#it was nice that for skyward sword hd they give you the option to use motion controls or button controls even though i didnt like the butto

[picorimori]

i wanted to say since theyre putting slightly more focus on donkey kong i hope they port donkey kong jungle beat to the switch but i realized if they do, it will just be the wii remake and not the bongos

[three-bunnies-in-a-trenchcoat]

DO IT let me hear you ramble about sksw

Ok. So. At first glance, Skyward Sword seems like a perfectly normal game, with one unified timeline that you travel along, right?

WRONG! IT IS THREE DIFFERENT TIMELINES IN A TRENCHCOAT!!!

Let's start with something simple. The Gate of Time lets you travel back in time, make a change, and return to your original timeline, which is now changed, as evidenced by the Tree of Life. True, yes?

NO. NO IT IS FUCKING NOT.

(It was at this point that she grabbed a notebook from her overstuffed desk drawer. The pages were oddly wrinkled.)

Fun fact: you can see the amber that Zelda is in at the very beginning of the game. By this logic, you should also see the Tree of Life. You don't. This is a game mechanic. It's a game mechanic that I REALLY DON'T LIKE.

(For the sake of my sanity, we will not be discussing timeshift stones. They just confuse me, really)

What does this mean? It means that time is fucking fluid, I guess, and that the present means nothing because changes made in your future to your past will also affect your current present, and not just your future present, which… Yeah, that makes sense.

You COULD say that actually, you travel back, make a change and cause a split, and then travel forward to the split's future. This means Link is actually abandoning timelines (three in total are abandoned, one when Zelda travels back (Link is somehow connected to this one), one when Link travels back to meet Zelda (if Zelda wakes up, I guess she can fight off Demise again?), and one when he plants the tree (same as the last one, regarding its fate).)

Except, um, no it doesn't! Because the amber is visible in Link's original timeline! This means that it's not a case of splitting and abandoning timelines (hehe pun)! (Also Demise likely would've escaped and killed everyone.)

I have not found a way to explain the tree and the amber, thus I will not. We will ignore it. It is a game mechanic and will only further complicate this. This does not mean I will not be eternally upset about this. Perhaps, one day, I'll be able to come with something that doesn't make me sound crazy

Now, let's continue on to the REAL, ACTUALLY "SOLVABLE" PROBLEM.

I call this section: two Zeldas. (This is where my notebook is used, to construct a visual for me. It's really shitty. Spoiler: I ended up never using it.)

Timeline A:

Link retrieves the Triforce. He wishes for the Imprisoned to be killed, and this wish is fulfilled by the Goddess Statue descending and crushing it

Zelda awakens

Zelda is kidnapped by Ghirahim, who then travels to timeline B

Timeline B

Link arrives, ritual begins

Demise is resurrected

Demise is killed (split solidifies)

Master Sword is laid to rest

Zelda gives Impa one of her bracelets

They travel through the Gate of Time, it self destructs

Granny/the old woman reveals herself to be Impa

She dies, we get one final look at the Master Sword (amber not visible behind it) before

CREDITS ROLL

Fast forward: Link and Zelda stand on top of the Goddess Statue

Timeline A

What? How are they doing that? The statue's descent was clearly a timeline A event! Shouldn't we be in timeline B right now, since we saw old Impa and the Master Sword?!

Oh, I get it! The timelines merged! This makes sense!

Wait a second. This… Why would that happen?

Timeline ?

Uh, okay… oh! Impa took the Master Sword to Lanayru, traveled to timeline A's past, because there is clearly an option for this, and that's why it's possible!

Oh, right. The deactivated Gate of Time in Lanayru is clearly visible in both the Wii and HD versions of the game.

So… what happened? How did they reach timeline A? Could it perhaps…

Solution:

A merged timeli– THAT'S WHAT YOU THOUGHT I WOULD SAY, RIGHT?

Okay. I know this is all just to make the game nice and neat. However, I, an avid lover of all things time travel, FUCKING HATE IT.

A normal person, upon reaching this point, would conclude that, uh, maybe Link and Zelda just brought down the Statue anyway, and they're still in timeline B? Yeah, that's good. I, a normal person, will stop here.

CLEARLY, I AM NOT NORMAL.

I can't fix this. I can't. I freely admit that this is just infuriating, and clearly not meant to be looked at closely. I can provide reasonable alternatives, though.

