The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword Review, Part 2

Welcome back, my long-traveled readers. Looks like you dowsed for the next part of this review. Way to push C after continued prodding from Fi. Goodness.

If you missed Part One, here’s the link. If you didn’t miss it, let’s continue.

https://anewhighscore.wordpress.com/2014/11/20/the-legend-of-zelda-skyward-sword-review-part-1/

Link is now able to return to the Forest, which is odd, seeing as how we were JUST here. For the players’ sake, it would have been nice to let the player choose which land to explore, rather than forcing the player through the Forest-Fire-Desert-Forest pathway again. When a path of progression feels like a pattern, there’s less reason to be excited for whatever new task is ahead, and it dampens the joy of what should be a new and enjoyable experience.

However, here begins the other major element of Skyward Sword: the Silent Realms. These challenges require Link to find 15 Sacred Tears and fill a Spirit Vessel, a representation of Link’s spirit, in order to gain a new gift from each area’s Goddess. Other than Fi’s lengthy description of the task ahead, the challenge is simply defined: gather the tears while avoiding the Guardians of the area, who, if they see you and hit you, reset the trial. There deal no damage to Link’s hearts, yet they are the most intense enemies in the game. There’s real unease when being chased as the player attempts to find the last tear, running for their life and against the winding-down time. This is how enemies should be handled, where there is an actual penalty for failure that is clearly established and a challenge that is not avoidable, as some more menial enemies are.

These sections are so well done that it’s curious why, say, the Kikwi quest earlier was not built in the same way. In the trials, specific fruit-like items scattered throughout the land provide beacons to each tear for thirty seconds. There’s no need to dowse or find any sort of aloof vantage point; it’s a simple journey through the area in search of tears, with no pacing hints (besides the timer that awakens the Guardians if Link doesn’t find a tear in 90 seconds) that ruined the first few regions’ explorative sections. There’s a penalty for taking too long without making progress, but that’s all there is. The rest can be done as fast or as deliberate as the player wants, which is great for both sides of the speed spectrum. The cherry on the sundae is how these areas are visually, with a more greenish, subdued, and bloom-filled visual style and calming music permeating the exploration, and a sharp yellow hue mixed with a pulse-pounding Mario 64 Piano-esque music piece accentuating the intensity of the Guardian chases. In a word, the Silent Realms are sublime.

As a reward for passing the Faron trial, Link receives the Water Dragon’s Scale, which allows him to swim. Swimming was not spared an appearance, as it continues to be a mixed bag, with positives coming from the ability to speed up the swimming by shaking the remote, which also lets Link jump out of the water like an upstream salmon, and with negatives coming with the tilt-based directional motions required to aim Link. The controls, as they have the entire game, often come with a positive and a negative and, while they can’t be deemed entirely bad or detrimental, are often nagging at the very least.

But Dragons, huh? About time. With the new scale, Link can enter Lake Floria by way of traveling to the top of the massive central tree, getting a password-like hint from an old Kikwi resting there (an inconvenient trip, as it takes too long for something that could have been removed without consequence), and passing through the various water-based tutorial challenges to meet with the Dragon. Most of these challenges involve spinning the remote to break barriers, defeat enemies, and jump fences, but nothing mind-blowing. With these behind us, Link meets the Dragon, who is resting in a large basin. The Dragon informs Link that she was injured in a battle with the demon lord and his minions and, although she defeated the baddies, was injured and needs sacred water to heal. Since the sacred water spring is in Skyview Temple, Link must backtrack there to get some.

Issues. First, shouldn’t the overworld be enjoyable enough to experience again, as to prevent me from finding a statue, flying upwards, falling back down into the Faron portal, and choosing to land just outside of Skyview? I should have no qualms about running through the land again, but there’s simply nothing to discover in between, making the goal to save time rather than to explore. Second, a fatal flaw: why should I go back through a completed dungeon to find literally one new key to a previously open door, so that I can fight pathetic mini-bosses, scoop a bottle of water, leave the area, fly back to the Dragon, and THEN progress to the next fun part of the game? After the Silent Realm, there’s at least an hour of pointless back-and-forth that, rather than intriguing and investing the player in the game’s next challenge, makes them scheme as to how they can make the process as painless and quick as possible. I shouldn’t have to sit through the game’s tediums to get to the next “good” part. If something isn’t worth my time to discover, get rid of it.

The best part about adventure games, at least good ones, is the ability to be distracted. I kept thinking back, during my playthrough, to the next release in the series, A Link Between Worlds. In that game, especially in later playthroughs, I would use some of the same tactics I used to skip walking in Skyward Sword. But the main difference between the two games is that, where Skyward Sword does not provide any counter-argument to flying over sections of the game world, A Link Between Worlds provided minigames, mini-dungeons, Maiamais to collect, rupees to earn, and enemies to fight. Skyward Sword, in this area, has a few stray bokoblins, but none of the other elements of a fun adventure game are present. The world must instill a feeling or vibe that makes a player yearn to experience the world and examine it more closely. Skyward Sword does not in the majority of its environments and greatly suffers as an adventure because of it.

