Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword - Page 4

I'm at the point now where I"m not paying attention to reviews or previews, so as not to spoil anything. I already know I'm getting the game, so I just have to wait for it to arrive.

Skipped on the wiimote version. I mean, it looks OK and all, but I just don't play enough Wii games to need a fifth controller, fancy or not.

I was never a huge Zelda fan, but appreciated that the series has had such a loyal fanbase.

Reviews on this one have me thinking I may need to go out & get my first Zelda game - and first Wii game in quite a while.

On a related subject, Is Twilight Princess @ $20 new a steal? Should I grab that game, too?

Twilight Princess is well worth $20. And other than midi tunes (Skyward Sword is fully orchestrated) and a less refined sword fighting system (Your hand movements really just substitute for button presses in it, unlike Skyward Sword), it really doesn't appear to be outdated in the slightest. It has held up very well over the past 5 years.

And if you're set up to play GameCube software on your Wii, Wind Waker has also stood the test of time well. Beyond being 4:3 only, midi music, and no motion controls, it could easily pass for a new Wii Zelda game if it were released today.

In fact, I hope Nintendo follows this rash of HD remakes of last gen software. The thought of getting a HD trilogy of Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, and Skyward Sword for the WiiU a few years down the road is an attractive one.

"This fast travelling system is an elegent solution, but it doesn't distract from the missing (interconnected) overworld. A ride across Hylian Fields (like in Ocarina of Time or Twilight Princess) is as absent as extensive exploration or a dynamic day/night shift that added to the atmosphere of earlier games."

Too bad on both counts. I liked the day/night transition in the 3D Zelda's (And the storms you'd occasionally get). And I've always loved exploring the overworld. Part of the fun of the dungeons (beyond enjoying them for their own sake) was the anticipation of what new parts of the overworld I'd get to explore with my new tools I've picked up in that particular dungeon. They've always been one of my favorite parts of this series.

While I'm convinced this will be a great game and I'm eagerly anticipating it, I really don't think I'll ever be a convert in regards to how they've handled the overworld in this game or recent Zelda's other than Twilight Princess. I like a large overworld with actual places to explore and lots of them. Not a mostly empty ocean, not a empty mass of land that I travel around on train tracks, and not a mini overworld that I fast travel to everywhere I want to go.

Hm, put that way, yeah, I agree the loss of a real overworld is kind of a shame. Nintendo seems all about streamlining lately (e.g., the use of a level map in Mario Galaxy 2 vs. an actual hub world in all previous 3D Marios) but that's not as appropriate for Zelda. If there's not much opportunity to go wandering off in a random direction on the map and stumble on something cool or mysterious almost by accident, then the series loses something.

That said, I'm assuming you'll still be able to explore each section of the new, segmented world, with (I'm sure) lots of potential backtracking every time you get new equipment. So if you can still do all this but without all the tedious travel in between areas, well, maybe that's not so bad.

And really, though this doesn't excuse them, if they can't make an effective non-boring overworld (and they haven't really, in my opinion, in any 3D Zelda), maybe it is best they take it out. They'll never hit the ****-to-do ratio of the 2D Zeldas, where there were secrets to find or enemies to fight on practically every screen.

Don't you just talk to her and she'll automatically follow you like Zelda does earlier in the game?

I remember something about sunlight and Blind, but I believe you find out he (Disguised as a princess, I believe) has a weakness to sunlight from someone just before that dungeon.

I haven't been there since 1998 or so (Although I think that's the next dungeon on my GBA save the next time I pick that up).

Stop internettin' and get back to appreciating LTTP.

I wonder...will the game look like the Dolphin upgrade on WiiU?

I never expected them to make the games look nearly as good as the Dolphin emulator can. But I'm still puzzled why they won't allow some basic things to be done to improve picture quality on HDTV's, such as upscaling. They must have plenty of processing power left over.

At least it erases any annoyances I'd of had with the lack of GameCube support. If the WiiU could offer a significant picture quality boost on Wii software, especially when hooked up to a HDTV with a poor scaler, I'd of been very disappointed that it couldn't also play GCN software and offer a similar boost there.

