#but I like the realism of TP and the Wild Era games

[revali-is-a-narc]

Well, we didn't get Twilight Princess, but we got Teacup Princess.

[crystalnet]

In Defensio: Skyward Sword

Skyward Sword generally seems to have a luke warm to slightly negative-- at worst-- full out negative reputation online. It has been widely noted that the game appreciated an initial embrace by professional critics that gave way to a much less enthusiastic one generally, that would only depreciate even further over time. Now that Breath of the Wild has shown up on its white, King of the Mountain horse and conquered (almost) all naysayers and restored a certain amount of validity to the franchise, along with Link Between Worlds, I fear Skyward may continue to get an increasingly bad rap compared to BotW, but now that we're a full main-line game away from Skyward, I think I can speak from a more objective stand-point regarding the game. And while the game isn't as good as BotW, I still think it's an excellent entry, is easily better than Twilight (maybe roughly tied with Windwaker) and that a lot of the bad rap is kind of misguided in my humble opinion-- let's get into it...

I'll address the criticism in the order of its prominence online. Thus, the first thing I must acknowledge and contend with are all the critics-- usually amateur ones-- who assail the Motion Plus controls. Now, I'll admit that they aren't flawless, but that's a part of what makes them kind of interesting. Hear me out though, because I will say that out of the plethora of uses for the motion control that are employed throughout the game, there is one which I outright dislike, and that's the one that shows up whenever you have to select a weapon or item from your pouch/inventory. On a recent play-through, for whatever reason, this barely worked at all and I couldn't select the thing I wanted with any ease. Maybe I was just too close to the TV or something but still, it should be said that there are some flaws. But when people criticize it in general, I'm just convinced that they just either suck at it or are doing something wrong. Quite an assumption but really, the combat in my opinion is excellent and the fact that they were able to pull off simulating the actual position of the wii-remote accurately in the game is very impressive. For some reason people find it so easy to dismiss it, and the accuracy of the Motion Plus in general-- maybe it's because this was late in the Wii's life-cycle and this idea had grown stale just as they perfected, or perhaps it makes people view the game as being gimmicky and less than an ideal, hard-core Zelda experience. Whatever it is,  I think this view of the controls is taking a really unique and solid system for granted. 

Another guess at why it's a bit misunderstood: I think people imagine wielding the Master Sword and being able to mow through everything, but the whole point of the motion control is to allow for deep combat in which bokoblins and others are able to block your strikes if you telegraph your approach. So the game is purposefully pushing you towards being quicker and thinking ahead and waiting for openings, or using your shield bash, all techniques which would go unused if someone is just wildly swinging about. I personally think the motion-control is largely excellent, and being able to actually wield Link's sword feels revelatory to me, at this point, though I admit it was easier to dismiss back when it came out after games like No More Heroes and Red Steel had attempted variations on this idea. But for my money this is the best version of motion-controlled sword play on the market. And it's not just the sword-play, it's the sky-diving (which doesn't get fully unlocked until a mini-game later on), the flying, the bug catching, the aiming, the balancing, the swimming (for better or worse depending on who you ask) and so much more. The bug net specifically is in my opinion the best showcase. It responds perfectly to subtle movements of the wrist and twisting and scooping the net in order to capture the various bugs and others collectibles feels really responsive and even “immersive”. 

The last thing I'll say is that beyond being novel and unique, the motion control was a great way to make the combat deeper than previous titles, building signifivantly on the combat which was previously simple and slightly mundane, if serviceable (OoT through Twilight really, though it improves by WW/TP). The combat here and in BotW is a much deeper iteration of combat than we've seen in any Zelda really, and I'm all about moving away from the simple albeit still fun sword-play of previous console entries. 

The second big criticism is kind of two-fold or tied between two things: Fi and the linearity. First of all, I'm just not convinced Fi is as bad as people make out. Is it really so immasculating to get some general guidance every now in again (amounts to about two or three times throughout a whole region/dungeon-sized stretch really)? I don't think it's significantly more than Midna or King of Red Lions, plus she looks cool, is a robot spirit that lives in your sword and sometimes she even asks you if you want an explanation or not (seriously, she asks you if you even want to hear about dowsing the first time... you can say no!). And as for the linearity, I think this is a weird thing to focus criticism on and doesn't make sense given the similar amount of linearity in all previous Zelda's save for Zelda 1. There may be a bit less on the SNES/N64 era games, but WW and Twilight have a similarly linear progression. It doesn't necessarily seem excessive to me, though I will say BotW has shown us brilliantly how non-linear gameplay and a hands-off approach regarding exposition and excessive tutorials can work very well. But not all games should be held to that standard. 

I think a lot of the sour reactions to this game had or have something to do with the time that this game was coming out. This was well into the Wii and the seventh generation’s life, and compared to games that were coming out on 360/PS3 at the time, this game did not look nearly as polished or graphically advance. Of course it didn't-- the Wii essentially had the same graphics card as the Gamecube. But they make up for it with the beautiful style, and I'd take it over photo-realism any day personally. But again, when you think about how a game like Skyrim came out the same month as this game. it helps contextualize why some people retroactively grade this game harshly. But I counter that graphical/technical comparisons like this are superficial, and that there is a lot of depth to be found in this game in the various systems and design rather than in the sheer amount of pixels or whatever. 

It's linear in the sense that the sky/Skyloft is a hub for areas that you fly directly too, which are themselves disconnected from the other large areas. But within these areas, there is top-notch level design on display the likes of which we don't usually see outside of the dungeons in Zelda. I think people are distracted by the lack of a true Hyrule Field, since the sky stands in for that, and thus view the environments as overly enclosed and linear. But each region is very unique and through-designed in a way that sets them apart from the non-dungeon environments of previous Zelda games. I appreciate the open-ness of the Hyrule Fields in previous games and the way they connected disparate, unique areas, but despite the way it simulates realistic geographic spaces, it can be kind of empty and hum-drum as is the case in Twilight. I like the openness of the world in that game,  but the fields and areas that connect dungeons are essentially empty stretches of textures. This is a problem they wouldn't fix directly until BotW, but one which they circumvent entirely in Skyward. 

