Skyward Sword is the worst 3D Zelda game ever!

I know that I've explained this dozens of times but I will explain it again. Skyward Sword, in my opinion and verdict, is probably the worst 3D Zelda game ever made. Now don't get me wrong, this game isn't the worst Zelda game but it is for a 3D Zelda game. It had the least amount of sales compared to the other 3D Zelda games excluding Majora's Mask since that game was rushed to replace the OOT expansion pack. This game was like Wind Waker, trying to come up and experiment with new ideas while removing or completely changing the old ideas. But unlike Wind Waker, it failed miserably to innovate like Nintendo's reputation right now, and caused the franchise to fall to its doom before A Link Between Worlds came and saved the day. Below is a long ass list of reasons why I think SS sucks alot. Bear with me cause I write alot, so be prepared to read this for several minutes before commenting!

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Graphics/Textures/Frame-Rate

The graphics are just so terrible! Like, come on Nintendo, you could do better than that! This game not only uses cartoony graphics, but combines it with realistic graphics and pre-rendered painting style graphics. This looks like a freaking mess! I wouldn't mind if they only used cel-shaded art graphics or eliminated the painting like graphics, but no, they decide to combine the two. Why did they do it? To please all audiences? To show that the game has diversity even in graphics? If you don't believe that it uses realistic graphics, just look closely to each person, enemy, boss, item, weapon, or anything that is not part of the setting very closely, and you'll see what I mean.

I also hate the low textures in this game. It was a problem in Twilight Princess, and it's still a problem here! I understand for the predeccessor that it was because it was a Game-Cube game that still uses bits, but this game uses standard defintion complately, so why is it so bad? And the painting effect just makes it worse. Look at something far away and it's either too blurry or too disgusting to see, look at it too close and the same results appear! Why Nintendo, why? The terrible textures make this game look like a Game-Cube game, I'm not even horsing around! If you used the SD p adapter for the Wii to make Twilight Princess look in 480 p instead of 480 i, it would look amazing compared to Skyward Sword!

The frame-rate is also very bad and unbearable to witness. This game runs at like 35 to 30 fps or something. Geez, and they said that they did their best to make this game look good despite the techincial limitations of the Wii. I know HD games on PS3 and Xbox 360 are the same, but at least it's in HD, so it's not even needed for visual appeal. Heck, even the upcoming Smash Bros 4 for 3DS which uses cel-shaded graphics run in 60 fps even though it's as weak as the Wii!

Controls

Now don't even get me started with how bad the controls are. Yes, I know that I have methods to easily recalibarate without going to the menu to do so, but still, why make it so bad? The controls are claimed to be 1 on 1, but it feels more like 3 on 1. The controls always go off and you're always going to have to recalibarate it no matter what! If you do certain commands too fast or too hard, then the game won't react properly. Every time I try to stab, it makes me shield bash, and every time I sheild bash, it makes Link stab. If I swing the remote too hard, it will think I am trying to make a spin attack when I don't want it to. It always gives me delayed reactions or inaccurate responses when I play. This has cost me alot of hearts and potions as a result, and luckily I was one of the lucky ones to not die from bosses!

The pointer and the gyroscope/accelerometer are a;so bad. Unless you point dead-on to the screen the whole time (even when it's not needed), it will always go off screen or mess up. I know pressing down on the d pad fixes everything, but why didn't they fix this issue in the first place to begin with? And the gyroscopic/accelerometer controls just suck. Tilting, steering, shaking, or moving it around in wierd angles or too much will make it mess up and you're going to have to recaliberate using the menus, whether you like it or not! And making the remote go off screen increases the chances of doing so! This just pisses me off, but just swing the remote a couple times vertically to recalibarate your remote when using the sword!

Gameplay/ Content

This is just the biggest offender of the game, so I will just tell you everything in non-chronological order. The dungeons are just really boring, uncreative, repetitive, and extremely easy. Compared to Twilight Princess with excellent puzzle design, somewhat high difficulty, creative design, and unique puzzles and bosses, these dungoens just suck. Like excluding Ancient Cistern and argubly even SandShip, which other dungoen was unique and creative in their own way? Earth Temple and Fire Sanctuary are both lava themed dungeons; Sky-Keep is just a dungeon with all dungeons in one; and Forest Temple is just very uncreative although it's unique. Same goes for the Lanayru Mining Facility as well for lack of creativity.

