Legend of Zelda The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword - NO SPOILERS, USE THE SPOILER THREAD PLEASE

[-QuesoKirby-]

No harm done.

 

[kupo15]

It's not a flaw if people prefer it that way.

They did it intentional. They had a reason for it. They stated that playtesters played 400-600 hours each on the game. 400-600

and they even played the game when it was done too.

Where did you get this statistic from. Can I see the source?

 

[etecoon]

internet pissing contest. serious business.

 

[#HBC | ZoZo]

Where did you get this statistic from. Can I see the source?

I got the numbers wrong.

600-700 hours

http://www.zeldauniverse.net/zelda-news/new-iwata-asks-skyward-sword-release-feedback/

- Aonuma also talked about the game’s debuggers, many who played from 600 to 700 hours of the game, and how many of them surprisingly still wanted to play the game again upon its official release.

 

[-QuesoKirby-]

internet pissing contest. serious business.

Just a small peeve, is all.

And Sweet Jesus, that's one DEDICATED group of debuggers! :o

 

[#HBC | ZoZo]

Playtesting just takes a long time.

1 boss encounter can take well up to 24 hours considering they play it a few times, give feedback, playtest the changes, give feedback etc
then other feedback gets thrown into the loop, repeat the cycle with someone else's feedback etc

Playtesting just takes a lot of time, luckily enough, it's really not that big a deal in later stages. In early stages it's suck because you encounter 1000s of glitches.

boss-name/physique spoiler

Spoiler

Like when the imprisoned fell and the spike was in the wall and I couldn't push it back in =/
Also, anyone remember this thing?
It's Link fighting the Imprisoned (the back is the fire coming from him, he has arms, legs and a tail. In the sky you can see the bomb falling from the Groosinator.

 

[-QuesoKirby-]

That's insane! Nice observation! I've always wondered what that could possibly be alluding to.

 

[MuraRengan]

The reason why you have to recenter all the time is because the item selection is programmed terribly. See, when you select an item, that moment is when the game centers your aiming and since your wiimote is twisted at an odd angle to even select the item, the centering constantly gets messed up. While the Item wheel is a good concept, it doesn't work very well in the game. The game is littered with these programming mistakes, this is what stands out to me and gets me frustrated the most

I'm gonna have to agree with kupo on this entire issue. The item selection and a lot of the controls are way too highly sensitive towards wiimote/sensor bar alignment and calibration. Although it's easily fixable, it's still a flaw in the game's design. I remember one time I couldn't get the cursor to go to the right to select a different item during a boss fight. This is a problem. Of course, once I realized it was happening I pressed the button to recenter it, but in-between first trying to select the item, trying multiple different ways of maneuvering the controller to get the cursor to move and finally deciding that it's best to just recenter, I might've wasted about 30-45 seconds and gotten hit once or twice. That's a flaw.

Like I said earlier, experimenting with sensor bar placement and distance from the TV eventually got me into something comfortable, but the average gamer should not be expected to have to go through trial and error with the hardware just to enjoy the game.

 

[etecoon]

once you're aware of the item recentering it's actually a good thing, because they were dumb and mapped center to calling fi out even though the left and right buttons are never used...

flying is a different issue, it keeps recentering while flying and just gets insanely screwed up at times and you have to pause to recenter because again, they don't know how to map inputs correctly

I have gripes with the controls too but it's not the end all be all issue of the game, it's still an easy game and I never died because of bad controls(or ever died at all), it just gets minorly annoying at times. it's not worth complaining in every post about when the game does so many things right, best dungeons in the series IMO, some really good boss fights, best aesthetics in the series, everything it does for zelda's narrative...it's not perfect, I do have issues with the controls, unskippable text and scenes messing up pacing and a few other little things, but all in all I have to say this game was extremely impressive and really resolidified zelda as one of the best game series' out there after WW and TP had lead me to believe it was on the decline. controls can be problematic but it's nothing compared to what the game did succeed in

 

[MuraRengan]

Well, I don't necessarily think the controls ruin the game, but I do think they were noticeably unpolished in spots. The only control scheme that I absolutely did not want to put up with was the swimming, everything else was only an occasional annoyance.

