Was Anyone Else Kind of Disappointed in Skyward Sword?

[Shuguard]

I got as far as the forest getting flooded and the water dragon telling me to "fetch the notes under water" when she had just had them in her pocket/dress, but i had to "prove my worth." I felt very disappointed in this game and their mini-game for burrowing was a failed version of minesweeper. I used to play all the Zelda games, but this one was by far the worst.

 

[Smiley Face]

I'm... I'm not quite sure where I am in Skyward Sword, it's a little bit after the first round of dungeons. The reason I don't know is because I haven't touched it in 2-3 months, because it could not hold my interest. The combat ticks me off - I'm not sure why, but I can't get the handle on it - either it reads my angle of attack wrong or the enemy adjusts really fast. But I can get past that, I play plenty of games with less-than-perfect combat systems. But the atmosphere isn't engaging, the free-roaming is non-existant or uninteresting, I'm not a huge fan of the art, some of the dungeons are falling flat for me... I just don't like it, unlike every other Zelda game I've ever played (Majora's Mask rubs me the wrong way a little, but that's because I have a problem with games that incorporate a timer, it doesn't fit my playstyle - Ocarina, Wind Waker, Twilight Princess were all great - and I also enjoyed the GBC/GBA games I played). I'll go back to it eventually, but just to finish it off.

The game has some saving graces - It's a Zelda game, and with that comes excellent theme music and soundtrack, the dungeons and enemies are interesting. Zelda actually has a personality, which definitely held my interest at the beginning of the game, but after she predictably vanishes, that isn't a draw factor any more. At least I got the Orchestral Soundtrack, that was awesome.

 

[Master-Jedi]

Yahtzee said everything that needed to be said.

Yeah, pretty much. I haven't beaten SS yet, but I think the motion controls are the worst part of the game. I'm sure it looks good on paper to have the sword combat focus on which direction you swing your sword. It just doesn't work. When I fail to attack a enemy in the right spot it feels like the controls are to blame, not my lack of skill. The ranged combat is just as bad, because you cant lock on anymore. I think the problem is that the Wii motion plus seems to go out of alinement every 6 seconds.

For some reason I think the shooting with the motion controls worked really well in Metroid prime 3:corruption, but horribly in SS. Can anyone explain that? I can't.

 

[Tanis]

Honestly the thing I found most frustrating was trying to charge my sword by holding the wii controller up. Seriously I hat motion controls

And...this.
So much this.

I played TP on the GC JUST to use the GC controller.

BAH!

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Disappointed isn't the word I would use, although I haven't even gotten past the first dungeon yet. One thing I do not like is the whole shield degradation thing, esp. since that's the only way to kill Deku Scrubs so when your shield breaks you can't kill them unless you return to Skyloft and buy another f*ing shield where upon all the baddies you already killed respawn when you return inc. any Goddamn Deku Scrubs you may have managed to kill. Although it wasn't that that's kept me from getting any farther in the game. No, that would be the first fight with Ghid- what's-his-name? (I'm not even sure how to pronounce it, let alone spell it) Big Bad fruity demon guy. Fight was so frustrating I just haven't been able to pick the game back up to try again.

 

[BishopofAges]

Phew! That was one long post, but I read it all, and needless to say at this point, I will anyway. You did not get out of the game what I and probably some others did, is this bad? No, but we're all different. That and a couple other things that were ment to frame the game as a whole.

First off, this is so far the first in the chronological order of the Zelda series, which is ment to be the reason for only a couple Goron, no visible Zora, and races you've never seen before (probably long extinct or mirgrated later w/e). The sky being limited is alluded to the fact that the Goddess had ripped only one chunk of landmass into the sky, not an entire continent.

Second, the main reason I can see you being 'stuck' occationally and having to ask Fi for help lies in you're not listening to her in the first place, sure her dialog is stiff and robotic, but that is her character. She was 'created' not 'born' like the fairies, Midna, or the King of Red Lions. Her dialog actually gets pretty funny in the 'state the obvious' humor, she even begins to see it herself, if you bothered to read.

