For those of us who didn't like Skyward Sword...

[Lozjam]

I don't hate Slyward Sword, nor will I ever I don't think.

Skyward Sword has hands down, the best main cast of any Zelda. Every main character feels real, and organic. They have character development, there is a real reason that we can see how Link is going throughout his journey. Everything is just really well structured and well placed.

Skyward Sword also features some of the best dungeons in the series, and amazing mechanics such as the timeshift stones. These were awesome. Dungeons were really big, expansive, and pretty challenging. They have amazing levels of detail and atmosphere too.

However, besides that, Skyward Sword fails at a lot of things.

They Skyrimized sidequests. Where sidequests really just amount to: go to person a, go get item a, go to person a, go to person b, ect. The side content was not very good and it wasn't nearly as good as Wind Wakers.

They also took out exploration, even more so than TP. Completely linear, not really that many worthwhile secrets to find. So yeah.... Not really fun. The sky is more empty than Dan's romantic life as well. This made flying a chore.

There also wasn't that much variety in combat. Which is pretty sad. Everything amounts to fighting bokoblins, moblins, and lizalfos. That's pretty boring.

Music wasn't that good either. It was fine.... Just not very memorable.

Fi also really hampered the experience for me as well. She's annoying, and she points out the most obvious things.

So yeah. All in all, I think Skyward Sword is a pretty good game. It's one of the best games on the Wii. However, it is definitely the worst of the 3D Zelda games.

 

[Feverish]

For all of you who didn't like Skyward Sword... you're all pieces of ****. See a therapist and reevaluate yourselves. What the **** is wrong with you people? Were you dropped on your heads or what? Did mommy drink and smoke too much during pregnancy or were daddy's swimming men just not strong enough to produce a functional human being?

You know what, I don't even ****in' care. Fight me.

Ad hominem

 

[Deleted member 81859]

I neither like it or hate it.

Some of the gameplay bugs me to no end, but I love how Link and Zelda (both relationship and character-wise) were handled.

 

[AncientPoe]

Sure, why not. I haven't piped up in this forum in a while...

Digestible opinion first: I don't hate Skyward Sword. I do however find it to be a weak entry to the franchise, likely the weakest home console entry in the series. It's just that there's a dichotomy there, between what it does right and what it fails on, that is so distinct and jarring as to give one whiplash. The things it gets right, it really nails. The things it falls short on, it does to a staggering degree.

For instance, excluding one instance of backtracking, Skyward's dungeons are amazing. Inspired look, unified design, excellent music, imaginative bosses (usually), and actually fairly intriguing puzzles and layouts. I can't think of a single dungeon in that game that I dislike, which is something that even some of my much more beloved Zelda games can't say. (Yeah, that's right, I'm lookin' at you Goron Mines.) And it was important that they got this right, as 'dungeons' are one of the primary pillars of what makes a Zelda game, a Zelda game.

But then being violently jerked in the opposite direction, we have one of the other key components of a Zelda game: exploration. Skyward Sword fails dismally in this area. The broken and segmented nature of the world makes the whole thing feel slapdash and shallow. What world areas do exist are either open and utterly barren, or incredibly linear. What this game pathetically tries to pass off as "secrets" i.e. Goddess Cubes, are strewn randomly across the map, usually in plain sight, and usually in a way that makes it painfully obvious what later-game item you'll be getting in order to access them, and the ones that are legitimately hidden can be doused for. Plus you aren't even immediately rewarded for your "exploratory" efforts, because after you find and activate one you have to head back up to the sky and locate its corresponding chest to find your paltry reward. It's obvious that the chests themselves only exist to give you a reason to visit the handful of uninteresting not-really-islands that compose the hub world that is the sky. The whole affair makes their piteous attempts to make the game feel more epic and grand all the more flagrantly transparent.

I really like that they attempted to give the characters some story and personality. I like that Link exists grounded in a community, with preexisting relationships both good and bad. He's got friends, people he holds in high regard, and even bullies. I like that Zelda shows true affection towards Link and other people in the world, instead of just being yet another story download USB port. Of course, whiplash, they chose to use a cheap high school anime as their framework, but whatever. Baby steps.

I enjoy the visuals as well. The bright colors help the world stand out and feel more alive. The verdant greens of Skyloft, the mistly, sun-painted clouds, cheerful birds, dappled sunlight, gloomy dungeons, all feel enjoyable and look great. Or... they would have if the game had taken half as long to develop. Instead, they had the misfortune to release alongside Skyrim.

Then there's the bosses. My fights with the likes of Koloktos, Scaldera, Final Battle Girahim, and yes even Demise were memorable and enjoyable. But then you have Moldarach and Tentalus.

So yeah, that's the jist of my opinion. It seems like they didn't do anything middle of the road, everything is either good or terrible. It's just that the things they did terribly were pretty much crippling to a Zelda game. But love it or hate it, I think there's something that we can all agree on: skydiving with those little lemur things is dope as ****.

