Was Skyward Sword Actually Difficult?

[JuicieJ]

It's both. More rooms + more to do in those rooms = tougher dungeon.

Not necessarily. Twilight Princess generally had a lot of rooms and a lot of stuff to do in them, yet the puzzles were childishly easy. Heck, the hardest puzzles in TP are the equivalent of the puzzles in Skyward Sword's overworld.

 

[Curmudgeon]

I probably should have been more clear. More rooms + harder content in those rooms = harder dungeon than a fewer number of rooms with content of the same difficulty.

 

[JuicieJ]

I probably should have been more clear. More rooms + harder content in those rooms = harder dungeon than a fewer number of rooms with content of the same difficulty.

That would just mean longer. It'd be more tiresome, and I guess you can say that makes it harder, but the difficulty really wouldn't be any different puzzle-wise either way.

 

[ZeldaFan11235]

I thought that it was a good difficulty. I don't like it when games are too difficult because then I'm always looking at walkthroughs, and that isn't as fun as completing it for myself.

 

[Azure Sage]

I found Skyward Sword to be difficult. I wouldn't call it "very" difficult; it was a little above average.

I found that Skyward Sword starts off fairly easy, but then gets a lot harder as you progress further into the game. The first three dungeons and bosses were average. However, the Ancient Cistern was where things started to pick up a bit. I never got stuck in there, but it did take me a while to beat it. And the boss was pretty satisfying. The Sandship was a lot harder for me. I got stuck in there a couple times, and the puzzles were very good. The boss was a little lacking, though. The Fire Sanctuary was even better. I was actually stumped at one point. And it's boss was pretty decent, too.

Skyward Sword's true difficulty comes at the end, though. Getting all the parts of the Song of the Hero was a pretty good challenge, and it was a lot of fun. The Goddess's Silent Realm was definitely the best one out of all four. And Sky Keep... Sky Keep was just fantastic. It definitely earns a spot among the best dungeons in the series. And the final bosses- The Horde, Ghirahim, and Demise- were all spectacular fights.

I'd say yes, Skyward Sword was actually difficult. But it doesn't start out that way; the difficulty increases as progress is made throughout the game.

 

[OriginalMikau]

Skyward sword has the potential to be difficult, but it really shouldn't be. What I love about this addition to the franchise is that it actually requires a basic technique. This element distinguishes the good players from the 10-year-olds and impatient blockheads who just wave the Wii remote around and get angry when things end badly. Those are probably the people who are saying the game is hard.

 

[Tearbender]

Personally I found it difficult. While its really easy compared to games like Alttp, it is a step up in difficulty compared to the modern Zelda games. Though I found Ocarina of time to be pretty easy.

 

[Sydney]

Skyward Sword was not an easy game, but I wouldn't call it hard either. It definitely had some challenge to it, and there's no denying it. In fact, I found ZD because I needed an SS walkthrough. The six hearts given to the player at the beginning was a necessity, and I can assure everyone here that I would've died several times with only three. The enemies and bosses were a bit tougher as well; enemies such as the Lizalfos, and bosses such as Koloktos. The puzzles had some more difficulty to them as well.

So in short, yes Skyward Sword was difficult, but it was not excruciatingly hard.

 

[2bmc]

The easiest 3D Zelda hands down. Everything was way too linear, no room to get lost at all. I felt like it was all spoon fed, Fi would basically tell you everything. There was no room to mis-navigate. Straight line through the entire game, not to mention that the combat was the same as all other Zelda's in that enemies dealt very minimal damage and were not as aggressive as they could've been.
I guess if I were to rank 3D Zeldas in difficulty, it'd be Skyward Sword as the easiest, followed by Ocarina of Time, Twilight Princess, Wind Waker, Majora's Mask. Nintendo really tried to go for accessibility with SS I believe, it wasn't about the hardcore Zelda player.

 

[JuicieJ]

The easiest 3D Zelda hands down. Everything was way too linear, no room to get lost at all. I felt like it was all spoon fed, Fi would basically tell you everything. There was no room to mis-navigate. Straight line through the entire game, not to mention that the combat was the same as all other Zelda's in that enemies dealt very minimal damage and were not as aggressive as they could've been.

The game was very linear, but had many isolated moments of non-linearity, unlike most other modern titles. Twilight Princess and Phantom Hourglass were much more linear, I assure you. Enemies also dealt 1 whole heart of damage and attacked as often as enemies from past titles. I'm not sure what you mean by minimal damage and not being as aggressive as they could have been.

 

[DarkestLink]

TP's dungeons were more linear than SS's, but SS's surface had linearity to rival one of SMG's courses.

