I've been a huge Zelda fan my whole life, Ocarina of Time is my favorite game of all time. However, I just never got around to playing Skyward Sword until now. So, I finally bought the game and popped it in my Wii only to get a disc read error. After several attempts to get it to work, I decided to try some other Wii games; nothing. So, with over a year of inactivity apparently taking it's toll on the disc drive, I was forced to turn to other options.

Seeing as I own the game and a Wii, resorting to using an emulator, while not ideal, is perfectly legal, so I set about finding a way to get the game playable without the use of a Wii remote (my PC doesn't have bluetooth). A few google searches later, and I was playing Skyward Sword in HD with an Xbox 360 controller. Surprisingly, the controller config file I downloaded allowed for every function the game would want from you to be performed with only the use of the 360 controller. I played the entire game this way, and save for a few very rare instances where I struggled a bit to perform certain actions, the game played great on a gamepad.

So, I find myself in a unique position where I have experienced Skyward Sword without the element of motion controls ever entering the equation. I did not experience the revelatory Wii remote realization as some did, nor did I experience utter disdain for the main input method as others did. I experienced Skyward Sword as just another Zelda game, removed from all the drama the motion controls added.

So, with motion controls off the table, how did I like Skyward Sword?

I thought it was excellent.

While not the best Zelda game, it is certainly another fantastic entry in the storied franchise. As many have maligned, it doesn't stray too far from the established formula, but it does try more new things than Twilight Princess did. I particularly liked the improvements made to the non dungeon gameplay. The dungeons were also good, and I liked how every item gets a fair bit of use, unlike some other Zelda games where the more unique items are forgotten as soon as the dungeon you get them in ends. The puzzles will never seem as devious or challenging as they did when I was a kid, but I still enjoyed solving them. Even with a gamepad I liked the new wrinkles added to combat. Having enemies that block directionally, while by no means challenging, adds another layer to the combat that was welcome.

Skyward Sword isn't perfect, but I can't think of much about that I didn't like. The Zelda formula is beginning to overstay it's welcome, and if the next game has the same contrivances that this one did ("You need to complete these trials before I give you this extremely important thing because this is a Zelda game!") I will probably begin to grow tired of the series. The lack of voice acting was a real bummer, especially considering the high quality of the cutscenes and animations. Not that I was expecting voice acting, but if they are really taking a hard look at the Zelda design formula for the next game, voice acting is something that would really be a meaningful addition to the series.

So, yeah I realize it's a little late to be talking about this game, but I just finished it and I needed to get this out. If we can have a new Mass Effect 3 thread every week, we can certainly stand to talk about Zelda too. For those those of you that have played this, do you feel like the motion controls added to the experience? I know I really enjoyed playing this in a more a traditional way, but then again I have never really liked motion controls anyway.

Mods, if talking about playing this on an emulator is unacceptable for Giant Bomb, I apologize.

I would have much preferred to play it in the more traditional way. While I enjoyed it, I definitely had some problems with the motion controls. There were quite a few battles where it wouldn't register what I was doing and that was kind of frustrating.

I am curious on how the controls were for the controller, though? Considering that you were able to slice in every direction, how did the controls incorporate that?

The lack of motion control sounds like it would make that game a whole lot more playable. 90% of that game's difficulty, for me, was trying to get it to properly register my movements.

I'm wondering: how does it adapt the inward/outward movement, and how does it handle the tilting/turning movement?

@Cyrus_Saren:

The sword was on the right stick. With the right trigger held, the right stick was directional sword strikes, without the right trigger held, the right stick would move your sword around without swinging.

I'm shocked, because aside from the story and the style of the game, I thought the only impressive thing about it was the motion controls (even though I don't really want them in my Zelda games). If it weren't for the interesting ways they used the controller, I think this might have wound up being one of my least favorite console Zeldas.

@project343:

I don't know exactly how everything would have been performed on a wii remote. For instance, the bird and beetle are simple controlled with the analog sticks. Left stick for horizontal movement, right stick for vertical movement. I just downloaded the config file without looking too closely at the bindings, but pretty much everything worked how I naturally assumed it would.

@Wrighteous86: Well, It's not as good as Wind Waker or Ocarina of Time for sure, and I probably like it about the same as Majora's Mask and Twilight Princess, so I guess technically it is one of my least favorite 3D Zelda's as well, but even an average Zelda game is better than 90% of the games on the market IMO.

Yeah, the motion controls ruined that game for me. Would love to play it with a controller.

The weird thing about this is I thought the motion controls were kind of the best thing about it. The only redeeming thing about the story was how it ended, a few of the bosses repeated a few too many times, too blatant recycling of environments without making them exciting, and some of the more interesting items weren't used nearly enough.

While I'm glad somebody has found a way to play it without motion controls for those who don't want them, all my issues with it seem entirely unrelated to how it controls.

@Lyisa: I understand most of your complaints, but the thing about items. There was no spinner equivalent in this game. Every item gets used in at least a couple of dungeons, which was an improvements over some previous games.

@ll_Exile_ll said:

@Cyrus_Saren:

The sword was on the right stick. With the right trigger held, the right stick was directional sword strikes, without the right trigger held, the right stick would move your sword around without swinging.

That actually sounds a lot better than using motion controls. I thought it was going to be something like that.

The motion controls were the least of this game´s problems. For a Zelda game it had incredibly linear and restrictive design. And don´t get me started on the backtracking through the same old tube like environments.. that Volcano part was the WORST.

I actually thought the motion controls enhanced certain gameplay elements, mostly the swordfighting against single opponents. Having an option to go for traditional controls is always welcome though. I had kinda hoped for this to happen after the first wave of Wii games. It never did :(

Meh, the only real problem I had with the motion controls were when swimming or using the beetle where it would completely desync and Link would constantly swim to the left no matter what. For aiming and fighting I rather liked it. I liked the addition of a sprint instead of rolling/walking backwards everywhere too. 
  
There were other issues that I thought were more pressing but overall it was a decent game. I don't think I will replay it on hero mode for a while though.