Is skyward sword the worst mainline zelda game

[SantaC]

If we discount the philips zelda games; is skyward sword the worst zelda game?

-terrible waggle implemented everywhere
-worse overworld then wind waker
-lots of repeating content where you had to visit the same area over and over again
-dickhead grouse
-ok dungeons but hardly the pinnacle of the series
-i dont remember any good music

Didnt miyamoto use to be extremely critical of his own creations? How did this mess escape his teatable wrath.

Twilight Princess is a masterpiece in comparison.

[MMaRsu]

yup

Its the only one I couldnt stand through playing. Fucking waggling stick.

I think I'd rank Wind Waker over TP though, even with the triforce hunt at the end. The wolf sections in TP suck ass. Its good Dolphin is able to remove the bloom in the game, it looks a lot better without it.

[Human Snorenado]

How is this even a question?

Yes.

[Tasty]

Yes.

[Tasty]

Also Twilight Princess is a masterpiece, regardless of comparisons with the rest of the series.

[CatsCatsCats]

This thread is so reassuring as it's also the only main line Zelda I've skipped

[Tasty]

Also Twilight Princess is a masterpiece, regardless of comparisons with the rest of the series.

it's too much of a blurry brown mess to be a masterpiece

Not the HD version.

[ToxicAdam]

It's very flawed, but has a bunch of excellent moments that makes it worth playing.

I put it over TP because there were more high points in SS.

[Cerveza mas fina]

Also Twilight Princess is a masterpiece, regardless of comparisons with the rest of the series.

no

10 hour intro bs disqualifies it as a good game period

also it looked so bad on an hdtv it was unplayable almost 

[Rufus]

This thread is so reassuring as it's also the only main line Zelda I've skipped

I remember the EDGE review which gave SS a 10 and claimed it was what Zelda was always meant to be.

Fuck that noise.

Ever since that day I stopped taking reviews seriously.

Zelda is one of those series with special protection. GTA is another.

[Cerveza mas fina]

shooting in gta 

driving in gta 

[Bebpo]

Does the train game count?  That's the worst one.
Skyward Sword is second worst.

I've finished every other Zelda, but I bailed on those two eventually and youtubed the rest because they were insanely tedious.  Hope new Zelda isn't a tedious fetch quest backtracking slog.

[Cerveza mas fina]

Nintendo inventef fetch quests and padding

[TakingBackSunday]

Hell no.  It's better than WW and TP.

[SantaC]

Does the train game count?  That's the worst one.
Skyward Sword is second worst.

I've finished every other Zelda, but I bailed on those two eventually and youtubed the rest because they were insanely tedious.  Hope new Zelda isn't a tedious fetch quest backtracking slog.

Train game was also bad I agree. I dont remember, could you walk in the overworld, or was it always on rails?

[TakingBackSunday]

I hate handholding.  But It didn't detract from the dungeon design or combat mechanics.

[SantaC]

combat mechanics.

oh please. The combat was garbage and unresponsive. I had to reset my IR pointer countless times.

[Human Snorenado]

Hell no.  It's better than WW and TP.

HOW

HOW CAN YOU BE A NINTENDO FAN AND HAVE SUCH SHIT TASTE IN NINTENDO GAMES

GO SIT IN YOUR ROOM UNTIL YOU'RE RIGHT

[Tasty]

I put it over TP because there were more high points in SS.

[Tasty]

Hell no.  It's better than WW and TP.

[Tasty]

I hate handholding.  But It didn't detract from the dungeon design or combat mechanics.

If we're going by dungeons, SS had one really great dungeon and six decent ones.

TP had two phenomenal dungeons, four great ones, one OK one, and two decent ones.

[AdmiralViscen]

Does the train game count?  That's the worst one.
Skyward Sword is second worst.

I've finished every other Zelda, but I bailed on those two eventually and youtubed the rest because they were insanely tedious.  Hope new Zelda isn't a tedious fetch quest backtracking slog.

Spot on

I loathe Spirit Tracks but it is a playable game, unlike SS

[I'm a Puppy!]

It is awful by all account. Really terrible. I mean it gives Bravely default a run for its money in the 'recycled content' department. And that's really saying something.

It is ironic then that despite all the terribleness it does have my favorite zelda dungeon



The ancient cistern is magnificent. Shame the rest of Skyward sword was nowhere close to this greatness.

[bluemax]

OOT is pretty bad these days aside from the dungeons. All the connecting tissue is just not very good.

