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Skyward Sword review thread [Newest Reviews - Cubed3 10/10, GC: A, AusGamers: 7/10]

A

Akainu

Member
AniHawk said:
i like sessler, although he seems kinda bipolar sometimes. and he's not exactly a great spokesperson for the industry due to how worked up he gets.
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I couldn't take him seriously anymore when he compared the emptiness of No More Heroes to that of Shadow of the Colossus.
 
Woffls

Woffls

Member
kharak said:
GameSpot regrets the error.
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And all was right with the world.... =/

My copy has been despatched, so it should arrive tomorrow ^_^ If I don't get it before about 5pm, I won't be playing it until Monday. Even if I do, I've got to return to the office after seeing A Day to Remember & August Burns Red and pick it up >_>
 
R

Regulus Tera

Romanes Eunt Domus
Amir0x said:
Whose Cloud Dungeon, btw, is >>>>>>>>>>> TP's much overrated sky dungeon. And I love Twilight Princess, so don't you go there!
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ABOUT FUCKING TIME someone said it. Oh God. City in the Sky wasn't even the best dungeon in that game.
 
L

linkboy

Member
sfried said:
I mostly blame the merger. TechTV should never have become G4.

I don't care what anyone says. I'm ready for Skyward Sword. People critisized MM for not being "OoT 2", but it was a different and fresh experience.
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Blame Comcast, they're the assholes who bought techtv and merged it with G4.

As for the ds Zelda's, I hated both of them due to the controls
 
S

SovanJedi

provides useful feedback
For me, I just reaaaally fucking hated the whole trains business - how the way you get about is on trains, how the "Spirit Tracks" were all train tracks, the lore of the land being about trains, the sages all being train-themed, how one of the major Big Bads was a train... It felt really cheesy even for a series as off-the-wall as Zelda.

Also, I would say the bosses and villains in Spirit Tracks were far worse. There was an air of mystery to the pirate ship in Phantom Hourglass and Bellum was genuinely quite creepy (if not particularly original in design): in Spirit Tracks you get a demon train, a boring, emotionless warrior type bloke and a fucking leprechaun with two hats on. Talk about a fall from grace for respectable villains.

The overworld in Spirit Tracks just sucked; keeping constrained to the same routes was painful and made enemy encounters much worse than steamboat navigations in Phantom Hourglass. Sure you could unlock more routes to get around, but that felt stupid when the game felt it was a sufficient "reward" to now be able to navigate to this empty part of the land now instead of that part.

Oh, and fuck that pre-final boss otherworldly train tracks section.
 
D

Dascu

Member
SovanJedi said:
For me, I just reaaaally fucking hated the whole trains business - how the way you get about is on trains, how the "Spirit Tracks" were all train tracks, the lore of the land being about trains, the sages all being train-themed, how one of the major Big Bads was a train... It felt really cheesy even for a series as off-the-wall as Zelda.

Also, I would say the bosses and villains in Spirit Tracks were far worse. There was an air of mystery to the pirate ship in Phantom Hourglass and Bellum was genuinely quite creepy (if not particularly original in design): in Spirit Tracks you get a demon train, a boring, emotionless warrior type bloke and a fucking leprechaun with two hats on. Talk about a fall from grace for respectable villains.

The overworld in Spirit Tracks just sucked; keeping constrained to the same routes was painful and made enemy encounters much worse than steamboat navigations in Phantom Hourglass. Sure you could unlock more routes to get around, but that felt stupid when the game felt it was a sufficient "reward" to now be able to navigate to this empty part of the land now instead of that part.

Oh, and fuck that pre-final boss otherworldly train tracks section.
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Pretty much. The dungeons were nice, but everything else was dreadful. I just cannot understand the love for the game.
 
M

Magicpaint

Member
Dascu said:
Pretty much. The dungeons were nice, but everything else was dreadful. I just cannot understand the love for the game.
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It's exactly why I didn't get the game. Unless I find it for dirt cheap I just won't play it. And it's a shame but ST always looked dreadful to me from the get go.
 