 

[Jamie]

There is no single Zelda game that I dislike. That being said, SS is not one of my favourites. I did love the battle system and the plot, that was great. However, dowsing was ****ing annoying, and I found there was way too much fetching and backtracking and I overall found the game to be quite slow. While I say I love the battle system, I feel like they could have done more with the enemies. The enemies were rather boring and often quite annoying, and aside from the time crystal things whatever the **** they are most of the dungeon mechanics were frustrating, especially since the motion controls could be precarious at times.

The first time I played through SS, I actually quite liked it. I had it on my top 5 for a while, even. But playing it the second time, I didn't really like it as much; I'm not quite sure why. I just found it overall as I said, quite slow, and also a bit too much effort for a video game with the motion controls. I agree with the idea that using an analog would have been better. I'd say SS is a middle of the pack game for me. I'd actually have it above OoT since that's probably my least favourite of the 3D games.

 

[Resident]

I never owned a Wii (had an Xbox 360 during that generation), but about 4 months ago bought one to play all the games I missed (specifically SS). Now that I've completed it, I wouldn't say it's a bad game - but when comparing, it falls behind TP, OoT and WW in my opinion. My biggest issues was the motion controls, which become more of a frustration than fun new control function.

 

[CrimsonCavalier]

This happened to me with Twilight Princess. I hated it the first two times I played it, then really enjoyed it the third time. Not so much with Skyward Sword. The problem is not that it's a bad Zelda game. The problem is that it's a bad game, period.

You can't go back and enjoy a game that just didn't quite do it for you when the game itself is broken, from top to bottom.

• insipid characters
• nonsensical plotline
• uninspiring bosses
• disconnected overworld
• unforgivable controls
• repetitive and tedious gameplay mechanics
• Fi
• the Imprisoned fights
• unforgivable controls (it needed to be repeated)

F that game. Seriously. If Nintendo wanted to do a Wii Motion Control + Tech Demo they should have chosen a different franchise to ruin.

I've tried. I really have. Because I love Zelda and I can't accept that there's a game out there I absolutely despise.

 

[mαrkαsscoρ]

This happened to me with Twilight Princess. I hated it the first two times I played it, then really enjoyed it the third time. Not so much with Skyward Sword. The problem is not that it's a bad Zelda game. The problem is that it's a bad game, period.

just curious,what drove you to play through twilight princess 3 times if you hated it?

 

[DeactivatedUser2]

just curious,what drove you to play through twilight princess 3 times if you hated it?

Probably the same thing that drives him to get to find reasons to like Skyward Sword.

 

[AncientPoe]

• repetitive and tedious gameplay mechanics

I swear to god, if I have to "prove myself the hero" one more time...

 

[CrimsonCavalier]

just curious,what drove you to play through twilight princess 3 times if you hated it?

Probably the same thing that drives him to get to find reasons to like Skyward Sword.

Exactly. I wanted to like the game.

 

[Castle]

Remember when Adventure of Link was the only stain on the Zelda series? and even then it got a bad rap. AoL isn't a "bad" game and heck it may be a derivative Zelda experience but the fundamentals are there, at least.

But Skyward Sword will remain the only objectively bad main console series Zelda game. If you bottom out your standards SS might pass for serviceable if it didn't have the name Zelda in the title. Not only does it run contrary to the series in ways previously stated, but even taken out of context, love it or hate it as its own game SS has issues.

 

[AncientPoe]

Remember when Adventure of Link was the only stain on the Zelda series? and even then it got a bad rap. AoL isn't a "bad" game and heck it may be a derivative Zelda experience but the fundamentals are there, at least.

But Skyward Sword will remain the only objectively bad main console series Zelda game. If you bottom out your standards SS might pass for serviceable if it didn't have the name Zelda in the title. Not only does it run contrary to the series in ways previously stated, but even taken out of context, love it or hate it as its own game SS has issues.

What makes me sad is that it serves as the entry point in the series for a sizable contingent of fans, and I frequently hear many of those same people bemoan older titles as being bad. If there's one single sin that can be levied against Skyward Sword, it's forever tainting those fans like an oil slick that spans otherwise pristine waters: you can't reach in without being coated in it.

 

[Blue Star]

I actually really liked the story and characters of Skyward Sword for the most part. The graphics and (most of the) music too. I really liked the expressions the characters showed and I loved the bright palette (unlike TP's shades of brown and grey). The art isn't my favorite, but I loved the watercolor look to it.

But those motion controls. Ugh. UGH. Game was almost unplayable.
That dungeon design. >< Combined with motion controls, the dungeons felt unfun.
Fi. People give Navi crap, but I never found her annoying. Fi was instantly annoying to me though. And stayed annoying.
Sucky, breakable shield that breaks so often it's not worth using.
The overworld. So small. So empty. The main town is nice, but what about other towns??

I wish they would remake it without motion controls. The other flaws would fizzle in the background (at least for me) if they only fixed that.

 

[AncientPoe]

Sucky, breakable shield that breaks so often it's not worth using.

You do know you had to shield bash with it to avoid the shield taking damage, right?