Skyward Sword Dungeons: Sandship

May 29th, 2012 by Axle the Beast

Now that we’re past the first four dungeons of Skyward Sword, which I generally have endless praise for (or in the Ancient Cistern’s case, endless praise mixed with endless criticism), these Skyward Sword Dungeons posts should be on the shorter side in comparison, because oddly enough I don’t have as much to say about the game’s later dungeons. As I wrote near the beginning of my analysis of the Ancient Cistern, I think Skyward Sword’s second half has some problems, particularly in its dungeons. That’s not to say they’re bad, but I think they lose a bit of what defined the game’s earlier dungeons and made them distinct. That said, I thoroughly enjoyed the Sandship and have many good things to say about it, so don’t let that make you think I hate the dungeon. I will get to my praise shortly.

To me the Sandship felt a lot like a dungeon out of another Zelda game. That might sound like a weird statement, but as I’ve covered throughout this series, the first three dungeons were very unique in their own ways, and didn’t feel like traditional dungeon experiences. The Sandship is completely a traditional dungeon experience. It makes some use of the Timeshift Stone on the deck for some creative puzzle-solving, but for the most part you’ll find yourself going through a traditional dungeon layout of small but numerous rooms with multiple floors. This actually isn’t a bad thing, though, and on its own the Sandship is a fine dungeon. Within a game that changes things up so much most of the time, it’s definitely good to have at least one extremely traditional dungeon.

It bothers me in Skyward Sword mostly because it takes place in the game’s second half along with two other dungeons like that (the Ancient Cistern and as I’ll get into next time, the Fire Sanctuary). It bothers me that the game starts off with a bang and has innovative dungeons, but then regresses back and stays that way for pretty much the rest of the game. I think implementing more traditional dungeons should have been spread out a little more and/or Nintendo put them at the beginning of the game instead, because with the Silent Realms, Harp, and Imprisoned fights, Skyward Sword was already designed to ramp up after the halfway point; putting the unique dungeons afterward would have fit better.

However, the Sandship is very hard to criticize on its own. Like Snowpeak Ruins in Twilight Princess (and ironically taking place at the same point in the game), it’s a tight series of rooms laid out and designed to mimic a specific type of structure (Snowpeak Ruins was a mansion; this time it’s a ship), which is something I think is very cool. The use of the Timeshift Stone is somewhat uncreative compared to Lanayru Mining Facility, but that’s fine considering that one dungeon already got that out of the way, and instead you spend your time interacting with the Sandship as if it’s exactly that: A ship. That’s the big thing this dungeon and the Ancient Cistern excelled at. While the first three dungeons of the game are unique in gameplay, the Ancient Cistern as well as the Sandship have creative settings, and in the case of the Sandship especially, it feels highly believable.

The dungeon’s fights are also entertaining, pitting the player against Technoblins and Beamos once more while also providing cool fights in the ship’s rigging. Scervo was an amazing fight, and although I have talked about missed opportunities with him before, I enjoyed his fight a lot. Tentalus less so, unfortunately. Tentalus was actually my least-favorite boss of the game, though that’s not saying much considering I loved the game’s bosses. I don’t really have specific criticisms for Tentalus other than that I felt the fight was a bit monotonous and easy.

Finally I feel the Sandship carries Lanayru Desert’s awesome melancholy, and this is evident most of all in its music. I would link you to its music, but there are four different variations so I ca- Oh nevermind. I especially love the deck theme with the Timeshift Stone activated.

So all in all I think the Sandship is amazing, but perhaps diminished a little by the dungeons surrounding it. Regardless I had a lot of fun with it. Did you enjoy it too, or did the dungeon bother you? Tell me your thoughts on the dungeon in the comments and how you feel about what I’ve said!

