Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword - Page 7

I just completed the Lanayru Mines, and Link is supposed to talk to an old woman in the protected zone. Where is the protected zone? Thanks.

Doug

I believe that's referring to the old woman with the long braid who you first met in the forest area.

The old woman in the sacred realm at the start of the forest.



It's been a month since I finished this game (I'm a bit of a completionist, did everything except the Hylian shield). I must say, it was a fairly unmemorable experience. I read all the reviews, some saying it supplants OoT as the best in the series. I can't say I agree. The motion controls were excellent (with exception of several moments when the Wiimote went haywire), and it felt very polished.

That being said, I liked Twilight Princess better. Yes, the early wolf sections were lackluster, but overall it had more of an adventure feel than Skyward Sword. I also did not like returning to Skyloft over and over again; part of an adventure to me is the "can't go home again" theme, highlighted by the last scene with Link riding out of town.

Also...

I realize this is totally subjective, but in terms of having an "adventure feel," I think the scope of SS wins out over TP. I mean, you're exploring ground that no one's been in or even knew existed for centuries, and by the end you're working a plan that's been in motion for centuries. Plus, you're not just saving some faceless princess you've never met in this one, you're saving your dearest childhood friend/love interest and with the fate of the world still in the balance. To me being able to return home as you like doesn't counteract that; in fact part of what I like about this game is how Skyloft and its populace's perception of you changes over the course of the game.

I do agree you with you on the end boss, though. I expected at least a third phase.

I agree that there was much greater characterization in SS. In TP, Midna was fairly annoying until the end when her story was revealed, and Zelda was definitely under-developed. I just liked TP's more expansive overworld, and there just felt like more to do with side quests.

Don't get me wrong; I thoroughly enjoyed nearly every minute playing SS. I just felt a greater sense of satisfaction (and a bit of melancholy) when I finshed TP, and I still recall moments of it fondly to this day. I don't have that with SS.

Twilight Princess' final hour annoyed me to no end, the story was just terrible. (no way Link would fall for Zelda, not after the massive build up of the childhood friendship then it gets thrown out.) they should have focused more on the children and the people of the world more, the characters were great but they didnt get enough screen time.

At least SS didn't pull that. The overall adventure was more fun in TP but SS had one of the best stories in the series, not since OoT have I cared about the characters that much (I actually feel that SS has the best cast yet)

My favorite game stories are usually character driven not epic save the world driven. (Tales of Vesperia's cast remains one of my favorites)

Agreed with SS having the best characters in the series.

I guess it comes down to expectations. Ever since I played the original as a kid, I've come to expect the following from a Zelda game: gameplay, a huge overworld, puzzles, dungeons, and fetch quests. As long as those boxes are ticked, I'm happy. Now, if I was to play a Final Fantasy game, then the story and characters mean much more. It's all about expectations. Like I wouldn't care one bit about story when playing Super Mario Galaxy because its predecessors set my expectation for that franchise.

Yeah, I actually got a bit...emotional at points in SS, which was surprising. A lot of it is that the game actually has character development for practically the first time in the series, but well-implemented motion controls often get me more emotionally invested in a game. It feels like it means more when I'm physically exerting myself a bit to take down an A-hole bad guy who's screwing with the characters I've actually come to care for a bit. Swinging Koloktos' own giant sword against him wouldn't have been nearly the cathartic, badass moment it was just lightly tapping a button instead of taking a giant F-you swing with my arm.

I can't argue against someone preferring the more traditional/less segmented overworld of TP, but from a story/gameplay perspective I think it's clearly inferior to SS. I don't like motion controls when they could just as easily be mapped to a button, and I can barely remember a single thing that happened in that game despite playing it twice.

The events after beating the third boss and leaving the dungeon is easily my favorite moment of the game, never before has a video game made me feel so.... It is hard to describe, epic and heart wrenching come to mind. And without actually caring for the characters, then it wouldn't have meant anything.

I also loved how the villain was an ever present pain in the rear.

Here is how wished the final boss would have gone down.

I kept forgetting to come back and thank you for the tip. So...thanks.
Doug

Wow. The second imprisoned battle is ridiculously hard. I'm so frustrated and sick of trying to beat this boss. I think this is it for me with SS.

The third is worse. He has wings. But the final blow is epic. The canon is the key to victory.

If you know the technique, the Imprisoned battles are relatively easy. I found the third Imprisoned battle easier than the second. They're a bit of a pain during the boss run because of not being able to replenish hearts between bosses, however. The key is...

