Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

[dataDave]

The spoon-feeding is the bane of gaming, well, it seems to separate (what I class as gaming) and 'entertainment' pretty well.

[Fader209]

Actually no, this has plenty of checkpoints to be fair. Nothing wrong with Uncharted either, it does what it does very well, entertainment. I do believe though, more and more people are playing games and just wanting them done as soon as possible, especially in single player mode. Too few checkpoints or areas where it is tricky to navigate and you can due and people give up easily so devs just spoon feed instead.
Not aimed at anyone on here really, just my feelings on it all.

I feel it is the younger generation that want to finish the games as quickly as possible, sort of like bragging rights for online forums. Then again there are a lot of older gamers who speed through games for the same reason - the recent Diablo 3 showed this and WoW before that.
I don't get that mentality to be honest, just enjoy the game dammit!

['Press Start']

I See. I agree mostly about what you say about games today in general but I don't see evidence of it in this thread for Zelda specifically. Certainly for me who just came from Dark Souls I got frustrated with the hand holding Zelda gave.

Attitcus (Phil), why did you stop playing? why is it the first Zelda you have never completed?

I think this is an interesting discussion.

[nakamura]

With Zelda, the hand holding was there for sure but most of us already knew how it all worked anyway though it was annoying. In regards to this game though, I feel many were dismissive of the controls from the start. Perfect they are not, immensely immersive they are. I do also feel the game was perhaps a touch too long but I still personally loved it and am trying not to play it again.

[Golgo]

Fired this up for the first time yesterday and I love it. The hazy graphics are lovely, while also being a clever way to fudge the Wii's limitations. The early hand-holding was no big deal for me, given the lushness of the town you get to explore, and the controls in my view are delightfully accurate. Mind you, my Mum got me the ltd edition for Christmas, so I'm rocking the Gold-Embossed Plastic Triforce Bat-of-Awesome, which probably makes all the difference.

[Uli]

Nintendo acknowledges motion control issues with Skyward Sword and seems to investigate why and where gamers struggled. smart move, but a little too late for my taste.

http://popwatch.ew.com/2012/06/07/e3-nintendo-shigeru-miyamoto/

[nakamura]

They don't actually aknowledge issues though. The simply stated that some people didn't get on with it or just didn't like it.
Then they go on to say about how they could take the best bits and evolve the control system futher.

[gIzzE]

What he says is...

We know there’s a new Mario game coming for the Wii U, New Super Mario Bros. U. Last year when the Wii U was first introduced, a standalone Zelda battle scene was created to showcase the system’s high-definition graphics. What about the Wii U intrigues you for what you could do in a Zelda game?

Obviously we stared that experiment last year and used that to sort of showcase some of the HD visuals. And obviously when you look at that, you do get a positive reaction to how simply having the HD visuals in a Zelda game can really make the game look wonderful and give it sort of a high-quality feel. But one thing that’s interesting is we’re seeing how the way that tastes are broadening in video games and you have some people who prefer more casual experiences, and you have some people who prefer sort of those more in-depth experiences. Obviously, as a company that’s been making games for a very long time, we tend to be more on the deeper, longer game side of things.


But really what we continue to ask ourselves as we have over the years is, “What is the most important element of Zelda if we were to try to make a Zelda game that a lot of people can play?”


So we have a number of different experiments going on, and [when] we decide that we’ve found the right one of those to really help bring Zelda to a very big audience, then we’ll be happy to announce it.

How can we dumb it down enough and get away with it!!!!

[Golgo]

They don't actually aknowledge issues though. The simply stated that some people didn't get on with it or just didn't like it.
Then they go on to say about how they could take the best bits and evolve the control system futher.

Exactly, Nakamura. Had a quick blast on Majoras Mask on VC to refresh my memory this afternoon. So much is forgotten about how clumsily those N64 games controlled.

[Nu-Eclipse]

Exactly, Nakamura. Had a quick blast on Majoras Mask on VC to refresh my memory this afternoon. So much is forgotten about how clumsily those N64 games controlled.

Not to be pedantic or anything, but playing an N64 game using a GC controller/Wii Classic Controller will make it seem more clumsy than it actually is/was, no?

[Sixty]

How can we dumb it down enough and get away with it!!!!

This is annoying. Nintendo should just accept that Zelda is never going to reach Mario Bros/Mario Kart/Wii Fit sales figures and instead focus on offering the best experience they can to the people who are actually interested in that type of experience. I mean, if they can open Zelda up to the masses without diluting what the existing fans like about it, then great, but I doubt they can.

['Press Start']

so I'm rocking the Gold-Embossed Plastic Triforce Bat-of-Awesome, which probably makes all the difference.

I got that too. Probably why I have a bee in my bonnet about not enjoying this as I forked out for the ltd ed.

[Fader209]

I got that too. Probably why I have a bee in my bonnet about not enjoying this as I forked out for the ltd ed.

Hehe I got the ltd edition one quite cheap iirc, around ?30-35 thanks to some random deal going on at the time.

Been playing this for a while now and decided to rate this 8/10. Still got roughly a third of the game to go through but am taking my time

[Golgo]

Just beaten first dungeon boss and I'm loving this. Gorgeous to look at/listen to, feels just like a fairytale really. And the motion controls are spot on for me (due to not over-doing it, I guess, as advised on this thread). Really enjoy having to look for openings/where enemies aren't blocking and time the right kind of attack. Sometimes it doesn't work but that's only because I lose my cool and start flailing (the motion-control version of button mashing). Haven't gathered much stuff/insects etc. yet so I'm not getting into the RPG-lite customization bit at all (potion upgrades, weapon mods). I hope there's enough 'game' left in here for that to become worthwhile, rather than just being cosmetic. Any views? Also, anyone get a sense that the thick-set fella chilling out in the Skyloft bazaar cafetaria is modelled after Reggie Fils-Aime? I'm convinced he is.

[Uli]

i am close to finishing this now after roughly 45 hours - not much time spent on side missions so far. the game gets better over time and progress but i'm still suffering from the poor motion control implementation. especially the frequent need to recalibrate while using tools that you need to aim is annoying me. visually it's certainly a matter of taste. i much prefer the bright intense colour palette and comic art style of Windwaker. Skyward Sword can look very very dull and uninspired in places, very low res textures combined with washed out pastel-like colours contribute to that a lot. so the game constantly reminds me that a Zelda HD is long overdue.

overall Skyward Sword is a good effort in the series, but lacking the charme of a Windwaker and the intriguing story of a Twilight Princess.