Maybe they are just drawing too much attention to something that is never really portrayed really well in games, swordfighting; it is just portrayed so poorly by fighting something that is holding a weapon at 90 degrees and blocks all of your attacks. While other games don't ever show it realistically, the 90 degree angles just totally break the experience for me. It just looks... goofy.

 

[StevieP]

Yeah.

It was very subtle but it worked.

That's why I think SS could be done on standard controls quite well.

They're not even remotely close in execution.

 

[The Awesomest]

You can control it a bit when you're Z-Targeting. Standing still moves the sword vertically, always from top to bottom, and walking allows you to swing horizontally, either from left to right or vice versa, depending on how you hold the stick, either left or right. Moving the stick forth is a thrust. It isn't that percise, especially since you have to run to perform these.

Yeah, when you had a Z-lock you could control the sword directions. Neutral on the stick was overhead slash. Side to side were sideways slashes and pressing forward did a stab. That's been in since Ocarina. Forget how exactly it was useful in that game though.

Oh... I already knew that. I was expecting something a little more exciting.

 

[Xun]

They're not even remotely close in execution.

You can get around the differences.

Things would change of course, but I think it could be done.

 

[Xun]

Double post by accident.

 

[Forkball]

So I did all the post-sixth dungeon stuff.

Spoiler

Tadtones were boring, but not as awful as people were making it out to be. The stealth part was fun, and the cart escort in Lanayru Gorge was awesome. Plus it had a neat if obvious puzzle at the end.

So after I did all that, what is my reward?

Spoiler

Another. Fucking. Silent. Realm. WHY HYLIA WHY

 

[Typographenia]

Okay, I guess I'm a bit overdue for an update.
My memory is going to be a little spotty on what happened when, so I apologize in advance. I knew I shouldn't have gone so long without doing this!


Finished the sixth dungeon, and I did quite a lot after that as well. I think I'm on the final bit before the end of the game. So yeah, let's get to it!

Spoiler

I quite liked the final dungeon. It was good getting to see the Mogmas again, and they're always good for a laugh. The old man Guld was pretty sweet, and I'm glad he had a happy ending later on. Not sure I like the new claws, though. It's kind of annoying when I'm just wanting to dig up rupees or health, and I end up getting forced underground. It'd be nice if they let you just dig up the hole and then choose to go down it. : \

Another Ghirahim boss fight? Ugh...
I don't know what it is, but I can NEVER get the controls to hit him how I want them to. The second phase is a cake walk, but the first phase where you have to strike the opposite of how he's holding his arm never works for me. I just end up reflecting the little dagger things until phase two.


Let's see, I know this is out of order, but I finished the Batreaux stuff from finishing up all of the gratitude stuff. I hated the Beedle one because catching bugs always makes me antsy. No pun intended. Maybe.
His human form cracked me up! I love the hair, dude. You're gonna be a hit with the skyloftians.


Okay, so I fought Imprisoned a second time, and he wrecked me pretty hard before the near end when I found out I was supposed to be stunning him with Groose... Yeah, I thought that was just if it was climbing up the wall, so I kept getting stomped repeatedly trying to slash his toes. Oh well.

Oh dang, the Gate of Time was freaking awesome. The Groose and Link scene was pretty touching. The Zelda and Link talk was pretty awesome (if not a little too heavy-handed on exposition. Well, and Link's hilarious "OH NO" face he had almost the entire time). I don't know if I've mentioned it yet in my posts, but the music is INCREDIBLE in this game. The orchestra really knocked it out of the park, and I found myself choking back tears during the Link/Zelda scene, not so much because of the drama, but because the music was so perfect. Get to go wake Zelda up in a while! Whee!


So, yeah, I had to go find Levias, and that boss fight was kinda meh. It wasn't hard, but the reward of getting to meet Levias was worth it. I miss the storminess of the area, but it's so soft and dreamlike that I don't really mind. It looks absolutely stunning in the cutscenes. Maybe that's more of my love of the sky than anything, but I was eating it up.

