The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

[Overflow]

While I was playing through the game, I was talking to the Kikwis and wondering how they might connect to a later race in the zelda series. The first, obvious connection would be kokiri or maybe Deku shrubs. That made me realize: what might these Kikwi, who are just little sprout-like things now, look like when they bloom and grow completely? And the Kikwi Elder has an awfully familiar looking mustache...!

Spoiler:

I was pretty disappointed with how short the final battle was. For comparison, TP had a final battle with 4 stages: Possessed Zelda, Pig Ganon, Horseback chase and the sword duel, making for a very intense and cinematic finale. Here...while the final boss was a great battle, it could have been much more.

Flying was such a large part of the game, so why didn't they include it in the end? They built up how big of a deal Link's special bird was and how flying is so important, but they never really used it for anything important. The final battle should have had a stage where you chase the final boss through the sky on your bird. That would have been so exciting!

[Toadofsky]

yeah they really touted the soundtrack being orchestral which is good but then it turns out that half of the music is bad anyways

I finished this a few minutes ago and I've decided that it's more or less as good as twilight princess

I haven't really listened to much of the soundtrack to this new game. I've only heard the main theme they've been playing and it's good, but it just doesn't really scream OMG! like some of the other songs I've heard. I'd say that since Kondo's involvement was minimal in this game, that's probably the reason (though I'm once again, probably mistaken). Somebody was talking about how good some sand temple's music was, but the one I heard wasn't that impressive, not to me at least.

I listened to some of the songs performed at the Zelda concerts and they were really really good, other than the wailing fanboys in some of them.

[Bleck]

the main theme is actually an arrangement of zelda's lullaby backwards

[Toadofsky]

the main theme is actually an arrangement of zelda's lullaby backwards

I listened to where somebody put the actual song in reverse. Thought that was pretty clever, but I hope they don't keep using that as an excuse for not coming up with new good music. Of course, I don't expect them to knock it out of the park every time...

[RDX]

http://www.ausgamers.com/games/the-legend-of-zelda-skyward-sword/review/

Reminds me a lot of the Gamespot review, in that he doesn't understand how the aiming mechanic works.

It's really a shame that the Wii's hardware is so weak. I kind of wish they toned down the graphics a little bit so that things didn't look so bad and jaggy. Oh well.

[Abadoss]

It finally came! I now own Skyward Sword! SPOILER!: Where the hell is my bird?!

[ocre]

I recommend this article for anyone who has cleared the game already.

It offers an insight into the story that you may not have realized. Really cool stuff.

And try not to vomit while reading this drivel. Shame on you for hosting this garbage, CNN.

[Dyne]

I bought Skyward Sword yesterday, and played for 9 and a half hours. I have had nothing but fun with this game. There are some things that I have trouble with like swinging from vine to vine, such as in that area inside of Skyview Temple, but otherwise, I'm enjoying the game, I love the flight mechanics, and it's just been a blast.

By the way, what'd everyone think of the soundtrack that came with the game?

[ocre]

Simple thing to do for vine-swinging is to 'stop' Link's initial momentum by pressing B then you can use the control stick on the nunchuck to adjust the direction Link will jump off from (you just have to line up the vines.) After that, you swing Link to the appropriate speed (by shaking the controller) and then jump off. Easy!

[Lemonectric]

Apparently the game was directed by Hidemaro Fujibayashi, the same guy who directed the Oracles and The Minish Cap. Funny, because I was just thinking how Lanayru Desert as a whole was chock-full of Oracle/Minish-esque ideas: Concentrated time travel puzzles (which also felt kind of seasonal at times), mine carts, pirate ships sailing through deserts, an item inspired by the gust jar... I don't know exactly how much directors contribute, but anyway. I thought it was cool. Those things were some of my favorite aspects of the game.

[Nonamer]

Apparently the game was directed by Hidemaro Fujibayashi, the same guy who directed the Oracles and The Minish Cap. Funny, because I was just thinking how Lanayru Desert as a whole was chock-full of Oracle/Minish-esque ideas: Concentrated time travel puzzles (which also felt kind of seasonal at times), mine carts, pirate ships sailing through deserts, an item inspired by the gust jar... I don't know exactly how much directors contribute, but anyway. I thought it was cool. Those things were some of my favorite aspects of the game.

I loved the Oracle of Ages/Seasons and Minish Cap. Those are my favorite Zelda titles. I can't wait to go home and play the hell out of this game.

