Skyward Sword, thoughts so far?

[AppleQueso]

I just finished it.

I think I can confidently say that all things considered, this is easily the best of the post-N64 Zeldas.

[ninjainspandex]

sorry windwaker is still the best zelda game of all time but skyward sword comes close

[AppleQueso]

Wind Waker had the problem of being way too easy and rather short. Plus there's the tedious triforce piece hunt.

[Zing]

Wind Waker had the problem of being way too easy and rather short. Plus there's the tedious triforce piece hunt.

I guess you didn't enjoy exploring? I actually found this to be the longest Zelda I had played up to that point. I took the time to explore almost every section of the world, though.

I had no problem with the Triforce hunt. It did seem to come out of nowhere, but it didn't take much time as I had already mapped out most of the world and taken notes. I think it was an attempt by the developers to force players who hadn't explored the world to do so. For those of us that were exploring as we went, it just gave us a use for the billions of rupees we had overflowing our moneybags.

[AppleQueso]

Don't get me wrong, I liked Wind Waker a lot. The main quest was really short, or at least it seemed that way to me. There was a ton to explore and do outside of that.

It felt to me like they'd cut a couple of dungeons and threw in the triforce piece hunt at the last minute because of time constraints or something. I may have read that in a developer interview actually but I can't seem to find it.

Anyhow it was still too easy. I can't even remember what the game over screen looked like.

[ninjainspandex]

i think windwaker has the best combat actually, i hope they port it to the 3ds.

[GryeDor]

Thought I'd jump on and update my progress and thoughts.

Right now I've collected two flames and beginning the process to get the third.

Still, my biggest complain is with Fi. She leaves no room for doubt as to what to do, the main quest is far too easy with her interjecting constantly. I'd take Navi over Fi ANY day. I feel like Nintendo senses their audience is getting dumber which I find ridiculous, the Nintendo of 1985 should slap some sense into 2011 Nintendo. I don't need to be told three times what to do or that the item I'm looking for is located specifically there on the map. Nintendo is codling gamers with this installment and its insulting.

One top of that, you'd think with being told exactly where everything is and where you need to go, it would be a fairly quick progression, but no. The story moves so gradually it becomes tedious, you're just itching to move through the sluggish story parts to get back to exploring, flying and fighting. Even then, parts of the game can still drag, and this is due to the large areas and dungeons you're put into, some of which, especially the back-tracking is repetitive.

Speaking of the back-tracking, I have a theory. Tell me what you think. To my knowledge, Nintendo has never made a game spanning more than one disc, and certainly not within the Zelda world. As far back as the PS2, games were pressed onto DVD's and the PS2 Library is full of multi-disc games. Nintendo though? Nope. It would make sense that if they wanted to stick to a single disc release for Skyward Sword, simply to limit the areas and force you to revisit them only accessing new parts through the items you've collected. Why though? Manufacturing costs? I don't know...

Anyway, of course I have some praise for the game. I was delighted to see the main items you find aren't the standard Zelda fare. Yes there's the Slingshot, Hookshot, Bow and Bombs, but the new items you find, not to mention upgrading the old ones is a breath of fresh air into the Zelda franchise.

Anyway, I won't gripe about the controls or artwork, and can safely say I've really enjoyed playing the game although so far I wouldn't grant it a top spot amongst the other classics.

Not exactly sure where I'd say it falls on the Zelda-scale, but it certainly won't topple A Link to the Past as Number One.

[AppleQueso]

Nintendo had better make a Groose spinoff.

I don't know what I'll do if I can't play The Legend of Groose or Super Groose Land.

Anyhow, it's weird, I never noticed Fi telling me everything, probably because I usually knew what to do before she started bugging me about doing it.

The backtracking didn't bug me at all either... hm.

[GryeDor]

Nintendo had better make a Groose spinoff.

I don't know what I'll do if I can't play The Legend of Groose or Super Groose Land.

Anyhow, it's weird, I never noticed Fi telling me everything, probably because I usually knew what to do before she started bugging me about doing it.

The backtracking didn't bug me at all either... hm.

Re: Fi. I meant the same thing, maybe I wasn't clear in my post. Fi bothers me because the camera movement immediately tells you what your objective is (like find the location of the trials), when the camera moves and lingers over one spot, you know. Then Fi tells you and then marks it on your map (although I don't think they did that with the trials). It's like they went out of their way to coddle me. Most of the time too my first thought is exactly where I needed to go, which makes me long for the sheer "adventuring" (say you need to find dungeon 3 but nobody tells you where it is other than it's near a cemetery, so you have to go check out every screen for a cemetery and then find your way into the dungeon. no coddling) of the pre-Twilight games.

[AppleQueso]

You know, the real shame in all this is, there doesn't have to be an either/or. Nintendo could simply make these sort of hints, you know, optional. Retro Studios did it with Metroid Prime, why can't Nintendo do it with Zelda?