| F0X said: 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. |
Unfortunately the motion controls never fully clicked for me. I started out with big swings like I was playing sports champions gladiator duel. Although I got all the gold medals there, that did not work at all in SS. So I started using small movements from the wrist. It got better with slow careful movements but it never got beyond an 80% success rate. It's very frustrating to know exactly what to do and when to do it and then the game does the exact opposite or doesn't respond at all. Even when it worked I didn't find it particularly fun. The combat in Zelda SS felt more like making a ship in a bottle finicky precision work then the immersion of gladiator duel.
I wish they had given the option to use a classic controller and either use the analog stick or the face buttons during combat for directional strikes and thrusts. As it is now it pains me to say that atm I actually enjoy Jak 2 more. It's not a great game, not even a very good game with a terrible camera and at times frustratingly difficult sections, but at least it always responds to my input and I don't feel like it's left up to chance whether I make it through or not.
It's a shame there were only 3 areas as I only liked 1 out of the 3. The desert and the time stones were awesome though. The sand sea part had me longing for exploration and felt like a nice little mini adventure. At the time I was imagining that chapter to be rendered by the Uncharted 3 engine. Grinding the rails R&C style was silly but fun, the mining facility and the sandship were great dungeons. (apart from the boss fights) The fire sanctuary was a good dungeon as well, although that also ended with an annoying boss fight. You're right about the 2nd boss, that was the only one I liked. A fun battle where the controls didn't get in the way.
I would probably have gone on if there was an option to skip boss battles. After the fourth time running out of time on thunderhead 2 (due to camera, control issues and glitching through thunderhead) and the unskippable cutscene starting again with the slow text and fi giving the same unwanted directions I turned it off and turned to a walkthrough for encouragement. There I read I would have to fight Thunderhead again, revisit the woods again, all to work towards an ending with a lot of fighting plus 2 sword fighting end bosses. That sealed its fate. Not much to look forward to. Sky keep might have been a good dungeon but my interest was gone.
Hopefully they keep the people responsible for the desert world parts and let them design the next one :)
