Complaints about Skyward Sword?

[Enthusiast]

I would give Skyward Sword a ten out of ten. But even so, I would admit that it isn't a perfect game- just incredibly awesome. So, what complaints would you have if you were asked to voice them?

[Bamstrokher]

Wow! where do I begin?

The excruciating tutorial section of the game in the beginning. It's pedantic, it's boring, it's insulting for gamers who like to figure things out for themselves.

Fi is so long winded. Just get to the point already.

The motion controls don't work for me. the bird chase was an excruciating experience just to get to the end of it. Ditto balancing on that log or chasing those dumb kikwees around

Dowsing: really stupid, boring, transparent way to teach you about a control method.

I could go on and on but my arm is tired from swinging my wii remote and my fingers hurt

[Kenkaku]

-All the characters look like they were designed by different artists locked in different rooms given vaguely different ideas on what Skyward Sword was supposed to look like. If anything, this is a rare instance where a stylized look results in the game falling into the uncanny valley (ignoring the awkward monosyllabic grunts and looped animations). This also includes Fi, who I swear was conceptualized by someone who desperately wants to make a sci-fi game, not a Zelda game.

-Nothing interesting happens until after you complete the third dungeon, several hours into the game. I only just figured out what I'm supposed to do next, and unfortunately, it still doesn't look like the plot is going to be picking up anytime soon.

-Though I like how the motion controls work for things like equipping and using items and being able to move while aiming weapons and looking in first person, I have had several issues with the combat. I'd move my hand to prepare a swing in a certain direction, but it registers as a swing and I wind up accidentally attacking the wrong way and, in some cases, getting hurt.

-Padding. Loads and loads of padding. Someone needs to tell Nintendo that length doesn't equal quality; stretching out the experience with fetch quests isn't fun. It's just busy work.

-This is not a game you can play casually. If you want to play in short bursts, you will more than likely hate this game, because, chances are, you'll start up the game, reach a save point, and nothing will happen in between. I got this game on launch day, but due to college and finals, I couldn't dedicate large periods of play time until only a couple days ago; before that, I only managed to clock in about six hours, and those six hours didn't make me want to go back and play some more.

This is just what I've gotten after about 12 hours total of play time. Skyward Sword is far from a bad game, as it has a lot of good ideas going for it, but it's all sloppily executed. I'm sure I'll be adding to this list as I complete the game, but for now, you can be assured that this is a game I'm probably never going to play again once I'm done.

[bellboy]

There isn't much more I can add to the list but I whole-heartedly agree with most of the complaints.
The only thing that could/does bug me more is when I have an opinion opposing the popular one and the reason is because I have some fundamental flaw on my person or I know nothing and should shut up.

But yeah, there were a lot of MODS BAN ME PLEASE * things with this game that really soiled the whole experience for me. The padding was definitely horrendous for sure. That Song of the Hero quest was boring as hell and frankly should've shorter. In fact I'm curious as to how my opinon would have differed if by Dungeon Six the game drew to a conclusion. That's a reason why they're held in such high regard. It's a positive and defined goal- Not a glorified side-quest.
There's only so much I can go into without paraphrasing my own review. But one thing I wish they had done (and would like to reinforce) was have another area to explore. The way the described having a dense world I thought that Hyrule's area were going to be massive but on the contrary they were short and dull. It felt like a console Mario game level- fun for a while but only serving the purpose it was made for. They got so boring after a while.
It's just a complete black sheep as far as Zeldas go and I'm not even sure if I love it, period- let alone as much as past ones.

*This originally rhymed with "wiggling".

[LegendofZelda1996]

Here are some complaints that I have:

- Fi is very obnoxious with her reminders

- Most of the characters in Skyloft lacked personality and felt boring

- Exploring

Spoiler:

Hyrule

felt more like a chore than exploring

- The swimming controls felt unresponsive and downright messy

- You have to rely on the Wii Sensor Bar when you dive from the sky

- Everything felt dragged

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is not a bad game, but it's far from being a great Legend of Zelda game. I would give Skyward Sword a score of 89%.

[Da_RaY]

It's an awesome game, though I must admit it does seem to drag a bit at times. Although it could be that I don't have much time to play. But with starting my vacation tomorrow, I should be able to beat it next week

Spoiler:

just beat the 6th dungeon and got the master sword

Other than that the only minor annoyances I have are, you can't make the text scroll faster, and I mean faster than holding A. And the other is how it goes thru the whole receiving an item, even though you've gotten the item before, every time you start the game again.

