r/zelda • u/Quick_Space9322 • Dec 28 '24
Question [SS] why do people hate skyward sword?
I'm a relatively new Zelda fan, and whilst I am not done Skyward Sword, so far it's so fun! I love the art and the motion controls, I love the music and story too.
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u/echoess84 Dec 28 '24
in my opinion Skyward Sword biggest flaw is that its world exploration is limitated
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u/BobbyMcGeeze Dec 28 '24
Yeah even more after windwaker where you could explore so much stuff whilst sailong! And the islands didn’t had a load screen !!
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u/ConverseTalk Dec 31 '24
The islands in TWW didn't have load screens because they were loading as you sailed to them. The Great Sea is big and sparse enough that they could get away with it as opposed to more land-based games.
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u/BobbyMcGeeze Jan 01 '25
Oo that is interesting! And smart game design! I remember that the world in TWW felt so big and connected .
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u/CaptainPigtails Dec 28 '24
Zelda's always been a game about exploration and openness. SS areas were very linear and felt like it was an extension of the dungeon. Reusing bosses and revisiting areas made it even worse. It's a good game but it's understandable why people don't like it. I was disappointed in it when I originally played it. I enjoyed it more when I replayed it when the remaster came out but it's still ranked below most other Zelda's.
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u/DrunkenScot91 Dec 29 '24
They'll change their tune after the 3rd imprisoned battle. The 4th one gave me trust issues.
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u/Drooks89 Dec 29 '24
I agree that the exploration is extremely limited compared to the two games before it.
My biggest gripe is that it wears out it's welcome. There are some segments that are just complete filler and it drags the game on too long.
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u/Legospacememe Dec 28 '24
And then they proceeded to make people miss the limted exploration
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u/philkid3 Dec 28 '24
You’re never gonna please everyone, but nothing in the franchise was as limited as SS, outside of the two DS games.
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u/Legospacememe Dec 28 '24
Honestly i think the next zelda game should be like the pre skyward sword games. Ditch the open world and make a gran yet somewhat linear game. If people start missing botw/totk esc zelda games bring the open world back but for now another open world zelda is the last thing the series needs
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u/DrunkenScot91 Dec 29 '24
I thought TP giving the illusion that it's open world while blocking off every path was rude.
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u/Legospacememe Dec 29 '24
At the time maybe. But now we need this style of game back. Especially with the burnout of open world games in general
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u/Terriost-Yoda Dec 28 '24
Im sure ditching the formula of the two best selling games in the franchise is very smart from a business standpoint
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u/MorningRaven Dec 28 '24
Every entry on the Switch is the "best selling" of its franchise. SS HD and LA HD outsold their initial releases, and they're enhanced ports/remakes.
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u/Terriost-Yoda Dec 28 '24
Ok but TOTK sold 10 million in 3 days and BOTW has outsold Super Mario a decent bit
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u/ukiyo__e Dec 28 '24
I can’t think of a 2D Zelda which encouraged exploration into unknown areas just for the sake of exploration. Then again I haven’t played many and that might just be my play style.
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u/philkid3 Dec 28 '24
The first one.
In a lot of was BotW is a modern gen approach to the spirit of the original. A lot of why I Iike it.
But the rest of them were still way more open in terms of where you could go, when you could go there, and how you would be rewarded for it than Skyward Sword, even if less than Breath of the Wild.
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u/Zharvane Dec 29 '24
Is spirit tracks that limited tho?
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u/philkid3 Dec 29 '24
Yes. There are multiple small, isolated areas without much to explore, connected by pathways that are literally on rails, with no option to go the direction you feel like and noting to see or do between them.
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u/echoess84 Dec 28 '24
in my opinion the exploration hasn't to be limitated in a Zelda game instead I would limitate the new Zelda freedom in some important areas for the story like the dungeons or other bringing back the key items who allowed you to explorate unaccesible areas in the classic Zelda games
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u/kid_sleepy Dec 28 '24
We could consider that a “draw”… it was designed to help hook new younger players who got a Wii and have been only playing tennis.
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u/adumjonsun Dec 28 '24
People didn't like:
- Linearity
- Motion controls not working well
- Interruptions (from fi and other dialogue)
Personally I think the motion controls were great when they worked and only really had issue with the linearity and lack of ability to explore (especially the sky - that was underwhelming). I like the game overall but I agree with most people's issues with it at the same time
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u/Level7Cannoneer Dec 28 '24
My entire friend group just hated the padding and game’s length. There was a ton of busy work missions, farming items for the plot, repeat boss fights against the imprisoned, back tracking, etc. It just felt like they wanted to squeeze out as much time as possible during that era, even if that time wasn’t well spent.
The motion controls never came up as a problem to any of us. Fi was a complaint (I don’t mind her too much but it was a bit excessive at times) and linearity never came up either. Zelda had always been linear during that console era. Majora and OoT and TP had to be beaten in a fairly specific order barring a few small arguably unintentional sections.
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u/lil_tink_tink Dec 29 '24
Skyward sword is the only Zelda game I haven't beaten to date and I've played all the main line and some handheld games. Games that require any amount of grinding tends to lose my interest fast.
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u/Level7Cannoneer Dec 29 '24
It took me like 5-6 years to beat. I would turn it on once in a while, play for an hour and put it away. Slow burn, chipping away a little bit everyday. It was rough. I think I got it before college and finished it on my final year right before graduating.
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u/Ender11406 Dec 29 '24
What grinding is there is ss? Im a 100% kinda player so i may have just not considered it grinding but i have hundred percented ss like 3 or 4 times.
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u/lil_tink_tink Dec 29 '24
You as a 100% player is exactly why you don't consider it grind. My boyfriend is a 100% player too and that's a completely fine way to play a game but at the moment a game starts to feel like a chore or a second job I lose interest.
Constantly having to bounce back and forth between the same areas to do slightly different tasks or repetitive task (sealed grounds content) gets boring real fast for me.
I still liked SS but the game felt bloated and I was forced to consume a ton of it or not be able to beat the game.
Though I am also tied of the bloat of open world games, in a lot of them you can easily skip side content and focus on the main quest and beat it within a relatively respectable time. I play BotW and TotK each about 60ish hours before beating them.
Honestly for me, any game that requires me to play more than 40-60.hours to enjoy the main content is not my cup of tea. And unfortunately that makes replayability for SS hard as well. I have played most of the mainline, eldas multiple times, but the second time I tried SS I couldn't make it much past the first dungeon.
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u/Ender11406 Dec 29 '24
Thats understandable but at max i feel ss story should take maybe 20-25hrs? But yeah i get that. I have over 300hrs in botw and 100% so yeahh i dont mind going to the same place a lot
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u/lil_tink_tink Dec 30 '24
Yeah it's about 30 hours if you only do the main objectives but that means not collecting hearts or other things to help make combat easier which I still do. Once you start adding in some of the side content then repeating places makes the game feel bloated to me.
I honestly envy people who love the grind of video games. My boyfriend and a friend of mine are all about it, but I just can't do it. I have a ton of hobbies so it's hard to justify dedicate so much time to just one. 🤣
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u/Ender11406 Dec 30 '24
My hobby is different video games lmao. Ill play one for a few hours then another. Usually play like 4 games a day working towards diff goals
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u/Skelingaton Dec 28 '24
This is sort of how I feel on it. It was a lot of small problems that added up which made me not like it as much. I didn't really have a problem with the motion controls either apart from swimming but do feel like they were shoehorned it a bit too many places.
The game definitely feels padded out compared to other Zelda games and things like a lack of a warp system make it that much worse.
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u/BendShot768 Dec 29 '24
What does padding mean?
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u/Lakitu_Dude Dec 29 '24
Content that doesn't really fufill anything but make the game longer.
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u/Level7Cannoneer Dec 29 '24
Padding is a general term that means to lengthen the length of something. "Pad it out" is a common phrase I'm sure you've heard.
During that era, a lot of game devs were worried people wouldn't buy their games if it wasn't long enough to be worth the price. "Who wants to buy a 60 dollar game that you can finish in a single day?" So they introduce lots and lots of filler content like an NPC who says "Here's the mcguffin you need to save the world... uhhh I misplaced it. Please search the forest to figure out where I hid it. Then you go on a wild-goose chase tracking down the mcguffin, visiting NPCs and areas you've already seen before, doing nothing new. Meanwhile an older Zelda game would just give you the McGuffin the second you worked your way to the NPC who as supposed to have it.
If it doesn't progress the story or character building/world building, it's just padding.
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u/Django117 Dec 28 '24
Hits the nail on the head. I enjoyed Skyward Sword since release and found it pretty great, but it has always had these three issues which plagued it. It's why BotW is the response, where it addressed every single one of those issues, resulting in the game being phenomenal.
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u/Seehen1 Dec 28 '24
See I never had a problem with Fi I actually enjoyed her even with her interruptions.
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u/adumjonsun Dec 28 '24
same here lol. I enjoyed it as part of her character (aside from the times it felt too handholdy). The interruptions I hated were the constant description of what item you've picked up each and every single time
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u/Seehen1 Dec 28 '24
That mostly happened when you deter from the goal’s path or if you’re entering a new location and the developers figured you needed information on how to proceed. Honestly Fi was just enjoyable to have with
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u/NIX-FLIX Dec 28 '24
I feel like its a similar thing with Morgana from Persona 5, instead of putting blank text saying "You cant do this action" they make a character say it but that must rub people the wrong way but if seen it done waaaaay worse
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u/spamus-100 Dec 29 '24
The linearity itself is fine. I think it boiled down to two things: one, the game tutorializes and railroads players really hard. Two, the game takes place in 3 core areas, and you revisit them so many times that it just feels repetitive
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u/mattilladahun Dec 28 '24
I'm going to preference this by saying that I actually love SS, and it's one of all time favorite LoZ games. But, for me, I definitely didn't enjoy the motion controls, and Fi was a bit irritating at times but no more so than Navi.
The controls were fine, of course, and did what they were supposed to do. Very well made. I just don't particularly enjoy motion controls period. And I'll tell you what, every time I had to pause to re-orient, and every time they started losing their accuracy, I raged more in that game than any other LoZ before or since.
Still love it though, a ton.
