Why do people feel that Skyward Sword looks disappointing?

There are several misconceptions about Skyward Sword that have to be ironed out:

1) The game is cel-shaded and a return to Windwaker's artsyle. First of all, SS isn't truly "cel-shaded" like Windwaker. It's actually much, much more different. The game doesn't apply a uniform shade of color to models to create the impression of depth and lighting. Cel-shading works like simpistic hand-drawn coloring, where there may only be two shades to a model in order to show shadows and where light is reflecting, as you can see below:

In short, just comparing Skyward Sword to Windwaker shows that there isn't true cel-shading in SS.

3D models have simple structural bodies in Windwaker and have limited shades of color to show lighting and depth, the actual cel-shaded art**** That's not to say Skyward Sword has a realistic graphic **** as it clearly doesn't, but it moves more towards realism than Windwaker does and environmental models and character models demonstrate more complex textures and geometry.

2) The motion controls looked really clunky and unresponsive. This is due to something called IR pollution. The Wii Remote is wireless and uses infrared tracking with the sensor bar. Cell phones, PDAs, smart phones, laptops, etc. all use infrared as well, because they are wireless devices that use IR signals to access networks. This interferes with the responsiveness of the motion controls and made things kind of laggy from the E3 stage performance. This is only to be expected on a stage in front of hundreds of other people with wireless devices interfering with the Wii's IR capabilities, not to mention that the stage performers were pointing their remotes away from the projector and towards the audience, where the sensor was behind them. Obviously, when you're playing this game in your house or in a place where there aren't hundreds of other people using wireless devices simultaneously, you won't experience unresponsive controls. Nintendo's official site has videos of the game in action, and there is footage from the press playing the demo for themselves. These show smooth, responsive, and intuitive 1:1 swordplay thanks to Wii Motion Plus.

These are the major complaints against SS and they are without ground. The Zelda fanbase has every reason to be stoked for this game, and the criticism surrounding it is unfair. The tech demo at E3 was just that; a short gameplay demo of the game with one tiny level. But we already saw the gorgeous new art****and the realistic motion controls that have made the swordplay in Zelda even more engaging. If you're not interested in the game for other reasons, fine; but if you're hating on it for these two reasons, you're misinformed.

I think it looks great so far. Some people are just very hard to please and will nit-pick about little details.

Personally I think it looks good and I'm looking forward to it.

I think it looks great so far. Some people are just very hard to please and will nit-pick about little details.

jimkabrhel

[QUOTE="jimkabrhel"]

I think it looks great so far. Some people are just very hard to please and will nit-pick about little details.

princeofshapeir

I mostly agree. The Backgrounds could use a little sprucing up, but there's time before the final release. I know that quite a few people were looking for a more "mature" Zelda, with a darker, more realistic look. I personally don't think that would fit very well.

[QUOTE="princeofshapeir"][QUOTE="jimkabrhel"]

I think it looks great so far. Some people are just very hard to please and will nit-pick about little details.

jimkabrhel

I mostly agree. The Backgrounds could use a little sprucing up, but there's time before the final release. I know that quite a few people were looking for a more "mature" Zelda, with a darker, more realistic look. I personally don't think that would fit very well.

I don't even see any of those really. Most of the criticism, ironically, is extrapolated from an obviously incomplete demo.

I think it looks fine. I know people like to hype things up past realistic levels but they are not individuals who should be bothered with. Now if they aren't interested or expected more cool. But in terms of what was shown to me I saw what looked to be another solid Zelda adventure. Hopefully they spruce it up with some other elements and keep it fresh but nothing shown disappoined me frankly. My expectations weren't high.

I think the main issue is that there was such a dramatic shift from a mature darker toned game, back to a previous style thats been done before "It's been done far too much in my opinion" What makes Skyward sword any different from Windwaker? As a Zelda fan myself I wish the game would mature with me as I grew up with it, Twilight princess was a step in the right direction and if it was implemented properly would have been a great admision to the Zelda franchise, the mistep was not with the graphics I think TP looked great, it was the gameplay itself that was lacking to me. Thats my personal opinion, Mario has matured alot from his early inception...but I don't see the same jump with the last few Zelda games. Hell I don't even care if it's a lighter toned game I want to see how the game matures and becomes more intimate to the players. We have not seen much from Skyward sword but the artstyle in my opinion is akin to taking a step back because WW sold well and TP was a letdown.Jynxzor

Just a clarification. Twilight Princess easily outsold Windwaker.