[gtt]

sometimes the game seems like it is serving as a vehicle for the controls. that really takes me out of it. I'm always very aware of the controller. this is not a good thing.

when it works, it works, but when it doesn't, I feel like I'm just a dude with a stick giving Link suggestions on what to do. When I play batman or mario galaxy, the controllers just become an extension of my will, they don't get in the way.

Fi, minus my own imaged version of her character, is terrible. bitch, shut up, for once. I know my hearts are low.

Handholding for stupid stuff has gotten insane in this game.

text speed.

but overall. I do enjoy the hell out of this game. and it is better than probably 90% of what's out this year. but, in the end, I'll probably rank it between 7-8 out of all the zeldas.

also, sooooooooo much padding. ug. did we really need to assemble the derp by running back to places and gathering the herps? I'm looking at you water. and fire. thunder, you were cool, for the most part.

I picked up another amber relic? no one knows how it got its odd shape? YOU DON'T SAY?! I didn't catch that the last 59 times.

Those pig guys before you get the master sword. harder than most bosses imo. and fuck anything with the shocking swords.

bird controls and swimming controls make me a sad panda. not that they are bad, but I feel once again, very aware of the controller.

[Steel Diver]

I did not like the part where it ends.

[the_nintendo_screw]

@SteelDiver: I agree with that one the most!

The whole item reminder was completely annoying and ruined the flow of the game. I don't need to be reminded that what I picked up was the Amber Relic.

[Koopzilla]

Yeah that I can't find the bundle with the wii controller anywhere.

[The_Dude1212]

If anything the pointer always threw me off. I really wish they included some little fairy as an indicator of where the hell it's pointing when you were making choices. That is where the controller issues hit me hardest. Trying to save my game with the bird statue in the top right corner and somehow the pointer always pointed over exit. That was when I had to fling my arm up and to the right like an idiotic baboon before I could press A and save.

[KingBroly]

Skyward Sword doesn't use the pointer though. It uses the Accelerometer.

[zeeroid]

It was too awesome.

But seriously, there were a few too many fetch quests. If slightly irksome however, they were never not fun. I always felt throughout the game that whether or not I was doing something which I felt important to the story, it was never dull. Gameplay is king, and that was pitch-perfect throughout. Like, here's one particularly egregious example (context: fetch quest prior to dungeon 4):

Spoiler:

Yeah, going back to the Skyview Temple was kinda lame, especially since very little changed. But, facing that triple Stalfos mini-boss -- that was so damn epic, it made the entire lead-up worthwhile.

[Tork110]

Zelda: Skyward Sword is about as fresh as Tomb Raider: Chronicles. At this point Zelda feels like a zombie series. (Not a series about zombies. Just an undead series.)

The complaints about Fi and constantly being told about collectable items seem minor, but they show the Zelda team hasn't learned anything from earlier Zelda titles. Stop making the partner character annoying and stop telling us stuff we already knew every time we load the game.

But the biggest problem is that I just don't care about the sword fighting. Wii Sports Resorts sword fighting was more fun. I just groan whenever I hear the bokoblins blow their horns because I don't want to put up with them. The game feels like an indictment of the Wii and motion controls.

Assorted complaints: A escort mission? Tadnotes? Fighting that toe boss a third time? All happening towards the end of the game.


You know what I like about the game? Peatrice. And the flying beetle thing. (And that it's better than Twilight Princess or the awful Spirit Tracks.)

No really, I hope the game ends with Link flipping Zelda off and running off with the Item Check girl.

[TheLastBlade]

Fi and using the motion controls a lot.

[Shaanyboi]

Too much padding... Alot of it was arbitrary fetch quests that added nothing. Also, repeated boss fights.

[ddddd]

Mandatory motion controls

[Kafei464]

wow, lotta hate being thrown around.
the only part i didn't like was the series of quests between the 6th dungeon and getting to the dungeon with the Triforce.

[LonelyGreyWolf]

I love the game, but it's certainly not perfect.

- Controls could have been improved
- Every new race felt completely throwaway, especially the new water race
- Only one real town? Too little
- Too linear areas
- Too little reward for exploration

I do love the side-quests though, and the upgrade mechanics are great. Lots of things to buy as well, and you get wallet upgrades early on!