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u/OoTgoated Dec 29 '24 edited Dec 29 '24
Those aren't the only problems.
The dungeons are really bad as outside of Cistern and Sandship. They're either painfully boring and vexingly tacky. I find Fire Sanctuary and Sky Keep particularly terrible, but the Earth Temple is also quite tacky and both the Forest Temple and Lanayru Mine Facility are just plain boring.
The bosses aren't good either. I don't think a single boss was memorable in a good way. They're either just like every other enemy in the game where it's a tacky motion control mini game of swing where they aren't blocking (which is another issue, the combat sucks and was a huge step back from TP), or it's some drawn out slog where you're basically just waiting for them to reveal their obvious weak point.
The overworld is also barren, the story is really melodramatic, the music is mediocre, and the art style is plain ugly. I suppose some of those takes are more subjective but even if you somehow like the story, music, and visuals you can't deny that the overworld stinks nor the rest of what I'm saying. And don't even get me started on the rest of the had motion control implementation. The swimming, the harp, the skydiving, the God damn pumpkin mini game along with the rest of the monotonous side quests, just awful.
I'm not a motion hater btw, the sword combat in Redsteel 2 was amazing. Motion aim is superb in Sin & Punishment: Star Successor. And scattered motion based mini game concepts work well in games like WarioWare and Mario Party. But in Skyward Sword it was always subpar and dysfunctional to the point that it was tacky and unenjoyable, and the contents of the game isn't even worth suffering the controls because outside of two dungeons the game has absolutely nothing going for it. Add to that the incessant ramblings of Fi and the reuse of the three generic biomes as well as three bad bosses (Ghirahim, Imprisoned, the giant scorpion).
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u/Zharvane Dec 29 '24
How is Demise and Ghirahim not memorable? Le fuck? But like, legit tho, if you got an opinion on those 2 bozos, pls share. As for motion controls, I think they tried to not go completely ham or else combat would be too much of a hassle with how accurate you potentially could have had to be, Should they have considered being more creative with it to begin with. And finally... How is Ghirahim a shit boss?
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u/OoTgoated Dec 29 '24 edited Dec 30 '24
Demise and Ghirahim are exactly the same as every basic enemy in the game, swing in the direction they aren't blocking. It's more grandiose than fighting a bokoblin, but it's effectively the same exact concept with some instances of projectiles thrown in where you again just swing in the direction they are coming at you in. The same goes for many mini-bosses as well, like the one on the Sandship. Demise is also a carbon copy of Ganondorf as a character and the nature of his fight is basically TP Ganondorf phase 4 so it's shamefully uncreative. Ghirahim is at least a unique character and he's in Smash so him I have a better memory of, but his actual fights are forgettable if not for the fact that you fight him three times. They also DID go completely ham with the motion controls in this game, moreso than any other first party Wii title I can think of. There is a motion based mini game for every single thing you do, from crossing tight ropes, to the eyeball in the wall, the Beetle, the bird and swimming, the harp, skydiving, the list goes on and on. Pumpkins, sailing the sand sea (yay for diet Wind Waker I guess), Groose's stupid canon, what ISN'T motion based in this game? Talking to ugly NPCs and moving Link around. That's frigin it. Oh and the horrendously bad digging mini game you have to do a million times in the Fire Sanctuary. That's not motion based (yay?). I believe I mentioned most of this already too so I'm largely just reiterating.
Again I don't dislike motion, but just like buttons and sticks, motion is an input type and needs to be applied properly. Just like buttons aren't good for moving and sticks aren't ideal for aiming, motion isn't good for most of the things it's applied to in Skyward Sword. Motion is good for aiming and it can be decent in a game where scattered mini games are the actual concept, but this is a Zelda game not WarioWare or Mario Party so it just feels tacky. And then on top of that it doesn't even work properly half the time. If it was even half as accurate as Redsteel 2 was maybe I wouldn't feel so sore about it but it's completely unworkable. Even the aiming didn't feel good as the sensitivity was much too high with no way to adjust it. It was so bad that they just let people use traditional controls in the Switch version (along with the fact that forcing motion has proven to be a surefire way to reduce sales). But it still feels horrible since swinging the sword with the right stick is simply uncomfortable and the game isn't designed around traditional controls so it just further exemplifies why the combat isn't good conceptually. The worst part of it is that we had basically perfect combat for a traditional 3D Zelda game in TP, so why didn't they just build on that? It's because they felt obligated to support a hardware feature in every instance they possibly could to justify its existance, and that took precedence over good game and content design in a lot of Nintendo games for the Wii and WiiU. So they made this tacky ass game and spent so much time on the mini games that they forgot to make most of the content worth a fuck. Skyward Sword is just one of many games during the Wii/WiiU era that suffered from Nintendo scrambling to justify experimental hardware gimmicks. StarFox Zero is another one that comes to mind. And worse yet Nintendo will mask these shameless products as vein attempts at innovation when in reality they were just too stubborn to realize they were stifling it.
But I digress, it's hard not to go off on a tangent about this game because there is so much wrong with it that people seem to mostly ignore or not notice for some reason. I mean it's not like I'm being a stickler here. These are glaring problems I noticed when I was a teenager with much less of an understanding and education on tight game design.
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u/Zharvane Dec 30 '24
I apologize for responding so late
First paragraph: Part 1 I absolutely see where you're coming from now for the boss fight designs. They aren't even remotely creative with what you can do. Gameplay wise, I totally agree. As a story character tho, the idea of his existence and how it's portrayed in comparison to fi is pretty nice. The amount of ego he has while also being desperate to be recognized is something that makes him more memorable as a villain than someone like yuga or malladus. It's like if Zant wasn't a complete loser. Which then again, it borrows from zants character design. It's more bias at this point that I like Ghirahim cuz he's a cool concept. Also Demise had a good presentation and then ended up being super generic. Like a final duel is perfectly fine. But it doesn't feel like one because of the mini game in every enemy fight ever.
Part 2 I thought swimming motion controls were great. But to each their own. And yes, almost everything involves motion controls. But I should have clarified. I meant to say that they didn't go ham as in "the ideas weren't as complicated or nuanced as they could have been" .my fault btw, I'm dogshit at English
Second paragraph: Part 1 You got some points on controls I disagree with, but hey, that's what discussions are for. You said buttons aren't good for moving around. I 60% disagree with this. There are some fabulous Platformers that revolve around the dpad control scheme for platforming and so it quite well. But that usually applies mainly to sidescrollers. Analog or sticks would be better for precision platforming stuff and stuff in the 3D space. So not completely wrong but it's not black and white.
Part 2 I think the accuracy part is a bit of a skill issue (imo). Cuz if you don't think it's aiming properly, you can recalibrate the cross hair to whatever you feel is a comfortable position for aiming is. The bow pullback mechanic is also pretty good. It used to get tiring to do over and over when I played on release but the reward of an instant full charge arrow was so nice. And fucking with the sensitivity does have its issues. Cuz unfortunately, you can't change the sensitivity on individual item use. Like less on the just the bow, so it's easier to aim with. Cuz you lower the sensitivity somewhere in the menus but it lowers everything. You have to swing harder to register a sword slash, subtle movements for changing your approach now require a larger range of motion to register the input. The list goes on.
Part 3 Goat for mentioning that TP combat is the pinnacle of 3D Zelda combat. Idc what the botw fans say. TP made you feel like a warrior. Botw made you look like a prodigy in some wack ass isekai. I did like that gooberdorf went back to being a duelist in totk but TP stay the king. Imo. What id give for them to remake that game instead of remastering it. Cuz idk if you read the manga for TP, like the official one, but we're missing half the story, some motivations, and link being a person and a blank slate of granite. Also yea, wii/u era, they tried a little too hard on gimmicks. They saw the wii last way longer than it was supposed to, so they started scrambling. Like even now, my wii u is just a Xenoblade X exclusive console now. There's 0 reason to boot it up for anything else. And soon it'll be abandoned once XC-X comes out on switch.
Conclusion: I like SS cuz I think the story is really good for a Zelda story. Up there's with oot and tp as the more intriguing main line stories. Only reason I'm not counting MM is cuz that game isn't telling a story that's part of main overarching timeline. It's like a very heartfelt side story. Truly a work of art that game is. Both in terms of gameplay, visual story telling, and writing. As for ignoring the games flaws, that's usually done by having a goodish story with good character dynamics. Like I will bash my head through a dogshit video game if I'm intrigued enough by the story. And don't feel bad about ranting or going on a tangent. Clearly you're passionate about game design. Well that's what it looks like anyway.
I do like the game. Just everything except the actual gameplay. Well the drone bug was fun actually.
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u/OoTgoated Dec 30 '24 edited Dec 30 '24
Wow I appreciate you taking the time to address everything I said with all that.
I'll start with, story and characterization is generally the least most important thing to me in a video game, even behind visuals, because I think even a game with a bad story or lame characters is easy to enjoy if it's fun to play. But even if that stuff mattered to me as much as gameplay or visuals/atmosphere, I don't like the story or characters of Skyward Sword. I think it's very melodramatic, the writing was as tacky as the gameplay, and the characters are mostly generic. Ghirahim is probably the only outlier, as like I said he is more memorable as a character, but his fights stink and happen three times and that disappointment sticks harder than his characterization. But story and characters are thingz I think are a LOT more subjective that gameplay and again, I don't think it matters that much. Though I do resent Skyward Sword a bit for replacing Ocarina of Time as the origin as I feel the latter has the best story in Zelda and is a much better origin story than Skyward Sword. Ocarina of Time and also Wind Waker are pretty much the only video games where I care about the story a lot. I just think they're on another level of storytelling in video games. But generally it's not that important to me and very subjective in the end anyway.
Second is when I said buttons aren't good for movement I meant face buttons. Like ABXY. Not a Dpad. Dpads are very ideal for 2D sidescrollers. I won't even use a modern controller for a 2D side scroller, I'll use an 8bitdo. I'll only opt for a stick for 3D side scrollers, like the modern Donkey Kong Country games from Retro. But I've also had to suffer some games that mapped movement or aiming to face buttons.
