[SPOILERS!!] The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

[Dannyboy-the-Dane]

What I noticed was SS Link's more realistic way of running.

[MindFreak]

What I noticed was SS Link's more realistic way of running.

 

Exactly!

 

And the pants, too.

 

By the way, SS Link? Either a ship or a nazi. Funny stuff.

[Dannyboy-the-Dane]

Exactly!

 

And the pants, too.

 

By the way, SS Link? Either a ship or a nazi. Funny stuff.

Haha, I know! My use of the abbreviation is entirely deliberate.

[Grazza]

First of all, it's immensely exciting to have a new Zelda. I've watched the video quite a few times since E3 and my impression is still the same. It looks great, but honestly, it does look like they've just applied a cel-shading filter to Twilight Princess. It's a dream come true to have Adult Link paired with cel-shading, but I do think it needs a bit more cartoonish flair. Wind Waker was envisaged as a cartoon (think of the waves) and thus was stunning, but this does, as I say, look somewhat like Twilight Princess put through a filter. I don't want a different style, I just expected it to be slightly "better" in general, in terms of character models and such. That said, they are definitely on the right track and are very close to the perfect style for Zelda.

 

There is only one thing I actually dislike about the visuals - those bipedal enemies. Please tell me they're not meant to be Moblins! Wind Waker portrayed them perfectly. They are meant to be brutish pig-men.

 

Now my only real concern about this game is harder for me to express, as I've been an advocate of it - MotionPlus. I always thought MotionPlus meant more accurate motion control, and it does. I don't care for motion control, but if it was going to be used, I wanted the peripheral that would make it better. When I got Wii Sports Resort, I thought the sword fighting was a revelation. However, when I got Red Steel 2 I disliked it immensely. The motion control worked fine, but the reality of having to make significant movements during a "proper" game was not fun at all. I tend to rest my elbow on my bed, and making the motions in this position was so unenjoyable I ejected the game and never played it again.

 

My hope with Zelda is that the team don't put large or elaborate movements into it. I can just about cope with "up, down, left, right, thrust", but I really think they should forget about motion-controlled archery and opt for the simpler pointing. Even better, ditch MotionPlus completely! Tilting and pointing are the welcome fruits of motion control, but in the long term I don't think people are going to want the forearm waving aspect of it.

 

That said, I'm sure this game will be excellent, as Nintendo are on fine form at the moment. I wasn't at all excited about Zelda: Spirit Tracks or Mario Galaxy 2, but they both turned out to be stunning and addictive.

[Pookiablo]

The motion control worked fine, but the reality of having to make significant movements during a "proper" game was not fun at all. I tend to rest my elbow on my bed, and making the motions in this position was so unenjoyable I ejected the game and never played it again.

 

My hope with Zelda is that the team don't put large or elaborate movements into it. I can just about cope with "up, down, left, right, thrust", but I really think they should forget about motion-controlled archery and opt for the simpler pointing. Even better, ditch MotionPlus completely! Tilting and pointing are the welcome fruits of motion control, but in the long term I don't think people are going to want the forearm waving aspect of it.

 

I'm personally for M+ but I certainly get your point. What would be cool would be for Ninty to have a GC pad/Classic pad option, as I too, depending on where my Wii is in the house, would struggle to play in an active manner at times. All the stuff they showed at the E3 demo, can be done with a analogue stick anyway right?

 

EDIT: When I say, can be done with a stick, I mean in a basic form at least. Obviously, 1:1 sword fighting probably isn't the case.

Edited June 21, 2010 by Pookiablo

[Ronnie]

I find Nintendo's belief that 'tilting the remote to control an on-screen cursor' is in any way better than simply aiming and pointing to a point on the screen jaw droppingly ridiculous.

 

It took Shigsy about 10 tries to hit a bug on the wall, when simply pointing to the screen would have achived the same result in 1 simple hit.

[Pookiablo]

I find Nintendo's belief that 'tilting the remote to control an on-screen cursor' is in any way better than simply aiming and pointing to a point on the screen jaw droppingly ridiculous.

 

It took Shigsy about 10 tries to hit a bug on the wall, when simply pointing to the screen would have achived the same result in 1 simple hit.

 

He also had a bugger load of interfence/technical problems and virtually all the hands-on previews have said it controls amazingly.

[S.C.G]

I have full faith in Nintendo, I'm positve that they will ensure Skyward Sword is nothing short of stunning by the time it's released, we just need to be a little... patient.

[Diageo]

I'm so excited about this, I actually want to get exhausted while playing, adds so much to the atmosphere. Even though we will probably only have to do small gestures, I'm gonna do big ones anyway.

[Pookiablo]

I'm so excited about this, I actually want to get exhausted while playing, adds so much to the atmosphere. Even though we will probably only have to do small gestures, I'm gonna do big ones anyway.

