The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

[JacDeathly]

With the official announcement there should surely be an official thread. That's my feeling anyway. Any big developments on the game in the run up to its (early or late) 2011 release can come here.

Opening Nintendo's E3 conference this year was the much-anticipated and hotly-rumoured Zelda Wii - or, as we now know it, Skyward Sword. The sixteenth official adventure in the Zelda franchise is the first specifically designed for Wii and takes advantage of the MotionPlus peripheral which adds depth and precision to gameplay. It also features a new style combining the more realistic stylings of Twilight Princess with the colourful, if controversial, cel-shaded pallette of WindWaker and its handheld successors. (This is where I start to shake my head in bewilderment)

The talking points:

That new style
Everyone remembers the Toon Link utilizing the Celda Palette. Well Skyward Sword takes it in that direction....again.  Toon Link with a grittier shading? Why? Nintendo also saw a future for a union of that nature, but with Celda's pallette on a more realistic overworld. The end result is certainly eye-catching. Will it please both parties? Remains to be seen.

The gameplay
Although Miyamoto's demonstration was not the best way of showing off the title's gameplay revolutions, apparently it was just his own awkwardness that was the cause.

The showed some scorpion boss, a new flying beetle item, a whip of some sort and the same old sling shot, bow and arrow, and bombs. We'll see how they all fall into place.

The storyline
... Remains shrouded in mystery. Does the title offer us any more helpful clues? Not really. We already had an inkling the Master Sword (which it surely is) was going to feature heavily, but what's with the Skyward talk? Will we see the return of the wacky-looking Oocca? Or Minish Cap's Wind Tribe? Or a whole new race, because Nintendo do like churning out new species for one-off appearances.


For someone who was really looking to Nintendo pushing the Wii graphical capabilities on this Zelda and up the graphics from Twilight Princess (which were phenomenal) this comes as a bit of a let down. I don't really like the art direction, or the enemy design. It seems that they are trying to introduce Zelda to a new "younger" audience. I don't think this needs to be done. With the addition of Twilight Princess we all saw just how mature Zelda can be and it payed off. Twilight Princess was a fantastic game. I wish they would leave the Celda style to the Handhelds because it works great there! Wind Waker pleasantly surprised me and this is still a Zelda game so I will probably end up playing it at some point but I gotta say I am disappointed.
Thoughts?

Links:
-
- Launch screenshots
- E3.Nintendo.com/Zelda
- Roundtable revelations

[BloodHawk]

The way they made it to where you have to slash a certain way to kill the enemy I thought was a nice addition to the gameplay. Also, I thought it was interesting how there is a floating island called Skyloft and the people there are unaware of and inhabitants of Hyrule on the ground.

[JacDeathly]

Also, I thought it was interesting how there is a floating island called Skyloft and the people there are unaware of and inhabitants of Hyrule on the ground.

 
You know they made it so that Link is born in that Skyloft place right?

[BloodHawk]

I was aware of this yes

[JacDeathly]

You still think that is pretty cool? I don't know. I think it is a little sketchy and I'm not too sure how I feel about it. Mario you can do crazy stuff like that. Zelda is  series that needs a certain level of continuity. Cel-shading was enough.

[BloodHawk]

I said it was interesting

[JacDeathly]

Why is that? Expound. Let's get a nice Zelda debate going. I'd love to see hipmofasa and BlueStripedBox get in on this. Both are as avid Zelda fans as myself.

[BlueStripedBox]

I absolutely hate the direction they went artistically. Just awful.

I loved the darkness of TP and the game play as well. But to go to a direction considered half WW and half TP is ridiculous.


And based on the pre-announcement picture of Link with a mysterious stone figure made it seem like, "Oh alright, TP graphics, possibly reuse the same exact map from TP, get some continuity going, sweet."

BUT NO, OH YEAAAAAAAAH LINK GETS BORN IN THE SKYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY


/rant

[JacDeathly]

I have to agree. The teaser art released used the same Link character model as Twilight Princess and mislead a lot of fans to believe that we would see the "Majora's Mask" of the Twilight Princess world.

A similar event comes to mind when Nintendo had a teaser trailer at the E3 before Wind Waker came out. They teased fans with an upgraded version of the OoT graphics utilizing the same Ganondorf model. That was radically different from where they took it.

Nintendo needs to stop doing this fake teaser business or they will become a Peter Molyneux (Creator of Fable). Who makes great games, hypes them up beyond belief, then fails to deliver.

It makes my heart sink to know that Nintendo is rapidly approaching the death of the Zelda series.

[failed_factor]

I have to agree with BSB and JAC here. While I love the Zelda series to death, the direction theyre taking this newest installment is sketchy at best. The whole series in general has been in a slump the last few titles in my opinion. Part of this feeling comes because I absolutely loved Wind Waker and the wacky style presented there and the story. TP was good yes, but didnt capture me like TWW, MM or OoT. I felt mislead also when it was shown to use the same basic models but then turns out youre born in Skyworld. WTF Nintendo. Lets stick with some established cannon here, not create a new realm or a new incarnation of Hyrule every single game.

Lets get some continuity that expands beyond a few games, use the same Link, and for God's sake lets get some challenging temples back. OoT's water temple anyone?

[BlueStripedBox]

OoT's water temple anyone?

Yes please. As much as I hate to say it, I miss our old buddy Shadow link... 

[JacDeathly]

Not only have the Temples themselves been losing their challenge but the Temple bosses as well. Shadow Link was a mini-boss and he was harder than the final boss of that temple!

Now I enjoyed Twilight Princess. The bosses were large but not all that difficult. The giant eel was less difficult than advertised. The Twilit Flame Bear Was very easy and so on and so forth. I loved the bosses (some of them) don't get me wrong but it just seems that Nintendo is dumbing down the Zelda games to appeal to this new "Casual gamer" phase they are in.

Skyward Sword looks like nothing else but a game trying to get new, younger, and non gamers into Nintendo. I mean it has a HUD...a HUD! In Zelda! Why? Why is that necessary?

I don't know. It isn't looking good for Zelda's future.

[failed_factor]

As much as I hate to say it, Skyward Sword will make or break it for the series for many fans out there. Me, Im still on the fence about it. But after the... oddness that was Spirit Tracks, if I get another game with dumb plot devices and equipment Ill be pissed

[BlueStripedBox]

Yeah, time to revert back to OoT for another 3-4 years.


Nothing wrong with that, just saying.

[JacDeathly]

Yeah, time to revert back to OoT for another 3-4 years.


Nothing wrong with that, just saying.

Nothing wrong at all. 3DS and Ocarina of Time 3DS for the next few years and I am good.