How Did Your Impression of Skyward Sword Change After You Played It?

[Brandikins]

Did your impression on Skyward Sword change after you actually played it? Meaning, how was it different from when you first saw all of the E3 2010 content, to when you actually started playing the game? Personally, my impression changed for the better. I will admit, the graphics were a bit weird to me at first watching E3, but getting the game, I loved it.

 

[A Link In Time]

I wish I could include a graphic to manifest my feelings towards this game, however, I lack the time and talent for such a product. My impression of Skyward Sword went from trough to peak to somewhere in between when the final product was released.

The game shown at E3 2010 appeared bare bones and disappointing. After viewing the trailer opening alluding to all past 3D console Zelda installments, I was definitely underwhelmed when Link first took the stage in his manly skirt. Perhaps it was the lack of clamor as Twilight Princess had received six years earlier at E3 or the technical problems which plagued Miyamoto's showcasing of the new title, however, it felt weak from the start. While I am glad Moldarach made the final cut (albeit in a completely different locale-the Lanyru Mining Facility), no other footage was particularly impressive. No sign of Fi whom many then alluded to then as the mysterious fairy lady. Other titles from Nintendo's own press conference took the spotlight the least of which were Kirby's Epic Yarn and Donkey Kong Country Returns. That's discounting all the other studios and products shown like Halo: Reach, Gears of War III, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, and more.

Things went into a hyper pitch of hype starting with the GDC 11 trailer and reached fever pitch as the release of the game approached. A first sight of Ghirahim, Fi confirmed as the spirit of the Master Sword, Loftwings shown, the Imprisoned on footage, a showcase of Link's new arsenal. In retrospect, however, it was the majestic Ballad of the Goddess playing during trailers that made me uber excited, even towards some lackluster scenes. The anticipation I was feeling would hit me hard as the game finally released; the final package was hardly what I was anticipating to say the least.

My opinion definitely changed for the worse but in none too major a way. The overworld kept golden to Nintendo's promise of an overworld with dungeon like elements, with more enemies and puzzles swarming around every corner. Character development was on display at its best with Groose and Ghirahim leading the charge. Due to losing a personal friend the story was more emotionally charged. Or at least it seemed to be initially. Things went downhill from there as most races appeared oblivious of the fate awaiting them. The harp was also a very defunct instrument. That said while progression was naturally more linear from Point A to Point B there were still many hidden treasures to be found the least of which were Gratitude Crystals, Goddess Cubes, and Pieces of Heart. The stamina and shield meters as well as upgrade system were welcome additions to the fray. I was expecting a 10/10 from Skyward Sword but instead I received a 9. A 9/10, however, is still acceptable and SS stands as one of the brighter spots of this generation from any company.

 

[JuicieJ]

It wasn't too much different than I expected it to be. Sure, it was a lot more fun playing than watching, but I read up and watched so much pre-release info that I knew pretty much everything there was to know about the gameplay before even touching that golden Wii Remote. The game definitely met all of my expectations and even outdid a few, but my views didn't change much after playing at all. The only thing that changed was my confidence that I had just played the greatest game ever.

 

[HyruleLove]

I guess it changed for the better. I liked the motion controls. As for my impression of the game, I expected more. Maybe it was my fault for having my hopes up too high, but I wanted a better story. I expected direct relation to OoT, see a Goron village, Zoras river, the Kokiri?? It just wasnt as exciting for me. Ive played it twice, I will play it again to try to get my thoughts together about it.

 

[theoathtoorder]

It far exceeded my expectations. I remember the first time I saw the diamonds disappear outside of the Skyview Temple when Ghirahim teleports. I got chills- I just think he is so cool. In a lot of ways his character made the game for me. Same with Midna and Twilight Princess.