[Calpis]

I'm loving just about everything about this game. At first I had problems with the motion controls, but after practice, it made more sense. I think the problem was I was trying to slash too fast and so it picked up the wrong motions. So, it's not perfect but I think it'll be awhile before the tech for motion control can perfectly make the correct decision between what you wanted to do versus what, technically you really did. Overall though, I can't imagine playing this kind of game with traditional controls. I think it adds a lot to the experience. In addition, the dash ability is awesome. It's gonna be hard to go back to previous Zeldas and not be able to use it.

The graphics are great, I'm loving the storyline, and I think the music is awesome. I don't understand what some people are saying about the graphics looking bad. some of the more organic areas could have used a few more polygons but it doesn't ruin it for me. However, I will say that I thought I was really going to like the painting DOF effect, but it just comes off as splotchy after awhile. Not a game breaker, but worth mentioning.

[RDX]

I'm loving just about everything about this game. At first I had problems with the motion controls, but after practice, it made more sense. I think the problem was I was trying to slash too fast and so it picked up the wrong motions. So, it's not perfect but I think it'll be awhile before the tech for motion control can perfectly make the correct decision between what you wanted to do versus what, technically you really did. Overall though, I can't imagine playing this kind of game with traditional controls. I think it adds a lot to the experience. In addition, the dash ability is awesome. It's gonna be hard to go back to previous Zeldas and not be able to use it.

The graphics are great, I'm loving the storyline, and I think the music is awesome. I don't understand what some people are saying about the graphics looking bad. some of the more organic areas could have used a few more polygons but it doesn't ruin it for me. However, I will say that I thought I was really going to like the painting DOF effect, but it just comes off as splotchy after awhile. Not a game breaker, but worth mentioning.

I'm playing on a 60" tv so the jaggies look really bad and pronounced. When I turned Link to face the camera the other day while playing, I couldn't even see his eyes because everything was so pixelated.

I got to the first temple, I've clocked about 6 hours so far and I'm honestly kind of bored, I'm not a fan of the area I'm in right now and the thing you do before the temple. Combat, like someone said, is really hard to pick up because you have to be very deliberate with your movements otherwise it'll just register as a diagonal slash. Considering how fast the regular enemies block, I'm pretty worried about what the first boss is going to be like.

I love the background effect, especially when you're sitting down and looking at large monuments in the distance. Sometimes it works really well, other times it doesn't with more complicated geometry.

I really do like all the small little homages to the handheld and 2d Zeldas so far though. In fact, the thing I like the most about the game is all the small things, like characters noticing when you do things out of order and taking into account for that in their dialogue. Like, right after you get the slingshot, you're supposed to shoot down the vine from the tree. But I already rolled into the tree before I picked up the slingshot, so he commented on how that makes things easier. Stuff like that

[Calpis]

I'm playing on a 60" tv so the jaggies look really bad and pronounced.

Well that's a resolution thing then. I know "graphics" is a broad term, but I thought you were saying that the painting/cartoon aesthetic was bad. I'm playing on a 42" and if I play closer to the TV, the jaggies are pretty visible, but for me after awhile I don't notice them.

The thing with this HD generation is that a lot of people (not saying you, of course) don't understand that resolution isn't the only thing related to graphics. I've got a PS3 and have had a harder time playing some of those games because of the fact that they're in HD. I got really frustrated playing Castlevania: LOS because in a lot of places, they zoomed out the camera way too far. Maybe I'm alone in this, but there were a lot of times I couldn't tell what the hell was going on because my character was so small, and the dark color palette didn't make it any easier. So I guess I'm just saying that grass swaying and idle animations are lost on me, especially when the rest of the game is broken because the designers wanted to show off their work. I also can't get the hang of complicated button combinations to do combo moves, so a lot of the fighting in those Devil May Cry-type action games are reduced to button mashing for me, so that bores me a lot more than a little imperfect motion controls.</rant>

Sorry, none of this was personal, just my own ranting about this generation of games. To each his/her own, and all that.

[RDX]

I think it was Joystiq who said that somewhere beneath Skyward Sword is the best game of at least this generation. But there are so many moments that just immediately kill your buzz, some fetch quests are better than others. Being sent to find a key? Makes sense. Being sent to do some form of babysitting? When I'm trying to save Zelda? That's just dumb.