Option A. They are still in timeline A. No splits occured.

My main argument against this– nothing, really, except that if Demise was defeated, Hylia would not become mortal, events of the game would not occur, thus Link would not, presumably, kill Demise. Some paradoxy shit here. Discarded. If you like this, come up with a way to explain it on your own.

Option B. A split occurred, and they now reside in timeline B.

Good option. For whatever reason, Link and Zelda brought down the Goddess Statue, which does make some amount of sense, if all of Skyloft will eventually live down there. I could be satisfied with this, beyond the, uh, obvious issue of:

Timeline B's Zelda was never awakened, or if she was, it was after Demise’s defeat, and she got trapped in the past after the Gate's destruction (poor girl)

Skyloft. There's a Skyloft up there somewhere, and another Groose, and another, not a hero, Link (but probably not a Zelda, or just a Zelda without Hylia's influence). Timeline B's original Link, Zelda, and Groose could be replaced/merged with timeline A's.

If they are not: uh, Zelda gets stuck never getting to be mortal again except with Link and Groose (presuming they don't know/don't tell about timeline A), and must always take the role as Hylia. All of them are stuck just awkwardly not explaining why they look like three of Skyloft's residents. I want to write a fic with this, now

Honestly, the best thing they can hope for is to merge with their timeline B's counterparts. You may now put your usual post-ss events here. Timeline B's amber Zelda is still just having a rotten time, though

Option C. Merged.

Self explanatory. Schodinger's Demise, in which he is neither dead nor sealed as the Imprisoned. I think this timeline would explode in about five seconds, for obvious reasons. I can't have fun with it, so. Not gonna talk about it.

Option D. The neat one! And the fun one, for me, at least!

Let's begin.

Link, Zelda, and Groose are in timeline A. Impa and the Master Sword are in timeline B. The end of the game proceeds without any headaches, although the old woman– well, she just doesn't have the bracelet I guess?

In the good version of events: since that was the timeline that Link was cursed in, his soul just somehow… jumps over, I guess, like it does between the child, adult, and downfall timelines after oot.

The events of the regular Zelda timeline occur, and all our problems are fixed. And, look! Zelda is stuck so far in the past that I can fix totk timeline issue! This was unintentional but I'm not complaining! (I'm not elaborating here but it works trust me)

Everyone of timeline A lives out their happy lives, and Hyrule is never subjected to The Horrors (Ganondorf and various assorted other villains).

Bad version of events: Link's soul is pulled between both timeline A and B, and while B has the Master Sword, A does not. Well, let's hope that Zelda and/or Link had the foresight to create a new weapon! Or that Zelda's descendants are strong enough. Either way, Hyrule has lost one of its greatest weapons.

It was at this point that I reread what I had so far, and realized I forgot one small detail, which invalidates– nothing, I guess? The amber is missing, but Zelda A has left the amber, and Zelda B would eventually leave it too– and sure, the vines are there, where they should in theory be, y'know, not there– but whatever. I'm tired. Come back tomorrow.

IN CONCLUSION:

[derekscorner]

I finished Skyward Sword

I finally forced myself to tackle this due to the HD version and it’s taken me...a while. I did give motion a try just because it’s been a decade but I still hate it. I then dedicated to the controller option but quickly found that I hated it as well.

This game truly was infuriating to play. I don’t intend to play this again which is a bit painful to say when you cling to Zelda for 20+ years. In fact, I hated the actual gameplay so bad I won’t even break it down.

I’ll just relive the highlights instead~

Adorable

Gameplay sucked but the characters truly did not. Link & Zelda are adorable, Impa loyal, and by hell Groose became a good boy. He deserves his Legend of Groose, the SS fans are right.

The story was neither too grand nor was it anywhere near bad so I can’t really add much to that. I mostly found myself enjoying the characters or theories the game forces into your head.

Play enough LoZ titles and you spend a good portion of your SS adventure just pondering things. Like the robots, the nature of Hyrule’s world when Hylia walked it’s surface, or the freakin time stones.

If you’re new to Zelda or reading this out of curiosity just know that Hyrule is freakishly old. The actual country, the land ruled by the royal family, the very fruit this specific Zelda’s loin is immeasurably old.

