Skyward Sword: The Worst 3D Zelda
I accept your challenge.
Prior to Skyward Sword’s release, I had also read glowing review after glowing review (with the exception of Tom McShea’s 7.5). As a result, my expectations were high – maybe too high.
You are completely correct here. Don't let yourself get hyped and you won't get disappointed as often.
Skyward Sword lacked a majestic over world full of things to do – sure, the sky was majestic enough, but it was entirely void of gameplay. Spotted islands – one of my issues with The Wind Waker - are nowhere near interesting enough to compete with the vast over worlds of Twilight Princess, Ocarina of Time, and Majora’s Mask. I was hoping for something of that style to emerge beneath the clouds – some sort of Hyrule or Termina Field, but unfortunately nothing of the sort emerged. I believe that this element is essential for Zelda games to succeed.
To call the worlds of OoT and MM "vast" is an insult to the word. They may be great games, but they aren't vast by any stretch of the imagination. On the maps of WW and SS, Link barely registers as a speck. Now,
that's vast. In this case, it's really different strokes for different folks. I loved the sea in WW and the fields of TP. My love of the sky in SS ends with the fight controls, however.
Also, I'd like to point out that there was never any more to do in Hyrule Field than in the sky. The size of the sky just makes that more noticeable. Hyrule Field isn't better than the sky, its just different. I never liked Hyrule Field that much because you could never get across it fast enough (except maybe in TP). I don't say OoT is less of a game because of it, just that I don't enjoy it as much as others do.
The next issue I had with Skyward Sword was the dungeon design. Except for the Ancient Cistern and the Sandship, I felt that many of the dungeons were stereotypical Zelda dungeons that could’ve been designed by a 5th grader – they lacked many innovative elements that had been present in previous dungeons – and none of them were anywhere near as good as the Stone Tower Temple from Majora’s Mask or the Spirit Temple from Ocarina of Time – two of my favorite dungeons.
Okay, I must have been playing a different game then, because the dungeons I saw were the spark of charm and wit. In Skyview Temple, you have to cut through natural barriers (including webs that you had to shake out of), and there was a room that you had to figure out how to escape by going through a crack in the wall. The Earth Temple went all "Super Monkey Ball" on us and had
real booby traps. Lanayru Mining Facility had time shift stones and sand traps. The Fire Sanctuary had indoor and outdoor "rooms" and had puzzles that required you to carry water on the tip of your sword. You could build an entire game around just one of these dungeons. Not only that, each room in each dungeon is unique. Its virtually impossible to get lost in a SS dungeon, because they are so well designed. Also, Nintendo finally gave us a
reason to collect the maps. I didn't think that was possible.
The next thing I felt this game lacked was a bustling metropolis. Ocarina of Time had Castle Town, Majora’s Mask had Clocktown, Wind Waker had Windfall Island, and Twilight Princess had Castle Town. All Skyward Sword has is Skyloft – a tiny city compared to the biggest ones in other games. I was hoping for a large city beneath the clouds, but no city was there to meet my wishes.
Really, only TP had anything bigger than Skyloft. OoT and MM might have had a few more NPCs, but not much. Even so, SS is still far superior to them because the NPCs aren't just idiots who lose their chickens or guys who run the shooting gallery. The NPCs in SS fell like real people. I found myself finishing side-quests, not for the rewards (because they weren't all that great), but to see what would happen. With the golden skulltallas and admiral poes, I gave up because I stopped caring.
I admit I chose poor words when describing the story of Skyward Sword - I was unfairly harsh on an element of the game that I had no reason to be unfairly harsh on. However, it wasn't the best story. It was a solid story that tied up many loose ends in the series, but I felt that it had a high level of predictability. Three dungeons, plot twist, more dungeons, final boss - that same pattern had been used in Ocarina of Time, Wind Waker, and Twilight Princess.
Only that's
not how the plot of SS went down. You go through the first dungeon to find Zelda and she's not there. Don't worry, there's this other dungeon that she might be in, but she leaves and you can't follow for some reason. Okay, now let's go to the desert and hope in vain that you find her again. You do, but she has to go somewhere safe and you have other things you have to do, so you can't go. Where is this "plot twist" that you spoke of? I must not have been playing right, because I didn't get the plot twist until I was about two-third of the way into the game. Was I misbehaving and Nintendo decided to punish me?