Spoiler Where is the Snow ?

[WhiteRundas]

Hey guys,
I finished Skyward Sword last week and I must say that it is a great game. But I have one problem.
It is one week before christmas and I somehow miss a ice themed region in the game.
What are your thoughts about it? Are you disappointed too? Or could you live without one?

 

[Mastik]

i hated the snow dungeon in TP, and most snow dungeons in general. T'm happy that they stock with the duel themed dungeons, made the dungeons so much better, but it might have been cool to have like an ice-fire dungeon like in Spirit Tracks. so in a way, yes, i kinda miss the snow

 

[Links Brother]

Not all Zelda games have and need a Snow level. First off where would you put it? Faron was taking place in the summer and the other places were way to hot foe snow. Skyward Sword had so many places and dungeons I don't think it needed a snow level. I liked the idea of having only three provinces but they are huge. If another snow place was added it would be too much I think.

 

[ZeldaFan11]

Skyward Sword had so many places and dungeons I don't think it needed a snow level. I liked the idea of having only three provinces but they are huge. If another snow place was added it would be too much I think.

Buts lots of other people are complaining about not having "nothing to do" or they "wanted more" the snow temple or reigion could have helped with that. easily.

But for me, i woulda like to have seen one.

 

[MW7]

The game had plenty for me to do, but more is usually better. I would have liked to see an ice province and corresponding dungeon. Ice dungeons are probably my second favorite "kind" of dungeon behind water dungeons. However after having a memorable (not everyone would say good but it definitely sticks out) ice dungeon in Twilight Princess, it's not a big deal at all that they went with other ideas in Skyward Sword. I liked all the dungeons in this game. All I'm saying is that it couldn't have hurt the game as a whole, but at some point they run out of space on the disc and go with the best ideas they had which in this case didn't include an ice dungeon/region.

 

[Wolf Sage]

I would have really liked to see a cold climate region in Skyward Sword. An ice themed dungeon would have also been a nice addition in the game. I don't consider their omission to be a major lost, though.

 

[Ventus]

The lack of an ice themed dungeon isn't really major, but the lack of a cold climate region is a big disappointment. There were literally three kinds of places to be in SS, and the lack of a Hyrule Field made it feel very tight – almost claustrophobic. Saying that, no snow region (any other region actually) makes the underworld [of sorts] feel very empty in a sense. If there was more diversity, especially by way of a complicated snow dungeon/region, I'd enjoy SS even more than I do presently.

 

[Majora's Cat]

Not all of the elemental themes will be incorporated into a single Zelda release. Majora's Mask lacked a fire dungeon, Wind Waker lacked an ice dungeon, and if Twilight Princess' Temple of Time counts as a mechanical dungeon, several 2D and 3D Zelda games don't bother to include it. I believe that in Skyward Sword, Nintendo purposely shifted Nayru's domain to sand as well as water. Nayru and the Lanayru Province is most commonly associated with water, and SS works wonders with the Timeshift Stone gameplay segments. That being said, the ocean of sand was once an ocean of water, so I'd like to think of the Sandship as both a sand and water-themed dungeon.

Water isn't exactly the same as ice, but the two are oftentimes associated with each other in some way. In Ocarina of Time, the Zora's Domain/Lake Hylia area became intertwined in the objective of finding Jabu-Jabu's Belly and the Water Temple. A miniature ice dungeon was included in the gameplay between the Fire Temple and Water Temple, meaning that water and ice can sometimes be related.

Overall, I wasn't disappointed that Skyward Sword didn't have an ice dungeon. A water-themed dungeon is enough H2O for one game, and tossing an ice-themed dungeon in the mix would be somewhat redundant. Instead the game features both the Lanayru Mining Facility and the Sandship, which I consider to be the replacements for a water and ice dungeon. The relationship between the two sand-themed dungeons in Skyward Sword to water and ice dungeons is best understood when compared to Twilight Princess:

Skyward Sword: Skyview Temple - Earth Temple - Lanayru Mining Facility - Ancient Cistern - Sandship - Fire Santuary - Sky Keep

Twiliight Princess: Forest Temple - Goron Mines - Lakebed Temple - Arbiter's Grounds - Snowpeak Ruins - Temple of Time - City in the Sky - Twilight Palace - Hyrule Castle

The Lanayru Mining Facility is the third dungeon in Skyward Sword, as Lakebed Temple is for Twilight Princess. Sandship and Snowpeak Ruins also correspond. I believe that Nintendo was aiming to replace the water-themed dungeons in Twilight Princess with sand dungeons, which are also associated with water. Another indication that Lanayru Mining Facility is really partially water-based is the fact that Nayru is the goddess represented by the area. The area likely becomes the equivalent of Lanayru Province in Twilight Princess, which means that Nintendo is hoping the player will pick up on the hints it drops for them regarding the relationship between sand and water.

I understand why you would want to play an ice dungeon around Christmastime. But Nintendo would have no way to predict the release date of Skyward Sword and throw an ice-themed dungeon in there just to correspond with the winter season. It's just absurd, and the game was only released in November, which is just far enough away from Christmas to render the inclusion of an ice dungeon (for the sake of Christmas) to be completely irrelevant.

