Opinions! I'd say only the Tadtones would potentially qualify for a 'worst' moment (the visits to Lanayru and Eldin were both inventive and excellent) and I rather enjoyed the swimming in a beautiful environment as a change of pace.

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Totally agree. Just the tadnotes I didn't like.

EDIT: also, I thought the swimming controls were fantastic (just the 'tad' thing was a bit dull), easily better than any analogue stick controls for swimming.

At first I thought Suffocate Peon was praising you for your enthusiasm, given that he's always having a moan about brown dull games, and at least Zelda has some nice scenery and colourful characters.

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The Decline of Console Video Games is Upon Us

I'll give you Lanayru - that was fantastic, but Eldin? It was pretty obvious from the first time around there that you'd go back (and you could tell exactly which bit you'd have to revisit), but the Lanayru bit was a nice surprise for me, Eldin to a lesser extent too.

There are some really phenomenal parts to this game, and some really infuriating bits. I think it'll take me a while to decide exactly where I place this game. In my experience Zelda games are always better upon reflection than when you're playing them. I played through Wind Waker in 2011 having not finished it before, and it just felt right the whole way through. Something felt 'off' in Skyward Sword. It's simultaneously one of my favourite games of 2011 and one of my biggest disappointments.

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I really liked the idea of being without your weapons. Very Metroid. Made you feel powerless and forced you to re-evaluate both environment and enemies. It's great game design; thrifty, too (though I get why people mightn't like returning to the same place for a third time).

Maybe I'll think differently over time, but right now it's a 10 for me. I played through the final boss battle - again, amazing - the other day and watched the end. Shed a tear again, too. The music's gorgeous. The final rendition of Fi's Theme is unbelievably good.

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The thriftiness really annoyed me. Hell, it annoyed me the first time I had to go through all the areas again, never mind the second time. Like Herbi said, the time travel was a missed opportunity. The game is probably much bigger than TP, TWW, MM and OoT for all I know, but it felt so much smaller in comparison - like they only had 3 (not that big feeling) levels and had to stretch them out to fill a full Zelda game. There was not a sense of exploring a fleshed out world like previous games.

Just my two cents.

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I loved the end of the game, last hour was incredible, but the returning to the same 3 areas again and again pissed me off so much. That and there being next to nothing to do in the game outside the main quest.

I disagree. I think you get to know the places much better by revisiting them, so they feel more significant. Perhaps there's less of a sense of 'journey' as a result - also because it's more linear and less open - but I honestly didn't mind that. I liked that it was a more tightly-focused, denser Zelda. It's the Galaxy/64 thing again - some people like wandering through large, relatively empty environments, and others prefer this approach.

I think the problem with Nintendo making a Zelda with a vast open world is that the limitations of Wii would inevitably lead to unfavourable comparisons with games like Skyrim. Here, Nintendo very much played to its strengths - the problem being that some people wanted a Skyrim out of this.

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I don't want Skyrim, I want Majora's Mask. A wonderful living world with interesting characters and things to do. Also, I want to see Nintendo mix up the type of areas in the next game. Tired of the usual, Wood, Volcano, Desert areas that appear in every game.

That's fair enough. For me, the combat, dungeons and central characters were enough to make this the best Zelda ever. Zelda felt like someone worth saving this time, rather than someone who just turns up because her name's in the title. And Groose! How great is Groose?

Also, tell me this isn't a flippin' gorgeous piece of music:

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Played up to Faron Woods and met some wee squirrel thing. I have no motivation to play, partly because it looks so dreadful, but please tell me it gets better?

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eat gooseberry fool glowy

I wouldn't mind revisiting the areas so much. In fact I have no problem with it at all. Very Metroidy, and all the new toys you have mean it's satisfying figuring out how to get something you were trying for earlier.

No, my main problem with this is lack of dungeon downtime. Being on the surface is essentially being in a dungeon. And being in a dungeon is even more like being in a dungeon. So about 90% of the game is essentially in a dungeon. I like chilling out in a living breathing world, with characters that are fun to hang around with. I want me a Lon Lon Ranch, a Clock Town, an Outset Isle a Fishing Pond.

I mean, my favourite part of this game, is probably the Pumpkin Pub. that place is so good it's up there with the big boys I posted above. It's just there's not enough of these places.

If Zelda for you is dungeoning, than I can see why this is the best Zelda ever in your eyes. But Zelda needs some lovely locations, and Skyloft doesn't quite fit the bill. Nearly, not quite. And even if it did you barely need to be there.

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I was close to turning the game off and never turning it back on when they made me do that. It was the straw that broke the camels back. I just wanted the game to end as quickly as possible at that stage. I had enough of that crap. Blatant padding. It felt like they were trolling me.

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BE ATTITUDE FOR GAINS

Majora's Mask had the perfect balance. It's dense but still has the open world, 4 very distinct areas and it has the best town in any Zelda ever. Part of the problem was that the Desert and Volcano areas seemed to barren when they were 2/3 of the entire game. Aaron has a good point with the lack of downtime too - the main areas were like really linear and easy dungeons. If getting to the dungeons proper was more challenging and less about running about padding the game out then they'd work better.

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Honestly the tens are baffling to me. It's not bad at all, it's good, but it's kinda like they weren't really trying. Dungeon 7 is the only one that does anything really new, otherwise they're not any better than Wind Waker's, and nowhere near as good as Ocarina's. The in-between bits are occasionally good (mainly the Silent Realm bits) but only occasionally.

The game is full of ideas that don't reach their full potential. Like, the sand seawas a really cool concept, but once that wears off it doesn't play particularly brilliantly. Similarly the Eldin stealth section near the end was completely linear and easy - it was a nice change of pace but it could've been so much more. And those are some of the strongest bits. I love the idea of The Imprisoned breaking loose periodically and having to be forced back, but you just end up fighting the same monster in the same arena in much the same way, three times. And having to go back to the Isle of Songs so many times, or trek back through the first dungeon, is just completely indefensible.

10/10. I just don't get it.

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I really didn't like the Silent Realm parts. Reminded me of the Ocean Temple from Phantom Hourglass, which isn't as bad as people would have you believe, but it wasn't particularly great either. I think I just hate stealth sections in games that aren't Rocksteady's Batman.

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BE ATTITUDE FOR GAINS

I would have no problems re-visting the 3 core areas if all 3 were actually proper landscapes you could run around, explore and play about it. But only the forest really qualifies as that, which is why its far and away the best location in the game, the other two are basically just paths.

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I think I enjoyed every dungeon. There were other bits I liked, but ultimately the things outside if the dungeons that the game tells you to do all feel like padding, and Boo is absolutely right - there was more than one occasion where i felt I was being well and truly trolled.


Skyloft is ultimately lazy, and when you get down to it so is a lot of the rest of the game. I'd love for them to make a decent overworld and cut out the stupid padding but i can't see that happening add they seem to get worse despite the uproar over WW, do until then, just give a mode where I can only do the dungeons, please.



Oh actually, the sand sea bit is something the game forces you to do and it's not padding. Truly inspired bit of game design. Still neither a ten nor GOTY, though.

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I am uncomfortable with the analogue stick placement on the Dual Shock 4.