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The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD

Paulando

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Paulando

Paulando

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I’m finding it increasingly difficult to find games that hold my attention outside of Mario and Zelda, and the odd JPRG and indie game, so I can’t wait to get stuck in to a proper big Zelda adventure again. All of the dungeons and puzzles, and even the backtracking and the filler and the items reused from previous games. For all their faults, they’re so full of love, and they’re always a joy to play. Proper excited by this.

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kensei

kensei

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1 hour ago, Majora said:

 

Skyward Sword is the most restrictive 3D Zelda ever made, Breath of the Wild is the most open. Skyward Sword focussed so much on puzzles it had no sense of place, in Breath of the Wild the sense of place arguably came at the expense of some puzzle, and especially dungeon, focus. 

 

A few isolated elements being in both games does not a throughline make when the games are so completely opposite in approach. 'Collecting things to upgrade equipment' is so broad you could apply it to practically every action adventure or RPG ever made, including most Zeldas. I forgot Skyward Sword even had a glider, so limited was its usage compared to BOTW. I'll give you the stamina meter but even the pulling puzzles out of the dungeons bit is contestable. In Skyward Sword, the puzzles were the world. In Breath of the Wild the puzzles were a very small part of the world. Again, completely opposite approaches to world design.

 

This whole 'Skyward Sword was Breath of the Wild 0.5' type argument doesn't really work for me and feels like more of a way for them to try to flog this remaster to people who jumped into the franchise after BOTW.

 

The Wii couldn't have handled BOTW. Skyward Sword begins to experiment with the formula, quite intentionally. Some of those helped feed into BOTW, some of them were dead ends. 

 

But what do I k ow, its not like Eiji Aonuma pointed it out in the Direct, or anything. 

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teddymeow

teddymeow

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I love Zelda. I really do!

 

Strangely though I've not finished every release

 

Link's Awakening (GB)

Ocarina of Time (N64)

Oracle of Ages / Seasons (GB)

Minish Cap (GBA)

Wind Waker (Cube)

Link Between Worlds (3DS)

 

The NES games were slightly before my gaming awakening. I got pretty far in both Link to the Past and Twilight Princess, didn't click with Majora or Skyward Sword and bounced hard off of Breath of the Wild. Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks were fun but, again, didn't get to the end.

 

What that shows me is that I seem to like Zelda more as a handheld game than a big TV experience.

 

I feel dirty. Maybe I should buy this as penance?

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Popo

Popo

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1 hour ago, Benny said:

I wouldn't call having enemies that need bisecting at specific points using the new unique control system as "mechanically tired".

 

Many of the puzzles in Skyward Sword felt the freshest they'd been in ages.

 

Sure, and I enjoyed additions like the motion controls and the stamina bar (ganbare bar :lol:) but the fundamental design of hub world - themed areas - dungeons is the same.  I hesitate to use the phrase 'treading water' in this context (for fear of lynching), but Skyward Sword is significantly more adjacent to Ocarina of Time than Breath of the Wild.

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Benny

Benny

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3 minutes ago, Popo said:

 

Sure, and I enjoyed additions like the motion controls and the stamina bar (ganbare bar :lol:) but the fundamental design of hub world - themed areas - dungeons is the same.  I hesitate to use the phrase 'treading water' in this context (for fear of lynching), but Skyward Sword is significantly more adjacent to Ocarina of Time than Breath of the Wild.

 

Well that's just because BotW completely reinvents the series. Skyward Sword had some of the freshest design elements added to "trad" Zelda. People still bafflingly lap up Assassin's Creed games, and I would argue the distance between say, Skyward Sword and Ocarina of TIme is vast compared to any two of those games.

 

And "hub worlds" and "themed areas" aren't really something you can accuse Zelda games of having as a tired mechanic, when those are pretty much genre staples by this point.

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Ran

Ran

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It does look pretty nice but that's the quality of the original art direction and assets shining through. I'll reserve judgement till we hear a bit more (hoping for some QoL improvements, specifically the incessant item description pop-up).

