man SS is "winning" by a good margin. that game was just so god damn boring

ill chime in. I actually liked the design of the world and characters it was much closer to what Ninty showed prior to WW (that game grew on me too) and God help me i actually like the Wolf, didnt think i would

I think Twilight Princess is the weakest 3D Zelda, but I think they're all excellent games.

My point of view is this: after Link picks up the Goddess Sword, he spends the next 6-8 hours or so wandering around after Zelda. Nothing is accomplished, and nothing of substance is learned. The plot basically stops in its tracks so that gameplay can happen. After that, 20-30 minutes of plot-relevant stuff happens, followed by another 6-8 hours wandering around looking for the sacred flames. Nothing is accomplished, nothing of substance is learned. Then 20-30 minutes of plot stuff happens, before Link spends even more time wandering and nothing is accomplished etcetra etcetra.

If you ignore the cutscene at the Temple of Time (which didn't actually change the status quo since you're STILL following after Zelda), there is something like 15 solid hours of nothing happening in the plot.  If that's not a pacing problem, I don't know what is.

Always nonsensical? There are bits that don't make sense in other games, but basically everything in Skyward Sword falls apart if you start asking questions. Seriously, why...anything?

As far as the characters go, the problem isn't that they're just cliches. Groose is probably the strongest character in the entire story, but even he's barely passable, even in his own medium.

As far as gameplay interrupting the plot, the point of games is to be played, telling a story is secondary. 

Zelda narratives are fairytale tropes strung together with rehashed plot points, it's always been this way. They've never been deep or made any sense when held up to scrutiny. Skyward Sword at least managed to have an impact on me through on an emotional level; the only other one to do that was Twilight Princess, and for the same reason; a single actually likeable character in a tragic position. (Zelda/Midna) 

Nothing surprising


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Ocarina of Time 14 3.33%

Majora's Mask 47 11.19%

Wind Waker 68 16.19%

Twilight Princess 66 15.71%

Skyward Sword 121 28.81%

FUR SWURDS ADVENTURS 104 24.76%

Total: 420

Too bad nostalgia ruins these polls.

I voted SS, couldn't finish silent realms due to my anxiety disorder lol. They can fuck off. Also very repetitive and formulaic.

TP dislikers like the boring OoT for some reason.

OoT was the easiest. I used a guide sometimes for WW :lol.

That not what I was talking about, and it doesn't actually make much sense. If anything, the story interrupts the gameplay in Skyward Sword, given the abundance of unavoidable and unskippable cutscenes and dialogues on the surface (not to mention Fi). All of that, however, is just fluff; it doesn't advance the plot or the characters. The only times we actually see that kind of substantial advancement are during the two times I mentioned.

So not only do you still have to put up with all of those interruptions, but they're doubly useless because they don't even use that time effectively.

You're generalizing quite a bit here (see Majora's Mask), but you do have a point about the series use (or overuse) of tropes. I'm not defending that.

I'm not sure I know what you mean, however, when you say the games don't hold up to scrutiny. There are a few plot holes and unanswered questions in games like OoT and MM, but they don't leave you wondering what you're accomplishing, or questioning the fundamentals of character motivation.