After Link gives the Dragon the sacred water, she is healed and reveals the next temple, the Ancient Cistern. Right away, the Cistern is visually striking, with a large meditating statue in the middle of a circular room, with water beneath and light above. Much like the Lakebed Temple from Twilight Princess, the Ancient Cistern is a hybrid temple, where it mixes underwater and above water segments, which keeps both elements from becoming too monotonous. Later in the temple, a new, hellish realm filled with zombie bokoblins adds a new, unique purple-and-white template to the dungeon that makes each layer feel distinct, which is the dungeon’s strongest suit. The main complaint about the dungeon itself is the lily pad platforms, which require Link to flip them over to uncover an underwater pathway or to walk across to another platform. When trying to fall on them to flip them, it can be hard to judge where they are, causing the player to completely whiff which leads to another lengthy climb to the jump point. I wouldn’t have minded placing a barrel or a rock or throwing something onto one edge of the pad to flip it, but it isn’t too common an issue to truly be concerned with.

The temple item is a whip. I hate the whip. It’s the single least useful item in the game and one of the least functional in the entire series. With a sling of the Wii remote, it can flip high switches and steal key from a bokoblin. I say steal key, the grammar intentionally incorrect, because this mechanic is only used once in the entire game. There’s no reason to use it outside of the temple, unless you need a few treasures, which the whip also steals. But it works exactly like a vine when hooked to a ceiling latch, and it doesn’t serve many purposes. It’s not like the Beetle used in nearly every area of the game, and is the only item that I consistently said “Oh, right, I had the whip.” It’s forgettable, except for a singular, wondrous instance.

The temple boss, Koloktos, is the single greatest boss in the game and, if we’re feeling like platitudes, the entire 3D series. It’s that impressive. The boss is a giant mechanical swordsman with multiple arms, and each arm has different roles from the others: two hold swords, two hold spinning boomerang axes, and two block a pulsating weak spot in the robot’s chest. To defeat him, Link must unhinge Koloktos’ arms, grab one of the dropped massive swords, and slice away at the arms, legs, and weak spot. Eventually the boss stands and holds six swords, moving towards Link swinging like a madman. The same strategy applies in this form, and seeing Link hold a sword much too large for him and tearing through the boss is immensely satisfying. Koloktos is a success because it takes advantage of the capabilities of the item, which makes the whip seem like a “built for this boss exclusively” item, but in this context, it’s nothing but positive.

After the epic boss fight concludes, the Sacred Flame upgrades Link’s attack power, extending his range and damage-dealing. It’s slight, but the feeling of progression is important and immediately felt. After this, Fi tells him to ascend into the sky to the Isle of Songs, learn another song, and to search for the second flame. Since we’ve been through this process before, there’s no need to tell the player to do the exact same thing again; don’t insult our memory and our ingenuity. It’s a common complaint that continuously rears its ugly head, especially during the game’s back half, and it’s increasingly annoying every time Fi tells the player what they innately would do. It sucks.

The next flame leads to another wonderful Silent Realm in Lanayru. The quicksand gripe still applies, but the positioning of the tears doesn’t really require much running through quicksand. The enemies are closer together compared to Faron, which ups the ante even more. The same addictive challenge is present, and it’s another great time. Once completing it, Link is awarded the Double Clawshots, which latches to distant targets. Nothing’s changed with the mechanic seen in Twilight Princess, since it worked there, but the added calibration issues can break the flow at times.

The clawshots give Link access to the Lanayru Sand Sea, which is a barren wasteland left dry for some non-important reason. However, at a dock ahead of Link rests a boat with a Timeshift Stone that changes the dust to water and awakens a robot sea captain. The captain states that his ship contains Nayru’s Flame, but that in order to find the ship (which has an invisibility cloaker), Link must take the Skipper to his home in order to get his Sea Chart. Sailing the new sea and landing at Skipper’s Retreat, Link must climb and clawshot his way to the top of the cliff where the actual building is. There’s a few annoying enemies, especially the electric chuchus, which always injure me because they spark exactly when I slice them, and it’s hard to predict when to hit them without getting shocked. But there’s nothing remarkable about the trip to the chart or down the cliff back to the boat.

The next stop is the Shipyard, where the Skipper believes his ship could be. The way to get into the actual yard, though, is a series of roller coaster carts. This part is awesome, because the feeling of speed makes traveling through the area memorable and is a much better alternative than running around slicing mini-scorpions all day. The tilt controls are again an issue, where they will always read incorrectly at least once. This is especially telling when a minigame race is lost with one slip-up, which is rarely the player’s fault. The pros outweigh the cons, but barely.

Only issue here is that Link isn’t holding his hands up. C’mon, man, it’s more fun that way!

The tracks lead to a chamber with sand in the middle, which looks exactly similar to the Lanayru Mining Facility boss chamber. Because it is exactly similar to the Lanayru Mining Facility boss chamber, with the same scorpion boss. The biggest sin in regards to bosses is making a dungeon boss a miniboss later in the game, especially after an upgrade in weaponry. It devalues earlier challenges for the sake of slight progression and replaces potential creativity in making a new miniboss. It’s always been something that bothers me, because I always want something new, not old, from bosses as the game progresses.

The newly-neutered challenge the miniboss provides is also a wasted effort, as the ship isn’t there at all. When the Skipper realizes this, he asks Link to find the Pirate Stronghold and search for more information. It’s essentially a mini-dungeon that holds some puzzles that the upcoming dungeon cannot, and with the Timeshift Stones involved, there’s some more cool visual changes that take place in the rooms. Not too many intricate puzzles occur, as it’s just meant to move the Timeshift Stones to various places to activate blocked switches and progress, but there’s enough of a challenge with placing the Stone in the right places, so it’s not a wasted time. But there’s no ship to be found here, just a new dowsing aura which is actually required to advance.

