So everyone obviously knows that the new Zelda game came out today, right? How could you not? It's only the most popular game to come out this month. What's that? Skyrim? Is that short for Skyward Sword? Because if so, I don't get it. I'm gonna talk about Skyward Sword now.
Before I jump into the game content, let me tell you a story. This morning, I woke up at the ungodly hour of 9:15, intent on going to Zellers when they open at 10am and acquiring a limited edition copy of Zelda Skyward Sword. (That is the version with the gold, Triforce-emblazoned Wii Remote Plus.) I wanted the limited edition because I needed Wii Remote Plus anyway, and it was convenient. Plus, the Zelda-themed remote sounded awesome. Like an idiot, I failed to preorder early enough, and had to gamble on release day. Zellers critically failed me by stocking only the regular edition. I question Nintendo's marketing strategy in limiting the edition with the included Wii Remote Plus, considering it's necessary to play the game, and they have yet to release a worthwhile game that mandates it. But I digress.
I then headed a bit further away, to Future Shop and Best Buy. I waited at Future Shop, and my mom waited at Best Buy, to increase our odds of finding it. It's a strange sense of camaraderie, waiting outside a store with fellow fans for the doors to open, and then racing to be the first one in line. It was a stressful wait while they determined their stock, but I had guaranteed my copy! Then while I waited, my mom texted me telling me she had bought it, so I left. Oh well, at least I got Zelda. Plus as a bonus, Best Buy gave out some awesome Ocarina of Time t-shirts, so I scored one of those too. It all worked out for the better, though I was still kicking myself this very morning over not preordering it.
So onto the game itself. As of this writing, I have played just over 6 hours, but haven't progressed very far. Some might call me thorough, I guess. I like to cut all the grass and explore every nook and cranny. And man, there are a lot of nooks and crannies. The world is one of the best yet. The main island, Skyloft, is quite expansive for a starting town, and there are more villagers than there have been in a starting town in a Zelda game to my knowledge. I often question, especially in isolated worlds like this, how the society sustains itself without inevitable cross-breeding, but this is an issue that the game conveniently chooses to ignore for the sake of keeping the island's population a memorable size. Even at this early stage, I'm given the impression that I'm supposed to get to know the villagers individually. They are all unique-looking and have personalities, and I'm picking up hints on future sidequests when I talk to them. Unlike some other games, this game has you return to Skyloft quite frequently. It remains to be seen how the village will evolve over time, but I look forward to it.
The opening scenes (you know, the ones before shit goes down) introduce the concept of Loftwings. Everyone in training to be a knight has their own Loftwing, a large, mountable bird, and on the day of a special ceremony, Link must compete against fellow knight prospects in a race. This continues the recent tradition of "weird methods of transportation in Zelda games." In addition to a boat and a train, we now have giant birds. But it works, and it fits the wide-open sky setting. What good is an open sky if you can't fly around it? There's a few smaller islands around Skyloft. I spent about an hour flying around exploring it all, most of them are just floating rocks of nothingness. Some have giant Octoroks clinging to the side of them. A few could actually be landed on, and had locked treasure chests I couldn't figure out how to open. It remains to be seen how much time will be sent travelling between islands in the sky, but it's certainly not as important as sailing was in Wind Waker. Not by a longshot (do ho ho). Most of the travelling in the game takes place on the surface world, not the sky.
One of the most important features in the game is the revamped combat system. With the use of Wii Remote Plus, sword control is now 1:1. That is to say, rather than flailing the Wii Remote performing pre-scripted sword slices, the direction you slice directly determines the direction Link slices. That means vertical slices, both top down and bottom up, horizontal slices, and diagonal slices, forward thrusts, it's all influenced by your movement of the remote. Nintendo clearly wants us to imagine ourselves wielding swords. It's probably good that it's just pretend, given the stories of flung Wii Remotes that permeated the Internet following the Wii's release. But anyway, this offers new, innovative battle opportunities. The first opportunity to try this is against the series staple, the Deku Baba. In this iteration, they open their mouths either horizontally or vertically, and you must cut them in the direction of the opening. If you cut them the other way, they block the attack. Another example is the Bokoblin (or whatever they're calling the generic goblin enemy). They block with their weapons horizontally or vertically, frequently changing their stance. The game rewards carefully thought out attacks, rather than flailing the remote randomly. I have yet to see more advanced opportunities to explore the combat system, but the possibilities intrigue me.
Another big change is the new stamina system, which is probably throwing me off my Zelda groove even more than the new combat. Gone are the days of rolling everywhere because it is slightly faster than running. Now, Link has his normal running speed, and you can hold A to dash. Dash speed varies depending on whether you're outdoors or indoors, but in both cases, they deplete your stamina gauge. You can roll while dashing but it's not any faster to my knowledge; it's just for rolling into things. I can draw the connection to the carrot or spur system used for Epona in past Zelda games. If you stop before running out of stamina, it will recover very quickly. If you let it run out, Link will be exhausted for a few seconds, unable to move fast or attack. Stamina is also exhausted while climbing vines/ladders, or executing spin attacks. It's an odd idea. It works, but it's somewhat annoying to manage. In small spaces you'd hardly notice it, because you aren't going to be moving the fast anyway. But when travelling across large distances, you want to move at the maximum possible speed, and that is hindered considerably by frequently depleting stamina. There are apparently potions that can augment your stamina temporarily, but I don't know how useful they will be, being temporary and all.
I think what I enjoy most so far are little details. There's a lot of detail to be found in Skyloft if you look closely. The hearts grow on little plants, which is a cute touch. If you thrust at a pumpkin in one of the pumpkin groves, it gets impaled on your sword, and you can walk around with it stuck to your sword. I also can't wait to encounter some cuccos. A lot of love, and a lot of time went into developing this game, and it definitely shows. It's a fantastic world, and I can't wait to explore more of it.
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