~~~Recent Content Updates~~~

Categorized under: Discussion Questions, Editorials
Tagged: Axle, Axle the Beast, Dungeon, Dungeons, Sandship, Scervo, Skyward Sword, SS, Tentalus, Timeshift Stone, ZD, Zelda, Zelda Dungeon

JuicieJ

Wow, that *was* short. Well, then…

Still good writing, Axle, and I agree with pretty much every last word said here. Sandship is the best dungeon in Skyward Sword in my opinion (I know you don’t think so). *thumbs up*
MW7

For me the Sand Ship and Sky Keep alone were with the purchase price of the game. The boss of the Sand Ship was one of least creative fights of the game, but the short introduction from the boss room to the fight was cool. The use of the timeshift stones wasn’t super creative, but I highly prefer the universal shift to the room by room shifts because the former is generally more challenging. Pretty much all my favorite dungeons ever revolved around universal dungeon shifts- the Stone Tower Temple, the Water Temple, and now the Sand Ship.
erikd16

ONE thing I think would have made the sandship better: If it was a ghost ship in the present. I know we SORT OF had a scary dungeon in the ancient cistern… But it would have been awesome to have made the sand ship more scary. With the long hallways they could have had shadows move across the end of it that would have been creepy. Then when the player hits the timeshift stones, they get to see who the ghosts belonged to. Just an idea. I still loved the sandship.
- baileygirl99
  
  that would be cool,but Zelda games aren’t all paranormal like that. (except TP)
  - http://axlethebeast.com/ Axle the Beast
    
    …? It does it all the time. There are ghosts, undead, and disembodied voices in the Bottom of the Well and Shadow Temple in Ocarina of Time (not to mention an ancient seal on both dungeons. There are bigger examples of it too, like in TWW or PH which both have actual ghost ships.
    - baileygirl99
      
      I guess i wasnt thinking when i wrote that. I have only played a few games, so i wouldnt know asome stuff :-S
      - myzeldalove
        
        No worries, have that problem a LOT.
    - erikd16
      
      Ah. I forgot about the ghost ships in TWW and PH. I guess it would have been repetitive to have a 3rd ghost ship. Although I think that if The Sandship had been a ghost ship it would have been even better than those.
erikd16

Also the music in the interior is awesome!!! Reminds me of Donkey Kong 64
theOathtoOrder

ironically enough Snowpeak Ruins and Sandship are also my favorite dungeons from the games. great review! solid points backed up with logic and facts. Tentalus was too easy but Scervo made up for him! I literally threw my pink wii remote plus bc of that jerk. It felt good to defeat him and watch him fall from the plank!!
- TJ
  
  You have to face him one more time…
baileygirl99

I liked it. it was probably my favorite dungeon in the game. the boss definately wasnt the hardest. or the easiest-I got annoyed at having to run around so much

I was suprized by how short this article was, Axle. But i guess that when you were done u thought, “Nuff said.”
- http://axlethebeast.com/ Axle the Beast
  
  Well one of the reasons is it’s not quite an article. Our featured articles go up on Fridays (with the exception of Allegories in Architecture and The Hyrulian Pantheon). This is an “editorial” as we’re calling it, and it’s somewhere between a news post and article. Just an opinion post, preferably inciting some comment discussion. They’re not generally supposed to be as long as the last few Skyward Sword Dungeons posts. xP
  - baileygirl99
    
    oh. Thank you for explaining that for me.
Matthew

I thought it was a cool dungeon, i enjoyed the fight with the boss. The only trouble I had was with the beamos.
dark majora

sandship was cool but toobad you cant stay alive in the water surrounding it i tried going for a swin “blank screen” back on the boat
thethrashking

I HATED SCERVO WITH A BURNING PASSION!!! And then you had to fight him again later in the game… of all the bosses I could have had to refight… it had to be Scervo…
- TJ
  
  Actually it was Dreadfuse in Skykeep, not Scervo. Dreadfuse was a much darker color and had a different hat.
Silversloth13

Tentalus could of been of so much better if he didn’t look like he came out of Monsters Inc. I got so excited at first when I entered the boss room… “Holy Cow! Tentacles! Now I’m going fight the Kraken like in Pirates of the Carribean!” Then I saw his face… It was a major disappointment for me. Don’t get me wrong I really enjoyed the fight! Battling a sea monster at sea on a ship in a raging storm is epic! But it was hindered by the super cartoonish look from the boss. I wish the designers could of made him look more intimidating or something.

Anyway great article Axle! Pretty much agree with every word up there!
- http://lulles.deviantart.com/ lulles
  
  Oh man, I never knew why exactly I didn’t like Tentalus’s design, and now I know the reason!