When Link returns to Skipper and his boat, the dowsing tracks down the Nayru, and a cannon on the small boat reveals the Nayru by breaking down the cloak. The Nayru can be hard to find and is faster than Link’s small boat, which makes the wandering feel futile at times. The boat’s stamina meter also prevents Link from going fast forever, which hurts the search as well. If Link gets lucky, though, the process doesn’t take too long and he can progress to the Sandship and on to Nayru’s Flame.

The colors in the Sandship come alive when the Timeshift Stones are activated.

The Sandship is the most creative dungeon setting in Skyward Sword and hits home the reality that all of the game’s creativity is in Lanayru. The other two areas remain traditional and predictable, whereas Lanayru is entirely new and a joy to discover. The environmental changes as Timeshift Stones are activated and deactivated presents a slightly-altered boat layout and adds another dimension to puzzles, making the setting come alive more than the other non-Lanayru dungeons. It’s unfortunate that this same creative spark was not evident in the other parts of the game, but at least one area has creativity rather than adhering too closely to tradition.

The Sandship is the introduction to the long-awaited Sacred Bow, which, for being sacred, doesn’t provide much of an edge over other bows. The one improvement is that, when aiming the bow and holding A, the target reticule zooms a touch to the targeted object, which does help accuracy and limits the effects of motion controls. Aiming for long durations whilst the arms get tired of staying locked in place is aided by this added accuracy. Arrows are used to activate Timeshift Stone on the ship’s mast, changing the layout of the boat and advance in the puzzles through the two times. Doors, for example, may be closed off in the past but open in the future. The gaps in the ceiling of the ship’s rooms, as well as a few pulleys, allow Link to travel through the ship and change the time quickly and prevents backtracking, although backtracking is part of the dungeon’s nature. There’s a few genuinely head-scratching puzzles within, though, and the challenge to find the solution is a worthy one.

The mini-boss is interesting and memorable, as a robotic pirate captain traps Link onto a plank and challenges him to a sword duel as if they were dueling Musketeers. The varied attacks, like the swinging of his hook hand as well as his sword, gives the battle added intrigue and necessitates blocking attacks, which I for the longest time did not do. I am stubbornly anti-shield, for some reason, and the fact that this boss requires the player to use it to deflect attacks is a beneficial addition to a fight. It’s a much better sword fight than Ghirahim’s earlier.

My one complaint with the Sandship is one of the rewards itself: when activating the boat’s motors, platforms lower that allow Link access to a room with five treasure chests. Loot aplenty should feel great. However, EACH treasure chest gets a cutscene for opening it. EACH ONE. There is absolutely no need to waste this time for a few treasures that, by the way, Link has seen before. This leads to the earlier problem of opening the Treasure subscreen and is immensely frustrating. Now, the room can be skipped, but the treasures within are good, as there are around 400 rupees and rare treasures in the room, but long cutscenes for opening chests needs to stop.

What should also stop is the adherence to making bow and arrow bosses eyeball-targeting bosses. A giant Medussa-headed sea monster and its tentacles rip through the boat and try to destroy Link in the process. Just shooting the eye incapacitates the monster and slashing away at the eye once it’s in range kills it. Easily the most underwhelming boss of the game, it takes no risks and doesn’t evolve the style of boss in any meaningful way. Once done, Link can get Nayru Flame’s blessing, which is, oh boy! a dowsing upgrade. Not only can you dowse for Zelda; Link can now dowse for treasures, bugs, and Goddess Cubes! It would be a very welcome addition, if not for Fi bringing it up at least 10 times throughout the remainder of the game. Again, if the mechanic is useful, let the player ignore it and hurt themselves. Don’t make the cool things you do become uncool through forced use. Despite the predictable boss and the burdensome upgrade, the dungeon is the second in a row with innovative puzzles and design elements.

After the second flame, Link repeats the process from earlier and descends to Eldin to find the third Sacred Trial. Unfortunately, this is the worst of the Sacred Trials because of how the mountain is structured. Some of the tears are on the slopes where Link must slide into them to collect them, and missing them requires a run-around to reach the top of the mountain. When getting chased, missing these leads to near-certain death. But, it’s still a Sacred Trial and it’s still a good time despite this flaw. At the end, Link is given the Fireshield Earrings, which are like the Red Tunic from Ocarina without any substantial visual change to the character model. They work but can be ignored.

These allow Link to enter the once-blocked heart of the volcano. This should have fundamentally changed the way one would move around in fire, or introduced a timer to complete certain objectives (like the Fire and Ice islands of Wind Waker, Dampe’s race, etc). But there’s nothing like that here; just avoid some enemies and attack others. The main “puzzle” of the area is a series of Zuma-like frog statues that require Link to pour water on their tongues to open gates. The first two statues are easily quenched, although it requires backtracking to fill bottles with water since the player doesn’t know they’ll need water beforehand. This would also be detrimental if the player doesn’t have a bottle in their inventory, which never hurt me but nevertheless is a possibility.