So take that info and then expand it with Skyloft. The hylians were in Skyloft for an untold number of centuries. You then take that nugget and fall into my level of the fandom well and wonder how the world before Skyloft was.

Goddess of Time?

There was a whole technology based world with a god, multiple actually, wandering about. Dragons, spirits, magic, that world prior to Demise’s invasion must’ve been a sight to explore.

It also makes me wonder just how old the golden goddesses are to be called “old gods” by even Zelda herself. SS Zelda is a literal god reborn mortal. That first Zelda had those memories by the end of the game. Yet even she considered them freakin old.

Or there’s the mystery of Hylia herself. Between her making time gates, the later creation of the Ocarina of Time from a Timeshift Stone, her plan that spanned timelines, etc.

I think it’s fair to say of the gods listed in the series over the years that Hylia likely is the goddess of time mentioned in Majora’s Mask. Especially when her messages begin with her stating she’s watching from “the edge of time”.

Hell, while I’m rambling about the nice things, I loved that effect of the desert being water. I hated to actually drive the boat but the very act of a time stone turning dried ocean back into water was cool.

Wind Fish???

Then there was this f*cker! He’s like the mix of the Wind Fish (link’s awakening) and the leviathan bones (botw). Is he the wind fish? Are they kin? Are leviathans just dead fish gods!? I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS.

Though I think my biggest question is Demise’s defeat. People will play it off as a boot strap paradox but it’s..kinda not....hmm maybe it is. I’d like to argue that Demise dying in the past AFTER he was killed in the present should’ve split time but LoZ is a bit finicky with time travel.

It’s used more often than you’d expect but each use of it affects time differently. That alone tells you that time can be malleable or consistent but it depends entirely on the method or item used.

Such as the harp from Oracle of Ages. Your actions in the past alter the present and future areas.

Skyward Sword Link uses the stones and time gate to warp things. The tree of life being the biggest example.

Then there’s the titular Hero of Time himself. Perhaps Link’s most iconic time traveling incarnation. Time within Ocarina of Time is actually fixed. What you do in the past affects adult Link’s future. Time doesn’t “break” into two timelines until the ending of the game.

A break that only comes about due to Zelda’s own actions. She sent Link back in time, kept the ocarina, while Link put the sword back to rest. That event broke the self consistency of Ocarina of Time creating parallel worlds.

There’s also other minor things you can mention but these are bigger key examples. Time basically reacts based on the thing altering or traversing it. And if Hylia is indeed the god of time itself then I could easily buy Demise’s dual death being confined to a paradox.

What better way to kill a threat that big than to physically erase him from two eras?

DA SWORD

Ah I should mention Fi. It goes without saying that I didn’t find her too annoying but I should also remind any reader that this is by design. Nintendo purposely reduced the number of times she was a nuisance. Her annoyance was just that great in the original version of the game.

If anything I felt more indifferent too her. It’s a bit sad but I guess she’s doomed to be found annoying or “whatever” going by my personal standards. And I’ll even throw out a random one and say that I actually feel a bit guilty about it.

Fi is the sword. She’s our sword. The same damn thing we track down nearly every series entry. If you’ve played LoZ long enough you have some semblance of a view that the Master Sword is “my sword”.

I’d like to feel more endeared to her. Even while asleep she continually answers Link’s call. Each.And.Every.Time.

The game also did give me the feeling I was forging the sword. It wasn’t much but I appreciate that little feeling. Hylia made it but we forged it.

The End

I hated the gameplay, I hated most of the bosses even more, but the story was decent and the characters cute. Even with Link’s uncanny valley face. (he does fine when emoting but that blank stare...good God)

I wish I could add more detail to my rambling but I’m sleepy, I finally finished this, and I’m trying to get down what thoughts I can before I pass out. Hopefully I amused you if you’ve gotten this far. Bye~

[the-delta-42]

Things I want to see in Breath of the Wild 2

Things I want to see in Breath of the Wild 2

1. Weapon to return to the B button

I never really liked how the weapon went from the B button to the Y button. The weapon button being on B in almost all of the Zelda games gave a sense of consistency and stood out against the other open world games that have the weapon set to the Y button. Personally, my favourite controls are the ones used for Wind Waker HD and Twilight Princess HD. The Stamina button could be placed on one of the shoulder buttons, allowing certain items (such as Iron Boots) to be equipped to the Y button.