[motherbra1n]

Everyone seems to be complaining about revisiting areas that you have already been to but I had nothing wrong with it cos it never felt repetitive, there was always a new area to look forward to or a very different area (flooded faron woods and itemless eldin volcano)

The biggest disappointment for me in this game is the same as the one I had with Wind Waker. Not being able to explore areas in the past was such a huge letdown and feels like such a missed opportunity. In wind waker it would have been AMAZING to be able to explore Hyrule, it would have given you that metroid feeling of being on your own with no one on your side. I want them to remake wind waker just so they can add that in.

The second biggest disappointment for me was the fact that the surface overworld wasn't connected, instead they just felt like 3 completely seperate areas and werent connected in any way. I was really hoping for a mixture of wind wakers overworld with twilight princess/ocarina of times overworld but it's like they couldn't be bothered to blend the three areas together.

The "you got a monster horn" or whatever drove me mad and nintendo really need to stop putting crap like this in their games, we aren't stupid.

I do wish nintendo would stop the whole unlocking the hard mode when you've finished the whole game on easy mode because thats just annoying. Skyward swords difficulty was average, not too hard but not ridiculously easy yet everyone seems to complain about that when so many games these days are just as easy if not easier but no one seems to have a problem with them.

[thresholdXCI]

Just beat this and have to say, brilliant game. The opening was especially good, and the ending was thankfully very satisfying. I had absolutely no problem with re-visiting old locations, because you were at least doing new things each time. And the dungeons were as typically well designed.

As far as complaints go, I think my main one was that not being able to ride around somewhere like Hyrule was a bit of a let-down. On paper flying around a sea of floating islands in the sky sounds incredible, but it just ended up being a bunch of featureless rocks spaced out with nothing-ness in between. And the game was laid out more like a Mario style hub-world. Returning to Skyloft and then selecting a new destination each time took away from the feeling of being on an epic journey. At least for me, and that's always been one of my favourite aspects of Zelda games.

And the only other issues are minor things like; I know what a goddamn Amber Relic is. I don't forget every time I turn the Wii off. And the motion controls were occasionally hit and miss, but I think I've come to expect that.

[Gakdudes]

I was very excited for SS, they put 5 years and many many man hours into this game. It ended up being my least favorite Zelda (never played the cdi games). I cannot believe they spent 5 years on it. I feels like 2 years maybe. I feel it will do more harm than good for championing motion controls. Why they could not use the ir for aiming your hookshot and other similar items is beyond me. It worked awesome in TP, now i have this wet noodle to prod the cursor around with, and if I have my arm pointing away from the tv when i pull out the hookshot, I have aim off in the distance at some weird angle totally breaking the immersion.
Don't get me started on FI, the most insulting, annoying creature to ever grace my tv.
Why you even have a bird is a good question as there is nothing to do but waste time flapping your arms to get to the next area. Then if you want to quick travel to another statue in the same area you have to leave the area then call your dumb bird then jump off and watch a cutscene and finally pick where you want to go. It took them 5 years to come up with this??
The graphics are worse then TP it's almost embarrassing to show other people.
The theme song is awesome, before the game was released I used to listen to it alL the time, but I never hear it when I'm playing, all the music seems to be pushed into the background where I never notice it.
There as so many stupid things like the spider webs and other enemies that get tangled on you and you have to wiggle your arms for 10 seconds to get free, all it does is make me even more angry.
The day/night thing where you have to go to bed to make it night like a digital on/off switch, and then you magically can't go anywhere because it is dark.... what is this amateur hour?
Did I mention Fi...
it's like they decided to play a big joke on us all by making the worlds most annoying game, hyping it for years to get me excited then crapping on my face.

[shellscriptcoder]

Ugh, Skyward Sword? Where to begin....

First off, this isn't a Zelda game. I don't know if Nintendo thinks that slapping the word 'Zelda' on a random game makes it a Zelda game, but it doesn't. It's like what they did with Doki Doki Panic - it's obvious that this is not a Zelda game.