The third frog is a giant one where small bottles of water will not suffice. You may remember (which I did not my first playthrough) that the Water Dragon had a basin she healed in. This part of the quest requires you return to Faron, get the basin, fly back to Eldin, and return to the frog statue. Here’s where Scrapper returns and is annoying. Once back at Eldin, Link lands at the mountain’s base, which makes the new objective trekking back up the mountain in a guidance quest. The core quest is fine, as sniping bokoblins is a fun endeavor. The only issue is that the quest is failed if an enemy touches Scrapper, including arrows to the basin. This is incredibly frustrating, especially when blindsided by an archer when distracted by a Moblin on a bridge. The player forgets about the small enemies because the large one is the bigger threat, and it can lead to a restart of part of the quest. Luckily, that is a somewhat rare outcome of the quest, which is still fun but unnecessary, as it boils down to “Oh, I misunderstood you, Shortpants.”

This area looks fantastic. That’s all I have to say.

Once back at the large frog statue, Scrapper pours the water and Link can enter the next temple, the Fire Sanctuary. As the picture above shows, this area looks downright gorgeous. I wish the dungeon was entirely outside but the movement between two cliffs is a creative one. The dungeon does break the string of great ones, however, as there’s not many special moments within. The only true addition to the dungeon-with-lava template is the improved Mogma Mitts, where Link can now tunnel underground to reach new rooms. I’m not a huge fan of these sections myself, but do appreciate how they change the way in which Link hits switches and moves gates. Eventually Link also can defeat worm-like enemies within these tunnels, which does require some strategy, which is always preferred.

The end boss, since the mitts can’t do much in a boss setting, apparently, is another boring Ghirahim fight, where not much has changed. He now throws projectiles, but they are easily cast aside. I would argue that digging underneath a boss and striking its spine (a la Stallord) while being chased underground would be amazing. But Skyward Sword settles, which begins a startling trend  as the game steam rolls towards completion. Ghirahim is easily defeated, Link receives the final upgrade to his sword, granting him a quick-charged Skyward Strike and creates the Master Sword. This is now the sword that can open up that Gate of Time mentioned many hours ago. Link is asked to return to the Sealed Grounds, which he does.

Before we go there though, a new achievement: The Fire Sanctuary Did Not Have A Single Fi Appearance! Wahoo! Not one moment of nagging about dowsing, or mentioning an enemy is too strong, or any other pointless interruption. It was wondrous, and was the first and sadly only time Skyward Sword felt like the Zelda game it should have been. It really highlights how very solid, at the least, and incredible at the heights (Sandship and Lanayru Mining Facility), the dungeons are. That sliver of hope that she’d go away and trust the player more makes every interruption stand out more, but, if anything, she appears more from here on out.

But wait! Just as Link enters the Grounds and Skyward Strikes the Gate of Time, The Imprisioned awakens again! This time, he can climb, which could have been interesting, had not Groose built an entire track across the crater, equipped with a massive bomb-slinging catapult that destroys the monster’s face. Simply aiming the bombs to hit him renders him frozen, allowing Link to get the job done even more quickly than before. It’s a simpler and easier battle than before and is a complete let-down. It begs the question as to why this monster was included multiple times, and not saved as a pre-final boss enemy instead.

Anyhow, after that disappointment, Link can finally enter the Gate of Time and reunite with Zelda, who had gone back thousands of years during the Lanayru skirmish. Here, she explains the situation more clearly to Link. In a nutshell, Hylia, in the great war with Demise, the evil entity that began the war, devised two schemes to keep Demise at bay. First, she created Fi for the hero, and secondly, she transferred her spirit into a mortal so that the power of the Triforce may one day be used to destroy Demise. With this, she states that Link is the chosen hero, worthy of the Triforce and the legend, and that she is, in fact, Hylia reborn as a mortal. She feels guilty for dragging Link into the fray, as she, the Goddess, manipulated Link into beginning his quest through his love of Zelda. She hopes that Link will be able to recognize her as the same Zelda he knew and loved in Skyloft, and with this, she hides herself away in a deep sleep until Link can complete his mission in the future.

I did have a few issues with this development. If Zelda is a Goddess, how could she not innately feel any superiority to the mortals in Skyloft? And why didn’t she have any real foreknowledge of the plot against her? Sure, she could have hidden the information from herself, but it’s a logical anomaly. But, here’s where I could no longer nitpick at the story, and I was sold. Begin at around the 11:50 mark.

I do acknowledge that the 15-minute cutscene is extraneous, but even my skepticism was silenced with that main quote: “So I’m going to ask you a favor, sleepyhead. Ever since we were kids, I’d always be the one to wake you up when you slept in. But this time, when all this is over, will you come to wake me up?” That moment hit home hard, and made the relationship truly connect with me. The most recognizable piece of music in Zelda nowadays is Zelda’s Lullaby, seen in every game since A Link to the Past, to my knowledge. But this is the only time it’s truly a lullaby. The recollection of Link’s first encounter with Zelda and the role reversal is especially heartwarming, as the Goddess can feel aloof in idea and concept. Here, Zelda is still the Zelda Link loved before. Again, the quest has a purpose that, through dowsing and backtracking, was lost before. It’s a wonderful little reminder as to why Link fights in the first place.

After the doors close behind him and Link re-enters his own time, he is told that, to unlock the Triforce, he must learn the Song of the Hero, which requires he speak with Skyloft’s guardian spirit, Levias. Unfortunately, Levias is currently possessed and cannot be approached with Link’s Loftwing. This changes, however, as Link’s Loftwing is granted a spin attack, which changes the dash forward into an offensive maneuver. It’s a slight change in speed but otherwise not much of a change to how the Loftwing operates.

