This review contains spoilers

Well, here we are. 4 to 5 god damn months later after setting out to replay and re-review the game. I have been very busy lately and not willing to update things here since the review process takes a while for me and I dread a set of reviews that I need to write coming up. Well, I don't NEED to do it, but I want to remain consistent in reviewing games I've completed. I just haven't had the energy for it. it tends to wear on me quick. A mutual asked what my backlog was like so I came back for reference and decided "Fuck it, imma continue with it". I finished my second playthrough a few weeks after I initially set out to do it. Now I can try to write up an updated review if I can correctly parse and remember my thoughts and feelings. Alright, so my feelings about the game have changed in different ways in a few areas. Let's start with the big thing: the controls. The gimmick of using motion controls with items I had a bit more respect for this time around, appreciating how intuitive SOME of them were. However, the novelty wore off really quick and it just started to piss me off after a while. I'm not entirely sure why, but I struggled with the combat much more in my second playthrough. I think somehow it became harder for me to wrap my head around trying to play the game left-handed when the game was not designed with any consideration for left-handedness AT ALL. I had to switch to my right hand to clumsily work my way through the Demise fight. Even so, it was just as easy as I remember it being. I didn't mind some of the dungeons in this game this time around compared to the first time. Upgrading adventure pouch inventory was a bit annoying. The upgrade system in general was an interesting one. I would've preferred not to have it but it's fine for what it is. The durability system for the shields was also alright and got only a little annoying. I don't think I hated it, but having the indestructible Hylian Shield was nice. Holy fuck, Fi. We've GOT to talk about Fi and the tutorial. It's been told to hell and back, but Fi is quite annoying, which I noticed on my first playthrough but felt even more on my second. I didn't notice it first time around, but the game really treats the game like it's baby's first Zelda with the tutorials and how it tells the story. Just as an example, Link was tutorialised early on how to perform a certain action, I don't remember what it was, I think it was throwing bombs. A bit later, a Mogma asks Link if he knows how to do said mechanic, and the player is prompted to answer with a yes or a no. Even if the player makes Link say yes, he knows how to do the mechanic and doesn't need to be told, the Mogma will tell him anyway. In hindsight, this may have been idiot proofing in case someone accidentally picked yes instead of no, since the controls are less than phenomenal, but in the moment it seemed really idiotic and weird. But yeah, with the way the story is told, Link is instructed where to go or what to do, and the player is taught how to play, I never had my hand held so much before, even when I was a barely sentient toddler incapable of forming thoughts or doing anything on my own. The game had solid art direction and the music was great, as always. Overall, I still did not enjoy the game a whole lot. That's not to say that the game is a horrid load of old rubbish, there Certainly are ones that shoulDn't exIst out there that don't even come close to the level of quality that Skyward Sword does have going for it. It's not abject hatred, just a general dislike.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS:
Well Skyward Sword. What can I say about this one? Let me start by saying it has been a long while since I played Skyward Sword and I need to revisit it to get my feelings re-evaluated and properly in order like I did with the others. As you can probably see, I am currently in the middle of my second run-through and will add my updated feelings about it once Demise takes his final breath. I will then tack on this review as "First Impressions" at the end of the updated review.
I will say, I didn't really care for it. I wouldn't say I found it egregious, but I did not like it. The motion controls were very gimmicky but were fun at times. It had a lot of cool ideas, some executed better than others. The main complaint that I have, which still holds on my second playthrough, is that the gameplay is detrimental to left-handed individuals such as myself. This is the first Zelda game in which Link is right-handed unless you want to count the Wii version of Twilight Princess. It is easy to understand why. It needs to be playable for right-handed individuals, but there NEEDS to be some sort of accommodation for left-handed individuals. All they had to do was include a mirrored version of the game that worls for left-handed people. Twilight Princess on the Wii had a mirror mode (which I think was Hero Mode NG+, don't hold me to that. I have the GameCube version of Twilight Princess where that doesn't exist) and the default version was itself mirrored from the GameCube original so that Link was right-handed, so there is no excuse to not have something like that in Skyward Sword. It wasn't really that much of a problem until the Demise fight. I had to use my right hand just to defeat the bastard 'cos the nature of the fight made it impossible to do left-handed. Maybe I can put a mirror up in front of my CRT or something, put the sensor bar on the mirror, and try to play it that way? It will be mega-fucked, but maybe it can work. I'll give it a go.
Anyway, the game is not that great, and I probably would never have revisited it had I not felt the need for story and reassessment. It does look great, though.

Reviewed on Aug 18, 2023


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