This review contains spoilers
Skyward Sword is a good game that I never want to play again.
It's a testament to ego and a dedication to gimmicks. I can't imagine people playtesting this game during its 5+ years of development and having no qualms with the motion controls, the story pacing, and the underwhelming boss battles. Surely they reported less than satisfactory experience, yet those in charge of the game did not listen.
Speaking from experience, I never had substantial issue with the motion controls. They seem to work more than well during combat portions of the game. However, I simply can't abide mandatory motion controls for full 3-D traversal, such as flying on your Loftwing and swimming. The Loftwing in particular not only has you aiming the bird, but contantly flapping your wiimote up and down to adjust your altitude. You also need to dip your wrist down for extended periods of time, which the human musculature is simply not built for. I'm very curious to see how a standard control scheme fairs in the HD rerelease. As it stands now, the full breadth of motion control ranges from "fine" to "unplayable" depending on the player.
As for the story, I really did enjoy the core band of characters. While I don't like Link's look in this game, with pants as pillowy as his lips, I dig the overall art style and expressiveness of the characters. Groose is a standout example of a 3-D zelda character with a measurable arc. Ghirahim is a hilarious and intimidating antagonist. From a design standpoint, Fi is solid, but she's a complete anvil drop on gameplay momentum and holds my hand so hard I wanted to gnaw my arm off.
The quest itself has a ton of pacing problems--Silent Realms are old by the third version, and in my opinion have too steep of a difficulty curve. The Eldin Silent Realm is easily the most difficult portion of the entire game, and it's what, the halfway point? The "puzzle overworld" touted by developers simply does not lend itself to Silent Realms in 2/4 iterations.
The "Song of the Hero" portion of the game is even worse and I'd wager it's where most people abandon Skyward Sword. Tadtones are easily the worst experience I've had in any Zelda game, and I've played through Zelda II. It's also just a complete drag--these quests should have been combined with the Sacred Flame portion of the game (or left out completely in the case of the tadtones).
This game's bosses and dungeons are some of the best experiences in 3D Zelda...the first time you play through them. I had another moment of self-flagellation when the game made me re-complete the Skyview Temple as a precursor to a completely separate dungeon. The repeat Ghirahim and Imprisoned fights also get extremely played-out, annoying, and uninteresting. The Imprisoned should have been a longer single battle, where each round of the battle has him do an abridged version of his three different forms. Ghirahim would have been good dungeon mid-boss experiences, because as it stands he just takes away interesting opportunities to use the Beetle and Digging Claws in large-scale combat. Demise is also a complete joke if you've been paying attention to the game's combat instructions during the last 30 hours.
Well...that's all there really is to say on it. I think this is only your favorite Zelda game if it was your first Zelda game. If not, then you have to write me a 5k word rebuttal or else you aren't a true zelda fan.
It's a testament to ego and a dedication to gimmicks. I can't imagine people playtesting this game during its 5+ years of development and having no qualms with the motion controls, the story pacing, and the underwhelming boss battles. Surely they reported less than satisfactory experience, yet those in charge of the game did not listen.
Speaking from experience, I never had substantial issue with the motion controls. They seem to work more than well during combat portions of the game. However, I simply can't abide mandatory motion controls for full 3-D traversal, such as flying on your Loftwing and swimming. The Loftwing in particular not only has you aiming the bird, but contantly flapping your wiimote up and down to adjust your altitude. You also need to dip your wrist down for extended periods of time, which the human musculature is simply not built for. I'm very curious to see how a standard control scheme fairs in the HD rerelease. As it stands now, the full breadth of motion control ranges from "fine" to "unplayable" depending on the player.
As for the story, I really did enjoy the core band of characters. While I don't like Link's look in this game, with pants as pillowy as his lips, I dig the overall art style and expressiveness of the characters. Groose is a standout example of a 3-D zelda character with a measurable arc. Ghirahim is a hilarious and intimidating antagonist. From a design standpoint, Fi is solid, but she's a complete anvil drop on gameplay momentum and holds my hand so hard I wanted to gnaw my arm off.
The quest itself has a ton of pacing problems--Silent Realms are old by the third version, and in my opinion have too steep of a difficulty curve. The Eldin Silent Realm is easily the most difficult portion of the entire game, and it's what, the halfway point? The "puzzle overworld" touted by developers simply does not lend itself to Silent Realms in 2/4 iterations.
The "Song of the Hero" portion of the game is even worse and I'd wager it's where most people abandon Skyward Sword. Tadtones are easily the worst experience I've had in any Zelda game, and I've played through Zelda II. It's also just a complete drag--these quests should have been combined with the Sacred Flame portion of the game (or left out completely in the case of the tadtones).
This game's bosses and dungeons are some of the best experiences in 3D Zelda...the first time you play through them. I had another moment of self-flagellation when the game made me re-complete the Skyview Temple as a precursor to a completely separate dungeon. The repeat Ghirahim and Imprisoned fights also get extremely played-out, annoying, and uninteresting. The Imprisoned should have been a longer single battle, where each round of the battle has him do an abridged version of his three different forms. Ghirahim would have been good dungeon mid-boss experiences, because as it stands he just takes away interesting opportunities to use the Beetle and Digging Claws in large-scale combat. Demise is also a complete joke if you've been paying attention to the game's combat instructions during the last 30 hours.
Well...that's all there really is to say on it. I think this is only your favorite Zelda game if it was your first Zelda game. If not, then you have to write me a 5k word rebuttal or else you aren't a true zelda fan.