I then had to go get the three pieces of the song of the Hero from the Dragons, and I remembered the thread I saw mentioning a bug that can break the game when you had to go collect stuff. So I read that real fast and decided to do the advice of Lanayru last. (I likely would have done that anywho, I suppose)



OH NO, WHAT HAPPENED TO FARON?!
It was pretty funny seeing the landscape in such a different way, and I laughed at the giant Kikwi liking it better that way. Water Dragon wasn't in a great mood, but I calmed her (him?) down after collecting that freaking tadtone stuff. I don't know why, but it put me in a pretty bad mood. Maybe because it felt so pointless after I just saved the Dragon's life earlier, had the master sword, and STILL had the excuse of "I want to test you and make sure you're worthy." Oh, shut up, I'll fight you right here, dragon.
But yeah, got it all and restored order to the forest.

Off to Eldin!
Oh man, volcano is erupting! That can't be good. Turns out lots of the goblin dudes had moved in and stole all my stuff after my crash landing. GREAT. The sneaking part was fine, but it was irritating having the camera show me that "Hey, there are guards here where you can see the guards from where you're standing. And stuff." I know. It's not hard to see them... Got a little turned around at one point, but I found my way through, and I was so relieved that the fire dragon didn't ask me to do some stupid fetch quest for him as well.

Next, the Lanayru!
Oh man, this was a really fun one. I wish the other two had been this good. Seeing his bones light up the eye sockets was kind of creepy, but after the minecart trip, it was so cool seeing him covered in clouds and all. When I got the life fruit to him (yeah, grew a tree in a couple thousand years instantly. It's what I do), it was great to see him take off all excited. It made me chuckle because I think both Link and I had the same amusement on our faces.
Since I'm on the note of the Thunder Dragon, it's freaking bullcrap that you can't get the piece of heart and keep going. : ( I wanted to get the shield too, but I figured I'd do that tomorrow. Just annoying.



Anyways, I returned back to the Thunderdome place, and when it did the "You learned the Song of the Hero..." WHOOSH thing with the dragons, I was surprised, hahaha. I was like "what the..? did it freeze?" then dragons everywhere! This might be my favorite scene in the game. Link listening to Levias sing while drifting through the clouds, the dragons show up, Fi dances, and awesome music while Link is floating in his mind. It was just fantastic.


So, I think that pretty much is most all of what I've done. I've got max health now too, and I think I might have found every cube. I probably need to do a final sweep before I do the next silent place thing. Dang it, I'm getting sick of those, haha.

Looking forward to seeing how this will end, and I believe I may wrap this up within the next one or two times I play, depending on how much time I get in.
So far, I think this is probably my favorite Zelda since Majora's Mask. Not entirely sure how I'll end up placing it on my list, but yeah, I've really liked this, control issues aside. (I'll gladly trade

Spoiler

Fi out

for Midna, though. Make this game even better.)

 

[VistraNorrez]

Odds were always against SS, but there's enough of a negative reception to the controls

And there are incredibly positive reactions to the controls too. I made sure to be extra glowing in my praise on the post-play survey because they worked so well for me. I'm sure Nintendo mostly ignores those things, but I figure they'd pay far more attention to them then any other feedback. The past 3 console Zeldas have all had their share of bludgeoning, so why would Nintendo really look at reviews. They have all gotten pretty stellar reviews too.

 

[Forkball]

So how necessary is the big reward for the boss rush mode? It sounds appealing but... I really don't want to do a boss rush, I always hate those in games.

[edit] Just tried it. Fuck you Koloktos.

 

[daedalius]

So how necessary is the big reward for the boss rush mode? It sounds appealing but... I really don't want to do a boss rush, I always hate those in games.

[edit] Just tried it. Fuck you Koloktos.

Certainly not required to beat the game.

 

[Typographenia]

So how necessary is the big reward for the boss rush mode? It sounds appealing but... I really don't want to do a boss rush, I always hate those in games.

[edit] Just tried it. Fuck you Koloktos.

I'd really recommend going for the reward after the 8th boss. It isn't necessary, but it will definitely make things easier later.


