30 hours into Skyward Sword and it still presents new and fresh ideas

I've got to hand it to Nintendo, when they release a 40 to 60 hour long game they literally keep it as fresh as it can be.  I am constantly blown away by the creativity in Skyward Sword and the rush that combat provides after you get over the learning curve (and there is a steeper learning curve than other Zelda titles with the controls).  But the Ancient Cistern and the fight against Koloktos was just insane, only to be followed up with the Lanayru Sand Sea, where I bring only a small section of the world to the past and move it with me.  I'm excited to see what the next dungeon is in the Lanayru Sand Sea.

And the level design feels like a playground in this game and I mean that in a good way.  Just a sense of exploration and wonder around every corner.  Just wonderful stuff all throughout the game.  Nintendo (almost) always nail it with their premier titles.  The Galaxy games did it at an even more rapid pace, though those have the virtue of having various challenges throughout the experience so each bit is constantly new and fresh.

I may sound like Skyward Sword is my first Zelda with the way I'm talking, but I've beaten all the 3D titles, so really, I'm just taking time to gush about an excellent title.

For the sake of conversation I put a poll up about the dungeon design.  I'm going with Twilight Princess as having the best dungeon design which is why I view it as my favorite.  The game's dungeons are full of surprises that just caught me off guard at every turn.  Wonderfully designed title.

Since you're on the subject on Skyward Sword, 

it had a mix of standard and fantastic dungeons.

Sky View and Earth Temple were standard dungeons, but that's ok. Happens all the time. Unfortunately for big Zelda veterans like me, I had pretty well seen it all before up to that point, so some of that charm has been lost, but they are appropriate to have being the early dungeons in this game.

Lanaryu Mining Facility and Ancient Cistern were great dungeons. I absolutely loved the timeshift stones and the Luigi's Mansion Poltergeist to rid the sand of, and using a whip to turn a dungeon practically inside out.

The Fire Sanctuary I didn't care for because it felt like an extension of the Earth Temple and those Mogma Mitts weren't interesting to me. It's not a bad dungeon, but it felt flat after playing the previous 3 dungeons (Mining Facility, Ancient Cistern and Sandship).

The 2 dugneons that REALLY stood out to me were the Sanship and Skyview. Sandship was phenomenal and Sky Keep just might be literally the smartest planned out designed dungeon ever made in the history of Zelda, and that's something I don't say lightly. It's up there, definitely up there Doesn't necessarily mean it's the "favorite of all Zelda dungeons ever" but most tricky to create and make work.

Actuallly, while SS is ranked around the middle of my favorite Zelda's, it had some of the greatest dungeons in the Zelda franchise. For example,

[spoiler]

that one towards the end is amazing (where the rooms themselves are part of a big puzzle.), and is probably my favorite dungeon of all Zeldas. 

[/spoiler]

edit: Just realised you're only 30 hours in, so I'll stick this in a spoiler.  

So yeah, definitely voted Skyward Sword in the poll. Kinda weird how it's not my favorite Zelda still though. There's something about both MM and WW that make them hard to top :)

Three of Majora's Mask's dungeons are incredible. The first one is basically a beginner dungeon, so it's just okay, but the rest are amazing. The Stone Tower is the most impressive dungeon in any of the games, I think.

When I first got this during Xmas of 2011 (was it?) I was ready to put it down because the beginning was so damned slow and tedious but people kept telling me to wait it out and be patient.

It was overall a good game but there were a lot of flaws, for all the good it did.

I feel that, overall, Skyward Sword has the best dungeons of all the 3D games.

Majora's sample is just too small, even if Stone Temple Tower is the best Zelda dungeon ever. Meanwhile, Ocarina's first three dungeons are not that good, Wind Waker has a below average dungeon design - even if the game is stellar on every other aspect, and Twilight Princess' final two dungeons are disappointing.

Skyward Sword is my favorite out of the 3D Zelda games. Many people were turned off by its flaws and I completely understood that, but one can't deny Skyward Sword's brilliant dungeons, puzzles, and controls. You can clearly see where most of the development time went to. I thought it would have been hard to beat TP's dungeons and (easy, but epic) boss battles, but SS proved how creative they can become. Koloktos is the best boss in the entire franchise. Ancient Cistern, Sandship, and Skykeep are the best dungeons.

I also absolutely love how cinematic the cutscenes were. The story was great as well and I actually started to bond with Fi at the end of the game (she's no Midna, but the ending really made me love her).

Skyward Sword is not a perfect game and I was disappointed by the lack of a truly connected world with a day/night cycle, but I enjoyed it more than the previous games and I do appreciate the new, creative ideas present in the game.

Can't wait for the Wii U Zelda.

The slew of ideas were impressive but some of them......ugh. Musical fish quest for example.

Three of Majora's Mask's dungeons are incredible. The first one is basically a beginner dungeon, so it's just okay, but the rest are amazing. The Stone Tower is the most impressive dungeon in any of the games, I think.

JordanElek

You actually like the great bay temple? It's almost as bad as OoT's water temple. (further convinces me that there is no such thing as a good water level in videogames....ever)

The slew of ideas were impressive but some of them......ugh. Musical fish quest for example.

