Skyward Sword Disappointing????

[Wolf Sage]

Was it just me or was skyward sword one of the most disappointing zelda games ever. I had so many issues with it, that i couldnt consider it a great game in the series. I felt it did nothing to make the series better( except the fabulous controls). here are the problems I had with it and why.

Well, I'm sure that's a bit of a gross exaggeration. This kind of response typically comes from those who had a difficult time with the game. They nitpick and try to find faults in the game to mask the fact that it was too difficult for them. They essentially blame the game as the reason why they died so many times, had a tough time with enemies, puzzles, etc. In my 18 years of gaming, I have not seen this occur so much as I have with SS. I'm not saying this is your case, of course.

1: PUZZLES TOO EASY

the entire game was devoid of challenging puzzlez. In previous Zelda's I always found myself stuck at some point, but with this game I always knew what to do and was never really challenged. Even in newer titles such as TP, i was challenged by its puzzles and design. I wish they made the puzzles harder.

I'm a series veteran, and many of the puzzles provided a challenge for me. Nintendo appears to have found middle ground with regards to veterans and newcomers.

2: DUNGEONS TOO SHORT

The dungeons in the game were over as soon as they began. most of the dungeons were greatly designed but they were much too short. the Sky Keep was the only exception, this dungeon was satisfying and challenging. No dungeon really got me thinking and it was over just as it was getting good.

They were just the right size in my opinion. If I am somewhere in any game for too long, I get bored. This didn't happen in SS. Dungeon progression was well paced and the means by which items were obtained was greatly improved. I used each item throughout said dungeons. Furthermore, I also kept in mind the change in traditonal flow that Nintendo professed, and the overworld's dungeon-like qualities attested to that. [The world below was very dungeon-like.] I agree with you that Sky Keep was amazing - both satisfying and challenging.

3: SMALLER EMPHASIS ON EXPLORATION

What happened to the sprawiling world of previous zeldas. In those games there were so many places to explore and so many new places to see and people to meet. In skyward sword you always know where to go (fi tells you) and the areas are much smaller. there was no huge overworld to explore and not enough secrets to discover. In this game you dont feel like you are on an adventure because the games areas are so amall. my favourite part of zelda is the nonlinear aspects of its exploration, in this game I didnt feel the spirit of exploration.

Most fans' definition of exploration when it comes to the Zelda series seems to revolve around traversing a huge field with nothing to do. Skyward Sword changed that, as Nintendo said it would. They stated it would be more dense, but contain more things to do throughout. (they didn't lie to us) Those activities appear to have somehow masked the "exploration" we're used to in the series. In the case of most 3D Zeldas, this means wandering about an empty field on foot (or horse.) It seems Nintendo attempted to fix what TP is generally believed to have "broken." I guess they went a bit too far. [The majority of(?)] Fans who missed that kind of exploration simply do not approve of those "fixes."

4: BORING GAMEPLAY

The worst part about this game is the boring and repetitive gameplay. This game had way too much filler. I hated the fetchquests and filler in this game. I hated finding key pieces, tadtones,fetching water, and many other boring overworld missions. I thought these quests were boring and I didnt have fun playing them. The best parts were the areas before the third dungeon (in the desert) and the areas leading up to the Sandship, basically the desert.

I actually thought the enemies were great. Sure they were a bit predictable once their patterns were realized, but they were not totally disappointing. Especially so, since I considered them to be a huge step up from the monotonous enemies like those of TP. Also, I don't agree with you that the fetch quests were all tedious. Maybe there could have been less of them, but adventure games need a few fetch quests thrown in here in there, as their omission often results in a "hack-and-slash", which I DO NOT WANT TO SEE IN ZELDA - EVER... I found each dungeon to be very unique and enjoyable, and the puzzles were of moderate difficulty.

these factors make the game a 7.5-8 for me and I cant understand how it got a 10 on ign. I loved the controls, story, and skykeep/ lanyru mine. please tell me if you had the same issues and if you love the game id love to know why. I am open to all opinions and i hope the next zelda will fix these issues.

