You Can Eliminate (or Replace) One Section or Part of Skyward Sword

[Arbiters Ground]

Lets say you have the ability to take one part of Skyward Sword out (ideally it'd be your least favorite part). Which part would you take out? Or maybe you wouldn't change a thing?

For me, the things that come to mind are the Silent Realm (particularly Eldin and Skyloft). There's also the harp/lyre instrument that Link plays, which I thought didn't exercise the motion control very well (seriously, how awesome would the conductors baton from the Wind Waker have been on motion controls?).

But the Silent Realm, while it did almost give me a heart attack, still gave an interesting dynamic to the game that is necessary to Zelda (it can't all just be logical puzzle solving). The relief felt after returning to the normal world was awesome.

The one thing I was have changed or gotten rid of was searching for the tadnotes. I really feel like not only were there just too many to look for, but they really could have just given us a more fun and relevant quest entirely. The Water Dragon gave you that test so you could prove yourself a hero...but c'mon, how is collecting fish shaped like 8th notes underwater a test of a Hero?

 

[KogamoSJS]

I think Skyward Sword is perfect, but if I had to take a part out it would be final visit to Faron. The tadtones were annoying, but it was a fun part of the game. My thoughts are to keep Skyward Sword exactly how it is.

 

[MW7]

Well with how the game is set up story wise I'm not sure if this would work, but I would have preferred the very opening of the game to be Zelda and Link flying side by side and Zelda getting knocked to the surface. So the beginning of the game would be almost totally eliminated, and then you start the adventure almost immediately.

You said one section, but I'll give you two more. I'd like at least one of the Imprisoned battles to be totally eliminated, and most of the song of the hero quest to be either eliminated or made optional. I think they could have done it like having to talk to all 3 dragons in order to unlock the boss rush instead of getting the song of the hero. At that point in the game I just wanted to get to the final dungeon faster and end the game. With all the stuff I eliminated maybe that would have freed up space to either: A. make four more Gratitude sidequests (so that it would add up to 100), B. create another notable (like the Lumpy Pumpkin) island in the sky or multiple ones, or C. had remixed puzzles in dungeons for Hero Mode so that it had some new content.

Edit: Wow how did I forget the two things LinkPTY said. If you could have turned them off- both Fi and the notifications- the game would have been much more enjoyable for me. Although they are a minor problem, the notifications for bugs/treasures are the most glaring flaw this game has because all those notifications quickly add up into wasted time that you won't ever get back. The only way to escape them is to do a minimalist run, and it's easy to not buy the bug net but it must be near impossible to go all the way through the game without accidentally picking up a treasure and having to witness the torture of a notification. This also reminds me that I think all cutscenes and dialogue should have been skippable even on your first playthrough.

 

[Kikirini]

If I had the choice, it'd be the harp. Man, those controls were terrible.
Story/quest-wise, it's fairly perfect. 'Cept for re-sealing the Imprisoned several times...

 

[newpsy]

I have to agree with you that the silent realm gave me such a heart beat, it provides the suspense that I haven't felt in a long time playing a video game. On the other hand the one thing I would change from the game is the fun fun island quest. I don't know maybe give it a different take on how to display the wii mote abilities while sky diving.

 

[LinkPTY]

Two things:

- Fi interrupting me every freakin' second.
- The explanation that pops up when you pick up a treasure or bug.

 

[Ventus]

I personally would have removed the last chunk of the game, meaning all of Song of the Hero up until the credits and replace it more...darker events. The game just felt too "Link is GOING TO WIN, NO IFS ANDS OR BUTS ABOUT IT" to me from the very start of the game, and I love when catastrophic events happen, it creates a sense of urgency and the time where you just HAVE to get things done [like in Majora's Mask].

*The Song of the Hero portion was just Nintendo's [successful] attempt at trolling us Zelda players, forcing us to do fetch quest after fetch quest to advance the plot. I don't like those kinds of things, especially when we're promised a brand new Zelda experience.
*Sky Keep is what it is. Nintendo could've done better with a final dungeon. It was just a big puzzle in all actuality.
*Ghirahim III and Demise were too easy. For G3, Link ran into the battle all pissed off, that's cool, but Ghirahim told him EXACTLY how to...kill Ghirahim?! What's the point of having a penultimate boss battle if we're told exactly how to beat him, and it's overly simple? And Demise, I'm just ashamed. Both of these bosses could've been improved, like instead of the insistence of a 1 on 1 battle, perhaps they could do ALL ODDS against you? Instead of Link vs Demise, it could've been Link vs Demise with his supposed 'god powers'. THAT would make for a 10x better final boss battle IMO.
*The ending disgusted me. It basically was TP's ending, what with how easy each boss was and how the story played out. Once again, Link is in what appears to be trouble, but flawlessly comes out on top with all of his loved ones unharmed. We then get a less than emotional scene with our wouldbe partner if she wasn't so annoying, and we get the THE END screen after we leave our hometown. C'mon Nintendo, give us something different for a change!

