4 replies to this topic

[akiratheoni]

Ok it's like 1am but I don't feel like going to sleep so here we go. Also I'm going to make this as spoiler-free as possible, but there may be some items or something spoiled. You have been warned.

As soon as the special edition bundle was available on Amazon, I ordered it. Because I ordered it online, I understood that I wouldn't get the game on release day (duh). So I spent the extra ten bucks on one day shipping so I'd get it on Tuesday (game came out Sunday, doesn't ship until Monday of course). But of course the stupid UPS man doesn't show up till 8:30pm that Tuesday night and my friend was turning 21 so I only had like 30 minutes to play it =/ Barely enough to get into it. But I digress.

Anyway so the key feature of this game are the controls. And everyone's wondering how they work. Well, it's amazing. Now of course the motion controls aren't perfect (some sword swings are recorded incorrectly), but when it does work... wow. It's such an awesome experience and I don't think I'd play a 3d Zelda normally now. It's so much fun just to stand randomly anywhere and just swing the sword. The items also make good use with the motion controls; one of the new items (the Beetle) is so much fun to fly around.

The graphics, while not HD-amazing because well, it's the Wii, are actually really good. Of course it's a bit dated, so I guess a more accurate explanation is that the art style is amazing. It's a very colorful game. And the backgrounds for some areas look like a waterpainting, it's really nice. It works for the game. I will say though I did like the darker theme of Twilight Princess though.

Now, there was one thing where the art style didn't really impress me -- it doesn't have to really do with the art style itself, but more of the context of it. The surface land was always touted in the advertising as the "dangerous lands below" or something to that effect. But because the art style is so colorful, it's too cheery to really give the impression that the surface land was really that dangerous. Again, it's not a detraction of the art style, but more that it wasn't appropriate to display the danger for the surface land.

The story is definitely interesting. Personally, I think Nintendo may have half-assed some of the more important elements of the story, but it does explain the origins of several important key points in the Zelda franchise. It was interesting but again, I still think that Twilight Princess' story was more engaging; past the first several dungeons, I never really felt an urgency to save Zelda as I did with stopping the Twilight or Zant. Around the end of the game there are several "filler" portions that get annoying but aren't that deal breaking.

Next up... the dungeons. As usual, it's the normal solve puzzles, beat boss scenario. But what I like is how Nintendo managed to use the same formula but never really make the game too stale. It's definitely familiar but I don't really ever find that a bad thing if it's pulled off correctly. Some of the boss battles here do have that 'epic' feel that Twilight Princess had. The recurring villain, Ghirahim, I also liked. The boss battles with him were fun and difficult.

Nintendo also chose to do something slightly different with the overworld. Now I know technically Skyloft + the land below is the overworld, but personally I like having a single roaming overworld where you can access everything from the main field, like in Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, or Twilight Princess. The three main areas where the dungeons are located are all separated on the surface land and only accessible with loftwings (i.e. to go from dungeon 1 to dungeon 3, you have to fly up into the sky from dungeon 1 then fly to dungeon 3). It's really a minor annoyance -- it didn't detract from the game for me because I knew they were going for something different.

The sidequests. Yeah, not much to say here. I think I did like one sidequest. I wasn't interested in it, I just wanted to see what happened in the damn story

Overall, this was a really fun game. The controls were awesome, sometimes a little frustrating when the swing isn't recorded accurately, but it made the game a lot more engaging. It also makes the game a bit more difficult than other games. Personally Twilight Princess still ranks as my favorite (Zelda) game of all time, because of its graphic, story, and controls were amazing, but Skyward Sword is still one of the best Zeldas out there.

If I had to rank the Zeldas... here's my list:

• Twilight Princess
  
• Majora's Mask
  
• A Link to the Past/Skyward Sword/Ocarina of Time (yes these are all split)
  
• The Wind Waker
  
• Phantom Hourglass
  
• Minish Cap
  
• Spirit Tracks
  
• Legend of Zelda (it's last on the list but it's still a fun game. Obviously it lacks the depth of the later games)

I have played Oracle of Ages, Link's Awakening, The Adventure of Link, and Four Swords Adventures, but never finished them so I'm not going to rank them.

[Red Phazon]

akiratheoni, on 30 November 2011 - 01:03 AM, said:

But of course the stupid UPS man doesn't show up till 8:30pm that Tuesday night and my friend was turning 21 so I only had like 30 minutes to play it =/ Barely enough to get into it.

I probably would have waited.

akiratheoni, on 30 November 2011 - 01:03 AM, said:

Anyway so the key feature of this game are the controls. And everyone's wondering how they work. Well, it's amazing. Now of course the motion controls aren't perfect (some sword swings are recorded incorrectly), but when it does work... wow. It's such an awesome experience and I don't think I'd play a 3d Zelda normally now. It's so much fun just to stand randomly anywhere and just swing the sword. The items also make good use with the motion controls; one of the new items (the Beetle) is so much fun to fly around.

