Was Skyward Sword too Long?

[Burgh86]

At least it's a change of pace from the usual. The sky is definitely less tedious than sailing the Great Sea in the Wind Waker. All Zelda games have relatively empty fields - the sky was just a form of transportation from place to place in the overworld below the clouds - think of it almost like warping.

Anyone that thinks Skyward Sword has less content than previous Zelda titles needs to take a closer look at the game or at least play it again without being biased against it, because I assure you that you will find it to be much more action-packed than another other title. If you're still not sold, here:

[video=youtube;vRd5hd2BlC0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRd5hd2BlC0[/video]

[video=youtube;tzr3WLoHims]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzr3WLoHims[/video]




Now, in the G4 X-Play review, skip to around the 2:00 mark. They voice their complaints about the empty sky, but think about it this way: since when is a sky supposed to be crammed with content? Otherwise, it'd be more like a flying fortress than a wide-open sky, and the point was for it to be a good getaway from the constant action that goes on in Skyward Sword.

Oh, and they call the overworld small. They say that some of the length is "padding", but not for the reasons everyone here complains about. Now, the game is linear and gameplay is condensed into smaller areas, forcing Link is retread ground like in the Metroid series. So what was that you all said about artificial length? I rather like revisiting old areas and discovering that there's much more to these areas than can be seen by the naked eye. Would you really prefer larger, less-interesting areas that likely won't be seen again in the main quest?



So you're implying that every other Zelda game doesn't have lots of text to read and unskippable cutscenes the first time around? It contributes to Twilight Princess' play time, too.

Several reviewers see it as a weakness, but its proves my point. Skyward Sword fits lot of content into a small space, and through the whole game, the only time you're allowed to breathe in any air is when you're exploring the sky and Skyloft. So before you criticize any more aspects of the game, please take into consideration why these elements are present and how they contribute positively to the game.

Didn't you just say that Hyrule field in OoT was boring and empty and was a chore to traverse? But the sky in skyward sword isn't?

And how can you view flying as a warp system? Do find riding Epona in other games as a warp system? Because they are one in the same.

 

[MW7]

That's already too much time, as running through an empty Hyrule Field isn't in the least bit exhilarating. As many critics have remarked, Skyward Sword is jam-packed with content and hardly ever wastes the player's time. Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess filled the void between dungeons with boring fetch quests and tiresome running from Point A to Point B. Although these segments between dungeons in previous Zelda games weren't ridiculously lengthy, they were enough, as a whole, to make me yawn.

The surface was jam packed with content and the lead up to dungeons was terrific. However, for me personally the amount of time the game took away from my life by requiring me to travel from point A to point B in the sky as well as the pointless bug/treasure notifications added up to more time than I probably spent outside of dungeons in OOT. I don't think it's fair to drag OOT into this because several of the dungeons didn't require you to do much of anything before reaching them or very little. There were a few fetch quests like getting Ruto's letter in a bottle. However, a few cases the stuff inbetween dungeons was a minidungeon, and in a way this OOT was a precursor to Skyward Sword since most of the surface is kind of a minidungeon. One of my biggest problems with Twilight Princess was that it felt like it needed to have something to do between every dungeon and most of the time it felt pointless. Skyward Sword made all the stuff between dungeons interesting (with the exceptions of the beginning of the game, a few repetitive boss fights, and the Song of the Hero Quest- all IMO of course) which was a large improvement over Twilight Princess. For me the problem is that I prefer OOT's model of not requiring you to always do half an hour of something before a dungeon. Most dungeons in OOT require you to do 5 minutes max of lead up time with the exceptions of the minidungeons and Gerudo Fortress. So I guess I'm saying SS "fixed" something I felt was "wrong" in TP rather than just leaving it out and focusing more on sidequests as I would have preferred. SS was still a large improvement over TP though.

Also SS included some dumb design decisions like requiring you to go back to the sky to warp or keeping the 3 main areas of the game separate on the surface. In OOT if you want to go from the forest to the lake you just play the Serenade of Water- takes 2 seconds. In SS if you want to go from the forest to the lake it would be faster to just run there (since they're actually connected as part of the same area) rather than utilize the "fast travel system" of finding a bird statue, going to the sky, turning around to go back to the area you just came from, then diving to the lake. The designers made a few decisions like these that made the game take longer than it had to. The other beef I have as I hinted at was that I would have enjoyed the game more if there was a shorter main quest in favor of more sidequests.

SS is an adventure that holds 40 hours or so in store for a non-completionist, and I don't see how SS has as many filler quests as games before it. Nintendo did its best to address this issue, and SS feels mostly like a completely new sort of Zelda title. Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess had much less interesting openings than Skyward Sword did. What Zelda game hasn't gotten off to a slow start? It's almost become a tradition for 3D Zelda games.

Why does there have to be a tradition at all though. My favorite and IMO the most interesting opening of any game was in LoZ because there wasn't an opening. Skyward Sword's opening was better than most of the 3d games, but I don't understand how you can prefer an opening like that to being inside a dungeon within 5 minutes like in OOT. Still OOT had some pretty boring exposition at the beginning. It baffles me that we can't have a 3d game start off even like ALTTP in which the game let's you know what's going on in 2 seconds then lets you have at it. Are the game designers wannabe film makers or something?

