Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

[nakamura]

Did you not work that out within a few minutes? There is a training area which shows the type of attacks you can do in the game.

I must admit though, I had zero idea of motion plus when I went into the game so personally had no expectations so I can see your point Uli.

[Team Andromeda]

I would really like to see some videos of people who get 'arm ache' (lol) playing on this to see exactly what they are doing wrong.

Just watch Miyamoto at E3 or TGS shows and I'm sure you'll see arms movements as well as wrists

['Press Start']

I played it with a flick of the wrist, worked ok until I had to roll bombs or do diagonal slashes down from right to left. The motion controls added nothing for me and the game itself wasn't anything special imo.

The first Zelda I have never completed.

[Uli]

if i compare this Zelda with No More Heroes i really don't see what the motion+ adds to the controls. most of all, No More Heroes didn't force me to frequently recalibrate the controller.

eventually i found a review that mentions the control issues...

It's only when you enter your first combat scenario that things begin to falter. Link's sword mirrors your hand movement, so whether you thrust forward or swing horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, you see your actions play out onscreen. In theory, this should open the door to a wealth of exciting possibilities, but in practice, there are enough noticeable issues to keep you from enjoying the sword-swinging fun. The most pressing of these problems has to do with the fact that the game doesn't force you to move with precision. The first time you face a lizalfos, you may circle around until you see an opening and then unleash a horizontal strike when it lets its guard down. Once it recovers from being dazed, the lizalfos charges toward you; once again you circle and dodge until it reveals a weakness. There is some satisfaction in a battle cleanly won, but going through this elaborate charade is both time consuming and ultimately pointless. Instead, you can parry its opening attack and then flail away at its prone body until it's vanquished. By either using a shield parry or landing one sword strike against most enemies, you can stun them and then proceed to waggle your way to victory.

If you decide to be slow and precise rather than quick and efficient, new problems arise that ensure combat does not go smoothly. The Wii Remote has trouble recognizing your different swings. Often, you thrust forward in real life only to watch Link swing feebly in the game or just stand completely motionless. The sensitivity varies wildly so you're never quite sure how much force you need before the game recognizes your actions. As in the aforementioned situation, you may swing your arm while Link ignores you. Other times, you might adjust your grip so you go from holding on your left side to your right, only to see Link lash out at an enemy when you didn't want to do so. Most troubling of all is how the aiming works. There are certain items that require you to aim at the screen. However, the calibration is frequently wrong, forcing you to tap down on the D-pad to recenter. This happens with alarming frequency, and when you find yourself in a heated battle looking directly at the ground, you'll curse the game for damning you with such a cumbersome control scheme.

[nakamura]

Gamespot mentioned after that review that they had a faulty sensor bar.

[Uli]

Gamespot mentioned after that review that they had a faulty sensor bar.

faulty? well, i hope you don't believe this. because you can basically replace this highly sophisticated device with tea lights

[nakamura]

And?

If you move the sensor bar at an angle away from the tv it fails. ****e tech or not, it still has a job to do.

[Brad]

I might be wrong but for things like sword swings in zelda a faulty sensor bar would probably have no effect. It's detecting swings, inertia, motion. Not looking to see where the lights above the tv are.

It's odd. I have had calibration issues in some games on ps move yet others never ever fail, even I'd I forget to calibrate at the xmb. Maybe the game spot reviewer had a faulty motion+ sensor but I doubt it was the sensor bar. You'd notice a problem there the moment you switched the Wii on and tried to point at the game to launch.

[nakamura]

It would affect the pointing controls in the game though. Just repeating what I read that's all.

To avoid calibration issues on SS you need to be pointing at the centre of the screen everytime you select an item that uses the pointer. Simple!

[gIzzE]

At the end of the day some people think the motion stuff adds to the experience, others think it ruins it.

Same with 3D, some people love it, others think its wank.


It is just unfortunate that unlike films where you can watch a 2D version, you can't play with a regular game pad.

I played twilight princess on Wii for about 2 nights and then went and bought the GC version, to me it turned a mediocre game that was a bit of a chore into quite a good and enjoyable game.

I used to buy a new SNES game every 2 weeks or more, N64 games were the same, the GC so me repeat this, well certainly bought all the top titles as soon as they were out.

The Wii has seen me buy Mario Galaxy 1 & 2, New Super Mario Bros and a few party type games that get played once when drunk.
Some titles I would love to play, but just hate the control system, and all and I mean all of my frinds who have been playing Nintendo since the NES days say the same thing.

I am the sort of person who will happily spend ?100 a week on new games if there is something I want, as are my mates, I think they really missed a trick not adding in the ability to use a regular pad for the big releases like Mario and Zelda.

[Atticus]

The first Zelda I have never completed.

Same here. Motion controls were okay but maybe did complicate a normaly slick interface. I could have happily rolled with them if the game sucked me in but it didn't. I put about 10 hours into it and it was just a bit dull ... dull environments and characters, washed out colours, not brilliant. I really wanted to love it and get into it but after a couple of attempts it's now shelved for a (very) rainy day.

[nakamura]

Washed out colours? Playing on an LCD?

[Atticus]

Washed out colours? Playing on an LCD?

Yeah. lcd.

[nakamura]

Yeah thought so. Which again helps to highlight what a pity it was that the Wii couldn't at least output 720p. Even more a shame that the Wii U wont upscale.

[Guts]

I am the sort of person who will happily spend ?100 a week on new games if there is something I want, as are my mates, I think they really missed a trick not adding in the ability to use a regular pad for the big releases like Mario and Zelda.

Thing is, the motion controls are such an integral and defining part of what Skyward Sword is, that it wouldn't be the same game without them. Even if you could make SS to work with a pad it would be a lame, cripled version of the game.