I think the artstyle is perfect... I havent heard that much Zelda:SS hate...

My concern is that I won't want to play for long play sessions due to the controls being very motion focused.

It looks great to me. I love it's art style.

Because it's not brown enough and primary colors are teh kiddie.

It is not about the graphics.

It's about the gameplay. It looks like the same old been there done that routine. I want a different experience instead of the Waggle fest this looks to be.

The art style in this game is very inconsistent. The monsters and world look like they were designed around Toon Link, but Link's character model is basically a simplified version of the Twilight Princess version. He looks like he's in the wrong game. It's like they tried to combine the look of Twilight Princess with the look of Windwaker, and ended up with something that lacked the personality of either.

Aside from the graphics being disappointingly low-production value, the gameplay looks like a dumbed down version of Twilight Princess with a greater emphasis on waggling. Heck, a friggin' wiimote with the button layout takes up half the ruddy screen! THE GAME USES TWO BUTTONS + WAGGLE, WE DON'T NEED A CONTROLLER MAP ONSCREEN AT ALL TIMES!

Well, so little is shown so far that it's WAY too early to compose an opinion. That said, graphics or controls are not my problem. It's stagnation. So far from what we've seen (again, which is very little) Skyward Sword is closely sticking to the Zelda formula. And that's the problem with Zelda right now. Nothing feels new. Everything is predictable. You get a sword, three hearts, and a green tunic. You got into eight dungeons before fighting Ganon. In each dungeon you solve puzzles, find an item, use said item to solve more puzzles and beat a boss, collect one of four "things", leave the dungeon and never use item again, and repeat till Ganon. That's every freaking Zelda game. It never changes.

Now, the folks at Nintendo have been talking about changing Zelda. Great. My fear is that they may be unaware of what needs changing. It wouldn't be the first time Nintendo has been out of touch with reality. I'm afraid they'll just take the normal Zelda formula, add motion controls, and call it done.

Yes, they're adding a skyworld, but how is that different any other Zelda game? Every modern Zelda game is about two worlds you have to go back and forth from be it an alternate demension, time, twilight realm, or whatever. This time it's the sky...big whoop.

Zelda doesn't need to be dark or have a mature story (that would ruin everything great about Zelda), but it does needs it's foundation shaken. And from what was shown and talked about at E3, the foundation is very very familar territory.

Again, little has been shown, so I could just be worrying about nothing.

It is not about the graphics.

It's about the gameplay. It looks like the same old been there done that routine. I want a different experience instead of the Waggle fest this looks to be.

OwnallConsoles

The art style in this game is very inconsistent. The monsters and world look like they were designed around Toon Link, but Link's character model is basically a simplified version of the Twilight Princess version. He looks like he's in the wrong game. It's like they tried to combine the look of Twilight Princess with the look of Windwaker, and ended up with something that lacked the personality of either.

Aside from the graphics being disappointingly low-production value, the gameplay looks like a dumbed down version of Twilight Princess with a greater emphasis on waggling. Heck, a friggin' wiimote with the button layout takes up half the ruddy screen! THE GAME USES TWO BUTTONS + WAGGLE, WE DON'T NEED A CONTROLLER MAP ONSCREEN AT ALL TIMES!

Timstuff

Heck, a friggin' wiimote with the button layout takes up half the ruddy screen! THE GAME USES TWO BUTTONS + WAGGLE, WE DON'T NEED A CONTROLLER MAP ONSCREEN AT ALL TIMES!

Timstuff

That was just for the E3 demo according to shiggy.

Waggle fest

OwnallConsoles

Where was there waggle?

I don't know. I think the art direction of Skyward looks very good!

