@Zero

Just make sure you haven't accidently switched dousing targets.

I did that, I was hunting for the last piece and brought up the target select screen by mistake. At which point I switched to Zelda without realising it.

Incredibly confusing when my sword tells me that a key piece is *inside* the temple that I'm trying to unlock with said key.

Hmm, I don't have anything coming up inside the temple. But either both are kind of in the same direction, or I'm only picking up one target, or one is far enough away to not be picked up. Whatever the case the area my sword seems to be pointing towards also seems to be inaccessible at the moment, unless I'm screwing something up.

To be honest though it was late and I was up way past when I should have been and getting frustrated and didn't really care to figure out what was going wrong. Next time I come into the game with a clear head maybe I'll see something I missed.

GelatinousEncore said:

(this is truly genuine stuff, plenty of these you've never seen before - the days of pushing blocks, lighting torches and shooting arrows are gone).

I was so thrilled that the game didn't have any silly light the torches "puzzles". Every time I saw one, I was waiting for it but it never happened.

@Shadowlink

Same here, all three of those dungeons, I didn't realize I was already in them until I saw a locked door or some other standard Zelda dungeon convention; not coincidentally, my three favorite dungeons in the game.

In Skyward Sword, I didn't expect the Sand Ship to be Dungeon #5, but obviously as Pogue said, the standard "entering the dungeon cutscene" started, and then I knew. But I do think that the areas you went to prior to the dungeon, were as close as the game got to "blurring the line" between overworld and dungeon.

At the end of the day, I echo the sentiment that it's more or less more puzzle elements and less exploration outside of dungeons, rather than the entire world feeling like a dungeon.

@TheBigG753 Haha, yeah, and even though there is some block-pushing and arrow throwing, it's nothing like in past games. And there's lots of very ingenious puzzles.

Can we talk about how shitty that underwater note-collecting segment is? Do they really think the player wants to do something like that in a Zelda game?

@Hinph

I didn't care for it, but I don't think it was the worst offender in the game. Nothing pissed me off more than the completely unnecessary quests involving the flying robot, especially the escort mission up the volcano before the 6th dungeon just to dump some water. There was a freaking waterfall 100 feet away, and then predictably, I couldn't choose to land right near where the water needed to go. This segment made me so upset. It was so forced and intentionally there to eat up time. The only thing that could have made it worse would have been if the Water Dragon made me perform some task before she'd let me have the cauldron. I was absolutely expecting that to happen.

There was so much fluff between the 3rd and 4th dungeons. Beat 3rd dungeon to get the harp, go talk to Zelda's dad to figure out the song lyrics, go find the windmill towers, the propeller is conveniently missing, talk to the mechanic about his robot, the robot conveniently doesn't work without certain items, collect those items to fix the robot, escort the robot to Eldin, climb the volcano again to get the propeller, escort the robot back to the town, hook the propeller back up and solve the puzzle, climb the tower and play the song you need to play, sky opens up, fly to the Isle of Songs, solve another puzzle to get inside, learn the song, fly back to Faron, fight the Imprisoned, search the woods for where to play the song, play the song, collect 14 tears in the Silent Realm to learn how to swim, swim underneath the big tree, climb to the top of the big tree only for some snoring guy to tell me where to go next, I can't go there next because I need to go look at a symbol somewhere else to know what symbol to carve into the gate where I need to go next, swim through a tunnel all the way to the water dragon, get there and learn that I have to leave and go all the way back through the first dungeon again to get some water, conveniently a key is missing in the dungeon that you have to search for, find the key and proceed through the dungeon to get water, bring the water all the way back to the water dragon, FINALLY get to the 4th dungeon.

Yes, there were SOME good sequences in there, but most of it was just tiresome and totally unnecessary.