 

[Djinn]

I definitely came in expecting to see a lot more civilization than we got. I had gotten used to seeing multiple villages and places where other people lived. The typical formula was a random village Link originates, then you have the main Hylian center like Castletown or Windfall. And then the other tribe places to visit like Zora's Domain and Goron Village. But Skyward Sword only had Skyloft, and the dangerous world below. The "emptyness" of the world became more and more apparent as I played on. Constantly finding random ruins and leftover buildings but never a village or town of any kind. This was very disappointing to me. I was expecting to see the great ancient Hyrule only somewhat mentioned in other games like the mechanical Temple of Time from TP and the mysteries of the City in the Sky. When little bits of story were revealed and we saw things like the ancient robots I was definitely expecting to see the ancient and advanced Hyrule of old that had been lost and forgotten by the time of OoT/TP. Seeing more empty uninhabited spaces really left me underwhelmed. My expectations were a little too high when I heard about the setting and some of the characters that were appearing.

The lack of enemy characters also left me wanting for the same reason. We never really knew who was the real villain or what they were. There were pictured of Ghirahim and the dragons with a little bit of story that he was some sorcerer wanting to either claim the triforce or revive his master. Either way he was mentioned as a leader of some group of wizards or demons. Even after his name was revealed it was Demon Lord, with the cutscene from E3 naming him as the lord of the surface world. But later playing through I discovered that it was essentially Ghirahim acting alone. He was the only demon roaming around causing trouble with some mindless minions in the bokoblins. Even then he was not necessarily in charge of the land below since the dragons still seemed to be in control of their respective areas despite bokoblins being around in many places.

This lack of any civilizations on the ground and only one villain traveling around causing trouble really made the game seem so empty and incomplete than I had originally expected it to be.

 

[Lord Death]

It really didn't change. I mean I expected it to be awesome, and I guess I was a little disappointed at first, but after playing it a lot I realized that it was a great game. Expected a great game and got a great game, nothing more, nothing less. Could have been better though, IMO. But whenever a new Zelda game is announced, we always get our hopes up as high as we can, usually to be disappointed from then on. But Skyward Sword was strong enough to push through the original disappointment. Awesome game, that is.

 

[Chameleon]

As I finished the game I realized I liked it more than any other 2d games, including the cel-shaded series, but It wasn't as good as Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask or Twilight Princess. I thought of that even before buying it, so yeah, no change.

 

[Ventus]

It changed for the worse. I admit, I had a little bit too much hype built up inside me (can I be put to blame, though? Nintendo always manages to hype up Zelda), so maybe initial thoughts were clouded. Still, I came into SS expecting the next OoT, the next MM, the next absolutely amazing Zelda title yet. None of that happened, though. None.

E3 2010 Trailer: OMG, this game looks so awesome! Art style is a little...different, but it's awesome nonetheless! Zelda Wii is going to be SWEET!

GDC 2012: Holy crap that song!

Release: OMG this game is absolute crap!

 

[Sydney]

After really thinking about it, my impression changed for the better.

Although I'd absolutely love to spend all day pointing out the missed opportunities and flaws, I really did enjoy what Skyward Sword had to offer. I saw the commercials, and to be honest I wasn't thrilled. Nonetheless, I wanted Skyward Sword in my clutches. I requested the game as a gift, and when I started it, boy was I shocked! I couldn't put down the Wii remote for hours. (I think I missed dinner one time because of it.) I was rather impressed with what it had to offer.

After completing the game, starting a new file, and commencing Hero Mode, I noticed several flaws the game had. Those flaws that I noticed ranged in severity. From the almost useless harp, to virtually no backstory, I was beginning to oversee my look on Skyward Sword as a true Zelda game. Then, I play through the game again. I realized flaws will be flaws, and I'm not going to change that. I loved almost everything in Skyward Sword, and a hand full of flaws won't change my opinion for the worse. I was thoroughly impressed, and my impression on Skyward Sword changed for the better, and I'm glad because of it.