There is no overworld! I cannot stress that enough, that is of utmost importance. Remember when you got that incredible feeling when you explored Hyrule on the NES? That's not present here. This "game" is just a bunch of disconnected islands floating in the ether. You get from island to island via an annoying bird minigame. It's like Spirit Tracks to the extreme. If you want to go to Faron Woods from Eldin Volcano, you are not allowed to run there. You're forced to go to a bird statue, go up to the sky, get on your bird, navigate to the Eldin Volcano portal, and drop down. Worse than being tedious, it doesn't create the feeling of a great interconnected world. Instead it feels like the designers got lazy.

There is no action whatsoever. If you've played the earlier Zeldas, you'll know what I'm talking about here. When Zelda was first created, there were some tough fights. It wasn't a puzzle-based game like the newer ones, and the enemy encounters were definitely not puzzles. They instead used an arcadey quick reflexes type of combat which required a player to be skilled. Now, the enemies will basically stand stil or circle you slowly while holding their swords/shields/mouths in a specific way. Based on how they are positioned, you strike them in a certain area. This is incredibly tedious. When I saw an enemy in Zelda II, even one as innocent as an Octorok, I knew to watch out. I was in for a dangerous encounter, and unless my skill was paralleled only by Link's level, I wouldn't come out of the encounter too happy. Am I saying Skyward Sword needs a level system? No. But it could use a difficulty boost, and a return to the more action-packed combat of the older games.

There is no boomerang. This may seem like something petty to many people, but it's one of those things that I nitpick to no end. The boomerang has always been an essential part of my combat style in Zelda games. In LoZ I would stun an enemy then take it out, meaning my boomerang was always on B when I could get away with it. Link's Awakening - while it did take forever to get with that super long trading sequence, it was very helpful throughout the remainder of the game. For anyone who's gotten it, you'll know that it also makes the final boss a piece of cake. In Twilight Princess, Nintendo neutered it to an extent, but that was better than not having it at all, in my opinion. I still used it when I could, but I set the Clawshot to B in TP, just as I did in OoT. Now we get to Skyward Sword. The Beetle is not a boomerang. From the first-person view to the super long amount of time it takes to use it to its uselessness in combat, that Beetle is not a boomerang. And the combat in Skyward Sword suffers from it.

The game spoke down to you. You could really sense the contempt the developers have for their fans. From Fi telling you every obvious thing under the sun to the game informing you that a blue rupee is worth five, Skyward Sword will not stop treating you like an idiot. We're Zelda fans, for goodness' sake. I think we know what a rupee is. On Fi - *red battery icon flashes on the corner of my screen*. Me: "Time to get some batteries! I'll grab them as I beat this [insert one of the 50 variations of Bokoblins here]." Fi: "Master, your batteries are running low!" Me: "And you think I didn't notice...?" Also, Fi's tendency to throw the phrase "90% probability" into everything is really annoying. Me: *just solved puzzle, large chest appears*. Fi: "Master, there is a 90% probability that that chest contains something important!" Me: *layered with heavy sarcasm* "No way! You're kidding me!" And then we have the game deciding we have short-term memory loss and telling us what every item does. This doesn't just extend to the items that monsters drop - there's really only one way to use the bow and arrow!

The tutorials. Great heavens, the tutorials! There's no skipping them - they're an essential part of the "story" (which LoZ and AoL got on fine without). At the beginning of the game, you're greeted with a tutorial. After that, you watch about 10 cutscenes (is this a movie or a game?). Then you get another tutorial for your sword. And get this - you can't even get the sword until that stupid bird gets kidnapped! Whatever happened to LoZ when you could get the sword at your leisure? People get it within the first 15 seconds of playing, while others have actually beaten the game without it. In this game, not only are you forced to get it, but you're forced to get it when Nintendo wants. But this is about tutorials - I digress.... Next, you meet (guess what?) another tutorial! This time, it's a bird race to teach you how too fly the bird. Then, you watch two more cutscenes (I'm leaning towards 'movie'), after which Zelda herself gives you a tutorial on landing. But this is no ordinary tutorial - it is the most tedious, difficult, ridiculous, useless, mind-boggling awful abomination of a tutorial this world has ever seen. "Land in that circle." "But I don't want to." "I don't care. Do what I say or you can't play this game." "Alright, alright. I'm jumping. Wait, what? How the heck do I do this? I just shot about 15 feet away from the circle when I tilted the Wiimote slightly!" "Well, you just (launches into discussion of unrelated topics)." "What? I'm looking this up online." 30 minutes of searching later - "Whew! I finally did it!" Your reward? Cutscene! Then there are more tutorials interspersed throughout the game, which pop up whenever you obtain a new item. "You got an item! Now use it to escape from the room you got it in!" Maybe it would work on a four-year-old, but most gamers will figure out the formula easily and quickly become bored. The same holds true throughout the game - dungeon, puzzle, cutscene, puzzle, item, cutscene, tutorial, puzzle, puzzle, boss, cutscene, warp, maze, puzzle, dungeon, puzzle.... What's with all the puzzles? LoZ was not a puzzle game. I can not stress this enough. Somewhere along the way (and this probably has something to do with Aonuma taking over) Zelda went from action-adventure-RPG to puzzle.

