Skyward Sword Will Take Dozens of Hours to Finish, Says Nintendo

[Logan Westbrook]

Skyward Sword Will Take Dozens of Hours to Finish, Says Nintendo

Better clear some space in your schedule and your lounge: you're going to need both for Skyward Sword.

It looks like Nintendo has stuffed a lot of content into the next Legend of Zelda game. Speaking at Nintendo's pre-Tokyo Game Show press conference, Shigeru Miyamoto said that Skyward Sword [http://www.amazon.com/Legend-Zelda-Skyward-Sword-Nintendo-Wii/dp/B002BSC54I/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1315911444&sr=8-2] could take anywhere between 50 - 100 hours to finish.

Miyamoto also touched on some of the game's systems and mechanics. He offered a few more examples of upgradeable items, such as red potions that have had their restorative properties improved, as well as new items like a machine that blows sand around to clear it off floors. He also said that Nintendo hoped that people wouldn't have to think too much about the game's swordplay, and that after a while they'd be able to rely on muscle memory.

Even if Skyward Sword is at the lower end of Miyamoto's estimate, there's still an awful lot to do. That's doubly exciting when you consider that Nintendo is mixing things up a little for Skyward Sword so that it's not just the same Legend of Zelda game you've played a dozen times before. I doubt very much that it's going to be a radical revamp of the concept, but a little freshness is always appreciated.

Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword comes out for the Wii on November 20th.

Source: Wired [http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2011/09/live-blog-nintendo-unveils-plan-to-save-3ds-in-tokyo/] and Kotaku [http://kotaku.com/5839542/watch-nintendos-3ds-conference-live--read-our-liveblog-right-here]


Permalink

 

[DrummerM]

Personally I thought the Zelda games had a decent length to them already... Hopefully this one isn't long because of really huge environments or repeated puzzles.

 

[FredTheUndead]

Block puzzles now have 50 switches and blocks apiece.

 

[Scarim Coral]

I betting the extra hours is probably just finding all the heart containers or getting minor upgrades that you can choose to miss out.

None the less challenge accepted!

 

[Davidm4]

I thought twilight princess had a bit too much padding with tear collecting and unlocking portals. Hope this isn't repeated.

 

[Ranorak]

50-100 hours for a veteran, or 50-100 hours for a newbie?

I know that I spend well over 80 hours in my first Ocarina of Time play through.
However, from that time on, and with the new games, I learned what is expected of me.

...Or, they'll put in those annoying Chozo, Key, Portal, triforce shard, collection bits near the end, removing all flow from the game, and all tension from the story.

 

[TikiShades]

The Elder Scrolls IV: Hyrule

-pumped-

 

[D Moness]

I thought twilight princess had a bit too much padding with tear collecting and unlocking portals. Hope this isn't repeated.

Thta wasn't nearly as annoying as the triforce shards collecting in WW. Almost made me not finish that game even though it is a good zelda game. I found TP short (after the third dungeon the dungeon because easier and easier) and less challenging then previous zelda's.


What i hear about SS (mmm fun abbreviation) sounds very promising though since TP did disappoint me a bit i will not hype myself too much for it. Doesn't mean i still can not wait for it.

 

[Ranorak]

I thought twilight princess had a bit too much padding with tear collecting and unlocking portals. Hope this isn't repeated.

Thta wasn't nearly as annoying as the triforce shards collecting in WW. Almost made me not finish that game even though it is a good zelda game.

Or the Chozo Lore in Metroid Prime, or the Key's in Metroid Prime 2 or the ...well, nintendo loves to do this

 

[Davidm4]

I thought twilight princess had a bit too much padding with tear collecting and unlocking portals. Hope this isn't repeated.

Thta wasn't nearly as annoying as the triforce shards collecting in WW. Almost made me not finish that game even though it is a good zelda game.

Or the Chozo Lore in Metroid Prime, or the Key's in Metroid Prime 2 or the ...well, nintendo loves to do this

Metroid prime 3 was the last wii game I bought. It made me dissapointed when it was mentioned that they are implementing "metroid" style backtracking in this latest installment, as I don't really care for it. I like knowing that i'm getting ever closer to a boss room and I expect this version to make us go back and forth between areas to make smaller progress. I couldn't be bothered with mp3, but I doubt I would ever give up on SS though.

 

[-Dragmire-]

new items like a machine that blows sand around to clear it off floors

should I be excited about that?

This is what came to my mind.

Either fireplace bellows or a leaf blower.

I've been sick of Zelda since Twilight Princess but if they mix enough stuff up for this one I may consider getting it.

 

[uguito-93]

I thought twilight princess had a bit too much padding with tear collecting and unlocking portals. Hope this isn't repeated.

Thta wasn't nearly as annoying as the triforce shards collecting in WW. Almost made me not finish that game even though it is a good zelda game.

Or the Chozo Lore in Metroid Prime, or the Key's in Metroid Prime 2 or the ...well, nintendo loves to do this

I thought that the key hunting in the prime games was done pretty well seeing as you tended to find them progressively through the story, instead of the common "its near the end of the game, go find all 20 keys at once".

 

[therandombear]

I betting the extra hours is probably just finding all the heart containers or getting minor upgrades that you can choose to miss out.

None the less challenge accepted!

50-100 hours? Challenge accepted indeed.

OT: I don't expect a second story to unlock after done with the main story, ie. Dragon Quest 8 with the dragovian trials. So I imagine the 100 hours is for collecting everything, get every bottle, golden bug and whatnot, atleast, that's what I think

Still looking forward to SS though

EDIT: I didn't really mind the triforce hunting near end of WW, I had already found some of them when I got to that part since I liked to just let the wind guide me and explore the islands xD

So I won't really be "pissed" or "annoyed" if they do the same at the end of SS.

One thing that will bother me though is if that button overlay on the right side of the picture is going to be there all the time or if it can be turned off, or just there to show you what to press when you learn new technuiqes

 

[Rack]

Ugh, I already had enough of crappy mandatory filler in Zelda after Wind Waker. Then there was even more in TP and even more than that in SS. Can someone just take Zelda away from Aonuma?

 

[Andronicus]

I've clocked over 500 hours in my most recent Morrowind file, and this is only one of several that I've had over the years.

Your move, Nintendo.

 

[Ranorak]

I thought twilight princess had a bit too much padding with tear collecting and unlocking portals. Hope this isn't repeated.

Thta wasn't nearly as annoying as the triforce shards collecting in WW. Almost made me not finish that game even though it is a good zelda game.

Or the Chozo Lore in Metroid Prime, or the Key's in Metroid Prime 2 or the ...well, nintendo loves to do this

I thought that the key hunting in the prime games was done pretty well seeing as you tended to find them progressively through the story, instead of the common "its near the end of the game, go find all 20 keys at once".

Prime 1, maybe.
But Prime 2 needed a visor to actually see the keys, so you couldn't find them before hand.

 

[Adzma]

Isn't that exactly what they said about Twilight Princess? Seem to remember that on my first play through it took me 50 hours and that was getting all the little bug things and heart containers.

We shall see.