The Difficulty in Skyward Sword

[Hero_in_Green]

Hey everyone,

The difficulty has been rather disappointing in recent Zelda games even though the games are very fun. That's why I want Skyward Sword to implement a harder difficulty. The damage caused by more intimidating enemies should be higher than two hearts, because looking at Wind Waker and Twilight Princess, these enemies take off anywhere from a QUARTER heart to just ONE heart. So this causes you to forget strategy altogether and just go in swinging. I understand a perfect answer to this is to "do a three heart challenge" but really it shouldnt be up to the fans to implement their own difficulty because the developers decide to make the games "less frustrating" for younger audiences. However it makes it more frustrating for people who breeze through the games without much difficulty. To me - although the games are amazing and nothing short of epic - it does kind of lessen the experience. That's why I WANT Skyward Sword to be harder than usual. The motion control will add a type of difficulty we've never seen before, but once we get the hang of it, I'm afraid we'll be seeing those three heart challenges again.

A Link to the Past was the PERFECT difficulty for a Zelda game. The fortune tellers helped you in terms of where to go next and the enemies took off quite a bit of health, especially in the dark world where COMMON enemies sometimes took up to THREE hearts a hit. So I'm wondering what you guys think how difficult Skyward Sword should be

 

[Cuju]

I think that Skyward Sword will be a good challenge to even good Zelda players. Why? Well, first off, in the E3 demo last year, you'll notice that every attack, even Kesse swooping down on you, does one full heart of damage. This means you'll be able to take a miniscule three hits before you die at the earliest stages of the game. Nintendo might balance this out by giving us four, five, or even six hearts from the starting of the game.

Also, in interviews last year, Eiji Aonuma said that when Miyamoto said he wanted to make Skyward Sword easier, he meant that the controls were easy to pick up and play, not the games difficulty. He said that he wants players to be challenged, and feel like they've acomplished something when they solve puzzles. Plus, with all the Wii motion plus puzzles were sure to be getting in this game, it will likely take some time for even veterans to get used to.

EDIT: I almost forgot, but with enemies blocking your attacks, and the players having to swing their swords in specific directions to damage enemies, will both add an extra layer of difficulty to the game.

 

[Azure Sage]

I honestly hope that Skyward Sword will prove to be one of the most challenging Zelda games to date. Like many others, I felt that the more recent games like TP were too frustratingly easy. I hope SS will be the game to do away with that fact.

 

[JuicieJ]

The Bokoblins themselves take off one heart per hit. Combine that with us actually having to keep our own guard up, you've got a pretty challenging game. We've seen the damage factors in gameplay footage. It's going back to the older Zelda games in that aspect. Like, probably back to A Link to the Past.

 

[Hero_in_Green]

The Bokoblins themselves take off one heart per hit. Combine that with us actually having to keep our own guard up, you've got a pretty challenging game. We've seen the damage factors in gameplay footage. It's going back to the older Zelda games in that aspect. Like, probably back to A Link to the Past.

I really hope you're right, because it'd give us a reason to fully collect all the heart pieces I think the Stalfos will be some of the most challenging enemies in the game because of their dual swords and all that good stuff. I actually want to die in Skyward Sword bc it'll be worth the challenge

 

[shopy01]

everyone's idea of difficulty is different. i thought tp was hard when i first played it. not nearly as hard oot. that game took me ten years to play it but that's because i got frustrated when i first got it and didn't try it again for ten years. now ww was too easy. i have never played a game before and think it was easy. but that was too easy. i thought super mario galaxy 2 was easy but most people thought it was really hard.the hardest zelda games i have ever played is mm and alttp and i still haven't beat them yet. but i don't want ss to be too hard then i'll never finish it. but i think games have two different difficulty ratings. one is controls. now i hate hard and confusing controls. all it does is make me mad and i end up throwing the controller. i want easy to use controls. now the second difficulty rating is enemies and puzzles. now those i was to be hard.

 

[JuicieJ]

I really hope you're right, because it'd give us a reason to fully collect all the heart pieces I think the Stalfos will be some of the most challenging enemies in the game because of their dual swords and all that good stuff. I actually want to die in Skyward Sword bc it'll be worth the challenge

Oh, yes, the Stalfos look like they're gonna actually be difficult enemies again. I think they're gonna be tougher than they were in Ocarina of Time. (Which wasn't incredibly tough, but they had superb fencing skills.)

 

[marcus97]

twilight princess although my faviroute zelda game was too easy, i hope ss will be harder but achievable.

 

[Con-man]

remember when we all thought SS would be one of the easier zeldas? lol(at least i did)

 

[JuicieJ]

Skyward Sword's gonna be the toughest yet. Every enemy is a challenge.

 

[Hero_in_Green]

Skyward Sword's gonna be the toughest yet. Every enemy is a challenge.

Oh i believe that. The amount of time it takes to defeat a Bokoblin or a Stalfos is far greater than that of previous games where youd just go in and slash them with no defense. Miyamoto, Aounuma and the rest of the Zelda team has played quite a smart card.......hmmm...

 

[myperuba]

I think that though it looks to be more challenging, it doesn't look to be more difficult. That may seem contradictory, but i don't think it is. Yes each enemy may be hard to kill, but if there is little chance at being killed by the enemy that's not really a big problem. I hope personally the there is a way for the enemy's to deal major damage to Link. But the enemy's in the trailers didn't look like they swung their swords/attacked very often. But perhaps the shield meter, and having your shield destroyed so you can't block anything will make it very difficult to remain alive when struck by an enemy. Sidenote, I personally love dying in Zelda games.

 

[Wolf Sage]

In terms of difficulty, I just hope that at least some of the enemies have some degree of adaptivity to Link's supposed "upgrades" which he can SUPPOSEDLY obtain throughout the game. This would both thoroughly enhance the game's difficulty level (especially when back-tracking) and more replayable. Plus, a mid-difficulty enemy could be as epic as fighting an Iron Knuckle!

The ability to decide difficulty would be a cool bonus as well, and maybe an even more difficult second quest.