Also are we counting Spirit Tracks as a mainline game? Cause that was worse than Waggle Sword. Not that I could be assed to finish either of them.

[CatsCatsCats]

I started a replay of OoT a few weeks back because a work buddy and I set up an N64 in the break room. I was out when I realized I had to roll all the way back through the overworld to get Saria's song. Ain't nobody got time for that

At the time? Shit was amazing.

[Tasty]

OoT 3D fixed a lot of the issues. Hope it gets a Switch up-res.

[benjipwns]

I thought Ocarina and Mario 64 suffer from the same "OPEN WORLD IN 3D" thing where that's the whole hook of large chunks of their map design. And nothing else. It's only in retrospect, when we actually figured out how to deal with that and going back that I put a finger on what I didn't like about them originally to the extent everyone else did.

They obviously aren't the only games to suffer from this. And it lasted well into, hell, even still exists.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

I always thought Spyro was way better than Mario 64

[close]

spoiler (click to show/hide)

WHY CAN'T MARIO TURN AROUND IN PLACE, I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU FOR THIS SHIGERU...AND IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE MASTERPIECE THAT IS YOSHI'S ISLAND?!?

[close]

[SantaC]

I thought Ocarina and Mario 64 suffer from the same "OPEN WORLD IN 3D" thing where that's the whole hook of large chunks of their map design. And nothing else. It's only in retrospect, when we actually figured out how to deal with that and going back that I put a finger on what I didn't like about them originally to the extent everyone else did.

They obviously aren't the only games to suffer from this. And it lasted well into, hell, even still exists.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

I always thought Spyro was way better than Mario 64

[close]

spoiler (click to show/hide)

WHY CAN'T MARIO TURN AROUND IN PLACE, I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU FOR THIS SHIGERU...AND IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE MASTERPIECE THAT IS YOSHI'S ISLAND?!?

[close]

I found no problems with OoT's map design. It had plenty of secrets, and I remember searching every nook and cranny for stuff.

[tiesto]

The DS games, Phantom Hourglass and (especially) Spirit Tracks were worse. But Skyward Sword was a pretty weak entry too, ridiculous amounts of padding and back-and-forth. Not to mention glitchy waggle that made combat a chore. Much prefer TP, owing to that game's great dungeons (the best part of any Zelda).

[Rufus]

I couldn't get over the controls in Phantom Hourglass. Never even got to the point where returning to the main dungeon starts to get annoying. I wonder if it's better on an emulator, where your hand doesn't block the touch screen... Hm.

[benjipwns]

http://www.theonion.com/americanvoices/nearly-half-world-will-be-online-2017-54755

[bluemax]

I thought Ocarina and Mario 64 suffer from the same "OPEN WORLD IN 3D" thing where that's the whole hook of large chunks of their map design. And nothing else. It's only in retrospect, when we actually figured out how to deal with that and going back that I put a finger on what I didn't like about them originally to the extent everyone else did.

They obviously aren't the only games to suffer from this. And it lasted well into, hell, even still exists.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

I always thought Spyro was way better than Mario 64

[close]

spoiler (click to show/hide)

WHY CAN'T MARIO TURN AROUND IN PLACE, I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU FOR THIS SHIGERU...AND IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE MASTERPIECE THAT IS YOSHI'S ISLAND?!?

[close]

I found no problems with OoT's map design. It had plenty of secrets, and I remember searching every nook and cranny for stuff.

Literally everything in OoT is on the edge of the map except the ranch. Twilight Princess had almost the same problem, where all you have to do is walk along the edges to find stuff as there's almost nothing worth you time in the wide open space that makes up most of the map. I think that was the biggest problem with almost every 3D Zelda, they never figured out how to make an organic game world and everything just felt like OoT with slightly better models and textures in terms of world design.

I think a lot of this is a hardware limitation, as Xenoblade on the Wii kinda felt the same way, but it might also just be some kind of Japanese game design philosophy.

[curly]

at least it isn't as ugly as Twilight Princess (HD version included)

I can only love pretty Zelda games

[Let's Cyber]

I don't remember a ton of the specifics about Skyward Sword other than

-the god awful swim controls (fucking tadtones)
-enjoying the dungeons
-I liked being able to upgrade my gear
-The flying whale was cool, as was the boss fight when he was infected or whatever
-recalibrating 
-the unnecessary padding
-the music was awesome

The foundation was there for a great game. The padding and inconsistent motion controls watered down the entire experience. 