The entry into the Thunderhead requires a large bowl of Pumpkin Soup from Pumpkin Landing, a hub of a few sidequests. With this in tow (by Scrapper), Link enters the Thunderhead and is able to attack the parasite latched onto Levias, a large whale-like creature. Four tentacles with eyes poke out around Levias, and spinning into them destroys them, at which point Link can land on top of Levias and attack the fifth main eye with Skyward Strikes and some good ol’ tennis action. Over somewhat quickly, the Thunderhead lightens up, with Levias thanking Link for the soup and telling him how to complete the Song of the Hero. He describes that Hylia divided the song between the three dragons of the land and himself, which forces Link to re-visit the biomes seen earlier one more time.

I hated this revelation. After all I had gone through in the regions before, it became clear to me that nothing truly new could be brought about by these areas. There’s nothing more to be said about forests and mountains, as their main set pieces had already been used. To say I was dissapointed to return to the same areas again would be an understatement. Skyward Sword was the second Zelda game I ever played, and I wanted nothing more than to see, say, a snowy atmosphere, in the game. But I was left hanging until Twilight Princess saved the day in a big way. The main issue going forward in this game, and the main problem overall, is that Skyward Sword gets too comfortable in its design that it doesn’t take risks with new, interesting mechanics and challenges, for fear of failing with them. Rather than present something unique and memorable, they stand pat, which is a cardinal sin in game design. This eliminates the player’s interest in re-examining the areas they already know, as nothing new could be discovered in such barren, secret-less lands.

With that said, the three challenges put forth to learn the song do provide a slight twist on the areas and, while it doesn’t substitute for intuitive and creative new areas, does allow for some variety in a game that sorely lacks it at times. This doesn’t absolve it of the fact that it is a REPETITION OF THE SAME THINGS WE’VE ALREADY GROWN TIRED OF. Sorry, had to yell that point a bit more. I mean seriously, I grew so tired of the Sealed Grounds that I couldn’t fathom why I needed to return there, just to talk to the Dragon again, to learn another little thing, to nudge ever-so-close to the end. It’s a grinding halt to a player’s natural and positive yearning for exploration and progress, and it sucks. Bad.

The Faron Woods section begins WITH ANOTHER IMPRISONED BATTLE! Look, I get it, it’s hard to design new bosses with the limited number of items and sword capabilities. But a triple-dip boss is a terrible idea, always, especially when the boss is designed to frustrate the player rather than destroy them, when the fight is designed to challenge the player in the same old ways rather than making them discover new ways to defeat it, and when the ordeal feels stale rather than fresh. I saw the Imprisoned again and my jaw hit the floor, because I had just fought him AN HOUR BEFORE. Seriously, the seal can’t hold for twelve hours of game world time? When I reached this point in my playthrough for this review, I stopped playing for about a week. I had to console myself before thrusting myself back into what this sequence represents, and the terrible, terrible elements lay ahead, corroding what was once a decent experience.

So Link fights the Imprisoned again. It flies, this time, but the bombs still work and the last hit requires Link to be shot from the catapult onto the monster’s head, which I would have loved if this were the first time, but the fatigue killed the moment. We return to the old lady, who tells us a flood in the woods forced her to seal off the woods’ entrance. Oh no… Water again. Luckily Groose’s catapult sends Link into the flooded woods where he can seek out the Water Dragon, who is within the great tree. She tells Link that she flooded the woods to eradicate the bokoblins and other monsters from the land and figures she might as well test Link in the water while it’s around. She scatters tadtones, tadpole music notes, that Link must collect in order to piece together her leg of the song.

I do like the idea of this challenge, but the actual hunt can devolve into a broken mess. Most of the parts of the song are either single notes, which are terribly difficult to find, or long strings of notes that take a long time to collect, which would work except that Link doesn’t have gills. If he, say, spins into a tree, it ruins his progress, times out the collection and resets it, which is infuriating since changing direction is slow with tilt controls. Running out of breath also slows down the collection because of the immediate need to find air bubbles. There’s too many elements that fail to work properly, as spinning is necessary to survive underwater, but frowned upon after a long time under. There’s a flawed balance between the two and the collection is brutal because of it.

After this section is completed, we aren’t directed to travel to a specific area, one of the only times this occurs in the game. I usually go to Eldin first, though, since that’s the pattern I became used to following, and because I like it a bit more since it’s not quicksand. Eldin is erupting and Link cannot land, which blows him far away and leaves him unconscious, where he is captured by bokoblins and placed in a cell. Fortunately, a Mogma returns Link’s Mitts to him, but the rest of his inventory is scattered across the mountain and is guarded by various enemies. The sneaking around to gather these treasures is great, where Link feels truly weak without his items until he gradually gains his powers back, culminating in the Master Sword. Unfortunately he regains Fi in the process, who apologizes for not being able to help him. Uggh. Everything about this statement is wrong on every level. You’re an assistant, not a requirement. You should be a butler, not an all-seeing eye. Know your place.

