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RTTP: Skyward Sword is a great game

It's an extremely inconsistent game - some parts are really, really great and others are incredibly boring, disappointing and/or frustrating: you have a big, great, open sky with lots of floating islands! But it's mostly empty and barren save for two or three places. You have puzzles outside the dungeons so even getting to them feels earned! Also, there's no overworld and it's extremely linear with annoying backtracking. You have to fight the same annoying boss three times! ...yay?

You could say it's a great game that has some things that people didn't really want in a Zelda game.
 
Not just an awful Zelda game but a truly awful game in general.

Controls are awful, overworld is boring, Fi, flight mechanics, mindless enemies, incredibly dull boss fights.
 
At its best it's a lot of fun, but it definitely suffers from serious padding at times. I'm not even referring to the Song of the Hero stuff here, I actually found those three quests to be pretty fun, but things like "go backtrack to find a random propeller" and "go through the first dungeon again for spring water" and "fly all the way over to the island in the thundercloud every time you need to learn a new song and then fly all the way back" just got tiresome. On that note, the sky was by far the most boring and bland overworld in any Zelda game--it's small and full of nothing, but your bird flies so slowly that just making your way to one of the beams of light is irksome.

I'm decidedly on #TeamMotionControls when it comes to the swordplay--playing Breath of the Wild will decidedly feel like a big step back in that regard. On the other hand, I wasn't much of a fan of how they felt the need to shoehorn motion controls into literally every other part of the game--stuff like tightrope walking and swimming.
 
first zelda game that i just dropped completely. couldn't deal with fi, the empty and linear overworld, the motion controls (they worked fairly well, but i'm lazy and would rather press buttons :P), the dowsing crap, and so on. i still don't have any desire to go back and finish it.

that said, if they did make a remaster that fixes its issues, i'd be willing to give it another shot
 
i remember after the game dropped me into a forest environment for a third time I was like "fuck this bullshit" . tried replaying it twice. remains the only zelda game i have yet to beat.

What it comes down to it, for me, is the game forcing you to revisit the same environments to perform the same mundane tasks (tear collecting isnt fun. Period) . If you didnt, you werent getting anywhere. the linear structure of how the game unfolds hurt it. We know we revisit places in the old games, but mostly out of our own desire to explore vs an invisble hand asserting we go check things out...again. In subsequent replays in the older games, you know what you need to pick up along the way to advance and I wasnt forced to retread old ground if I didnt want to.

That was the biggie for me on top of so many other things including not giving a damn about any of the characters and skyloft itself.
 
Cess007 said:
No, it's not. And don't matter how many times people try to pass the blame on the user, the controls are terrible.

Yes, I know I can recalibrate them, I did it at least once per session as they started to fail on every session I'd with the game.

The only thing I agree, is that I really liked the visual style (that and that Fi ain't as bad as people say)
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It's you're set up somehow. Controls were flawless for me.
 
It's an excellent Zelda with a horrible opening that goes on for too long. Fi is awful during the first 5 or so hours. She gets slightly better.

I didn't play it until years after its release on Dolphin. That's how badly I hated the beginning. It's a shame the limited capabilities of the Wii couldn't show off the wonderful art style. It's one of the best looking games.

There is a bit too much padding. I nearly played it to completion, but had trouble finding the last few heart pieces.

I loved the motion controls after being frustrated with Twilight Princess. I was expecting 1-to-1 in TP, because I'm a gullible prick. Recalibrating was fine. It was worth the costs of the imaginative combat, and some of the best boss battles in the series. For those who had more substantial issues with calibration, I can totally understand their complaints, because the game 100% depends on those controls being reliable.

It's my favorite story out of any Zelda game, with Majora's Mask coming in a close second.
 
Absolutely amazing game, never truly understood the complaints, but then again people complain about everything
 
I got really far and put it down and never picked it back up. Only Zelda gamee I haven't finished. Not sure what it was but it wore on me after a while, I think I really disliked the overworld.