Haunted

Haunted

Member
The Wind Waker ocean was better than any Hyrule Field.

I expect the SS sky to fall somewhere inbetween the original Hyrule Field and Spirit Track's train lulzapalooza.
 
J

jarosh

Member
Haunted said:
The Wind Waker ocean was better than any Hyrule Field.

I expect the SS sky to fall somewhere inbetween the original Hyrule Field and Spirit Track's train lulzapalooza.
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fuck no. the sky in ss is a million times better than that trainwreck (lol pun) of an overworld in spirit tracks *puke*
 
Haunted

Haunted

Member
jarosh said:
fuck no. the sky in ss is a million times better than that trainwreck (lol pun) of an overworld in spirit tracks *puke*
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That's what I meant. Worse than OoT, better than Spirit Tracks.
 
B

BGBW

Maturity, bitches.
Dascu said:
Pretty much. The dungeons were nice, but everything else was dreadful. I just cannot understand the love for the game.
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Because the dungeons were nice.

I quite liked the train as well, but I guess I'm a commuter at heart. Also the sidequests had good rewards for once.

I won't be in a rush to play through it again, but I enjoyed my first play through.
 
D

Deleted member 30609

Unconfirmed Member
BGBW said:
Because the dungeons were nice.

I quite liked the train as well, but I guess I'm a commuter at heart. Also the sidequests had good rewards for once.

I won't be in a rush to play through it again, but I enjoyed my first play through.
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The dungeons looked and felt like every other dungeon in PH and ST. That's probably why I liked PH more. I played it in Japanese (a language I don't understand), so there was no handholding, and I really enjoyed the (novel) new control scheme. ST just felt like a remix of PH to me. Yes, they were generally harder, and there were some great puzzles in ST, but I can barely remember them. All of PH and ST's dungeon blur together in my mind.
 
Nicktendo86

Nicktendo86

Member
hamzik said:
Now that's a great review. Great writing, no spoilers and great and detalied explanation of the games greatness without sounding like a manual.
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My thoughts entirely. Can't wait to sink my teeth into this later, only problem is when the other half will hog the tv. At least Super Mario 3D Land just arrived today as well!
 
Cygnus X-1

Cygnus X-1

Member
Update 3: played for 5 hours

1) I'm quite surprised by the storyline. It doesn't really feel like a Zelda, outside the names of Link and Zelda! Said otherwise, the story is more similar to the beginning of a fantasy book (a very positive thing for me, since after TP I repetitively stated that the plot had to be more believable). Especially the relatively long time taken at the very beginning to start the crisis is something a bit out from the series. Also the dialogues, the characters do feel less...dumb than usual. The orchestrated music also makes the atmosphere going more in the direction to the Lord of The Rings. Sure, much smaller scale, but it's definitely a difference with the past.

2) Wii Motion Plus works, but it's a fact that the recalibration is quite frequent. It can be annoying especially during battles, because if you swing the sword to the far left or right side, then it doesn't just stop recognizing the motion, but also shift the entire neutral point to the corresponding direction. This can be avoided quite easily, but it's not the best if you're, let's say, "excited" to beat a monster. If one instead takes the time to beat a monster or a boss with precision and strategy and not just swinging the wiimote like a crazy, then this side effect is heavily reduced. At least to the point in which a single battle cannot be stopped in the middle for recalibration.
Outside that, the accuracy of Wii Motion Plus is absolute. The angles, the swinging, the fast succession of many different swings are perfectly developed.

3) Art design is amazing and I have to recognize that for the 90% of the environments and 100% of boss/monsters/characters it is on par with Galaxy 2 (if not better in some cases). The rest of 10% seems more blocky, due to the absence of vegetation, water, sand or any special add-on suited to the environment. For example, if there is an isolated small statue or a strange shaped rock the chances it looks "bad" (Twilight Princess-like for instance) are quite high. On the other hand, the chances a tree or a stream or a character looks bad is near zero.

More impressions to come. Oh, btw, the game itself and the plot especially is thrilling and funny!
 
