Skyward Sword What Was So Difficult About Skyward Sword?

[JuicieJ]

Outside of the second Imprisoned fight, the Sky Keep, and the final moments of the game, there was never a moment where I found Skyward Sword truly hard. However, it was designed in such a way that most of the challenges were _stimulating_, and therefore requiring of full attention. There weren't many moments where I felt unengaged or disinterested in the current objective (though there were definitely select moments where I was), so even without facing huge levels of difficulty, it was a blast to play.

Of course, Zelda has been very consistent about having this level of difficulty -- the only games I can say that didn't were The Wind Waker & Twilight Princess -- so it's not like this was a downgrade, or anything. Being the case, I think I can accurately say that it's one of the more challenging games in the series.

On a side note, Hero Mode minimalist running this game was no easy task. I wound up dying on multiple occasions because the only method of healing is sitting.

 

[Mudora]

I remember a puzzle-based challenge in the first dungeon where there was an eye on the wall that needed to be disabled to open a doorway. I kept trying to stab at it, slice, shoot at it, etc. When I realized the eye was following my sword around, I tried to make it "dizzy" by swinging my sword back and forth, running in circles, doing spin attacks, etc. Nothing worked. Eventually, I had to look it up online. In the end, I just had to rotate my sword in a circular motion in front of me. It seems so obvious now, but I hadn't anticipated using the motion controls in that way, and I wasn't fully thinking in those dimensions. This wasn't difficult, but it sure was tedious.

This. Because you get the slingshot right before, I thought that you had to shoot the eye. I probably spent ten minutes doing miscellaneous crap before I realized that you had to make the eye "dizzy" by rotating your sword in a circular fashion. Anyways, I didn't find anything particularly difficult in SS during my first playthrough, though trying to get the Hylian Shield in Hero Mode was more than a little irritating. My hope for Zelda Wii U is that they decide to ramp up the difficulty a bit.

 

[Emmanuel]

This. Because you get the slingshot right before, I thought that you had to shoot the eye. I probably spent ten minutes doing miscellaneous crap before I realized that you had to make the eye "dizzy" by rotating your sword in a circular fashion. Anyways, I didn't find anything particularly difficult in SS during my first playthrough, though trying to get the Hylian Shield in Hero Mode was more than a little irritating. My hope for Zelda Wii U is that they decide to ramp up the difficulty a bit.

Right?! It doesn't help that they've previously used eye switches in that very way in Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, Wind Waker, Minish Cap, Phantom Hourglass, Spirit Tracks... !! :cooky:

 

[Pen]

It sounds to me like what a lot of people thought was hard in the game had to do with the motion controls. Personally I am a huge fan of Skyward Sword's motion controls, however, I would not want another Zelda game with such controls in the too near future (but someday I'd love to see it again). Anyway, during my first playthrough of the game I thought the difficulty level was great. To me it was just challenging enough. Some parts were indeed hard, but it was not like I was ever stuck on one part for hours. On my later playthroughs of the game I did find it a bit too easy though, but I guess that's why there's a Hero Mode!

Oh, I should also add that, while I though the game's story was at first somewhat challenging to complete (and it got easier as I played the game again and again), the game's different side quests as a whole were probably the easiest in the whole Zelda series. Seriously, beating Skyward Sword 100% was super easy to me, and I think that was a shame since I like to spend a lot of time on 100%ing a Zelda game (feeling like I'm really in that world you know).

 

[Ventus]

The base game itself is only difficult if one lacks proper form. That improper form would result in the Wii Remote picking up poor movements which would then force the player to recalibrate their controls every few moments. The base game itself is very forgiving, and every enemy in the game save the final boss gives the player very noticeable tells as to when and how the player should attack.

The only "difficult" portions of the game, and this is stretching the meaning of difficulty, are the Silent Realms and perhaps the final boss. Other than that, the game is filled with hints and tells that allow even a five year old to complete it with ease.

 

[Salem]

Some of the puzzles on the later dungeons were hard to figure out, specifically the bubble thing from Fire Sanctuary, the Sky Keep itself was hard, but not very satisfactory.

 

[A Link In Time]

For me, Skyward Sword was a "it takes some time to get used to everything the first time through" game. I don't think it was harder than any of the other 3D Zelda games, but the motion controls required some learning, especially for more precise strikes. I remember sucking so badly that I almost died to a Deku Baba in the Sealed Grounds.

As far as actual design goes, I thought the Silent Realms were the only slightly challenging areas. Some of the puzzles in Sky Keep were pretty clever too.

 

[Mellow Ezlo]

Skyward Sword as a whole is not a difficult game at all, so it's kind of hard to determine "what makes it difficult". However, the thing in Skyward Sword that personally gave me the most trouble was the Sky Keep. Looking back now, I see how easy the puzzles are and am ashamed to have had trouble with them before. I got stuck in almost every room, and spent at least 20-30 minutes figuring out some of the puzzles. I think this came from the endless frustration of trying to figure out the room-switch puzzle thing that I spent far too much time on. It's the only part of Skyward Sword that stumped me when it comes to puzzles.