Edit: Jst looked at a guide to see where I left off, it was like half way. I think I quit when I realized I had to backtrack to all three places I had already been. Backtracking was a huge turn off in this for me.
 
There's absolutely no way I'd categorize Skyward Sword as a "great" game, but it was certainly good. I enjoyed most of my playthrough, but for every high there was a deeper low to match.

I enjoyed the motion controls, the story, the soundtrack. The Koloktos battle still stands out today as one of the most memorable bosses in any Zelda game. But the dungeons were boring and uninspired, the Imprisoned was awful, and the Silent Realm made me long for the sweet freedom of putting the game disc back in the case and putting it away forever.

I'm a Zelda fan from as far back as the original game in the 80s, but Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, and Skyward Sword all hold one thing in common for me: I enjoyed them well enough once, but I never want to play them again.
 
I'm curious what Nintendo could do to it in a remaster for Switch. I guess they have changed Zelda remasters before, to address common complaints. I'm sure they could do the same for SS and see it finally realized to what the fans wanted. Here's hoping. :-)
 
I had trouble getting into it at first, mostly because of the silly controls.

But it ended up being possibly my favorite Zelda game.
 
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Edit:I was somehow posted the wrong picture but this makes it more funny anyhow
 
I love this game for so many reasons.
The artstyle
The dungeons
The bosses
The music
The story

Sure it has probably the worst overworld of any of the 3D zeldas, and is very linear, but it's still a fun and creative game.
 
It's my favorite game of all time. Yep lol.

Love Zelda. Love motion controls. Love dense level design. It's a match made in heaven.

I like Skyloft just thinking of it as a town with some surrounding area, like Colony 9 from Xenoblade, as opposed to the "overworld" as some refer to it. It was neat seeing all the characters' home lives and flying around was a lot of fun in itself. Leaping off a cliff, calling your bird and landing on it, then diving off of it smoothly in real time feels incredible.

The dungeon-like design of the overworld was consistently entertaining. Easily prefer it compared to WW and TP.

I have issues with it (mainly WAY too much unnecessary text telling you useless stuff), but the positives dramatically outweigh the negatives.

Also I really liked the tadtones darnit. It was like getting the flight cap in mario.
 
Hated the final dungeon in practice even if the concept was kind of interesting (enough with the stupid slide puzzles, guys), but loved so much of the rest of the game.

Oh, except for Fi. I get what they were trying to do with her, but they completely flubbed it.
 
SomewhatGroovy said:
Boy, that's one way to get me to keep reading about why you think one of the worst mainline Zelda games isn't one of the worst mainline Zelda games
Click to expand...

I thought about going into the new TLOU thread and expressing how disappointed I was with the game but I thought nah, why be a pissant and rain on people's parade.

Well sir, I'm glad you have the courage to live by the beat of your own drum.


Anywho, I enjoyed Skyward Sword quite a lot but it did have its share of blatant flaws. It's the most I've enjoyed a Zelda story though since probably OoT.
 
I love Skyward Sword. It has its flaws, but I had a great time with it. Never had an issue with the controls once I adapted to them.
 
played through it for the first time very recently, while i can see the issues some had with it, they were blown way the hell out of proportion, and it had some great aspects that really dont get mentioned enough.

fantastic game, really really enjoyed it.
 
I really wanted to like Skyward Sword but the game just chugs along so damn slowly. From the backtracking through the same areas over and over, to the reusing of bosses, right down to the painfully slow speed the text box scrolls. I enjoyed the story but I felt like the game was way, way too long-winded.

I will say this though: the final boss was fucking awesome. One of my favorites in any Zelda game.
 
All the haters will come around when the HD remaster gets released next year.

Worst part of the game was Link's walking animation when his sword was drawn. Because it mimicked the Wiimote position, most of the time it looks like Link is being lead around by a phantom. Looks so stupid.
 
I'm playing this now.

I gotta say, the third time I had to return to the same area was pretty annoying.

Also, it has the obligatory 'lose your gear and go through a bad stealth section' section. Boo.

Honestly can't wait until I finish it, it has overstayed it's welcome.
 