 

I'm so buying a few hundred pots so that I can smash 'em with the Wiimote at the same time as when I'm smashing them in the hunt for rupees and fairies in-game.

[Diageo]

I'm so buying a few hundred pots so that I can smash 'em with the Wiimote at the same time as when I'm smashing them in the hunt for rupees and fairies in-game.

 

I always thought was very rude of link.

[Dante]

Aonuma - "I do not want to make Zelda easier"

 

There have been concerns about the difficultly in The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword for a few of years – Even starting from 2008 when Shigeru Miyamoto said he wanted to make Zelda accessible for casual gamers. Those who have been wondering about the game’s difficult have nothing to fear, however. According to Eiji Aonuma, there are no plans to make Zelda easier.

“I do not want to make Zelda easier. Easy to me does not equal fun. I want puzzles where people have to think about it, and when they solve the puzzle, there’s that feeling of accomplishment. That’s something that’s really valuable, that concrete feeling that when you accomplish something [in the game], it feels like you’ve done something worth doing. If the game is too easy, the accomplishments aren’t valuable. When Mr. Miyamoto says easy, he doesn’t mean simple. He means easily — this is the difficulty of the language here. It’s accessible, and you know how to do things, if not necessarily what to do. You may have a series of puzzles to figure out, and it may be difficult to decipher the meaning, but it’s not difficult to accomplish what you need to do.”

 

13 Facts You May Not Know

 

1. Link is still right-handed. That’s right, like with Twilight Princess, Link has been changed from a lefty to a righty, so as to further immerse most of the population who will be holding the Wii Remote in their right hand. So it looks like lefties may be out of luck, as Aonuma has stated that he “just hope that people will play it right-handed.”

 

2. Drinking potions no longer stops the game. Unlike in previous Zeldas, where the action would pause while Link leisurely suckled his magic juice, Link will have to slurp it down while continuing to evade enemy attacks.

 

3. The art style, which appears to be a mixture of those of Twilight Princess and Wind Waker, is heavily inspired by late 19th century impressionists, particularly Paul Cezanne.

 

4. Item selection is handled differently than in other Zelda titles. In Skyward Sword, players switch between their currently selected implements in real time. Link possesses a sort of “hammer space” from which he can grab any of his useful devices. Players merely hold B while reaching towards the item to grab it, making dodging blows while swapping out your slingshot for your bow an easy process.

 

5. In the demo, what appears to be Death Mountain is visible in the distance. Sadly, it was inaccessible during the demo, despite our best efforts.

 

6. The controller outline on the HUD was designed for the E3 demo. Nintendo is still working on the final HUD, although players may be able to turn it off completely.

 

7. Aiming controls are a mix of IR pointing like in Twilight Princess and WM+ gestural aiming like in Wii Sports Resort. Miyamoto and co. are weighing the best option in every case to make item control as intuitive as possible.

 

8. Skyward Sword’s director is former Capcom employee Hidemaro Fujibayashi. He worked on the Capcom-developed Zelda titles Minish Cap, Oracle of Ages, Oracle of Seasons, and the Four Swords portion of Link to the Past on the GBA, as well as working on Phantom Hourglass for Nintendo.

 

9. Most of the game is finalized. The rest of the development process will largely focus on refining the look of the game.

 

10. Some (if not all) of the music in the final game will be orchestrated, according to Shigeru Miyamoto. If true, this will be the first Zelda game to feature this during gameplay.

 

11. The game is much harder than recent 3D Zelda titles. Minibosses take off two hearts when they hit you, which is up to eight times what they have in other recent games in the series.

 

12. MotionPlus sword control greatly affects battle strategy. Players have to watch their enemy’s movements, wait for the proper timing, and then strike from the appropriate angle in order to make blows connect.

 

13. So far, nine different enemy types have been shown. We have seen Bokoblins, Chu Chu, Deku Babas, Deku Octoroks, Keese, some kind of Scorpion, a Stalfos, Walltulas, and a fiery Toadpolis.

 

[Cube]

My three main requests for the next Zelda after playing Twilight Princess were:

 

- A return to cel-shading

- More intuitive, quicker, on-the-fly item switching

- Directional sword swipes to make combat much more listening.

 

Good to know that all those are in. My only other want for the next one was/is a more Epic story.

[killer kirby]

Excellent, funny enough I just started playing Minish Cap again and I love it so much now, it is my second favorite Zelda game with TP being first and the Oracle series a close 3rd

[dazzybee]

4. Item selection is handled differently than in other Zelda titles. In Skyward Sword, players switch between their currently selected implements in real time. Link possesses a sort of “hammer space” from which he can grab any of his useful devices. Players merely hold B while reaching towards the item to grab it, making dodging blows while swapping out your slingshot for your bow an easy process.

