best zelda game

[Admentus]

HOW CAN YOU EVEN CONSIDER SKYWARD SWORD AS ONE OF YOUR FAVORITES?

I mean, every Zelda game is great and it is all fair game. Zelda 1? A Link to the Past? Ocarina of Time? Breath of the Wild? Link's Awakening? These are all fair choices for your best Zelda game. But Skyward Sword is just atrocious.

The most annoying sidekick in the history of gaming, the constant reminders, the dowsing, the fetch-quests, flying through a non-existent overworld, rehashed dungeons and bosses, repeating textboxes for collecting stuff. I even kinda hate the aesthetic style (technically it is OK, better than Twilight Princess through it was visually more pleasing), the fact there is only one small town in the entire existence of the game world and only has a few npcs, that you have to remake your fully-upgraded sacred shield with all the materials and cost should it break, drinking potions that don't the action and end up killing you, that equiping an item is done with B and using it with A is simply confussing (WHY CAN IT NOT BE THE SAME BUTTON? Traditionally A is used to put your item away while another button equips and use the item) and I can go on like this for a while. I did not even start talking about those lame minigames such as walking with pumpkins or the playing on the harp which feels way too random, I feel like I just randomly should wave my wii remote forth and back because the game lacks to inform me if I am doing it correct.

And the motion controls, that is just too cruel beyond words. The controls always had to be re-calibrated even during boss fights. I honestly thought my WiiMote was broken because of this game. Even the shield bash is too responsive. I barely move my arms a little and Link activates yet another unwanted Shield Bash. The last boss was a nightmare, which was in fact a struggle against the controls. The Armos monster is a nightmare when I just want to do a forward trust.

I played the game once, never touched it again. It was a major letdown. I lost faith in the Zelda series afterwards. Luckely A Link Between Worlds proved that the Zelda series did not have to be stuck with the outdated design and horrific controls. It was refreshing.

I guess the only thing worser than Skyward Sword are the CDI Zeldas. Never played those, neither do I intent to do so. Their reputation is well known for being awful beyond words.

I if had to replay Skyward Sword, I could endure it (and perhaps find it fun again) if a HD remake removed all the motion controls and replacing them with traditional controller input. I really hate motion controls, the fact that I think the motion control-based Shrines in Breath of the Wild are the worst aspect of the game says enough.

Yeah, I listed Skyward Sword above The Adventure of Link. Explains why I hate that game too. It is just not my style. I do love platformers, but Zelda as a platformer? It is also way too cryptic and way too hard. But I can accept that some people think The Adventure of Link is great.

[addestroyer]

I think you must have had a particularly awful experience with skyward sword motion controls, because I never had anywhere near that much trouble. I do agree that they were kind of a pain, and at least the sword attacks were rather finicky and hard to control, but I never had to recalibrate controls, I don't think I had any real issues with unwanted shield bashes, and overall I did enjoy the game.

Personally, my main complaint with the game was the fact that I felt there was far too much emphasis on implementing motion controls into everything, and consequently, other areas of the game were lacking. I think all the elements needed for a much better game were there, but the focus on motion controls meant that those other elements didn't receive the attention they needed to really make the game great.

As for your other complaints, for the most part I agree. The constant interruptions from Fi were annoying, the text box alerts every time you picked up an item for the first time in a session sucked, and while I don't think I ever really did much crafting/upgrading, I can see how that could be really frustrating (I guess the harp was kind annoying too but I barely remember that). I do think your reaction to the minigames and such is a little drastic though, considering all of them were optional (I think), and while the the overworld wasn't particularly amazing, I did enjoy flying around and finding new little islands and challenges, and that there was always stuff that you could do other than just grind the story, and that the extra tasks usually also involved some sort of storytelling which kept them interesting.

Overall, yeah Skyward Sword wasn't the best Zelda game in my opinion, but it was still a good game and I enjoyed it.

[chumpz]

I want to play skyward sword but i cannot play it using my classic wii controller..

[chumpz]

best 3d zelda game for me: majora and twilight
2d: minish cap, oracle of seasons, link to the past

[mbc07]

(01-11-2018, 05:07 AM)Admentus Wrote: HOW CAN YOU EVEN CONSIDER SKYWARD SWORD AS ONE OF YOUR FAVORITES?

I think you're exaggerating. I get the point that many people dislike the motion controls as they just think of them as an unnecessary gimmick. Well, I do like gimmicks and I find the motion controls implementation done in Skyward Sword as one of the most intuitive to date. I see you hate them because you got several issues, but based on my experience, where I finished the game from start to finish two times, I think you just got bad luck or maybe a malfunctioning console or controller, since with me the controls always were very responsible and intuitive and I probably can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times I had to do a manual recalibration of the controls during all the hours I spent on that game (disregarding the initial one that is done every time you boot the game, of course).