I think they should get plenty of stick for that price tag though. I've no problem with them bolstering their release schedule with quality offerings from their back catalogue but I don't imagine they've had to invest the same sort of resources in porting this as they would developing a new title so pricing it up like one again is cheeky to say the least.

 

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Kevvy Metal

Kevvy Metal

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Skyward Sword is maybe my favourite of the three Gamecube/Wii 3D games, I like it more that Twilight Princess and Wind Waker (which is secretly the least best of the three)

I thought at the time, that the "elevator pitch" for the game was to whole-sale take a classic Zelda game like Link to the Past and basically "move" the camera behind Link and create that world in 3D. So you have less of an open and free over-world and much more of a "level based" over-world where everything is mechanical with an abundance of puzzle mechanics. As mentioned, this is much more like LTTP, or Links Awakening or the Oracle games. That's what I felt they were trying to reboot the series as here and I totally think they succeeded, but it seems to have flown over a lot of people's heads.  

 

The game does basically present itself in a very linear fashion. Things that would be side question material are all on the critical path and must be completed to move forwards. This most definitely irked people in the original thread, but as someone who would 100% the game anyway, it didn't bother me in the slightest. 

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Kevvy Metal

Kevvy Metal

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1 hour ago, kensei said:

https://amp.theguardian.com/games/2021/feb/19/the-legend-of-zelda-games-ranked

 

The level of wrong here wrecks my head. Spirit Tracks better than Phantom Hourglass. 

 

Also the central dungeon remains one of those mechanics I liked and everyone else hates. 

 

List time! - 

 

Goat tier
---
1. Breath of the Wild
2. Ocarina of Time
3. Link’s Awakening
4. A Link to the Past

 

Rad tier
---
5. Four Swords Adventures
6. Skyward Sword
7. Twilight Princess
8. Wind Waker
9. Majora’s Mask
10. The Legend of Zelda
11. Minish Cap
12. A Link Between Worlds

 

Shit tier 
---
13. Phantom Hourglass
14. Tri-Force Heroes

 

Unplayed therefore no opinion or in any order
---
Zelda II: Adventure of Link / Spirit Tracks / Oracle of Ages/Seasons

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Stanley

Stanley

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1 hour ago, kensei said:

https://amp.theguardian.com/games/2021/feb/19/the-legend-of-zelda-games-ranked

 

The level of wrong here wrecks my head. Spirit Tracks better than Phantom Hourglass. 

 

Also the central dungeon remains one of those mechanics I liked and everyone else hates. 

Spirit Tracks and Hourglass are both weak, and I’m a diehard. 

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Petrousgyre

Petrousgyre

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28 minutes ago, Kevvy Metal said:

Skyward Sword is maybe my favourite of the three Gamecube/Wii 3D games

 

I could get behind that, Skyward Sword is great - just a bit flabby in the last half of the game.  Assume the motion controls are still in, just optional? I don't think I'd get it off they weren't - never understood the hate for motion controls, particularly not in this instance. 

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Wiper

Wiper

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2 hours ago, Benny said:

People who think Skyward Sword's unique and interesting and daring to try something different control mechanics are just "waggle" either had a broken controller or are cack-handed idiots.

 

I will fight you. The sword controls were fine, but I never, ever did anything less than despise the "shake nunchuck to roll" design choice. The fact is I am cackhanded, and I just found that a painfully awkward thing to do; I had the same problem with Mario Odyssey's waggle-based moves.

 

That they're giving the option to play with actual buttons and sticks instead means I'll likely give this a try, at least when it's not at absurdo price.

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scottcr

scottcr

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Marlew said:

I can't actually remember why and I I'm not asking for a reminder but I remember shedding a tear at the ending of SS. I can't remember many other games ever making me cry. Maybe three, five, ever. I dunno. 

Spoiler


Aye... when Fi has to go and thanks Link.  All the feels.  I think I annoy the hell out of my son when ever the Master Sword is in a Zelda game I keep reminding him that Fi and Demise are in there!

