Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

[BreakABone]

Originally Posted by Vampyr

I'm pleased with these scores. 7.5 is a great score, especially for a game that doesn't really bring anything new to the table, and isn't in HD like other modern games are. I'm still excited as hell for it.

@Angrist: What's with the jab at Skyrim? It's pretty much the most well received game released in the last several years. Pretty much everyone, reviewers and the audience, love it. I haven't seen a game this widely accepted as being good in a long time. Everyone loves it.

I've been playing it since it released, and I can easily say it's the best game I've played all year, and probably in the last several years. It's simply stunning the breadth of content it has...and not only does it have an enormous amount of content, but it's high quality and engaging content. Even the side quests are interesting and full of back story.

Really?

This year alone, I could think of Arkham City as a well received game both critically and commercially.

Edit: This is why Yahtzee is my favorite reviewer, btw. He doesn't spend time going over the formula, and BELIEVE ME. Everyone is familiar with the Zelda formula. Yahtzee tells you what is wrong with the game, and if it is remotely original. And he is funny. The number system is dumb. A 7.5 out of 10 is a 75%. A 4 out of 5 is an 80%. That's not a huge difference. All in all, the consensus on this Zelda title seems to be wonky controls from time to time, and not an innovative entry: just very polished. And those themes run through many of the reviews giving the game a perfect score. So not sure what you make from that.

I will say this, and its kind of a contradictory point.

1) There's no such thing as a perfect game.

2) a 10/10, 5/5, 100% doesn't mean a game is perfect. It means the sum of a game's parts is far greater than any one or two flaws the game may have.

[KillerGremlin]

Originally Posted by BreakABone

I will say this, and its kind of a contradictory point.

1) There's no such thing as a perfect game.

2) a 10/10, 5/5, 100% doesn't mean a game is perfect. It means the sum of a game's parts is far greater than any one or two flaws the game may have.

Point number 2 is bullshit. If the game has control issues, no perfect score....

Control issues take you out of the game, even if temporarily. It would be one thing if the complaints about controls were unique to Gamespot, but a number of reviews touched on the controls being mildly distracting.

Why can't we give it an 8? or a 9? or a 9.5? Those are huge, top-of-the-class scores based on percentiles. A 9.5 isn't bashing the game....it's licking the game's asshole while reaching around to give it a handjob. It's a good score!!!!

I just want more honesty from reviews. I read reviews that complain about things...and then BAM: 9/10, 10/10, etc. This happens to AAA titles all the time. Games like GTA, Halo, Call of Duty, MW, etc.

Or do away with the number system. And get rid of the hyperbole. "This is the best game of all time!" Maybe for you, random review guy. For everyone else....test of time.

[BreakABone]

Originally Posted by KillerGremlin

Point number 2 is bullshit. If the game has control issues, no perfect score....

Control issues take you out of the game, even if temporarily. It would be one thing if the complaints about controls were unique to Gamespot, but a number of reviews touched on the controls being mildly distracting.

Why can't we give it an 8? or a 9? or a 9.5? Those are huge, top-of-the-class scores based on percentiles. A 9.5 isn't bashing the game....it's licking the game's asshole while reaching around to give it a handjob. It's a good score!!!!

I just want more honesty from reviews. I read reviews that complain about things...and then BAM: 9/10, 10/10, etc. This happens to AAA titles all the time. Games like GTA, Halo, Call of Duty, MW, etc.

Or do away with the number system. And get rid of the hyperbole. "This is the best game of all time!" Maybe for you, random review guy. For everyone else....test of time.

And I wasn't talking specifically about Zelda. All I know is nearly every review site, will argue that a perfect score doesn't mean a perfect product.

Having to recalibrate your controller, which is simply pressing down on the D-Pad doesn't seem like a major deal breaker to me.

And how often does it happen? Every 5 mins? Once every play session? That would be more telling than just saying having to recalibrate so controls= broken.

[KillerGremlin]

Some random testimony from people on the Zelda subreddit. These are folks sucking down the Zelda kool-aid, so these are folks who pretty much sing only praise:

The controls do have problems. But seeing as that's an unpopular opinion, I'll go into detail with just the problems I had in the first couple of hours. (A note: I pre-ordered this and it arrived early, but I also played it on PC before my copy arrived, these problems were present on BOTH versions and not just a problem due to emulation etc.)

2 or 3 out of every 10 sword swings are not in the direction I'm actually slashing at. While this doesn't sound terrible it's actually kind of grating especially during the many battles where slash direction is important.

