The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD
 

Excited to see this. Happy to have a way to play Skyward Sword without having to dig out my Wiimote.

One thing I thought was interesting was their method for playing the game without motion controls. I recall a speculation tread from a loooong time ago (like, before the great wipe of April 2001) about what the GameCube (maybe still called Dolphin?) Zelda would look like. "Zelda128". Someone, maybe Xantar or Shadow Link or someone I don't recall, came up with the idea that we could directly control Link's sword with the right thumbstick/C-stick.

Well, it took 20 years and 3 more generations, but we finally have that with this HD port of Skyward Sword. You move the right thumbstick right and he swings right; left and he swings left. Same for up/down and the diagonals. I'm interested to see how this works out. I know the motion controls were kind of controversial, so I wonder if this will feel better to anyone who disliked swinging the Wiimote.

Re: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD
 

This will be interesting. Hated the motion controls but maybe the more accurate joycons will help but thank god they added traditional controls.

Re: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD
 

Yeah, I'll probably give the traditional controls a try first. I generally think the motion controls are fine, but the challenge I've had with them is that if I need to swing left I want to position my arm to the right to move left and that triggers the game actually swing the sword right making me miss my mark.

I wondering if just flicking the stick left will be smoother. Either way, I think having the option is a positive.

Re: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD
 

Been playing this some. Was able to snag the Zelda themed joycons as well.

The game looks great. The QOL changes they've implemented are impactful, but not immediately apparent. They streamlined some of the tutorial stuff and limited the redundant item descriptions.

The motion controls are essentially the same as I remember from the Wii, although potentially I think the gyro gets off track a little more easily requiring a recenter more often. The Wii utilized the IR sensor to keep it center as much as it could; the Switch doesn't have that to I feel like I have to reset basically anytime I do anything. It doesn't bother me (just a quick button press) but I know some people were annoyed by this on the Wii and its more prominent here.

The button controls are hit or miss, IMO. I don't really like the sword swinging. It feels clunky and slow. You really got to flick the stick for the game to register it as a slash; otherwise it just slowly moves the sword to that position. That said, button controls are much smoother for things like the directing the beetle. I also prefer aiming stuff like the slingshot with the joystick and finetuning with the gyro. Unfortunately, its an all or nothing arrangement. You're either playing full motion controls or full buttons. You can't use motion for the sword and the buttons for everything else. A hybrid set up would be my ideal. You can switch between the two if you're playing with joycons, but you have to go into the options menu so its not a quick or convenient process.

Overall, this is definitely the "definitive" way to play this game. If you didn't get to play it before its worth a look, but if you've played it on the Wii and didn't like it this probably won't win you over.

Re: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD
 

I kind of want to replay this one, but I'm not sure if I want to buy the game. This is the only 3D Zelda game that I haven't played more than once. I thought the narrative was good. I remember being impressed with how much they managed to expand on Link and Zelda as characters -- you know, outside of the mute, valiant hero and wise, damsel in distress stuff. I also remember enjoying the boss fights.

But the rest of the game felt like a slog to me. The waggle was hilariously bad at times, at least from what I remember. And the world felt small. I didn't like the fact that you had to trek through the same three major areas two times.