Shield Meter!?

[Yiazmat]

Did you guys notice the new shield meter in the latest Skyward Sword trailer? Any ideas/facts about it would be appeciated...

I for one have no idea what it could be... maybe durability but I really don't know..!

Post your comments guys!

 

[Megamannt125]

I really hope it's durability. Maybe shields break after a while.
It would give us a reason to use our rupees and go to stores instead of them just sitting around and cluttering up.

 

[Djinn]

Just as long as there are stores around to buy more shields when necessary.

I assume this was added to keep players from just sitting there with the shield up and being perfectly protected all day long until they feel the need to begin attacking. Since the developers were trying to create a much more realistic combat experience in this game they would have to remove the seemingly invincible abilities of the shield from previous games. Where as in OoT Link could just hold the shield up and protect himself from dragon fire, sword slashes, magical blasts, etc. eternally with no consequences. The shield meter does add a little amount of realism in combat since shields would break after a certain amount of abuse. Especially so with Link's level of abuse. And give players a little extra push to be more proactive against enemies.

 

[Beeker]

I'd say it's something along the lines of what Djinn said.
The shield meter will probably be for stamina and how long you can hold up your shield for. It must be similar to the stamina meter we saw in the last trailer/demo(Speaking of that, is it still there? Or replacing it?) Probably for more realism and involvement in the game.

 

[gogo]

This clearly is nintendo's attempt at going all MINECRAFT!

 

[zeldakid895]

I think this feature will be like in the Super Smash Bros games, where you can only shield for a certain amount of time before it runs out, then you have to wait to build it again. I think this will add a bit of difficulty to the game as you now cannot shield the enemies all the time, but actually have to fight them legit.

 

[Mastik]

i think it is not a shield meter, it is the stamina meter we sew in e3 in a different presentation

 

[Blazestarre]

If the bar means how long you can use the shield without it breaking, then that bar better not go down quickly because otherwise it might start to get annoying having to keep buying shields. It does give you a reason to actually use rupees, but it does run the risk of being an annoying element.

More than likely it's what others have said so far: a stamina bar. I bet the bar gets lower each time an enemy hits your shield, not when you have your shield out. Instead of losing hearts, the meter goes down. Once it's empty, then it's no longer effective and enemies will always get past your shield, taking away hearts. It would probably then refill as time passes, so you would have to wait a little while before you can use your shield again. This would certainly force players to fight a bit more offensively.

 

[Onilink89]

My guess would be, maybe you have to block attacks in certain directions, so that you can 't rely on your shield everytime.
Other guess would be, for some kind of shield skill?

Spoiler

We saw in the trailer that he counterd against the stalfos with his shield

 

[dur.i.am]

Just as long as there are stores around to buy more shields when necessary.

I assume this was added to keep players from just sitting there with the shield up and being perfectly protected all day long until they feel the need to begin attacking. Since the developers were trying to create a much more realistic combat experience in this game they would have to remove the seemingly invincible abilities of the shield from previous games. Where as in OoT Link could just hold the shield up and protect himself from dragon fire, sword slashes, magical blasts, etc. eternally with no consequences. The shield meter does add a little amount of realism in combat since shields would break after a certain amount of abuse. Especially so with Link's level of abuse. And give players a little extra push to be more proactive against enemies.

I think this is the most likely reason. I believe that Nintendo are trying to get Zelda to be slightly more realistic whilst adding some difficulty to the game. As Djinn and others have said, in past games you have been able to stand their with your shield up and block the majority of attacks that can be blocked by a shield. With a shield meter, it will have to make you go on the offensive more often and make it harder to keep yourself alive and healthy.

Not have seen this Shield meter myself though, I've got no hints as to whether it's to do with the durability of the shield or the stamina of Link himself. Personally, I'd prefer it be the latter, it would make you have to use different strategies to battle the opponents in usual games, and depend on how hard they hit, it would take a chunk out of Link's stamina. Anyone with a basic knowledge of Physics will know what if an object connects with another object with force, that a portion of the force moving the original object will transfer into the object it struck. So applying that to Zelda, you'd get the fact that Link would have to hold up a rather heavy weight whilst defending himself, whilst any force that strikes the shield will then transfer into his arm almost instantly. It would make your arm feel tired and weak rather quickly, and it would make holding up the shield harder depending on the amount of time you hold it up and the force behind any attacks that hit it. Just holding it up could drain a small amount of Link's stamina every second.

So as you can see from that paragraph, once the meter had reached 0, Link would have to stop using his shield for a certain amount of time so that his arm could recovery, forcing the player to go on the offensive.

The idea about the durability of the shield seems more likely though, but I'll find it a pain in the *** to make it halfway into a temple just to find out that my shield has broken.

 

[Blazestarre]

Not have seen this Shield meter myself though, I've got no hints as to whether it's to do with the durability of the shield or the stamina of Link himself. Personally, I'd prefer it be the latter, it would make you have to use different strategies to battle the opponents in usual games, and depend on how hard they hit, it would take a chunk out of Link's stamina. Anyone with a basic knowledge of Physics will know what if an object connects with another object with force, that a portion of the force moving the original object will transfer into the object it struck. So applying that to Zelda, you'd get the fact that Link would have to hold up a rather heavy weight whilst defending himself, whilst any force that strikes the shield will then transfer into his shield and then into his arm almost instantly. It would make your arm feel tired and weak rather quickly, and it would make holding up the shield harder depending on the amount of time you hold it up and the force behind any attacks that hit it. Just holding it up could drain a small amount of Link's stamina every second.

So as you can see from that paragraph, once the meter had reached 0, Link would have to stop using his shield for a certain amount of time so that his arm could recovery, forcing the player to go on the offensive.

The idea about the durability of the shield seems more likely though, but I'll find it a pain in the *** to make it halfway into a temple just to find out that my shield has broken.

I hadn't really thought about the shield meter that way before, but your point makes sense. From what I can remember from watching the trailer, it seems like they are adding somewhat realistic physics to the combat system to make the most use of the motion controls. I find that more likely, though, than the shield durability, at least if they keep the status screen the same. In the other games, you could only carry one shield of a certain type at a time. The only way I could see shield durability working without it being annoying is if you could carry several shields at once, but that might make the shield meter rather pointless.

 

[ThatRandomGuy]

I believe it was put there to make the game seem more realistic. I mean, lugging around a 30-40 pound metal sheild is hard enough, but holding it up while in combat? Must be pretty tiring. So I think its there to show how long Link can defend himself before he wears out.

 

[Hyrulian]

I wish it was a magic bar, I would much rather be shooting fire arrows then my shield to break. BUT it still is cool, and will add a lot of depth to the game if it were able to break. And it will give you something to buy, I always have all this money in zelda games without anything to buy, and that gets rid of the excuse of cutting down grass. :-)

 

[nicktheslayer]

There better be different types of shields then. Some that work better against fire, but take more damage from ice, and vice versa. And the ability to sell shields back, (or store them on Epona if shes used), to have multiple ones to trade out before you need them.

 

[Boeykenney]

Perhaps in the game you can use a supercharged shield move that requires a (possibly magic) meter. Seeing as no special abilities were used in the trailer, I believe whatever it does is going to be kept a secret until E3 or launch.