The Legend of Zelda Series

[Wolf Kanno]

Still not very far into OoA but I am surprised how more RPGish this entry is. Lot more talking, and a lot more of getting to know the villagers. If Seasons took it's roots from Link to the Past and Ocarina of Time, then this entry feels closer to Link's Awakening and Majora's Mask. It's not a bad thing mind you, just a bit surprising seeing how Seasons felt a bit light on story in comparison. I've just reached the second dungeon.

[Example]

Spent half the day looking for the last gold skulltula in Ocarina of Time, then found it through sheer dumb luck saving me from having to replay every dungeon. Awesome.

[Wolf Kanno]

Skyward Sword is finally getting an HD release.



I'm still a bit iffy about the button only controls but seeing how I only have a Switch Lite, I'll have to wait and see. Still hoping they port over the HD remasters of TP and WW someday as well since the Wii U is a lost cause.

[Example]

It would be nice if they could do another HD remaster of WW without the distractingly awful bloom effect in the Wii U version.

[Fynn]

Skyward Sword is underrated and I’m glad it’s getting the HD treatment!

[Del Murder]

It's underrated? I thought most people agreed it was good? It is good.

This remaster will be interesting since this game heavily utilized the Wii motion controls. Although it is cool they are giving SS some attention, I wish they instead made a new Zelda or, if they have to go remaster something, do Metriod Prime since I never finished part 3.

[Fynn]

SS seems to be one of the franchise’s black sheep from where I’m standing. I’m glad that’s not a universal impression though!

[Wolf Kanno]

It's only sort of underrated. It's big issue is all the people who hate the Wii and motion controls tend to resent it. Most fans liked it though it has it's problems. I'm curious to see if people will notice them more once they stop getting hung up on the controls. Even with the changes, I can already see some people wishing they just remade the core gameplay to be like OoT/TP.

I'd say the real underrated entries are the handhelds since everyone tend to ignore them.

[Fynn]

I feel like the biggest criticism the people lodge at SS is it’s linearity - it’s precisely why BotW veered in the extreme opposite direction. Which sure, it definitely was linear, but that alone doesn’t make a game bad.

[Wolf Kanno]

It's not just the linearity, it's also the repetitiveness of it since you essentially have to go through each zone twice to reach the second set of dungeons in each world. While the game is likely just as large as TP or WW, it feels smaller by comparison because so many assets were re-used. I also feel the swordplay focus of the gameplay severely limited the types of puzzles and bosses in the game which are often the two aspects most people love about the franchise. Lie what it does, it does well, but I often can't help feeling like the game needed more time to really expand the concept out. I wouldn't be surprised if the game actually got rushed out considering it was released in an anniversary year.

[Lord Golbez]

Linearity itself isn't bad, but Zelda games are generally loved for the exploration aspect. If it's linear enough to exclude exploration, that can reasonably be regarded as a con (I haven't played the game so I don't know, but am looking forward to the Switch release).

[Wolf Kanno]

I mean to be fair, the zones are huge, so there is still plenty to explore, it's just a bit annoying when the game makes you go through them a second time just to get to the 20% new content which is mostly a dungeon.

[Example]

I feel like the biggest criticism the people lodge at SS is it’s linearity - it’s precisely why BotW veered in the extreme opposite direction. Which sure, it definitely was linear, but that alone doesn’t make a game bad.

Naw the biggest criticism is definitely Fi holding the player's hand for the entire game and explaining every puzzle before you had a chance to attempt to solve it.

[Storm]

It's interesting to compare Skyward Sword and Breath of the Wild, as the two games are so different.

Skyward Sword, as people mentioned, is linear, and the world feels so small due to revisiting each area. But the 6 main dungeons in that game are fantastic, some of the best in the series.

Breath of the Wild is non-linear, and the world is huge. I was blown away by the game at first. I really liked how you could just essentially pick a direction and go explore. But the more I played, the more I realized how empty the world is. And by the end, and don't get me wrong, I absolutely loved BotW, I really missed having large, engaging dungeons, each with their own unique theme. The shrines are too short, as are the Divine Beasts, and they all look the same.

I hope the next game in the series combines elements from both. Have a large open world that you can explore, in any order, but have at least 6 large, engaging dungeons, each with their own unique theme.

[Wolf Kanno]

Get ready peeps, we're going back to the sky!