Skyward Sword Vs. Ocarina of Time

[A Link In Time]

Forgive me if there is a thread like this already in the Skyward Sword or World of Zelda forums, however, I browsed through both and found none on the first page of either. A comparison between Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword was logical since both the port of the former and the latter were released on the system, however, due to Skyward Sword's excellence and impact on the gaming industry, it has been compared ti Ocarina of Time more than arguably any other franchise title released since the turn of the century.

My question to you today is simple: Which is better-Skyward Sword or Ocarina of Time?

I see pros and cons to both titles. As the thread creator, I'll endeavor to remain neutral on this opening post and list the peaks and troughs of both titles.

Skyward Sword

Pros:

-The first game in the industry to fully legitimize motion control and provide 1:1 combat.
-A very sentimental story topped with a story which is not cliche and a funky villain who's up to no good.
-Extremely well designed overworld segments in the three regions-Nintendo's promise of blending of dungeon with overworld largely fulfilled.
-Plenty of new and unique items such as the beetle and gust bellow.
-Items are not tossed to the side after being acquired but rather used throughout.
-Cameos by favorites such as Beedle and Tingle.
-Numerous historic and religious symbols enrich the story.

Cons:

-Harp is not used very effectively as the game's instrument.
-Sky is very barren and islands hold little to accomplish.
-With a few exceptions, soundtrack is underwhelming by franchise standards.
-Difficulty curve of enemies does not steadily progress upwards.

Ocarina of Time

Pros:

-Vibrant and connected overworld filled with dynamic chracters and sidequests.
-Quantity and quality of dungeons is above most franchise installments.
-The significance of Z-Targeting and the subsequent use of lock-on in many videogames today cannot be highlighted enough.
-Idea of teleporting through time was unique for its time and is found in many games today.
-Very gradual difficulty curve assisted by numerous helpers such as Navi, Kaepora Gaebora, and Sheik as well as progressively more difficult enemies.
-Large quantity which are used frequently throughout the game.
-Teleportation songs and Epona make for quick travel.

Cons:

-Bosses fall in repetitive pattern of stun with dungeon item, hack, and slash.
-First three dungeons are on the short side.
-Final dungeon (Ganon's Castle) is underwhelming.
-Hyrule Field quickly becomes a despised filler after multiple romps traversing it.

Which masterpiece do you deem superior? Let the games begin!

 

[Night Owl]

I say Ocarina of Time. Every now and then I replay OoT, lots of times just to see if there are secrets I missed.

Of course, I did have more fun playing Skyward Sword... But I haven't done hero mode yet because I feel I've found all of it's secrets. :hmm:

 

[univpark]

Ohhh... Hard question. I like them both! Please don't make me choose!

 

[Koosholts]

Ocarina of Time. I compared the two games in another thread I think, so I will not do it here again.

But Skyward Sword is a very close contender.

 

[MiniMouseofPyru]

Ocarina of Time was great. In order for another Zelda game to surpass the awesomeness of Ocarina of Time would be extremely hard. There are great things in Ocarina of Time and bad things, same with Skyward Sword.

Ocarina of Time...it introduced many different types of mechanics that would play a significant role in future games, such as Z-targeting. Ocarina of Time was also the first 3D Zelda title. I think one of the reasons Ocarina of Time is so great is because it was the first game that introduced so many things. Zelda fans played it and loved it. It also had unique ideas. The teleporting through, transportation songs, the design of the dungeons, you name it. Also, Nintendo made the characters in the game much more interactive. The plot was much richer and your partner, Navi was interesting (although annoying) and Kaebora Gaebora was also interesting (yet still, annoying). Even minor characters, such as the Happy mask Salesman had some sort of story to them.

Yet Ocarina of Time did still have flaws. The bosses weren't as interesting after playing the game for a bit. The bosses were cool, but all you had to do was slash your sword repetitively and use the dungeon item. The first three dungeons weren't designed as well as the later dungeons and Hyrule Field became too, boring after playing the game for a bit. The Final Dungeon wasn't as good as it should've been, aside from Ganondorf, that is. ALIT, you've named most of the flaws in the game.

Skyward Sword, was good in many, many ways. The motion controls, the plot, it was all amazing. The one on one motion control combat, that was incredible. The story was great, it was somewhat emotional with it's "moments". The overworld was designed greatly, it was also a very light game, unlike Twilight Princess where the story and plot were both dark. Also unlike Twilight Princess, the items were very well chosen and limited. In TP there were too many items, some weren't ever used again outside their respected dungeons. There were new items too, such as the Beetle. Nintendo did a very good job making their puzzles with such limited items. The cameos of Beedle and Tingle were all fun and I'm sure most people loved it.

