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The game's storyline is the earliest in Zelda continuity, preceding The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Skyward Sword follows an incarnation of the series protagonist Link who was raised in a society above the clouds known as Skyloft. After his closest childhood friend, Zelda, is swept into the land below the clouds by demonic forces, Link does whatever it takes to save her, travelling between Skyloft and the surface below while battling the dark forces of the self proclaimed "Demon Lord", Ghirahim.
Upon release, the game received universal critical acclaim, receiving perfect scores from publications including IGN, Wired, Edge, Famitsu, Game Informer, and Eurogamer. Much of the praise was directed at the game's intuitive motion based swordplay and the changes it brought to the Zelda franchise.
Plot
In the chronology of the series, Skyward Sword is a prequel to Ocarina of Time, and elaborates on the origins of the Master Sword and Ganondorf. According to legend, after the creation of Hyrule, the Triforce was entrusted by the Golden Goddesses Din, Farore and Nayru to the deity known as Hylia. However, the Demon King Demise gathered an army to take the Triforce for his own evil intent. Using her power to create the floating islands called Skyloft to keep the Hylians and the Triforce safe, Hylia and the remaining tribes—the Ancient Robots, the Parella, the Kikwis, the Gorons, and the Mogmas—battled Demise's horde before the demon was defeated.
The plot begins many years after the prologue and follows an incarnation of the protagonist Link, who was born and raised in Skyloft, who begins to have dreams of a strange figure. Woken up by his childhood friend Zelda, Link gets ready for the Wing Ceremony, a tradition to acknowledge one as knight. Link completes the ceremony after overcoming the attempts of a classmate, Groose (バド Bado?), to sabotage him. However, Zelda is then taken in by a storm which sucks her down to the still demon-infested Hyrule. Soon after, Link learns that the figure from his dream is Fi (ファイ Fai?), the spirit of the Goddess Sword which Hylia created in case the evil she defeated was to stir again. With guidance from an elderly woman in the Sealed Shrine, Link pursues Zelda to the Skyview Spring where he encounters the Demon Lord Ghirahim, who is responsible for Zelda's predicament. However, tracking her down to the Earth Spring, Link learns that Zelda is being protected by a mysterious woman named Impa. It is later at the Lanayru Mines that Link receives the Goddess Harp from Zelda, as she and Impa depart into the past through a Gate of Time before it is destroyed during the fight with Ghirahim. Later, when Groose ends up following Link to the surface before fighting the monster known as the "The Imprisoned", the elderly woman advises Link to seek out three sacred flames of the Golden Goddesses in order to increase the power of his sword to activate the second Gate of Time within the temple. Along the way, he also strengthens his spirit through the trials set by the three Goddesses. Once all three flames are infused into it, the Goddess Sword transforms into the Master Sword and he is able to enter the Gate of Time, arriving in the time period where Demise was just recently sealed away by the Goddess.
Zelda reveals she is the reincarnation of Hylia herself; her trip to the Springs meant to restore her past life's memory before traveling back in time to enter a deep sleep in order to keep Demise's seal active so that The Imprisoned, Demise's cursed form, cannot break free. She tasks Link to search for the Triforce hidden in Skyloft to destroy Demise. Once acquiring the complete Triforce in the present, Link uses its power to crush The Imprisoned under the descending Isle of the Goddess. Soon after, Zelda awakens from her slumber and is reunited with Link and Groose. However, the reunion is cut short by Ghirahim as he kidnaps Zelda before entering the Gate of Time, intending to resurrect Demise in the past.
Despite Link's attempt to stop him, Ghirahim succeeds sacrificing Zelda's life force to The Imprisoned. It reverts into Demise, who reveals Ghirahim to be his sword. He challenges Link to battle, impressed with the youth's bravery. Link manages to mortally wound Demise in their epic battle, giving Zelda back her soul in the process. In his final words, Demise swears that his hatred will be reborn (as Ganondorf) and will haunt the descendants of Link and Zelda for all time, before he disperses into a mist which is then absorbed by the Master Sword. With her mission done, Fi asks Link to place the Master Sword into the shrine's pedestal while she enters a deep sleep. Link and Zelda also say their goodbyes to Impa, who is revealed to be of this time and must watch over the Master Sword to ensure Demise's destruction. Link, Zelda, and Groose return to the present, where the elderly woman reveals herself to be Impa before she finally passes on after fulfilling her duty. After saying their goodbyes to Groose, Zelda admits to Link that she wishes to stay in Hyrule, and Link decides to stay as well, while both of their Loftwings fly off in the distance.
Review
Pairing itself with Wii MotionPlus, Skyward Sword's 1:1 combat is a revelation. I never want to play a Zelda game any other way again, and playing through this makes me wonder why we didn't see motion control of this quality before. The responsiveness and intuitiveness of the entire arrangement is superb. The applications of Motion Plus never step into gimmicky territory. Guiding your mechanical flying Beetle, rolling bombs, swimming in water and soaring through the sky by pivoting and flicking the remote not only feels natural, it makes you wonder how you ever played an action game that wasn't on Wii. Zelda: Skyward Sword is the purest, most perfect realization of Nintendo's ambitious goals for motion-controlled gaming. It somehow took five years, but the definitive proof plays out before you on the screen.
The new combat system requires skill and patience. Though impulsive, unpredictable waggling can get some results, most enemies are programmed to react to such behavior, and they'll punish you for it. On occasion my temper would get the best of me against an enemy, but swinging my remote faster didn't help. Some enemies anticipate your moves or use their weapons to block certain attacks, making routine fights far more challenging and complicated than in past Zelda games. None of your enemies are overtly difficult, but the added complexity, combined with more sophisticated puzzles and world designs, make each victory that much sweeter. What Ocarina of Time started with lock-on targeting, Skyward Sword perfects by adding layers of nuanced strategy. You'll rarely die, but you'll find yourself working hard to defeat and out-maneuver your opponents.
