Another significant change Skyward Sword made to the typical Zelda formula was how the overworld was dealt with. Instead of a wide-open field (or ocean) with dungeons spotting the extremities, Nintendo opted for a more focused, linear approach funneling you towards each dungeon. There’s still an overworld area of sorts - the sky - but this place is pretty much entirely useless. Traversal is slow - there are only 5 or so islands that have anything of consequence on them - and the majority of the sidequests are garbage. And even that’s minimal. The rest all plays out as a sort of dungeon-lite that’ll often introduce you to some concepts you’ll have to utilize in the dungeon at the end of the road. Some of these are truly awful - sup tadtones - but some of them are actually pretty clever. While I do like more involvement in these in-between segments, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss the exploration offered by the old way of doing things. The game never really lets up and offers you a chance to roam and find any kind of hidden areas. There was a complaint that Twilight Princess didn’t offer any proper rewards for doing this, but I think Skyward Sword swings the pendulum too far in the other direction. There has to be some kind of happy medium that they weren’t able to find here.
The dungeons themselves, however, are spectacular. Dungeoneering is my absolute favorite part of any Zelda game, and Skyward Sword delivers in that aspect (sans the final dungeon, which I actually thought was rather disappointing). Instead of lots of smaller rooms, the game opts for fewer larger rooms with more to do within them. Despite seeming smaller in size, they still feel rich in content and are all designed extremely well. They never overstay their welcome and some of them have really cool gimmicks. To top it all off, almost every dungeon is topped off with an excellent boss battle. While some of them still require you to make use of the item you found within the dungeon, it’s not used as the crutch as was the case in previous Zelda games. The last string of bosses is particularly excellent, and the final confrontation puts Twilight Princess’s to shame.
I’d also like to say that the story in Skyward Sword is “pretty good for a Zelda game”. The characters in general have a bit more relevance than they used to previously, Ghirahim ended up being a pretty cool villain, and there’s some cool scenes at a couple key points in the game. It’s not going to win any awards, but it was nice to see something a little more meaty than what we’re used to.
Some quick hits on other, smaller aspects of the game: upgrading equipment is a near idea, but the benefits don’t really make up for the time spent trying to find the items needed. Breaking shields were a terrible idea. Fi talks too much. The harp is such a waste. Link looks kinda goofy. Actually, I’m gonna take a second to talk a bit more about that. I think Skyward Sword has a pretty cool graphical style, and I like the aesthetic of the world you explore. The great orchestrated soundtrack helps out here a lot as well. On a technical level, however, goddamn. This game wants the Wii to be an HD system so, so bad. There’s some hardcore aliasing going on here, and nothing really looks as sharp as it should. It’s really a shame, because it would look fantastic in crisp 1080p.
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FF fans don't hang around the internet on a monday morning they are out doing shopping or asleep hungover from parties. They got lives. -The_Djoker