Being a big fan of the Hero of Time saga and how well each game builds off of each other, Skyward Sword got me excited. Set aeons before the events we know of, you would think that the game would elaborate on certain plot details or even add another layer of theming to the already rich 3D games. However, this game fails to fulfil that purpose and even fails to be a substantive Zelda game.

Something that makes Zelda games really special is the worldbuilding and culture of the races that inhabit the world, along with remnants of the past that make the world feel more and more real. This is done with a major focus on environmental storytelling and how well that device is used to touch on the primary themes of each game. Take Majora's Mask, for instance. The people of Termina are full of life and ambition, but having to face their inevitable end, you see their lives fall apart, and this is what makes the action of the player hit so hard. Or the deep melancholy that is felt in the Twilight Realm in Twilight Princess, fitting the tragic history of the Twili. This is just not present within Skyward Sword, with only one exception on the Surface, but it's nowhere near as interesting as any of what the HoT saga has to offer. It's really lacking in any narrative substance. The people living in these regions of the surface have only one trait, and that is Zelda's quirkiness, but outside of that, it's nothing. There doesn't seem to be any community in any of them, and there's no unique characteristic that alters their perspective on the world; it's just quirkiness for the sake of quirkiness. I understand that in this era, there aren't many civilisations going on like we see in the future, but there are examples shown in the game where you can see potential. If this element was focused on more, it would make the adventure actually feel like something rather than the bland plains of the Surface. This also applies to the dungeons; there's straight-up no story content. Look, I am not expecting it to be as rich as the previous entries, but at least have something.

So what is unique to the game? What does it add to the series? How is it presented?
Sadly, this game doesn't really offer much to gain a new perspective on the series. Which is disappointing because, with it being a mega prequel, it would make sense to be used to contextualise what we already know. You'll see thematic or plot references to Ocarina of Time or Twilight Princess, but it doesn't build off of them; it just repeats them as directly as possible, which is very anti-Zelda. Again, this game had potential, and this can be seen through Zelda's character. She is thrown into a similar situation as the Hero of Time, fated to throw away her childhood and forced to mature to stop a great evil, abandoning her friends and family. This is neat stuff, and it's a nice takeaway from this narrative, as a lot of Zeldas in the series don't really have that personal touch; having this touch with one of the three core characters is great. However, I do have some issues with the presentation of Zelda, and it's something that goes into a lot of my issues with the presentation of the game: a lack of subtext. Zelda is a series that blends story into gameplay incredibly well, and it doesn't hold your hand when it comes to understanding what the narrative is saying, but this game straight up tells you the cheat sheet of how it works. "You learned wisdom from solving devious puzzles and traps". The dialogue is pretty horrendous, overly direct, and lacking anything to extract; it's just point blank. The only valuable thing in this game is the intro/premise, the reveal, and the ending; everything else is pointless.

It's clear that I am not a fan of the narrative, but what about the "game" part? The gameplay is actually really enjoyable. Playing on Switch and not using the motion controls for the combat was great. The enemy design makes you approach the combat differently, and if you are being lazy, you could eat some damage. I am pretty happy with the shield play too, as it puts even more value on knowing the enemies well, although maybe it is a bit too powerful. The game is easy; it's Zelda, but it's impressive that a Zelda game is making me think during combat. The bosses are some of the best in the series, full of creative solutions and using a bunch of different tools. The dungeons are also amazing, probably on par with Twilight Princess for me, making it second. They all have unique solutions and have some quirk that utilises the many angles Link can attack at in the game, as well as introducing some pretty cool dungeon items that are implemented well. I only have a couple issues with the gameplay, and that's the Sky and the repetitive gameplay loop. The Sky is definitely a homage to the Sea in Wind Waker, but it misses all the atmosphere and reward for exploration, especially with the new Goddess Cubes. You are not rewarded for exploring the Sky, until you find the Goddess Cubes, which are usually tied to the main plot, so there's zero incentive to explore early on. The other issue is just how repetitive the sections of the game are, with these sections being the places connecting to the dungeons. The Silent Realms are sick, and as a Twilight Princess fanboy, I think it's implemented well, but other than that, the areas just feel too similar... Maybe if the world were more interesting, these long stretches would have been captivating.

I know I am harsh on the game, but it's mostly because I had a pretty low bar set when going into it after playing through my favourite collection of games, and I was still disappointed. Perhaps if the game just expanded on the lore, I would have been happier, or even enriched the themes a little more, but sadly, that's not the case. The game is good; I was having fun playing it, but narratively, I was screaming at its missed potential.

(Replay) Always thought this game was mid and overrated, but on this replay I enjoyed it more than I ever have. The dungeons are pretty good, but the best thing here is the exploration in the overworlds. It's so much fun. Some people dislike how the game hides required items in out of the way locations you're never told about but I like that personally, I love being forced to explore and find stuff on my own and I see no reason why you wouldn't want to do that in a Zelda game. I don't care for the soundfont but the OST was undeniably pretty influential as it started so many iconic recurring songs.

