Five Ways Skyward Sword Went Wrong

January 28th, 2012 by Jesse

Skyward Sword was one of the most hyped games in 2011. Since its release, most fans have been amazed by its accurate 1:1 motion controls and immersive gameplay. It seemed as if Skyward Sword held its own against other huge titles that launched along side it, even winning many fan votes for game of the year. With a game as incredible as Skyward Sword, when something negative is said, our ears tend to open up to hear exactly what could be so bad about it.

Recently, 1up has posted an article listing some of the places that Skyward Sword has fallen short. I agree that some aspects of the game seemed a bit lacking and could have been improved, but even with these flaws, it was still a great game. While some of their reasons seem to hold no weight behind them, a few seem to make it onto my list as well. Make the jump inside for more.

In 1up’s article they mention five separate reasons as to how Skyward Sword went wrong. In their words, they felt that the content was spread too thin, it had an unchanging world, a lack of exploration, a lack of character, and one supremely annoying sidekick. Now, I can see how each one of these issues could have brought the experience of the game down a bit, but not nearly enough to be an issue of its own.

Arguing with these bold statements, I could say…

Content Spread too Thin
The content wasn’t spread too thin. In fact, it had more than enough to keep me satisfied and wanting to progress even further through the game, just to discover anything new that I might have missed. From the cinematic and npc interactions, to collecting items and upgrading your gear, this game had plenty of content.

An Unchanging World
Due to the fact you could only go from night to day by sleeping and the lack of “season” areas in the game “like snowpeak”, the world did seem a little “unchanging”. Nintendo did answer this by making new areas accessible each time a new item was obtained or if you progressed to a certain point in the game. Also, new mini quests became available in Skyloft each time you revisited the area after completing key points of the story. The biggest change to the world would have to be when doing the quest for the dragon in Faron Woods or the changes to Skyloft and the Forbidden Grounds toward the end.

A Lack of Exploration
To me, the game didn’t lack exploration at all. Sure, we didn’t have a huge open field to freely roam, but instead Nintendo added depth to the parts of the world that were available to us and added in a ton of items to collect along the way.

A Lack of Character
Saying it had a lack of character is just a bit outrageous to me. I found that compared to other games in the series, Skyward Sword excelled in this aspect. Much like Majora’s Mask, almost every NPC had their own personality, story, and even had their own side quest for you to do. The cinematics between Link and Zelda alone showed enough personality and character to keep me happy.

One Supremely Annoying Sidekick
Last, maybe Fi did come off as a little annoying, but I have come to think that maybe Nintendo made her this way because of the way fans “recieved” Navi as. I never found Navi annoying, but due to the overwhelmingly popular hatred fans have for her, maybe Nintendo decided to portray Fi in the same way they thought fans thought of Navi. After all, even though Navi is known as the most hated and annoying sidekick of the series, she is still the most well known and favorited by fans. Maybe Nintendo wanted to make Fi’s personality one to remember, just how Navi has been so well remembered almost 15 years after her debut.

Where one person may think something isn’t up to par with what they expect, another might think it has exceeded every expectation. Whether you agree with 1up, me, or even have your own thoughts on the subject, let us know in the comments below.

Source: 1up

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Klynt

Exploration was low because you couldnt get to places and they wernt important also every chararcter race u meet except for the goron just is in one area and u dont rlly see again.
Jarkes

Say, has Gamer-X shown up on any of these news posts to troll us again? …I wonder if anyone even remembers him…
Mud B.C.

I think the most annoying thing was that damn harp mini game at the lumpy pumpkin. So much rage…
goldskullwalltula

there is a 95% probabilaty that i completly disagree with 1up.
LinkFan

I didn’t find Fi annoying at all
Net34a

Totally agree with 1Up. Also they forgot to mention the awful and unmemmorable music of SS. I’ve played Zelda since i was 5, and I’ve played every Zelda game to date and let me tell you that SS is a total disappointing. 1UP is totally right! Skyward Sword is the worst Zelda game and it doesn’t deserve to be the best in the series. Ocarina is the best and it’ll always be the best. TP and WW are both underrated and for me, they are much better than SS. SS is a total failure for Zelda :/

Asd

I’m calling Nostalgia Filter. SS is amazing, all of these are incredibly minor nitpicks (and partially incorrect) and BTW the SS music was fully orchestrated and very nice.

Jarkes

Meh, the fact that it’s fully orchestrated is nice, but so far (I just got past the third dungeon) I haven’t heard any epic orchestral remixes of classic Zelda tunes, which is a little disappointing. I mean, much of Super Mario Galaxy 2′s music was orchestrated remixes of music from SMG1, so I could really notice the difference. With SS, some of the tunes simply aren’t very memorable. Out of the three bosses I’ve faced so far, I barely remember the music. And when the boss music isn’t very memorable, that’s a problem.

Jarkes

Hey, wait a second… why do I keep commenting on these posts when I haven’t finished the game yet, and thus, cannot form a concrete opinion?

Anonymous

Skyward sword was one of the most amazing Zeldas!
whoever says different……
Well you now what they say
“hatas gonna hate!”
Link

SS has a lot of great and not so great things. I like the graphics although I prefer TP and OoT3D graphics. SS lack plot. When I heard that the music was going to be orchestrated, I was very happy and couldn’t wait to hear the music. But like others have said, I can’t remember any of the songs played in the game exept the main theme which I like a lot. The haro is the worst instrument ever introduce in the Zelda series. It was annoying to have to play it. All the dongs founded very similar and Fi singing didn’t add anything to make it better. They could have done something so great with the harp, have it play like Zelda in ocarina of time, and singing, like malon in OoT. Hate it that it was so futuristic to be the story in the time line. I think they wanted to make their own city of Atlantis.

Items upgrades kind of useless as well as the potions. There were only four landmarks to explore, like in MM n many other games, but, they were really boring. Not much yo explore n really boring layout. And very few characters n not interesting at all.

Love all the bosses exept the imprisoned. And the final boss was the easiest to kill. Ghirahim was a lot tougher. Very disappointed.

Live navi didn’t like Fi very much it was a little annoying n no personality.

Love everything about OoT. Graphics, story, charecters, n layout were more realistic. You actually can feel that it could be real. The castle, chests, items, landscapes and mosters look well porportioned n not stupid or too cartoonish. I like it s lot.