Overworld for this game is also terrible. This overworld has extremly linear paths and routes and has boring puzzles to be solved to make up for it which doesn't even compare to the brilliant design of these dungeons. The overworld is so small with nothing much to do, has a lack of civilization, no secret passageways connecting it to other parts of the land, and is uncreative. All it has are 4 different regions: sky, forest, desert, and volcano. Where is the water region? The grassy region? The snow region? The valley region? The mountain region? The swamp region? The cave region? And you have to backtrack to each of these areas at least 4 times; I'm not even horsing around!

The sidequests also just suck! Aren't the sidequests there to help you relax and take a break from the main quest? Well these aren't; there're here to piss you off and torture you even more! These are the most hated parts of the game and it made me wish I never played this game ever again! The only sidequest that was fun was the Gratitude Crystal, but other than that, everything else was just bs! The mini-games are so unfair, uncreative, and gives high expectations of the player just so that they can get a stupid heart piece or rupee! And don't even get me started with the arrow shooting game or the harp playing side quest!

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Overall, this game just sucks ass and I'm not going to discuss the gimmicks and annoying features like the constant beeping and Fi! But what I will tell you is that this game is the worst 3D Zelda game and it feels almost like Sonic 06, except with less glitches! I know I written alot and I've already warned you that I will, so if you made it without stopping to read this last paragraph, then I congratulate you! So tell me your opinion of Skyward Sword and state why it was a good or bad game below! Also, rebutles are greatly appreciated too. And no, I will not discuss about the crap that made Donkey-Kong Country Returns very flawed!

Bad post is bad

@charizard1605

Skyward Sword is a top-rated game that released the final holiday on a console that most gamers had moved on from over a year before its launch. The overworld was slightly disappointing, but the dungeon design is among the series' best along with a well-crafted narrative that broke the tradition of the standard Zelda game.

I agree

*shrugs*

I won't write a small essay about it, but I'll just say this. I beat LttP on SNES way back when I was about twelve years old, and I did not finish to completion one single Zelda game after that untilSkyward Sword. Take that as you will.

In my opinion Wind Waker is the worst 3d Zelda. But I still really liked it.

Surprised how you didn't delete this forum because it violates one of the rules. :) But oh well, I thank you for your opinion, unlike the others who aren't accepting of other people's opinions. I hope there are others in the future that aren't here to troll me though.:)

I don't intend to get into a debate over it, but Skyward Sword is one of my top-rated Zelda games. It boils down to the fact that Nintendo finally took major steps forward in multiple character development and storytelling. For once, I actually had "feels" playing it, because they made sure the main characters had personalities, and even Fi ended up growing on me.

To add to that, the combat will be sorely missed for me. It required actual technical precision, and of all the Zeldas, the combat was the most engrossing simply because you had to actually make an effort. It felt more like "combat" rather than just slicing through foes with my sword, and for that it was, to me, a major experience not to be missed. Most reviews agreed upon this as well, it was a way of playing a Zelda game that looks to be a one-time experience.

Anyway, there's always those differing opinions on things. Some do it to seem distinguished, others put too much focus on the negatives, and some really just didn't like the game. But since the majority felt similarly positive about it, I believe that NIntendo got more right than wrong, no matter what anyone says in particular.

I'm not sure you understand what "troll" means in internet terms.

Meh, I disagree. I think Phantom Hourglass is the worse Zelda unless we are including those CD-i abominations. The only REAL problem I had with Skyward Sword was the ridiculous learning curve for the controls. Took me 20 hours to finally get the controls completely down. Everything else was fine, but definitely could have been improved in a number of ways. SS was a new experience and I enjoyed many of its land/dungeons, but a few stretches of some of those dungeons was....bleh...

Ah hell, I completely forgot about Fi. If there's gonna be another helper, please don't have them acting like Link is a complete idiot like Fi did in Skyward Sword. I want there to be an option to turn off all the hand holding crap skyward sword had..

Wind waker is the worst

Aside from an opinion I highly disagree with, there's some stuff that really irked me about this post.

First of all, Skyward Sword sold "poorly" because it was released during an unfortunate time. It simply arrived too late, when most people stopped playing their Wiis and resorted to other means of entertainment. Skyward Sword managed to sell its first 3 million copies much faster than Twilight Princess, but Twilight Princess sold more copies overall because it had the advantage of being available from launch to the Wii's golden ages.