 

[2bmc]

It felt like it was enemies would wait on you to attack, especially the Bokoblins... the only enemies I found truly challenging to take down were the Technoblins, I can't really recall any others.
To me it was more linear than Twilight Princess because there was hardly room to explore. The overworlds were basically dungeons in themselves. TP was definitely linear as was Phantom Hourglass, but there was more open space to get lost in. I felt like SS held my hand literally the entire way of the journey. Dowsing, that was one lame idea :/

 

[Tearbender]

It felt like it was enemies would wait on you to attack, especially the Bokoblins... the only enemies I found truly challenging to take down were the Technoblins, I can't really recall any others.
To me it was more linear than Twilight Princess because there was hardly room to explore. The overworlds were basically dungeons in themselves. TP was definitely linear as was Phantom Hourglass, but there was more open space to get lost in. I felt like SS held my hand literally the entire way of the journey. Dowsing, that was one lame idea :/

Exploration doesn't equal linearity. SS was less linear than TP with the song of the hero quest and also collecting the triforce pieces. If u meant by more confined or not enough room to explore then I would agree. But lack of exploration doesn't equal it being linear at all. As for enemies don't forget the stalfos, and those three headed snake things. But what do u mean by hand holding? Dowsing though some people may not like it and I can see why was an optional feature as a whole(though I wish they actually specified it more), and I felt that it was pretty difficult. But with TP's open space, there was no incentive to explore it. It was big but empty. SS wasn't any better by all means, but still the land portions I felt were a bit better because they had some depth to them.

 

[Fraxinus]

The game was very linear, but had many isolated moments of non-linearity, unlike most other modern titles. Twilight Princess and Phantom Hourglass were much more linear, I assure you.

I'm going to butt in and disagree with you regarding how linear Phantom Hourglass. Technically, it falls alongside Skyward Sword in terms of being able to do a certain portion of the game in any order you please. The difference, however, is that it seems implied that the last three dungeons be done in a certain order, while in truth, if you're strategic, you can do them in any order you please. The Song of the Hero portion of Skyward Sword was more evidently nonlinear, but the concept rests the same.

Though, I don't think linearity of a game truly impacts its difficulty--moreso how one progresses along into it, and can avoid certain tasks until a later time while still advancing further into the game. Whether or not the procrastination of said task is due to its difficulty isn't necessarily always the case. Opting out of doing the more difficult tasks, though--a nonlinear game--could, I suppose, technically make the game easier on some level, but that's not really the case for Skyward Sword. You will have to eventually do each portion of the Song of the Hero; none of which were exceedingly difficult.

I did not personally find Skyward Sword's difficulty to be as extreme as the developers had claimed, but that's not a bad thing. I don't think saying a game "was too easy", "was so-so", "was pretty hard", "was impossible" is an insult at all. The quality of the game isn't necessarily poor if the diificulty range doesn't suit one's personal preference. I liked the moderate difficulty of Skyward Sword and found it fitting for its gameplay and whatnot.

I'd actually say that me saying it had a normal difficulty is more along the lines of an average that spanned across the entirety of the game. There were certain things in Skyward Sword, though scarce, that were rather challanging, and some that were a breeze. There was always the motion contol restriction for people who had trouble with them, but Skyward Sword really had your typical Legend of Zelda difficulty.

...In my onion...

 

[JuicieJ]

It felt like it was enemies would wait on you to attack, especially the Bokoblins... the only enemies I found truly challenging to take down were the Technoblins, I can't really recall any others.

They'll take a couple seconds to attack, but it's really not any longer than in the past 3D titles. Besides, this works well with the combat design. A layer of depth was added with the addition of precision swinging, so them attacking non-stop would have basically defeated the purpose.

To me it was more linear than Twilight Princess because there was hardly room to explore. The overworlds were basically dungeons in themselves. I felt like SS held my hand literally the entire way of the journey.

I don't see why. In Twilight Princess, that's the case, as it tells you where to go and what to do at all times. Skyward Sword tells you where to go, but leaves the rest up to you after that. Just because the overworld was like a dungeon doesn't mean there was no room to explore, either. There were a couple areas that were hallways, but the individual surface portions were generally pretty open. There was just a lot of content along the way, unlike in TP where everything was painstakingly empty.

Again, Skyward Sword was a very linear game, but it was a bit less linear than most other modern titles. I'd say only The Minish Cap was less linear.

Dowsing, that was one lame idea :/

I've never understood the complaints about dowsing. It was an optional mechanic, so you didn't have to use it. The game could have been less in your face about it (it highly suggested its use), but that doesn't change the fact that it's not a requirement. If you used it and found the game too easy, I hate to say it, but that's kind of your fault.