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So, I'm 31 hours in now, and I think I'm at the final boss. I mean, I'm not sure what else the game could throw at me at this point, so I'm assuming. First thought: This is shorter than I was promised Twilight princess took me around 45 hours to beat the first time around, and this was supposed to be a 50 - 100 hour game. Oh well, it was one heck of a ride. Second thought: Holy CRAAAAAAAP is the final boss hard! I haven't died ONCE the whole game yet, but I've died 4 times already trying to beat it! Man, tomorrow I need to get right back to it. That is one heck of a challenge.

I kinda have to agree about the graphics, at least early on. Skyloft isn't really all that impressive. Rest assured, however, that the graphics get continuously better. I think I said it earlier that I think the early game areas aren't visually impressive because to Link, they are boring. He grew up there, after all, so he wouldn't find them impressive, and I suppose the audience wouldn't either. As you progress and start exploring the world below, especially the Lanayru desert, you really start to get a sense of wonder and adventure from the more impressive visuals. There's also some really great particle effects in the volcano area. Actually though, I really think the music steals the show this time. Some of the best music in the zelda series, in my opinion.

So the Sand Sea was really, really awesome. Probably the best music in the game so far, too. It really reminded me of the crashed frigate from Metroid Prime. But I have a small rantish thing...It's mildly spoilery, but not about the plot. More about a gameplay element, the time stones. So...watch out. When you create that 'time bubble' where you see into the past, really, if you break a barrel in the past it should still be there in the future, but that's not the big thing. In that part in the sand sea with Skipper, it would have been so emotionally impacting if he takes you to these ruins, and says "look at that palace! Isn't it magnificent?" Because you see it in the future, but he sees it in the past. It's like you're stepping into a bubble of the past, and if you leave it the creatures in the past can't see you anymore. So when he acknowledged that he can see the future beyond the bubble...it kind of ruined it for me. I choose instead to believe that they cannot see beyond the bubble into the future. Aside that, though, of course, going into the past should mess up the future, but I suppose since all those creatures died in the same place they were in the past implies that there was some sort of cataclysmic event that destroyed Lanayru and turned it into a desert wasteland before anyone had a chance to react. Ah well, it still makes for great gameplay.

Exactly. And so far, Skyward Sword seems to have a wonderful, fantasy story that benefits from the linearity. I'm really excited to see what happens next. The cutscenes are really well done and very cinematic, on that note.

I haven't really played a whole lot of open world games, but I think it can be used to the games advantage. Red Dead Redemption is a great example of this, where a wild west game really calls for an open world experience. But other games like Zelda? Open world wouldn't work.

The game's really great, but it does suffer a bit from "Go get a propellor so you can put it in this so it can do that so you can get the clue to get the three things so you can finally proceed." Yeah, when I heard that propellor bit...I was a bit miffed. Other than that, the mining facility was really really awesome! Really loved how the music would change when you affected the area. UPDATE: So I'm 17 hours in and it's so awesome. While the dungeons aren't large spatially, they are very dense, using the smaller area to their advantage. That is one very nice thing about them, imo. They don't overwhelm you with their sheer magnitude like they did in Twilight Princess. However, and this is a minor complaint I have against all zeldas: why are almost all the dungeons you go to destroyed or in a state of disrepair? Seriously, aren't there any fresh or intact temples? That's why I loved the Temple of Time in Twilight Princess: It FELT like a real, fully functioning temple. *mild spoilers* Just finished the Ancient Cistern, quite the interesting dungeon. The section above versus below was quite a jarring and effective transition. But it was the boss that really stole the show. Really love how even in the bosses they introduce whole new gameplay concepts on the fly! And the creative use of the dungeon item is a very welcome change.

I haven't noticed any of the obvious hints. There's been many times when I've had to ask for a hint :S

I am LOVING the game so far! At first, I wasn't too fond of the graphics. They were nice, but it wasn't until the night scene that the pure artistry of this game hit me. It really is beautiful. The characters are so vibrant with wonderful little touches! In the bazaar there's that creepy salesman who looks like the happy mask salesman, and if you walk away from his stand he sulks! The music! Wow, the music is wonderful! That scene where Zelda sings...wow. And the gameplay is great! The enemies are so smart and complex! They learn and react to my attacks and anticipate what I'm about to do! And Fi...She's cool, but I have some interesting theories about her. Have you noticed the way she talks? But no spoilers please! I'm only a little into the first temple. Those Skulltulas took me forever to figure out how to beat!

QFT. The only way I'd accept voice acting in a Zelda game is if they got Pixar to handle the translation and the acting.

Why do you want voice acting so badly anyways? Bad voice acting will take you out of the experience far quicker and much more painfully than a dialogue box ever could. Besides, if you could you'd probably set the VA to japanese anyways, so what's the point?