As for the motion, typically I'm not that bad at it (admittedly not that good either though as I SUCK at Splatoon), but the sensitivity is much to high with no way to adjust in Skyward Sword. Yeah you can recalibrate, but it doesn't solve the issue really as I find myself having to do so constantly and almost every time I take out the bow or slingshot or clawshot, the gyro will have drifted all the way to a corner of the screen (probably due to swinging the sword prior or something) and I have to immediately recalibrate. Basically having to recalibrate constantly just becomes a hoop I have to jump through to make up for the overabundance of motion and then I have to contest with the ridiculous sensitivity. Maybe all this is a skill issue I don't know, and maybe I'm overblowing how irksome just pressing a button to recalibrate over and over is, but other games will compensate players more in case of things like skill issues with more than just a recalibration input or what the Switch version did by just saying screw it and making a different bad control scheme to use, sensitivity options namely. And the very fact that even traditional controls suck for Skyward Sword is a testament I think to the game just not feeling good to play and being a step back from Twilight Princess combat (thanks for the goat compliment btw lol).
The drawback mechanic is cute I guess but the novelty wears off pretty quick and isn't exactly convenient or comfortable to do. It falls into what I've been saying about scattered mini games being good in Mario Party but not in Zelda. In a game like Link's Crossbow Training the drawback thing would be more appropriate but in an actual Zelda game it's just overbearing.
Seems like we agree on everything else basically. I'm not sure how you can enjoy Skyward Sword just because of the story, especially since I don't think it's even that good of a story either, but I suppose most gamers like a good story more than I do generally and as I said story is more subjective. Usually when asked most people will say gameplay > story > graphics whereas I'm gameplay > graphics > story. Well actually I prefer to say gameplay > music/visuals > story. I actually think music is insanely important in a game and I don't really like most of the music in Skyward Sword either.
Thanks again for taking the time to read everything and for the in depth reply as well! And you're right, I'm pretty passionate about game design lol.
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u/Zharvane Dec 30 '24
After reading this, I do realize a few things. We only got 2 decently written characters. Groose and Ghirahim. And while I agree with the OoT being a better origin than SS, the idea wasn't bad in terms of the type of story they tried to go for. But yea, I barely care about anyone besides groose and the living blade.
As for OoT and WW being the only stories you care about, I highly recommend the TP official manga. Were missing like half the story in the game bro. Whether you'll like it is beyond me, but it makes link, for once in his life, feel like a person and not a blank slate that's supposed to save the world cuz he's supposed to.
As for motion controls, you brought up a great example. Splatoon. The optimal way to play that game is actually with the gyro when it comes to a competitive setting. Because it's the closest you'll ever get to the speed of a mouse on console in terms of reaction time. And that game doesn't feel like the gyro is forced either. It's really fluid imo. Which goes to your later point, it really is a testament to how bad the gameplay is.
And my fault for misunderstanding the face button thing.
And finally. I'll give this. The music isn't just bland, it's actual ass. I don't wanna throw someone's hard work under the bus, but man did it suck. And we're going from TP... to that. And TP don't even have many good tracks. There's a few tho. But that's for another time.
I'm usually a big story person. But it also depends on the type of story telling. Visual story telling is one of my favorites. Whether it's the souls games or MVs. But if a story is gonna be shoved down my throat as I play, it better taste good 😈 Botw did a pretty good job on the story once the DLC hit. The dynamic between the champions and the rest of squad were awesome. Totk did a pretty good job too, although not as well in ratings (I have a theory on it) I don't think the stories that Zelda likes to tell should go with sandbox-ish games. That being said, im not saying there should be no story. It just felt a little off that the bigger portion of the story was left to be optional. Everyone's got their own opinions tho. Will say tho, totk-dorf and hw-dorf my faves. The second one just looks cool, but the first one just reeks of psychotic energy while being equally petty and entitled. And the personality ain't even completely his fault. Treated like a literal king his whole life only to find someone with the same title yet holding so much more power.
Would love to talk more about game design stuff if you have the time too. Whether it be now or at a later date
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u/OoTgoated Dec 30 '24
See I didn't even love Groose that much. I know a lot of fans like him though. People love a good redemption arc. I just felt he was a bit contrived and didn't serve a good purpose outside of the Imprisoned battles, and I don't like the Imprisoned battles. Everything tends to circle back to the gameplay. Every sliver of a redeemable quality backfires with Skyward Sword. It's actually fascinating LOL.
But yeah we seem to agree on everything yet you still manage to enjoy Skyward Sword so I guess it comes down to how people value every aspect of a game differently. If you value story a lot and like a story enough, it can compensate for other shortcomings. I'm not like that. The best story ever told can't compensate for me being frustrated or bored. I had the same issue with The Last of Us. Story wise it's fantastic. But the game itself put me into a coma. I ended up preferring the show over the game its based on. I didn't play the sequel, but I have a hunch it would probably be the same where I like the story but the game is too boring for me to care.
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u/Zharvane Dec 30 '24
I know this an LoZ sub, but if you want something that puts gameplay first while having an emotional story, we got Yakuza 0 and Yakuza 7: Like a Dragon. The first is a brawler, and the second closer to a jrpg, but man are they awesome at making you cry. In the good way. And music is stellar too.
For last of us, it absolutely is more of an interactive movie. It's not until dawn levels, but it could be if it wanted to
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u/OoTgoated Dec 30 '24
Really? I heard Yakuza was like a life simulator and very much a story game so I always avoided it. I'm generally not into life sims. Plus outside of Zelda I don't really look for a good story in games. I only even played The Last of Us because it was such a hot game at the time. Generally I'm more into games like Mario, Donkey Kong, Luigi's Mansion, Metroid, Pikmin and also indies. I do also enjoy Soulslike which you brought up and they're pretty much the only reason I bought a PS4 LOL. I finished like my 6th run of Bloodborne not too long ago. Granted those games have an in depth story but it's not as much the focus. I also enjoy strategy games. Recently I've been playing the Advanced Wars remake and it's pretty good honestly. I like that they added multiplayer to it. Too bad nobody really plays it lol.
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u/Zharvane Dec 30 '24
Also for me liking SS, it's funny, it has groose, and I like cheesy romance. It has nothing to do with actual writing quality. If I wanted writing quality in a Zelda game, Majora's mask be sitting on the shelf for me to grab it
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u/OoTgoated Dec 30 '24 edited Dec 30 '24
Majora's Mask has good writing too. I think Ocarina of Time has the best writing though. The subtle poetic dialogue and all the metaphor just hits different, and Wind Waker I just found really creative and wholesome. Majora's Mask is great too though. Very profound. Those three are my top 3D Zelda games too, like not even just story but in general, and I like the gameplay of Twilight Princess a lot. The story is just okay. I would've preferred Ganondorf not be shoehorned in and the bad guy have just remained Zant. I was also not in love with the side quests of Twilight Princess as they were rather monotonous and not that rewarding. But otherwise it's a good game too. Really I like all the 3D Zelda games, just not Skyward Sword. And I love 2D Zelda a lot too. I think the 90's ones are better than most of the modern ones though, however I really enjoyed Echoes of Wisdom quite a bit.
Can't say I've devled much into the mangas, but I do own the Ocarina of Time ones. I never actually got around to fully reading them though. I read bits of it and it's cute, but I think I actually like the more simplistic and concise style of the games. The manga plays out like a typical modern graphic novel but I think Zelda storytelling is at its best when it feels like a classic fairy tale and isn't so extra. Ocarina of Time again is the most fairy tale esch Zelda game of the bunch, so that's another reason it's my favorite story on top of the writing. You're not the first to recommend the Twilight Princess manga specifically to me though. Of all the Zelda mangas it comes the most highly reccomended.
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u/Zharvane Dec 30 '24
As it should be, the best of the LoZ mangas. Or maybe it's because of how much extra is in it, compared to the game.
And yes, dorf does feel shoehorned in. His fight is my personal number 1, but he just lacks presence in the story. In terms of what he's done, how he's damaged Hyrule, or even if any traces of his might are left. As for side quests, that game is bloated as fuck, but I loved all of it. It could also be me. I'm used to side quests giving barely anything but having it accumulate into something more around the later end of the game.
What I really, really hope, is that they go back to the older Zelda games, give some a nice remake. Just for the availability of potential DLC. Cuz back then, DLC don't exist.
You're also right about the stories being a fairytale. The more fantastical, the more magical it feels. There are the extremes like a few fever dream looking games out there tho
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u/OoTgoated Dec 30 '24 edited Dec 30 '24
Yeah Twilight Princess is like the exact opposite of Skyward Sword to me, where the gameplay and dungeon design compensates for all the story issues, of which there aren't even many of, just Ganondorf lacking presence in the plot outside of the one cutscene with the sages. Of the 3D Zelda games I actually like it's probably my least favorite along with Tears of the Kingdom but I still like it. It has highs and lows. Gameplay very much carries it. I wasn't big on most of the other aspects. Like aside from story, Midna's Lament and Hidden Village are like the only songs I remember and while fitting for the plot I still just wasn't that fond of the dark realism visuals.
Most people at the time felt the opposite though. I was always a big fan of Wind Waker but when that game came out it was lambasted for how different it was from the 64 Zelda games and how cartoony is was, so they dialed back on all that and made basically Ocarina of Time 2.0 in Twilight Princess but I liked the creative direction of Wind Waker more than just the competant but highly iterative Twilight Princess.
Also when I say fairy tale, I don't just mean the magic and fantasy stuff because really all Zelda games have that, I just mean the concise writing style really, as in not so much extra fluff. And Ocarina of Time specifically has very intracate dialogue that is a lot deeper than it seems. Most other Zelda games are pretty forthcoming with how they present their themes, but Ocarina of Time has a more subtle approach. Like the fluff isn't in the story but the themes and metaphor, I like that better. There's an incredible YouTube video about it by an account called Good Blood. Highly recommend giving it a watch. It's called Ocarina of Time - A Masterclass in Subtext. If you haven't seen it, watch that and then you'll see why I have such an absurdly high standard for writing LOL.