But with all the items collected Link can meet the Fire Dragon, who says he goofed and made the mountain explode, and he just up and teaches Link the song and Link leaves. Okay, nice to know ya, Fire Dragon. Lanayru remains, where Link finds the bones of what can be assumed to be the region’s dragon. A light puzzle section with a Timeshift Stone cart commences where Link must guide the cart through some caves to revive the bones. Nothing particularly new in terms of puzzles objectives, but there are some clawshot hijinks where vines disappear when the Stone moves too far from them. This is frustrating if you’re not careful to move forward as quickly as possible, but it’s the player’s fault for falling, unless calibration issues rear their ugly head.

Once back to the Dragon, the Dragon is alive, but very sick. He greets Link cordially, but unfortunately cannot sing his part of the song due to his ailment. He mentions that his robots have tried to plant a tree that bears healing fruit, but the desert cannot grow trees. As the player may remember (and as I didn’t with my first playthrough because I was focused on Zelda and the main quest rather than this detail), the Sealed Grounds has a plot of soil where a big seed could be placed. Link, with this knowledge, can go back in time through the Gate, plant the seed, return to the present day and see a large tree in the Sealed Grounds, with the fruit the Dragon needs. Returning with the grown fruit, the Dragon eats it and is healed, able to teach Link his part of the song. Before leaving, he tells Link to return for a special gift. Flying up and falling back down into Lanayru actually activates this gift, a Boss Rush. It’s a Boss Rush. The only reason I mention it is the reward for completing it: the Hylian Shield. It’s too iconic to pass on, in my opinion, and it cannot be broken or damaged, unlike the other shields. So there’s that.

Once all three Dragons give Link their verses, he can return to Levias and learn the completed song. Funny deprecative moment here, as with the Sailcloth, where Link holds the harp to celebrate the completed song, then notices something strange from beneath the clouds and pauses, as does the music. The other three Dragons rise and join in the song, which creates another memorable visual, as the Dragons’ bright colors against white clouds is striking. With the new song learned, Link is told that he must search Skyloft for a portal to the sacred trial that will lead him to the Triforce.

A swarm of butterflies hovering in the central plaza indicate where to play the harp and enter the final Silent Realm. This is the most challenging of the four, but for the best of reasons. Unlike the Eldin one, the enemies, traps, and tears are actually well placed, and don’t center around things the player has no control over. The expansive town with its crevasses means that not all tears can be seen from a single vantage point, forcing exploration. After meticulously searching and finding these, Link is rewarded with the Stone of Trials. One exists on the island itself, while the one Link just received must be paired with it to open the way to the Triforce.

There is a small bird statue southeast of the Goddess Statue whose eyes are the two Stones of Trials. Placing the other one inside the empty socket opens up the bird’s beak, firing a slew of cannon shots that crumble the outer rock of the Goddess Statue’s island to reveal a temple beneath. Subsequent clawshot targets allow Link to travel down to the doorway and enter the final dungeon of the game, Sky Keep.

If you’ve played any recent Zelda game, this will feel no different to you, as it is a collection of the earlier types of puzzles from previous dungeons. A slide puzzle of nine rooms shifts the temple around so that various rooms can be completed and the Triforce can be collected, which, outside of the fact that I hate slide puzzles, is inventive and enjoyable. The dungeon movement keeps it somewhat fresh and the challenge to move the pieces correctly is rewarded with progression towards the end goal of a Triforce piece. The puzzle isn’t wasted to get, say, a key. The puzzles themselves are run-of-the-mill in terms of difficulty, except for a complex lava maze, where switches must be hit in order to stop the flow from engulfing Link and the platform he stands on, as he moves towards other moving platforms. There’s genuine challenge to this area and it’s the only one that truly stands out. Once the Triforce is completed, Link ascends the statue to pray.

As the Triforce has done for years, the wishes of the beholder are granted by the Goddesses. Link, with his pure heart and unbreakable spirit, has earned the right to use the Triforce. He makes one critical error, though, and I would not mention it if I didn’t think of it while I was playing through the first time. Link wishes to destroy Demise, which, after the Goddess statue descends into the Surface, connecting it with its former resting place at the Sealed Grounds, crushes The Imprisoned and ends evil in the current time. However, the evil still runs rampant in the past. If this is a story contrivance by the writers to reach a final boss, it’s illogical. If it’s an oversight by Link, he’s a moron. Either way, this moment feels especially rushed and it lacks the dramatic weight it needed to be successful.

However, the follow up moment, for however brief a time, is dramatically moving. Link can finally awaken Zelda, as he had promised to. Zelda, whose cocoon she sealed herself within cracks open, emerges and floats to the ground. Too weak to walk, however, she begins to fall, with Link running as fast as he can to catch her, which he does. At this point he breaks her fall and holds her tightly until she is able to walk again. This little moment is the culmination of his struggle and the reward for all the hell he’d gone through to save her. He’s finally done his job and it feels genuinely rewarding to see the two walk out of the chamber holding hands.

But Ghirahim has one last wrench to throw, as he realizes what Link did not, and he takes advantage, stealing Zelda away and entering the Gate of Time to revive his master. Link follows him through only to see Ghirahim begin a ritual that would steal Zelda’s soul, awaken Demise, and end the world. To stall Link, Ghirahim spawns hundreds of bokoblins to attack him, at which point Link must tear through them to reach Ghirahim and end the ceremony.