Meh... I give it 9.25. Skyward Sword has become my second favorite (after OoT). It seems to me that Zelda will continue a downward trend for many fans, Nintendo has not done anything right since Ocarina of Time, so maybe it's time for those fans to move on. :yes:

 

[Ventus]

Nintendo has not done anything right since Ocarina of Time, so maybe it's time for those fans to move on. :yes:

Wolf Sage, I know this was in regards those certain fans...but Majora's Mask was a step in the right direction for Zelda. I'd say Nintendo hasn't done anything right since Majora's Mask. Now, MM was no OoT in my opinion, due to the very different worlds they're in (literally and figuratively), but that's a good thing. Look at TWW, TP and SS. Try to tell me that you didn't feel any lick of Ocarina of Time in there (if you don't, that's beyond me). MM didn't feel at all like Ocarina, and because of that lack of OoT (not the item), Majora's truly shined as one of the series' best accomplishments. Keep in mind MM was release 12 years ago. Nintendo hasn't since accomplished what they have with either OoT nor MM. SS tried to blend both together and failed. What our friend Nintendo needs to do is create a Zelda that is unlike any other, in a good way, and through that perhaps the next Best Zelda Game can be born. But time will tell.

 

[Wolf Sage]

Wolf Sage, I know this was in regards those certain fans...but Majora's Mask was a step in the right direction for Zelda. I'd say Nintendo hasn't done anything right since Majora's Mask. Now, MM was no OoT in my opinion, due to the very different worlds they're in (literally and figuratively), but that's a good thing. Look at TWW, TP and SS. Try to tell me that you didn't feel any lick of Ocarina of Time in there (if you don't, that's beyond me). MM didn't feel at all like Ocarina, and because of that lack of OoT (not the item), Majora's truly shined as one of the series' best accomplishments. Keep in mind MM was release 12 years ago. Nintendo hasn't since accomplished what they have with either OoT nor MM. SS tried to blend both together and failed. What our friend Nintendo needs to do is create a Zelda that is unlike any other, in a good way, and through that perhaps the next Best Zelda Game can be born. But time will tell.

Fair...

It seems to me that Zelda will continue a downward trend for many fans, Nintendo has not done anything right since Majora's Mask, so maybe it's time for those fans to move on. :yes:

Fixed. However, I don't think things will get any better - only worse - for those fans. I recommend they move on, lest they wish to be heartbroken by yet another disappointing Zelda game. :/

 

[MW7]

Fixed. However, I don't think things will get any better - only worse - for those fans. I recommend they move on, lest they wish to be heartbroken by yet another disappointing Zelda game. :/

I think I'll still at least play every entry until something really offends me (Twilight Princess came close), but I think you are right that the series seems to be moving in a certain direction that alienates fans of the older games (if that's what you meant- I thought that was a fair paraphrase of what you said and that's how I interpreted it). Wind Waker and Skyward Sword were very good games (as was TP but it was very far away from what my vision of what a Zelda game is), but I'd still rather play other games that were released long ago.

I have some hope though because Miyamoto wants to remake ALTTP. Instead of that, if they just incorporate the ideas of that game into the new Zelda then they would be back on track from my perspective. If they recognize the genius of that game, maybe just maybe they'll realize that the games they've been making the last ten years are very different.

 

[Honorable Hero]

I have to disagree. I find it to be the best Zelda game I've ever played. The motion controls, the world, the atmosphere, art style, story, music, dungeons..everything was awesome.

 

[thefloydios]

"MORE COLLECTING AND DUNGEONS WOOHOO!!!" I know you were being sarcastic, but dude, have you NOT played a Zelda title before?

i was not bieng sarcastic bro. i have beaten zelda 2, a link to the past, and twilight princess. I have played the legend of zelda, majoras mask, ocarina of time, the minish cap. i will get around to beating them though

I'm surprised a lot of people are agreeing with the OP since all the reviews claim it to be one of the greatest games of all time and better than Ocarina of Time.

I agree with all of the OP and I'm not going to elaborate and be redundant, the posts above this one explain my ideas quite well.

However I'd like to mention one thing and maybe go a bit further into why I think Skyward Sword wasn't that good at all, and this is all opinion. The overall general fun factor wasn't there for me. As soon as I got it, it was great. I loved how it opened up with a GREAT story showing awesome character development between link and zelda, and when i got to the first area of the game, the forest area, I was stoked to get things started.