I love seeing open environments like this that have the same level of puzzle solving and attention to detail as the dungeons. And the areas are usually somewhat labyrinthine or non-linear in their own ways, which the scavenger hunt segments always showcase. I’d take these areas over the empty expanses of Twilight or the tiny isalnds of Windwaker on most days. I love the sense of exploration in Windwaker, but it would have been great to have a few larger, more substantial islands that were off the beaten path. This game makes up for the lack of big, open environments in WW, and big bland stretches in TP simultaneously. And it simulates the openness of WW’s sea in miniature with the use of the sky-hub, which is similarly underused, and like WW's sea could be expanded excellently on in future sequels, but for what it is, I quite enjoy it. The music and feeling of flying around is triumphant and though exploration is limited, it isn't non-existent, with over 20 floating islands. Some are merely a tiny platform with a chest on it, but then others include the super sick sky-diving mini game, or the pumpkin bar, or the sword-training mini-game, or a giant vortex with a dope Windfish boss flying around in it. 

I just think people get caught up on little things in this game, like revisiting areas and Fi occaisonally directing you, or perhaps its the dowsing segments which I suppose can feel fetch-quest-y. But again, I think the environments are excellent and as well-designed as the dungeons, for the first time, and so none of these things should really be seen as problems, as revisiting the areas under different circumstances and exploring them thoroughly to find various treasure/items is continually rewarding if you stop and smell the roses and appreciate each area for its unique design. Another way this is accentuated is the surprisingly deep insect and treasure-collecting. In fact, the collecting and weapon/item-upgrading in this game is deeper than pretty much any system in previous Zelda games save maybe the ring or mask systems in the Oracle games and Majora's Mask respectively. With so much stuff to collect and catch and upgrade, there is quite a bit of optional content. In addition to that are the generous amount of side-quests. Twlight was seriously hurting for side-quests and this game makes up for it and then some.

I appreciate that between every dungeon more and more quests become unlocked in succession. The first Goddess Cube you find unlocks a chest on the Pumpkin Tavern's island, which leads you there only to begin the quests associated with that island as well as leading you to the Graveyard/Kukiel quest back on Skyloft, which in turn leads you to lean about Gratitude Crystals and that demon guy and so on. And a lot of them are quirky, like the one where you can sleep in your classmate Fletch's room to find him doing push-ups and in-need of stamina potions, or the Moaning-Myrtle referencing bathroom-ghost quest. The fact that you’re a student in an academy makes this the closest to Persona that a Zelda game has ever gotten which is also a bonus. I generally enjoy how Skyloft functions as a hub, and it works as a nice way of gathering together various NPC's and locations for the many side-quests in the game. While Windwaker has good side-content, the quests could often be a bit obscure or miss-able for more casual play-throughs, and I think this game addresses that as well, so honestly it's the best side-quest game since Majora and Link's Awakening, which is saying something.

When people deride the game's linearity I just feel like their short-changing the depth of these various things including the side-quests, the upgrading and item collecting and the sheer amount of motion-control functionality in this. I truly think, at least as far as aiming things, that motion-control is the optimal method of control, making this and Twilight both superior in at least this one regard, in terms of the archery and sling-shooting, but all the other motion-control systems feel like individual little mini-games that just happen to flow consistently with the main game, and all add to the game as whole, making for a richer experience overall. I just feel a really nice sense of immersion with this game, and the controls seems preferable to older titles, unless I’m just feeling super lazy and can't even stand to keep my wrist slightly stiff. I may be a black-sheep in this regard, but I think the motion controls are successful with what they aim to do, which to me is create an immersive, intuitive as well as more visceral experience. Defeating a harder boss, like the amazing Koloktos, while using this control scheme, or head-shotting someone with an arrow feel so much more rewarding than when done with a single tap of a button, but hey that's just me.

And not to be outdone, if the environments are good in this game, I think the dungeons are generally strong as well, with the fourth dungeon being one of my top 3 Zelda dungeons of all time, and a few introducing some really cool ideas like time-traveling crystal-switches or the deconstructed fifth dungeon which is spread across a suite of mini-dungeons, each an unique trial of your wits and technique. Beyond mechanics, the story, characters and presentation are strong as well. The vaguely Scandinavian-concept art and character-designs and towns are a nice direction after the more drab, darkly medieval Twilight, and the look is also a bit more grounded than the sheer cartoonish quality that Windwaker had while still being just a bright and colorful. I also love this specific Zelda world, with the lore of Skyloft and the goddess being nicely fleshed out, and little aesthetic flourishes like the goddess harp that you use, or Girahim's unique design giving everything a pleasantly whimsical feeling that fits in well with the serious while being kind of different at the same time.

So yeah, I feel like that at least serves as a response to some of the criticism. Whether those critics would be forced to reconsider their opinion, I can't be sure, but I do hope that over time this game warrants a second appraisal by those who previously wrote it off. I think it's a great send-off for the 7th generation, and is one last romp with Zelda that offers an experience that builds on the previous games and adds a lot to the mix without being the pretty big departure that BotW is. In fact, it's my favorite Zelda after BotW, and I know a lot of people would call me a hipster for that, but hey, it's the one I like playing the most after BotW at this point, so sue me. If you disagree with my points, I'd love to see someone attempt to refute. Really let's get into it. This game rocks. Let's fight. Fuck you.