Zelda needs more focus

I think the reason why Zelda has been a disappointment to many fans lately is its lack of direction with its gameplay changes. It seems to me that Nintendo is throwing in these new gameplay mechanics for the sake of it. Skyward Sword being a prime example. We have these new gameplay features:

1. Motion controls
2. Dowsing
3. Silent Realms
4. Changed overworld structure

While this doesn't seem like much, it ends up making Nintendo draw resources they could spend on perfecting and enhancing what the game originally was meant to do: have the player feel like they're in total control of Zelda's hero.

Skyward Sword could have been a great game. It really did have potential. And while I enjoyed it, I can see where it had its missteps.

So with all of this said, what could have made this game great was taking this list and doing this...

1. Motion controls
2. Dowsing
3. Silent Realms
4. Changed overworld structure

Thus, Nintendo would only have to focus on two major things. Once they got motion controls finished, they could make their change to the overworld a lot more in-depth and significant, not just making the whole world a huge obstacle course.

So, in turn, the next Zelda really needs to have its focus narrowed down to two things:

1. The overworld
2. Enhancing the experience technically (Voice-acting, graphics)

The controls I argue could just be Skyward Sword's controls. Then all Nintendo has to focus on is a captivating, imaginative world with great graphics and presentation. Give the game the feel of the first Zelda, or even Alttp. It would give this game- hopefully- a general consensus of appeasement by Zelda fans (granted very unlikely).

I personally thought Skyward Sword was a great game.

I like Skyward Sword but I think that they need to ditch the motion controls. If they just took out the time it takes to create though and "perfect" those, and just focused on writing a great story, making new places/re-inventing-perfecting old places, enemy A.I. and focused on graphics, and I don't mean realism or anything, I just mean good character builds and then perfecting whether they want HD graphics or more of a cel-shaded technology.

That's what they need to focus on. I hope they ditch motion controls though. I mean they were decent, but I'd much rather press buttons!

---------- Post added at 01:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:16 PM ----------

All of that is my opinion of course, it's not fact it's just what I'd prefer.

The motion controls were different for me, but they were far better in this one than in Twilight Princess Wii version. They've definaly improved the motion controls. Other than the motion controls, the game was great. It may not have been as difficult as some other Zelda games, but it still had a decent difficulty level, a great and deep storyline, and an excellent balance in sidequests that weren't too easy to accomplish.

Originally Posted by Demon King Demise

I personally thought Skyward Sword was a great game.

I did as well. But it did have its shortcomings, no doubt.

Can't say I agree with all of your points. The motion controls were okay, but I'd be really disappointed if they did it again. It just boils to the fact that the fans wanted complete control over Link's sword while the actual implementation didn't work out so well. The silent realms actually grew on me as the game progressed. It just added something new and provided a decent challenge. I could have done without dowsing, however. It just seemed like filler between dungeons. And the overworld's main problem was there not being much to explore. It was akin to Twilight Princess in that there wasn't much to do, though just not in such a huge area.

... But I liked the Silent Realms. D: They were actually made a lot different than the Tears of Light by having them set up more like an obstacle course... a timed obstacle course, except if you screw up or time runs out, instead of having to instantly redo things, you get chased by scary-ass creatures that will make you start over... if they catch you.

Collect-a-thon + Obstacle course + Timed + OHGODSTOPCHASINGME is a winning combination for me!


1. Motion controls
2. Dowsing
3. Silent Realms
4. Changed overworld structure

Although I agree that Dowsing was on the whole incredibly useless, and they could have you "find the thing" using hints or just plain ol observation and exploration because let me tell you, I actually only had to use dowsing for ONE thing.

Motion controls, while enjoyable, aren't necessarily needed either. If it takes too much time to implement and/or refine/adjust, I'd rather have it left out and take notes on what to do with them for a later game. Example: Block-happy Bokoblins do not enhance the faux 1:1 swordplay at all, just create fake difficulty until you waggle them to death or use a different weapon. Something that needed to be fixed or left out.

Originally Posted by Cojiro

It just boils to the fact that the fans wanted complete control over Link's sword while the actual implementation didn't work out so well.

But it did.

Originally Posted by 1984

But it did.

Really? I felt the controls during swordplay to be really awkward at some points. Maybe it was my sensor bar or some other technical issue, but fighting enemies in this game didn't seem nearly as fun as it was in TP.

Originally Posted by Cojiro

Really? I felt the controls during swordplay to be really awkward at some points. Maybe it was my sensor bar or some other technical issue, but fighting enemies in this game didn't seem nearly as fun as it was in TP.

They were 100% functional for me.

Originally Posted by 1984

They were 100% functional for me.

Hmm, can't say the same. Even still, the whole "slice an enemy a certain way" thing got old really fast. I appreciate the effort Nintendo made to spice things up as far as gameplay goes, but I hope it is just a one time gimmick.

Well, about the motion controls stuff... it worked fine with me, just sometimes I had problems doing a sword movement (I can't find the english word, you know: when you try to hit the enemy with the point of your blade) ad I had to re-trigger the wiimote.