Btw, I think we should entertain the idea of a separate thread for people who have finished the game. It's hard to go into specifics about the game without having spoilers, and it's really obnoxious to have to tag every other post with spoilers.

 

[Spire]

Holy ****! That's it!

:O :O :O

Edit: Or it's just a drawing of a Dodongo on its hind legs with a bomb flying into its mouth.

 

[Luigitoilet]

Well, I don't necessarily think the controls ruin the game, but I do think they were noticeably unpolished in spots. The only control scheme that I absolutely did not want to put up with was the swimming, everything else was only an occasional annoyance.

Btw, I think we should entertain the idea of a separate thread for people who have finished the game. It's hard to go into specifics about the game without having spoilers, and it's really obnoxious to have to tag every other post with spoilers.

I was trying to think of a good way to make this work. Maybe I could make a spoilers thread for the game, and as enough time passes make that one the official SS thread in place of this one? iono. in the meantime, just deal with spoiler tagging your spoilers.

also, the fourth dungeon had probably the worst music ever. god that was annoying.

 

[Spire]

You know, despite the score for SS being largely orchestrated, only a few pieces are memorable. Those that are tend to be fairly awesome, but well... I miss Koji Kondo.

 

[Luigitoilet]

Yeah, I gotta agree for the most part. There are some very beautiful highlights but by and large the game's soundtrack is not one of the series' best.

Loove the vocal themes though.

 

[#HBC | ZoZo]

Holy ****! That's it!

:O :O :O

Edit: Or it's just a drawing of a Dodongo on its hind legs with a bomb flying into its mouth.

Or it's just a t-rex drawn by an imaginative kid

btw this has been on all day lol:
http://www.youtuberepeat.com/watch/?v=ZnPjHFBDcXk

 

[etecoon]

You know, despite the score for SS being largely orchestrated, only a few pieces are memorable. Those that are tend to be fairly awesome, but well... I miss Koji Kondo.

I like a lot of the soundtrack but I have to agree, not as memorable. kondo has been around for a long time and knows how to make memorable melodies, I think the newer generation of game composers are largely lacking in this area because they never had to deal with polyphony restrictions like the NES and SNES enforced and a lot of them are coming in with more of a predisposition to writing "background" music that cedes attention to voice acting(though there is no VA in zelda).

you're actually less likely to get "memorable" music from fully orchestrated scores than something more minimalist though, when you have dozens of instruments there's more of an emphasis on harmony, where monophonic melodies are the most memorable typically. this is a great video on this subject I like

http://penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/video-game-music

 

[#HBC | ZoZo]

I saw that vid, it explained a lot! :3

 

[Luigitoilet]

the game has voice acting. I know you are specifically talking about spoken dialogue here but a lot of people say there's "no voice acting" and it's kinda ignorant to say when practically every character with a speaking role in the game has a voice. That they aren't speaking the dialogue, and speak more monosyllabically is not exactly irrelevant...but it's pretty close. It's still a vocal performance and it still is a major part of the characterization.

But the rest of your post, I like . That's specifically why I'm a little more inclined to the music from the older games a little better. They are much more ornate in "in your face" in composition.

 

[#HBC | ZoZo]

Btw anyone knows who the voice actor for zelda is? Gotta know which voice in crushing on here.

 

[etecoon]

there are vocal expressions but none of the characters except fi really "speak", you still see a lot of dialogue with no sound except for the music at times which exposes the music more

 

[theeboredone]

Got back from college. Left Wii at home. At this rate, I won't finish the game until the next Zelda comes out.

 

[Mr. Johan]

I really like this soundtrack, on the other hand. Aside from Link to the Past, none of the soundtracks from Zelda games before this one have been memorable to me in its entirety, but SS's soundtrack really captures that ambient feel of the game. The Romance theme, the 4th Dungeon Boss theme, EVERY THEME THAT HAS TO DO WITH THE DESERT, there hasn't been a sour grape in this OST for except for maybe the Skyloft theme and the Loftwing Flight theme.