Most anticipated game at the moment, well Diablo III is, but this game is right after it. The game is going to amaze me.

Well, so little is shown so far that it's WAY too early to compose an opinion. That said, graphics or controls are not my problem. It's stagnation. So far from what we've seen (again, which is very little) Skyward Sword is closely sticking to the Zelda formula. And that's the problem with Zelda right now. Nothing feels new. Everything is predictable. You get a sword, three hearts, and a green tunic. You got into eight dungeons before fighting Ganon. In each dungeon you solve puzzles, find an item, use said item to solve more puzzles and beat a boss, collect one of four "things", leave the dungeon and never use item again, and repeat till Ganon. That's every freaking Zelda game. It never changes.

Now, the folks at Nintendo have been talking about changing Zelda. Great. My fear is that they may be unaware of what needs changing. It wouldn't be the first time Nintendo has been out of touch with reality. I'm afraid they'll just take the normal Zelda formula, add motion controls, and call it done.

Yes, they're adding a skyworld, but how is that different any other Zelda game? Every modern Zelda game is about two worlds you have to go back and forth from be it an alternate demension, time, twilight realm, or whatever. This time it's the sky...big whoop.

Zelda doesn't need to be dark or have a mature story (that would ruin everything great about Zelda), but it does needs it's foundation shaken. And from what was shown and talked about at E3, the foundation is very very familar territory.

Again, little has been shown, so I could just be worrying about nothing.

goblaa

[QUOTE="goblaa"]

Well, so little is shown so far that it's WAY too early to compose an opinion. That said, graphics or controls are not my problem. It's stagnation. So far from what we've seen (again, which is very little) Skyward Sword is closely sticking to the Zelda formula. And that's the problem with Zelda right now. Nothing feels new. Everything is predictable. You get a sword, three hearts, and a green tunic. You got into eight dungeons before fighting Ganon. In each dungeon you solve puzzles, find an item, use said item to solve more puzzles and beat a boss, collect one of four "things", leave the dungeon and never use item again, and repeat till Ganon. That's every freaking Zelda game. It never changes.

Now, the folks at Nintendo have been talking about changing Zelda. Great. My fear is that they may be unaware of what needs changing. It wouldn't be the first time Nintendo has been out of touch with reality. I'm afraid they'll just take the normal Zelda formula, add motion controls, and call it done.

Yes, they're adding a skyworld, but how is that different any other Zelda game? Every modern Zelda game is about two worlds you have to go back and forth from be it an alternate demension, time, twilight realm, or whatever. This time it's the sky...big whoop.

Zelda doesn't need to be dark or have a mature story (that would ruin everything great about Zelda), but it does needs it's foundation shaken. And from what was shown and talked about at E3, the foundation is very very familar territory.

Again, little has been shown, so I could just be worrying about nothing.

princeofshapeir

"Don't fix it if it ain't broke" is one of the worst attitudes anyone can take. Super Mario Bros isn't broken...so why doesn't Mario Galaxy play just like it? If you keep making the same game over and over, it get's stale.

No, Zelda isn't "broken". It's stale.

[QUOTE="princeofshapeir"][QUOTE="goblaa"]

Well, so little is shown so far that it's WAY too early to compose an opinion. That said, graphics or controls are not my problem. It's stagnation. So far from what we've seen (again, which is very little) Skyward Sword is closely sticking to the Zelda formula. And that's the problem with Zelda right now. Nothing feels new. Everything is predictable. You get a sword, three hearts, and a green tunic. You got into eight dungeons before fighting Ganon. In each dungeon you solve puzzles, find an item, use said item to solve more puzzles and beat a boss, collect one of four "things", leave the dungeon and never use item again, and repeat till Ganon. That's every freaking Zelda game. It never changes.

Now, the folks at Nintendo have been talking about changing Zelda. Great. My fear is that they may be unaware of what needs changing. It wouldn't be the first time Nintendo has been out of touch with reality. I'm afraid they'll just take the normal Zelda formula, add motion controls, and call it done.