Again, Skyward Sword has its bad things. The enemies. It was fun to figure out how to defeat them in the beginning, but after that, that enemy got boring, the enemies all got easy and not very interesting. In other words, the enemies got too easy. The harp. I was so excited when I heard about the harp in Skyward Sword, I couldn't wait. Before receiving the harp in Skyward Sword, I'd experienced the motion controls. This made me much more excited for the harp, I thought it would be amazing. Yet once I received the harp, I was greatly disappointed. All you had to do to play the harp was string it back and forth. Instead of playing notes and all that, all you had to do was swing the Wiimote back and forth. The Sky, it is vast, but it was boring flying around. The first few moments of flying with my Loftwing were sensational. But after Going back and forth between regions and traveling throughout the Sky...It got too boring. The flying was somewhat of an improvement over sailing in the Wind Waker, yet it was still very similar.

Ocarina of Time is still on top, Skyward Sword is close behind it though. As much as I love SS, it's still too new and naive to be better than Ocarina of Time. It still has much to live up to. Perhaps in the distant future, Skyward Sword will surpass the excellency of OoT, but still, you never know.

 

[TriforceHunter]

I'm sorry but even after all these years Ocarina still comes back on top, everything Skyward Sword lack or tries to do Ocarina of Time does better. OoT is still challenging, it's visually stunning, innovating and great. My main comparison between these games is in the way the world is set up. In Oot the world is all connected, giving it a better sense of realism and adventure, and it sure feels a lot bigger, the night to day systems is smoothly done. The music is just classical, every track that you listen stirs an emotion and it sticks with you for a lifetime. The game also has a slighter darker tone that gives it a lot more style.

Now in SS the world is set in three parts and the Sky used something like Wind Waker style of exploration but it's worthless because you only have like three places to go. The main land below is set so that you can choose your map, I'm sorry, but wasn't Wand of Gamelon a bad game? So why pick it's map-choosing over world? and the whole game itself just feels more claustrophobic I don't like that feeling of just going straight all the time, I am not a big Call of Duty or Final Fantasy 13 fan. One thing I will give Skyward Sword is that the land above the clouds is beautiful, the characters have a lot more personality, if anything I think that's where the heart of the game lies - that and the battle system which was done brilliantly - other than that Nintendo needs to get their stuff together and try again next time, that's all I will say.

I don't hate the game, in fact I liked the experience, I just think it's pretty lackluster. Wouldn't play through again.

 

[Sir Duke]

SS wins out for me. Not by much, but it still pulls through. I loved the controls, orchestrated music, art style, as well as the story and character development. My only real problem with the game is the empty sky, but even that makes a certain amount of sense, as it's the SKY. Not the sea, not a field, but the SKY. OoT is a fantastic game as well, by all rights, but SS wins for me.

 

[Pokecix]

Skyward Sword. Because its story is deeper then OoT

 

[Zelda of Hyrule]

OOT for me. There is just something so timeless in OOT's story, so grand, so magnificently awesome, that is simply beyond words.

 

[linkmoon89]

I liked the controls, the story line and the game play for Skyward Sword. But for me Ocarina of Time, in my opinion, wins.

 

[Jimmu]

I pick Skyward Sword because the whole game is a dungeon, the music (even though I dislike the harp and how it was used), the storyline and the memorable characters.
OoT is very close though.

 

[endtoendhockey]

I pick Skyward Sword because the whole game is a dungeon, the music (even though I dislike the harp and how it was used), the storyline and the memorable characters.
OoT is very close though.

I really like your comment about the music. I have the Skyward Sword soundtrack on my PC at work on a pretty steady rotation. Even my six-year old likes it.

I returned to OoT after playing through Skyward Sword, and felt so limited by pressing buttons to swing a sword, using a controller to control a slingshot, etc. The game was great and the controls are good, but they aren't immersive.
Skyward Sword spoiled me by actually allowing me to use the Master Sword, and all of the other tools.

I really like your comment about the music. I have the Skyward Sword soundtrack on my PC at work on a pretty steady rotation. Even my six-year old likes it.

I returned to OoT after playing through Skyward Sword, and felt so limited by pressing buttons to swing a sword, using a controller to control a slingshot, etc. The game was great and the controls are good, but they aren't immersive.
Skyward Sword spoiled me by actually allowing me to use the Master Sword, and all of the other tools.

Which made me all the more disappointed with Kinect Star Wars. They had a chance to make magic, to actually give me a lightsaber. But they messed it up so badly, especially in comparison to SS.

 

[bs8814]

Ocarina of Time, it was such a breakthrough and personally I hated the motion controls in Skyward Sword

 

[ShadowDiety]

Ocarina of Time. I like everything about it more than SS. I love them both though.

 

[winterbbytumblr]

Skyward Sword, for sure.
I may be influenced because i don't have the nostalgia factor everyone else does- i just played it for the first time 1 week before i played SS.

However, i love the SS music, story, controls, and everything more than OOT, however i do like OOT a lot too!

SS- 9.9/10
OOT- 9/10