After the first area though that's when things whent downhill FAST for me. I realized that after the first place I had to go to the next place, the Eldin Volcano... To me, it got extremley tedious of how the overworld was like a dungeon or a temple, and than after you're done with the overworld you had ANOTHER dungeon to go to. It got tiresome and I didn't want to do it. To me an overworld is supposed to be about exploration, adventure, and things to collect. I think Wind Waker achieved this the best although OoT was great as well. You could argue that the surface wasn't the overworld and that the sky was, however it was such lack luster that after I flew around it once I knew I didn't want to do that again. Another thing that bugged me was that the three surface areas weren't connected. It felt like each one was isolated and separate from the world, like they were separate states and not one big country I suppose. The beautfy of overworlds like OoT and Wind Waker is that everything was one big world where you could freely go from one to the next, and that I think is what an overworld should be.

So finally after you're done going through the tedious, annoying, and repetitive first three surface areas you finally think you're getting somewhere. Zelda goes through that portal thing and it's a real climax to the plot. However, you find that you need to...... charge your skyward sword........ only one thing I knew that could ment. MORE COLLECTING AND DUNGEONS WOOHOO!!!.....(sarcasm)

I literally felt like just throwing my controller on the ground and nerd raging through my house. Having to go BACK the the forest area and do a WHOLE new temple it drew me insane. After FINALLY getting to the Ancient Cistern Cavern and going through a pathetically bad dungeon I still knew that there were two more to go. After that I turned the game off and played Portal 2 and Skryim, and haven't picked it up since. I know this means that my argument isn't TOTALLY valid but I don't see how it would be influenced if I actually finished getting the three sacred flames. Maybe the game will get better after I retrieve the master sword which I know is inevitibly coming but idk, I just don't have the motivation. I guess after writing this I might get back to it but in my own time. I'm not going to force myself to play a game just so I can validate my opinion, I play them because I think they're fun.

That's all.

ya i agree. but it wasnt that bad for me

Well, I'm sure that's a bit of a gross exaggeration. This kind of response typically comes from those who had a difficult time with the game. They nitpick and try to find faults in the game to mask the fact that it was too difficult for them. They essentially blame the game as the reason why they died so many times, had a tough time with enemies, puzzles, etc. In my 18 years of gaming, I have not seen this occur so much as I have with SS. I'm not saying this is your case, of course.



I'm a series veteran, and many of the puzzles provided a challenge for me. Nintendo appears to have found middle ground with regards to veterans and newcomers.



They were just the right size in my opinion. If I am somewhere in any game for too long, I get bored. This didn't happen in SS. Dungeon progression was well paced and the means by which items were obtained was greatly improved. I used each item throughout said dungeons. Furthermore, I also kept in mind the change in traditonal flow that Nintendo professed, and the overworld's dungeon-like qualities attested to that. [The world below was very dungeon-like.] I agree with you that Sky Keep was amazing - both satisfying and challenging.



Most fans' definition of exploration when it comes to the Zelda series seems to revolve around traversing a huge field with nothing to do. Skyward Sword changed that, as Nintendo said it would. They stated it would be more dense, but contain more things to do throughout. (they didn't lie to us) Those activities appear to have somehow masked the "exploration" we're used to in the series. In the case of most 3D Zeldas, this means wandering about an empty field on foot (or horse.) It seems Nintendo attempted to fix what TP is generally believed to have "broken." I guess they went a bit too far. [The majority of(?)] Fans who missed that kind of exploration simply do not approve of those "fixes."



I actually thought the enemies were great. Sure they were a bit predictable once their patterns were realized, but they were not totally disappointing. Especially so, since I considered them to be a huge step up from the monotonous enemies like those of TP. Also, I don't agree with you that the fetch quests were all tedious. Maybe there could have been less of them, but adventure games need a few fetch quests thrown in here in there, as their omission often results in a "hack-and-slash", which I DO NOT WANT TO SEE IN ZELDA - EVER... I found each dungeon to be very unique and enjoyable, and the puzzles were of moderate difficulty.



Meh... I give it 9.25. Skyward Sword has become my second favorite (after OoT). It seems to me that Zelda will continue a downward trend for many fans, Nintendo has not done anything right since Ocarina of Time, so maybe it's time for those fans to move on. :yes:

i highly disagree. when i meant exploration sucked it was not only the size of the areas , i likem big. but it was also bieng told what to do. its not exploration if you know what to do (fi telling you). if the areas were the same size but you werent told where to go, the exploration would have been better. also zelda games are all different for me there is no downward hill. many newer games were even better than older ones imo.for me the puzzles were still to easy, i never felt challenged. and these dungeons were like half an hour for me. thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Fair...