If Skyward Sword were to have an ice dungeon, it would be difficult to fit it anywhere into the game. There isn't an area that suits such a dungeon, so Nintendo would have to create an entirely new area (or cover Faron Woods in snow) to make an ice-themed dungeon possible. Skyward Sword just offered so much in content and in the way of creativity in dungeons that I wouldn't wish for anything more from the game. I'm glad that it turned out the way it did, and the new approach to Nayru's area in Hyrule is pretty refreshing.

 

[Wolf Sage]

The lack of an ice themed dungeon isn't really major, but the lack of a cold climate region is a big disappointment. There were literally three kinds of places to be in SS, and the lack of a Hyrule Field made it feel very tight – almost claustrophobic. Saying that, no snow region (any other region actually) makes the underworld [of sorts] feel very empty in a sense. If there was more diversity, especially by way of a complicated snow dungeon/region, I'd enjoy SS even more than I do presently.

Hmm... Well, I guess a cold climate region could have given the provinces a bit of diversity. In retrospect, there were times when the overworld felt a bit restrictive in terms of variety, as there was only a forested, woody area; a mountainous, volcanic zone; and a vast, desolate, dry desert region (devoid of humans). A cold region to the north would have been a refreshing break from the monotony.

 

[Jragun]

I honestly didn't even notice. Snowy worlds are usually my favorite...in Mario games, but for Zelda, not so much.

 

[A Link In Time]

I would have loved to see a Snow/Ice Region in Skyward Sword. They are some of the best in the series.

 

[ZeldaFan11]

In retrospect, there were times when the overworld felt a bit restrictive in terms of variety, as there was only a forested, woody area; a mountainous, volcanic zone; and a vast, desolate, dry desert region (devoid of humans). A cold region to the north would have been a refreshing break from the monotony.

^yes, it seemed like the only temp. in the game was mildly hot, hot, or extremly hot.

I would have loved to of seen what nintendo could have done with a snowy themed temple. it probably would have been really good.

 

[AwesomeTingle]

They flooded Faron Woods, they could've frozen over one of the reigons for the Song of the Hero portion. But other wise, I don't know where they could;ve put it. And I honestly never liked sliding on ice/sliding blocks on ice personally.

 

[AlwaysNamedLink]

Didn't mind snow not being in, in fact I never thought of it until seeing this thread. But if they omit anything, I'd rather them omit a Water Temple/Area. IMO, water is Link's (and any smooth control's) kryptonite.

 

[DeletedUser9]

A couple of you guys keep saying that there's "no place to put it", and Majora's Cat, you kept mentioning the sand areas in replacement of it, but the sand areas are actually part of why it should have been in the game. Let me explain:

Twilight Princess actually had 6 provinces. A lot of people seem to forget about this now, for some reason. Ordona Province was dropped from Skyward Sword obviously, and they kept Faron, Eldin, and Lanayru, but there were two others: Desert Province and Peak Province.

Desert Province was located right by Lanayru (and is even reached from Lake Hylia), meaning that, at least thematically speaking, they combined Lanayru Province and Desert Province in Skyward Sword. Prior to release, I was thinking they'd combined Peak Province, too, but into Eldin Province. Think about it. Peak Province is also reached from Lanayru, but it's placed adjacent to Eldin and it's also a mountain area. What if you journeyed from Eldin Volcano to another mountain in Eldin Province, which would be Snowpeak, or at least an earlier version of it?

There's a couple of reasons why having Snowpeak in Eldin Province would have kicked all kinds of ***:

1. Eldin Province in Skyward Sword is the smallest province. Outside of Eldin Volcano there is only one area, and it's the pitifully small Volcano Summit.
2. Snowpeak would have been a snow area, would have finished tying Twilight Princess to Skyward Sword, and hell, snow would have looked gorgeous in Skyward Sword.
3. Imagine the journey. The barren Eldin Province, traveling through the lava areas, to a barren plain, and finally up a snowwy mountainside.
4. Locke mentioned this, but Snowpeak Ruins in TP has paintings and crests depicting a sword identical to Ghirahim's.

Think about that last part for two seconds. Ghirahim acts regal, seemingly escaped capture by the Goddess for many years (clearly went into hiding), Eldin Province seems to be the home of the Bokoblins and serves as their main base. Snowpeak Ruins was a mansion, in Snowpeak. Snowpeak Ruins or something very similar could have appeared in Skyward Sword as Ghirahim's hideout, or retreat, and served as a creepy dual snow and demon dungeon. I discussed a while back in a video, Desolation and Winter in Zelda, how winter themes are actually grim and desolate, and this would have meshed perfectly with Skyward Sword's potential creepy dungeon (aside from the basement of the Ancient Cistern). And can you imagine Ghirahim making his home in anything other than a creepy mansion?

This area and dungeon could have replaced the crappy Volcano Summit and the Fire Sanctuary, which was decent, but extremely thematically similar to the Earth Temple. It could have been the dungeon where you fought Ghirahim in a rematch. I mean come on, everything matches up. It's perfect. Why didn't they do this? @[email protected]