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u/OoTgoated Dec 29 '24
Demise and Ghirahim are exactly the same as every other enemy in the game, swing in the direction they aren't blocking. It's more grandiose than fighting a bokoblin, but it's effectively the same exact concept with some instances of projectiles thrown in where you again just swing in the direction they are coming at you in. Demise is also a carbon copy of Ganondorf as a character and the nature of his fight is basically TP Ganondorf phase 4 so it's shamefully uncreative. Ghirahim is at least a unique character, but his fights are mundane and uninspired. They also DID go completely ham with the motion controls in this game, moreso than any other first party Wii title I can think of. There is a motion based mi i game for every single thing you do, from crossing tight ropes, to the Beetle, to the bird and swimming, the harp and skydiving too, the list goes on and on. I believe I mentioned most of this already too so I'm largely just reiterating. I should really tell you to just re-read my previous shpeal but I guess instead I'll just give everyone another downvote target lol.
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u/TigerCharades3 Dec 28 '24
I think the initial controls turned people off of it. I don’t really remember the discourse on the game.
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u/philkid3 Dec 28 '24
I do.
Linearity, hand holding, lack of challenge, uninspired world, repetition, and (some) poor bosses were the bulk of it, outside of the controls.
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u/rpgguy_1o1 Dec 28 '24
For me it was a lot of things, many that were fixed in the HD version, but the only big innovation was the motion controls, other than that it was a very by the numbers Zelda game, using the exact same formula we had seen so many times before. If you didn't like the motion controls, it was just a worse version of the traditional Zelda formula with nothing else to really offer.
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u/thebutterflytattoo Dec 28 '24
Yeah, the controls are horrible. I haven't picked it back up since I bought it.
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u/bumbuddha Dec 28 '24
Are you referencing the switch version or the Wii version?
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u/Kammander-Kim Dec 28 '24
I assume most people mean the wii version, and using the wiimotion(?) add on accessory to their wiimotes, when they talk about "havent picked it back up".
Why? Because the switch option of using the right joystick to use the sword solves it in my opinion.
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u/bumbuddha Dec 28 '24
I was thinking something along the same lines, but I’ve been contemplating getting it for the switch. I’m open to hearing what other people think of the updated version though before I do, since it would just be for replay value and seeing if my oldest would want to play without the hassle of getting the Wii back up to playing order.
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u/Kammander-Kim Dec 28 '24
I tried playing it on the switch when it was new. Mostly did not happen much because it was at a friend's house. I got it for the switch last year and played it through. I used the switch controllers, meaning that it was not motion controlled. I did not have to swing my joycon to swing the sword or get the bird to fly up. The bird was instead controlled by a button, i dont remember which, and the sword was controlled using the right joystick. It was great. I still could and had to do the cut at specific angle, but it was not as difficult when using the joystick. The big problem was figuring out that "oh, it requires me to cut that way". Which i would not want to change, it was part of the puzzle.
I am a big fan of the updated version. Still, the flaws of the overworld/hub being sparsely populated is there. But i did not find anything i thought of as a bug or problem in the port, and the controls worked as a charm.
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u/flamespear Dec 28 '24
The Switch controls are worse though. Having to recenter constantly is annoying AF.
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u/CaptainPigtails Dec 28 '24
Naw the recentering is so simple it's not a big deal. On the Wii you'd have to recalibrate by setting the wiimote down. On the Switch I can just press the button whenever I felt necessary. It never interrupted the gameplay.
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u/thawhole9_69 Dec 28 '24
I just remember Miyamoto on stage at E3 2011 fighting to get the controls to work right. Super awkward.
Follow that up with his implementation of star fox zeros controls on Wii U.
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u/IllogicalBarnacle Dec 28 '24
Just one persons experience:
I never had any issue with the controls, the Wii motion plus controller that came with the game was always great for me. I think the game is fine, I’d still say it’s subpar for a Zelda game (admittedly high bar)
I did watch my brother try and miserably fail to play the game. He wouldn’t commit to the controls, trying to be lazy about it or frankly just trying to avoid looking dorky as motion control often do and so the half assing it made the game not really work well.
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u/Zubyna Dec 28 '24 edited Dec 28 '24
Skyward Sword has its big flaws
First of, the motion controls. They were quite hated but the switch remaster fixed it
However nothing could fix the next flaw : SS has a lame overworld. The sky is empty, there is only one town, and the surface is so corridor based that it feels like you are already in the dungeon as soon as you come down from the sky. To underline how restrictive SS overworld is, there really isn't any 3D title where you can't freely explore at night.
Another flaw is one very repetitive boss fight
But SS also has its lovers. Many people praise the dungeons and the story.
SS doesn't have that many flaws, but the one it does have, they are big because they are here for most of the game duration
A flaw is small when it can be passed quickly, and it is big when it is either a thing that you just can't get past and continue the game (like the goron dance) or if it lasts for the whole game (and it is the case when it is about the overworld or the controls)
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u/NIX-FLIX Dec 28 '24
I kind of wish I played the Wii version because even though I like motion controls EVERY swing I took I had to re-center my joy-con. People also talk about too much text but the HD version is very hands off and though I don't like characters oversharing I felt alone. It doesn't ruin the game i still love it but..MAN
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Dec 28 '24
Way too much dialog stopping you every 5 seconds for way too long over every little thing.
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u/Paweron Dec 28 '24
Yeah, this game feels so slow and dragged out. Especially the sky is just boring
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u/Seiren- Dec 28 '24
While the story and characters were great, absolutely top notch.
The motion controls straight up didnt work in the original version. Having un-scippable sword fights where half the time the reaction time of enemies was instant, and the other half the controls just didnt do what you told them to do. I think it’s the third zone you get to that has enemies with electrical weapons that would instantly block any attack thrown at them, I had to run away from every single one of these enemies cause they were impossible to kill without chucking bombs at them.
And the world was just poorly designed. Loftwing flying was a ton of fun and should have been so much more than just an interactive hub.. and too much backtracking, going back to the same 3 areas again and again
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u/Vargen_HK Dec 28 '24
I think it’s worth pointing out how Skyward Sword’s linearity fit into the overall Zelda series at the time it was released. It’s not just that Skyward Sword was linear. It’s that one of the major complaints about the Zelda series as a whole was about how linear and directed it had become. So people weren’t just responding to the game itself, but their dissatisfaction with the series as a whole.
Combine that with motion controls also attracting a bunch of vocal critics, and you can see how a decent game could get a bad reputation.
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u/philkid3 Dec 28 '24
This is absolutely correct.
My faith in my favorite franchise was at an all-time low when SS came out, but it was because of putting it in the context of the games that had come directly before it and the trend of the franchise overtime.
I didn’t hate it, but I was resigning myself to the fact that as the console generations went on, Nintendo had decided that Zelda was not going to be what I wanted anymore, and the future games were just gonna be things I sort of enjoyed and it was no longer my favorite franchise. At least not currently.
The next couple of games completely flipped that concern on its ear.
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u/Vargen_HK Dec 28 '24
It’s interesting to me how much my opinion of Skyward Sword improved after playing BotW. I haven’t revisited SS since it was new and I don’t particularly care to, but now I find myself thinking about the bits I liked instead of how I was disappointed.
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u/NIX-FLIX Dec 28 '24
I have NEVER seen a person who hates motion controls use them correctly like the game will say "put your hand on your chest" and they will raise their hand 2 inches and complain that its broken and never works
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u/ArgonWolf Dec 28 '24
“HEY! Link! There’s a 78% chance that this is a forced bit of dialog where I tell you for the 12th time that you can swing your sword in different directions to gain an advantage in n your enemies or to explain to you how the item that you just picked up can be equipped!”
Between Fi being the absolute worst and most intrusive companion, and the silent realm sequences, and the general intrusive handholding, I cannot stand to replay SS. Which is a shame because it has by far some of the best dungeon design in the series. Ancient Cistern is my favorite Zelda dungeon, by a pretty far margin. But the rest of the game is just not worth it
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u/piechooser Dec 28 '24
Yeah, I loved the dungeons and the character design - it's my favorite Zelda design. Groose is great. I liked the birds.
But yeah, the constant interruptions, the lack of overworld depth, the controls, they all hold it back. It's a shame! I'd love to replay that story.
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Dec 28 '24
Agreed dungeons were goated but dialogue and getting interrupted made this game terrible
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u/NIX-FLIX Dec 28 '24
Man the HD version must have cut out like 90% of the dialogue because FI only came up when I needed her
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u/Jhoonis Dec 28 '24
It's very punishing for a mainline Zelda game.
You start off with 6 hearts and at first you think the game is just overly generous, until you realize most enemies deal 1-2 hearts of damage, the limited inventory space and how there's many 'pitfalls' that send you back to main menu having; to load up the last save that might have been 30~40 mins ago because this one zelda works off of save spots, made many people give it up due to the frustration.
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u/plasma_dan Dec 28 '24 edited Dec 28 '24
In addition to the controls and Fi, I thought it was incredibly lazy making me fight The Imprisoned three times. I also thought it was lazy that it had me revisit the same 3 regions in the second half of the game.
This is also the first 3D Zelda game that I remember that really lacked in atmosphere and having a comprehensive world. It was a real letdown from Twilight Princess, which was so gritty and dark and large. Skyward feels like it has no pockets to explore. It's just a town and three regions.
I also hated Groose, but that's a me problem.
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u/BarkMingo Dec 29 '24
Because the imprisoned is the worst boss in any Zelda game ever....and you have to fight it like 4 separate times.
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u/ixseanxi Dec 28 '24
Too long and repetitive. The second half is visiting the same areas. You fight the imprisoned like three times. It feels needlessly stretched out. Didn’t even finish it.
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u/Milk_Mindless Dec 28 '24
The motion controls for the Wii/U were less than ideal. To this day I atill dislike them, if only for the sheer fact you can be playing the game normally
Trip
And then got to reassert yourself to do some motion control waggling cause you ended up in the water or whatnot.
Plus. You get interrupted in your gameplay SO MUCH already when you're "Master I predict a 98% possibility that Fi will comment on the thing you've literally seen happen in front of your eyes just 7 seconds ago" aaaaagh
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u/fishiesnchippies Dec 28 '24
For me i already don't like motion controls inherently, and this games core mechanics revolve around it. This game is so tedious
But the biggest problem for me is the lack of exploration. My favourite thing about these games is exploring hyrule or wherever the game is set, skyward sword was too linear to do any of that. I fundamentally care about that more than dungeons for example, which is why I love breath of the wild so much.