From what I read at another forum, the E3 demo has been leaked. Here are some gameplay videos that are spreading around of it running on the Dolphin emulator. Looks good.

Just be aware that some of you might consider some of the content in these videos as spoilers (Although I'll be hard pressed to remember any sort of detail on these by the time the weekend arrives, but I know some of you are really trying hard to learn as little as possible about the game before release).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yspShkwMHgs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtjnQT9P828

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZBkFPPnPZc

A fairly unique situation, I must add. A prerelease leak of a hotly anticipated game (Albeit a old demo of it) that people are actually playing on a homebrew PC emulator. That must be a first or very close to one.

Haven't read the bodies of any reviews (or most of this thread since the last time I posted), mostly only the conclusion, but IGN gives it a 10/10, and says it's the best Zelda game ever. Joystiq gave 4.5/5 I think it was, and said it's excellent but could stand to have some stuff removed.

They must be doing a lot of repetition if it's 21 games. Are they doing things like the second quest for the original Zelda, Master Quest Ocarina of Time, the colorized version of Link's Awakening, the 3DS version of Ocarina of Time, etc? There's just Zelda, Zelda II, Link to the Past, Ocarina, Majora's Mask, Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, Skyward Sword, Link's Awakening, the two Oracle games, the two Four Swords games, Minish Cap, Link's Crossbow Training, and the two DS releases for actual unique releases. I count 17 Zelda adventures and that's including Skyward Sword and Link's Crossbow Training (A game I'm not sure everyone would count as an actual Zelda game).

Link to the Past was a fairly easy game at the time (Although there are certainly difficult sections and a decent amount of deaths, unlike the no death expectation people have with Zelda games produced under Ejii Aonuma).

You're just not used to that style of gameplay and such. If we could take you back in time to 1991 where you had just came off the 8 bit era of gaming and were regularly playing Genesis and SuperNes games, I don't think you'd think anything like you do at the moment.

It's a great game, so keep at it. One easy suggestion is to make sure you have as many of the 4 bottles as you can at this point in your save, and stock up on potions before entering a dungeon. You essentially can get 5 sets of hearts and magic to use on any dungeon once you get all 4 bottles. And don't be in such a rush. Do some exploration so you can do things like upgrade some of your equipment, expand the number of hearts you have, and even expand your magic meter (I think that last one was a sidequest, at least, but maybe you have to do it to progress in the main quest).

Keep at it and I bet you'll feel it's much more reasonable with its difficulty level than you're currently thinking by the time you finish it. And you should be more than ready to experience some other 2D Zelda's. I'd personally suggest Minish Cap for the GBA. It's probably the last great 2D Zelda we'll ever get and it has some beautiful 2D graphics, traditional gameplay (With some concepts from the 3D games implimented as well), and some interesting new ideas (This game apparantly is where much of the inspiration for Skyward Sword came from, according to some article I read on IGN a while back).

In light of your difficulties with Link to the Past, I doubt you'd ever be able to get into the original Zelda, Adventures of Link, Link's Awakening (Although that one is probably the easiest candidate to really get into among these games I just listed), or the two Oracle games. But if you end up actually being glad you played Link to the Past by the time you're done, I bet you'd enjoy Minish Cap.

Pretty easy to do with textures for a 480p game, no voice acting, and I assume no FMV (just in-game cutscenes, I'd imagine).

Haha. Congrats on beating it but I blame your chickenheartedness on being trained on modern Zeldas, in which it is inordinately weird to see a "death" screen. And not to discourage you, but Link's Awakening (though really good) is way harder than LTTP. I couldn't quite get into Minish Cap, however. Well-made, but it never quite captured that Zelda magic, to me.

I am getting more and more hyped about Skyward Sword you guys. Even though a month ago I was not looking forward to it at all. I will almost definitely be hunting for a broken street date come Friday night.