- jack L
  
  monsters inc. is exactly as i would have put it. i thought it was going to be evil but it struck me as kind of… cute. well, untill it turned into friendly(ish) medusa
- http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001155780793 Jed Barber
  
  I always kind of wondered if tentalus was supposed to be a male or female.
Lahmaster

The problem with Tentalus was that he was so pointless, he just popped outta nowhere and had no actual importance to the game itself. There was never any mention beforehand about a giant squid told in legends. I think if they did have Scervo as the boss, the thunderstorm that was in the battle of Tentalus should remain. And when Scervo gets weak, he calls upon lightning to recharge himself to make him even more epic than he already is, lol.
crb

the sand ship is so unique because it’s so traditional think about it. i also agree it was one of the best dungeons in the game
BlackRaven6695

I guess different parts of games stand out to different people. The Sandship’s intense focus on standing on switches and removing obstacles to perfectly line up an arrow shot from the one spot in the room where it’s possible to hit the target made the dungeon feel very unique. On the contrary, Lanayru Mining Facility felt like the most traditional dungeon in the game to me.
Pingback: Skyward Sword Dungeons: Sandship | Axle the Beast
unknownman

I like the second part of the game better than the first in my opinion. The sandship is my favorite dungeon in the game.
Austin Barron

YES.
A_LINK_IN_TIME

The enemies of the dungeon also reminded me of Dodongo’s Cavern from Ocarina of Time a bit. In my opinion, it was the second best dungeon in the game after the Ancient Cistern.
Snaze

I think the sandship is my favourite dungeon in the whole game, I just love it when Nintendo make dungeons that can relate to real scenarios, I find it very entertaining to fight monsters in a boat for some reason, I also loved how the sand changed to water with the timeshift stone, I know they used that effect before the sandship but it just seemed to fit perfectly with that dungeon. I found the fight with Scervo pretty easy, but then Tentalus was actually kind of challenging for me, I don’t know why. But I do like how the battle starts in a room and ends up on the deck, it is odd because you use the boss key to get into that room and the battle doesn’t even happen their.
Ezluke

“The Sandship is a completely traditional dungeon experience.” Dude… It’s on a PIRATE SHIP! You climb masts and fight a mini-boss by pushing him off of a “plank.” Some of it is traditional-ish, but… Many of us didn’t even realize it was a dungeon at first. I don’t consider it very traditional.
Also, I thought Tentalus was one of the toughest dungeon bosses. I was always knocked over by the tentacles from the floor…
I’m sorry Axle, I keep not having good things to say. I guess I disagree with many of your opinions on the dungeons…
fused_shadows

Very nice article Axle, cant wait til the Fire Sanctuary!!
K2L

Other than the disappointing boss (not so much because of its looks, but rather because it literally became out of nowhere. Everything else in the dungeon, including the miniboss, had a background justification for its presence, but Tentalus literally popped out of nowhere!), the dungeon is superb. Absolutely loved the puzzles, as well as the way they were present within a realistic setting (a ship).
I think the reason why the later three dungeons are different from the first three is because, whereas the first half of the game focuses on compact, yet dense areas and dungeons, and therefore encase the puzzles and enemies in the same scarce rooms, the second half takes a more traditional approach, but this time remixing the setting to make them more interesting. This results, understandably, in that the game’s difficulty bases on the combat for the first half (as attested by enemies like the Skulltulas, the Stalfos, the Moblins, the Armos, the Sentrobes, the Beamos, the Technoblins, ….. enemies that can kill you quickly if you do nothing but waggle), and then bases on the puzzle complexity for the later three dungeons, hence why they’re more similar gameplay-wise to the OOT/TP dungeons. The only dungeon that, I think, tries to provide a balance between both aspects is the final one.
That’s probably what dissapointed you about the second half, Axle. And I can understand why other players were expecting combat to continue getting harder through the latter parts of the game. Still, some people are becoming way too vocal about these aspects, deeming the game as a failure immediately in consequence.
