... And so i gave Skyward Sword a second try, but...

[F0X]

SvennoJ said:

F0X said:

 

"The world and dungeons felt too small" doesn't make much sense to me. Most of the game is a dungeon, which is what I find compelling. The sky area is comparatively empty, but I feel the same way about most Zelda overworlds (though in this case it really is a hub world). And as I'll reiterate in the next paragraph, I couldn't care less about the size of the game world. As for Skyward Sword's collection quests, I didn't find them to be very tedious... especially compared to, say, Wind Waker's Triforce quest (many of my playthroughs were ended at that point). Re-used areas are is par for the course for Zelda (and Metroid), so perhaps you're just getting tired of the series formula (understandable). After all, you did consider the gameplay to be too predictable.

Perhaps you don't enjoy the puzzle and combat aspects of the Zelda series as much as I do. Perhaps you prefer going far off the beaten track to find a Piece of Heart of some other little secret, something Wind Waker excelled at. Me? Not so much. I don't like it when content is spread thinly over a massive overworld. I especially don't care if it's side content, since it's ancillary by nature. This may be why Skyward Sword is the first Zelda game I've 100%'d, because there were less side activities to do (but more required puzzles and such), and I rarely had to stray far from the beaten path to complete them.

Don't get me wrong. I love Wind Waker, too, but I'm very pleased that Skyward Sword adopts a different design approach. Experimentation with new controls, structures, systems, etc. is a good idea in my book, though purists would have every right to abandon ship.

Getting tired of the formula is part of the problem, especially after Okami and Majin and the forsaken kingdom. I still like the puzzle aspect, the desert world and sand sea part were great. However the forest and vulcano worlds left me cold, apart from the 2nd dungeon in the volcano world.

The combat didn't work for me unfortunately. The wii had trouble recognizing my movements, the half real tracking half gesture recognition approach resulted in link doing the opposite far too often. Combat wasn't fun because of that, and fii didn't help by nagging everytime my hearts got low. I ended up commiting suicide and going back to the last checkpoint instead of having to listen to that.
The only way it sort of consistently worked for me was by flicking the wii remote from the wrist in 1 direction and leave it there, no backswing to prepare for the next hit because that would invariably result in an unintentional hit in the opposite direction. Stabbing always remained a crapshoot no matter what I did. Those hanging spiders were the worst.

The boss batles were another gripe. And that has a lot to do with getting tired of the formula. Too rigid, only allowed to hit at very specific times. Do something at the wrong time in the animation cycle and you end up falling through or wasting and running out of ammo. Normally it's not too bad but combined with the motion controls and not being able to control the camera I gave up when the boss battles started coming without the satisfaction of a good dungeon beforehand.

Don't get me wrong, the puzzles and (inside) dungeons were good to great, but the forest land, vulcano land, overworld, boss battles, and controls all tipped the scale for me in the wrong direction. Some more sidequest (not simply collecting materials for upgrades) and things to explore in the overwolrd might have kept me going. But as it was I got stuck on a part of the game the exemplified all it's problems to me with nothing else to do.

Each of the three areas are built around a different central theme (Power, Wisdom, and Courage, naturally). The desert represents wisdom, so it's the most puzzle-heavy area of the game. The volcano represents power, so it features challenges based on stamina and powerful tools (such as bombs). The forest is decidedly more combat-centric, has fewer puzzles, and has tightrope and vine-swinging challenges (fitting the courage theme). As such, it's inevitable that the player would prefer one over the others, depending on the gameplay element he/she enjoys the most.

I'm glad you mentioned the combat, because I had problems with it too. Though I think is has more to do with getting used to the expected inputs than the WMP's ability to read movement (save for thrusting, which can only be done well with comparatively slow, precice motions). After roughly halfway through Skyward Sword, I finally had a good grip on how the combat worked. Don't jerk the Wiimote about unless you want to strike. Just move the sword gently into position and you won't have many problems. In most cases one can perform combos after the initial blow, so you don't need to worry about the backswing unless you're facing a Stalfos or Lizalfos. In fact, one of the best ways to hurt the final boss is to have him deflect some of your quick backswings until you finally hit an open spot. In time, the vast majority of my attacks were interpreted without a hitch, and the few mistakes came from overly hasty thrusts because those can be finicky at times. Once it clicks (or if it clicks), I think it's the deepest, most fun combat system in the series. But yeah, the learning curve can be brutal. It doesn't help at all if you take long breaks from the game (which you did).

Bosses were hit and miss to me. I enjoyed most of the dungeon bosses (the second one was amazing), but having to fight The Imprisioned more than once wasn't great. Neither was the boss of the fifth dungeon, which is a shame because that dungeon is otherwise my favorite in the entire series. Of course, if you're tired of how bosses operate in the Zelda series, then it doesn't matter. You probably wouldn't like them very much. Plus, boss battles are where camera control can be an issue, so I see where you're coming from there. Not locking onto a boss in order to break some nearby pots does have its consequences.

I don't know how many of the sidequests you did, but you can get up to 80 gratitude crystals doing quests and such. Even more side content is always appreciated, but I'm okay with it because there's more meat to Skyward Sword's main game than previous installments.