Motion controls and swordplay - great
Dungeons and bosses - pretty great
Graphics and presentation - pretty good

Overworld - more barren and boring than The Wind Waker's Ocean
Flying on bird - missed opportunities
Skyloft - wtf the only town? it's ok.
Fi - god awful

Last 1/3rd of the game - horribly padded mess


Game is a mixed bag that for me lands at a 7/10. By far the worst of the 3D Zelda's. How some reviewers gave it a 10/10 is beyond me.

Even though I loved the motion controls, you couldn't convince me it's a great game.
 
StAidan said:
I enjoyed the motion controls, the story, the soundtrack. The Koloktos battle still stands out today as one of the most memorable bosses in any Zelda game. But the dungeons were boring and uninspired
Click to expand...

I... kinda agree and disagree with the bolded. Some of them were meh, but Lanayru Mining Facility, The Sandship and Ancient Cistern were top notch.
 
hatchx said:
Motion controls and swordplay - great
Dungeons and bosses - pretty great
Graphics and presentation - pretty good

Overworld - more barren and boring than The Wind Waker's Ocean
Flying on bird - missed opportunities
Skyloft - wtf the only town? it's ok.
Fi - god awful

Last 1/3rd of the game - horribly padded mess


Game is a mixed bag that for me lands at a 7/10. By far the worst of the 3D Zelda's. How some reviewers gave it a 10/10 is beyond me.

Even though I loved the motion controls, you couldn't convince me it's a great game.
Click to expand...

If it wasn't for your numbers, I would find what you described to be a great game. Maybe not the best, maybe not amazing, but definitely better than average. There are barely any adventure games that offer puzzles and gameplay and dungeons like this.
 
I personally really liked the game. The controls worked fine when I played with me only having to re-calibrate two or three times, so I guess how I had it set up was good. The controls allowed the combat to be a bit more interesting than what past Zeldas were like with figuring out how to strike your opponent at the right spot, at the right time. Fi was a bit annoying, but not too much for me. The music was great and I really liked the depiction of Zelda in this game coming off of Twilight Princess. The way the game's story was told was probably the best in the Zelda series, which might not be saying much for some.

Backtracking was a bit annoying and Skyloft felt weak as a hub world-like area that you come back to repeatedly during your quest. Most of Skyloft's residents were kinda meh compared to other main towns in Zelda games like Majora's Mask. I wouldn't say it's my favorite Zelda at all, but I still really liked it.
 
The Lamp said:
If it wasn't for your numbers, I would find what you described to be a great game. Maybe not the best, maybe not amazing, but definitely better than average. There are barely any adventure games that offer puzzles and gameplay and dungeons like this.
Click to expand...



Well I described the last 1/3rd of the game as a padded mess, which it was. Scrap that padded mess, add one or two more islands with towns or NPCs on them, and the game quickly becomes a 9.

I just can't forgive 1/3rd of the game being such a chore.
 
The controls were incredible and offered a lot of potential. It's a shame that gamers don't like to try new things.
 
Absolutely amazing game. I was in love from start to finish.

Its only flaws are that it's overlong, with some stuff that should have been side content pushed into an over-long main quest. That an the worst recurring boss in series history - the Condemned or Sealed or whatever it was was just a terribly designed boss.

But visually it's the best Zelda. It has the best characters in Zelda (including Fi, haters be damned). It has some of the most interesting areas and levels in a Zelda (the fucking Sandsea with the time stones was mindblowing). The dungeons are fantastic (ancient cistern is possibly the best zelda dungeon ever). The items are unique and brilliant, and take advantage of the motion controls brilliantly. The swordplay is fun, and the controls worked flawlessly for me with the odd exception of a bomb roll. The bosses are outstanding. Skyloft is my favourite Zelda town ever... I could go on.

It's one of the only games I played through a second time right after beating it, I liked it that much.

I'm not playing through it again because I'm convinced we'll get an HD remake for the Switch - it fits too well not to do it with the Joycons. And that art style is glorious in HD, as Dolphin shows.