You're clearly not aware of the factors that affect a game's frame rate. Smash Bros is a 2D fighter that uses 3D models. It can easily get away with using half-assed models in the background because the focus is on the the fighters and the platform they're fighting on. Skyward Sword offers a fully three dimensional world with a larger render distance. There's more going on on the screen and all around Link. Smash Bros is like looking at a portrait; there's nothing rendered in front of the foreground. Whereas Skyward Sword has to render everything going on in front of Link, left, right, and behind of Link because you can freely roam and look around 360 degrees. This is why Skyward Sword is at a solid 30 FPS while Smash Bros 3DS is at 60 FPS. Actually, only the fighters are at 60 FPS. They had to make assist trophies at 30 FPS because the 3DS could not handle it, even with a cel-shaded artstyle.

Finally, the Gratitude Crystals were the only side quests in the game, aside from the minigames. Everything else was mandatory for story progression, therefore not side quests.

It's a good game with some neat ideas but it's my least favorite 3D Zelda game due to all the padding and Fi. The other games had better pacing, side quests, worlds, stories, etc. But Skyward Sword is still worth playing.

I really liked Skyward Sword a lot. I liked how there were lots of monsters and puzzles outside of the temples, and the temples themselves were the best in the series. The combat was also much more fleshed out than in any other Zelda game. I think Twilight Princess is the worst 3D Zelda game, and I would still score it an 8/10. There isn't a bad game in this series, other than Zelda 2.

Hey guy, no.

The worst is Twilight Princess.

Graphics: whether you like or dislike the graphics is subjective. One style might appeal to some but not to others. The limited power of the Wii obviously led to some of the choices that Nintendo made in its art style, but I think it had an overall pleasing appearance. As for poor textures, I have seen worse in games like Skyrim on the 360, so I didn't find them that offensive.

Frame Rate: It has been a while since I played it, but I can't remember any major concerns.

Controls: There is a difference between the controls sucking and you sucking at using the controls. I find the controls very responsive and rarely had to re-calibrate them. (if I ever did). A couple of pointers for you: 1. it is not a pointer based game. 2. It tracks all your motions, including any wind ups you make before swinging or stabbing. Many people don't consider these when playing and become confused. For example, if you pull your bow out when pointing at the ground, your bow will be pointing at the ground. It won't matter if you point the IR sensor at the screen, because most of the time the controls are based on relative position to where you were--not where the TV is. Many people also don't seem to understand that moving the wiimonte backwards before swinging forwards is also a motion and will be tracked by the game. This leads to confusion for people as the original wind up before the swing is played out without the player even realizing that was the motion they made. If you make all your motions purposeful, the controls can be very responsive and the experience very enjoyable.

Dungeons: We would have to agree to disagree here. I found the dungeons to be among the best in the series both in terms of atmosphere and layout.

I also had some issues with the controls and remember having to constantly re-calibrate. I think that one fault is what you mention with the backward wind up. Sometimes the position to swing isn't great and a windup is necessary which can cause in a misreading by the m+. Another thing I find funny is the argument many say that the game eliminates waggle. While some enemies cannot be waggled to death, most can, especially the final boss.

Dungeons were fairly good, but I wish there was more variety in location surrounding the dungeon. The main complaint I have about Skyward Sword is recycling.

I'll have to replay this over the summer though. I beat the game in one play session when it was released, so a lot is a blur to me, but I do remember some frustration with the controls.

Have you played The Adventure of Link? Have you played all the games in the series?

Yes. I played it when i was young and hated it. I thought maybe I just didn't give it a fair chance and tried it again when I got a free copy of it on my 3DS. It's just a bad game, though.

I have not played every game in the series. I still need to play the "Oracle of" games, as well as Link's Awakening and Link Between Worlds.

Yep, those are the only games I haven't played too....well adding Minish Cap...

Skyward is my least favorite 3D Zelda. That's a position that used to belong to Wind Waker, but since playing the HD remake, it has grown on me.

Some of the things I disliked:

• There are too many recycled bosses.
• The overworld is tediously structured like a dungeon and I had no fun exploring it. This is only compounded by the amount of backtracking forced on the player.
• The overworld is broken up into sections. There's no going from Eldon to Faron without being forced to go through flying sections.
• Inconsistent graphics. I like how some areas look - Skyloft and Faron Woods being my two favorite areas visually. I don't mind the style it was done in, but when Lanayru desert, its mine dungeon, and many other areas look as awful as they do, I have a problem.

On the flipside, I enjoyed:

• The motion controls. I understand a lot of people had problems with them, but they worked great for me.
• The music. Skyward Sword has a beautiful soundtrack.
• Whenever the graphics looked good.
• Some of the non-recycled bosses are fantastic
• The dungeons are generally challenging and well thought out.