5th Dungeon Area spoilers

Spoiler

I was very touched when I got to Skipper's House, honestly. I saw the two decayed robots in his house, I saw the picture of Skipper, his crew, and his big ship, and I found the paper on the house wall that reveals those two robots were part of Skipper's lost crew, man I just got lost in the moment. I spent some time in house looking for a damn Time Shift Stone LOL

 

[theeboredone]

I liked a lot of pieces from OoT, but that's really the only game I can remember music from in the first place.

Gerudo Valley, Temple of Time, Lost Woods, Song of Time (wish it was fully fledged out), Serenade of Water (same), Bolero of Fire (same), and Song of Storms

 

[etecoon]

is it just me or do a lot of things in SS relate more closely to LTTP and LoZ than OoT? there are a hundred reasons why it doesn't work in zelda theory, but I almost get the sense that half the series could take place between SS and OoT

some of it might just be random easter eggs though because the game has a ton of them

Spoiler

like when you're fighting hordes of enemies in past sealed grounds and some of them blow a horn, it plays the LTTP flute motif which is obviously just a for fun reference

 

[Deleted member]

@Spire: Glad to see you liked it. Hopefully, I'll get some more done tomorrow after school.

 

[Glöwworm]

Man, I want to rent this game but I don't have Motion Plus T_T

 

[etecoon]

should just buy it, it can be time consuming and is certainly worth many replays

have to say I really love what fujibayashi did with this and his overall enthusiasm for the series, I really hope he directs the next console zelda as well

 

[Opelucid]

Can someone help me out I'm in the Earth Temple and I'm at the part where you have to dodge the statues shooting magma at you on the ball. But a metal platform is blocking the way how do I get passed it?

 

[theeboredone]

Use the

Spoiler

bug controlling thing to cut the rope from both sides of the red metal gate.

 

[-QuesoKirby-]

Can someone help me out I'm in the Earth Temple and I'm at the part where you have to dodge the statues shooting magma at you on the ball. But a metal platform is blocking the way how do I get passed it?

Look closely at your surroundings in the tunnel. Sure enough, you'll find it.

If you're really at a loss what to do...

Spoiler

Observe the northern wall. There should be a small crack in the rock formation that you can throw two bombs at to open an alternate route through the tunnel.

Just wanna see if you can find it without the spoiler, though. The feeling of solving a tough puzzle all on your own is the magic that makes Zelda tick.

 

[Mr. Johan]

I used walkthroughs in my first runthroughs in Link to the Past, LoZ, Ocarina of Time, and Twilight Princess, lol. But I got into the series 2 years ago, so I had pretty accurate walkthroughs to abuse, so the appeal was too great.

I quit using the walkthrough I had for Wind Waker though, and I have not used a walkthrough for Skyward Sword yet. My experience with them as a result has become 10x better.

 

[MuraRengan]

Incredible spoilers concerning the goddess:

Spoiler

I was reading the ZeldaWiki on Hylia and I find it entirely possible that Hylia was essentially a female version of Link. From the description, she was a human, given the Triforce by the Golden Goddesses.

 

[Spire]

Incredible spoilers concerning the goddess:

Spoiler

I was reading the ZeldaWiki on Hylia and I find it entirely possible that Hylia was essentially a female version of Link. From the description, she was a human, given the Triforce by the Golden Goddesses.

Spoiler

The game only ever refers to her as Her Grace, or a Goddess. Furthermore, she attained mortality by sacrificing her divinity for the sake of the land and as such, was reborn as Zelda. She was not a female Link.

 

[MuraRengan]

The game only ever refers to her as Her Grace, or a Goddess.

Spoiler

Furthermore, she attained mortality by sacrificing her divinity for the sake of the land and as such, was reborn as Zelda.

She was not a female Link.

