Random: "Of Course You Know What A Heart Is!": Nintendo Pokes Fun At Skyward Sword's Shortcomings

Hype felt. Ready to give it a go.

I hadn't played this since launch. Did it really have an explanation for every single heart you found?

Zelda: What is a heart?
Bane: Ov corshhh!

This is factually wrong, both from Nintendo's end and even NintendoLife.

The original game did not explain what a heart is every single time. It also only did so just once in the beginning of the game and then never again. Even after turning the Wii off and starting the game again. The same with Stamina Fruits, where it seems that no one from Nintendo's marketing department has ever played the game on Wii.

The problem only occurred with the treasures and insects. And this is what they have fixed in Skyward Sword HD (according to their press release), not the hearts or any other items.

@TourianTourist that makes a lot more sense. Game would be basically unplayable if it explained every item every time you picked it up.

@Dezzy

It did it once for every rupee type, at least. And It was once per session. So you'd get info you already knew drilled into your mind for the umpteenth time, save and quit, and when you came back? You once again get to learn all there is about a green rupee, once you found one.

Is this a good Zelda for someone like me who loved games like OOT and Wind Waker but didn't enjoy BOTW? I didn't like having to cook recipes, the collapsible weapons and found the size of it overwhelming... Would you say Skyward Sword is more like OOT and Wind Waker?

never played this game, but i cant believe that was something you guys had to deal with. very needed change

Ok but

"What is a man?!"

@Clyde_Radcliffe Yes, I would say that Skyward Sword is more like OOT and Windwaker than Botw. I'd even go so far as to say Skyward is more restrictive than either OOT or WW, it's not really an exploration game so much as it is a linear series of dungeons disguised as an exploration game. You won't have to deal with cooking or with weapon degradation on the same level, but there are some rpg-like upgrade elements to it that aren't in OOT or Windwaker. If you like OOT and WW, I'd definitely recommend giving Skyward a try at least.

@Clyde_Radcliffe I would say so yeah - similar to Ocarina of Time, Wind Waker and Twilight Princess in a few different ways, with a few refreshing additions to the series that weren't in those games (it's also quite a bit more linear though than those games which for some people makes it a far worse game). In SS there's a clear hub world and three distinct areas with nowhere near the level of exploration in BotW, so I would say you might really enjoy SS!

I really don’t think it’s needed to have information for what a heart does even the first time you pick one up. I don’t remember anyone ever complaining that it was difficult to figure out what the hearts was for in Previous Zelda games. Same thing with rupies, like perhaps for special rupies.. but for green, blue and red it doesn’t feel necessary.

@boxyguy It wasn't. It only happened for insects and special items.

@DarthNocturnal
@Dezzy
I think also after collecting at least N different items in a session it bugs the player again. I recall it telling me about amber relics toward the end of a marathon session.

Since you guys have a review copy of the game, I'm sure there's new stuff in the game that you guys can't tell us yet.

Yeah, we all know what hearts are and how they work in videogames...except in Castlevania!!

@Olmectron oh? the video just used a heart as an example so i assumed it had a text box each time you grabbed it too. that wouldve been a nightmare lol

@TourianTourist

If you turned off the game and started it again it would give you the information again. At least on my Wii. But it was only once per session. It was sort of annoying, but I got used to it at the time.
Nice that it’s fixed.

@DaniPooo maybe the first time, for new players it could be useful, even if it seems obvious.

@DaniPooo Not for hearts or for stamina plants.

I’m pretty sure the original game doesn’t tell you what a heart is every time. A better example would have been an amber relic but even that’s like once per loading the save file.

@Whitestrider maybe, but Zelda games up until Skyward Sword did just fine without explaining what a heart does.
I never heard anyone getting frustrated or complaining about that.
I think there is a certain joy in figuring things out yourself and not have your hand held all the time. At least for these obvious things.

@ArchRex ah ok, that might be right, but I remember getting pissed at how many times they had to tell me what a blue rupee is.