I had some problems with the motion controls until I found that while calibrating, it's best just to hold it in front of you steadily instead of laying it on the couch or something. Before this I had problems selecting items, drawing pictures, and playing the harp (especially this). A quick stab was also a little difficult to pull of when it was needed to.

akiratheoni, on 30 November 2011 - 01:03 AM, said:

The graphics, while not HD-amazing because well, it's the Wii, are actually really good. Of course it's a bit dated, so I guess a more accurate explanation is that the art style is amazing. It's a very colorful game. And the backgrounds for some areas look like a waterpainting, it's really nice. It works for the game. I will say though I did like the darker theme of Twilight Princess though.

I think the graphical style in this game is my favorite out of all the games so far. There were a few points in the game where I found a scene that I just couldn't stop staring at. A realistic graphical style like TP would be cool for a system that could handle it better. I'm glad that Nintendo took a break from that style, but I also cannot wait for a game that has the appearance of that Wii U demo.

akiratheoni, on 30 November 2011 - 01:03 AM, said:

Now, there was one thing where the art style didn't really impress me -- it doesn't have to really do with the art style itself, but more of the context of it. The surface land was always touted in the advertising as the "dangerous lands below" or something to that effect. But because the art style is so colorful, it's too cheery to really give the impression that the surface land was really that dangerous. Again, it's not a detraction of the art style, but more that it wasn't appropriate to display the danger for the surface land.

This didn't bother me because I was in the mindset of, to the people of Skyloft, the idea of the surface was influenced by legend as ominous and mysterious, and while there was evil lurking, the land turned out to be beautiful.

akiratheoni, on 30 November 2011 - 01:03 AM, said:

The story is definitely interesting. Personally, I think Nintendo may have half-assed some of the more important elements of the story, but it does explain the origins of several important key points in the Zelda franchise. It was interesting but again, I still think that Twilight Princess' story was more engaging; past the first several dungeons, I never really felt an urgency to save Zelda as I did with stopping the Twilight or Zant. Around the end of the game there are several "filler" portions that get annoying but aren't that deal breaking.

I agree here. Though I loved the forest's filler portion and spend plenty of time on it. To comment on TP's story. It would have been the most amazing story in a Zelda game... if they finished it and cleaned up its flaws and plot holes which killed it for me and left me with an empty feeling at the end. I could list all the elements that disappointed me in this regard.

akiratheoni, on 30 November 2011 - 01:03 AM, said:

Next up... the dungeons. As usual, it's the normal solve puzzles, beat boss scenario. But what I like is how Nintendo managed to use the same formula but never really make the game too stale. It's definitely familiar but I don't really ever find that a bad thing if it's pulled off correctly. Some of the boss battles here do have that 'epic' feel that Twilight Princess had. The recurring villain, Ghirahim, I also liked. The boss battles with him were fun and difficult.

I was amazed at how small the dungeons appeared to be on a map, but how they also still took me just as long to get through as in other games. I loved some of the themes that were given to the dungeons. I mean, levels 3 and 5 took me by surprise. One thing that disappointed me was that there were two fire dungeons. They even had similar architectural style from what I can remember. The puzzles were well done, and I was stumped a couple times, but I was surprised that there were no block puzzles this time. This tells me they are trying to come up with new puzzles without relying on the classics. Bosses... the fights were all fun, but I disliked the appearances of Tantalus and Girahim.

akiratheoni, on 30 November 2011 - 01:03 AM, said:

Nintendo also chose to do something slightly different with the overworld. Now I know technically Skyloft + the land below is the overworld, but personally I like having a single roaming overworld where you can access everything from the main field, like in Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, or Twilight Princess. The three main areas where the dungeons are located are all separated on the surface land and only accessible with loftwings (i.e. to go from dungeon 1 to dungeon 3, you have to fly up into the sky from dungeon 1 then fly to dungeon 3). It's really a minor annoyance -- it didn't detract from the game for me because I knew they were going for something different.

I feel the same way. I was also hoping for more areas since I felt at first that Forest, Volcano, Desert (shocked me when I thought I was going to a water area next, well... in a way, it was), didn't offer enough variety, but that changed after a while. One thing I did like about this overworld system is that it made the surface feel more expansive. The sky boxes in each area greatly adds on to this feeling. Imagination fills in the gaps and gives the illusion that the three regions are too far away from each other to go by foot.

akiratheoni, on 30 November 2011 - 01:03 AM, said:

The sidequests. Yeah, not much to say here. I think I did like one sidequest. I wasn't interested in it, I just wanted to see what happened in the damn story

The sidequests were not as great as the ones in Majora's mask, but there were some memorable ones. The funniest one involved a love story, but with two possible outcomes depending on what action you take. I saved at this point to see both.

akiratheoni, on 30 November 2011 - 01:03 AM, said:

Overall, this was a really fun game. The controls were awesome, sometimes a little frustrating when the swing isn't recorded accurately, but it made the game a lot more engaging. It also makes the game a bit more difficult than other games. Personally Twilight Princess still ranks as my favorite (Zelda) game of all time, because of its graphic, story, and controls were amazing, but Skyward Sword is still one of the best Zeldas out there.