Oli98987

To me the fight with tentalus was a little hard (probably because I stink at motion controls) but it was challenging and fun to me cant wait for next review.
http://www.facebook.com/ben.west.908 Ben West

i love the sandship, even though i got stuck on it at a ceritan part which made this dungeon take 2 hours but even then i still love it the is my 2nd fav dungeon in this game (1st being the sky keep)
Sean

Umm… Sandship and Snowpeak Ruins are my favorite dungeons from those two games, and I don’t find them traditional at all, so…
Guest

The Sandship actually struck me as the least traditional dungeon in SS. It’s a deceptively small dungeon–when you get the map, you think “Oh, psh, that’s all? This won’t take long!” It’s not a big, sprawling area at all, just a pirate ship (which is kind of cool, anyway). But it’s incredibly dense, and the rooms are interconnected. By that I mean you often have to directly interact with things and objects in one room while standing inside an entirely different room. I remember a few instances when I had to shoot an arrow at something from across the hall or through a window to directly activate something. Rarely does that happen in other Zelda dungeons; if you do affect things in other rooms, it’s often through indirect circumstances instead, like stepping on a switch or something. I thought this was a pretty cool aspect of the Sandship.
Tentalus had a great introduction, attacking the ship and forcing you to run up from below deck and fight. I did think the boss wasn’t as great as it could have been overall, but it was still fun.
Can’t say the Sandship is my favorite SS dungeon, I actually don’t know which one it is, but I love how it changed up some of the typical tropes of Zelda dungeons in general.
- TheIvoryDingo
  
  The Sandship isn’t a pirateship, it’s a cargoship. But sailboat’s do like a like so I don’t mind as much. Just informin’ ya.
  - myzeldalove
    
    Oh, wait, I think you’ve mistaken us for people who care. Sorry about that.
    - TheIvoryDingo
      
      Hey, you don’t have to be a jerk about it!
- Rgijaba
  
  Um…the Sandship isn’t a pirate ship: it’s a ship STOLEN BY pirates. Who’s being picky?!
  
  Anyhoo, this is just about everything I think about the dungeon, too, with the sole exception of it not being your favorite dungeon. I personally expected that the Sandship would be permanently destroyed after the Tentalus fight, resulting in a tragic end for Skipper’s story, but (in my opinion) the fact that it was immediately and flawlessly rebuilt is probably the only storytelling blunder in the entire game.
  - yellowyoshi9
    
    they had to so people could return to get heart pieces and other collectable stuff. although the wrecked idea is pretty cool
- Demise
  
  I think it WAS short, or felt short; you didn’t have to explore a lot of big room,s instead you could shoot a switch without enteriing the room and continue. Basically, it’s sectioned into parts, which makes it feel shorter; You get the key, activate the generators, go into the captain’s cabin and that’s it. You visit most of the layout during the key quest, which makes subsequent parts feel like revisiting with a few new rooms to enter. As for Tentalus, his entry was amazing, however he is my least favourite SS boss. Mostly because I had to charge the Skiward Strike constantly, then discharge it horizontally – the number of times I shot it at a tentacle vertically is amazing. The snake part, on the other hand, was very easy: shake the wiimote wildly left to right and that’s it.
  
  As for the atmosphere, it’s great, and it felt not at all like a standard zelda dungeon to me. It was small, but really crammed, just like a realistically sized ship with lots of cabins etc. On top of that, you visit most of the ship areas: the masts, the cabins, the engine room, even the bit that sticks out at the front (yeah, I’m a hobbyist, so I know all the technical terms), also the escape boat, the captain’s cabin, the control room, etc. etc. In this respect it was very good. Also the layout fits the ship’s shape very well, not like, say, the deku tree, which was no wider than 3-4 meters outside, but was enormous inside, not to mention that underground it does not have roots but more hollowed out large sections. The meeting with tentalus also enhances the atmosphere, however sometime there’s void near brocken staircases, you’d think there would be water… But no…
  
  Generally, I liked most of it, however I lways hateed and still hate the Technoblins.
ZeldaPlaya

This is a great dungeon and was one of the very toughest for me to figure out in terms of puzzle solving. I really enjoy these dungeon articles Axle. Keep it up.
awsomeMrlink

Sandship is the best dungeon. All I have to say.
Jo Five

The Sandship was the part where you got to rescue all those robots. You know, the ones from that really cute picture that Skipper had back home. That just warms my heart.