 

 

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Made of Ghosts

Made of Ghosts

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Motion-controlled swordplay is a potentially fun mechanic but in SS it never really transcended " check which the direction the enemy's blocking and don't hit them in that direction". And it tended to slow the combat right down. Lots of enemies slowly creeping towards you, holding their weapons at weird angles to block a single cardinal direction. No aggression, no dynamism, it was just kinda weak in the end.

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Benny

Benny

Posted
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25 minutes ago, Kevvy Metal said:

 

List time! - 

 

Goat tier
---
1. Breath of the Wild
2. Ocarina of Time
3. Link’s Awakening
4. A Link to the Past

 

Rad tier
---
5. Four Swords Adventures
6. Skyward Sword
7. Twilight Princess
8. Wind Waker
9. Majora’s Mask
10. The Legend of Zelda
11. Minish Cap
12. A Link Between Worlds

 

Shit tier 
---
13. Phantom Hourglass
14. Tri-Force Heroes

 

Unplayed therefore no opinion or in any order
---
Zelda II: Adventure of Link / Spirit Tracks / Oracle of Ages/Seasons

 

Of the ones I've played:

 

  1. Breath of the Wild
  2. Ocarina of Time
  3. Majora’s Mask
  4. Skyward Sword
  5. Wind Waker
  6. A Link to the Past
  7. Link’s Awakening
  8. Twilight Princess
  9. Four Swords Adventures
  10. The Legend of Zelda
  11. Zelda II: Adventure of Link
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Rorschach

Rorschach

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5 hours ago, mdn2 said:

 

 

There are some aspects where it looks worse to my eye. During gameplay, the painterly background effect seems to have been massively toned down, or maybe even removed, in places. I'm sure it was originally there as a conseqence of technical constraint, but the hazy, dreamlike effect is gone, and I'd also be concerned whether it would make it all the more obvious how small and linear many of the environments really are. I don't think these environments were designed to be shown in high definition, with sharp detail far into the distance. I suppose this could all change before release though.

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Protocol Penguin

Protocol Penguin

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I don’t think I’ll be bothered to come back to this for the remaster unless it can be played entirely with button controls, and the padding fetch quests are truncated. The control is the main issue though – like Kid Icarus Uprising, the Wii original was lumbered by a wretched control scheme by Nintendo out of their own stubbornness. Shame, as I really wanted to be able to finish it, but I wasn’t going to struggle with the needless frustration factor more than was healthy.

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dreamylittledream

dreamylittledream

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3 hours ago, kensei said:

https://amp.theguardian.com/games/2021/feb/19/the-legend-of-zelda-games-ranked

 

The level of wrong here wrecks my head. Spirit Tracks better than Phantom Hourglass. 

 

Also the central dungeon remains one of those mechanics I liked and everyone else hates. 

 

3 hours ago, scottcr said:

Spirit Tracks is at the bottom for me... the on rails train was just far too restrictive and I got bored.  I gave up on it.  One of the few Zelda's I never finished.  I don't really count Triforce heroes.


Spirit Tracks is without a doubt the worse Zelda I’ve ever played...it’s just so dull and the train mechanic was really irritating.

 

I loved Phantom Hourglass and would but it again on the Switch in a flash (although some of the puzzles would be tricky to replicate without the clamshell design of the DS).

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dreamylittledream

dreamylittledream

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1 hour ago, Benny said:

 

Of the ones I've played:

 

  1. Breath of the Wild
  2. Ocarina of Time
  3. Majora’s Mask
  4. Skyward Sword
  5. Wind Waker
  6. A Link to the Past
  7. Link’s Awakening
  8. Twilight Princess
  9. Four Swords Adventures
  10. The Legend of Zelda
  11. Zelda II: Adventure of Link


Hang on you haven’t played Link Between Worlds?

 

That needs correcting immediately!

 

(although shameful low ratings for all the 2D Zelda on that list)

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