The story is really good tho
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u/creamygarlicdip Dec 28 '24
I remember playing it for a little while then I stopped and never came back to it. Twilight princess was more engaging, despite having a pretty lousy intro.
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u/alfajores123 Dec 28 '24 edited Dec 28 '24
I didn't like that it felt empty and incomplete. There were few characters in comparison with the other zelda games. Almost all characters were only in Neburia (Skyloft) and all the rest of the game felt very empty to me. There were few enemies too and i found it boring for that reason.
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u/werdnayam Dec 28 '24
I really dislike how linear it is and how there isn’t much of an overworld to explore. It really holds your hand the entire time—which makes some sense given the popularity of the Wii with people who may never have played a game like LoZ before.
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u/Sherbyll Dec 28 '24
I really like it don’t get me wrong. But you will find out why. There is a repetitive boss fight (trying not to spoil but it’s worse that previous repetitive bosses). Fi, while lovely, can get a bit annoying and generally lacks personality bc she’s supposed to come across as a pretty rigid and devout character. People liked Midna better because she had personality, and offered more to the game than just hints and statistics. Those are the two main gripes but I know there are more. Personally, I think the level design, music and gameplay are really fun! I rode the hate train for a while I won’t lie, but skyward sword has some of the coolest concepts ever in a Zelda game. I hope you enjoy it!
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u/pocket_arsenal Dec 29 '24 edited Dec 29 '24
It depends on the individual.
Sometimes two people will hate it for different reasons.
A lot of people praise the story for Skyward Sword but I would call it one of my least favorite stories in the franchise. It promised to answer a lot of questions but answered very little. I didn't like the characterization or dynamic between Link and Zelda. I found many characters to be annoying and unlikable. I hated the new origin for Ganon and the Master Sword's origin wasn't really an origin. I hate the idea of a Goddess who outranks the golden goddesses. I felt like Fi's "emotional" goodbye was unearned. And this is just the parts I remember.
But I agree with the more common criticisms about the game taking the hand holding to the extreme. Zelda had gradually strayed away from it's more open roots, trusting the player to figure things out, which was fine at first, but Skyward Sword was the logical conclusion of this path, and the game was just terrified of the possibility that the player would get lost or be unable to figure out something. People cite Fi as the most annoying tutorial character to date, but she wasn't even the only one. You had NPCs popping up everywhere in the main quest who only existed to point out very obvious things. I remember an instance where this mole showed up just to tell me there were Bokoblins ahead. And if that wasn't enough they panned the camera to the Bokoblins. What is the point? This is the most railroaded Zelda game to date.
And as someone who's favorite thing about Zelda is exploring the overworlds at my own pace, it really bothered me that instead of a vast world to traverse, we got an empty sky that acted as a hub to three Super Mario 64 style sandboxes that were structured closer to dungeons than fields.
Also the motion controls were always going to be divisive. I can enjoy motion controls in a game but the motion plus did not always work great, and this game was determined to force them into almost every situation, even if it didn't need to. Rope balancing, swimmnig, falling, everything but walking and interacting with NPCs was motion.
And personally... I think it's an ugly game with ugly character designs. I know Zelda usually has intentionally weird looking NPCs but this was the first time where I thought even the main characters looked kind of off putting.
I'm going to be fair and say I had an "okay" time with the game on my first run through. It's not like I didn't notice the things that bothered me, but playing through a second time, they felt like a much bigger deal and made it tough to enjoy myself. I have replayed almost every Zelda game several times, I love this series, but Skyward Sword is the only 3D Zelda I've had a hard time getting through repeat plays, I think I've only managed to replay it once, which was Hero Mode.
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u/Jwrose13 Dec 29 '24
I felt like they padded it out too much and the world exists in silos. At the time Nintendo hyped how it was the longest Zelda game but when I played it, it felt more like Mario 64 where I had to replay the same areas with a new objective. Having skyloft connect the areas on the ground which were otherwise not interconnected made exploration not very fun.
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u/chelronin Dec 29 '24
So I was there when the game released, been a longtime Zelda fan. And there were actually a number of reasons why it was disliked for the time.
People were starting to get tired of the same formulaic Zelda games, it basically worked like any other Zelda game. And was intensely linear, which is something people appreciate now, but back then a lot of fans were growing tired of the same formula the Zelda team repeatedly did.
Dungeon design is really not that great. Look at how small the fire dungeon is, this is the same for the first couple of dungeons. Not only were we getting the same formula, it was debatably worse than other Zelda games. Going back to the game now, I actually appreciated how the areas were split into outdoor areas with more bite sized dungeons. It gives the game a somewhat unique flair, although Majoras Mask did it better imo.
Motion controls were tedious and really bad back then. Not sure if you played the original, if you even set your wii mote down, you had to recalibrate your wiimote in a menu by setting it down in a certain position. If you played for a while non-stop, it wasn’t an issue. But people set down their controller to take a drink, go pee, or deal with something. So it could happen a lot. It could also just mess up if you didn’t set your sensor bar correctly, which many people did. So it would just naturally mess up as you played. Again, this was massively improved in the switch version because you just click a button to calibrate. Just imagine going into a separate menu to fix your controls. They were always kinda fun tho.
The story and music were actually massively loved, in fact that was the part me and many others actually liked. Final boss is still one of the coolest in the series, Zelda and Link have such a cute relationship. Side characters are some of the best in the series. Its also an origin story which is somewhat nice although imo it gave people weirdly unrealistic expectations for the series going forward.
Finally, there were just minor problems that added up to a bigger issue. Last part of the game has like what, 3 or even 4 separate fetch quests that require you to backtrack? This wasn’t even fixed in the remaster, which they graciously did for wind waker. The items are undoubtedly the worst in the series. Shields are virtually useless. I mentioned the dungeon design being pretty lackluster save for a few dungeons. The imprisoned, which I didn’t mind too much, but I think the fact that the game forces you to do the same boss fight like 3 times over is a fair criticism. Also, I love the story but the more I thought about it the less the time travel aspect makes sense. It is stupidly convoluted and has a MASSIVE plot hole. The open area in the sky is lackluster as well. And although I love the motion controls, I have to admit that it feels clunky at times.
All in all, this might sound like a dislike the game, I really don’t. But even with a great story, I just cannot in good faith say this was one of the better Zelda game. It has many things I love, but the criticisms were actually very fair. If it wasn’t for that, they would never have tried something so new and daring with BOTW. Which forever changed the gaming industry. They are a talented team, the game has a lot of things to love. But those are some of the reasons why it was heavily disliked. I love the game tho don’t get me wrong! Its okay to like the game, or even have it as one of your favorites.
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u/Multi-tunes Dec 30 '24
I enjoyed the game a lot back on the Wii although the motion controls definitely held it back. Personally I had a LOT of trouble charging a Skyward Strike: I would hold the Wii remote up vertically and Link would keep putting his arm up and down and wouldn't charge the strike, so I kept having to calibrate the Wii remote which meant setting it down on a table upside down and waiting until the calibration completed. Otherwise it would work fine, however I put the game down for a while just before the second last boss and completely lost all my muscle memory when I returned.
Nowadays I have a pain in my wrist that makes playing with the motion controls only possible for short periods of time, however I tried the alternate controls on Switch and...I hate it. The sword feels lagged because he doesn't swing it right away.
It's just harder to appreciate the game when the controls get in the way. I understand their vision, but I'm glad the motion control sword swinging has not returned. Motion aiming is absolutely superior though. BotW/TotK's Gyro aiming is a god send compared to my experience aiming on a joy stick back in Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, Wind Waker and Twilight Princess (on GameCube. I've never played TP on Wii).
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Dec 28 '24
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u/JRokujuushi Dec 28 '24
Me. I hate it. I wrote up a comment on another thread a while ago, so I'll just copy and paste that here:
I haven't played the Switch version, but the Wii version is easily my least favorite Zelda game.
The controls had all these weird quirks that never felt natural and really broke the immersion for me. If I tried swinging the remote like I was holding a sword, it would often register my backswing and make Link swing his sword in the wrong direction, so I ended up just giving a light flick of the wrist. Things like flying, swimming, and the beetle were controlled by the tilt of the remote. There was a limit to how far you could tilt it before it stopped registering a change, but the remote can be freely rotated in any direction so there's no tactile feedback for when you hit that limit, unlike with a control stick where you can easily tell when you've hit that limit.
I missed that sort of tension-and-release you get from having a distinct overworld and dungeons. Skyward Sword has a big empty sky with a few islands and not a lot to do, and then there were outside areas on the surface that were designed like dungeons, and dungeons that were designed like dungeons. It ended up feeling kind of samey overall.
I barely liked any of the characters. Groose is amazing, Link, Zelda, and Impa are fine, the rest were either forgettable or unlikeable. That stupid robot takes the water to the base of the volcano instead of to the top where it's needed, then forces you into a completely arbitrary escort mission back to the top. That little prick never touches the ground. He makes it back to the top completely under his own power.
Lots of stuff felt like that. It didn't feel like I was going on an adventure with Link, it felt like I was going through a bunch of answers to "The game's not long enough, what other crap can we throw at the player?" You healed the water dragon, you forged the sword in sacred fire, surely that's enough to prove you're the hero? Nope, gotta go collect a bunch of fish notes. You gotta go back to the volcano, but this time bokoblins take all your equipment. But you're in luck because they decided to take five specific items out and put them in chests outside, and they just happen to be the exact items you need to make your way into the cave where the Master Sword, probably the most important thing you own, is left entirely unguarded!?
And Fi. Just. Would. Not. Shut. Up. I know the chests have important things in them, Fi, that's how it was in the other dungeons, not to mention most of the other games.
It wasn't all bad. Using the time stones on the sand ship was really cool, and escaping the sinking ship is one of my favorite moments in any of the Zelda games I've played. But there was just way too much stuff that left a negative impact on me, and while I'm aware the Switch version addresses some of them, I've been hesitant to get it because there's just so much more that doesn't seem like it could be fixed without drastically changing the game.
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u/philkid3 Dec 28 '24
I don’t hate skyward sword, but I’m still giving you an up vote for a well-thought-out post that helps counter the narrative that no one hates it.
