• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Is Skyward Sword worth sticking with?

Should I finish Skyward Sword?


  • Total voters
    97

BlackTron

Member
Seems I'm not alone in that I liked the dungeons but the game was so exhaustively slow with 1000 tiny annoyances that I never actually finished it. Just thinking about doing all that busywork and dealing with the myriad of control and expository headaches makes me want to play a different game.

I'm glad I played it years ago when I had more patience because I don't think I'd have made it 2 hours in today but that time travel dungeon in the desert was good to experience once. I just never will again because it's wrapped in a shell of this annoying game.

And I actually thought the sword controls were cool. If they could give me the dungeons and sword controls but in a "regular" Zelda with a grassy overworld and get rid of Fi, we'd be on to something.

Edit: It was the biggest massive dissapointment when SS was all we got for Zelda's anniversary after Mario got the triple pack. Come on Nintendo.
 
Last edited:

fart town usa

Gold Member
I don’t know if it‘s just me, but I always thought Skyward Sword is a terribly ugly game. They obviously tried to do some kind of painting-like artstyle, but it just doesn’t work imo; everything just looks flat and cheap. The horrible depth of field effect makes everything that‘s in the distance look muddy as hell, and the cardboard trees are some of the worst I‘ve ever seen. The Wii version in particular looks atrocious, but I don’t think the increased resolution of the Switch remaster is very helpful either, since all it does is highlight all those ugly, low-res assets everywhere.

I mean seriously, look at those trees lol:
OL9zosw.png
As funny as it sounds, the Wii version looks awesome when played on the Wii U gamepad. That small 480p screen does the game wonders.
 

justiceiro

Marlboro: Other M
When I played last year, i felt what most people felt: that the formula was growing old. Game is exactly what you are getting right now until the end, so don't expect any turning point.
 

Fbh

Member
I played it for the first time on Switch and thought it was pretty fun if not particularly great.
I actually liked the motion controls, gave it a unique feeling and they worked quite well (aside from having to constantly recenter the pointer, but it's quick and easy to do).
The dungeons are pretty good, though I couldn't help but feel a tad underwhelmed by them after hearing so much praise for them over the years. They are fun to go through but are pretty straightforward, I'd only call the last one truly great.

The biggest issue with the game is the obvious padding. The second half in particular has you backtracking a lot to do repetitive tasks
 
Seems awfully early to consider giving up but if you're not enjoying it that's what matters, personally I think it's the 3rd best Zelda behind oot and botw so I would recommend it, but just depends on your personal taste whether you should continue or not
 

Kataploom

Gold Member
Only in a world where Phantom Hourglass doesn't exist.
Also, even the "worst" Zelda game is still top tier.
PH was playable and I actually never got the hate, but damn SS is just... they tried so hard for making the game unplayable with those controls... it's just uncomfortable to use the sword, the items, etc.
 

Azelover

Titanic was called the Ship of Dreams, and it was. It really was.
I'm a huge Zelda enthusiast, but I have to admit, the game is decent it is not outstandings.

I would put it above Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks, but not by much.

So no, I don't think it's worth it
 
The lore was cool (for zelda fans at least) but this game aged like milk (disappointing Sky area, too linear, motion controls, Fi...).

Also, sales for this game were abysmal for a Zelda game. The good thing is that this forced Aonuma and the rest of the team to revamp the whole franchise.
 
Last edited:

Kuranghi

Member
I see its (many) issues but I do love the side characters, music, upgrading items so I can ignore them.

Get plenty of the thing in your life that you turn to when you need to relax the most (drugs, tea, incense, whatever) and accept that it will take a while to do everything. If its really frustrating though just don't sweat it and move on, its an amazing game but it stops short of being a masterpiece and isn't required playing for someone who wants to experience the best of the best games imo... personally though I think it should be played because I can overlook big issues even when I love certain aspects of games, like backtracking, poor main plot, slow moving constant tutorial like nature or it being too easy (I wouldn't say this is too easy, just an example generally).

If you do continue and if you're using the joy-con motion controls then know that when you sweep the joy-con in any given direction it doesn't matter where you were holding it at the time.

For example if you are holding it in the upper right position and you swipe up and right Link will effectively teleport his arm to a lower left position and then slice up and right. Once I understood this it made the combat puzzles mkae much more sense to me, especially recurring bosses like <redacted> where he will hold his hand up to where you are holding your sword and stop it if you try to swipe down and left from there (in my example where your arm is in the up and right position).

So basically what I'm saying is don't move your sword arm to where you think the swipe should start before doing it, just swipe in the direction you want from wherever your arm currently is even if that would seem in your brain like you'd just miss the target completely.

Sorry if thats really confusing but I can't think of a better way to explain it without illustrations, a video or just demonstrating it.

I'm not sure if that really matters when playing with the new right-stick controls though, I didn't try it extensively because I dislike having to hold a shoulder button to get camera control on the right stick.
 

rubenburgt

Member
The story is amazing, but the maps and companion are annoying.

Zelda is known for being open world, but skyward sword isn't that. Fi is a great character but she bother the player too much to the point they had to tone it down in the switch version.

Oh, and the stamina meter is annoying as well.

The items are fun though.
 
I’m almost finished the game on Switch. I completed it when it originally launched and wanted to do another run. It’s painful at times especially when using a regular controller. Would have been much more enjoyable if they would have gave alternate sword controls and regular movement with the right stick.
 

belmarduk

Member
Its by far the worst 3D Zelda game but its still better than most games.

There's one dungeon called The Ancient Cistern which is absolutely worth slogging it through some of the repetitiveness in this game.
 

ShadowLag

Member
Practice the motion controls in a safe environment on some trees or something. Understand that you're not actually holding a sword, and you don't have to really swing it like one. Keep your controller in a ready position at all times - just let your elbow rest, and make sure the remote is oriented a little bit upwards. Swings in this game are not "real" - they're activated by quick micro-jolts of motion.

For attacking, Just flick your wrist very lightly in the direction you want to swing, and it will swing. Your arm/elbow shouldn't even move - only your wrist. The catch is, after the swing, you need to keep your hand in its new position, so you can either slowly reset to neutral without accidental swings, or swing again in another direction.

It just takes practice to subconsciously keep your sword-hand in a proper "neutral" position all the time.

IMO, Skyward Sword is fantastic. Legendary OST, fantastic dungeons that take me back to the OOT days, and impactful/meaningful story, particularly in the last act. Controls never bothered me, but I had to understand them first. Fi is whatever, just mash through her dialogue.
 
Last edited:

K' Dash

Member
The game is centered around motion controls, they’re actually very polished and one of the best examples of excellent implementation. There are ingenious bosses, puzzles and enemies that are very fun to do because of the ways they executed them for motion controls.

If you don’t like them, I’d play something else.
 

Chiggs

Member
Thanks for the comments, everyone.

For what it's worth, I've decided to just move on from it. Not easy, given how much I enjoy Zelda, but I'm having a very hard time enjoying what's being presented.
 
Top Bottom