I felt they were great in game, just a bit easy... I mean the only enemy who uses the sword well is the final boss...

And if they'll go with motion controls again I want to be able to use my sword to block attacks, without using shields.

I had no real qualm with dowsing as it was implemented in Skyward Sword. In fact, the concept is sort of cool to me. Your sword is your magical talisman, your guide. I found it particularly neat how the flames of Nayru (Wisdom) enhanced this feature.

However, with some slight tweaks, I think dowsing could be even cooler. As an example, I could see it filling the role of the stone of agony. Imagine dowsing to pinpoint otherwise completely invisible secrets, like inconspicuous destructible walls or holes in the ground. Your controller could rumble as you placed the dowsing icon over such secrets.

Or, an even more ambitious feature would be a "command" function (filling the role of the command melody or dominion rod). So, by dowsing over certain items (statues, for example) you could use your sword to control them remotely.

I stopped reading when you crossed out the Silent Realms. Seriously, those were some of the best parts of the game. They really kept me out of my seat.

What the Citrus Kingdom Wants in Terms of Fencing Controls

•Full gyroscopic skeletal flexing {e.g. being able to lift yer arm to hold a sword over yer shoulder}

•Momentum detection {e.g. holding a sword over yer shoulder and slashing down with great force would deal a fitting amount of damage, as opposed to lightly slashing down}.

•The ability to parry oncoming attacks, and subsequently counter them.

•Allowing for momentum-based throwing moves, where one could "throw" their sword and it would do damage based on how hard they threw it.

•Forcibly dislodging enemy weapons to use it against them. {e.g. a Bokoblin would attempt to stab you, which would be countered by an uppercut, sending it's spear flying out of the it's hands. You would then be able to retrieve it}.

•Parrying via the mimicking of an attack. {e.g. an oncoming horizontal slash could be blocked with one of yer own}.

•Allowing for a coup droit d'autorité, or an "insistence," which is essentially where one exerts so much force that it breaks through the opponent's parry.

•We of the Citrus Kingdom have decided that the ability to slice off limbs of non-humanoid enemies is a much needed inclusion to the Zelda series. However, some sort of censoring would be required.

I found nothing bad about Skyward Sword other than the dowsing. To be honest, the dowsing was pointless to me. Otherwise I found the game challenging without being obnoxiously hard, and generally fun. The motion controls worked fine, the silent realms were easily the best part of the game, and overall it was, imo, the best Zelda game so far, even beating out Majora's Mask (my second favorite).

I like Animateur's post though and a lot of it I agree with. Full gyroscope skeletal flexing with the motion controls would open up an entire new world of possibilities to work with. The momentum detection idea is genius! Parrying oncoming attacks would be cool. Momentum-based throwing moves is ok, but not really too necessary. Forcibly dislodging then using enemy weapons is the only one I really don't find a use for. Then the last three sound good too, except that the last one doesn't seem like it'd be possible or even plausible.

Seeing all of the viewpoints on the matter, I just feel like Nintendo is focusing on too many new things instead of spending their rescources on making the core Zelda experience better. They are taking a few steps forward, but for every one step forward there are 2 to the side.

Nintendo sure does love their gimmicks... Focus more on the plot, the gameplay was fine 10 years ago, why change an already great thing?

I found the the motion controls to be terrible. They rarely ever worked for me.

Originally Posted by Jalio_the_Brave

I think the reason why Zelda has been a disappointment to many fans lately is its lack of direction with its gameplay changes. It seems to me that Nintendo is throwing in these new gameplay mechanics for the sake of it. Skyward Sword being a prime example. We have these new gameplay features:

1. Motion controls
2. Dowsing
3. Silent Realms
4. Changed overworld structure

While this doesn't seem like much, it ends up making Nintendo draw resources they could spend on perfecting and enhancing what the game originally was meant to do: have the player feel like they're in total control of Zelda's hero.

Skyward Sword could have been a great game. It really did have potential. And while I enjoyed it, I can see where it had its missteps.

So with all of this said, what could have made this game great was taking this list and doing this...

1. Motion controls
2. Dowsing
3. Silent Realms
4. Changed overworld structure

Thus, Nintendo would only have to focus on two major things. Once they got motion controls finished, they could make their change to the overworld a lot more in-depth and significant, not just making the whole world a huge obstacle course.

So, in turn, the next Zelda really needs to have its focus narrowed down to two things:

1. The overworld
2. Enhancing the experience technically (Voice-acting, graphics)

The controls I argue could just be Skyward Sword's controls. Then all Nintendo has to focus on is a captivating, imaginative world with great graphics and presentation. Give the game the feel of the first Zelda, or even Alttp. It would give this game- hopefully- a general consensus of appeasement by Zelda fans (granted very unlikely).

Motion controls and the new overworld structure actually doesn't take more resources.
The not-unified in a single area,but different areas that load at different times,actually free time to developers because it's much more easier and faster to build up 5 different places and then inter-connect them than making the 5 areas in a single space.


What does take lots of time and resources are the stylized textures though.
Most modern developers use photographs taken from real world textures and import to their games,yet Zelda's textures are all hand-painted.