@Clyde_Radcliffe
Probably the closest Zelda game to being the opposite from Botw. It’s a lot more restrictive, but I didn’t really like Botw while SS is one of my favorites. It’s got a lot of solid story and the dungeons are all very clever!

@DaniPooo

Yes, but this was only the case for treasures and insects. Hearts didn't have this issue, at least not in the PAL version. Not sure if this was different for the NTSC release, however.

@Clyde_Radcliffe

Yeah Skyward Sword is probably the closest game to Ocarina of Time in the series in my opinion. In terms of the structure and tone it's very similar. (some might say Twilight Princess is closer, but that has such a different tone that it feels very different)

@Meteoroid This was the era of Nintendo's "Blue Ocean" strategy (trying to appeal to casuals). While very much a miscalculation in hindsight, having the game constantly bug you was likely intended to keep casual players from getting lost or forgetting what things were, and expected more hardcore players to just put up with it.

They probably could've made the hand-holding optional back then, but it also seems like it just wasnt a priority for them at the time.

@Clyde_Radcliffe I will second what everyone else has said so far and say yes I think you'd enjoy it if you liked OoT and WW. There's no cooking you have to do, the weapons don't break, and as the others said the world is much more streamlined and linear. Be aware that this is a pretty hefty game though in terms of time to play through and you will be revisiting locations multiple times. If you like story, this is arguably the game that focuses on it more than any other.

@DarthNocturnal If it was once per session for each item type, then it sounds like Nintendo's demonstration in this video would have been identical in the original.

I love Zelda but for some reason I can't get into skyward sword Wich is a shame since I really want to like it, I had hopes for BoTW 2 this Xtmas, oh well☹️

@Ralizah

I think I need to clarify; the original never gave you the whole spiel for every heart or rupee period. The first time you picked up an item per play session ( first heart, first rupee of a certain colour, etc), you'd get the whole "you found a X" rant. Afterwords, it wouldn't do that until you had loaded your save again. So with every new session, players were often repeatedly stopped to receive an explanation they no longer needed.

HD does away with this. We'll get the explanation once, and that's that.

Yeah, this wasn't an issue with hearts, stamina plants or rupees from what I recall. There was ALWAYS a first time explanation for everything but it was only bugs and materials that would reset the explanation after quitting the game and starting it back up.

I think the only other time hearts possibly reset for an explanation was when you found them in small chests but even then I'm not actually sure it did it even in that case.
They probably should've used a butterfly or something as an example if they wanted to use that joke for the tweet.

@DarthNocturnal @TourianTourist also, please correct me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t BOTW also do the notification thing with most of the generic items (except green rupees) every play session too? But people don’t notice as much as they tend to put the console in sleep mode rather than close the game, so it ends up as 1 colossal “session”?

@DarthNocturnal Correct. Like I said, once per item type per session. What I'm saying is that Nintendo showing off a video of Link collecting a heart, getting an explanation, and then collecting more hearts without explanations popping up would have been identical in the original, so the demonstration itself is misleading.

Nintendo is making it seem like an explanation popped up every time you collected a heart in the original.

@Ralizah

Ah, right. My bad. I think an earlier video they released did a better job of demonstrating what the change was.

@gaga64

I don't think so? I rarely used sleep mode, and I don't recall BotW pestering me like that.

You have to question the mind of the person who left those forced explanations in first time around. What were they thinking?!

This is what I call a QoL upgrade, not a run away mode with the amiibo.

@gaga64

No, BotW doesn't do this.

The only other game that had this problem was Twilight Princess on GCN/Wii with its Rupees. This got fixed in Twilight Princess HD.

