ONM: SS is Easier Than OOT and TP and You Can Beat the Game Without Upgrading Items..

[Murasaki]

Great, everything I expected.

Although, the lack of air combat is disappointing.

 

[Cyg]

some of the hardest of the 3D Zeldas (Majora's Mask, Spirit Tracks)

Not really on topic,a side-note, ST is a 2D game, not 3D. Even though the graphics are 3D, the gameplay is top-down and is therefore 2D (some people call it 2.5D). You out of all people should know that...

 

[onidarklink2]

Not really on topic,a side-note, ST is a 2D game, not 3D. Even though the graphics are 3D, the gameplay is top-down and is therefore 2D (some people call it 2.5D). You out of all people should know that...

The train segments and bossfights were still in 3D, although I guess for the train it doesn't really matter since you're travelling on set paths anyway.

 

[JakeProtagonist]

Realistically, any statement about difficulty is only going to be a rough guide. As people have said, players differ in skill level, but even entirely aside from skill level, one can find a game harder or easier based on playstyle or thought pattern. For example, my mind might work in such a way that certain types of puzzles are incredibly easy for me to figure out, while others are almost impossible. Even when it comes down to the controls and gameplay itself the same is true, as playstyle might make an otherwise easy section of the game incredibly hard specifically for that one person, or vice versa.

Take for example myself. I found The Minish Cap, a very easy game, to be pretty challenging because I'm an aggressive player. I like charging in and messing things up. TMC is not designed in such a way to reward that kind of playstyle, and in fact punishes it pretty severely. The Wind Waker and Twilight Princess on the other hand often allow it to be rewarding, and even harder games like Ocarina of Time or Spirit Tracks. It's not always a matter of skill.

So gauging difficulty for other people is always going to be an approximation, and you can get a feel for its accuracy as it applies to you better if you go over how easy that person felt games you have played were and if they had about the same amount of trouble with it as you did, or see if there's a consensus about the difficulty and figure out if your skill level is average, or above or below average. These are things that can help you gauge the accuracy.

</monologue>

More on-topic, though, I think that Skyward Sword is going to have above-average difficulty. I do not think it will surpass the 2D games, like Adventure of Link, A Link to the Past or the GameBoy Color Zeldas in difficulty, but I do think it will surpass or at least match some of the hardest of the 3D Zeldas (Majora's Mask, Spirit Tracks). It seems like a lot of people feel it's a hard game, so I think it's safe to say with a fair amount of certainty that the consensus is that it's a hard game. I think it'll be a fairly challenging and rewarding experience.

Um, What he ^ said
Anyway, who honestly will go through this game without upgrading? It actually should make it harder, hmmm... 6 Heart No upgrade runs? Sounds good to me And Im pretty sure this will be challengeing for me, mainly because I suck at the classic 2D games. Mainly LOZ and AOL, the latter of which I still havent beaten, and this is suppose to be on its difficulty level. But this should still be fun No matter what And I dont care about challenge as long as its fun.

 

[GearHim]

Wait.. how is anyone getting there is no air combat? It's not stated anywhere from ONM, as far as I can tell. Plus, there is already sufficient evidence there WILL be air combat: we've seen a target practice mini-game in the air (surely this is a means to practice hitting enemies) and there's that one Wind Fish looking boss. Also, didn't Game Informer confirm there is air combat? Or at the least, there are enemies in the air that you may need to dodge.

 

[Post-organic]

In further support of combat in the sky, you can look at the Skyward Sword enemy guide here on ZD, and see that there are octoroks that shoot rocks at you from their small islands.

 

[DeletedUser9]

Not really on topic,a side-note, ST is a 2D game, not 3D. Even though the graphics are 3D, the gameplay is top-down and is therefore 2D (some people call it 2.5D). You out of all people should know that...

I'm completely conscious of how much like a 2D game Spirit Tracks plays. That does not change the fact that it is 3D. It does not stop being a 3D game because it plays primarily in a 2D perspective. 2.5D is a handy term to differentiate a subtype of 3D game, but it's still 3D. Spirit Tracks has three-dimension graphics, and plenty of three-dimensional puzzles and gameplay sections to boot. It is very similar to the 2D titles but still should be recognized as a 3D game when it comes down to categorizing things. Either way that's a very small point and barely relevant to the discussion.

