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Shield-Bash-Stun

Do you like the Shield-Bash-Stun?

  • Yes

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • No

    Votes: 0 0.0%

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    0

Ruby Link

He who started the fire
Joined
Jun 28, 2011
Location
I have no idea...
If they gave you a giant fireball that killed an enemy in one hit if you timed it right, would you still say "just don't use it". That's what I feel like the stun bash is like, most enemies can be disposed with a good timed shield-stun-bash then hack and slash. And don't act like you didn't start this.

Yeah, probably. Games have always had this problem where one item is way too over-powered and people complain about it all the time. This isn't the only over-powered item in SS either, look at Link's sword, in the beginning it took three hits to kill a Golden Deku Baba, then after the first upgrade two, and when you have the True Master Sword it takes one. I think that the swordplay became dull because of the Master Sword, not the shield bash.

And I never said I didn't start anything, though my post wasn't meant to be "trolling" or whatever people call it. I'm sorry if you misread it.
 

Ventus

Mad haters lmao
Joined
May 26, 2010
Location
Akkala
Gender
Hylian Champion
Yeah, you're somehow right, total pros like that one Japanese guy who finished off Demise in 28 seconds will use the advantages of both defensive and offensive gameplay at the same time. I was thinking more of the following two extremes: In the second phase, you can either just stay close up to him, shield bash him two or three times in a row and then strike once or maybe twice, that's the safest way. Or you can go back a little, charge the Skyward Strike, hit him with that and then get like 10 slashes in, but risking to be struck by him if you don't sidejump just at the right time after your sword gets charged.

That one? That was pretty awesome, I am wondering how he mastered the timing for each shield bash...I went on over to ZSR and I could've sworn I read him [Jackimus over at ZSR] saying that it was luck based. Anyway...that vid just outlines how broken the shield bash really is.
 

blubb

Ash Gala Wonderful!
Joined
Mar 9, 2010
Location
49.9°N 8.2°E
That one? That was pretty awesome, I am wondering how he mastered the timing for each shield bash...I went on over to ZSR and I could've sworn I read him [Jackimus over at ZSR] saying that it was luck based. Anyway...that vid just outlines how broken the shield bash really is.
Well, I haven't read anything about that and I still believe it's skill-based, meaning you have to do the timing just right. Speaking of timing, maybe they could've narrowed down the time window a little with the shield bash for more challenge (be it in the Hero Mode or generally).
You cannot instantly pull off a shield bash when you're still in the middle of a sword slash, if you've gone too far with consecutive sword slashes in the final battle, you'll get hit even if you pull up the nunchuck a split second before Demise swings his sword, so to pull off that 28 seconds run, you have to have perfect timing.
And always remember: there are also lots of 12 year olds with maybe little video game experience who play that game, so they couldn't have made it too challenging, or else we'd have more complaints now about the game being too hard (I see a s***load of complaints about this game's motion controls on the internet and I'd bet in 90% of the cases these guys just suck at the game and simply blame motion controls to keep up their ego) than the few of us experienced Zelda players who think it's a little too easy.
 
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JuicieJ

SHOW ME YA MOVES!
Joined
Jan 10, 2011
Location
On the midnight Spirit Train going anywhere
I don't use it very much, but if I have to react quickly and jumping out of the way won't work, I pop that shield up. It's really useful, especially in Hero Mode (without the Heart Medal) where every bit of damage counts. I would never abuse it, though. That would ruin the fun of the 1:1 swordplay (and make it too easy).
 
Joined
Dec 11, 2011
Yeah, probably. Games have always had this problem where one item is way too over-powered and people complain about it all the time. This isn't the only over-powered item in SS either, look at Link's sword, in the beginning it took three hits to kill a Golden Deku Baba, then after the first upgrade two, and when you have the True Master Sword it takes one. I think that the swordplay became dull because of the Master Sword, not the shield bash.

And I never said I didn't start anything, though my post wasn't meant to be "trolling" or whatever people call it. I'm sorry if you misread it.

The sword had absolutely nothing to do with it. Either way, shield-bash-stun then hack and slash. Some enemies could have been bomb then hack and slash or whip then hack and slash. You have the ability to get a shield from the beginning of the game and it does it all.
 

Onilink89

Nyanko Sensei
Joined
Oct 18, 2007
Location
The Netherlands
Wow, they give you the option to not have a shield equipped, if you have a problem with the shield, don't use it. It doesn't do anything to ruin the swordplay, it just helps less experienced players that are having trouble with certain enemies. Again, you don't like it, don't use it. It's that simple.

It's not as simple as "if u no liek, dun use". That's a lazy excuse to not fix something that is clearly broken. Some people actually LIKE using their shield, but they'd much rather being able to use it with its commands WITHOUT having things so ridiculously easy to pass through. Challenge is a good thing, especially in a Zelda game.