Fixed. However, I don't think things will get any better - only worse - for those fans. I recommend they move on, lest they wish to be heartbroken by yet another disappointing Zelda game. :/

whoa nintendo has been awesome since majoras mask. mario galaxy, twilight princess, metroid prime games, donkey kong country returns, mario wii, super smash bros. games are getting even better. it was just that ss disapointed me, its not like all new games are dissapointing. nintendo is epic!!!

I have to disagree. I find it to be the best Zelda game I've ever played. The motion controls, the world, the atmosphere, art style, story, music, dungeons..everything was awesome.

thanks for sharing your opinion. the music motion controls and atmosphere were awesome. but i weigh those less than dungeons and gameplay

 

[MoblinPiglet]

It's true that the dungeons in skyward sword are pretty easy and some what short, but the dungeons are probably the most creative and epic in the series. Especially The Sandship and Sky Keep.

 

[thefloydios]

I agree with all Thareous said above. Much of your complaints are due to the fact that the whole game is set up like a dungeon, so I partially agree with you.

ya i see what your saying. its just that dungeons arent everything. i miss the huge realistic world and exploration where you are not told where to go and what to do.also everything outside the dungeons is boring for me, and the dungeons themselves are short. this game has actually gotten worse for me since i posted this. looking back it wasnt that good at all. its just that i was fresh from the last dungeon and bosses so i loved those parts. but as a whole i wouldnt say its a good game.

i accidentaly posted this again bc i origionally posted this in zelda games instead of skyward sword. so i went on today to see if it was there and it wasnt. i thought i accidentaly deleted it somehow so i posted it here. but then i realized it was just moved here after all.

 

[HylianLink]

It's true that the dungeons in skyward sword are pretty easy and some what short, but the dungeons are probably the most creative and epic in the series. Especially The Sandship and Sky Keep.

Agreed, I thought they were a bit too linear, but the designs, innovations, etc. made up for that.

 

[Wolf Sage]

whoa nintendo has been awesome since majoras mask. mario galaxy, twilight princess, metroid prime games, donkey kong country returns, mario wii, super smash bros. games are getting even better. it was just that ss disapointed me, its not like all new games are dissapointing. nintendo is epic!!!

I was referring to the Zelda series only. Nintendo has done great with the Mario games and such (or so it seems). It's just, Nintendo can't seem to win when it comes to Zelda. No matter what they do, they always fail. I've noticed a downward trend... :/

 

[Brad Wickliffe]

Overall, I was dissapointed with this game. With 5 years in the making, you would think it would be the god of all Zeldas... but I (we) thought wrong. The dungeons were a little short, as one person already posted. And I didn't understand why there were so many potions. I like the traditional red/heart green/magic and blue/both, as most true Zelda fans would be used to. Who needs extra air underwater? Seriously! There are bubbles like, every 20 feet! And finally the biggie; I had a hard time comprehending the ending/ time travel mess. If you think hard, Demise would have the world under his control at the very beginning of the game because since you seal him in the past at the end of the game, that would cause the whole "fighting back the Imprisoned" mess in the present time due to his seal breaking after thousands of years. But since since, at the beginning of the game, you haven't yet visited the past yet to seal him, that would mean that when the game starts you off in the beginning, he would have been thriving for thousands of years already. So that was a bit of a fail. And don't even get me started on Impa. Her whole "past and future" existance at the same time is very confusing. When you first see her in the Eldin Volcano, it is obviously in the present time, which is when she is supposed to be old, so her young form (at the Volcano) and her old form (back at the sealed grounds) are existing in the same era, which shouldn't be. And why did she vanish at the end?

 

[Sir Analog]

I do have to agree. There was a review someone on Zeldanime did. They hit the nail on the head when they said the game was entirely linear. The only real exploration you could do was fly to small rocks in the sky for treasure chests. There was no real exploring on the world below, either. It all followed a linear pattern. Out of the three areas (which it seems like there would have been more, considering this was when Hyrule was being discovered), you went through them in a linear fashion. If you found a closed of area, it was wasn't something for exploring, it was an area that you came back to after you beat the next couple of dungeons. It seemed to take out the exploration that games like Majora's Mask had. SS put up the illusion of a big world.