Yes, they're adding a skyworld, but how is that different any other Zelda game? Every modern Zelda game is about two worlds you have to go back and forth from be it an alternate demension, time, twilight realm, or whatever. This time it's the sky...big whoop.

Zelda doesn't need to be dark or have a mature story (that would ruin everything great about Zelda), but it does needs it's foundation shaken. And from what was shown and talked about at E3, the foundation is very very familar territory.

Again, little has been shown, so I could just be worrying about nothing.

goblaa

"Don't fix it if it ain't broke" is one of the worst attitudes anyone can take. Super Mario Bros isn't broken...so why doesn't Mario Galaxy play just like it? If you keep making the same game over and over, it get's stale.

No, Zelda isn't "broken". It's stale.

Haven't seen enough to be either impressed or unimpressed. The art style is alright but I prefer Wind Wakers.

From a technical aspect it looks great. I don't know what else people would expect from the Wii's hardware. The artistic style looks interesting and is a step up from cell shaded, as the OP said. As far as gameplay is concerned it's really too soon to judge. We really don't know much about the game and how much (if atall)it changes up the Zelda formula.I'd waittill TGS beforemaking any sort of arguementor genuine hype.

Well, so little is shown so far that it's WAY too early to compose an opinion. That said, graphics or controls are not my problem. It's stagnation. So far from what we've seen (again, which is very little) Skyward Sword is closely sticking to the Zelda formula. And that's the problem with Zelda right now. Nothing feels new. Everything is predictable. You get a sword, three hearts, and a green tunic. You got into eight dungeons before fighting Ganon. In each dungeon you solve puzzles, find an item, use said item to solve more puzzles and beat a boss, collect one of four "things", leave the dungeon and never use item again, and repeat till Ganon. That's every freaking Zelda game. It never changes.

Now, the folks at Nintendo have been talking about changing Zelda. Great. My fear is that they may be unaware of what needs changing. It wouldn't be the first time Nintendo has been out of touch with reality. I'm afraid they'll just take the normal Zelda formula, add motion controls, and call it done.

Yes, they're adding a skyworld, but how is that different any other Zelda game? Every modern Zelda game is about two worlds you have to go back and forth from be it an alternate demension, time, twilight realm, or whatever. This time it's the sky...big whoop.

Zelda doesn't need to be dark or have a mature story (that would ruin everything great about Zelda), but it does needs it's foundation shaken. And from what was shown and talked about at E3, the foundation is very very familar territory.

Again, little has been shown, so I could just be worrying about nothing.

goblaa

I agree with you 100%. The last Zelda game I played that really felt new and refreshing was Majora's Mask but apparently not many people liked it. I personally loved that game and its tied with OOT for my favorite zelda game. Ocarina of Time was something new because it completely changed how the game was played. The awesome(ness??) of going from playing zelda in 2d to playing it in 3d is something that Nintendo will never be quite able to recreate but they can still change up the game in other ways. Majora's mask had the 3 day game mechanic which changed how the whole game was played and it was a very unique experience. Since MM there really has been very little changes in Zelda besides the graphics and Skyward Sword really does not look a whole lot different. Sure you can actually slash your sword by waving the wii remote around but Zelda really is not about combat. Hopefully Nintendo has added something new and exciting besides the motion controls this time but i seriously doubt it.

At first looked very strange, after the initial shock though, i have come to actually like it, has a unique artistic feeling

It just seems so last gen. I mean its on teh wii but this is why I'm dissappointed the wii is such a piece hardware wise. I don't want the game to look ultra realistic, i just want the same style, with super high poly and high res characters and animations that are actually fluid enough to fit into this generation. Little things like that do a lot to make the gameplay feel better, take uncharted for example, its so fluid.

I just wish the wii wasn't so last gen, the game looks archaic. Although other things aside from that should be of quality, meaning design decisions and other aspects.

I haven't seen any problems with it as of now, although I'm not really a big Zelda fan either so its not like I'm psyched for it, but yeah I think it should be about as good as any other Zelda game.

Game's looking great so far! The demo has me excited and I'm sure the finished product will be much improved and even better.

