5th Dungeon Spoilers... and the "terrain" leading up to it...

HOLY MOLY!!! Who's brilliant idea was it to have an ocean of sand and water simultaneously? It's just such a cool concept. Then leading into the dungeon itself... I wasn't even sure that I was in the dungeon initially and yet low and behold I was. The idea of a pirate ship of sorts as a dungeon area is truly proof of a change in design and intention of the series. Kudos on that. The final boss of the area was pretty interesting... the battle wasn't too hard but I'm glad I got to put the dungeon's weapon, the bow and arrows to great use. It was intense escaping the boat to battle the being. Love love LOVED it! Onward!!!!

Though, the prize for getting the second flame... really? How useful will expanding my dowsing spots really be? I hope this comes into play later in the game, or else I got gipped!

@carlosrox

Sorry about your Wii and the spoiler issue... figured leading off with I beat the game was a fair enough warning to those who read any further. Either way, sorry about that

MikeD487 said:

Forgot to say what I loved the most - Rupees and treasures are useful this time around!

Yes, they've finally handled that well. Very balanced. You can even buy wallet upgrades right away (with your rupees!), so I haven't once felt restricted by the rupee limit.

Fujibayashi is definitely better at directing Zelda games than Aonuma... hell, I even enjoyed Minish Cap more than Wind Waker.

@Scrawnton

Wh... what? If anything, this game has TOO MUCH story and text. You can't even go 10 minutes without somebody opening their mouth. I don't mind it the first go around, but I know it's going to get on my nerves when I replay the game.

@MikeD487

It was good enough for me. I avoided it. I'm avoiding anything that warns past where I'm at.

@Hinph

I get the replay angle but really, I've played large chunks of this game without text. And even when there is, besides the main story arcs, it's a little blip here, a little blip there. Of course the start of the game is going to have a big chunk in the beginning for establishing purposes, then after the initial set of dungeons there's quite a bit more but with some extra stuff in there. Now that I'm in the 'second chunk' of game, I've not hit much text at all in comparison to the start.

@DrFinkelstein Actually you can find out who's bright idea it was..I think it's in the desert Iwata Asks.

@Renjaku

Right on!

You know what, Fledge and his pumpkins can go FUCK themselves.

@PogueSquadron

By far the worst mini game, lol.

My arm actually hurt after I finally got 610.

It's not that bad until he starts throwing them into the fucking wall. I mean, come on. How is that even fair? I can't even cheat in this game right because I can't seem to hit the pumpkins when they come out of his hands. I've been trying this for like a half an hour.

Done. 730. Ugh. What a waste of time.

Yeah, I tried hitting them as he threw them, but that proved to not be nearly accurate enough.

I'd honestly just say the time that I beat it was more luck than skill.

It's so hard to gauge when to shoot when he starts lobbing them all the way to the damn fence ;p

I somehow missed a whole mini game apparently..

Yeah the only reason I did it was because he was less of an asshole in that game and didn't hit the fence. Dear god I'm never doing that again.

Finished the 6th dungeon,

The boss fight with Ghirahim was pretty awesome, much more challenging than the first time, and the first time wasn't too easy either!

Then afterwards went to the sealed grounds, had to seal the imprisoned again, that was fun, wasn't expecting Groose to have that contraption built, that was... strange. Then that thing with Zelda... man, I actually really liked that.

Back to Skyloft, went in to go offer that pumpkin soup to Levias, A SKY WHALE, AWESOME! I LOVE IT. THIS GAME AUTOMATICALLY GETS A 10/10

Then back down to the sealed grounds... the imprisoned is loose again? Damn, that thing is angry. OH SHIT, IT CAN FLY? FUCK.

Then into Faron Woods, which is flooded... oh god damn, I gotta look for those things? Ah well... it wasn't nearly as annoying as I thought it was gonna be though.

I got some stuff to do during the day tomorrow, but I'll probably continue playing tomorrow and hopefully beat the game by then.

Fuck. So choked I can't continue playing this game for awhile. Waiting for my brother to finish it SUCKS. I've been ahead of him by a wide margin, and now he's already catching up.

If I didn't blow my last pay cheque I could have considered buying a Black Wii....

Still unsure if I can move my data onto another Wii via SD card. If so, I'd be much more interested in a new Wii.