Agreed, its not like we hate the shield bash, but I personnaly prefered something more balanced. Nintendo could have easly deliver this balance and i'm just pointing that out how the balance could have been achieved.
 
Joined
Dec 14, 2011
I enjoyed the shield bash, it made the combat feel like it had more of a real feel to it.

If you've ever seen someone fighting with a sword and shield at a medieval convention you'll know what I mean, If someone swings a sword at someone overhead the defending person usually blocks with the shield up high to catch their momentium up high and push the attackers weight backwards making for an easy follow up strike underneath the shield...

You can see Aragorn doing this with his sword and elven knife in the Amon Hen scenes in LotR
 

Ruby Link

He who started the fire
Joined
Jun 28, 2011
Location
I have no idea...
The sword had absolutely nothing to do with it. Either way, shield-bash-stun then hack and slash. Some enemies could have been bomb then hack and slash or whip then hack and slash. You have the ability to get a shield from the beginning of the game and it does it all.

Yes, but the sword does become over-powered eventually and that's really the only thing that ruined the swordplay for me; I didn't use the shield unless it was for deflecting the Octorok's attacks or if I was blocking against some other enemy. The sword is really awesome to use, but Nintendo should have either given the enemies more health or refrain from making the sword become so powerful because they're way too easy later on. Our perspectives are different because we play/played the game a different way. I understand why you think the shield is too powerful, but I really didn't see it as the thing that ruined the swordplay just more of a thing to simplify it.
 

Ventus

Mad haters lmao
Joined
May 26, 2010
Location
Akkala
Gender
Hylian Champion
Yes, but the sword does become over-powered eventually and that's really the only thing that ruined the swordplay for me; I didn't use the shield unless it was for deflecting the Octorok's attacks or if I was blocking against some other enemy. The sword is really awesome to use, but Nintendo should have either given the enemies more health or refrain from making the sword become so powerful because they're way too easy later on. Our perspectives are different because we play/played the game a different way. I understand why you think the shield is too powerful, but I really didn't see it as the thing that ruined the swordplay just more of a thing to simplify it.
The sword becoming overpowered is a product of it gaining more strength, of forgery. If I had a basic broadsword of standard quality, but then got it forged at a smithy that delivers a much higher quality, you can best expect the sword to deal more damage. That's only natural. But as far as the shield goes, we can beat the game with only the basic Wooden Shield, no problems at all. I wouldn't say that is natural, because a shield bash would still have damage dealt to your shield and the fact that the shield is wooden makes it seem...for lack of better word, broken. The impact of my shield forcefully blocking your attack, coupled with the fact that my shield is wooden...I'd see a shattered shield after taking three direct blows.

So basically, with the shield bash we get:
I-Frames (invinicibilty frames, any professional gamer will understand this – however said iframes don't last very long)
Stun time on connect with enemy attack (for most enemies, some bosses are an exception)
Free hits after stun connection
NO damage dealt to the shield


The powered up sword damage isn't broken however, but I do agree with you that Nintendo should've taken steps to upgrade the enemies after a certain point in the story. Surely Ghirahim would've noticed that his army was particularly lacking after his first encounter with Link?
 
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N

Neltar

Guest
Personally it trivialized quite a few of the fights in the game for me. Including versus Demise, who I beat first time without losing a single heart, purely due to the fact shield bashing made that fight a joke. I felt rather guilty doing the fight like this due to the fact it was so easy. However given how easy this made the fight I thought there would have been another phase which wouldn't have allowed me to defeat Demise purely with shield bashes.

As has been stated several times, those technomoblins are a real pain for me at first, and it wasn't until late in the game that I realized you could defeat them (or in fact most enemies) using the shield bash method. I guess in a way it allows an easy way out for those who can't work the motion controls, but at the same time I think its a cheap get out clause at the very least - and this alone spoiled the final boss encounter for me.
 
H

hookshothappy

Guest
I really liked the shield bash maneuver because it really felt like I did something with my shield instead of just holding it in front of my body. I don't think it takes away from the motion controls because you can shield bash and then get right in there and slash away with your sword.
 

966623

What's grey?
Joined
Nov 14, 2011
I certainly don't mind bashing to stun, but I agree that it's unbalanced. Bash a lizalfos and it's as good as dead. Something should be changed to make it more even, such as smaller stun time, or smaller bash timing window. I was quite surprised as how large of a margin the bash would allow.
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Just as an example of what I though was balanced in a different game, in Paper Mario: TYD, you could press B right before an attack connects, negating all damage and potentially damaging the attacker. However, the timing could be quite difficult to pull off, so this move didn't make you invincible.
 

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