Is no one alarmed by the extensive use of motion control in SWS? I just can't fathom how annoying it will be regardless of how well the motion detection actually is.mysterj

Is no one alarmed by the extensive use of motion control in SWS? I just can't fathom how annoying it will be regardless of how well the motion detection actually is.mysterj

No, that makes it all the more awesome.

Um I've heard nothing but praise and high expectations from actual Wii owners. Of course in System Wars Cows and Lemmings are going to downplay it and take advantage of the cartoony art style.

In reality it will get glowing reviews and sell millions.

Well, so little is shown so far that it's WAY too early to compose an opinion. That said, graphics or controls are not my problem. It's stagnation. So far from what we've seen (again, which is very little) Skyward Sword is closely sticking to the Zelda formula. And that's the problem with Zelda right now. Nothing feels new. Everything is predictable. You get a sword, three hearts, and a green tunic. You got into eight dungeons before fighting Ganon. In each dungeon you solve puzzles, find an item, use said item to solve more puzzles and beat a boss, collect one of four "things", leave the dungeon and never use item again, and repeat till Ganon. That's every freaking Zelda game. It never changes.

Now, the folks at Nintendo have been talking about changing Zelda. Great. My fear is that they may be unaware of what needs changing. It wouldn't be the first time Nintendo has been out of touch with reality. I'm afraid they'll just take the normal Zelda formula, add motion controls, and call it done.

Yes, they're adding a skyworld, but how is that different any other Zelda game? Every modern Zelda game is about two worlds you have to go back and forth from be it an alternate demension, time, twilight realm, or whatever. This time it's the sky...big whoop.

Zelda doesn't need to be dark or have a mature story (that would ruin everything great about Zelda), but it does needs it's foundation shaken. And from what was shown and talked about at E3, the foundation is very very familar territory.

Again, little has been shown, so I could just be worrying about nothing.

goblaa

The only way for Link to claim the Master Sword is to go around Hyrule and earn his honor and reuputation as a hero by righting various wrongs, some of which he is partially responsible for. Hyrule would be in very bad shape, but as the player does his good deeds, the land starts to become brighter and more beautiful with more life everywhere. It's only after Link wins over the hearts and minds of the people of Hyrule that his honor can be restored, and the Master Sword can be reclaimed.

[QUOTE="goblaa"]

Well, so little is shown so far that it's WAY too early to compose an opinion. That said, graphics or controls are not my problem. It's stagnation. So far from what we've seen (again, which is very little) Skyward Sword is closely sticking to the Zelda formula. And that's the problem with Zelda right now. Nothing feels new. Everything is predictable. You get a sword, three hearts, and a green tunic. You got into eight dungeons before fighting Ganon. In each dungeon you solve puzzles, find an item, use said item to solve more puzzles and beat a boss, collect one of four "things", leave the dungeon and never use item again, and repeat till Ganon. That's every freaking Zelda game. It never changes.

Now, the folks at Nintendo have been talking about changing Zelda. Great. My fear is that they may be unaware of what needs changing. It wouldn't be the first time Nintendo has been out of touch with reality. I'm afraid they'll just take the normal Zelda formula, add motion controls, and call it done.

Yes, they're adding a skyworld, but how is that different any other Zelda game? Every modern Zelda game is about two worlds you have to go back and forth from be it an alternate demension, time, twilight realm, or whatever. This time it's the sky...big whoop.

Zelda doesn't need to be dark or have a mature story (that would ruin everything great about Zelda), but it does needs it's foundation shaken. And from what was shown and talked about at E3, the foundation is very very familar territory.

Again, little has been shown, so I could just be worrying about nothing.

Timstuff

The only way for Link to claim the Master Sword is to go around Hyrule and earn his honor and reuputation as a hero by righting various wrongs, some of which he is partially responsible for. Hyrule would be in very bad shape, but as the player does his good deeds, the land starts to become brighter and more beautiful with more life everywhere. It's only after Link wins over the hearts and minds of the people of Hyrule that his honor can be restored, and the Master Sword can be reclaimed.