These points are only really ment to highlight what I see as an individual. I'm not you, therefore I cannot hold all of the info on your experience. If I am wrong you can correct me. By no means is Skyward Sword 'the perfect game', but for me, damn it was awesome, not to mention my timing in beating it right as they released the Zelda Timeline made it feel all the sweeter, as if I had something to do with it. Jaded, yes, but I like how it felt.

 

[Et3rnalLegend64]

In response to your thing about the size, I believe it was said that Twilight Princess was actually too big and that players miss out on the things that the devs really wanted you to see or something like that. This probably applies to Wind Waker too, since it was vastly larger than Twilight Princess if my memory is correct. That concern makes sense, though I did enjoy the sense of size in the land and all the things there were to find.

I can't speak for how successful they were or weren't at correcting that since I actually haven't started Skyward Sword myself. Still playing Persona.

 

[Master-Jedi]

I just realized that Skyward Sword is a prequel. I though that prequels were just hard to do right, and that's why most of them suck. Now I think there is some sort of curse. Seriously, just try to name one prequel that didn't suck. All I can think of is Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Although the ending of that game did suck, and probably because it couldn't really deviate too much from what we see in Deus Ex.

 

[BartyMae]

I just realized that Skyward Sword is a prequel. I though that prequels were just hard to do right, and that's why most of them suck.

...the problem with this being that nearly every Zelda game is a prequel anyhow.

Anyway, yes, I was very, very disappointed in Skyward Sword. My least favorite Zelda game to date - I liked it even less than Wind Waker, which I thought was as low as it could go for Zelda. Twilight Princess > Ocarina of Time > Majora's Mask for me, in terms of 3D Zeldas.

Personally, I couldn't stand the controls nor the characters. Zelda, Groose and the rest of them just came off as being completely and utterly ridiculous, and any time they came up in a cutscene I wanted to tear my hair out due to the horrible awkwardness. And Phi in her special cinematics as well, (it's really not fun to watch her dance all over the place and sing her weird songs when other people are watching you play...) though she was annoying pretty much any time she ever appeared on the screen, anyhow. Far worse than Navi, in my opinion. Also, why did they take out the ability to skip dialogue like you could in TP? My goodness, what a terrible idea, especially when the writing has been the worst to date! I did not care very much for the graphics either...but a minor problem relative to the rest.

I very much missed Midna and I very much missed the Gamecube controller.

 

[Dryk]

I much preferred the exploration in Wind Waker, but to be honest I prefer Skyward Sword's small, empty overworld to Twilight Princesses HUGE, empty overworld.

I thought the sword controls were brilliant, but the aiming annoyed me and it was hard to roll bombs from where I sat... but I guess that's a problem with where I sat. Also flying felt too... loose I guess, I dunno something seemed off about it. And you had to move your wrist to uncomfortable extremes.

For some reason I think the shooting with the motion controls worked really well in Metroid prime 3:corruption, but horribly in SS. Can anyone explain that? I can't.

Skyward Sword uses the Wii Motion Plus not the IR sensor to move the reticule. THAT is by far the stupidest design decision in my opinion, but nobody ever seems to bring it up.

 

[Flack]

Honestly the thing I found most frustrating was trying to charge my sword by holding the wii controller up. Seriously I hat motion controls

And...this.
So much this.

I played TP on the GC JUST to use the GC controller.

BAH!

The amount of times I lost a heart because instead of having my sword charge, Link would instead do an upward swipe, make me very frustrated indeed.

I think its more that I hate poorly implemented motion controls. I am not an expert, and I can understand that making really good motion controls are hard, but I reckon they should stay out of games until they are perfect.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Disappointed isn't the word I would use, although I haven't even gotten past the first dungeon yet. One thing I do not like is the whole shield degradation thing, esp. since that's the only way to kill Deku Scrubs so when your shield breaks you can't kill them unless you return to Skyloft and buy another f*ing shield where upon all the baddies you already killed respawn when you return inc. any Goddamn Deku Scrubs you may have managed to kill. Although it wasn't that that's kept me from getting any farther in the game. No, that would be the first fight with Ghid- what's-his-name? (I'm not even sure how to pronounce it, let alone spell it) Big Bad fruity demon guy. Fight was so frustrating I just haven't been able to pick the game back up to try again.

