Giving Skyward Sword a Second Look

[Faladorian]

Some background information on my "second look:" I played Skyward Sword the first time around, and hated it. I posted many scathing comments about how horrible the game was, and was generally displeased with the game in every aspect.

A friend of mine kept threatening to ruin the ending of the game for me. Every day it was "I'm gonna tell you! I'm gonna do it!" and I did believe he seriously would. So, in an effort to end the torture, I RUSHED through the game to get to the end, and i was very unsatisfied with the result.


Now, recently I decided I would play it again (I don't have an insatiable appetite for Zelda, I swear) and I played it on Hero Mode. Not only was the game more challenging, but I actually took the time to do nearly ALL of the sidequests that Skyloft and its neighboring floating islands had to offer.

It wasn't until this second playthrough that something clicked in my brain: This game is VERY well-made. I couldn't understand my previous remarks on how bad it was. I enjoyed every minute of the game... the second time.

I can't decide if it was the difficulty change making things more interesting, or the fact that I took my time, but I certainly learned that one can grow to love a game that they used to hate.


Anyway: if you have any games that you had a similar love/hate encounter with, please share them. And if any comments about Skyward Sword would like to be made, those are clearly welcome due to the title.


Disclaimer: I do have quite the addiction to Zelda, but I'm not a fanboy who thinks Nintendo can do no wrong. Before anybody says I am, I'll go on record and say that Nintendo has made more than their fair share of piles of crap. That is all ^^

 

[DustyDrB]

Disclaimer: I do have quite the addiction to Zelda, but I'm not a fanboy who thinks Nintendo can do no wrong. Before anybody says I am, I'll go on record and say that Nintendo has made more than their fair share of piles of crap. That is all ^^

You don't have to defend yourself for liking Nintendo. They still make a lot of great games.

I think Skyward Sword's biggest problem is its lack of a memorable world. It's kind of the anti-Majora's Mask in that regard, where it has great temples but a weeeaaak overworld and cast of characters (aside from the core group of Zelda, Groose, and Impa). But then Fi is the worst companion ever, especially since she follows up Midna (the greatest companion in the series). I still put it ahead of Majora's Mask because a Zelda game for me lives and dies on the strength of its temples and bosses, which I thought were overall fantastic in Skyward Sword (and pretty terrible in Majora's Mask).

I'm no motion-controller hater (I actually loved the sword moves in Twilight Princess), but they are terribly overused in Skyward Sword. Some things worked well (shield defense is fun once you get the timing down). Some things didn't (the freakin' beetle. The "light strike" or whatever you call it was pretty fickle as well). I also felt like manual aiming was better in Twilight Princess.

Are there many differences in the New Game Plus?

 

[Ando85]

I got like 11 hours or so into Skyward Sword and I just sort of lost interest. Thing is, almost the same exact thing happened when I played Wind Waker. I eventually picked the game back up maybe a year or two later and absolutely loved it. Hopefully the same will happen with Skyward Sword.

 

[Sean Hollyman]

If I had a Wii I'd get it, I really liked TP and Zelda in general

 

[Dryk]

I also felt like manual aiming was better in Twilight Princess.

It was objectively better in Twilight Princess. Twilight Princess used the IR sensor for aiming, in Skyward Sword they made the asinine decision to use the Wii Motion Plus instead. They had a perfectly good sensing system going, and decided to build a new one... that I'm pretty sure is open loop... UGH -_-

 

[Faladorian]

I think Skyward Sword's biggest problem is its lack of a memorable world. It's kind of the anti-Majora's Mask in that regard, where it has great temples but a weeeaaak overworld and cast of characters (aside from the core group of Zelda, Groose, and Impa). But then Fi is the worst companion ever, especially since she follows up Midna (the greatest companion in the series). I still put it ahead of Majora's Mask because a Zelda game for me lives and dies on the strength of its temples and bosses, which I thought were overall fantastic in Skyward Sword (and pretty terrible in Majora's Mask).

I agree. Midna was able to sway my emotions, and so could Zelda and Groose. The worlds werent great but i still thought they looked nice. I enjoyed the Lanayru desert more than its dungeons, I think. The music in the game was phenomenal.

The main component to the boss fights was the motion controls. During the critical point, being able to swing the remote and have your sword do the same made you feel like you were actually beating the shit out of the boss. Nice touch

I'm no motion-controller hater (I actually loved the sword moves in Twilight Princess), but they are terribly overused in Skyward Sword. Some things worked well (shield defense is fun once you get the timing down). Some things didn't (the freakin' beetle. The "light strike" or whatever you call it was pretty fickle as well). I also felt like manual aiming was better in Twilight Princess.

Yeah I had trouble with aiming and Skyward Strikes, but after playing it twice I'm fairly adept at it

Are there many differences in the New Game Plus?

No. Just double damage, no hearts appear, and enemies have double health. Apart from that, there's the occasional added flavor text (ex: when you get the Digging Mitts, the mogma tells you that "Rupees are the most common thing to find. You can also find Eldin Ore. You used to be able to find hearts, but they haven't been showing up lately." Things like that.

That's not to say it wasn't enjoyable. I took much more time to look around and smell the roses on hero mode, and it more than made the game for me. Also, the added degree of difficulty makes it more fun. Especially the Imprisoned; you feel like you're actually taking down a behemoth, since it can so thoroughly destroy you if you don't play your cards right.


Just a word for the wise: If you do start Hero Mode, don't expect to ever get the Hylian Shield. Ever.

 

[BehattedWanderer]

You need to meat-check that friend, and tell him he's being a dick. It's for his own good, really. Shouldn't let that kind of behavior go unchecked.

When I first played Fallout 3, I didn't like it. I wasn't used to sandboxes, had no idea what the game wanted me to do, and hated that I could accidentally wander into a place that was beyond me. Having picked it back up, I now love all these things, and rank it among my favorite games.

As to Skyward Sword, glad to see you turned around on it. It really is a masterfully done game, with some of the most amazing fun to be had in the series. It would be my favorite, or at least a tie, if the controls hadn't gotten in the way of the fun on occasion. While I like the idea of specifically controlling my attack directions, in practice it tended to get hung up, since the sensor would read a twist of 91 degrees as a twist of 270, and so suddenly I'd be going the wrong way, but these were minor problems. While I found the imprisoned fights absolutely miserable the first time, when I started playing them in the thunder dragon's challenge and figured out an alternate way to beat them (and most other bosses as well), I found myself quite enjoying them.