Reading Tim Rogers' Skyward Sword article

http://kotaku.com/5869411/

It's a top 10 list for "Stupid Things Terribly Wrong" with the game.

I like the article and I have a few issues with the game myself. I won't trouble myself with point 1 or point 2, although in point 2 I think his problem would become N/A if there were to be no dialogue at all in a Zelda game, which is something I'd like to see.

With point 3 I have to admit my mind did wander a lot in the middle of a conversation with another character; on top of that I'd like to add that the text itself isn't shown very clearly and it scrolls far too slowly with no option to hurry it up.

Point 4 I agree with wholeheartedly and then some. You couldn't not agree with it!

With point 5 I started to really enjoy the game when I finally got my hands on that sword, but it took ages to get to it.

Point 6 is something that made me worry when I saw the first trailer for the game. I wanted the game to be more colourful than Twilight Princess certainly but I wondered if they were trying to make everyone happy by doing different things and risk ending up making noone happy.

Point 7 I don't have a strong opinion about but I would like to see a new Zelda that was more action and less puzzles (like Zelda 1)

Point 8.... well this is my first MotionPlus game and I don't mind it really. I like the way it's done in this game though.

Point 9 kind of goes over my head except for the part about the bird. I think the bird is stupid also.

 Point 10 goes over my head too... unless it's just something I've come to accept due to diminished expectations or something.

Lovely fanart of Skyward Sword using Link's Awakening's graphics

http://www.sansemploi.com/bonus/the-legend-of-zelda-skyward-sword-sur-gameboy
Incroyable!

I mean wow this really is just lovely. The standout one is the Kikwi Elder going "Kyu Kyu..." and the idea of talking to him with the fast scrolling of Link's Awakening's text boxes rather than Skyward Sword's slow and difficult to read ones makes me feel excited!

I beat Skyward Sword!

Horray! I just beat this game not too long ago now and I must say there was a lot of nice surprises in it. I have to say now that this was a great Zelda and I hope the next one will be even better and does its own thing.

Skyward Sword: Already played the batteries out!

Since I got the Golden Wii Remote Plus edition of Skyward Sword, it came with a pair of batteries. I've been playing the game so much though that I've already used them up! It's funny how the game lasts longer than the batteries that came with it.

Not that it's something we really think about nowadays, since nearly everything we use has a rechargable battery built in.

Skyward Sword: Beacons

These things are a godsend. They're little markers that you put on your map as a guide which then glow as a blue pillar of light you can then be guided to. It reminds me very much of the DS Zelda titles where the best and most fun part was jotting stuff down on the map. I love being able to use navigation tools and techniques.

Playing Skyward Sword: Fi, your assistant/partner/Navi equivalent

Just like the roles characters such as Navi played in the previous games, you have a partner named Fi who lives in your sword and helps you on your journey. Unlike Midna, Fi doesn't take centre stage in the story, rather she's just a pure robotic, polite assistant like say,  C-3PO or Data or Spock. She's an assistant in almost the personal digital sense, like the way you'd give your smart phone a quick google for something.

Fi has those voice chirps in the style that Midna has but Fi's own voice has an "auto-tune" effect, which makes her sound all electronic. I think that's a nice touch!

Skyward Sword: Bomb Bowling!

I finally got to try out what initially got me so excited about the game a year and a half ago. It feels nice to do this and you really do have to have the Wii Remote way down low, which means you'll have to shift in your seat a bit.

I'm enjoying the game a lot and getting more used to it's little ways such as chaining those stamina fruit things while running.

Still haven't touched Mario 3D Land yet but I will at some point!

Got Zelda: Skyward Sword and Mario 3D Land! Also, Skyward Sword first impressions!

Got both games without a hitch today! Apart from the bad rainy weather nothing else came in the way! I haven't played Mario yet but I've been playing some of the Zelda game.

A couple of things pissed me off straight away, namely the illegibility of red highlighted keywords and the fact that I had to turn on the widescreen settings to get rid of the horrible borders (well, alleviate them anyway). In the past I've always applauded Zelda as having text done perfectly. Now it's showing signs of getting as bad as the rest of them.

Characters faces look weird when they move and they talk a lot...

Getting used to how the cursor works can be a bit disorienting. I hope I can get used to it.

Sword controls are fucking lovely though! You still make it swish by doing little flicks but you have perfect control over what position you hold the sword in and what direction you flick. The moment I got a chance to be able to use the sword I started smiling and laughing straight away. Hmm... maybe that should've been the very first part of the game? It's worth noting that this is also my first time playing a Wii MotionPlus game.

Music is wonderful, especially during calm or quiet moments.

Skyward Sword Countdown Part 2: Recommending Twilight Princess

Days left until Skyward Sword releases: 2

Today I was talking about Zelda and a friend who owns a Wii never even heard of it. I recommended Twilight Princess to her. I would've recommended other ones first but this is currently very cheap to buy for the Wii, what with the Nintendo Selects range and everything. She also wanted to use the motion controls.