Wow, I had NO idea about the tip in the spoiler. That would've made things much easier, as my strategy was just running in like a madman, wildly slashing whatever was in reach. I did find it easier to approach the boss from the front, since then even if the electric wave hits you he'll still likely be in reach by the time you recover.

And actually, the Imprisoned fights totally saved me on the boss run, because in those fights there's plenty of hearts to be found around the arena, and in all but the third version of the fight you have ample time to run around and get them, especially if you disable one foot first.

Edit: Apparently there's a much easier way to take on the Imprisoned: I don't know how that never occurred to me.

I'll feel comfortable playing this..

..as soon as I finish OoT3D

I've played through to the volcano dungeon, where I've put the game on hold. My plate is just too full and I want to clear some of the other games off of my plate before going back to Zelda.

Nerd World Problems, I guess.

I just returned to this myself this weekend and am approaching the part where the game-breaking bug is, so I have to be careful to do it in the right order I guess.

Speaking of boss battles, I absolutely loved the recent miniboss:



The boss of that area was less fun and more annoying, I thought, because of the reliance on the nunchuck flick to make that item ready faster.

One thing I do like a lot too is the organic way in which they're sort of teaching new techniques that I hadn't thought about for that become more necessary in dungeons.

Two examples off the top of my head from a late point in the game:



Of course, at 40 hours or so in, the game had better quit with the hand-holding tutorials the whole way through, so I guess it's not that big an accomplishment.

I liked that a lot, too. It's one of the biggest areas of improvement of this game over its most recent predecessors. You just know that in a previous installment Midna (or whoever) would've all but told you how to do that and what item to use, while the camera zoomed in over-obviously.

It reminded me of an interview I read with Shigeru Miyamoto I read a while back that detailed the insane amount of thought that went into designing the first two screens of the original Super Mario Bros. The item blocks, bricks, pipe, and goomba are all positioned to subtly teach a new player how all the game's mechanics work before they even jump over that first green pipe. Ever since reading that article I can't help but see this kind of "sneaky teaching" in all Nintendo games.

Finished first time through, no hylian shield - most gratitude crystals. However, I'm going through here mode now and can't get the last five crstals. Missing the 5 from getting the retired mogma to plow. Almost certain I did it first time through.

I visit the mogma down the shaft, he talks about living in the clouds, visit the little girl who needs the pumpkin patch plowed ... but no love between the two to get the crystals.

Only part I haven't completed is the freaking song in the pumpkin restaurant at night. Wicked PITA.... Do I have to do that to open up those last five crystals?

I finally beat this myself (had to do it before Mass Effect 3 comes out or I never would), and totally agree on the boss fight being anti-climactic.

And that lame thing they threw in there to explain why all of these Links and Zeldas have to fight evil was just dumb.



Just stupid, they should leave that alone, just like the 'official timeline' garbage.

I ended up being more of a completionist in this than in any other Zelda games though. I got all the gratitude crystals (because that was more fun helping the people; in OoT I would only get enough Skulltulas for the wallet, and quit because that was so boring), all the goddess cubes, and all heart pieces except for 3.

...Which basically, since I had 5 or 6 bottles with Heart++ potion, and 19 hearts, was entirely overkill for the weak final boss.

Still, I really liked the game a lot. I'd probably put this in the top 5 Zelda games, which might not sound like much, but still better than most other games out there. Too many good ones to really pick a specific order, but I'd say it's better than Windwaker, since it took the expressions of the characters from that one to a whole new level, a little below LTTP and OoT, and better than Twilight Princess.

If you have a Fred Meyer near you, Skyward Sword is $25 right now. It's a sale through Saturday the 12th apparently. I almost grabbed it, but then I would also need to grab a Motion Plus. Besides, I'm betting that it will be re-released fairly early on in the Wii U library, as we saw with Pikmin and Metroid from Gamecube to Wii, hopefully in HD.

But for now, that's a pretty damn good deal.

Wasn't it $20 at toys r us just a week ago?

FYI, Best Buy currently has an offer for reward zone gamers club members (free to join) that gives a $35 discount on Skyward Sword, bringing the price down to $15. It expires 8/18.

I'm still holding out for the Wii U version.

what I wouldn't give for a Wii U version that just uses the new Wii U pad without motion controls. I know it's not going to happen, but a boy can dream.

Hope they sell that by itself instead of bundling it in. Got no interest in paying in part for that product just to get a Wii U.

Yeah just like how they sold Wii Tennis and Wii Swords separately. It's basically going to happen.