If you Shield Bash (waggle the nunchuck) with the right timing, you deflect attacks without incurring any damage on your shield. But, yeah, equipment degradation has NEVER been a good idea EVER.

Let's see, issues with Skyward Sword:

1) No new items. Don't get me wrong, the Beetle is cool, especially when you get the better version of it. But it's a thrown item, whose path you control, that you use to hit distant switches and retrieve items, so you might as well call it a Remote-Controlled Boomerang.
2) Boring overworld. Say what you will about the sailing from Wind Waker, at least there were interesting things to be found there, simple controls for getting around, oh yeah and a way to TELEPORT. Most of the floating rocks either have one enemy who one wonders how they got there, and if they're just attacking you because they're so lonely, not having seen any opposite-gender versions of them in their entire lives.... Ahem, one enemy, a locked treasure chest or two, or maybe a minigame.
3) Overuse of "Power of Three". You have to collect three Tablets, which open three initial Areas, which is three attempts to find Zelda, then collect three Flames to power your sword, and then find three Dragons to learn three pieces of a Song from. As you do, you'll fight The Gay Blade three times, and three times beat down the cutest monstrous visage of world-destroying evil since Hello Cthulu, both with only incremental changes each time

Oh nice of the game to tell me that. ¬_¬

Also I really hate to sound like a whiny *****, but flying that damn bird was a real pain in the ass too. I mean you had to jerk off the Wii remote just to get the thing to climb. I'd love to know whose brainy idea THAT was.

 

[Mr Somewhere]

It's quite possibly my favourite game in the series, I hadn't any problems with the motion controls, whenever I did screw up I felt like I was at fault, not the game. Asides from the odd moment I felt like they really nailed the pacing, not to mention it had some of the most inspired dungeon design in the series. The storyline was probably one of the most earnestly charming in the series.
It's been such a divisive game in the series (amongst the fans) I've no idea why.

 

[V TheSystem V]

It didn't grab me like the other Zelda games.

Skyloft was just a hub-world, and it was boring. The weapon upgrade system was a nice touch but not very well developed, and the fact that the same cutscene played whenever you grabbed a new upgrade material got boring and irritating very, very quickly. I know they did that in Twilight Princess, but at least they didn't put in a 5 second clip of the item flashing in your inventory. Really detracted from any battle I was in.

I did like the bosses and the music though. Music of the whole game didn't compare to the Hyrule Field theme from Twilight Princess though. In my eyes, that tune was beautiful.

 

[scorptatious]

Not really.

I liked Skyward Sword. It's pretty much THE Wii game that convinced me that motion controls may have a place in the future of gaming. That's how much I liked them. Sure, they weren't perfect, but they were still fun to use.

I'll admit, the game does sort of drag on a bit longer than it should, but the final dungeon and final boss more then makes up for that.

Also it figures that people will actually talk about Skyward Sword when the thread title asks people if they were disappointed in it. I made a thread about it before and barely anyone even touched it. Stay classy Escapist.

Finally, FUN FACT: The main theme of Skyward Sword is actually Zelda's Lullaby played backwards:

 

[CrystalShadow]

Spoiler: OK, just a friendly warning, most of this should be considered a spoiler for various aspects of the game and story.

And what happened to character interaction in the story? Girahim shows up for all of five seconds to give his generic, "I'm evil, and I can hurt you, and I'm gonna summon my master, now fight this boss," speech every time I reach a boss room, but that's all. I've talked to Zelda for maybe a total of five minutes in the entirety of the game. I don't even care about Zelda, I've got nothing to go on but the fact that apparently she and Link have some awkward unspoken love for one another in the game that is alluded to before the adventure starts. Girahim is just another big-talk flunky who will ultimately succeed in summoning his master only for me to cast him back into the depths of oblivion at the end (probably by stabbing him).