I understand why people dislike it, as there are two main sticking points:
a) The controls - if you struggle with them you'll hate the game
b) The lack of an overworld / removal of free exploration. You either accepted this from the start or you didn't. It was like Super Mario Galaxy, but Zelda. Levels instead of a world. If you couldn't come to terms with a Zelda in that fashion, you'd never like this game.

Funniest thing for me was that the tadtones were my favourite part of the game. Swimming in general was a joy with the motion controls. So I beat it before most people had even started it and was expecting that part to be loved. Went online a few days later and... NOPE.
 
I have mixed feelings for it. I think it's overall a great game with brilliant stuff and rough stuff in it. I'm glad they went the BOTW route after this. I think unless they wanted to do a Majora's Mask-esque game (a Zelda game designed around NPC interaction) there was nowhere else to go with the general formula OOT set for 3D Zelda games

I wonder how Skyward Sword will be played in the future. I love TWW HD and TP HD. I want SS HD so bad. Could it happen with the Switch's controller? I dunno
 
It was a fantastic game and the motion controls were amazing. Really gave you a unique gameplay experience. My experience also echoed that of the OPs where I never had an instant where it was the controls that failed me. When something went wrong it was always my fault.

That said I don't have any desire to return to the game because it had a little too much filler. If they had cut maybe 5 hours of fat or so away I would feel differently about returning to it.
 
i can overlook any of the game's problems but i don't see how anybody could've had "fun" with the game's padding, i.e. like 75% of the game.

i guess the exception is laranyu, as the time warp mechanic was fantastic, you could base an entire game around that. but othewise it's "go back to this place and find a bunch of shit on the map"
 
Skyward Sword is a fun game that is really hard for me to replay. The level design is really tight, and Link's mobility in this game really demonstrates that; unfortunately, there is a lot of recycling of environments that really brings down the freshness of the game. Of all the areas, Lanayru is the only which introduced a new area with each subsequent visit. If eldin and faron had followed suit, the game would feel much more complete imo.

On top of that, the sky and the surface did not go well together at all. Zelda loves its dual worlds, but theres usually some kind of cause and effect between the two. In ss, the sky and the surface have practically no relationship whatsoever; and since the vast majority of the game's content takes place on the surface, the sky really just feels like padding.
 
120v said:
i can overlook any of the game's problems but i don't see how anybody could've had "fun" with the game's padding, i.e. like 75% of the game.

i guess the exception is laranyu, as the time warp mechanic was fantastic, you could base an entire game around that. but othewise it's "go back to this place and find a bunch of shit on the map"
Click to expand...

Because I liked the world a ton
 
I am trying to keep my negativity to a minimum right now, but as much as I wanted to love this game I just couldn't. Don't get me wrong what works works well. The motion controls with the items works well that beetle is cool the combat is decent etc. Dungeons are also pretty good, but over all it somehow lacked a certain quality of Zelda-ness. It didn't feel epic in the way the original and the snes game did. It was fun to play, but somehow lighthearted and only loosely connected. I think it should have been a different IP with a more light hearted tone. Then again I don't like anything right now so don't bother me. /return_to_troll_cave
 
Destroys me inside how the seemingly vast majority absolutely detest SS's motion controls. Literally the most fun fucking controls ever. I never got tired of swinging that sword.

SS was my first Zelda, and playing the other games after it was a major downgrade. Just mashing 'B' over and over is way less fun combat than swinging the sword.
 
I thoroughly enjoyed it. I just started a replay of it and am looking forward to my revisit. Every new Console Zelda I play (other than Wind Waker) becomes my new favorite, so I have to play it again to really place it in my hierarchy. I originally played it on an SD set so replaying it via Wii U on my HD set is a bit visually unfortunate, as the art style really suffers. I'm seriously considering getting a refurbished Wii to hook it up to my SD set to play these games properly again.

On the motion controlled sword play. It works pretty well for me, but the best motion sword game is Red Steel 2 and I wish SS worked the same way, instead of trying for close 1 to 1 motion.
 
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