J

jarosh

Member
Haunted said:
That's what I meant. Worse than OoT, better than Spirit Tracks.
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i'm not that fond of oot's hyrule field actually. and if you're ONLY talking about the field, then i DEFINITELY prefer skyward sword's sky. but since the overworld in ss is so fractured it's difficult to really compare the two. the pre-dungeon areas or at least chunks of them might as well be considered part of the overworld. and while towns and mini-game/sidequest locations are more numerous and more elaborate in oot, it doesn't have the mini-dungeon like design and extensive maps of the segments that precede the dungeons (with its share of puzzles and content that is usually found INSIDE the dungeons in previous zelda games). so what's overworld and what isn't? and how do you weigh towns and sidequests against the fairly meaty pre-dungeon content that is part of skyward swords more fractured overworld?
 
B

BGBW

Maturity, bitches.
hamzik said:
Now that's a great review. Great writing, no spoilers and great and detalied explanation of the games greatness without sounding like a manual.
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Because it was written by an actual journalist?
I mean that senior editor who got criticised for his PJ Sidescroller review was some DJ they picked up somewhere.
 
F

faridmon

Member
I hated Phantom Hourglass because of the sea expolaration. The dengouns were fine, but once you get out of it and go on with your ship, holy shit, that sucked big time.
 
M

mugwhump

Member
crustikid said:
Gaming was so much more fun when I didn't stop to excessively pre-evaluate the experiences I was going to have into an exacting quantification. Our necessity to rely on such values stems from the very essence of who most of us were before we came to GAF, OCD-level hobbyists. For the first world society has pushed us to the social margin, and we must find something minuscule and make it grand for it in turn to feel important. Therein once a stated gold standard has been built: 100%, 10/10, A+, and our community formed, it is no wonder that we return to the problem at hand: ourselves. Once again, finding something minuscule and making it grand, when being different/average is perfectly fine. Can gaming ever be elevated to art if we are constantly seeking to quantify its experiences? Does the best movie win best picture every year at the Oscars? Hell no. Were music greats like Bob Dylan ever deterred by mediocre album reviews? Who cares. Things are good in themselves, and time will dictate greatness. It surely has for OoT. Having overreacted to the scores for Skyward Sword, I find it best to disregard the hard-numbered periphery of the community and enjoy it for what I expect it to be: fun. If we can even remember it in 25 years, it'll surely be a masterpiece then. Just saying.
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Yeah, I have this problem in a big way.
 
M

marc^o^

Nintendo's Pro Bono PR Firm
Here is another perfect score from Digital Spy - 5/5
With the Wii showing its age more than ever, Nintendo's strategy is to compensate with an immersive interface, mesmerising world and engaging story. It's an approach that pays off, proving that gameplay should be valued above all else.

Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is a worthy entry in one of gaming's most important franchises. It contains all of the hallmarks of Nintendo's epic saga and breaks new ground in motion control. The Wii's days as a state-of-the-art console may be behind it, but it's still managed to produce a strong contender for game of the year.
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R

Regulus Tera

Romanes Eunt Domus
BGBW said:
Because it was written by an actual journalist?
I mean that senior editor who got criticised for his PJ Sidescroller review was some DJ they picked up somewhere.
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You mean... journalism is an actual profession!?
 
A

alcabcucu

Member
Gamespot editor admits mistakes in their Zelda: Skyward Sword analysis:

With a short footnote to the analysis, and without giving further explanations.

Editor's note:This review originally stated that aiming was handled through the Wii Remote's infrared sensor, which is incorrect. The review has been amended accordingly. GameSpot regrets the error.
Click to expand...

It might seem that this error has few implications, but in my opinion it is more important than Gamespot would have us to believe.

One of the biggest criticisms of the analyst is concerned with problems caused by the aiming function in Skyward Sword. The truth is that these problems did not exist, but the analyst did not understand the aiming function in SS did not use the sensor bar.This caused to him more of a problem when using objectsor when entering in first person view.

As I stated in other post:

Someone should explain Tom that Skyward Sword doesn't use the sensor bar to calibrate the wiimote. I think all his problems with the control are because of this.