Wait.. how is anyone getting there is no air combat? It's not stated anywhere from ONM, as far as I can tell. Plus, there is already sufficient evidence there WILL be air combat: we've seen a target practice mini-game in the air (surely this is a means to practice hitting enemies) and there's that one Wind Fish looking boss. Also, didn't Game Informer confirm there is air combat? Or at the least, there are enemies in the air that you may need to dodge.

^ Yeah. I don't get where it was ever denied that there would be air combat. We haven't explicitly seen Link fighting the whale boss or the weird sky Octoroks, but it's clear that they are foes in the sky without any conceivable way of landing and fighting them on-foot.

 

[Crash]

Whoa whoa whoa... Where is all this negativity coming from? I'm seeing many Zelda Dungeoneers becoming disappointed because of what ONE reviewer said... ONE!!! I've heard many many MANY more reviewers and people say that Skyward Sword is going to be harder than many Zelda games to date, so why is everyone getting their hopes up so quickly because of one person, who probably excels at video games, who said that it was easy. I myself have never had a hard time with any Zelda game, Majora's Mask aside... freakin Great bay and Stone Tower temples... I'm not saying that Skyward Sword will be easy, I doubt it will be. I'm saying that some people have an easier time than others. please my fellow Dungeoneers, don't be disappointed. We're all Zelda fans and shouldn't let something as minute as one review get us down!

 

[TheMinish]

I'm really curious about what EDGE has to say about Skyward Sword's difficulty in their upcoming review.

I don't really care about difficulty too much. As long of the game is fun to play, I'm fine.

 

[Crash]

I'm really curious about what EDGE has to say about Skyward Sword's difficulty in their upcoming review.

I don't really care about difficulty too much. As long of the game is fun to play, I'm fine.

Amen! The story itself is proving to be very enthralling and hearing about this review has not altered my excitement in the least!

 

[Mastik]

I'm really curious about what EDGE has to say about Skyward Sword's difficulty in their upcoming review.

I don't really care about difficulty too much. As long of the game is fun to play, I'm fine.

difficulty is a big part of how fun a game. i didn't like TP's final 3-4 dungeon because they were so easy. a game that inspires to be epic, should have an epic challenge. I'm not talking something like Dark Souls, but something like OOT or MM
and the thing that most disappoints me abut this is that Nintendo have promised a 50 hours adventure,but we get 35. the said that it will be challenging, well apparently when to get the hang of the controls the game's difficulty level is abut that of a Kirby game.
Im really considering passing out out this one....

 

[Crash]

difficulty is a big part of how fun a game. i didn't like TP's final 3-4 dungeon because they were so easy. a game that inspires to be epic, should have an epic challenge. I'm not talking something like Dark Souls, but something like OOT or MM
and the thing that most disappoints me abut this is that Nintendo have promised a 50 hours adventure,but we get 35. the said that it will be challenging, well apparently when to get the hang of the controls the game's difficulty level is abut that of a Kirby game.
Im really considering passing out out this one....

They had to rush through the game in order to get the review out... This has been said time and time again... And the 50 hour mark is for leeway and leisure time so people can progress through this at their own pace. Like I said, ONE person said it was easy. Just one. Even if it's not the difficulty challenge you were expecting what about the story that's showing to be very deep and better than anything we've seen so far in a Zelda game? The fact that everything about this game is going to be fun and innovative, totally immersing you in the adventure and landscape to every degree? I can't say it enough... You're a Zelda fan... The only way you're going to know what the game will play like for you, how challenging it will be, or how amazing to you it will be, is to play it yourself and find out. Every Zelda game is easy to me but they're all fun and I can play them over and over again, and I do! Don't give up all hope you've built up for this game from one itsy-bitsy, tiny, pointless review. That itself is the worse thing you could do.

 

[blubb]

They had to rush through the game in order to get the review out... This has been said time and time again... And the 50 hour mark is for leeway and leisure time so people can progress through this at their own pace. Like I said, ONE person said it was easy. Just one. Even if it's not the difficulty challenge you were expecting what about the story that's showing to be very deep and better than anything we've seen so far in a Zelda game? The fact that everything about this game is going to be fun and innovative, totally immersing you in the adventure and landscape to every degree? I can't say it enough... You're a Zelda fan... The only way you're going to know what the game will play like for you, how challenging it will be, or how amazing to you it will be, is to play it yourself and find out. Every Zelda game is easy to me but they're all fun and I can play them over and over again, and I do! Don't give up all hope you've built up for this game from one itsy-bitsy, tiny, pointless review. That itself is the worse thing you could do.