I agree with you about all that. I haven't played a lot of games this gen, but that's true, there should probably be a way to customize the resolution to your specific tv. Though that might be asking for too much. I love the graphical style in this game, but it definitely looks better in some places more than others. The first area looks great, but the second area looks kind of like a Gamecube game so far. What matters more to me is how hard this game is though, I mean, the first boss almost killed me. That's pretty awesome.

[Bleck]

Being sent to do some form of babysitting? When I'm trying to save Zelda? That's just dumb.

"EVEN THOUGH I CAN LITERALLY ONLY TRAVEL VIA FLIGHT, I DON'T FEEL LIKE FLYING UP THIS MOUNTAIN THAT WE LANDED AT THE BOTTOM OF AUTOMATICALLY FOR SOME REASON, SO NOW YOU HAVE TO ESCORT ME"

holy shit I was so mad

[Gollgagh]

there should probably be a way to customize the resolution to your specific tv.

there is

it's called 480p, 720p, and 1080p

I'm ripping someone else's post, but Nintendo went with 480p max resolution for the Wii not only because it was cheaper, but also because it was more reliable in 2006.

[Calpis]

So I've been playing the game on my Wii for about 5 days or so with little to no major problems, but I keep hearing people reporting that sword swinging is pretty inaccurate. I thought that they were just wildly swinging, but after playing it on Dolphin for a bit I started having some pretty bad problems like that. I realized it's because of the way my PC is set up, with the sensor bar right below the monitor, I usually wasn't pointing the remote at the sensor bar because that'd require my arms to be pretty high. I thought the sensor bar was just used for pointing the slingshot or looking around, but once I started occasionally pointing the Wii remote at the sensor bar, my sword swinging problems went away.

tl:dr: Maybe those that are getting sword swinging problems aren't using the sensor bar enough? (i.e. playing at a different angle than their tv)

[Nekofrog]

there is

it's called 480p, 720p, and 1080p

I'm ripping someone else's post, but Nintendo went with 480p max resolution for the Wii not only because it was cheaper, but also because it was more reliable in 2006.

And they fail at forward thinking.

These shots were taken with a camera. Here's what Zelda looks like on my TV when played on a Wii:

And here's what Zelda looks like emulated on Dolphin, the only real difference being the increased resolution:

Nintendo sure done fucked up.

[Bleck]

yeah nintendo those dumbdumbs why didn't they just be like sony and make an expensive system that nobody could afford to make games for

[Nekofrog]

yeah nintendo those dumbdumbs why didn't they just be like sony and make an expensive system that nobody could afford to make games for

I don't know, Microsoft seems to be doing pretty well for themselves in the console front. Not to mention that they had a chance with the WiiU to upscale and chose not to.

[RDX]

I just wish the WiiU upscaled old Wii games. The fact that I'm going to have to eventually emulate Skyward Sword somewhere down the line when I get a computer powerful enough for it in order to play it in its full glory is kind of sad. It'll be nifty, and I'll probably enjoy it, but it's still depressing that I can't even see Link's eyes.

I blame my massive tv, but at the same time I blame Nintendo for making such a garbage console. Sure, the underpowered console strategy usually works well in gaining the most net profit (Looking at the PS2), but it still sucks for the consumer.

[Overflow]

Well, yeah the lower resolution is a bummer, but they have worked around it. Metroid Other M (Barring your personal opinions on the game) looked GREAT for a 480P game. In fact, it LOOKED like a 720P game, but that's because of antialiasing and other visual trickery. If you were to upscale it, it would look awful, because all the tricks are visible now.

I think that they chose not to allow the WiiU to upscale (as much as I wish they did) because all the little visual tricks and shortcuts they took would shine through.

[zircon]

I blame my massive tv, but at the same time I blame Nintendo for making such a garbage console. Sure, the underpowered console strategy usually works well in gaining the most net profit (Looking at the PS2), but it still sucks for the consumer.

Most companies want to make the most net profit. All the people who weren't even gamers before the Wii probably aren't complaining that it's a garbage console. Say what you want; their strategy worked really well.

[RDX]

I tend to believe that most of the Wiis that were sold are sitting in the corner of someone's house collecting dust. There's no way to tell if this is true or not, I'm just generalizing, but I don't think I've ever met anyone who plays their Wii more than a couple times a year.

I agree that it was wise for Nintendo, but as a fan it makes me sad.

Overflow - Then why does it look so good on PC? I'm hardly technologically literate, but it seems like it would look just fine to me.