Tightrope walking is balls. It's not hard, but instead of being fairly sensitive and precise the only method I can get to cross properly without ever falling is if I like spaz in a turning motion in the opposite direction. I can see what they WANTED to do there, but really it's just annoying. Especially since they managed to get more sensitive controls for the beetle controlling.

Constant resetting of the pointer. I have no idea why the hell it unaligns so much. Sure it's a button press but sometimes I click my sling and I'm looking at another direction wildly until I re-adjust. Sure I can re-adjust in a section but again. It still gets grating.

It's to me, no different then fighting with camera controls in some 3d games, I think it's a valid criticism and should certainly be held against the game. The first thing any game should do right is controls. Motion control CAN be done right. Hell I have a Wii and ps move. I -LIKE- motion controls but I still feel Skyward Sword has problems.

Edit: I actually thought it was my controller that was kind of off at first (My kid likes to play too) but once I received the game I'd been using the new fancy one with the same problems.

Tightrope sucked. beat game. Good but wtf it would be 25 hours if I just did plot leisurely. I'm nearly 100% at 37 hours.

I think this is the exact mindset that is hurting the gaming industry itself right now. The fact that being a "fan" of a game or series correlates into having to think it was the "greatest" thing ever. Why can't the reviewer be a fan of the Zelda franchise but simply think the formula is getting old and tired? I myself am a huuge fan of the metal gear series but I think as a series it is constantly trying new things and pushing the envelope. I think a series like metal gear does a lot of things right; consider metal gear solid 4 game play with metal gear solid 1, the difference are drastic. Can you really same the same thing about skyward sword and its predecessors? I think that is the heart of the reviewers article and I think he does a more that adequate job at reviewing it. I think there has to be some accountability on the game-makers behalf and the only way to so this is not to be complacent with just whatever they give you (i.e modern warfare 3).

On the subject of Modern Warfare 3 being a copy-sequel and getting a higher score than Skyward Sword on Gamespot:

Let me say this:

Almost every Zelda game since the first has been derivative of LoZ. They haven't changed much. I'm okay with that. They change enough to make me happy. But certainly TP is quite like OoT which is quite like ALttP. Do you think that those games deserved their high scores? That they were good games? I imagine so--my point is that a game that is derivative is not necessarily bad, so long as it is enjoyable. When it stops being enjoyable is purely subjective opinion. You can't try to discredit Gamespot's (two different reviewers, no less) opinion on what is too derivative and predictable and what is not.

You cannot discredit reviews this way. They are very different games.

Seems like it could just be the Wii. Maybe the hardware isn't quite as evolved yet:

Honestly, I'm having issues with them as well. It may be the posture when playing, the distance from the screen, or preconceptions about how to interact with the game that are making it hard for me.

He's right, at least from my experience, that the calibration gets off somewhat regularly, requiring a readjustment. I've also had issues swinging the sword as reacting quickly swings the sword instead of reorienting it. For example, if I'm posed for a horizontal strike then the enemy opens up for a vertical one, the quick adjustment required to reorient the blade for a vertical strike causes Link to do a horizontal slash that knocks me back and makes the enemy change stances. Maybe I'm just bad at it, but it seems I'm not the only one.

It's also worth noting that the IR seems to be turned off. To select things on menus, it uses the motion+ movement to select items. If the menu opens when you're holding the remote at a weird position, it can require some awkward movements to point to the right menu item. It works, and it's not a huge complaint, but I always find myself asking "why?" for that design choice when the analog stick or directional pad would work much more smoothly.

Again, they aren't entirely game-breaking issues, but for me it keeps the game feeling as effortless as Ocarina of Time or A Link to the Past. It feels more like work than the joyride I'd hoped for.

Mind you, the above comments are coming from people on the Zelda subreddit which is full of kool-aid drinking Zelda and Nintendo fans.

There were complaints of controls across numerous reviews: professional reviews and unprofessional reviews.

Add in the subjective factor of originality....and well I don't know what to say.

I'm not trying to knock the game. I'm really not. I'm sure it is a stellar game. I bet you a million dollars it is better than Twilight Princess, and I'm sure it is up there with OoT and WW.

I am trying to knock the review system and the websites that throw perfect scores and hyperbole exaggerations at every triple-A title that comes out. If you write a review...and spend time criticizing the controls and talking about how the game has a "classic Zelda feel," it shouldn't get perfect scores for controls or originality. In sum, the game shouldn't get a 10 out of 10.

Unless we all agree that a perfect score is now a diluted measure.