OKAY.
So, I beat the game...

Spoiler

Managed to grab the Hylian shield, and I considered that the end of everything I needed/wanted. I then went ahead and did the silent realm, and it was okay. It was probably the most enjoyable one since I was most familiar with the layout of the land.

So, I went to summon the bird statue thing with the extra gem, and the cutscene that followed made me laugh. The anti-climax of the cannonball being fired was amazing. But, yeah, I wasn't wild about the dungeon... Particularly the stupid lava one because I kept messing up small things and having to ride the ENTIRE FREAKING LAVA THING EVERY TIME. AUGH!



The following cutscene stuff was nice, and Ghirahim showing up was oh, so surprising. Got to travel back in time after crushing Demise/Imprisoned, ran down the sealed ground place fighting lots of stuff (was kind of fun just wailing on guys), and then had to fight Ghirahim one last time. I was really disappointed with how easy his first phase was. The second phase went swimmingly until he swapped swords on me. Took me up until my literal last heart to figure out what was going on, and I beat him without using a fairy! YES!

But, then Demise showed up and swallowed Zelda's soul, and he turned into a SF x FF bad guy. I dunno. I thought he was okay looking, but it just felt out of place for a Zelda game. I thought Ghirahim fit wonderfully, but something about Demise was just weird.

Went and sat on the chair in the temple, and I decided to charge in after him since I had done all I wanted to do. The final fight location was pretty cool, but daaaaaang, Demise is a jerk. I was so glad to have the Hylian shield because of how much I was reflecting attacks. I think I used two fairies to beat him because his second phase with the electricity was brutal. Loved landing the final blow with the lightning stab.



All of the ending video was nice, and the whole "the old lady was Impa!" reveal was too obvious from way earlier, haha. Still, it was pretty sad to see her vanish so suddenly and have to say goodbye to Fi. And I didn't even like Fi! I still think it was the music *wipes tears from eyes*
Loved seeing Zelda's journey during the credits, and the final conversation to stay on the surface was a great way to end it all. (I'll remember you always, Karane/Kina/Peatrice)




Overall, I really loved this game. The locations were fun to explore, the characters were entertaining and memorable, the music was perfect, the flying was INCREDIBLE, and I just had so much fun playing this that it made me feel like I did the first time I played Ocarina again.

The three things that I must admit keep this from being a much better game is-
1. The controls not being terribly accurate in my fighting
2. Fi CONSTANTLY explaining and repeating things to me that are very evident
3. The perpetual hand holding the game does. It's part streamlining and part "you're too dumb to figure out anything on your own, so let us show/tell you everything." Just let me play the game and do it myself!
However, I don't think it detracted enough to make my experience lesser because of it. They were certainly annoying, but the good far outweighs the bad.

It has been an absolute pleasure playing this game, and I'm glad I was able to avoid spoilers and much of the content from past the first couple of hours after media began releasing.
One major positive to me was one of my friends who was complaining he wanted a more serious/dark Zelda before the game released (and was lamenting the light-hearted nature this one was displaying) has done a 180 on the game. Made me glad, since I argued with him for a while about his feelings on the direction of Zelda.


But, yeah, fantastic game, and definitely worth the wait. I only wonder what the direction of the Wii would have been had this been the Zelda at release and not Twiilght Princess.

 

[The Awesomest]

Say, since you did the Gratitude Crystals earlier than I did, did you notice anything different at night after Bats was transformed? I heard the cat things stop attacking you but I never went back to nighttime after I finished them.

 

[Sagitario]

Say, since you did the Gratitude Crystals earlier than I did, did you notice anything different at night after Bats was transformed? I heard the cat things stop attacking you but I never went back to nighttime after I finished them.

If you finish

Spoiler

Batreaux

sidequest, no

Spoiler

more monsters

at night.

 

[sphinx]

If you finish

Spoiler

Batreaux

sidequest, no

Spoiler

more monsters

at night.

plus,

Spoiler

skyloftians go outside at night and have different things to say.