Regarding the sidekick, sure, Fi is a little annoying, but for me she still is less annoying than Navi, and in any case, nowhere near "the most annoying sidekick in the history of gaming" like you said. Another thing that I think many people don't figure out is that Skyward Sword on its own established many small details and new mechanics that were responsible to refresh the franchise and that were reused or improved in further games, even in Breath of the Wild, for example, the collectible items that could be spent in weapon upgrades, the stamina bar and the breakable weapons. Even its plot, where we finally get some explanation on why there's always a bad guy reincarnation or descendant chasing the princess and the protagonist in every Zelda game is an example of this refresh.

Anyway, I don't think Skyward Sword is a bad game, it actually renewed the franchise formula and thus is one of my favorites...

(01-11-2018, 05:07 AM)Admentus Wrote: I if had to replay Skyward Sword, I could endure it (and perhaps find it fun again) if a HD remake removed all the motion controls and replacing them with traditional controller input.

Well, given the entire game was built with the motion controls in mind (even the enemy design and combat system), I think it's very unlikely to happen.

[chumpz]

hope skyward sword hd will support gamepad rather than motion control

[DrHouse64]

There's a lot of work to adapt Skyward Sword to a standard pad, but it's doable.
I like this game. It have is flaws, it's too linear, but introduce new mechanics I like. On the contrary, botw is waaaay too much open for me. I like to have the feeling that I can control my environment and easily represent it on my head, which is not the case in botw. A mix between the two, this would be for me a Zelda that I would enjoy. Wait, it actually exists. It's called Ocarina Of Time. *fly*
Also, Skyward Sword Princess Zelda best Zelda design, fight me.

[Admentus]

Of course I am exaggerating about Skyward Sword. That's just who I am when I get disappointed over a game, even if it is slightly. If the game was really that bad I would have stopped playing it midway. It still does not change the fact it is personally the worst Zelda I have played. Even so, for being the worst Zelda it is still an above-average game. I have played games which are far more worse. It is just that the Zelda entries in series never managed to be less than excellent. So it was somewhat of a disappointment the game was just above-average and not excellent. I still am not going to replay it, only if I could get rid of the motion controls. Perhaps when Dolphin finally succeeds in MotionPlus emulation, I still would like to replay it with just a controller someday. I do think that having MotionPlus emulation so that I could bind all my actions to my Xbox One controller would get rid of the unresponsiveness issues (such as suddenly shield-bashing or the constant recalibrations). Plus that my arms won't get as tired. If I want to exercise I could do that without the game.

I had high expectations of the game and if it does not live up to them it will suck most of the enjoyment out of it. Of course entries such as Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks have touch-based controls which I also hate, but both entries were less of a disappointment since I excepted less from them in the first place. On the other hand if a game with high expectations manages to live up to them and go beyond (*hint hint*) I have nothing else than extreme enthusiasm for it.

I do have to agree through that the design of Zelda herself as a character from Skyward Sword is without a doubt her best iteration yet.

(01-11-2018, 03:55 PM)mbc07 Wrote: Regarding the sidekick, sure, Fi is a little annoying, but for me she still is less annoying than Navi, and in any case, nowhere near "the most annoying sidekick in the history of gaming" like you said. Another thing that I think many people don't figure out is that Skyward Sword on its own established many small details and new mechanics that were responsible to refresh the franchise and that were reused or improved in further games, even in Breath of the Wild, for example, the collectible items that could be spent in weapon upgrades, the stamina bar and the breakable weapons. Even its plot, where we finally get some explanation on why there's always a bad guy reincarnation or descendant chasing the princess and the protagonist in every Zelda game is an example of this refresh.

Well... For me, Navi wasn't that annoying. Sure she was annoying as was the owl, but both of them relatively did not interrupt my gameplay that much. Fi constantly interupts me for something I already am aware of, even more than Navi. Luckely Tatl in Majora's Mask was less annoying than Navi. As a result because Fi was so annoying I could not care any less she had to leave. I never felt to relieved before in a game when a character would leave. To bad it did not happen earlier in the game will there was still gameplay to have. I also couldn't care much for Demise or Ghirahim, mostly because it was already annoying enough to have Ghirahim being used three times as a boss. The Imprisoned is without a doubt the most frustrating boss in the existence of Zelda, mostly because it has a timer and because it was confussing. Do I have to hit it with Skyward Strikes? It turned out that bashing the pillar back into his head was good enough, if the controls just worked for once.