That's my two cents on it.

I would argue Majora's Mask, but that's just my personal opinion.

I never had much problems with the controls.

I liked Skyward Sword, but it's nowhere near as good as Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, and Wind Waker. I would put it on Twilight Princess's level.

Get on that man. The Oracle games and Link's Awakening are around 6 or 7 bucks a piece on the E shop. They're a steal at that price.

I know. I plan on picking them up pretty soon. I just have too many games to play and not enough time, lol.

there were a couple things I didn't like about Skyward Sword.

I found the controls to be a little cumbersome, I think Nintendo might have been trying to do too much with the motion controls, There are some elements in the game that feel like they have motion controls (the beetle being one of them, or the boss keys) just to use motion controls.

The pacing was pretty bad too from the dowsing, to collecting tear drops and everything else in between.

Other than that I enjoyed the game quite a bit; the story was pretty good, and most of the characters were entertaining, it seemed as though nintendo actually tried to develop their cast this time around, the game was gorgeous (imo), the soundtrack was quite possibly the best in the series, and a lot of the boss fights and dungeon designs were the best in the series.

edit - I think the reason why people 'troll' you is that your post just sounds like whining.

I'd like to thank you for posting today because after my classes I came home and played Zelda 2 most of the day. I've finally gotten the hammer, and I'm headed to the second temple.

Well, I'm glad you enjoy it. It's certainly not my cup of tea, though.

You're hilarious. But wrong.

Not necessarily. Majora's Mask is very different from the standard Zelda game, and that could very well make it among the worst 3D Zelda games for many people. I love Majora's Mask -- I have it tattooed on my shoulder -- but it certainly was a daunting experience in many ways. Playing that game without a guide was like pulling teeth.

But here is the thing, they didn't use one style; they used several different styles and munched it up together like jello or something! I do not suck at the controls. I am actually amazing at the controls and I only feel that way in some occasions. As you should already tell, this is a rant and I am exaggerating everything bad about this game. But thanks for the control adjustment tips though! The dungeons are great but they aren't that creative or unique in terms of the genres. Like come on, we've already seen lava, forest, and desert dungoens and even better ones in previous games as well. The only ones were Ancient Cistern and Sand Ship that were both unique and creative.

Then explain to me why Mario Kart Wii that is fully rendered in 3D runs at a smooth 60 fps and only drops to 35 to 30 fps when in multi-player? Buddy, this is a rant about all the flaws in the game ; most of these flaws I actually don't mind or don't care about any more. And no, I do not suck; I've already 100%ed this game 3 times and speed ran it 2 times. Twilight Princess also sold more because it was also sold on the Game-Cube and a Nintendo Selects remake was released for the Wii at a discounted price. Also, I was talking about Brawl not the 3DS version, which I actually thought it was 30 FPS like the usual 3DS game until the Smash Bros. Direct. Everything else? Like the heart pieces and what not? Hell no son, you don't need them unless you want to feel good about yourself and be a completionist.

Oh my... Large-scale adventure games can't be compared to racing games. They're too different.

But the difference is what made is so great. IMO, they took a risk with having such a weird formula, but they pulled it off exceedingly well (and with Inverted Song of Time, you had more than enough time to explore unless you played for like five hours at a time). Granted, it is the hardest 3D Zelda, but it did so many things so well that it's definitely one of the best (my personal fav game ever).

I actually found Skyward Sword to be a very welcome breath of fresh air for the franchise.

+The best combat in the franchise.

+motion controls functioned perfectly and offered a new way to interact with a full and interesting world.

+Level design was at an all time high.

+the puzzles were more creative and a change from past entries in the franchise.

+items retained their usefulness from start to finish. A lot of them had to be used together to solve puzzles.

+the speed and acrobatic nature of Link was greatly improved.

+music is more atmospheric/subtle and takes on a more classical tone.

+the art style is absolutely gorgeous. I often catch myself just staring at the environments and that painting effect.

+all 30+ hours of the main quest was completely enjoyable. No gameplay portion felt slapped on to extend length.

+The silent realm portions were among the best experiences I've had with the franchise.

+This game also had some of the best boss fights in the series with multiple ways of tackling them. Also the later Gihrahim fights will go down in history as the greatest fights the series has produced.

+The world is filled with meaningful content. Pretty much no dead space anywhere.

I absolutely LOVED this game to pieces and the more I think about it and play it (I've put over 270 hours into it now.) the more I think it's the best 3D Zelda ever made.