And the linearity. Oh, the linearity! The entire game is carefully structured from beginning to end, so that we don't miss any of Aonuma's grand plot designs. You make no choices throughout. It's literally the exact opposite of LoZ in that regard. Heck, the '80s were better than now if this is how far we've devolved! I'm an advocate of players making choices, and I love nonlinear games where one can just freely roam open plains. Sure, you might get the stuffing beat out of you by a level 98 monster, but at least you can choose to challenge it if you want! This is a huge part of what makes games an intriguing and fun medium - you become the character. Your personality determines how you play the game. Don't want to use any keys, but instead like to bomb walls to get to the end? Feel free. Don't want to get the red ring? You can play without it. Feel like challenging the third dungeon first? It's entirely up to you. Zelda needs to look at why it became so popular in the first place, because at this point it's starting to go backward.

Around the time of Wind Waker, people began to stop liking Zelda. Perhaps it was because of the huge overhaul of the gameplay. Many people quit purely because of the cel-shading. Some may think that's ridiculous, but even though I have nothing against that particular art style, I can see why it was unpopular with some fans. At any rate, it appeared the general consensus was that the fans clearly wanted the more realistic art style they saw in the demos for the Gamecube Zelda. So Nintendo does the smart thing and gives the fans what they want. The fans who don't like cel-shading are back, it's not quite as puzzle-focused and Wind Waker, it has an actual overworld... It's not perfect, but it was certainly a step in the right direction. Then what does Nintendo give us, not even a full year later? Another cel-shaded game, and it's a sequel to Wind Waker, no less! Why would they do this? It couldn't be more clear that fans prefer the realistic style and the overworld. No one asked for this! I doubt anyone wanted it at all! It was even more clear, then, that they would completely ignore what the fans want when they released Spirit Tracks. That game was their way of saying, "We'll use realistic Zelda demos to get you to buy our systems, but we'll then turn right around and give you exploration-free, puzzle-centered, cel-shaded Zelda for all your hard-earned money." Spirit Tracks was the breaking point for a good number of fans, and my friend's girlfriend was one of them. "What? There are trains? In Zelda? Where's Hyrule Field? What with the random and arbitrarily conceived main enemy? Do they really think we're so stupid that we can't notice that the guy's wearing two hats?" she screamed in outrage. Needless to say, he apologized numerous times and got her an Elder Scrolls game. She loved it, and now is perfectly content without Zelda. I might add that she was one of the biggest Zelda fans out there. I've seen her house before (courtesy of my friend, of course), and it was filled with Zelda manga, the cartoon series on DVD, posters... you name it, she had it. I can only imagine how different that must look now. Oh well, the bigger they are, the harder they fall....

What was the purpose of that story? Why, to show you how easy it is to satisfy Zelda fans who are dissatisfied with the modern games. We're not elitist snobs who demand nonlinear gaming perfection. Throw us an Elder Scrolls game and we'll be fine. The same is true for any readers that don't like Skyward Sword - you're not forced to play Zelda, waiting in vain for the kind of experience you got 20+ years ago. There are many games out there now with nonlinear gameplay that don't act like a movie that you can only see the next scene of if you give "user input". You're not forced to complete puzzle after pointless puzzle, pouring in fruitless hours of your life to try to get a mere taste of the wonder and adventure you experienced so long ago. Don't like Elder Scrolls? There are many other games out there that are just as good. Xenoblade is a good choice for those who've only got a Wii.

