@TriforceBun Really? I have actually enjoyed pre-4... so far. Of course, I used a bunch of time catching up on side quests and mini-games too and such. That goddess dew collecting area was fun.

Just finished dungeon 4.

Zero said:

@TriforceBun Really? I have actually enjoyed pre-4... so far. Of course, I used a bunch of time catching up on side quests and mini-games too and such. That goddess dew collecting area was fun.

Oh, I quite like the mini-games and the tear parts. I was mainly referring to Faron's request to get water from the first temple, and the rather pointless journey back to Eldin for the propeller. Certainly nothing too long or anything, but not as interesting as most of the rest of the game.

For those that have finished the game: I'm replaying the game rather slowly and...

Wow I didn't know there were NO hearts to be found, I thought we were just given much less.

And before going to the first temple were we always given 2 free bottles?? Cuz I got the free one from Potion Lady, and another free one with revitalizing potion in it, but I forget where from. Were we given 2 so early on in the main quest? Also, how many bottles total and how do we get them? I got 3 total in my first quest and have no idea how to get any remaining ones.

@Stephen

Actually Silent Realm was kinda fun. I am about to start dungeon #6, and so far, the worst "fetch quest" has been the pre-dungeon 2 stuff. Most of the other pre-dungeon areas ranged from OK to great.

Side note: I think TP had better dungeons than SS so far.

This is my favorite 3D Zelda, but I'm positive its because of the fact that, of the 70 hours I put into it, all of 69.5 of them were viewed by my children as I played. I swear, they could not take their eyes off of it! That's an irreplaceable gaming moment to me. If they weren't there, I'm sure I'd be seriously be annoyed by the way in which the game seemed to set a big goal out for you, and then break it into 3 or 4 smaller goals to achieve the big goal. I might also be annoyed by the repetitive nature of Dismay, or whatever its called; that should have been much more diverse. Other than that, though, the game was magical.

I finally got to start Skyward Sword, i'm 7hrs in and am on the 2nd temple... It is amazing, if there is fishing (please no spoilers) i'm putting this up there is Link to the Past, Link's Awakening, and Ocarina of time.

I can't wait to finish it

^ Ohh boy.

I am done with Skyward sword, and I can't say I love it. I felt like the game insulted my intelligence way too many times, the game interrupted me constantly (DAMN YOU FI!!) and some of the programming choices made me cringe. I started to think Zelda wasn't for me anymore. I had internal philosophical questions to myself trying to justify my dislike towards the game. I even considered videogames were not my thing anymore.


Here's some of the breakdown that I am sure most people already discussed:

-Text speed. What happened to Press A twice (Or hold B?) to show all text at once? This was present in other games! Give me the option!
-Retrying minigames. Isn't it common to think that some people will want to retry a minigame (FUN FUN ISLAND!! URG! SO FRUSTRATING!) if they fail (Which I did, plenty of times!). Why do I have to listen to the NPC's dialogue again?! Without an option to skip it? I even offer a solution to this! The moment link lands, the reward is shown on the screen and displays how many ruppees link will end up with. Have a "Retry" option and "Continue" option. When the player hits continue, the player receives the reward, or in the case of landing in the multicolored spot, the game goes on automatically to reward the heart piece. If the player chooses retry, the game adds the reward (if any) and then subtracts the price of the game that is about to start. Link then automatically starts at the top of the clouds as if he just launched from the cannon.

Simple to program, keeps on the flow of the game. Frustration levels go down significantly.

-A very similar experience while shopping. I don't want to hear the dialogue from the potion shop lady every time I get a new potion. Nor do I want to hear the husband's dialogue when I want to upgrade said potion. How about this! After the game shows you what it means to infuse, and the lady explains how potions work. Scoop potion from pot, prompt shows:

INFUSE?

UPGRADE 1 UPGRADE 2

EDIT: Looks like half my post is gone. I don't feel like typing all that again.


TL;DR: I wish skyward sword had a HINTS OFF option like Metroid Prime and I would love this game so much more. Speed text sucks, Fi should be like Aurora Unit and don't make Link come to a halt when she wants to say something.
Fi is Hot

I love how you end your rant on "Fi is hot" lol.