However, when it comes to battles, I found myself in trouble more often. Battles that come to mind are the second Imprisoned battle (which I lost twice), and the final Ghirahim battle (which I lost 3 times initially). These battles aren't actually hard, I just found them incredibly annoying because I got hit... a lot. The Imprisoned is especially guilty of this because his annoying foot-stomp attack thing (those shockwaves that are released with every step he takes) quickly drowned my health, and because of that, I didn't get very many opportunities to get hits in. Before I knew it, he was up at the temple. Every time I play this game, I wince when I get close to this battle because it annoys me so much. In the case of Ghirahim, it was just a matter of not realizing how to kill him at first.

 

[Hylian.Smitty]

I never had any trouble with the motion controls, they always worked for me. I think the difficulty was easy enough that it wasn't shout-inducingly frustrating, yet complicated enough to make you feel proud after you beat a room. I liked how this game focuses on the items more than other games in my opinion, and also how you use the same item in multiple dungeons, not the standard "Do some generic puzzles, fight mini boss, get new item, do dozens of said item related puzzles, fight item related boss."

 

[Polychrome]

The motion controls were good. I felt like I was sparring with the game console for lack of better words. Because of this, I found that the game was best played standing up if you want the controls to match what you're trying to do. You had to think about how you moved. Eventually, like any game, it becomes muscle memory.

Sure, there's a few enemies you can just randomly swing at. Ghirahim was not one of them. I found the challenge to be interesting, as I'd *never* done anything like that in a video game. Oh, he did make me mad. But it felt so good to beat him!

Like others have mentioned, the "dizzy" thing had me running to gamefaqs after awhile. I felt kinda stupid after that.

 

[Farore's Chosen]

If it weren't for the awful controls and some of the bad game mechanics, (creates Artificial Difficulty) the difficulty would be fair, in fact taking away the controls I'd say that the first dungeon was a tad more challenging then other first dungeons, i.e. Eagle, Deku Tree and I like that, even if I don't really like Skyview all that much. As a first dungeon its a bit more in line with greats like Parapa and Deepwood. It spikes majorly in Lanayru Mining Facility (oh how I hate you) and maintains a steady challenge from there on out.

And people complain about the wolf sections? (I like the wolf sections) Ha! What a joke! At least they weren't timed like in the freakin Silent Realms and force you to start all over! I cannot tell you how many times Link getting tired has screwed me over when I'm running from a guardian. Who's bright idea was that anyways? That ticks me off.

Trying to figure out how to open the Isle of Songs, I finally had to watch someone do it on youtube. Granted I've never been good at certain kinds of puzzles and I have little patience for them.

As for Fi and the game, people complain that they hold your hand. This is incorrect. What they do is force feed you useless, obvious tripe and its insulting. I don't need to know that my health is low thank you, I can hear the beeping and see the screen just fine. I don't need to be told that I've picked up a freakin tumbleweed every time after having several in my inventory already.

If ever they remake this game and they will because they remake everything, I hope they will take away the stamina meter and give us an option for alternative controls, TP, Classic, GC, I don't care. This game has the potential to be truly great in terms of a decent challenge. But they botched it spectacularly.

 

[MW7]

Other than growing accustomed to the motion controls, there was very little difficult about the game. However, that in of itself makes it one of the harder 3d Zelda games when you consider how easy they are. It is virtually impossible to die in Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, Wind Waker, and Twilight Princess for someone used to playing Zelda games whereas during my first playthrough of Skyward Sword I was on the verge of dying most of the game. Puzzle-wise I agree with the general consensus that Majora's Mask is a little harder than the rest of the 3d games. In other words Skyward Sword is difficult relative to the average 3d Zelda game. For instance take Wind Waker. Given that they have a similar level of puzzle difficulty, what's harder? Learning how to virtually swing a sword and use a shield or having a parry button that makes it impossible for enemies to hit you? Skyward Sword is an easy game, but 3d Zelda games in general make it seem like challenge.

 

[Fraxinus]

Most Legend of Zelda games test your courage. Skyward Sword tests your patience.

 

[SavageWizzrobe]

On my first playthrough, after I had gotten used to the motion controls, I didn't find SS that difficult except for a few specific moments.

Some of the puzzles were fairly tricky to figure out after about the third dungeon. The Silent Realms were also difficult and stressful, but in a good way (an adrenaline rush). I did have trouble with a some of the boss fights, namely the second Imprisoned fight and the final boss fight (I saw the Game Over screen on each). On replays I still have trouble with the second half of the final boss fight!

 

[misskitten]

For me it mostly boils down to unresponsive motion controls. Especially against Ghirahim, Link just wouldn't do the motion the way I was doing it and I got really close to ragequitting