Ok, I have really some progress so far and I am really liking this game more and more and more as I continue to go through the dungeons and stuffs. I also have to say that this game has a good amount of humor in it and I have laughed at more than one scene, especially when you have to get Gratitude Crystals. I really loved the whole 'paper' sidequest...nice throwback to Majora's Mask, and yes...I was being a bit of a jerk to Carwin (I think that's his name) when I gave his love letter to the mysterious spirit in the restroom...he deserved it after how he treated me in the beginning. However, I totally didn't expect what would happen after that when I checked up on him a bit later the next evening while I doing a sidequest for Fledge...made me burst out laughing indeed!

Gotta also say that Nintendo did a much better job with Rupees in this game. Lots more things to spend them on, and things you actually want to buy and need like extra Adventure Pouch Slots, Rupee wallets, the potions that are worth carrying around, and item upgrades. Speaking of upgrades...with the way the item/treasure collection is and how I play, I am a sucker for upgrading stuff. Heck, after I beat the Pirate Ship dungeon and got the Bow I immediately went to see what materials I'd need to make it better. Spent some time gathering everything up and 150 Rupees later I had myself a Sacred Bow and a fully upgraded Quiver for more ammo. this is definitely the best Zelda game that has handled Rupees as a viable currency and keeps you spending them so you never feel that you're doing nothing but hoarding them from the start.

Anyway, I know that I will have to travel to The Isle of Songs to advance the story plot, but I took some time to just mess around and clear some of the sidequests, which are fun and I enjoy doing them. Definitely do want some time to play with my new Sacred Bow and Clawshots that I got from the last dungeon area and trial and see what new puzzles I will have to try and conquer. And speaking of puzzles...love the puzzles in and around the dungeons so far...got seriously stumped a few times, but I worked through them and felt good doing so. ...Yep, definitely can't wait for more.

Was it Rich on IGN who said the game had near perfect pacing? I think the pacing is pretty good on the whole but the game is full of moments where you think you get to go somewhere, but a character tells you something's broken or that you have to find something. It's just frustrating at times because you're all ready to go to the next dungeon but wait! This robot needs an ancient flower! And you just spent it on an upgrade! Time to go fetch one. I just really dislike that aspect of the game and I feel like it happened too often.

@PogueSquadron

This is one area I am so glad my WoW habits kick in and I think ahead more than once for that kind of stuff. As I chose Leatherworking and eventually got Jewelcrafting in WoW as professions for my character, I would always have a constant demand for supplies and materials to make things that those professions require like armor and stat-boosting jewels. Long story short, when I found that there would be item collecting and upgrading in Skyward Sword, my 'WoW senses' kicked in and I started gathering stuff up ahead of time. I understand not everyone does this, and some would find it tedious, but not for me...since I don't play Zelda games at a fast pace and I love just taking my time to mess around and do stuff, I had plenty of spare Ancient Flowers around for when it came time to repair Scrapper...and I didn't even know that was part of the questline either!

But like I said, I understand this isn't something everyone has or thinks about, but for me...anytime there is a game that has an item-collecting system and allows you upgrade stuff, oh you better believe I hoard, hoard, HOARD junk! So yeah, for me...that part was like, "Okies...here's the item, now let's keep on trucking!"

So I'm left handed and I've been playing the game that way for some time now. I've never had to switch hands for any Wii game up until now. I was growing frustrated with the sword controls since most of my swings were being registered incorrectly, especially the vertical swing. I forced myself to start using my right hand for the sword and it has made a world of difference. I've found that the motion itself is not the only thing the game relies on to determine what kind of swing you're performing. Tilt is actually a big factor. Since I was holding it left handed the remote would be tilted in the opposite direction for vertical swings. Some of my diagonal swings would start before I wanted them to b/c my left hand's starting position is different. Just an fyi for any of you lefties out there having some issues.

I hate to say it but I almost wonder if the games controls wouldn't be too hard to accomplish on a dual analog pad. There'd be certain things you couldn't do like stab (though on a 360 pad I guess you would just click the stick) but for the most part?

It actually gives me some faith that a WiiU game could still have some of the puzzles involving motion and swordplay but also possibly have an uber convenient map on the touchscreen. It would also ensure that you could play the game away from the TV.

The game would totally NOT be the same without motion controls. Even with regular Wii controls it wouldn't work as well.