[QUOTE="JordanElek"]

Three of Majora's Mask's dungeons are incredible. The first one is basically a beginner dungeon, so it's just okay, but the rest are amazing. The Stone Tower is the most impressive dungeon in any of the games, I think.

thetravman

You actually like the great bay temple? It's almost as bad as OoT's water temple. (further convinces me that there is no such thing as a good water level in videogames....ever)

[QUOTE="thetravman"]

The slew of ideas were impressive but some of them......ugh. Musical fish quest for example.

[QUOTE="JordanElek"]

Three of Majora's Mask's dungeons are incredible. The first one is basically a beginner dungeon, so it's just okay, but the rest are amazing. The Stone Tower is the most impressive dungeon in any of the games, I think.

JordanElek

You actually like the great bay temple? It's almost as bad as OoT's water temple. (further convinces me that there is no such thing as a good water level in videogames....ever)

I don't like the Great Bay Temple's utter lack of focus or direction. The level design is awful because the developers didn't include any hints or leads at all. It's like wandering through a corn maze. meetroid8

I've got to hand it to Nintendo, when they release a 40 to 60 hour long game they literally keep it as fresh as it can be.  I am constantly blown away by the creativity in Skyward Sword and the rush that combat provides after you get over the learning curve (and there is a steeper learning curve than other Zelda titles with the controls).  But the Ancient Cistern and the fight against Koloktos was just insane, only to be followed up with the Lanayru Sand Sea, where I bring only a small section of the world to the past and move it with me.  I'm excited to see what the next dungeon is in the Lanayru Sand Sea.

And the level design feels like a playground in this game and I mean that in a good way.  Just a sense of exploration and wonder around every corner.  Just wonderful stuff all throughout the game.  Nintendo (almost) always nail it with their premier titles.  The Galaxy games did it at an even more rapid pace, though those have the virtue of having various challenges throughout the experience so each bit is constantly new and fresh.

I may sound like Skyward Sword is my first Zelda with the way I'm talking, but I've beaten all the 3D titles, so really, I'm just taking time to gush about an excellent title.

For the sake of conversation I put a poll up about the dungeon design.  I'm going with Twilight Princess as having the best dungeon design which is why I view it as my favorite.  The game's dungeons are full of surprises that just caught me off guard at every turn.  Wonderfully designed title.

NeonNinja

I don't like the Great Bay Temple's utter lack of focus or direction. The level design is awful because the developers didn't include any hints or leads at all. It's like wandering through a corn maze. meetroid8

Really? Granted, I did bring out the map a couple times when I first played that place, I never got the feeling that I was truly lost inside that dungeon. It had some twist and turns but it was just as straightfoward as any other Zelda dungeon as far as I recall....

So you just finished the tutorial? :PTxTech1923

[QUOTE="meetroid8"] I don't like the Great Bay Temple's utter lack of focus or direction. The level design is awful because the developers didn't include any hints or leads at all. It's like wandering through a corn maze. tocool340

Really? Granted, I did bring out the map a couple times when I first played that place, I never got the feeling that I was truly lost inside that dungeon. It had some twist and turns but it was just as straightfoward as any other Zelda dungeon as far as I recall....

[QUOTE="tocool340"]

[QUOTE="meetroid8"] I don't like the Great Bay Temple's utter lack of focus or direction. The level design is awful because the developers didn't include any hints or leads at all. It's like wandering through a corn maze. meetroid8

Really? Granted, I did bring out the map a couple times when I first played that place, I never got the feeling that I was truly lost inside that dungeon. It had some twist and turns but it was just as straightfoward as any other Zelda dungeon as far as I recall....

Anyway, I think I approach this temple like I approached every other temple in a 3D Zelda game, observe everything from the top and work my way to the bottom of the temple. If anything, Great Bay temple uses a concept similar to Link to the Past's second temple where you aren't given any particular directions so you need to explore every room, keeping track of all the doors that were locked along the way and a concept from OoT's Water temple, where you have to manage the flow of the temples water. Seemed like a conventional Zelda dungeon to me, only I really needed to pay attention to the map more often than usual...

[QUOTE="meetroid8"][QUOTE="tocool340"]

Really? Granted, I did bring out the map a couple times when I first played that place, I never got the feeling that I was truly lost inside that dungeon. It had some twist and turns but it was just as straightfoward as any other Zelda dungeon as far as I recall....

tocool340

Anyway, I think I approach this temple like I approached every other temple in a 3D Zelda game, observe everything from the top and work my way to the bottom of the temple. If anything, Great Bay temple uses a concept similar to Link to the Past's second temple where you aren't given any particular directions so you need to explore every room, keeping track of all the doors that were locked along the way and a concept from OoT's Water temple, where you have to manage the flow of the temples water. Seemed like a conventional Zelda dungeon to me, only I really needed to pay attention to the map more often than usual...

You're pretty much in the stance and I am. I really loved the refreshing mechanics on SS and the game was great, even despite the slow start and excessive tutorials. Some dungeons are especially awesome and the amount of ideas there and how they complement each other works excellent. It is a hard call but TP is also my favorite. I just would like a remake using SS controls...enrique_marrodz

Now that you mention it, I would way rather have an HD Twilight Princess with Skyward Sword's controls than Wind Waker HD. 

The dungeons in Skyward Sword are fantastic. It's the stuff in-between that really bogs the game down. Still a great game however.bobcheeseball

I actually enjoyed the emphasis on the stuff inbetween.  The level layout was more complex than before, sort of building up to the dungeon.

I adore the Great Bay Temple.

I think it is absolutely brilliant!