 

This actually sounds amazing. I never realised it was like this. I thought it was just the way you selected them, awesome!!

 

10. Some (if not all) of the music in the final game will be orchestrated, according to Shigeru Miyamoto. If true, this will be the first Zelda game to feature this during game

 

This is obviously great news. Galaxy sounds incredible and hearing the Zelda music fully orchestrated will be magical.

 

12. MotionPlus sword control greatly affects battle strategy. Players have to watch their enemy’s movements, wait for the proper timing, and then strike from the appropriate angle in order to make blows connect.

 

However much it wasn't as initially exciting as a lot of Nintendos press conference, this game is just going to be sensational!! Really wish it was coming out this year. Worried it'll get delayed til next summer though... They won't want to clash it with 3DS

[killer kirby]

This is obviously great news. Galaxy sounds incredible and hearing the Zelda music fully orchestrated will be magical.

If they can make the bowser music in Mario Galaxy 1 and 2 sound so epic, I drool at the imagination of what the last couple of songs will be like especially on the last battle : peace:

 

12. MotionPlus sword control greatly affects battle strategy. Players have to watch their enemy’s movements, wait for the proper timing, and then strike from the appropriate angle in order to make blows connect.

 

However much it wasn't as initially exciting as a lot of Nintendos press conference, this game is just going to be sensational!! Really wish it was coming out this year. Worried it'll get delayed til next summer though... They won't want to clash it with 3DS

 

I also think this is great news, it really makes me think that the Zelda team did get some idea's off Monster Hunter 3, with the instant potion button and now for us to to time and watch our enemies movements. If anything, if the Zelda team makes the battles just as intense as the ones in Monster Hunter...God all mighty will next year be truly awesome

[Fused King]

The questions that matter:

 

Is there a new villian and, if so, will Ganondorf at least make a small appearance?

[Emasher]

Everything points towards this happening before Ocarina of time (Regardless of what other games you consider to be in between, lets not start that again), so I'd say its likely that Ganondorf isn't going to be the main villain. I could see him making a small appearance though. Maybe as a child or something like that.

[lostmario]

 

Sorry if its already been posted.

[Owen]

I'm amazed how exact i was with some of my E3 predictions!

 

This is looking amazing..wasn't sure about the graphics myself when i first saw them ..but now it all makes sense..

 

2011 though? Feel kinda cheated...i'm sure they were always setting us up for Christmas..but it's a busy period with 360/PS3 games..so i'll cope!

[Fused King]

Everything points towards this happening before Ocarina of time (Regardless of what other games you consider to be in between, lets not start that again), so I'd say its likely that Ganondorf isn't going to be the main villain. I could see him making a small appearance though. Maybe as a child or something like that.

 

Yes, would love to see the birth of Ganondorf:laughing:

How the hell did that happen, two witches x two brooms = King of Evil ?

[Ronnie]

Here are my predications & ideas on what i think will be the next Zelda:

 

Link will fly a plane made out of wood (Remember, we've had a boat and train in this series..)..you control this like you would the aeroplane game out of Wii Sports Resort.

 

This plane will be one of the main forms of transport..you can either fly by air or use Epona for land transport.

 

As you fly above a huge world, your able to land where ever you like...you may find a new village or a dungeon you must complete to forward the story.

 

While flying you may get into dogfight type battles!

 

The girl (shown in artwork form last E3) is indeed the mastersword...you control both characters at different times like the Zelda/Link feature in Spirit Tracks. She also looks like she has wings and can fly..but i'm not convinced Link will use her as the plane (yet).

 

A war between good and evil is happening while you play the game...often areas are beautiful while others have been partly bombed ...huge battles take place, ala Lord Of the Rings style.

 

The main new feature is that you are free to do everything at your leisure, if you need help a new 'hint' system will tell you what to do...the whole feel of this Zelda is indeed the epic, huge world you will come across..the feeling of unknown.

 

Link will not talk..but voice-acting will now be included for alot of the characters you come across.

 

Dungeons will be filled with puzzles, some are to progress through the story..others are to obtain heart pieces and treasures..Most of these will be huge.

 

and think its obvious that the length of the game will be greater (i believe this is because we won't see a Zelda for quite some time now) and the graphics will be even better then Twilight Princess.

 

Just some ideas..be cool to see if any of these are correct. :p

 

 

Do you mean these predictions Owen?

[Owen]

 

Do you mean these predictions Owen?

 

Didn't really get the Zelda bit right..cept for the fact he may fly still...

 

I meant my other predictions! : peace:

[Ronnie]

Fair enough

[Supercube]

 

Sorry if its already been posted.

 

It was interesting to see that Link can do a vertical spin slash as well as a normal horizontal one...just a small thing but it's these details which make old things newer.