Combat isn't the only area of the game that's become more thought-provoking. Nintendo has changed the concept of dungeons and the overworld itself. Previously, a wide open mainland would branch off to smaller areas that would lead to vast dungeons. That concept effectively ends in Skyward Sword. Though the sky realm is a huge area to navigate, it's generally just used as a way to access different regions in the land below. The game wisely implements a quick travel system early on, allowing Link to rapidly access areas he has already explored and removing a potentially tedious element. There is a slight disconnect between the earthly realms, but that does serve to add a sense of wonder about the unknown, particularly when huge areas of your map remain blank.
The changes don't end there. Not only is travel faster, but the surface world packs in an enormous amount of content. Taking a page from Metroid, Skyward Sword requires you to travel repeatedly back to familiar environments, each time altering some key attribute or providing you with new tools to make the experience completely fresh. New areas and paths lead to vast, unexplored territory that is just as deep, important and engrossing as any of the material that preceded it. Combat aside, Nintendo's greatest achievement in Skyward Sword just might be its new approach to designing its worlds. Arriving at dungeons and temples now takes hours, and none of that time is wasted. The sheer brilliance on display here, evident more and more as you journey deeper into the game, will stun even the most jaded gamer.
Dungeons are now smaller, and tired staples like lighting torches and endlessly pushing blocks are largely absent in favor of far more creative concepts that frequently use all of the items at Link's disposal. Some dungeons even relish forcing you to methodically work one item to the next, a reminder that you have many tools at your disposal. Skyward Sword's dungeons not only manage to progressively get better, they're some of the most genius designs ever seen in the Zelda series. The final temple just might be the best Nintendo has ever created.
Despite their polarizing, standard definition nature, Skyward Sword's visuals count amongst its strongest points. Nintendo has finally found a style that perfectly embodies the Zelda series. By capturing the maturity of Twilight Princess and the vibrant, youthful energy of Wind Waker, this franchise now has the perfect outlet to fully express itself without compromise. Full of bizarre, quirky characters as well as creatures from the darkness, Nintendo has found a tone that captures the best of both ideas while still serving the most important element of all - the gameplay.
Great graphics don't always revolve around polygon counts and high-res textures. Where Skyward manages to excel, and completely overcome its hardware limitations, is its creative and inventive art direction. The minimalist approach not only serves the game's tone but allows the designers to come up with outlandish environments and creatures that wouldn't work in a more realistic setting. Animation and character expressions are equally well done, and are largely responsible for why the game's cinematics work so effectively. Nintendo also implemented a clever, distance-based filter that blurs objects and scenery further in the background. Though initially jarring, it actually has a rather painterly quality to it that hides its attempt to help Wii cope with the game's epic scale.
Music has always been an important element of the Zelda series, increasingly so when Ocarina of Time tied gameplay and sound together over a decade ago. Skyward Sword represents a shift in that dynamic, confining the involvement of music and instruments largely to optional tasks or the plot itself. Don't expect acquiring the harp to significantly change how you'll play the game. Songs are generally discovered and played once as Link continues his adventure. Beyond that, expect to only play strings when Link needs a bit of extra health or wants a hint from a Gossip Stone.
The standard for music in the Zelda series is very high. While this legacy makes it difficult to rank this score above other titles, some of the themes in Skyward Sword stand alongside Zelda's best, utilizing orchestral music for the first time in the franchise's history. Nintendo was very selective in its usage of the orchestra, opting only for sequences that were very grand in scope. The music that plays as Link flies through the sky is a great example of this.
No game is perfect, and Skyward Sword suffers from a few small issues. Every now and then the camera isn't quite in the position it ought to be. The Wii Remote will require calibration here and there, and somehow seems to know when doing so will be most inconvenient. The framerate will dip now and then, and of course the game is constrained by Wii's processing power as well. By and large the biggest amount of grief will come from whether or not the game is meeting some fans' expectations. Key ideas or iconic franchise concepts - you won't see the Iron Knuckle or the infamous Cuccoos here - were thrown out entirely in the name of evolution. All of these are fair observations, but ultimately they pale when compared to Skyward Sword's strengths. In many ways this game represents a breath of fresh air, the next major step for a superb franchise. It's hard to even care about small problems when you're watching Nintendo lay out its vision for the future of its grandest saga.
Closing Comments
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword will be remembered for revitalizing a franchise that had, for a time, seemingly settled for being merely great instead of revolutionary. Once again, Nintendo is demonstrating its unparalleled ability to craft some of the greatest gameplay this industry has ever seen. Remarkably, this Zelda game manages to reshape its control scheme, design sensibility and pacing all at once while still telling a brilliantly powerful story featuring some very memorable characters. Increasingly Nintendo refuses to compromise cinematic storytelling for gameplay, finding a balance that seems effortless.
It's fitting that Skyward Sword arrives on Zelda's 25th anniversary, because it truly pulls from the franchise's entire history, even addressing the winding narrative directly within its story. It captures a grandness and scope we haven't seen since the 2D era. It advances combat and control in the most significant way since Ocarina of Time. It finds a tonal and visual harmony between Wind Waker and Twilight Princess. And, most importantly, it leaves a mark on the franchise that future installments will no doubt draw inspiration from for years to come.
This is the Wii game we've been waiting for. Through all of the mini-games and odd sports collections, many wondered if and when Nintendo would ever find a way to deliver a deeper experience that still fulfilled on Wii's limitless potential. Skyward Sword makes good on that promise.
source: wikipedia, ign
Posted in: Action
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