I have one last thing to say before I go and play my NES - Nintendo is a company that is most adept at manipulation. For example, remember the Wii U tech demo we saw, with the realistic Zelda? Ring any bells? Specifically one from the Gamecube era? Then you won't be surprised to find that Nintendo says to not expect that as the actual Zelda Wii U game. They will do whatever they can to invoke those feelings of wonder and nostalgia in you, so they can sell you drivel like this. I beg of you, do not be taken in again. My breaking point was recent, with Skyward Sword. Around the time I gave up on Zelda, I realized that Nintendo tricked me into buying that game, with false promises of long hours of fun and sword beams thrown in to invoke my nostalgia. Please don't make the mistake I did. Unless Aonuma is fired and the best semblance of the original Zelda team Nintendo can muster is brought in, Zelda is going to continue spiraling down to its grave.

[motherbra1n]

Ugh, Skyward Sword? Where to begin....

First off, this isn't a Zelda game. I don't know if Nintendo thinks that slapping the word 'Zelda' on a random game makes it a Zelda game, but it doesn't. It's like what they did with Doki Doki Panic - it's obvious that this is not a Zelda game.

There is no overworld! I cannot stress that enough, that is of utmost importance. Remember when you got that incredible feeling when you explored Hyrule on the NES? That's not present here. This "game" is just a bunch of disconnected islands floating in the ether. You get from island to island via an annoying bird minigame. It's like Spirit Tracks to the extreme. If you want to go to Faron Woods from Eldin Volcano, you are not allowed to run there. You're forced to go to a bird statue, go up to the sky, get on your bird, navigate to the Eldin Volcano portal, and drop down. Worse than being tedious, it doesn't create the feeling of a great interconnected world. Instead it feels like the designers got lazy.

There is no action whatsoever. If you've played the earlier Zeldas, you'll know what I'm talking about here. When Zelda was first created, there were some tough fights. It wasn't a puzzle-based game like the newer ones, and the enemy encounters were definitely not puzzles. They instead used an arcadey quick reflexes type of combat which required a player to be skilled. Now, the enemies will basically stand stil or circle you slowly while holding their swords/shields/mouths in a specific way. Based on how they are positioned, you strike them in a certain area. This is incredibly tedious. When I saw an enemy in Zelda II, even one as innocent as an Octorok, I knew to watch out. I was in for a dangerous encounter, and unless my skill was paralleled only by Link's level, I wouldn't come out of the encounter too happy. Am I saying Skyward Sword needs a level system? No. But it could use a difficulty boost, and a return to the more action-packed combat of the older games.

There is no boomerang. This may seem like something petty to many people, but it's one of those things that I nitpick to no end. The boomerang has always been an essential part of my combat style in Zelda games. In LoZ I would stun an enemy then take it out, meaning my boomerang was always on B when I could get away with it. Link's Awakening - while it did take forever to get with that super long trading sequence, it was very helpful throughout the remainder of the game. For anyone who's gotten it, you'll know that it also makes the final boss a piece of cake. In Twilight Princess, Nintendo neutered it to an extent, but that was better than not having it at all, in my opinion. I still used it when I could, but I set the Clawshot to B in TP, just as I did in OoT. Now we get to Skyward Sword. The Beetle is not a boomerang. From the first-person view to the super long amount of time it takes to use it to its uselessness in combat, that Beetle is not a boomerang. And the combat in Skyward Sword suffers from it.

The game spoke down to you. You could really sense the contempt the developers have for their fans. From Fi telling you every obvious thing under the sun to the game informing you that a blue rupee is worth five, Skyward Sword will not stop treating you like an idiot. We're Zelda fans, for goodness' sake. I think we know what a rupee is. On Fi - *red battery icon flashes on the corner of my screen*. Me: "Time to get some batteries! I'll grab them as I beat this [insert one of the 50 variations of Bokoblins here]." Fi: "Master, your batteries are running low!" Me: "And you think I didn't notice...?" Also, Fi's tendency to throw the phrase "90% probability" into everything is really annoying. Me: *just solved puzzle, large chest appears*. Fi: "Master, there is a 90% probability that that chest contains something important!" Me: *layered with heavy sarcasm* "No way! You're kidding me!" And then we have the game deciding we have short-term memory loss and telling us what every item does. This doesn't just extend to the items that monsters drop - there's really only one way to use the bow and arrow!