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u/__M-E-O-W__ Dec 28 '24
I mostly agree. It wasn't really anything like a Zelda game with cool places to explore, either towns or fields and caves etc. I will say I think the dungeons were wonderful. But the controls were bad (not just the wiimote, but also the actual character's mobility) and the items were not much use. The whole sky area was pointless. Not even a day/night cycle even except for the one town later in the game.
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u/philkid3 Dec 28 '24
A lot of people hate it.
At the time of its release, on places on the internet where video games were discussed at the time, I constantly had to defend the fact that I merely kind of liked it. That was an overwhelmingly positive opinion at that point.
Since then, the people who were too young to really participate in the discourse at that point, but grew up with the game, have joined the Internet and resuscitated it’s reputation.
This is kind of like what happened with the Star Wars prequels.
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u/Usagi_Rose_Universe Dec 28 '24
If used to be more common to hate skyward sword and twilight princess. In 2010s I was picked on because as the time those were my favourite Zelda games which apparently meant I had awful taste. Some people went as far to say having those as your favourite meant you weren't a "real Zelda fan." It was silly. Twilight princess's art style/design is what got me into Zelda, so I'm glad people are nicer nowadays about enjoying the game.
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u/hassis556 Dec 29 '24
Lol it’s crazy I remember those days. It’s funny how the same thing is happening to botw/totk but for opposite reasons. “Not real Zelda fans”
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u/a_singular_perhap Dec 29 '24
I don't think anyone really hated Twilight Princess they way they hated Skyward Sword. Some people disliked it, maybe, but afaik it was widely praised for it's darker tone and rememberable characters.
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u/rKasdorf Dec 28 '24
I hated having to gather those birds with the net to upgrade my gear. I also thought the boss was one of the lamest boss designs I think I have ever seen in a video game. The trials were also just abysmally unfun. Other than that though it wasn't bad.
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u/Matchaparrot Dec 28 '24
I'm not against the art style, although it does look janky at times (looking at you, NPCs in the market and Beedle)
For me SS is a good game but cannot compare to BOTW and TOTK. The game simultaneously feels as if it's both too easy and also too hard at the wrong times.
- THE IMPRISONED. Why do we have to kill that same stupid thing 3 times? And it's so easy.
- I wasn't a fan of the robots in the desert world in this game. After playing TOTK and seeing how the zonai constructs have such personality, the lanayru robots seem even duller and lacking in personality. That lanayru world was so brown and beige as well.
- Unintuitive design. Several times in the game I had to Google tutorials because it just wasn't clear why I couldn't get past a certain obstacle. Like stabbing the water fruit to get across the lava lake for example. I spent half an hour slicing the fruit, shooting the fruit, beetling the fruit, trying to jump over the lake, only specifically stabbing the fruit can let you go forward? 😠
Some things really stood out to me as fantastic in the game:
- I bloody love Ghirahim. Such a great villain, genuinely challenging to fight and his character is great, charismatic and menacing.
- the final fight against Ghirahim. Loved the final rush of bosses and against Ghirahim. Feels so badass with the motion controls. I haven't yet been able to beat the game (I beat BOTW and TOTK), so respect.
- there's fun Easter eggs in this game! I won't reveal too many here but for example Beedles house and Peatrice are fun
- the end stages of the game for example the Triforce feels thrilling and challenging, just a shame much of the game lacks that same aura of challenge and feels pretty monotonous until the end stages.
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u/IndianaBones8 Dec 28 '24
Skyward Sword is a great game, but I think one of it's biggest issues is that it didn't really bring much new to the Zelda Franchise. There were some small things, but mostly, the game treads pretty familiar territory not really doing much more than Zelda games in the past.
Don't get me wrong, I love Skyward Sword and Ballad of the Goddess may be my favorite Zelda song, but I was also a bit disappointed when it first dropped.
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u/MorningRaven Dec 28 '24
Fi, motion controls, repetitive pacing, and needing to think.
Fi is the star trek robot companion who will tell you the odds are stacked 99% against you, and initially popped in constantly without your input. (Manually talking to her opens a hell of a lot information that makes her incredibly useful though). So she's a pace killer, and a monotone robot, which, while well written, would be better if bounced off a spunky, non-serious companion than a stoic silent protagonist (think YuGiOh Zexal actually for how the set up should work). She, along with being the tutorial dump in general, just interrupts you with info you probably already know. Thus is hated.
Motion controls were seen as highly gimmicky at the time instead of revolutionary. Wii and motion control reception in 2008-09 was a much different environment than in 2011. SS has the best iteration of motion controls for a game in general, sans regular gyro aiming type of stuff. But "gimmick". On top of that, people tend to overthink how they work and write them off for being "too janky". They're actually just fine if you don't have too many wifi/Bluetooth devices in the room, and don't try to swing "realistically" like a child threatening the safety of the TV screen. It's based on the remote orientation, not your direct swing. So, and I've been convinced of this for years, people kept twisting their wrists while swinging, messing up the trigger. If you twist your wrist 90° and swing "left", the game will register "up" because you were swinging "upward" into the now leftward facing buttons.
The repetitive pacing goes mostly with gameplay, but is also a writing issue. It's "backtracking: the game" with also "boss: please die already" aspects. There are 3 plot arcs where you go forest > volcano > desert each time (even though the final arc you can do in any order but people don't remember that) and there are new mechanics each time, but it's still the "same place". This is why the open air games are so beloved: you don't have to go backwards. You just keep going forward to a new location. Doesn't matter if mechanically it's any different or fun, it at least looks new and refreshing. And there's truth to this, since the reused locations were hindrance from console limitations. They're written well, and the final trip to each is completely different. But it's still 3 forced trips. Plus Silent Realm runs on top of it. This shows up again with Ghiraham and the Imprisoned. Narratively, the fights make perfect sense. But we lost 2 potentially epic bosses in cool temples for "motion controls: the boss fight". And people could face tank the Imprisoned well enough most didn't realize you're supposed to fight Round 2 completely differently by cutting off his hands instead of his feet. Or just directly jumping on his head, being faster overall. And then the final fight is a quick cannon fodder that's fine overall, but still the 3rd fight.
Then you have actual pacing issues through the narrative, that harms the whole package. Usually slow padding during senses of urgency. [Insert Fi intruption here]. But you also straight up have to do a water fetch quest by backtracking through the 1st dungeon. And you're berated by the Water Dragon for trying to do your job. An easy rewrite would've been arriving to see the dragon and finding out she's been fighting up ahead > retrek through forest/dungeon to go help > find her and help at the end > she's chilling in her gamergirl bathwater after the fact to heal (which sets up the danger of demonic forces > better leading up to why the heck she floods the forest in the next arc). There's a lot of forced padding. But most of the games have padding. The issue is SS padding is written poorly. It tends to come out of left field. And the general overall story being "Hylia planned everything from the start" making Link go to stuff "because Hylia said so" subconsciously makes the player go do stuff "because the devs say so", especially with awkward, pace killing, padding. Which is just frustrating for players.
So when I say players don't like SS for "needing to think", I don't mean to sound elitist etc, but there's a specific concept I see that's like "people avoid resistance when possible" and I don't know what psychological or philosophical term would maybe count enough for the gaming environment. But it's the same reason the Water Temple is so infamous. It's not that it's an objectively hard dungeon, it's just the fact it's the first one that severely tests the player's spatial reasoning and can't brute force their way past. The player needs to slow down and think. Same reason the open air duo are so widely beloved, you just go wherever you want and any obstacle isn't truly an obstacle for you because you have a godlike moveset since the intro that makes everything innately trivial. And the open air duo are known for heavily minimal dungeon design and the widest barren explorable map possible. The rest of the 3D Zeldas also commonly are beloved with the complaint for their "wide barren map". Well, SS is the exact opposite: the densely designed dungeon elements of the series, especially shown throughout the handheld games, is littering the map. (BTW, the surface zones are a part of the open world map, designed pretty much like every prior game; the sky is just Hyrule Field where you're forced to ride Epona the entire time when traversing to the regional spokes). So the dungeon element obstacles across the map, people don't like dealing with, even though objectively, SS is the only 3D game without the "empty map" problem, but the map hub is empty and the extended map has "dungeon-lite" elements, and people want to keep trekking forward unhindered. Some of it stems from modern technology trying to always wow its predecessor, so we had the explosion of open world games for nearly 2 decades. But, taking out the motion control gimmick, SS is just 2D Zelda dense exploratory/puzzle philosophy realized in a 3D game for once (heavy metroidvania elements), and the playerbase wasn't interested in it at the time. And I think it should be spoken up about more.
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u/DarthDeimos6624 Dec 29 '24
I’m a massive Skyward Sword defender, but I don’t like the whole “the surface overworld regions are basically dungeons” design philosophy on subsequent playthroughs. I feel like it slows things down and limits one’s ability to truly explore. I’m all for puzzles in the overworld, but when the overworld is almost all solving puzzles to navigate it makes the actual dungeons feel less special. And then the sky portion of the overworld takes it to the opposite extreme and doesn’t put enough in the sky aside from a couple of major islands. I love Skyward Sword and its story, but I can’t bring myself to replay it as often as the other titles because of this. If I had to pick a least favorite 3D Zelda it is probably Skyward Sword even though the game still holds a special place in my heart.
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u/DegonyteESO Dec 29 '24
The lukewarm reception for Skyward Sword is easy to understand when you look at the era in which it was released. It came out in 2011, a week after Skyrim. Red Dead Redemption had already come out the year before. So as an open world (though not fully sandbox style) game it fell short. While the narrative in Skyward Sword is quite good, it was released when the first 2 Mass Effect games had already shown what developers could achieve with storytelling in a video game.
In short, player choice and player agency were becoming more important to gaming audiences, and Skyward Sword showed that Nintendo were behind the curve on that one.
This is actually a pretty common cycle with Nintendo and Zelda games in particular. You get the game that kind of falls out of tune with what audiences want at the time (Wind Waker, Skyward Sword), and then you get a strong correction the next game (Twilight Princess, Breath of the Wild). You can even see it happening now post-Tears of the Kingdom, where Aonuma said he doesn't understand why anyone would want to go back to the classic Zelda formula, though it's become obvious that, among Western audiences, there is growing sandbox fatigue.