Zero said:

I love how you end your rant on "Fi is hot" lol.

Haha, yeah.

She kind of is, for a sword. But the lack of pupils prevent me from pursuing that line of thought much further.

@ChuyMasta

I pretty much agree with your criticisms--as I get older, I have less and less patience for WAITING in games and lately Zelda has been FULL OF WAITING. WAIT WAIT WAIT. The dialogue is almost as slow as OoT on the 64 and lacks that game's B-to-skip option. For all the things that Zelda does streamline, I have no idea why they can't find a way to fix the way text boxes work. The minigame thing drove me crazy too.

But...honestly, all that stuff is annoying but not really relevant to the gameplay (besides slowing things down on occasion). And I greatly enjoyed traversing through the game despite the niggling archaic annoyances that manifest themselves through Fi's dialogue.

I just want everything to be FASTER FASTER FASTER. Rolling around at the speed of sound!

On that note, I do really like the stamina meter. That's the kind of thing I'm talking about. This game needs a stamina meter for the text boxes.

I really wish the stamina meter were longer though. Running is a huge addition in my eyes, but you can only run for 4 seconds maybe and then you have to stop or worse, you run a bit too long and Link stops cold and pants for a few seconds, thus destroying the purpose of running to begin with.

Link needs to be able to talk so he can say "Shut the hell up I know what I am doing".

@Zero
See, even this I didn't mind because 1) for most longer stretches, the game throws some of those plump fruits in the path so you can keep booking it, and 2) there're a bunch of neat gameplay elements that make use of the limited stamina (such as running uphill, through sand, from enemies that chase you quickly, etc).

TriforceBun said:

@Zero
See, even this I didn't mind because 1) for most longer stretches, the game throws some of those plump fruits in the path so you can keep booking it, and 2) there're a bunch of neat gameplay elements that make use of the limited stamina (such as running uphill, through sand, from enemies that chase you quickly, etc).

Exactly.

Hey Zero, why don't you make some green potions?

I don't want to have to make and manage potions! I want to be able to run a lot, all the time!

And yeah, I understand and appreciate that the limitations were part of the gameplay. But in theory they could have added those gameplay portions based on longer stamina as well.

I was hoping for a boot upgrade or something to increase the stamina bar / running speed. Loved all the items and upgrades, but I still think they could have added more. If the game was so straight forward and had larger maps and branching paths, I bet they could've added so much more cool stuff to explore and collect. Bring back optional items and areas.

Now that that fanart brings it up, why did Wind Waker break the tradition of female companions in 3D Zeldas?

@GelatinousEncore
Huh, that didn't cross my mind. I'd like some insight in that aspect as well.

Ok, now, I liked the game. My rant was towards mechanical choices, but as far as gameplay is concerned:
The combat is fantastic and I never attributed my faults at it to motion control limitation or failure. I even got used to the lag when doing a stab motion. When I read about the next Zelda game keeping the motion controls, I smiled. I just really hope the next companion could be non intrusive. I did die fighting the spiders, but mostly due to my ineptitude towards shield bashing and my lack of timing for the stab. Not because the controls didn't respond.

The level design is top notch and the pre-dungeon quest or sequence was fantastic. I didn't mind the linear nature of the game at all. It felt organic.

OHH! another rant:

-Fetch quest "triggers" limited only by where you are in the story! On my second play through I decided to complete all the side quests right before the last battle. That was fantastic! Almost overwhelming in fact. So much to do and so many rewards. On my third play through, I wanted to do complete the game with the mentality of "have as many hearts as possible before entering a temple" I was surprised NPC's did not trigger the right dialogue.

I really enjoyed the medal system! Specially on HERO MODE.

Regarding stamina, I liked that addition. And yes, the first thing I did after finding out about the potions was....abuse it! I upgraded the green potion, then equipped the medal potion. BAM! I was sprinting all over the place for like 10 minutes non-stop. Felt good, man.

Bosses rock. Even the guy you had to fight three times. You had to beat him differently each time, good luck enjoying those battles if you always go for his toes.

Groose. The only character I whose dialogue made me laugh. Such a legend.

Title is wrong. It should be "The Legend of Groose: Skyward Hair"