I agree that the game feels a bit... dissapointing. Girahim does come back several times further on from where you've gotten to, and the final showdown with him is more epic than you might think. (though easier than earlier battles ironically.)

The last few moments of the game are pretty good, but you're right about a lot of the other stuff...

And is it ever explained why suddenly there's a singular Godess as opposed to the three of the Triforce? Does this single Goddess create Lanayru, Din, and Farore at the end? Seriously, someone can tell me that, because I just want to know why the three Goddesses are mentioned repeatedly in area names and songs, and yet there has not been any mention of the actual three being Goddesses, instead there's only the ugly goddess angel statue.

most of this is explained at the end.

To cut a long story short (see spoiler for a longer explanation), Hylia is a lesser goddess who was tasked with defending the triforce after the 3 creator Goddesses left.

Spoiler: Second warning, because this spoils most of the ending.

OK, according to the plot of skyward sword, (along with a few fragments of info from older games...)
(As far as I remember; there may be one or two inaccurate points here or there.)

The 3 goddesses (Din, Farore and Nayru) created the world, and the triforce. They then left.
The lesser goddess Hylia was left behind to protect the triforce from evil.

A powerful, and malevolent being known as Demise tried to take over most of the world, and more or less succeeded.

They fought for a considerable amount of time, but Hylia did not have the strength required to defeat Demise.

In a desperate bid to protect both the triforce, and what remained of her favourite people (the Hylians...), she lifted a small section of land into the sky, creating skyloft, and hid the triforce there.

She then returned to the land below to continue the fight.

with some effort, she devised a plan to prevent Demise from winning.
To do this, she created the Skyward sword, and used all of her power to seal Demise away, but this was not a permanent solution - Demise would eventually break the seal, and still destroy everything.

She created a plan to deal with Demise permanently, but to do this she needed the power of the triforce.
Unfortunately, only a human could use the power of the triforce.

As the goddess Hylia, she could not use it herself...
To overcome this problem, she set in motion a plan, that eventually a hero would arrive to defeat Demise permanently using the triforce.
But for this to work, she would need to become mortal herself, so she gave up all her powers as a Goddess, created the sword... (And, essentially, died.)

Much later, she was reborn as a mortal... And of course, her chosen hero finally arrived.
I'm assuming you can guess here that Zelda is the mortal Incarnation of the goddess Hylia.

Also, given that Zelda is usually Princess Zelda, and thus part of the ruling family of Hyrule, you might notice the connection here...

Hyrule-> Land ruled by the goddess Hylia.

And indeed the ending of the game shows Zelda, having regained much of the memory of when she was Hylia, commenting how she would love to live on the ground...

So... Yeah, I know it sounds odd in the beginning, but the last few moments of Skyward sword does tie it all together, and it definitely explains much about the series as a whole.

The plot is perhaps one of the better parts of the game, especially if you like the idea of some of the gaps in the whole mythology finally being tied together.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

I'm not even gathering the sacred flames yet. I only just got The Harp and I'm not really motivated to go much farther. It wouldn't be as bad if the controls were better. It seems like I have to constantly center the cursor when I take out and, put away different items. Flying the loft wing is kind of a pain and those free-falling bits are almost impossible for me. I also hate the rotating key portions, the second biggest pain in my ass. I don't see why there couldn't have been a way to tweak the controls honestly.

Like the OP said, exploration is also kind of a joke. Skyloft, Pumpkin, fun-fun and...a sky full of pebbles. Wind Waker had a bunch of different islands you could walk around on and look around at. Even the smaller ones had something to offer in terms of sunken treasure.

Another nit-pick about Skyward Sword, when you turn the game on it ALWAYS tells you what you've just picked up. Hey look! Monster Jelly!! I had no idea what that was until just now (even though I already have 9 of them in my inventory)

 

[Cranky]

I didn't enjoy any Zelda game aprt from Ocarina of Time and Wind Waker. Wind Waker was pure brilliance, and the others I just could not get into. Maybe it's the bloody prompting every 3 seconds. And Skyward Sword went and made the prompting much worse.