GHIRAHIM

While probably a bit less innovation than the first three dungeons, I enjoyed the Sandship a lot. While arguably not as good as Lanayru Mining Facility in use of Timeshift Stones, it did use the Timeshift well. (but then again, all of the timeshift stone puzzles were great, one of the best new concepts in Skyward Sword) And if you were an idiot like I was the first time I fought Tentalus, and you don’t quite know what you’re doing, it can be hard trying to shoot its eye while it sways around and tries to smash you with its tentacles. But later, when you know to shoot it right away after it pops up, it is very easy
princeofhyrule126

how do you put pictures by your user name because i am new to this
- Sir Quaffler
  
  You have to get a disqus account
Jono

Without a doubt, this is my favorite dungeon in the series. The atmosphere, the music, the difficulty, the puzzles, the boss introduction and to a lesser extent the boss…. it was all so perfectly crafted. More like this please, Nintendo.
princeofhyrule126

best dungeon next to lanayru minig facility
blahookala

weird. i thought it was a unique temple for a dungeon. i never thought of it as something tradition. i was like “WOAH IT’S A TEMPLE.” and i thought the fire sanctuary was my favorite dungeon. we’re exact opposites, because the first 3 dungeons didn’t appeal to me. D:
brainiac4200

The whole Sand Ocean is the dungeon. The rollercoaster, the hideout, and the ship itself, all a part of the dungeon. The fact that nobody realized that makes me lose hope in mankind. And in that regard, it’s an incredibly unorthodox dungeon.
Draven

I gotta say, the only part of this dungeon I didn’t like was the look of Tentalus. I loved solving every puzzle, and then once I got to the control room, and something went wrong, I thought it was Scervo again, but out of nowhere it was a sea creature, I was almost frightened in a way, and running to the top of the dungeon was magnificent. Some people may say it’s bad writing because the boss came out of nowhere, but its a fantasy game. You’re on a boat. There are monsters everywhere. To me it’s pretty easy to believe a sea monster would come out of nowhere to attack a boat, after all, thats the way it ussually happens with things like the Kraken. However, after a long epic struggle to get to the top (It wasn’t that long, or hard, but it felt epic) I was ready for something terrifying in the water with like, thousands of teeth, but out comes this chubby looking goldy locks styled hair cut giant child beast. That was my only complainted with this dungeons.
Sir Quaffler

The way in which you solved the puzzles in the Sandship were sorta traditional, but the atmosphere and setting of it definitely were not. Sure, you had to hit eye switches and push boxes onto floor switches, but it’s done in a manner that interconnects all the rooms together and makes the dungeon come together into something like an actual ship. Plus the fight with Scervo where you had to fight him off of the plank instead of just whittling his health down was freaking amazing, I wish more stuff like that happened. And the buildup to Tentalus was just epic, even though the fight itself was kinda infuriating. Overall it’s my favorite dungeon from SS
http://lulles.deviantart.com/ lulles

I enjoyed it too, and while I really liked the Ancient Cistern, the Sandship had a more original design to it. I loved its melancholic music, too! And I agree with you on Tentalus – it was my least favorite boss in the game. Actually, I didn’t really enjoy the fight against it. It was quite a traditional Zelda fight, and it was easy.
Infinite1UPs Mask

This was the one dungeon where I cheated a little by consulting a guide. I felt so dirty. lol
Pingback: Skyward Sword Dungeons: Fire Sanctuary
Neutopia

I really enjoyed this dungeon, I actually enjoyed all of them, it’s weird, when playing through the game I felt like it was a mediocre Zelda experience, but now looking back I really loved the game, I’m going to start playing through it again soon.
The_Shrimp52

As I was playing through this dungeon, that somewhat sad-sounding flute part was playing when I discovered the remains of Skipper’s Crew. Major coincidence but it really fit the mood there in my opinion.
myzeldalove

Sandship was my favorite dungeon in the game for a lot of reasons. I thought the Tentalus fight was a bit monotonous, but she was still a wicked boss.
Pingback: Twilight Princess Dungeons: Snowpeak Ruins
Pingback: Zelda | Twilight Princess Dungeons: Snowpeak Ruins | Zelda