 

[Shadao]

Overall, I was dissapointed with this game. With 5 years in the making, you would think it would be the god of all Zeldas... but I (we) thought wrong. The dungeons were a little short, as one person already posted. And I didn't understand why there were so many potions. I like the traditional red/heart green/magic and blue/both, as most true Zelda fans would be used to. Who needs extra air underwater? Seriously! There are bubbles like, every 20 feet! And finally the biggie; I had a hard time comprehending the ending/ time travel mess. If you think hard, Demise would have the world under his control at the very beginning of the game because since you seal him in the past at the end of the game, that would cause the whole "fighting back the Imprisoned" mess in the present time due to his seal breaking after thousands of years. But since since, at the beginning of the game, you haven't yet visited the past yet to seal him, that would mean that when the game starts you off in the beginning, he would have been thriving for thousands of years already. So that was a bit of a fail. And don't even get me started on Impa. Her whole "past and future" existance at the same time is very confusing. When you first see her in the Eldin Volcano, it is obviously in the present time, which is when she is supposed to be old, so her young form (at the Volcano) and her old form (back at the sealed grounds) are existing in the same era, which shouldn't be. And why did she vanish at the end?

The air potion does become useful for the tadpole test. For the ending, I don't get your point. It's quite obivious, Demise was doomed to defeat from the very beginning.
It goes like this chronologically:
Hylia seals Demise
Impa travels to the future
Zelda and Impa comes back from the future to maintain the seal
Ghirahim comes from the future with an awaken Zelda and unseals Demise
Demise was defeated and his mind was sealed by Link in the Master Sword
Impa and Master Sword left in the Past
Several centuries laters
The Imprisoned begans to break free from the seal
Zelda was rescued by Old Impa and set out on a quest
Impa from the past comes and aid Zelda by going into the past
Link finds the Triforce and destroys Demise
Zelda awakens from her Slumber and Ghirahim kidnaps her and goes to the past to revive his master as he was dead in the past
Link follows Ghirahim to the past
They come back from the past to see Old Impa after defeating Demise

This is Time-Travel aspect of Skyward Sword indicates pre-destination of all things, explaining why the world in the present wasn't turned into a wasteland as Demise was supposed to be defeated.

 

[MW7]

I do have to agree. There was a review someone on Zeldanime did. They hit the nail on the head when they said the game was entirely linear. The only real exploration you could do was fly to small rocks in the sky for treasure chests. There was no real exploring on the world below, either. It all followed a linear pattern. Out of the three areas (which it seems like there would have been more, considering this was when Hyrule was being discovered), you went through them in a linear fashion. If you found a closed of area, it was wasn't something for exploring, it was an area that you came back to after you beat the next couple of dungeons. It seemed to take out the exploration that games like Majora's Mask had. SS put up the illusion of a big world.

The linearity sticks out to me very much. The game could have been much more enjoyable if it allowed for more exploration and choice as Zelda games were originally built around. Even the sidequests unlock in a linear fashion. At least you can do some in different orders, but they all unlock at certain points in the game unlike how in Majora's Mask you could literally complete a third of the bombers' notebook before even leaving Clock Town for the first time. The game did allow for some choice in a couple of dungeons (most notably Sky Keep) and during the Song of the Hero quest, but if they recognized the fun factor involved with nonlinearity why didn't they expand it to much more of the game? Still at least the game was more open and less linear than Twilight Princess.

 

[thefloydios]

I was referring to the Zelda series only. Nintendo has done great with the Mario games and such (or so it seems). It's just, Nintendo can't seem to win when it comes to Zelda. No matter what they do, they always fail. I've noticed a downward trend... :/

\]

i see what your saying, but i disagree. twilight princess and wind waker were great games

The linearity sticks out to me very much. The game could have been much more enjoyable if it allowed for more exploration and choice as Zelda games were originally built around. Even the sidequests unlock in a linear fashion. At least you can do some in different orders, but they all unlock at certain points in the game unlike how in Majora's Mask you could literally complete a third of the bombers' notebook before even leaving Clock Town for the first time. The game did allow for some choice in a couple of dungeons (most notably Sky Keep) and during the Song of the Hero quest, but if they recognized the fun factor involved with nonlinearity why didn't they expand it to much more of the game? Still at least the game was more open and less linear than Twilight Princess.

true except for the last part. it was more linear than twilight princess. in that game they didnt constantly tell you what to do.