So listening to the latest Invisible Walls from Gametrailers (or, more accurately, skipping ahead to where they discuss Zelda), I figured out why the review sounded so negative for it. The guy, Shane, thought the game was half the length it was, and ended up playing way longer than he wanted to each day, often until 3 in the morning. He didn't budget enough time to play and therefore pushed himself and rushed himself through the game, getting only around 3 or 4 hours of sleep a night so he could get back to playing it. Being forced to do that with ANY game would make you hate it :S Also, they were telling their audience to STFU about the game since no one had played it yet and therefore was not qualified to give an opinion. Time to actually do some research, guys! The game's been out in Europe for a while, and some people even got it sooner through certain retailers. Apparently Switzerland released it on the 10th, so yes, these people are qualified to give an opinion. I just...I just couldn't believe my ears that they were telling their audience - their fans to STFU. Seriously. And those were literally their words: SHUT THE F*** UP

Using .mid files can be really frustrating, however, since they sound different of ever machine. But Midi also refers to computer generated sounds, doesn't it? For example, the songs here on OCRemix are exported as .mp3s, but they were made using midi sound files, weren't they? If it's a selection of pre-recorded sounds (where each key on the synth-keyboard is a different pitch of a recorded instrument, for example) then that would be a sampler, but when it's a generated sound (like most sounds in Logic or Garageband, for instance) those would be considered midis, right?

It's not 1995 anymore. There's no excuse to reference 1995.

YARGH just one more sleep D:

Really scary stuff. The wording of the bill is ambiguous enough that even someone linking to a site that has copywritten material is grounds for that first site to be instantly shut down. But seeing as I don't live in the US, I don't really know what there is I can do about it :S

I like it. They replaced the score with coins and lives, in essence making those your score counter. Plus...something good happens if you max out your lives

Yeah the Gametrailers review was terrible; I couldn't even watch the whole thing, but reading the comments gave me enough explanation of what was said. It's not that they gave the game a 9.1 (although that seems awfully low, compared to what others have been giving it) it's that their review was terribly done. They spent 10 minutes bashing and nitpicking about what was wrong with the game, and then at the end say "but it was pretty good. 9.1!" That's just an awful way to make a review! A positive score should be preceded by a review that explains why it earns that score! If you liked a game, tell us why you liked it, not what was wrong with it! No game is perfect, but focusing only on the problems is not only misinformative, it's also unprofessional. It really bugs me too, because GT used to make great reviews. I even trusted their reviews more than IGN! Their reviews of Mario Galaxy, Twilight Princess, Metroid Prime 3 among others cover everything that a good review should, and are very enjoyable. But lately, starting with their review of Sonic Colors I think, have just been all focused on praising FPS and blockbuster games and bashing anything and everything on a NIntendo console.

So after 8 hours and 19 minutes, I've 100%ed the game with a total of 208 lives left! I think, anyways; I got the star coins on every single level and got 4 stars on my file name. And MAN was it a blast! I Now have to go back and replay every single level!

That's from a game for the GameCube called Baten Kaitos. It's a pretty cool RPG with some great visuals, although it has a slow start. Now THAT is what I'm talking about! I didn't see anything like this (or really much like any of those other pics) in any of the reviews I've seen for the game.

OMG IS MARIO 3D LAND EVER FUN1!!!1 I've only played 3 levels so far but I LOVE IT. It's seriously the mario game I've always wanted my whole life! As good as Mario 64 and the Galaxy games were, they just weren't mario to me. Mario means stomping goombas, getting fire flowers and super mushrooms, invincibility stars and linear platforming. THIS game has all that as well as the perfect controls and 3d platforming as the galaxy games! It's PERFECT. I LOVE IT SO MUCH. GTG And play some more.

Haha, don't even get me started on FPS games! I just don't see why games have to look like this or this Or this Or even this: When games can look like this Or this This Or this: Why do so many games have to strive for grey, dull realism? These are GAMES! We can do ANYTHING we want!

Yeah. The ironic thing? I though the LotR movies looked pretty bad too. They had their moments, sure, but only a handful of memorable, visual scenes. There's nothing wrong with a dark fantasy game. But everyone seems to be praising the graphics of Skyrim and I really don't see anything about them that makes them special. Edit: I'm not trying to rain on anyone's parade. I'm glad you like the game. I was actually very excited for it when I heard about the random dragons and the open world and all that, and the trailers looked great, but watching the reviews it just looked...slow and boring to me, with a poor choice of art style and unimpressive graphics. The music is wonderful, but other than that... Maybe if it goes down in price to like, $20-$30 I'll consider picking it up.

But the whole game is so grey and dark and bland, there's no real sense of art or majesty... It's not what I would expect a fantasy game to look like.

What about Mario 3d Land and Zelda Skyward Sword?