There’s nothing particularly amazing about the descent, except perhaps the amount of characters on screen at one time, because there’s a lot of them. And, despite a few pesky ones that are difficult to defeat in a crowd, there is something to be said for slicing through baddies like this. Perhaps this was the creative start of Hyrule Warriors? Who knows. Once at the crater’s bottom, Ghirahim is furious and challenges Link to what he calls the Endless Plunge, a series of platforms that, when knocked off the higher ones, catch the falling foe. This is the best Ghirahim fight in the game, and for good reason. The duel is fought on a confined space and has actual tension and strategy, and, although the end of the fight where Ghirahim has a massive sword that must be broken before attacking, is frustrating because of the motion control issues seen earlier, the fight is worthy of a pre-final boss.

When Ghirahim is defeated, he’s angry that a mere Hylian defeated him again, but it doesn’t matter; the ceremony had been completed, allowing him to call forth Ganondorf, er, Demise in his true glory. It’s true that Demise is very Ganon-like, but the changes to the character’s design are memorable and he looks just as imposing as the series mainstay. It’s here that Ghirahim is revealed to almost be the reverse of Fi, where Demise’s sword resides in Ghirahim. The interplay of contrast between the two could have been greater, but I do appreciate the juxtaposition. Demise sees Link standing before him and chuckles that this was the best hero the Goddess could provide, scoffing with disdain at Hylia’s plan to keep him subdued. He promises to create a place to spar with Link and that, since he’s waited millennia for this moment, he could wait a bit longer to fight. This allows Link to get any potions and items he may need for the fight ahead. After all this is done, Link must save Zelda’s soul from the evil that threatens it.

The arena Demise creates is gorgeous from beginning to end. A plane of water with a sky backdrop seems simplistic, but the art excels, especially during the fight as lightning is incorporated. The entire boss fight is an intricate sword fight, where Link must defend against Demise’s powerful blows, attack his weak points after goading him to block one side, and summon lightning to hit the skyward-pointed Master Sword and hitting Demise with the strikes. Its high-speed, intensity, and challenge are well worth the billing as a final boss, especially as both Link and Demise attempt to summon lightning first. After a few knockdowns, Link executes a jumping stab that drives the Master Sword into Demise’s heart, defeating him and saving Zelda’s soul.

Demise, with his final words, promises to be an evil that follows his descendants for centuries to come, saying that a reincarnation of his hatred will follow him ceaselessly. But Demise himself is defeated, and his spirit dissolves and is sealed away in the Master Sword for good. Link returns to the Sealed Grounds and is congratulated by Zelda and Groose, who earlier caugh a tossed-aside Zelda after the ceremony had been completed. The small redemption Groose experiences throughout the story gives him more development than previously seen in the series outside of a main protagonist. A few words transpire here between the three until Fi calls Link to complete one more task.

As she has completed her duties, Fi instructs Link to place the Master Sword into the pedestal to seal away the dying remnants of Demise within the Sword for good. Impa, standing guard, also agrees with this sentiment. But Link hesitates for a slight moment, knowing that it would seal her away forever, someone who had helped him for so long. And honestly, as a player, I’m divided on this moment. For the longest time, I wanted Fi dead, gone, erased. But this moment is done so tenderly that perhaps Fi was at least for 5 minutes a positive experience, and a heartwrenching one. The music is downright phenomenal and poignant, and is the best track, in my opinion, in the game. There’s so much done well with this moment it’s hard to still be upset. The most disappointing thing about Skyward Sword, to me, is that I am still upset with Fi. I will, as I promised, summarize why that is with that great number I calculated. But, as Fi is finally silent, the music dies away with her. Fi is no more.

“My purpose was to obey the command of the goddess and lead you, the chosen hero of this land, on your quest. When I first awoke and began this task, I perceived it as merely serving my function as a servant to Her Grace. However, I have come to consider the information corresponding to our time together among the most precious data I have on record. I do not have the capability to fully understand the human spirit, Link… But now, at the end of my journey with you, as I prepare to sleep within the Master Sword forever, I experience a feeling I am unable to identify. I lack sufficient data to be sure of my conclusion, but I believe this feeling correlates closest to what your people call…happiness.”

Zelda afterwards pleads with Impa to follow them into the future, which Impa says she cannot do. As a Sheikah, she is meant to protect the Triforce and provide a buffer between good and evil. Zelda, knowing Impa would not follow, gives her a bracelet as a token of thanks, which Impa accepts, saying that perhaps they’ll meet again. The three heroes travel back to their original time and the Gate is dissolved, leaving the old woman seated before the wall. Underneath the flowing red cloak, the soft blue bracelet rests, as Zelda notices and walks towards Impa to share a moment. As Impa fulfills her promise to Zelda, she fades away, her mission accomplished. There’s no reason given as to how she survived as long as she did, but the realization that the same person helped both Link and Zelda, guiding them to their potential, is worthwhile. Outside the Sealed Grounds, Gaepora and Groose’s friends meet Link, Groose, and Zelda and celebrate Zelda’s safe return. After they are reunited, and Groose and the others fly back to Skyloft, Link and Zelda share one last moment on top of the Goddess Statue. Zelda tells Link that her one wish is to remain on the Surface and watch over the Triforce. She asks what Link plans to do; looking towards her, he smiles, leading to the assumption that he, too, will do the same. The screen fades to white.

The End.

