How the Harp Could Have Been Improved

[Bastian]

Prior to the reveal of the harp as being an instrument in the game, I suspected it could be featured in a Zelda title and I conjectured on a forum on how it could be used. When the harp was revealed, I was super excited because I thought it was going to be amazing. Unfortunately... it was very underwhelming in practice. I feel like Nintendo wanted the instrument in this game to be more rhythm-based rather than actually playing notes. That being the case, they could have had it be a drum or something with you having to use the Wiimote like a drum stick. But they chose a harp... yet didn't give us the ability to actually play the harp as a melodic instrument, which has lead to a lot of complaints.

I really feel like what they should have done is what I'd suggested about a year prior to the game's release. I'll explain it as best I can:

There would be a button assigned to the harp (just as actually implemented in the game, one of the directions on the D-Pad of the Wiimote) and pressing it would bring up an overlay of a large image of the harp filling up the whole screen. Maybe each of the eight or so strings would be a different color, and as you swing your Wiimote from side to side, it would highlight the string Link's finger was about to pluck. In order to pluck you'd use the B button trigger.

Seems pretty straightforward. And yet instead what we actually got was a harp wherein all you could do was play a bunch of arpeggios based on the key of whatever song it was set to play. This lead it to feel like you didn't even have any actual control over the instrument at all. They may as well have just gone with a drum if what they were interested in was rhythm this time around.

 

[anuraag]

i personally did not like the harp at all. i would just rather a simple and fun ocarina, or something like that

 

[Leonomonn]

I agree that the harp was a bit of a disappointment, but I get the feeling they made it work the way it did because it would be more accessible that way. Your idea is a pretty good one, but it sounds like it would take a little practice to get good at it. Since a lot of people's attention spans are waning they might just get annoyed with it and give up, and we all know that Nintendo tries to make things available to everyone. I still agree that they passed up a huge opportunity with the harp and the motion controls though.

 

[videogamenerd10]

The harp seemed like a good idea in the thinking process but the execution of the harp isn't all too grand. The harp just didn't have the same exact good feeling as the ocarina (but it's really hard to beat the ocarina) and probably the worst thing about the harp is the controls. The controls were awkward and it would take a while just to play a 30 second song because you would mess up sometimes.

 

[Braivety]

i liked the harp, but i was really disapointed when i got it. i thought we would learn notes of the song like in ocarina of time, majora's mask, and wind waker.

 

[WikiEezEpic]

i thought it couldve been a lot better if you could play things like... oh i dont know, something other than the chromatic scale

 

[Heros Temporis]

The harp was quite disappointing, in my opinion. The songs were nice and it was fun to play... but only as fun as swinging the Wii remote back and forth at a certain pace for a certain amount of time to play a song can be. Of course, what we all want is to be able to really play the instruments, like the Ocarina in Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask. Even The Wind Waker let us "play" the Wind Waker. On the flipside, Skyward Sword has us swing a Wii remote back and forth.
Unfortunately, there is just not enough space on the Wii remote or any convenient buttons that provide a place of the remote where a musical instrument can be controlled. Given the Wii remote's design, it is, unfortunately, probably the best they could do.

 

[SNOlink]

I think the harp should have been you first see the harp close up on your screen. Then you point at the screen and pluck a string by holding the A button and strum by holding A and moving the Wii remote back and forth. That would have definitely made the harp a better instrument than it was.

 

[link'sneighbor]

i wish there was more to the harp than just struming it back and forth in a steady beat like each string was a note i was dissapointed in that and they could have done better

 

[ZeldaMagic]

You know.. the way the harp was set up made it very simple. If perhaps they had had people play cords (Like by holding certain buttons) it would have been more exciting.

 

[Terreckien]

There needed more to do with the harp, I actually forgot I had a harp at one point.

 

[LavaAnon]

I would like the harp much better if they actually had set songs like the ocarina instead of aimlessly going back and forth on the strings.

 

[LegendOfTwili]

I would like the harp much better if they actually had set songs like the ocarina instead of aimlessly going back and forth on the strings.

This, I found moving back and forth to the correct rhythm quite boring, it would have been much more fun if we'd had to do some button pressing and some motion controlled action mixed together.

 

[superw967]

I would like the harp more if it combined the elements of rhythm playing and the spirit flute because both instruments have multiple notes u can play from, but the spirit flute allowed different affects to oocur like waking up statues, discovering hidden chests, calling birds to whip onto, lighting up crystals, heal, and to explore new areas.

 

[Gannon]

How about more than just waving your arm back and forth? The harp was absolutely useless.