The tutorials. Great heavens, the tutorials! There's no skipping them - they're an essential part of the "story" (which LoZ and AoL got on fine without). At the beginning of the game, you're greeted with a tutorial. After that, you watch about 10 cutscenes (is this a movie or a game?). Then you get another tutorial for your sword. And get this - you can't even get the sword until that stupid bird gets kidnapped! Whatever happened to LoZ when you could get the sword at your leisure? People get it within the first 15 seconds of playing, while others have actually beaten the game without it. In this game, not only are you forced to get it, but you're forced to get it when Nintendo wants. But this is about tutorials - I digress.... Next, you meet (guess what?) another tutorial! This time, it's a bird race to teach you how too fly the bird. Then, you watch two more cutscenes (I'm leaning towards 'movie'), after which Zelda herself gives you a tutorial on landing. But this is no ordinary tutorial - it is the most tedious, difficult, ridiculous, useless, mind-boggling awful abomination of a tutorial this world has ever seen. "Land in that circle." "But I don't want to." "I don't care. Do what I say or you can't play this game." "Alright, alright. I'm jumping. Wait, what? How the heck do I do this? I just shot about 15 feet away from the circle when I tilted the Wiimote slightly!" "Well, you just (launches into discussion of unrelated topics)." "What? I'm looking this up online." 30 minutes of searching later - "Whew! I finally did it!" Your reward? Cutscene! Then there are more tutorials interspersed throughout the game, which pop up whenever you obtain a new item. "You got an item! Now use it to escape from the room you got it in!" Maybe it would work on a four-year-old, but most gamers will figure out the formula easily and quickly become bored. The same holds true throughout the game - dungeon, puzzle, cutscene, puzzle, item, cutscene, tutorial, puzzle, puzzle, boss, cutscene, warp, maze, puzzle, dungeon, puzzle.... What's with all the puzzles? LoZ was not a puzzle game. I can not stress this enough. Somewhere along the way (and this probably has something to do with Aonuma taking over) Zelda went from action-adventure-RPG to puzzle.

And the linearity. Oh, the linearity! The entire game is carefully structured from beginning to end, so that we don't miss any of Aonuma's grand plot designs. You make no choices throughout. It's literally the exact opposite of LoZ in that regard. Heck, the '80s were better than now if this is how far we've devolved! I'm an advocate of players making choices, and I love nonlinear games where one can just freely roam open plains. Sure, you might get the stuffing beat out of you by a level 98 monster, but at least you can choose to challenge it if you want! This is a huge part of what makes games an intriguing and fun medium - you become the character. Your personality determines how you play the game. Don't want to use any keys, but instead like to bomb walls to get to the end? Feel free. Don't want to get the red ring? You can play without it. Feel like challenging the third dungeon first? It's entirely up to you. Zelda needs to look at why it became so popular in the first place, because at this point it's starting to go backward.

Around the time of Wind Waker, people began to stop liking Zelda. Perhaps it was because of the huge overhaul of the gameplay. Many people quit purely because of the cel-shading. Some may think that's ridiculous, but even though I have nothing against that particular art style, I can see why it was unpopular with some fans. At any rate, it appeared the general consensus was that the fans clearly wanted the more realistic art style they saw in the demos for the Gamecube Zelda. So Nintendo does the smart thing and gives the fans what they want. The fans who don't like cel-shading are back, it's not quite as puzzle-focused and Wind Waker, it has an actual overworld... It's not perfect, but it was certainly a step in the right direction. Then what does Nintendo give us, not even a full year later? Another cel-shaded game, and it's a sequel to Wind Waker, no less! Why would they do this? It couldn't be more clear that fans prefer the realistic style and the overworld. No one asked for this! I doubt anyone wanted it at all! It was even more clear, then, that they would completely ignore what the fans want when they released Spirit Tracks. That game was their way of saying, "We'll use realistic Zelda demos to get you to buy our systems, but we'll then turn right around and give you exploration-free, puzzle-centered, cel-shaded Zelda for all your hard-earned money." Spirit Tracks was the breaking point for a good number of fans, and my friend's girlfriend was one of them. "What? There are trains? In Zelda? Where's Hyrule Field? What with the random and arbitrarily conceived main enemy? Do they really think we're so stupid that we can't notice that the guy's wearing two hats?" she screamed in outrage. Needless to say, he apologized numerous times and got her an Elder Scrolls game. She loved it, and now is perfectly content without Zelda. I might add that she was one of the biggest Zelda fans out there. I've seen her house before (courtesy of my friend, of course), and it was filled with Zelda manga, the cartoon series on DVD, posters... you name it, she had it. I can only imagine how different that must look now. Oh well, the bigger they are, the harder they fall....