I have high hopes for BotW, especially since the focus was righting the wrongs of SS.

[benjipwns]

i still haven't figured out how the console Zelda's keep having so much nearly finished content cut yet winding up with so much useless padding

are they hiring people from bethesda?

[ToxicAdam]

The only padding that bothered me in SS was the Wisp Hunt. Or whatever bullshit they called it. It totally slowed the flow of the game. I didn't even mind fighting the giant black blob a bunch of times. It made sense to the story.

[Madrun Badrun]

yes its like a 6/10 game

[curly]

Skyward Sword Zelda's outfit>>>>>Twilight Princess Zelda's outfit

[Huff]

Couldn't finish it. Didn't want to bother with the combat/controls after a point

[a slime appears]

I finished it. It is the worst mainline Zelda game.

[Trent Dole]

Last mainline Zeruda I finished was Wind Waker.

[benjipwns]

same

[bork]

The last Zelda I finished was Link's Awakening. 

[Positive Touch]

Only Zelda games i never played were spirit tracks and skyward sword. Don't feel like i missed much

[CatsCatsCats]

Link's Awakening, totally forgot I wanted to play it with an emulator

It's p. good. Beat it lots of times on the ol brick

[Positive Touch]

Only annoying thing about LA is the controls bc they have you switching to the menu constantly. Otherwise it's one of the best games in the series. Fun dungeons and the best cast of supporting characters in the series. It's absolutely a classic.

[bork]

As much as I loved Link's Awakening/DX, I never could get into the Oracle games.  Just felt like Link's Awakening ROM hacks from Flagship/Capcom.

[benjipwns]

Only annoying thing about LA is the controls bc they have you switching to the menu constantly.

This is so you don't realize it's only like four to six hours long.

[Positive Touch]

gtfo! it felt so huge and epic when I was a kid. can't believe it's actually so short!

[benjipwns]

the owl adds another couple hours

spoiler (click to show/hide)

nah, it's probably at least like 12-16 hours first time through

[close]

[Syph]

LA is great because it's decently difficult

[CatsCatsCats]

But you could shoot bomb arrows so that was rad

[Positive Touch]

I hated the fuck out of Luigi when he stole my chicken friend away

[Let's Cyber]

I went back and started a new game today.  My impressions aren't good.

Lack of camera control

 

Finicky aiming



Long ass intro



Looks awful on my TV, though this is my own fault for not playing on Dolphin.

Really feels like the game isn't respecting my time.  It really still shows it roots to the N64 games, especially with the camera and blocky play areas.  Some of this is due to the Wii being underpowered but god damn it has not aged well.   

[I'm a Puppy!]

I simply don't understand all the padding in modern zelda games. I can imagine a lot of criticisms against Zelda but "too short" was never really one that I've come across (outside of ALBW) Just don't get why they have consistently been like "You know what this needs? Pointless inane stuff!" Since like Majora's Mask.

[Let's Cyber]

The N64 games had the decency of having cool intro lead into the game right away. OOT starts off with a dungeon after all.

OoT handled it a million times better than TP and SS.

[TakingBackSunday]

Wind Waker at least had you dicking around with a sword after like 5 minutes

[Tasty]

Replaying TP HD, the intro isn't that bad outside of a couple crucially terrible things:

- Herding goats a second time had no purpose
- The slingshot really had no purpose, do an aiming tutorial when you get the bow if you must but don't shove a superfluous weapon into the opening of the game
- The swordplay with the kids/scarecrow should have been optional
- You're stuck as Wolf Link for an hour+

The rest of it wasn't too bad. If they removed those first three and made you only play as Wolf Link for 20 minutes the intro would have been fine. Still not great but at least as good as WW.

[Let's Cyber]

For the very first time playing the game, that messing around in the village is fine.  I'd actually argue it was kind of neat to just be a member of the community and do stupid goat farmer tasks. It gave the game character. The problem is that a lot of it is mandatory and make replays a pain the in ass.

I don't think I reached the forest temple until 3+ hours in (I probably did a lot of fucking around though, to be fair).  The Forest Temple is actually pretty meaty but to have the first real dungeon be that fair into the game is crazy.  Dungeon as tutorial a la OoT was the best as far as 3D Zeldas have gone. You could mess around in the village if you wanted, but the path to getting your sword and shield and jumping into the action was relatively short if the player wanted it to be.

Yet again, another example of BotW looking like it will get it right.  Give me some exposition at the start and just let me loose into the game world.