I was vaguely disappointed by Tentalus, but quite pleasantly surprised by the Sandship (i assumed it was going to be a mini-dungeon, and that the totality of the dungeon was meant to be considered along with the Skipper's Retreat and the Shipyard, and thought the place looked small from the outside). While the dungeon did feel a bit small, it took me longer to do than any dungeon so far, had the most challenging fight since Ghirahim (which wasn't Tentalus) and just seemed to have the perfect logic train to it

Though Tentalus did involve you basic deriving a secret move, a move i had used before but thought had no significance...

What the heck are you talking about at the end there?

That the skyward strike could be shot off in a direction other than a vertical downward strike. It's required in the first phase of Tentalus

You never held a charge in your sword and then swung it? Man I experimented with that all the time. Though I'm not sure if it's actually required or not.

Pretty sure it is. Fi makes it perfectly clear that that's what you're supposed to use on the tentacles, but the tentacles as the ship is sinking are horizontal, while the tentacles in the first stage of the fight are vertical, so a vertical slash will make a sound like it hits, but you can slash at them all day vertically and not get anywhere. It took me about five minutes of attrition before i remembered that cutting across the width would slice it apart, and then remembered that the skyward strike could be done that way

I never really experimented with it, i discovered it when i would have to dodge after successfully charging, and that it could then be discharged by a slash (this all being earlier in the game when i was experimenting just with the skyward strike in general), so i knew it existed, but had sort of forgotten

Yeah me too. The only time I used the skyward strikes before Tentalus was when it was required (hitting the Hylian crests) so yeah I had only used them vertically, and hadn't realised you could hold the charge and move the sword around before slashing.

Failed the third trial once because i had to make multiple runs at the slide and got caught at the bottom eventually. I guess after Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks, any Zelda stealth missions are going to be easy...

Then given all the Dusk Relics i found (since they reset those, but do not take back the ones you acquired in a failed Silent Realm run) i then went over to the forest to get some bird feathers so i could get the first sacred shield upgrade, then stopped at the entrance to the Volcano summit

I meant using it horizontally. Vertical skyward strikes may be sufficient there, though I can't remember.

I can verify that they are not. It took far less time when i started horizontal moves, and i made no progress vertically

I have just finished the Sandship. The game felt great lately, the Ancient Cistern was good fun and after I had done the silent realm in the desert, all the way up to the dungeon was really entertaining. I was afraid I'd have to go into the mining facility again because the game seemed to be so pattern-based, but I was positively surprised with the stuff I had to do, and the Sandship was great fun too. The game is still holding my hand way too often though, because Fi or the robots told me all the time were I had to go in an already linear dungeon...