I feel this way as well. It was difficult enough that I actually died a few times in this game, until I started using potions. Invinciblility+ potion with potion medal makes it hard to loose a fight.

akiratheoni, on 30 November 2011 - 01:03 AM, said:

If I had to rank the Zeldas... here's my list:

• Twilight Princess
  
• Majora's Mask
  
• A Link to the Past/Skyward Sword/Ocarina of Time (yes these are all split)
  
• The Wind Waker
  
• Phantom Hourglass
  
• Minish Cap
  
• Spirit Tracks
  
• Legend of Zelda (it's last on the list but it's still a fun game. Obviously it lacks the depth of the later games)

I have played Oracle of Ages, Link's Awakening, The Adventure of Link, and Four Swords Adventures, but never finished them so I'm not going to rank them.

Okay I just tried to rank them, but it's imposible. I can't even pick a number one. I might say that Minish cap is my favorite out of the 2D and handheld games. I would recommend finishing the Oracles and Link's Awakening though.

[Manish]

Red Phazon, on 10 January 2012 - 12:28 PM, said:

I might say that Manish is my favorite

Thanks

[akiratheoni]

Red Phazon, on 10 January 2012 - 12:28 PM, said:

I probably would have waited.


I had some problems with the motion controls until I found that while calibrating, it's best just to hold it in front of you steadily instead of laying it on the couch or something. Before this I had problems selecting items, drawing pictures, and playing the harp (especially this). A quick stab was also a little difficult to pull of when it was needed to.


I think the graphical style in this game is my favorite out of all the games so far. There were a few points in the game where I found a scene that I just couldn't stop staring at. A realistic graphical style like TP would be cool for a system that could handle it better. I'm glad that Nintendo took a break from that style, but I also cannot wait for a game that has the appearance of that Wii U demo.


This didn't bother me because I was in the mindset of, to the people of Skyloft, the idea of the surface was influenced by legend as ominous and mysterious, and while there was evil lurking, the land turned out to be beautiful.


I agree here. Though I loved the forest's filler portion and spend plenty of time on it. To comment on TP's story. It would have been the most amazing story in a Zelda game... if they finished it and cleaned up its flaws and plot holes which killed it for me and left me with an empty feeling at the end. I could list all the elements that disappointed me in this regard.


I was amazed at how small the dungeons appeared to be on a map, but how they also still took me just as long to get through as in other games. I loved some of the themes that were given to the dungeons. I mean, levels 3 and 5 took me by surprise. One thing that disappointed me was that there were two fire dungeons. They even had similar architectural style from what I can remember. The puzzles were well done, and I was stumped a couple times, but I was surprised that there were no block puzzles this time. This tells me they are trying to come up with new puzzles without relying on the classics. Bosses... the fights were all fun, but I disliked the appearances of Tantalus and Girahim.


I feel the same way. I was also hoping for more areas since I felt at first that Forest, Volcano, Desert (shocked me when I thought I was going to a water area next, well... in a way, it was), didn't offer enough variety, but that changed after a while. One thing I did like about this overworld system is that it made the surface feel more expansive. The sky boxes in each area greatly adds on to this feeling. Imagination fills in the gaps and gives the illusion that the three regions are too far away from each other to go by foot.


The sidequests were not as great as the ones in Majora's mask, but there were some memorable ones. The funniest one involved a love story, but with two possible outcomes depending on what action you take. I saved at this point to see both.


I feel this way as well. It was difficult enough that I actually died a few times in this game, until I started using potions. Invinciblility+ potion with potion medal makes it hard to loose a fight.


Okay I just tried to rank them, but it's imposible. I can't even pick a number one. I might say that Minish cap is m y favorite out of the 2D and handheld games. I would recommend finishing the Oracles and Link's Awakening though.

Yeah, Tentalus' boss fight was fun, just not his appearance. What plot holes in Twilight Princess? Just curious, I didn't really notice any, but then again I don't really notice plot holes in general.

Also I'm still playing Link's Awakening, I just beat the first dungeon. I've been busy though so not a lot of time to play it really.

[Red Phazon]

akiratheoni, on 10 January 2012 - 02:23 PM, said:

What plot holes in Twilight Princess? Just curious, I didn't really notice any, but then again I don't really notice plot holes in general.

I guess, not necessarily "holes", but still weak or unexplained aspects of the plot.
1. Why were the children taken from Ordon villiage at the beginning?
2. Why did you then randomly find them where you did?
3. Why even both showing Link's friends entering Hyrule castle at the end if they aren't to be seen again until the credits?

I used to have more but I can't remember them.

akiratheoni, on 10 January 2012 - 02:23 PM, said:

Also I'm still playing Link's Awakening, I just beat the first dungeon. I've been busy though so not a lot of time to play it really.

Did you start over? I remember you playing the fifth dungeon one time when you first got the game.