Now, when you press the button to access the aiming function (entering in first person view or when using certain items) the game will consider you're pointing at the center of the screen, taking as reference the position of the wiimote when you pressed the button. So, if you press the button when your wiimote is pointing to the floor, the game will "think" the floor is the center of the screen.

Pressing the down arrow button will reset the central position, taking the position of the wiimote in that particular moment as reference, and giving the false impression that you need to recalibrate the wiimote all the time.

This is easily solved by pressing the "aiming" button (c or B -only with certain items-) RIGHT AFTER you aim at the center of the screen with your wiimote.

Why did Nintendo take this approach? Probably to give fast access to menus. Now you don't need to aim at the screen to move the cursor. With a simple and fast gesture you can choose the item you need in that particular moment. This allows to use the bow or the slingshot with the wiimote in vertical position, too (as in Wii Sports Resort).

So this is, in my opinion, the reason why Tom thought that the wiimote didn't work properly, as he even says that the infrared sensors are faulty. And they are not faulty, they simply aren't used.

As I said, someone should explain this to him. Maybe this is the reason he had issues with the wiimote, and could change his opinion about its controls.
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Obviously, this jeopardizes the analysis as a whole, as the analyst hasn't even been able to understand this fact. The truth is that if the man was having control issues every time he used objects or entered first person view (something he said in the analysis but that I think they have removed by now), I certainly can understand that he developed a bias towards the control system, modifying his perception of the sword control and his impression of the game as whole.

We must say thanks to Gamespot for their good will when admitting their mistake, but I'm surprised how they minimize its implications (in my opinion they completely put into stake the analyst's capacity to assess properly the game...)

Note: Please forgive my lousy English, as it is not my natural language.

BR.
 
S

SovanJedi

provides useful feedback
Meier said:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technolo...The-Legend-of-Zelda-Skyward-Sword-review.html

5/5 from The Telegraph.

Saw this on my Google news feed. I didn't read too far in because I started to worry about spoilers but man, I just can't wait to play this game.. this one really sold me. I love that it starts out with a tinge of romance. :)
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I was worried about the other complaints of the overworld being small and segmented, but this review makes it sound like Minish Cap's main world, which was also small at first but deceptively deep and full of neat puzzle sections. Sounds like I'm going to love it still.
 
R

radioheadrule83

Banned
SovanJedi said:
I was worried about the other complaints of the overworld being small and segmented, but this review makes it sound like Minish Cap's main world, which was also small at first but deceptively deep and full of neat puzzle sections. Sounds like I'm going to love it still.
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Its a bit like Metroid Prime. There were areas of Phendrena and Magmoor that were inaccessible until a certain point in the game and this is the same thing. Its not that your new tools unlock each area though, there is a point in the game when you have to pass three trials
the Silent Realms
- and doing so gives you the abilties needed to delve deeper.

Each of the three areas are pretty large and well designed, and when the game forces you to revisit, there's usually something that's changed. If you'd like to know examples of what and how (major spoilers obviously):
the upper crater of Eldin Volcano isn't accessible until you have protection against the intense heat, you don't have access to the full Faron Woods area until you get the dragons scale (swimming) ability, and the sandsea desert in Lanayru Province isn't accessible until later in the game either. Your second return to Eldin Volcano sees you kidnapped and deprived of all your items, you have to engage in a short (fun) stealth section across the area to get your kit back. When you return to Faron Woods at one point in the game you find it flooded. Your visits to the sandsea could well be the most cool, clever sections of the game.

There are some collectathon segments,
silent realms being three of thembut there are more besides
, and I think those are what are going to draw the most ire when the hype has settled down, but on evaluation of the experience as a whole - the many tributes to older games, the excellent motion control, the great music, the ease of which you can pour tens of hours into it - it probably deserves to be played by everybody.
 