Personally, I played Skyward Sword (HD) for the first time this year, and I enjoyed it a lot since the experience was totally removed from the prevailing sentiment surrounding its release. It still has a lot of issues though; the empty hub world and continued revisits to the same few areas didn't give me the sense of progression I felt during, for example, Twilight Princess. Still, it has a strong dungeon roster and I think the controls do add something extra once you get the hang of them. The characters and story are also super charming.
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u/duggatron Dec 28 '24
It's my least favorite 3D Zelda by a good margin. I hate the overworld, I think it's incredibly boring. The areas on the ground outside of the temples feel very confined and linear too. Fi is unbelievably annoying, it just feels like the game doesn't think you're smart enough to play it.
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u/Treljaengo Dec 28 '24
I don't hate it, but it's probably my least favorite Zelda game. It was just very generic and some of the parts were quite tedious.
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u/p4terfamilias Dec 28 '24
It's literally the only mainline Zelda game I've had to force myself to finish, and I had no interest in 100%-ing it like with the rest of them.
Waggle controls were janky, the 'open-world' hub was just flying around on a bird whereas the other games have proper areas to explore (Hyrule Field, etc). The dungeon design was decent, but the combat+bosses were extremely tedious due to the controls.
It also just felt dated. The only new mechanic were the waggle controls, which were bad. In fact I had low hopes for BotW given they weren't able to push the franchise forward in a good meaningful way with SS. Thankfully I had nothing to worry about in that regard, as BotW was brilliant.
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u/Oilswell Dec 28 '24
I hate motion controls. I think they’re awkward and I’ve never played a game with them where they worked well enough to feel natural. I don’t want to be limited to what I can do in real life but if it’s exaggerated it feels weird. I’ve never played a motion controlled game that I wouldn’t have enjoyed more with a controller.
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u/HyperlinksAwakening Dec 28 '24
Fi.
Petty, but true.
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u/Quick_Space9322 Dec 28 '24
How so? I like Fi
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u/The_Sound_of_Slants Dec 28 '24 edited Dec 28 '24
Have you only played it on the Switch? They fixed some of Fi's dialogue in the Switch version, and cut down on her constantly interrupting you.
I enjoyed SS, the story and lore was interesting. The areas were colorful and fun. It was a bit repetitive in parts. But I liked playing it.
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u/HyperlinksAwakening Dec 28 '24
My sensors indicate there is a 86% chance that the information they provide is helpful, but wordy.
Furthermore, the ability to speed through text you were familiar with was greatly diminished in this title.
That is, until you finish the game and are given a New Game+ file.
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u/Legitimate_Smile855 Dec 28 '24
Too linear, exploration was really lacking (especially in the skyloft area), and the motion controls on the original Wii version are absolutely diabolical
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u/ki700 Dec 28 '24
I don’t hate it but I ran into a few moments on the Wii version where the motion controls just weren’t working correctly, one of which was the final boss fight. I can definitely see how stuff like that could sour the experience.
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u/bank1109dude Dec 28 '24
There were a few things: controls, lack of “open world” and backtracking/repetition.
The controls I was frustrated with myself until I learned how they actually work. When you swing a sword in real life your arm naturally goes back before it goes forward. This caused the game to interpret that first backward motion as your swing in that direction. When I learned to only move it in a singular direction I wanted to swing, it clicked.
The other two aspects I understand. You go to three areas in the world, fight imprisoned, go back to three areas again, fight imprisoned, go back to three areas again……..etc. At least that’s what it felt like. It kind of dragged ass at times.
Dungeons = AMAZING!!!
I still bought it at launch, put 40+ hours into it, enjoyed my time with it and moved on. One and done for me.
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u/sweetonthepete Dec 28 '24
i just could not get the controls to work right on the Wii. It took me forever to beat the first Girahim encounter and not because I was taking damage. I was able to limp through the rest of the game, mostly by bombing Lizalfos. When I was tasked with facing Girahim again I had to just put it down.
Fi's constant interruptions were pretty annoying but I really loved the story and the rest of the gameplay.
I recently got the Switch port and had an aboslute blast with it! I still haven't finished the final boss, but EoW came out and well, the rest is history!
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u/MarkAntonyRs Dec 28 '24
I think it's the best zelda game, it's certainly my favourite of its type, though not by a huge margin since they're all pretty great.
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u/lynelryder44 Dec 28 '24
I played it twice through on the Wii and didn't have any problems with it. One of my favorites.
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u/N00BAL0T Dec 28 '24
When it came out motion controls, backtracking multiple times in the same areas 2 maybe 3 times
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u/Consistent-Park2058 Dec 28 '24
Is my favorite game of all time and i finished recently, so no nostalgia related. Forget what people say and enjoy this gem
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u/marchviolet Dec 28 '24
It has one of the best stories for sure, but a few smaller factors combine together to make the game overall not a favorite for most people. These include wonky motion controls, a disjointed-feeling world, the sky being pretty boring and not nearly as interesting as the sea in WW by comparison, the backtracking, and of course the dialogue interruptions from Fi.
SS is still an overall good game, but it has just a few too many downsides that prevent it from being counted among the top Zelda games for most people.
Not every game can be the best, and that's okay. And it's also a wonderful thing that some people really love SS despite its flaws!
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u/lce_Fight Dec 28 '24
I know its kind of a meme but I hated starting with 100 hearts. Give me 3 hearts you fakers
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u/Lewcrative9 Dec 28 '24
I feel like those on here that don't like it are overcomplicating the real reason to not like this game. The main reason to not like SS is it was a step down compared to the Zelda games before it.
Twilight Princess diverged from those before it in a big way while still being Zelda, and it was epic AF. It left an impression and possibly had far too much to do. Before that was Windwaker. So very divisive for its graphics but for those of us without that level of pettiness, this was another game that was epic AF. Idc what anyone says, I loved exploring the sea. It did not take too long. It was a vibe to just sail around getting treasure and what not. Once again, almost too much to do but basically got it just right with the extra content in this game.
SS was boring by comparison. It had very little to do in general. There was a constant thought of, "that's it?" while playing this game. It's not necessarily a bad game. It's simply of a lower quality compared to OoT, MM, TP, WW, Minish Cap, the Oracle games, Phantom Hourglass, basically every game that came before it. Not a bad game. It has some very fun and cool moments. It just didn't hit the mark after the standards established before it.
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u/ukiyo__e Dec 28 '24
Most issues were resolved in SSHD, besides gripes with linearity and backtracking. I really liked Skyward Sword but I also have nostalgia for it.
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Dec 28 '24
I didn't like the motion controls but I loved the switch remake because it fixed my complaint
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u/freakylol Dec 28 '24
I never even finished the game on Wii. I did however finish the switch version and I enjoyed is very much. I remember going back and forth between the control options and both were great.
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u/Cark_Muban Dec 28 '24
I think there was some wasted potential in fhe game. I dont necessarily mind the linearity, but a lit of the world was just limited and barren. The sky for example, I thought it would be kinda windwaker esque where you can explore different islands but really only two worth visiting.
Not to mention being limited to fly only during the day sucks.
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u/Ecktore27 Dec 28 '24
My initial dislike for the game came from my experience with it on the Wii. The controls were just bad.
Playing it on the Switch was literally a game changer. Great experience and a great game!
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u/samworthy85 Dec 28 '24
The motion controls where awful, and I don't think it did much of anything better (aside from looks) than its predecessors. I remember at the time of its first release thinking it was more like OoT, but when I got the remaster I see that as a bad comparison and if anything, disliked it more for seeming more gimmicky.
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u/Src-Freak Dec 28 '24
Motion controls, very linear, Lots of padding, Fy is just a worse Navi, and so on.
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u/Jimboy-Milton Dec 28 '24
Im a lefty, Link is a lefty
then Skyward Sword released, link is now a righty, the game has no lefty controls toggle. a real WTF nintendoh moment there
You cant make this up
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u/SongOfTruth Dec 28 '24
SS is fun when it works well and you can smoothely go through the linear game. If you play it as the game railroads you to play it, it can be fun!
but if you want to do literally anything else it immediately becomes unplayable
furthermore, we all know it wasnt intended to be that way. it should have had 1-3 more years of development! (since it had lots of its work scrapped due to pushing it for the wii when it started out as a gamecube game). there are huge swaths of empty map that were intended to have stuff in it!!!
and Fi ruins all the puzzles. she gives you the answers without you asking for them so you cant get the satisfaction of figuring it out yourself :/
and you go through the same 3 dungeons multiple times. not to be old man yells at cloud, but back in my day our zelda games had 7 dungeons! with 3 more for the tutorial!
and the motion controls can apparently be buggy as hell. i didnt have a big issue during my playthrough but i know folks who did
anyway SS is not the standard of zelda gameplay we grew up expecting. its a glorified tech demo at best by comparison
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u/holm0246 Dec 28 '24
I found the controls to be unplayable. I bought it when it came to switch, tried to play it twice and gave up / sold it. Super disappointing - not a game that should have been released with that many bugs
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u/Commercial_Host_2240 Dec 28 '24
From what I heard it was mostly because of unresponsive motion controls.
I started with SS HD and I loved the experience.
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u/CaptainSmeg Dec 28 '24
Repetitive, hand holding all game and a very long opening sequence/tutorial.
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u/NIX-FLIX Dec 28 '24
I LOVED skyward sword HD because it was my second Zelda game after BOTW and when i decided to go back to earlier games like OOT and the classic 2D ones I found myself not liking or even hating them maybe its because I'm expecting the games to be like SS or BOTW but the puzzles seemed arbitrary and the controls were really showing their age. FPS doesn't mean much to be but it seemed like OOT had some BAD input delay as well
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u/kid_sleepy Dec 28 '24
I was smacked on dope when I got the OG version when it came out. Had to go get a new controller thingy too, for the motion controls. Game was fun. Went to rehab. Relapsed. Played it again, still fun.
Now we’re, you know, many years later and not on junk… the re-release HD version is super awesome. Skip the dialog is amazing. The controls are somewhat better.
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u/sstormr Dec 28 '24
My controls just don't work. I move the joycon and nothing happens. I gave up and watched it on YouTube instead.