@TheBigG753

Haha, I thought a lot of that was excessive too. None of it outright annoyed me, but I really wouldn't have been torn up if they had completely cut the repairing Scrapper part, the search-for-propeller part, the look-for-the-matching-symbol part, and the backtrack through dungeon 1. The rest of it was fun and interesting enough. I'm hoping the rest of the between-dungeon game is less "fluffy"--I'm just past the trial in Lanayru now.

Nothing in Lanayru was fluff. I can't complain about any of the "between dungeon stuff" that was set there.

But...

I like block pushing, torch lighting, etc. puzzles! At least, when they are cleverly done.

@Zero

I still remember lighting my first torch in Ocarina. What a joy it was.

Yeah, I don't especially mind block pushing and torch lighting, though it is nice to have new puzzles. Overall, I haven't been too challenged by any puzzles in this game so far... got stuck in the sandship dungeon for awhile, but that's only because I thought that the little boat that brings you down was the way to exit the dungeon, so it wasn't really a puzzle. I hope they get back to stumping us and not having a sidekick that constantly tells us what to do.

... despite all the complaints, I want to reiterate that I still really do like this game a lot. haha. Another great but flawed Zelda game.

Loving the game. No time to talk about it. ^_______^

I'll be beating it tomorrow probably. Then I'll come back to read the walls of spoiler text. I coulda beat it today but I'm tired and wanna be fresh when I go into the final chapter.

Currently close to 30 hours and in an area after dungeon 4. As I progress in the game, it's been easier to form a more solid opinion on it...

-The combat. Easily my favorite in the series. I'm still having trouble training myself to do side swipes instead of diagonals, but I can't help but fight all the Bokoblins and Lizalfos I see because of the excitement involved. It's not, like, ridiculously strategic or anything, but it tests the players reflexes in a way that feels a lot more like swordfighting than...well, any game I've played really.

-The game is charming. I'm a big fan of Skyloft and areas like the Lumpy Pumpkin (playing along with the singing girl was a highlight), and the quirky, curious, and funny characters that reside within the game's peaceful locations. The surface NPCs, incidentally, are fun from a design point but don't have much to them beyond giving you some assistance with your next goal. Adding to the charm is...

-The visuals. I thought they'd be kinda blah but I'm a big fan of these too. The color palette is bright, pastel and really easy on the eyes, and the game uses a wide assortment of palettes to brilliant effect. Dungeon 3: the contrast between the dusty corridors of the present and the vivid technoland of the past is a sight to behold; Dungeon 4: the soft pinks and golds of the upper half of the Ancient Cistern make for a beautiful dungeon, while the dark blues and purples of the lower half are a major change that feel like a completely different area. And Skyloft feels like Easter, all the time. Just...the colors, Duke! The colors!

-The economy/crafting/difficulty. I lumped this trio of gameplay elements together because they all intertwine with each other. I don't know about you guys, but I'm having to stay on my toes in this game, having died more times (already) than OoT, TWW, TP, and probably MM. This extra difficulty makes it to where the player wants to get improvements--heart pieces, item upgrades, etc--and it ends up becoming a system that's quite rewarding, with lots of things to buy to make things easier for Link, or increase pouch/wallet size, or have handy new features (like the medals or item upgrades). You can carry lots of cool things in your pouch for treasure-hunting, or you can go survivor man and just hold potions and a couple shields. The pouch idea is very clever and adds just enough customization to make things work. Mixed in with the great economy (rupees mean something now), difficulty, and crafting, and it makes for a good blend of minor RPG elements, but nothing too heavy to encourage grinding or anything.

-Exploration. Due to the split zones, this Zelda feels more linear than usual. There's still an element of discovery, but mostly in the sky areas and the occasional odds and ends in larger surface places. I don't mind it so much since it feels like I'm always doing something (although there are a couple moments that feel slightly "fluffy"), but I do miss that grander scope at times. I like how small some of the wall cracks are though, feels satisfying to discover them.