2. Return of Heart Pieces

I always loved the side quests that gave Pieces of Heart as the reward, it made the game world have purpose of be explored, the chance of finding a Heart Piece made the players want to explore and find those precious items that will make them stronger. They could introduce an equivalent item for the Stamina Wheel.

3. The different weapons to have a maximum of one indestructible item each

Something I came to dislike was the Master Sword and the Hylian Shield breaking, when in the previous Zelda Game, Skyward Sword, the Shields had a durability system, but the Hylian shield was indestructible. The thought of having one weapon that doesn’t break would allow there to be a sense of permanence to them. To keep players from sticking to that weapon, they could have other weapons of the type have perks that the indestructible weapon does not, like firing more arrows at once.

4. Making the Dungeons mandatory to reach the final boss

One of my favourite games is A Link Between Worlds, since you can do the dungeons in any order, but you need to beat them to reach the final boss, it’s the same with the Original Legend of Zelda. I didn’t like how, in Breath of the Wild, players could go face Ganon right after beating the tutorial.

5. The ability to repair damaged weapons

You ever had a real nice sword, could do 100 damage with a single hit? Then it broke. When fighting a Lynel. And you died. The durability system needs to be rehashed because that scenario that I just gave? It happened to me. Really. Fighting a Silver Lynel and only needed to hit it a couple more time and then the sword broke.

6. Be able to dive under water

The only other time Link couldn’t dive underwater was in Wind Waker. The over world was beautiful, but I love swimming under water in Zelda games (a far cry from real life), but without the ability to swim underwater parts of the over world couldn’t be seen. Having the ability to dive would open up the over world and allow for the sequel to explore the same world, but new parts of it.

7. Return of traditional Dungeons

The Shrines were alright, the Divine Beasts left a lot to be desired, but the Final Trial was perfect, I’d like to see more dungeons that are like the Final Trial, but given an elemental twist to them, such as fire, ice, water, wind, desert, etc.

8. Having Zelda travel with Link

Breath of the wild was lonely without some form of companion, and no Horses and Wolf Link do not count because they can’t go in certain areas. Having Zelda travel with Link would make the most sense narratively, since they were together at the end of Breath of the Wild.

9. Reintroducing the Hidden Skills/Sword Techniques

The combat is terrible. There, I said it. Compared to past games, Breath of the Wild has little options for combat, especially when it’s compared to Wind Waker, Minish Cap, Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword, it would also allow for Link to grow in the game as he masters each sword technique to help him and Zelda further along their journey.

10. Giving Link a cookbook

What is the point of having the recovery system use food with different recipes that do different things, if you can’t have some way of remembering the recipes? If Link had a cookbook, the player would be able to remember if Hearty soup had radishes or truffles.

11. Allowing Link to roll while running

The stamina bar introduced a good idea, it opened a door for the Pegasus Boots to enter the 3D Zelda games, however, something that I found useful in past Zelda games was rolling, because it allowed Link to dodge anything that took a swipe at him at short notice. Rolling could be re-introduced when Link is targeting something but doesn’t have his sword out.

12. The Stables to become villages

The stables are basically already small villages, so they could expand around it and make some more areas around the stable as living accommodation for some of the other NPCs. Personally, I love the idea of stables becoming a community in their own right, with someone in charge of the area.

13. For some (or most) of the ruins of towns to be restored and inhabited by Hylians, etc.

If the village ruins are still in ruins in the sequel, then I will be upset. They could have Bolson and Company rebuilding the towns and villages one by one, so you beat on dungeon, a village is restored, and they move onto the next one. They could also be side quests, much like From the Ground Up side quest in the first game.

14. The ability to play an instrument

I enjoy playing instruments in Zelda games, namely because my first Zelda game was Ocarina of Time, the instrument itself gave a sense of wonder to the game, especially when they didn’t explain the origins of the instrument.

15. The Hookshot/Clawshot/Gripshot to return

Playing Wind Waker and Twilight Princess made me remember one thing; I LOVE the hookshot. I was a bit miffed when they didn’t include it in Breath of the Wild, but that was because of the climbing mechanic. They could re-introduce the Hookshot my having areas that you can’t climb to normally because the surface is too smooth, the surface isn’t there or because Revali’s gale would launch you up too high. I really want to see the Hookshot again.