Good job

So what Zelda's have you finished, now? I'm assuming the four 3D games and, of course, Link to the Past?

If you do decide to go for Link's Awakening, make sure you pick up Link's Awakening DX. It was a full color rerelease of Link's Awakening for the Game Boy Color. It's in a black cartridge, unlike the gray cartridge version of the original.

It also adds a new dungeon with puzzles that rely on the full color graphics, and if you play it on a Super Game Boy attachment for the Super Nintendo (Which I don't suggest since you won't be able to enjoy the colorized version of the game or the new dungeon), it adds a Link's Awakening specific border that the original (Which was released before this add-on) never had. And of course it's the newer release of the two, so the save battery will have more life left in it.

It's a great game, no doubt. I think I'd rate it right around #4 or #5 if I had to put all of them in order of preference.




I'd of lost a bet. With things like Mario Kart Wii (Which also has no FMV, which few games have these days anyways, and no real voice acting) being on double sided disc years ago, I thought it was all but a given that Skyward Sword would.

I assume the more condensed and streamlined nature of the game made that possible.

Yep, it has to be on a platform that can play Game Boy Color software to enjoy the full color graphics (So the Game Boy Color, the Game Boy Player, the original Game Boy Advance, and both revisions of the SP model GBA can do it). It reverts back to its original state when played on a Game Boy, Game Boy Pocket, or Super Game Boy (The SGP is just the guts of an original Game Boy).

And of course, the GBA Micro, Nintendo DS, and Nintendo DS Lite just supported GBA software and dropped GB/GBC compatibility.


The colors will display just fine on the Game Boy Player. It's fully compatible with Game Boy Color software (And original Game Boy software). No Super Game Boy borders, though. Super Game Boy specific features actually utilized the Super Nintendo itself and I guess Nintendo didn't feel them important enough to emulate the SuperNes (Which is a shame, the GCN is basically just passing power, video, and control inputs through it and is otherwise idle).

Things like Donkey Kong 94' make keeping a Super Game Boy around worthwhile. But thankfully, other than that border, it doesn't add anything else to Link's Awakening DX. So it's a small sacrifice to get full color graphics and an extra dungeon.


I'm impressed that you beat the original. With Link to the Past being a bit of a struggle early on to really get involved in, I figured it was your first 2D Zelda.

And if it makes you feel any better, I have Metroid Prime, Metroid Prime 2, Metroid Prime 3, and Metroid Prime Trilogy all sitting here. And I've spent a grand total of two hours on MP1 since getting it 8 years ago or so. So I know the feeling. Too many good games, too few hours in a day. But someday I'll play them to completion.

At least you know you always have some fresh Zelda action to look forward to when you get into the mood.

anybody know of any retailers that are offering discounts/sale on this game?

Best Buy and TRU are offering a $10 GC (with either the game or the bundle), and I think K-Mart is offering a $20 gaming coupon.

I think I saw a flyer for $50 with gold wiimote next friday at TRU or BBuy.

thanks had ordered it on amazon, but think i will cancel and check them out (we don't have kmart in OK)

ZELDA GET, MF-ERS. Fair warning to anyone seeking out the Wiimote bundle, it seems to be in short supply. Not sure if this is just a small-shop-in-NYC thing, but it also appears to be unavailable on Amazon at the moment as well. I decided being able to play tonight and alllll of tomorrow was worth waiting to try to snag a gold controller on Sunday.

Well, time to settle in for (no doubt) two hours of ******** handholding, tutorials and frustrating/weird minigames before I even get to hold a sword!

I'm picking up my preordered bundle on Sunday... but let's just say I got really impatient and I love this game so far. And honestly I didn't think the handholding was THAT bad, except for the forced showing of the map in a new area.

I'm really glad I knew absolutely nothing about the game though, it made it so much more new and fresh at the beginning.

I had thought that and was shocked to find out that

Note that this is only a spoiler for the first 30 minutes and probably isn't one at all if you've read anything about the game already. Still, I'm glad I didn't know it beforehand.