Spoiler

The game makes no refrence to her being born a goddess however. What is known is that the triforce was left with her. Why would the goddesses leave the triforce to another goddess, especially considering that the divine creatures could not use the triforce? I think it's more likely that Hylia was a human and wished for immortality (or some goddesslike-nature) with the Triforce and eventually people started referring to her as a goddess.

Idk, it's not a big deal, I just don't think the idea of goddesses leaving power to another goddess makes much sense. This theory would hold more weight if I could know whether or not Hylia could use the Triforce.

 

[GwJ]

Spire, can you just stick your entire reply about that in spoilers, not just the guts of it? The un-spoiler'd part still gives me information about what it is that was being talked about

 

[Spire]

Spoiler

The game makes no refrence to her being born a goddess however. What is known is that the triforce was left with her. Why would the goddesses leave the triforce to another goddess, especially considering that the divine creatures could not use the triforce? I think it's more likely that Hylia was a human and wished for immortality (or some goddesslike-nature) with the Triforce and eventually people started referring to her as a goddess.

Idk, it's not a big deal, I just don't think the idea of goddesses leaving power to another goddess makes much sense.

Story/lore spoilers ahead, beware!

Spoiler

I recall Zelda explaining that Hylia divided her divinity so that her mortal reincarnation and her destined hero would use the Triforce to restore the land because she could not use the Triforce in her Goddess state. Had she been a mortal heroine, she could have used the Triforce herself. Hylia's origins are never stated and as such, we can only refer to her as a Goddess. She was not one of the three golden goddesses, but a goddess nonetheless—one native to Hyrule perhaps, one who arose after the creation of the world? We may never know, just as Skyward Sword did not explain the Dark Interloper conflict as many assumed.

I enjoy Nintendo's ambiguity, but it is slightly annoying, considering a lot of us have been waiting five years for some closure on a lot of the questions Twilight Princess asked—almost none of which were answered. Like, where the **** are the Oocca? We explored the whole goddamn sky and they were nowhere to be found. I was convinced with the Ancient Robots that we'd see some semblance of the Oocca given their advanced technology. Instead, our bird allies were loftwings. If that's Nintendo's way of saying, "the Hylians mingled with some type of ancient bird species before OoT," then I'm okay with it, so long as they're not totally throwing them out the window. Just seemed like they began to pay attention to continuity with TP, then scrapped a lot of what had been established for Skyward Sword.

I totally enjoyed SS for what it was, but unlike Twilight Princess, there aren't many places to go exploring in search of easter eggs, translatable Hylian text, or overall theorizing in general. Theorizing is fun and translates the puzzle aspect of the games into a social platform. While SS established a whole lot of 'new' (which IS awesome), it left more questions unanswered than assumed, on top of asking a few more questions. With an incomplete Hyrule to explore, the level of exploration diminished so low that room for expounding was baseline at best. Nothing too interesting honestly. Most of the questions asked throughout the game were answered in its climax, a bittersweet ending for us theorists.

Spire, can you just stick your entire reply about that in spoilers, not just the guts of it? The un-spoiler'd part still gives me information about what it is that was being talked about

****, I'm really sorry man. To ease the pain, the unspoiled parts of that post were targeting something I felt was inaccurate—meaning it may hold no true relevance to what actually happens in the game.

 

[GwJ]

Heh, it's cool. No harm, no foul. I'm just really stingy about Zelda spoilers since I'm such a fanboy of the series.

 

[Spire]

Oh I totally understand. I boycotted the internet for the most part during the weeks leading up to the 20th. I feel really bad about that, but oh well, we cool!

I took so-and-so's advice and made a spoiler thread. This one should be spoiler-free from here on out.

 

[Kuraudo]

seriously?

.... YAAAAY! I CAN CRUISE THROUGH THIS THREAD WITHOUT WORRYING ABOUT SPOILERS!! /dances the happy dance. then sleeps. ffffuuuuu-- work

 

[ZIO]

I'm only just reaching the desert.

Holy hell that's a lot of black bars.

And I can't help but want to read.



Looks like as much as i want to view this thread, I'll have to hold back on it. I've already been spoiled enough END GAME SPOILERS thanks to 4chan.

Oh well.