-Story. I'm slightly worried on this point because right now it feels like it's kind of taken a halt. It starts off well enough with establishing the setting, Link and Zelda's relationship, etc, and it builds naturally through the encounter after the third dungeon, but at the point I'm at, I'm wondering if we'll get much payoff. I was already a little disappointed that we've got the whole "go to three places to charge up your sword" thing again, meaning everywhere else in the story, the key players are just sitting there. It doesn't feel compelling like TWW's active villain and lost history, for instance, or LA's increasing uncertainty about what's real and what's right. I hear there are interesting things later on though, so I'll keep hoping.

So far, enjoying it a ton overall. Like many Zeldas, the game has some incredible highs that really make it stand out.

I'm on my second playthrough and I'm back to the sand sea.

Something I don't think I noticed about it before that's totally neat: you can see the curvature of the planet when you are up high like at the skipper's cabin.

Just beat the game!

Overall I really, really enjoyed it but as I'm sure it's been mentioned here before, the story, or whatever there is of it, really takes a downfall after the third dungeon. I kept looking forward to beating the dungeons at the beginning so that I could see Zelda and see what unfolds with her and Ghirahim (?). But beyond that, there was only the 4th and maybe 5th where the Triforce mark started appearing on Link's hand. Beyond that it was kind of predictable and then it really felt like they were just extending the game for the sake of making it longer. It wasn't "bad" but revisiting these areas kind of got old after a while. Also, the final dungeon, while cool in design, again revisited familiar themes. I would've preferred something a bit more original! Maybe something with a bit more history in it too. It's too bad cause I think the first half started out wondefully.

As for what there is for the story, I'm not a Zelda nut or anything so I'm sure I'm missing details but I imagine Demise is the beginning of Ganon in future games? Was he ever explained before or is this really his first appearance? I must say that once I saw The Imprisoned come out in the final battles, I ALMOST just wanted to give up. I didn't want to fight that again. Another low point I think... the first time was sort of fun but then a second and a third? Ugh. Once I saw it transform at the end though, I was so happy haha. And what a battle! Motion controls truly add to the game's feel. I felt almost exhausted by the end and landing that final blow, wow. I must admit though that while fighting Demise, I sort of felt as if this was a sequel to Wind Waker and that Demise was actually Ganon after waking up from being sealed. He has the forehead scar and everything! Plus the whole fight area reminded me of Wind Waker's. But it seems more intentional that this is the first game in the series of course.

Anyway, I think I've said enough. It started out as what I thought would be my GOTY but I think a few of the later portions changed my mind on it. Still an absolutely terrific game though.

This game sure seems to have some split decisions on it. I just finished the second dungeon.

Personally I think the main things I love so far are the area designs on the ground (both leading up to and including dungeons), the fighting controls (both basic enemies and bosses), and the puzzles (mostly in the dungeons, not particularly tough so far but fun.) The music is also great.

The main things I don't like are the sky overworld, both in the lack of big areas to explore and in the flying controls, and the pseudo pointing controls... I really wish they would have just used the IR pointer, things that require aiming actually feel worse than the aiming in Twilight Princess due to not using IR aiming.

Things that are sort of neutral to me are the art style (sometimes like it, sometimes feels bland) and the story/characters (could be much better, but not a distraction.) So I guess the presentation as a whole, outside of the music, is kind of... eh.

It's tough to say where it is falling for me next to the other 3D Zelda games so far. I think somewhere right in the middle. But I still have a long ways to go.

Did anyone find that the depth of field/impressionistic blur was a bit selective? In some areas, it was very painterly, but at other times I could hardly notice it. Sometimes it would make the opposite end of a room look painterly, while other times, it would only happen to objects WAY in the distance. I'm sure that was all intentional but there were times that I wanted to look at the painterly filter and was surprised not to see it show up. It really showed up when running around the Knight Academy, but with other rooms in the game, I really had to look for it.

@PogueSquadron

It isn't just you; the effect and the how objects look in the distance generally are pretty inconsistent.

I guess they didn't want to make it too harsh in say, a room that you need to see things in the distance to solve a puzzle.