What was the purpose of that story? Why, to show you how easy it is to satisfy Zelda fans who are dissatisfied with the modern games. We're not elitist snobs who demand nonlinear gaming perfection. Throw us an Elder Scrolls game and we'll be fine. The same is true for any readers that don't like Skyward Sword - you're not forced to play Zelda, waiting in vain for the kind of experience you got 20+ years ago. There are many games out there now with nonlinear gameplay that don't act like a movie that you can only see the next scene of if you give "user input". You're not forced to complete puzzle after pointless puzzle, pouring in fruitless hours of your life to try to get a mere taste of the wonder and adventure you experienced so long ago. Don't like Elder Scrolls? There are many other games out there that are just as good. Xenoblade is a good choice for those who've only got a Wii.

I have one last thing to say before I go and play my NES - Nintendo is a company that is most adept at manipulation. For example, remember the Wii U tech demo we saw, with the realistic Zelda? Ring any bells? Specifically one from the Gamecube era? Then you won't be surprised to find that Nintendo says to not expect that as the actual Zelda Wii U game. They will do whatever they can to invoke those feelings of wonder and nostalgia in you, so they can sell you drivel like this. I beg of you, do not be taken in again. My breaking point was recent, with Skyward Sword. Around the time I gave up on Zelda, I realized that Nintendo tricked me into buying that game, with false promises of long hours of fun and sword beams thrown in to invoke my nostalgia. Please don't make the mistake I did. Unless Aonuma is fired and the best semblance of the original Zelda team Nintendo can muster is brought in, Zelda is going to continue spiraling down to its grave.

summary for those not bothered to read it all:
"HERP DERP, WHY IS THIS NOT A REMAKE OF THE ORIGINAL LEGEND OF ZELDA OR A RIP OFF OF ELDER SCROLLS?!"

I guess it's at least different from the usual "HERP DERP, SKYWARD SWORD IS A REHASH OF OCARINA OF TIME"...right?

At it's core, zelda is (and has always been) about navigating your way through dungeons, working out where to go, making use of your items for both puzzles and enemies and epic boss fights.

As a zelda fan:
I don't want a gigantic overworld especially if it's gonna be about 95% empty just to make the game feel more "open" because with the exception of a few of the zelda games (mainly the nes ones and maybe twilight princess) zelda is packed full of content and not just a giant stretch of no mans land to give the false impression of a big open world when the whole thing might as well be taking place in a shed(Elder scrolls)

and seriously, moaning about the tutorials, there was practically 1 (the sword one), and it was so quick. I really can't remember any others.

I don't want a game with 900 variations of the exact same 3 tired kill that guy, talk to that guy, fetch X item for me side quests with slightly different backstories because with zelda (and indeed nintendo in general) it's gameplay first, story second, something bethesda and monolith soft clearly don't agree with. I mean seriously, why should I care about finishing the same exact side quest a hundred times just because the backstory is different with each one. If I want to read a novel I will read a damn novel. And if this is what makes an rpg an rpg, then I don't EVER want zelda to be any more of an rpg than it currently is because it will really make me hate the games.

and I'd like to think that most zelda fans would agree with me there.

[GiriOni]

@shellscriptcoder

Uhmmm... why don't you tell us how you really feel?

Hell I won't say any game is perfect, but to say it sucks relative to other games in the series is... well dull. Everyone complains about how the sequel isn't as good as the original, and they give a few reasons why it isn't the same as the original. BUT we all know that if it was exactly the same as the original, it wouldn't be as fun, and people would still complain about how nothing changed. Some really good movements have begun in the Zelda series, they just need expanded on, example being the item upgrades, it isn't new, but it's new to Zelda, and it makes the game that more interesting. If you want the same game over and over again, play a fps like COD.

Okay... now that is out of the way let's put in some complaints on the game.

Fi, I love ya, but dammit! You're annoying!

You know bird... going around on you is real slow without teleports...

Hey quests! Why aren't there more of you!!!?

Goddammit!!! Last boss... why..are..you..so..EASY!?

WHY CAN'T THERE BE MORE UPGRADES!!!?

Optional upgrades of swords... why have you yet to return!!!!?

WHY are the Bokoblins the hardest enemy in the game!?

I think I'm done for now...