I also got a text from GAME confirming my preorder for Skyward Sword :)

Can't wait can't wait!

(part 1 was yesterday's post just so you know!)

Hmm! Official Skyward Sword comic by Penny-Arcade!

http://www.zelda.com/skywardsword/comic/

This looks interesting. It seems like a great way to get the video game playing community all excited too! It'll update as time goes on.

Number of days left until the game comes out: 3

Just one more week until Skyward Sword comes to Ireland!

Wow, I'm looking forward to this! The Internet as expected is full of spoilers and I'm doing my best to do things like just look at review scores rather than their contents. It's getting high marks from all round. Expect a lot of buzz online about the game!

Having a look at Skyward Sword's European website

The new Zelda's official website went up and I just had a look around. I'm not browsing on the best computer right now so it's nice that it loaded reasonably quick and navigation wasn't too stuttery.

There's access to videos with developers and a map of areas where you're given information on some of the features in the game and some of the moments that you come across when you play.

Kirby and Zelda spoilers everywhere! Yikes!

It's kind of hard to look at game news blogs and websites these days. There's a lot of spoilers around! Though some of them are posing as spoilers but aren't really, such as the shoe powerup in Kirby's new Wii game. We've known about that one for ages.

So hey just be careful if you don't want spoilers!

Pre-order made for Skyward Sword!

I'm glad I don't live too far away from a GAME store. They and Amazon.co.uk are the only ones who have the limited edition of Skyward Sword available for pre-order. I've the order made anyway so hopefully I'll be able to get the game without a hitch when it releases.

Should I be worried about Skyward Sword spoilers?

In various places online where I get news from I see links to footage and highly detailed feature lists about Skyward Sword. Now I know this is normal and it's all good for getting everyone excited about a game coming out, I'm just wondering how much I should watch.

Remember the very first trailer where we saw footage of bomb bowling? There's finally more footage of it here in the first half of the following video. (after that is footage of another new feature, just in case you don't want to see it)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8Tlko76lQM

That's my main curiosity sated anyway. Should I watch any more footage on the run up to the game's release I wonder? Hmmm.

Skyward Sword is looking really nice, upgrading equipment hm...

Another trailer was shown for Skyward Sword. The new stuff like collecting stuff for upgrading equipment seems a bit complicated for a Zelda game, kind of like customising your train or your ship in the last two games.

But the rest of it with the gameplay features and everything looks great. I want to see bomb bowling! I do love the idea of descending upon a new area from the sky though. If you notice Link's swimming controls you can see that you use the Wii Remote pointer to control your direction. That's really good. Was it in Twilight Princess for the Wii? I can barely remember...

Thinking about Skyward Sword - Characters Part 1

We've come across some fascinating characters in previous Zelda games. I'd love it if Skyward Sword had at least a few characters like the Yetis from Twilight Princess. (I'd also love another female character like Telma for obvious reasons).

Zelda herself had a very big role in Spirit Tracks and it's the most memorable and developed incarnation of her character so far. Maybe she'll have a big role in Skyward Sword too?

I'm also a big fan of Tingle. I gotta admit his spinoff game Rosy Rupeeland really made me appreciate him more. I wonder if he'll be in this?

The seemingly Jack Sparrow inspired Linebeck is another prevalent newcomer. Imagine him being in this? Hm... might be nice.

There's a lot to think about on this topic actually... Wind Waker for example was packed full of great characters. I'll talk more about them later.

Skyward Sword's Graphics Part 2

I just started a playthrough of Twilight Princess again. The last one I did and also the last time I played the game in any way was over a year ago. After playing it for a while I have to say that I am even more excited about Skyward Sword's graphics. I said before that I like the fact that it's more colourful but now I like that fact even more. I feel like I am in desperate need of colour!

However, I'm going to follow on with the point I made in my last post concerning this matter. While my lust for colour is being sated I hope I will never have a need to start lusting for "coolness" or "badassness". I want that in this game too.

Starting to think about Skyward Sword - Graphics

I've never given The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword much thought. I do remember wishing the graphics were more colourful than Twilight Princess'. Well I guess that wish came true. It should have lots of bright colours. I felt they were on the right track with making things more colourful.

I did feel though that the graphics needed a lot of tuning up. I couldn't put my finger on it at the time but I wanted them to look better.

Looking at Ocarina of Time 3D's revamped and much more colourful graphics kind of helps. Link looked "cool" in the original N64 version of that game, "badass" even. The brighter colours in the new version didn't lose any of this at all. Link when he first appeared in Skyward Sword's trailer didn't look especially cool or badass. If it was Ocarina of Time 3D's adult Link doing that swirling blade pose it might have been much better received, even though it would be the more colourful Ocarina of Time 3D Link.

So for now I'll conclude with the fact that Skyward Sword's graphics gets one out of two things right at least. More colourful graphics is great but there is definite lacking in "coolness" or "badassness" that Ocarina of Time 3D seems to retain even though it went more colourful.

I may not be entirely sure about it yet. I think I am getting somewhere with this though.