 

[Ganondork]

It changed for the worse. Easily. I would say this is more my fault than it ever will be Nintendo's. I was so excited; I was sure that Skyward Sword was going to be the best Zelda game yet. I was beyond amazed by the talk of gameplay features, and the story seemed to draw me in. I was especially amazed by the concept of fields and dungeons being perfectly meshed together to form one amazing overworld that would wow everyone.

And then November 20th came. From the beginning, I was thinking, "Huh?" It just didn't feel right to me. I couldn't take any of the characters seriously, given some of the dialogue options; I was always being sarcastic. "Nice hair." has to be my favorite line from the entire game, and I reached that point within 20 minutes.

The story itself greatly disappointed me. I didn't feel the least bit compelled to save Zelda; I was just going through the motions. The only thing that kept me going was the fact that I wanted to stand above everyone who wanted to defend Skyward Sword and say "I finished the game, and I still didn't see very much that I enjoyed." In fact, I was pretty much out of positive things to say once Koloktos was dead. Koloktos has to be my favorite boss in the entire game, and it was only fitting that he was in the Ancient Cistern, but that ended up being the only redeeming factor.

Gameplay actually held firm, though. That I was pleased with. That was easily the best feature in the game; I would have called the game an entire disaster had the gameplay failed miserably. That's because Zelda has a working formula when it comes to gameplay; they'd be stupid to twist and contort it beyond recognition. Thankfully, they were smart enough not to do it.

However, my greatest gripe has to be the fact that dungeons were easily distinguishable, which goes against the initial description of dungeons/overworld that was laid out for us. It was so obvious what was a dungeon and what wasn't; if the massive environmental change wasn't an indication, the cutscene of Link looking determined, then walking down the stairs did the trick. This still resonates poorly with me that they flip flopped like that. Surely they were in too far to be able to change it, right?

Overall, Skyward Sword gave me great expectations, and then dashed them to the ground. I don't regret buying the game, but I wish they had executed it better.

 

[Ugea]

After playinhg it..Yes i Was Kinda Disapointed with the game..But Im replaying it now to see if i Missed annything. I loved TP and OOT but SS felt like things were missing . Is it a good Game? Yes but its not a Great Game (IMO)

 

[Azure Sage]

For me, it changed for the worse, although not by that much.

Pre-release, I thought the game looked amazing, and I still do. I LOVE the graphic style and art style. The motion controls were very appealing and looked amazing. The story appeared to be one of the best stories the series has had so far. I was under the impression that it would be equal to Ocarina of Time, or at least not that far behind it.

After playing through it several times, I can say for certain that it didn't quite live up to my expectations. I still love the graphics and art styles, and I still think the motion controls are amazing. I also still like the story, although not quite as much as I thought I would. If you look at my signature, you'll clearly see my list of favorite Zelda games (out of the ones I've played). As you can see, I placed Skyward Sword equal to Wind Waker. They're tied for my fourth favorite Zelda game. Skyward Sword went from second place, which is what I originally thought it would be, to fourth place, and it was because it reminded me of Twilight Princess, or at least the story structure did. Looking at my list, it's pretty clear that Twilight Princess is my least favorite Zelda game. So obviously the fact that Skyward Sword reminded me of Twilight Princess didn't sit well with me.

Another thing I should mention is that Skyward Sword is basically a game of Zelda references. It's chocked full of them. I didn't like this. It's because of all the references that Skyward Sword didn't feel like it was it's own entity to me. It felt like it was a little piece of every game, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. But that kind of made the game feel less "new" to me, because there was so much we'd seen before. However, there was also so much we hadn't seen before, and I still love this game. Just not as much as I originally thought I would.

 

[PokaLink]

I wasnt actualy extremly exited when i first saw it, but of course after time i started to get exited and entusiastic, i had read all the Game informer stuff about it and Zelda Dungeon Stuff about it, and knew most of what was in it, and when it came down to it i was more then happy of how it turned out, it perfectly met my expectations and i decided that it was one of my favorite Zelda games.

 

[mαrkαsscoρ]

most disappointing thing ive played since ocarina of time....STILL better than ocarina of time though