Sure, Skyward Sword introduced the upgrading and stamina mechanics, but that was not very well executed. The stamina meter was simply annoying because of the constant beeping should it run low. Link could even climb against walls, but only for half a meter unless he has something to hold on to. Breath of the Wild has complete climbing freedom. Everywhere you want to climb, you can.

Upgrading in Skyward Sword was annoying. Should your shield break all the time spent collecting resources and spending rupees has been a complete waste. Even upgrading permanent items such as the bow felt to arbitrary. You just to reach a certain section of the game so that certain resources are available to collect, the game is calculated to have certain upgrades at certain points. Since Breath of the Wild is a complete open-ended structure you could run all dungeons with no upgrades at all, or you could spent time preparing yourself in advance with updates prior to doing the main quests. Most entries in fact have linear progression. Such as Link getting the Master Sword after three dungeons in A Link to the Past. It is a progression that is forced and doubles your damage. It felt refreshing in A Link Between Worlds that I could choose doing the dungeons in any order. Suddenly getting the Blue Tunic was not a linear progression anymore. I can do the Swamp Palace as my first dungeon or one of the later to do which essentially allows me to choose if I found that I needed an armor upgrade I could get it earlier. Skyward Sword for example expects me to have wooden shield for the first dungeon, an iron shield for the second dungeon and by the time I started the third dungeon I would have enough materials for an upgraded wooden shield. By the time I started the fourth dungeon I would have the sacred shield.

Now to be honest, I did lie a bit. I did attempt to redo the game twice after I completed it once, both attempts up until the fourth dungeon (it still does not change my opinion of the game). I wanted to prove I could find the game to be fun. I wanted to dissect where the design would fail. With each attempt including the first complete run I always got at the same level of progression. The exact same shields, heart pieces, upgrades and what else. Sure, it is how it worked for every game in the series so far. Even Ocarina of Time which had been my nr. 1 favorite had me have the exact same progression each time over and over I played the game.

What I just wanted to say, and this rant has been going on for too long, is that many of the new mechanics and innovations did not feel as such. Sure it did try to achieve to be, but since the game was so linear the mechanics felt too limited. Sprinting and climbing was only useful to move faster around to go through the puzzles, not to explore the world. Upgrading just felt as it was expected to do so at certain sections reached in the game due how resources unlocked by unlocking new areas. Perhaps it had been an issue for too long that every entry since Ocarina of Time wanted to be the next Ocarina of Time. Both A Link Between Worlds and Breath of the Wild were outstanding since both games finally managed to let go of the idea to be the next Ocarina of Time. This went well for entries such as Twilight Princess and The Wind Waker for the most part, but Skyward Sword came out in 2011 and it was still stuck with design choices from 1998 while still trying to innovate with modern aspects. It simply does not mix well.

I am not saying that every new entry has to be like Breath of the Wild suddenly since that would cause the same issue to start all over again. I think it is for the best if each entry could be standing strong on it's own without relying on being it's predecessor. Even if I dislike Skyward Sword for being stuck in the past, I still find my love for Ocarina of Time unchanged. The game was amazing when it came out back then and it is still today. I do run it at least once a year afterwards being followed by a Majora's Mask run.

Remember, this is just how I personally feel about the game. Don't take it serious from me when I say you should not have Skyward Sword as your favorite. You are feel to have so. It just makes me curious how anyone could think the game was so amazing. It could be just me, and again everyone is allowed to have every game as it favorites. I am just a bit to serious about gaming when it all matters about perfection.

But who knows, perhaps MotionPlus emulation or proper gamepad support could change my opinion completely about Skyward Sword. It is after all the most frustrating element that it even influences how I think about the other parts in the game in general. I might not have said it, but Skyward Sword does features the best dungeon design and soundtrack in the whole series. The dungeons and the soundtrack were outstanding. The Koloktos boss is one of my favorites bosses in the series. I would replay this game over and over for it's dungeons alone, given the controls work. Luckely there are some useful AR codes to disable the text popups when collecting resources or if your battery is about to die.

Ok, I should hopefully be done with ranting about Skyward Sword. Ohh, don't worry. I won't start ranting about the other entries since most of them are excellent anyway. Somehow I feel relieved after having ranted about it. I guess I never did rant before about a game prior to this tread. Huh, feels great to do so once in a while. Maybe we should open a new thread where we could list our complaints about games. I got a few more I could rant over. It might help people to start playing a few of those games again.

[chumpz]

If only I can play skyward sword with a gamepad on dolphin

[Belqua]

ocarina of time gave me an adventure that no other game has given me so i will have to vote for it