Went through the first trial for the Hero's Song, and I feel like the game is really trying to stretch itself thin. It's kind of neat as an idea; have an area you were previously in be completely flooded so you have to navigate it differently. But at this point, it feels almost as padding. Before going to this area, I had to fight the same boss I've been fighting a third time, this time with a different phase, and now I'm in a previous area but covered in water to make it feel different. This is probably the weakest part of the game right now. Hopefully the next Hero's song part is more interesting of a remix.

Finished up the second Lava dungeon this time. The beginning of this dungeon involves a escort mission with the little Fi simp bot, and it's very strange that it's even included here. I kind of didn't like the tunnel areas, they've kind of played out the same for the most part. There's some fun to be had, but it's kind of a weak mechanic at times. There's some clever stuff with the lava hand enemies that you have to trick to lift you up to higher areas, but overall I'm not too keen on this dungeon.

Ghirahim really feels like a direct response to the complaints about Zant from Twilight Princess. I've seen a lot of people mention how Twilight Princess disappointed them with Zant since he just ends up being a crazy person instead of what he's portrayed in being. I didn't really mind this, given that it was obvious from the beginning that Zant wasn't going to be the real villain, but I think Ghirahim so far has been a great villain. He's very witty, cunning, and incredibly honest with Link, which is an interesting quality to him. Usually with these types of villains, they're always the liars or the cheaters, but he's very open about his plans, notices when he loses his temper and wishes not to unjustly put that anger on you, and then proceeds to threaten to cut you down. There's almost a level of respect to him that's interesting, especially for a Nintendo villain.

Finished the Sand Sea Dungeon, I feel like this dungeon is a lot of missed potential in terms of lore. It's such an interesting dungeon mechanically and thematically, but it doesn't do enough with it's ideas to really drive home the idea that this is a long dead civilization that we're only viewing a glimpse of. What are these machines, why does the main pirate look so different, why don't we know anything about him? Really seems like a missed opportunity here to expand on the mythos of the game.

I think it's kind of been emblematic of how I've been feeling about Skyward Sword as a whole; it's missed potential. A lot of these ideas like the Wingloft travel, the dungeons, the story, Fi as a character, they all seem like minor inklings of something but don't play around enough with their ideas to make the stand out.