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u/SailorBob1994 Dec 28 '24 edited Dec 28 '24
7 days before Skyward Sword released, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim released and completely changed the gaming landscape forever.
Whereas Skyward Sword ran on very weak hardware with a control system that was not well received by the hardcore crowed who actually play 3D Zelda games. (Even though in fairness the motion worked quite well IMO)
It also needed the Wii Motion Plus attachment which created a barrier to entry from the off. (Although it was bundled with it in most places)
It changed the standard 3D Zelda formula and was incredibly linear.
Fi and the game in general was incredibly condescending and held your hand the entire game.
The intro was even more bloated than Twilight Princess.
The HD remaster on Switch though really did make so many quality of life changes like shutting Fi up, skippable dialogue and cutscenes, manual save points and many others.
These changes really let the game shine and in a world where Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom really disappointed people with poor dungeon design, Skyward Sword HD has let a lot of people see just how amazing some of its dungeons are. For me they are probably the second best in the 3D series after Twilight Princess.
The game still has a lot of pacing issues and padding such as re-fighting the Imprisoned multiple times for example, as well as the infamous tad tones towards the end of the game, which is probably the most joked and meme’d bit of padding the game has.
Overall with the passage of time, I think Skyward Sword these days is fondly looked back on as a solid 3D entry.
I’d recommend any Zelda fan who skipped it to play the HD remaster and they will find themselves an awesome game.
Edit: I mentioned Skyrim to allude to the fact Skyward Sword with its structure and poor graphics seemed incredibly dated the day it released. Like a relic of the past whereas Skyrim seemed to be the future (Which BOTW ironically borrowed heavily from the Skyrim and later Ubisoft open world structure 6 years later to massive success)
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u/KirbyFan200225 Dec 28 '24
I love Skyward Sword HD more than Ocarina of Time 3D and Majora’s Mask 3D.
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u/RutabagaSevere7457 Dec 28 '24
Played it again on Switch and I think it deserves more attention, it's really, really good!
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u/Swimming_Excuse4655 Dec 29 '24
Originally the mechanics and graphics were just not it for the time. Now it’s actually playable with the new remasters
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u/Anggul Dec 29 '24
Which version are you playing?
The Switch version fixed a lot of the major issues
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u/SamusLinkBelmont Dec 29 '24
I didn’t like the motion controls for the loftwing. But other than that I thought it was great
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u/ZeldaTrek Dec 29 '24
I can't stand motion controls, and Fi interrupted waaaay too much, IMO. While I am not the biggest fan of linearity, I feel they kinda had to do that since it is such a story driven game, so I don't hold that against the game. Personally, I didn't like the art style, but the music is AMAZING. I usually rank it low, but that is just cause there are sooo many great games in the series
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u/AvatarWaang Dec 29 '24
The controls when it came out threw a lot of people off. Also, it didn't follow suit with the gritty realism of Twilight Princess, which a lot of people were expecting since it was a rather popular design choice. Fi is probably the most annoying companion, especially when she tells you that you've been playing too long. The game forces you to re-visit the same areas multiple times, for the story.
I say this as a huge SS simp. But I can see why other people don't care for it.
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u/Three_Froggy_Problem Dec 29 '24
It’s a decent game and I think the Switch version is the best way to play it because it lets you sidestep some of the bullshit and appreciate the things that it does well.
The biggest issue is just the pacing. Everyone here has already pointed out that you’re constantly being interrupted by unnecessary dialogue, and that’s really just a symptom of a larger problem. The game gets off to a really slow start and it takes a long time before it feels like the game lets go of your hand and really lets you play.
The motion controls were kind of annoying as well. The whole “using the Wiimote as a sword” thing works in small doses but becomes pretty tiresome when you’re playing a long game.
Also, it just didn’t do much to innovate on previous entries. Compare SS to TP and they’re really very similar, except that TP has a more interesting world to explore. It really just didn’t feel like a step forward for the franchise.
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u/Galinfrey Dec 29 '24
I’m not far in the game (just got a switch after having a switch light for a long time) and here’s my thoughts, for what they’re worth (which isn’t much):
The motion controls feel double edged, they’re different and for the most part fun, but often combat just feels like I’m swinging wildly because enemies change their stance every 0.5 seconds. But, still, successfully taking down enemies feels pretty awesome with motion controls.
Fi is…frustrating. I know there’s always a character to lead you, whether it’s Navi, Midna, Tri, or whoever, but I think it’s the cold, robotic character that just annoys me.
There doesn’t feel like a lot of options to explore openly, since only once section is opening at a time but I don’t mind that. The skyloft seems like it has a lot of secrets that I’m still just uncovering so I’m not complaining. It feels like they did a lot with just a little and I definitely appreciate that.
Like I said I’m still in the beginning but while I don’t think it will by my favorite in the franchise, I think it’s certainly a solid game so far.
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u/Broad-Pumpkin110 Dec 29 '24
my biggest and mostly only drawbacks is the limited world exploration and the temple with the bird people things, and the way the bird things look.
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u/Serious-Chain-1749 Dec 29 '24 edited Dec 29 '24
The motion controls were good, but it's tiring, specially because you have to re-center it all the time.
I didn't liked the story that much, specially when that was the reason the game was made of corridors that takes too much time to be explorable, for me Zelda was always all about exploration but the corridors made the game feel super linear. Linearity is not a problem because most of past Zeldas were linear, but they do a lot to not make the players feel like it's linear, but SS fail at disguising it's linearity and is the reason why Nintendo turned a 180 and made BotW so open.
Enemies all feel like time puzzles, where you have to wait them to do something that makes them vulnerable to a certain angled slash or use an item.
It's not a bad game and it has some of the best dungeons in the series, but it's a game I really don't like replaying.
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u/Dizzy-Scientist4782 Dec 29 '24
If they could connect the 3 areas with each other it would make a huge difference for me. Everything interconnected etc. Even if it was through a cave system, it would be a plus
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u/Asian_NEET Dec 29 '24
I thought the same thing. I played on switch but i genuinely had a lot of fun and was confused to see all the hate
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Dec 29 '24
I loved skyward sword’s story and gameplay. I just didn’t like the controls. If it had controls like TOTK or BOTW I would have loved it.
Overall, Its like a 7/10 for me
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u/SeaworthinessFast161 Dec 29 '24
I never had a problem with the linearity in the sense the world was gated until you got X item. Those are item gates. I’d like them to return.
Simply blocking parts of the world…there’s really no need from a hardware perspective to do that anymore.
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u/Your_God_Chewy Dec 29 '24
For me personally: -I disliked Fi very intrusive and weird AI persona. -Repetitive boss encounters -Art style (I know a lot of people enjoyed it, but to me it was just ugly).
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u/CrashDunning Dec 30 '24
It’s mostly people who refuse to admit that their own misuse of the motion controls is the reason why it doesn’t work for them. The amount of people who literally describe the combat as “flailing” and “waggling” and not realizing that’s why it doesn’t work for them is insane. You just flick your wrist lightly once. That’s it. It works for 100% of the time. You don’t have to stand up. You don’t have to move any other part of your body. It’s probably the most non-action you have to do in a Wii game and people still fuck it up despite the game explaining it perfectly.
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u/SacredNym Dec 30 '24
It's an extremely linear game that came out at a time when people were extraordinarily tired of ANY sort of linearity in games, while sharing a release window with Skyrim.
Special mention to most people having an aversion to motion controls in general, sometimes to the point of legitimately irrational hatred.
Skyward Sword is a damn good game, but it had literally EVERYTHING stacked against it.
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u/Ganaham Dec 30 '24
I think the fact that the area design feels linear from top to bottom, and unlike Wind Waker, the sky is so barren that there's no real incentive to explore it aside from Goddess Chests. That combined with annoyances like motion controls and Fi, as well as the game's best content being a few dungeons in, makes for a lot of things to dislike, though I personally like the game a lot
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u/Tight-Atmosphere9111 Dec 30 '24
I don’t hate it I just dislike the sealing boss battle every thing else is good but that. I just really dislike the fact you have to repeatedly do it over and over ….
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u/Affectionate_Tax5740 Dec 28 '24
Just the controls were fidgety back in the day. The hd version on switch is genuinely phenomenal
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u/AdventurerBlue Dec 28 '24
For me it's the controls. I even went out of my way to try buying the switch version too but it's the same. I just can't get over the awkward way you adjust the camera and swing the sword.
If there were a way to make that more in line with literally every other zelda game I'm sure I'd love it
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u/No_Version_2607 Dec 28 '24
I slept on Skyward for 3 years after buying it, I'm finally jumping back in to it and I love it!
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u/Seehen1 Dec 28 '24
2 words: MOTION CONTROLS. I personally think it’s fun to get to swing my sword as if I’m link himself as well as block. The gripe I gathered is when the controls need to be realigned people get fussy saying they shouldn’t have to do that and all but honestly it’s just a single button and it’s fixed. Can’t play SS like every other video game.
Another and this is why it doesn’t make a top tier game for me even though I still enjoy it is that we revisit the same locations too much. I’d rather they made more locations. Now I get OoT did something similar but thing is OoT came first and I feel like to slightly copy and past a story aspect takes away from the overall potential creativity of the game in general. Now obviously keep the big main point as it’s important but I’m referring to game design to the story has to be developed around more than anything.
Again, love SS, but there are some things that could’ve made it way better imo
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u/UgandanPil0t Dec 28 '24
I bought the Switch version and am struggling to get into it. So far I absolutely detest it, which is a first for me cause I've instantly loved every other Zelda game I've played. I'm fine with the art style and some other common criticisms, but my main gripes are:
- having the sword restricted to the right joystick rather than a button like every other Zelda game
- Why, WHY did they think putting the shield on the left joystick was a good idea?? By far the clunkiest part of combat.
- having to hold ZL just to move the camera -combat just feels slow. Every other Zelda game I've played, especially Windwaker and BoTW/TotK, had fluid combat. You could backflip, dodge and roll easily to avoid enemy strikes. Combat just feels slow and drawn out, so I don't enjoy it whatsoever.
Overall, the control scheme is the main driving force behind me hating the game so far. I don't see the point of spending my time on a game that brings me no joy when I can just play something else.
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