@Pikminmaniac: A lot of your points are true, but not the one about the pacing. Too many of the in between dungeon excursions felt like filler. I hated the stretch near the end of the game where you had to do the three tasks for the dragons. Plus re fighting the giant monster in the woods (Imprisoned I think) stopped being fun after the first two times. Then you had to fight the scorpion, what? Three times I think? I admit it has some of the best level design in terms of dungeons, but the overworld is not very well fleshed out, at least not like in other games (Wind Waker, Majora's Mask). The sky was also disappointing as hell. There's next to nothing to do, and what is there isn't very fun.

When everything came together, the game is an absolute blast. But there were too many points where I felt like they were dragging things out for the hell of it, and the overworld was disappointing at best.

1. True but when it messes up, the results are ... um ... a bit disappointing until you re-calibrate, which is easy but annoying to do each and every time.

2. Not neccesarily as alot of places that don't contain dungeon-like puzzles or pathways have nothing to do in them except catching bugs or cutting down grass.

3. Design was creative for the franchise, but it wasn't as memorable or amazing when compared to dungoens in OOT or WW or MM or TP or even the old 2D games.

4. Yes I know but it gets extremely repetitive and becomes easy after facing them multiple times.

5. That is a false statment right there (for the most part) as many weapons were used mainly for exploration rather than combat like the Beetle or the Mitts.

6. But his stamina was not as it is equivalent to that of a fat person eating Mc'Donalds everyday.

7. I did not rant about it because it is amazing so you shouldn't accuse me of saying the music sucks.

8. What the f***? You must be insane if you think the game's graphics are amazing unless you only like the cel-shaded style.

9. Then those fans who hate the Song of the Hero quest would like to have a word with you.

10. I loved them too just like you; however, many hate them and prefer the dark world realms and twilight realms more enjoyable and as an alternative instead.

11. Oh my, another rebutle that has no point as I never even discussed about the bosses being crappy in any sort of way.

12. LOL, you just made my day; many areas like Lanayru Cave, The Sky, Thunder-Head, etc had little content or creativity in them.

But those are also the things that can make it the worst Zelda game for many people.

Pretty much, yeah. I loved the graphics and controls, but the game was boring to me.

This wasn't intended as a rebuttal... I was just simply stating why I personally loved the game with my own positives.

How are they too different? Or maybe my rebuttal was very awesome and not even a person like you can argue back, hmmm?

@gordanchoong: Racers have far less interactive objects than an adventure game like Zelda, therefore it's far easier to render at 60 FPS. Zelda's frame rate drops are attributed to the amount of things happening on screen, the likes of which a game like Mario Kart doesn't see.

I agree that it's the worst, but that's because the standard for Zelda games are so high. The competition:

OoT

MM

WW

TP

SS

And in order of quality (imo), it goes MM > WW > OoT > TP > SS

Now, I don't want to take anything away from SS - it's still an excellent game. It does a lot of things right, for example, the game has some of the best dungeons in the entire Zelda franchise. I just had some problems such as item notifications, empty sky, not much life in the world, some pacing issues.

@trugs26: Your list of best 3D Zeldas is EXACTLY like mine. High five, man.

@gordanchoong: With a racing game, first of all, there really isn't that much to the game compared to something like Zelda. Think about it: the tracks are all pretty small gaming areas, and the only real interactivity comes in the form of obstacles, other players and items. This is opposed to zelda, where it needs to account for all kinds of different things, such as player choice (as in determining where the player is gonna go) fighting enemies, dying, beating bosses and more! That's got to be a lot more complex to program than a racing game, where pretty much every game plays out the same way and the only variation is in track design and the players' skill sets.

In other words, think about it like this. to make a game that lasts at least 40 hours, with something like Mario Kart, all Ninty really has to do is give a set of tracks, online multiplayer, and a timer. Boom, you got people who will play it daily, whether in short bursts or long sessions. To make a 40 hour zelda game, the developers need to make a really big world, accounting for all the objects the player can interact with, the tasks they need to perform and all that stuff. Racing games are much, much simpler than adventure games as far as programming and content goes.

Nice! High five! Now what about 2D?...

I didn't like Skyward Sword at all. Now, admittedly, I didn't beat it, but that's because I didn't like it enough to try.

Should Nintendo ever see fit to re-create the game for the Wii U, I would be willing to try it again because one of the things I disliked the most about it was the controls; I just don't like motion controls for a game like that. With the GamePad, one of my biggest gripes would be addressed, so i would try it again.