Sure, we shouldn't jump to conclusions too quickly because of a single review. But really, especially if they rushed through the game (probably missing out on lots of heart pieces, upgrades and stuff and taking more damage than usually by hurrying which is normal) and STILL found this game to be easier than TP (I wonder if they actually found it even easier than WW which is IMO still a few steps lower on the difficulty scale than TP), then yes, this concerns me a little too.
And we may not forget that this is coming from a site which is (naturally) rather biased in favour of Nintendo than against it so pointing out negative things gives the review some extra credibility.
If you're playing games mainly for the story (or music, graphics, cutscenes etc.) then this is good for you because the game apparently will be very heavy on that.
But there are also gamers like me who grew up with the NES/SNES and regard those things as a mere "bonus" which is secondary to gameplay. I think that SS is way too overhyped no anyway and people are exaggerating with their expectations, the same that happened to TP: Everyone expected a perfect game, and when they "only" got a very good game they only saw the flaws and disregarded the innovative concepts totally. Same thing will happen to SS, I'd bet on that. I think we can partially blame it on development time, 5 years is just too much, people are building up too many expectations in that long time. 2 years should've been enough, Nintendo already showed us twice that they can make great and unique Zelda games in that period of time with MM and WW. Instead of being too perfectionist and changing, polishing here and there, sometimes the first though is the right thought (yeah, I'm thinking of the magic meter and the cool "real" Gohma battle in beta TP).

 

[LinkxZelda]

I don't think we should take one person's word that it was easy. I won't know until I play the game weather it is hard or easy, that is why I am not worrying about the difficultly.

I am glad they took as long as they did to make the game as close to perfect as possible. Even though I like TP and find it fun to play I don't think this game will turn out to be another TP, I don't see Nintendo making the same mistake twice. I don't think everyone should worry about what one person said and I don't think it matters weather they are in favour of Nintendo. I found TP easy but fun to play same with OoT.

But that is my opinion. And I said that I like TP and I am not hating on it I am saying that since people were disappointed by TP I doubt Nintendo would make that mistake again. I grew up with the 3D Zelda games and only played MM since I never got the chance to play OoT until I got a Wii.

 

[Crash]

Sure, we shouldn't jump to conclusions too quickly because of a single review. But really, especially if they rushed through the game (probably missing out on lots of heart pieces, upgrades and stuff and taking more damage than usually by hurrying which is normal) and STILL found this game to be easier than TP (I wonder if they actually found it even easier than WW which is IMO still a few steps lower on the difficulty scale than TP), then yes, this concerns me a little too.
And we may not forget that this is coming from a site which is (naturally) rather biased in favour of Nintendo than against it so pointing out negative things gives the review some extra credibility.
If you're playing games mainly for the story (or music, graphics, cutscenes etc.) then this is good for you because the game apparently will be very heavy on that.
But there are also gamers like me who grew up with the NES/SNES and regard those things as a mere "bonus" which is secondary to gameplay. I think that SS is way too overhyped no anyway and people are exaggerating with their expectations, the same that happened to TP: Everyone expected a perfect game, and when they "only" got a very good game they only saw the flaws and disregarded the innovative concepts totally. Same thing will happen to SS, I'd bet on that. I think we can partially blame it on development time, 5 years is just too much, people are building up too many expectations in that long time. 2 years should've been enough, Nintendo already showed us twice that they can make great and unique Zelda games in that period of time with MM and WW. Instead of being too perfectionist and changing, polishing here and there, sometimes the first though is the right thought (yeah, I'm thinking of the magic meter and the cool "real" Gohma battle in beta TP).

He, not they. I grew up with the original 2D Zeldas as well and I still never had a problem with them. That goes with what I'm saying that different people will have varying abilities and thinking patterns, making certain games easier or harder. I prefer a game that hasn't been rushed. Quality over quantity. If they manage to get out all the bugs and polish off the motion controls and cinematic quality then I'm pleased as punch. I was among those that was soo incredibly angry when I got Twilight Princess and discovered that they changed everything from what was seen in the trailer, and guaranteed I would be if they did the same with Skyward Sword but I don't think it'll be the case here. I think what we've seen is what we'll get. But the only way i'm going to know is when the game comes out and I play it, which if it lives up to my expectations or not doesn't matter. I'm going to enjoy it because it's Zelda. I love all Zelda games and I always have regardless of what they're like, so I know I can say it without doubt. I'm going to love this game!