Being set in post-apocalyptic land, you would expect the world to be depressing, but the villages are flourishing, having to move on to create a new world. The towns reflect this in many different areas, adapting and even evolving to the new era that was forced onto them. The environmental design shows this incredibly well, and having played Ocarina of Time before this, seeing the remnants of the past does a great job at paying homage to the previous era.
This is one of my favourite aspects of the game, it really respects the Hero of Time's era, to the point where Outset Island shares a tradition of dressing their boys in the HoT's clothes when they reach the age the HoT was when he saved Hyrule - although a lot is forgotten, his heroism has not. Ganondorf is excellently used in this game, being the only person in this era who knew the HoT, he has been humbled and having lived in both these eras he has unique perspective of this reality, being a great foil to the other characters. He is so peak in this game.

The art style of this game is insane, I love it so much, and it fits the optimistic view the game has. The faces are very expressive, the animations are very cartoony - I just love how the world dramatically changing is shown through it's art style. This also goes with the main theme of the game, moving on from the past and creating a new future.
This is why the sailing excels, the music, colour and sense of exploration is such a great detour from the drama of the game's narrative. Learning about this new world, is so fun and seeing how many opportunities there are makes you excited to explore again and again. Sadly, I do believe it can be pretty restrictive early on with you not having the ability to solve puzzles until later, meaning you don't get any reward from finding these islands. Which is fine in general, but I do feel like it's done a bit too much in the early game.
About the gameplay: although not the most interesting in of itself, it does a great job at accompanying the overall vibe of the game. The dungeons are the weakest in the 3D series (so far) but they are not bad, they are just not mechanically complex. They are more so used as a spectacle and with the games stunning art style, going room-to-room is beautiful. It's very clear to me they prioritised vibes over mechanics and wanted to keep the game simple.

9/10

I really wanted to come out of the ending satisfied, being able to find it within myself to fully accept the way FF16 executed its vision and say "despite its flaws it's very well done". But as the dust has settled, I find that while I still feel like its messages are extremely palpable and powerful, I didn't come out of the experience feeling wholly confident that FF16 executed itself to the best of its ability.

It's no secret now that this game is not actually a game of thrones politics heavy Final Fantasy game, but is actually just your typical JRPG romp. Make friends, save world, defy fate, etc etc. It's this first element especially that is essentially the lynchpin of the entire narrative, and it is the center of its focus on every level. From the plot, to the thematics, to the characters, to the game design YoshiP and Maehiro STRESS deeply the communities you've come to be a part of, as well as the power of the found family you’ve come to create. And I think through the sidequests this is done super well, but I don't love how these elements at times can take away from the main scenario experience. From the literal times which the plot halts completely and has you fill time by going around the hideaway, or how everytime you enter a new area you have to learn about its local town and the secret leaders who run them. While I find the former egregious, the latter isn't inherently problematic. I am a 14 fan after all, but the difference between 14 and 16 in this department is the potency of their writing and worldbuilding. I don't mind helping people do random BS in Shadowbringers cause Norvrandt is one of the richest worlds out there and Ishikawa writes with such charm and turn that random NPC's can really have an impact on how you view the world. Maehiro in 16 just really doesn't have the charm in his writing to consistently make his NPC's pop and Valisthea is just not an interesting enough setting to carry these more mundane sections. There is a lot of focus in trying to make some of the more significant NPC’s notable characters and I really appreciate that approach, but there really is only so far you can go with an NPC in terms of character writing.

It really ends up being a double edged sword, where while I do think it ultimately contributes to this holistic vision that can be satisfying (see the conclusions to many of the side quests), it at the same time draws focus away from things that definitely could've really used it like better exploration of the politics within Valisthea. This is something really made apparent by the fact that there’s literally a character who’s entire job is to explain to you the political state of the world on the handful of occasions Clive actually ships out on a mission.

I feel like every day I'd hop on 16 I'd feel different about it, more or less confident with its vision at each step, one day content and another quizzical. Funnily enough this is exactly like how I was with Endwalker, and I probably have it within myself nowadays to admit that Shadowbringers/Endwalker are my de facto top 1 fiction, but the difference here is I just don't think the quality of the writing is ever strong enough to really make my confliction ever bloom into deep appreciation and love.

That being said, I do really enjoy a lot of the game. I've been very critical of it simply because I think there is a lot to say about 16 as an experience, but ultimately there are still a lot of positives to remark on. The boss fights and setpieces are awesome, the cast is way better than I'd ever thought it'd be, Maehiro wrote his first truly great antagonist, the cutscene direction/general visuals are incredible, and I think in general the story has a really great sense of thematic cohesion which makes a lot of the moments land especially hard. This game is good, without a doubt in my mind do I think it's good but before I had first played it I said something to myself, which was I'd be content if it was at least better then Heavensward. And I haven't played Heavensward in so long, so it's hard for me to even make this judgment properly, but it's the fact that I can't be confident about it that gives me pause.