Well, those are just my own personal gripes with the story and the final bosses of the game. I felt they were too linear and too easy, though that just comes with more Zelda experience. As far as anything else goes, I much agree with removing the notifications that Fi and the treasures give us – once is enough y'know!

I disagree about removing the Silent Realms, as they were amazing and I absolutely love them. Running through each segmented place with nothing but your own feet, no fighting involved...it created a great tense feeling that I would love to have had throughout Skyward Sword. Unfortunately, we only had four SRs – if dungeons could also serve as Silent Realms...Nintendo would have done awesomeness right then and there.

MW7 made an excellent point about creating more Sky Islands instead of the SotH portion of the game.

I would also change the first Sword Upgrade we get. Rather than a sword upgrade, we should get a Magic Meter instead. From there, we could get the classical Fire, Ice and Light arrows, along with other magical items instead of, say, the Whip. I feel the lack of a magic meter was a wasted opportunity on Ninrtendo's part.

Skyward Sword did a lot, but it could've done SO MUCH MORE.

 

[JuicieJ]

I would probably, as Vanitas, take out the Song of the Hero portion. Why not just learn the whole thing from Levias and visit the other two dragons the second time we visited the Eldin and Lanayru provinces? That put less emphasis on them and made them seem insignificant, unlike what was done with Faron, the Water Dragon. The Boss Rush mode gave Lanayru more limelight, but it wasn't that much of a story element, and Eldin was in the game for a whole 2 seconds. I just wish they had done more with them. I mean, at least put them in like I said along with the Song of the Hero quest. Just a personal nitpick of mine.

The game just felt too "Link is GOING TO WIN, NO IFS ANDS OR BUTS ABOUT IT" to me from the very start of the game...

Dude, we know Link is going to win in every Zelda game we play. Seriously, why do you complain about that all the time?

 

[Ventus]

Eldin was in the game for a whole 2 seconds.
Dude, we know Link is going to win in every Zelda game we play. Seriously, why do you complain about that all the time?

1) Actually, now that I think about it, rather than the three dragons as we see now, those same three dragons could have been boss enemies! I'm pretty sure most of us suspected Eldin in the early trailer to be Volvagia, and even though introducing that dragon in SS would be a forced encounter and also forced usage of a certain object, it would be MUCH better than a simple visit then leave, wouldn't it? I don't know what we could do with the Nayru and Farore dragons, but Eldin definitely could make it as a boss enemy.

2) Sorry, I keep forgetting that I make the same claims over and over again!

 

[JuicieJ]

1) Actually, now that I think about it, rather than the three dragons as we see now, those same three dragons could have been boss enemies! I'm pretty sure most of us suspected Eldin in the early trailer to be Volvagia, and even though introducing that dragon in SS would be a forced encounter and also forced usage of a certain object, it would be MUCH better than a simple visit then leave, wouldn't it? I don't know what we could do with the Nayru and Farore dragons, but Eldin definitely could make it as a boss enemy.

But he's (undoubtedly) one of the Light Spirits chosen by Hylia. Why would he be an enemy? (Not counting Levias's situation, that is.)

 

[MW7]

I would have removed the sword and replaced it with a tennis racket

Might as well have done that in OOT with the battles against Phantom Ganon and Ganondorf. Or just only let Link use a bottle for combat. It's all good.

Now that I think about it, it would have worked against Bilocyte as well. Great idea, I hope they consider it for the next game- Legend of Zelda: The Origin of the Master Racket

 

[Wolf Sage]

Hmm... I dunno. There's not much that I'd actually [eliminate and/or] replace, as Skyward Sword was nigh perfect, in my opinion. Though, if a I had the choice I'd probably change the battle with Demise at the end. What I'd have done differently is up the difficulty of said battle and made things far less predictable. I would have also given Demise more options as far as attacks go. After reading Axle's thoughts on how Demise was simply the last of 4 phases of resealing the Imprisoned and viewing it as a whole, I came to the realization that the final phase of said 'battle' was much easier than the second. In my opinion, this was a huge misstep on Nintendo's part and it could have been done much better.

 

[GAMERG0D]

I'd take out the stealth part at Eldin Volcano and I'd put in a snow area with a temple.

 

[Gerren]

I would have had Skyloft directly threatened at some point. I get that it's supposed to be a safe haven of sorts but it just feels so jarring to see the place so happy and carefree while Link is supposedly trying to stop the apocalypse.

 

[Ventus]

Hmm...another part of Skyward that I would definitely eliminate is Fi. Her entire character and being, just make it go poof. Her pretend emotions that we experienced at a certain point in the game make me want to hurl, she was just eh as a character. I'd rather have unspoken text given to us (y'know, how tutorials generally used to work) than have to listen to Fi's pretend language and her pretend notifications that ACTUALLY annoy me.