Topic: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD

@Dezzy I loved Breath of the Wild because beating that game gave me a very strong feeling that I beat the game, instead of being guided. It was such a hands off experience, that was so much better off for it. Skyward Sword held your hand at the start, and Twilight Princess (good thing) didn't explain controls, you just learnt by trial and error.

@TheJGG To me, Skyward Sword just felt way more linear than previous entries in the series. I don't know exactly what it is that makes me feel that way... but there's just something about it that just rubbed me the wrong way.

@VoidofLight I get your angle; when I finished Breath of the Wild I found it difficult to return to the more linear Zelda games because of how restrictive they appeared. I hadn't even finished Skyward Sword this time two years ago, so it did't play a big part in that emotional cycle yet. When I did beat it I enjoyed it immensely, it was, as I've mentioned a while back, a bridge between Twilight Princess and Breath of the Wild. A little more freedom, a little less linearity (at least with the Song of the Hero quests), and more physics-based puzzles and elements, like the Stamina gauge.

As Cliff Unger said in Death Stranding (repurposed for this post); [the Zelda series to Skyward Sword] "you are [...] my bridge to the future. [Twilight Princess] was just like any other cliff."

Didn't turn out the best but it was a try.

@TheJGG I think one of the things that put me off was the stamina system at the time, since it felt kind of off. I might try to replay it on the wii, since I held onto my old copy, and my opinion on it might've changed since then. One thing I do like about Skyward Sword is how it brought a lot of lore to the canon of Zelda.

@VoidofLight I felt like the stamina system stopped overpowered moves like constantly rolling, which I did constantly when playing through Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess. It makes you conserve stamina. For me it's good game design and it was implemented in puzzles rather nicely.

The way Skyward Sword was presented, from the music to the art style to the religious undertones reminds me of a traditional Ancient Greek myth. It's truly awe-inspiring. It was the missing piece that fit perfectly into the four dimensional Zelda jigsaw.

I have a physical copy of Xenoblade Chronicles, didn't even realise how much that thing's worth until now. It might be the clue to solving the meaning of life; but even if it is, I'll still keep it. One day in ten years I'll be able to sell that for a few hundred thousand dollars!

That seems unlikely, considering how Twilight Princess was a launch title for the Wii. I think its more likely that openness from TP was replaced with the openness of the sky.

@kkslider5552000 I guess.. but even then, I remember the sky islands were kind of barren, and not that great in terms of their execution.

@kkslider5552000 Hyrule Field in Twilight Princess was very mixed for me. It felt like a ballooned up version of Ocarina of Time’s field area, for better and for worse. Ocarina’s field was expansive and a technical achievement at the time but it’s very plain by today’s standards, pun intended.

If this was a modern Zelda game there would be tons, TONS of secrets to find out. Instead there’s practically nothing, but naturally given the novelty I imagine few people at the time agree. Twilight Princess has a number of Piece of Heart collectibles, and in the HD remaster a number of admittedly useless stamps, so on that note it has that thing to fall back on.

Breath of the Wild’s Hyrule Field was, simply put, the best. For one it was huge, and without a map it was easy to get lost. The music is really good and has thematic relevance. There’s a lot to do in the field itself; you could raid enemy camps, look for treasure or shrines, search for Korok Seeds, hunt for weapons, there’s a large amount to do. Plus with the addition of a proper quest system, there’s means to know what you need to do for what quest.

Skyward Sword’s field area was very dull. It felt great to fly and the music was the best part of flying in general but there wasn’t much to do. Same applies to the Great Sea, little more than 49 islands and a few enemy outposts. There were reasons to do the way Nintendo did for that particular area; loading times. But by the time Skyward Sword was being developed I doubt this was a problem.

The great sea has a beautifully blue sky with fluffy white clouds that look positively edible, it looks great at night, too. The "great sky" has dusty yellowish clouds everywhere that look like they are generated at Pipit's Mom's house.

1 point to Wind Waker's overworld.

I'd honestly rather have something akin to the LOZ Collectors Edition on gamecube myself as I feel it has more than enough value, but that's just my opinion.

Word to the wise:

Both are barren and that is that. Wind Waker just edges it though because I get to pull up at an island, and play a minigame with Salvador. Spleeeesh!

Is this the 2nd round of the "which game has the best grass?" debate?

Well that would be Breath of the Wild, of course, no point in discussing it.

The grass is so high quality, it slows the game down!

DEAD

I'd argue the foliage in the Great Hyrule Forest is worse!

I'd like to think that the slowdown in the forest is just Link being constantly flurry rushed by Koroks.

@Matt_Barber There's so many Koroks that every time Link moves he flurry rushes one. Round and round it goes...

It doesn't, however, explain why the camera's still slow!

Every blade of grass is trying to attack you, and Link is constantly avoiding them, thus in a constant state of flurry rush.

@TheJGG Xenoblade on Wii? I paid quite a lot for that back in about 2015, but now that it's been rereleased several times it's not worth much at all.

@Dogorilla Thing is, I didn’t actually buy it. My Dad bought it, I assume between 2011 and 2013. To day I have absolutely no idea why he bought that game.

But I’m extremely happy he did because when I started playing in 2016 it was an absolutely phenomenal experience. Hence I went and bought Xenoblade X, and Xenoblade 2, and of course Definitive Edition.

@TheJGG Oh I agree, it's a great game. (Although when I first played it I didn't quite understand all its intricacies so I didn't manage to finish it; I think I'm a bit better at it now I'm playing it again on Switch.) I'm just confused about why you said it's worth a lot now.