I do agree that overall Skyward Sword does have the most content of any game. I also liked having to retread ground within small dense areas. What I had a problem with was that the main quest was pointlessly linear again like in Twilight Princess again. Is there any reason whatsoever behind having to pursue the 3 flames in the second half of the game in a certain order?

Having said all this, keep in mind that overall I love Skyward Sword. It's just that with a little common sense the game could have been perfect and that's frustrating. All of Skyward Sword's flaws are small though and I'm thankful for that.

 

[Golden-Flute]

I personally thought it was a great length! Although I see what you mean... I'm used to the traditional Zelda "recipe" of three dungeons, switch gears, five or six dungeons, boss dungeon and then final battle. When I had to look for the Hero Song, I did think "Another quest?" but I was also happy, because it gave me more time to play with the toys I'd gotten in the other temples and dungeons and gave me a chance to really use them for all they were worth. In the end, I really liked the extra searches because they added more to the game for me and gave me more time to enjoy this wonderful game! ^^

 

[Majora's Cat]

Didn't you just say that Hyrule field in OoT was boring and empty and was a chore to traverse? But the sky in skyward sword isn't?

And how can you view flying as a warp system? Do find riding Epona in other games as a warp system? Because they are one in the same.

You seem to have ignored a large part of the post you quoted, sir. I said that skies aren't meant to be overflowing with content - that's not what a sky is. While it left me hungering for more, it's a much more interesting concept than riding through Hyrule Field. And keep in mind that you spend most of the time between dungeons in the game on the ground floor, not in the sky.

When you drop down into the land below the clouds, the sky is essentially a quick way to get from one area to the next. Imagine if the overworld below was linked together. Then it would be rather difficult to get from say, Faron to Lanayru. Epona and loftwings are used very differently, as there the overworld of Skyward Sword is fragmented almost to the point where they can be viewed similar to planets in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. Epona is used for travel through Hyrule Field, but doesn't provide a quick way to jump from area to area.

 

[AngelCake25]

i have never played it so i will never know until i have played it!

 

[Burgh86]

You seem to have ignored a large part of the post you quoted, sir. I said that skies aren't meant to be overflowing with content - that's not what a sky is. While it left me hungering for more, it's a much more interesting concept than riding through Hyrule Field. And keep in mind that you spend most of the time between dungeons in the game on the ground floor, not in the sky.

When you drop down into the land below the clouds, the sky is essentially a quick way to get from one area to the next. Imagine if the overworld below was linked together. Then it would be rather difficult to get from say, Faron to Lanayru. Epona and loftwings are used very differently, as there the overworld of Skyward Sword is fragmented almost to the point where they can be viewed similar to planets in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. Epona is used for travel through Hyrule Field, but doesn't provide a quick way to jump from area to area.

I've read through too many of your irrational posts to continue arguing with you. Enjoy the game.

 

[TheWind]

Is it just me or can people complain about absolutely anything?

That was unnecessary, friend. This is supposed to be a place where people can discuss their opinions freely and openly. If you have an opinion about the game feel free to share it, but don't post something arbitrary just to be mean.

I felt that there was some filler in SS that did feel a lot like filler. I agree there should have been more optional, less required. And, of course when something is optional, it feels a lot more like your own personal quest, where you get something useful or new from completing it, and that feels good. I rather like fetch quests, but only if they are optional, otherwise they give the game a slower pace, which is never good for epic-ness, IMO

 

[Majora's Cat]

I've read through too many of your irrational posts to continue arguing with you. Enjoy the game.

That obviously strengthened your argument, didn't it? And Merry Christmas to you.

 

[Burgh86]

Don't know what I did but for some reason I double posted my last comment so I'm just writing this to get rid of it.



Edit: that comment isn't showing up. I don't know what I did here, lol.

 

[pit0010]

well, coz i havent finished it, i think so far, even if its short or long, overall the game is just stunning to play

 

[Vattis_Wrath]

I feel that TP had this problem, but I thought it was much better in SS

 

[Hyrule's Hero]

I love the fact that is was long. I hate games that are only like 15 hours long it feels like a waste of 50+ bucks. The fetch quests were sort of annoying but I actually didn't mind the song of the hero quest too much, I loved meeting the other two dragons and even though I hate swiming and getting those tadtones the fact that I was swimming in a forest that I had been walking in not long before was awesome. Sneaking around in Eldin was great too.

 

[Spirit]

I didn't mind the length of Skyward Sword, what i did mind was having to go to three different places (two of which may as well have been the same one) three different times for very weak reasons, had the game had more provinces o explore then i wouldn't have minded as much. As it is it really narked me off. It doesn't help either that plot takes its lead form a chase-movie, revisiting the same three places again and again gave more of a sense of running in circles rather than chasing down an enemy through an alien land. By the end of the game it was just tedious and every time i went back to the sealed ground the imprisoned broke free, which just gave me less reason to waste my time there.

 

[SilentLink]

i thought it could have been way longer

 

[TNinja]

yeah, i felt like it kind of dragged on a bit, even though it was an awesome game. I think the length of the game was wonderful, but they could of made the quests a bit better