I have been watching chuggaconroys play through of this to help me decide if I want to get it. I won’t go over things that already have been fixed like fi and motion controls even though he provides his thoughts on why so many struggle with the motion controls. Many say the game is linear and you repeat many areas. But from what I have seen there is many side quests in sky loft and there are many secrets to find in the over world. And although you enter the lake ( can’t remember the name.) and the sand sea through the dessert and forest they are different areas. Also the sacred realm seems to be a overreaction for how difficult it is by most people. I know it is a let’s play so it is not a perfect comp but I feel it does a good job. Many of the issues people had with the game are either fixed or, imo, are overreactions. It seems many on this site just want the game to fail before giving it a chance

@abbyhitter
It is a remaster not a remake. Only one that had new stuff was twighlight princess yet it was locked behind a amibo

This is a fantastic game with some of the best dungeons the series has to offer. QOL improvements are awesome news.

@DarthNocturnal @TourianTourist fair enough, I misremembered. Cheers

Such an underrated gem! For those who didn't play it because of the motion controls or just couldn't be bothered to finish it I envy you. This is one of those games I'd love to experience for the first time all over again.

Wish I had one of those men in black memory flashy things. I adore this game!

@TourianTourist

Lol they got the facts wrong about their own game?

@Dezzy

I'm afraid so...

@YoungLink64 It only does that with Guardian Pieces if you collect them from Decayed Guardian Corpses. If you get one from a chest, it does that for everything. But after defeating a Guardian, it just gives it to you normally.

I'm still waiting on two things for this:

• Whether or not Hero mode is confirmed to be accessible at the start of the game (rather than having to beat it)
• If Nintendo is gonna use the cancelled Second Quest as REAL new content for this game

It's insane that made it into the original game at all.

Most of us only played through the game once and it was already tiresome to have those descriptions on every single pickup - so just imagine what it was like for the playtesters.

... And yet, it made it in. Absolutely mental.

@DarthNocturnal Wrong game, you're thinking of Twilight Princess on Gamecube/Wii reminding you of rupee types upon reset. Skyward Sword on Wii only did this for materials and insects, not rupees or hearts.

I remember encountering this feature and thinking that the game was broken...

@Dezzy No, but it did for every crafting item you picked up. Such as feathers, bugs, relics.

well its good to see they can laugh at themselves.

@Meteoroid
I have my doubts about Second Quest too. As for Hero Mode, I hope that accessing it will no longer become tedious.

This is one of those things that you can "fix" in the original by using a cheat code so it's not like it's some huge deal.

I typically hate it when companies try to be cool by acting self-aware, Sega runs on that garbage, but oddly enough when Nintendo does it once every blue moon it's quite humorous. The reason I hate it is because it validates dumb complaints most of the time.

Stuff like constantly changing to the iron boots in the water temple, it doesn't make the game bad, it's just a minor inconvenience. But the worst is when they feature glitches as if they're some common problem in a game, when in reality the glitch would not appear so easily.

I’m buying this game again pretty much on the strength of the soundtrack 😆

@TourianTourist Can you confirm? I’m almost positive it happened every time you powered off and powered back on.

@Zeldafan79 I thought the motion controls were really great! The lack of an over world, areas, and miserable repeating boss fight brought it down for me by the end. I loved the steps it took away from OoT/WW/TP, but maybe it didn’t go far enough? I remember enjoying it while playing but found it pretty .forgettable ultimately. Might give it another shot if I find it cheap (with motion controls).

@YoungLink64 that may be what I was thinking of. I thought it did it for every fish, fruit or weapon pickup as well, but I’m probably misremembering

@Meteoroid That's what I'm saying. It's an obvious issue that playtesters ought to have noticed and yet it was omitted, either by them or by those they report to.

What's a paladin?

@YoungLink64 that it does

That small nuance was one of the only things I didn't like about the game! I loved everything else about it, so I appreciate this immensely.

@Spiders

Yes, I've played the game on Wii U just a couple of days ago. Only treasures and insects had this issue.

@TourianTourist Treasures... like opening a treasure chest with a rupee in it? Maybe they're wording it funny, but that's what I remember, opening treasure chests and being told what a rupee does. Not every literal rupee popping a dialogue.

You’ve got a Guardian Acorn! You’ve got a Piece of Power!

@Spiders

No, as in the collectible items that you can find in the environment. Like the Amber Relics and so on. Same with the insects.