Now, what can be said summarizing such a game? In the good corner, the dungeons are fantastic. After trudging through overworlds, these dungeons provide a great amount of joy and challenge and allow Link, for once, to be mostly rid of the directional advice Fi gives. They provide a balance between puzzling and clever bosses, especially with Koloktos standing far above any in recent memory. The Silent Realms are brilliant and are a great addition to the series. The music is phenomenal, once again proving that Koji Kondo is a legendary composer. The art style, although unimpressive at times, can be gorgeous when given the right amount of color, lighting, and draw distance that makes contrast stand out. And, for all of the problems the motion caused at times, there was never a battle where I didn’t feel involved directly, which is a positive.

As I said before, however, Fi looms large over the experience. I counted the interruptions, the collection grating moments that progressively enraged me. The final number: 108. In making this review, I needed a visual representation of this concept. So below are 108 versions of a single word:

Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda

That is 108 “Zeldas” in one paragraph. 108 interruptions. Most of which implore Link to dowse, something either he knows how to do already or is choosing not to do because he doesn’t need to. Others tell Link to look on the same map he had seen many times before. Still more tell Link to meet with someone when a cutscene moments earlier told him the same thing. 108 is a slap in the face of veterans who want to enjoy a game that respects their patronage and a spit in the eye of newcomers who want their minds to be challenged and their enjoyment of the game to come from themselves, and not from something or someone telling them how to enjoy the experience.

The most ironic experience in my playthrough was, during the greatness of the end boss fight, where everything good about the motion controls, the thrilling, exciting moments that highlight this game, came to fruition in a single moment, my Wiimote flashed its battery low sign, where Fi stopped the action to tell me my batteries were nearly depleted. In a heartbreaking twist, not even the final boss was spared from Fi’s grimy purple hands. To me, this solidified her place in the Zelda hall of shame. I knew that she deserved to die, in spirit, but this was the final straw. There is no excuse for interrupting the game’s climax. The beeping the game provided earlier was enough intrusion for the player to realize the issue, and I knew I had enough battery left in the tank to complete the game. TRUST. ME. FI. There is no excuse for how quickly Fi sinks Skyward Sword from an enjoyable, albeit linear, experience into a slow descent into chore completion and guided exploration. I have no words to summarize how angrily I raged against this moment internally, and was sadly disappointed that a game I truly wanted to give the benefit of the doubt did all it could to not deserve it.

In conclusion, I present two facts. Skyward Sword is wonderful. Skyward Sword sucks. These are irreconcilable ideas, but they’re nonetheless true. In a world that looks and sounds so harmoniously peaceful and vibrant, in a game with brilliant dungeons and ideas, in an experience filled with a great many highs, the game is spectacular. Yet, in equal force and raging fury, the game forces the player through too many deja vu moments, too many non-responsive Motion Plus hiccups, too many interruptions from Fi, too many frustrating moments that made me take a serious break from playing through the game because I knew what moments laid in wait. Too often I slammed my controller because the stabbing motion wouldn’t read correctly, and too often did I sigh because I was being told to do something I didn’t need to be told to do.

The fundamental question I posed at the beginning of this review is a simple one: why does the battle between the good and bad matter? And, in painstakingly writing nearly 20,000 words on the subject, I think I have an answer. Skyward Sword is like an autopsy of the recent Zelda series. In dissecting this game as closely as I did, there were too many causes of death in many of the sections. To define the causes of each is a futile endeavor because of the sheer breadth of issues that stem from the experience. A hardware restriction (the fact that this game is a Wii game) and a shift in purpose (the fact that this game is a Wii game) also makes it difficult to assign blame. The distinction between hardware and purpose is important, too, as the success of the Wii’s motion control gameplay expanded the audience and, thus, dumbed down the core gameplay tropes and led to Fi. In attempting to be the beginning of the series for many players, the traditionalism is too persistent to be ignored and hampers any sort of creative input and risk. This is an issue that needs to be addressed as consumers beg for an improved product. But it’s not why the battle matters. The battle matters so much because we as gamers wish that the thing we want to love wasn’t so lifeless.

Skyward Sword is, in a statement, an exercise in balance. Balance between fun and fury, balance between an adherence to tradition and an attempt to revitalize the series mechanics and input options, balance between trying to be new and feeling old. And, too often, it leans towards the stale and mundane aspects of its existence. I would be tremendously worried about the series’ future as a whole, if not for one simple thing.

Fi is dead.

Dead. Gone. For all the jokes about how much more fun it is to hit the Master Sword against a wall repeatedly because Fi’s in there, and how much players like myself want to bash her cage repeatedly for her evils, there’s one simple truth about it all. Her time is up. Perhaps the entire reason Fi even existed was to become that last amalgamation of every tradition, every stale concept, every unnecessary tutorial, every frustration shared by veterans and loathed by independent newcomers. Perhaps it’s not a coincidence that, depending on how you pronounce her name, Fi rhymes with Wii. It’s not without reason that Fi embodies the Wii’s trademark flaw of sacrificing those who have loved a series for decades in exchange of expanding the market. I, for one, was in that latter category when I first played Skyward Sword, and I very much appreciated the gesture at the time. But, as I’ve progressed, I’ve loathed it more and more, and will likely continue to.

But Fi’s deader than dirt now. All the traditionalism, intentional and unintentional, has been ceremoniously euthanized. Every warranted complaint, every level-headed criticism, as well as some unwarranted vitriol, about the series and its descent into monotony, dies with Fi. And I, for one, hope the monotony is dead for good.

So Link looks up towards Zelda after being asked what he plans to do with his life from now on. And who knows? Perhaps he plans to be better.