Haunted

Haunted

Member
jarosh said:
i'm not that fond of oot's hyrule field actually. and if you're ONLY talking about the field, then i DEFINITELY prefer skyward sword's sky. but since the overworld in ss is so fractured it's difficult to really compare the two. the pre-dungeon areas or at least chunks of them might as well be considered part of the overworld. and while towns and mini-game/sidequest locations are more numerous and more elaborate in oot, it doesn't have the mini-dungeon like design and extensive maps of the segments that precede the dungeons (with its share of puzzles and content that is usually found INSIDE the dungeons in previous zelda games). so what's overworld and what isn't? and how do you weigh towns and sidequests against the fairly meaty pre-dungeon content that is part of skyward swords more fractured overworld?
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So it's not as clear cut as in previous games? I think that's encouraging, I welcome Nintendo deviating from certain formulas and structures. Like the snow mansion in Twilight Princess. It simply felt different from the other dungeons.

I will say that the first pre-dungeon area in Skyward Sword fulfills most of the prerequisites of a dungeon in its own right. There are puzzles, there are enemies, you get a new item... just missing a boss and getting a heart container at the end. :p


beelzebozo said:
nimm mein geld!
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Halt den Mund und nimm mein Geld :p
 
A

Anth0ny

Member
Amir0x said:
Maybe Sessler isn't ALL bad

Also Spirit Tracks had way better dungeon design/puzzle design than Phantom Hourglass, which is why even though its train shit was perhaps even WORSE than PH's trace-a-line boat shit, the game itself was overall significantly better.

But it is still a telling comparison when you even just bring up Minish Cap, which demolishes both games put together.

Whose Cloud Dungeon, btw, is >>>>>>>>>>> TP's much overrated sky dungeon. And I love Twilight Princess, so don't you go there!
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YES.

Cloud Dungeon is one of the best dungeons in the franchise. So damn good. Took me by surprise.
 
J

jarosh

Member
radioheadrule83 said:
Its a bit like Metroid Prime. There were areas of Phendrena and Magmoor that were inaccessible until a certain point in the game and this is the same thing. Its not that your new tools unlock each area though...
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exactly. it is in fact absolutely NOTHING like metroid prime at ALL. "certain areas are not accessible until later". yes, and that's precisely where the similarities end. not in my wildest dreams would i compare the exploration or the progression in ss to the metroid prime series. not even to the more linear third installment.
 
X

Xun

Member
alcabcucu said:
Gamespot editor admits mistakes in their Zelda: Skyward Sword analysis:

With a short footnote to the analysis, and without giving further explanations.



It might seem that this error has few implications, but in my opinion it is more important than Gamespot would have us to believe.

One of the biggest criticisms of the analyst is concerned with problems caused by the aiming function in Skyward Sword. The truth is that these problems did not exist, but the analyst did not understand the aiming function in SS did not use the sensor bar.This caused to him more of a problem when using objectsor when entering in first person view.

As I stated in other post:



Obviously, this jeopardizes the analysis as a whole, as the analyst hasn't even been able to understand this fact. The truth is that if the man was having control issues every time he used objects or entered first person view (something he said in the analysis but that I think they have removed by now), I certainly can understand that he developed a bias towards the control system, modifying his perception of the sword control and his impression of the game as whole.

We must say thanks to Gamespot for their good will when admitting their mistake, but I'm surprised how they minimize its implications (in my opinion they completely put into stake the analyst's capacity to assess properly the game...)

Note: Please forgive my lousy English, as it is not my natural language.

BR.
Click to expand...
Well the reviewer posts here (Gigglepoo) so maybe he can respond (not that he will).
 
T

TheFLYINGManga_Ka

Member
LttP, and I don't mean "Link to the Past," but I was surprised at the GS review. I wouldn't have been surprised if they gave the game less than a 9, maybe like a 8 at the lowest, but 7.5 was surprising.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and I respect that (in most cases). But for me, I just can't see myself categorizing a huge release like Zelda Skyward Sword with all the other games that got 7.5 scores this generation whether it's on the 360, PS3, or the Wii.

A 7.5 game to me is like a really good movie tie-in game or a pretty good adventure game for kids that's well-made and just competent enough. But Zelda Skyward Sword? I don't know about that.
 
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