Probably one of, if not my favorite episode of this so far. The meta-gaming against Dan is beautiful.
They briefly mention it, but I really wonder this would've been like if they hadn't made the coins give spins. I might've been against it at first, but in the long run it's been a good thing.
Also hot take: I think original Donkey Kong is bad to play and was my least favorite thing in this game besides the races.
@epidehl: When criticizing Skyward Sword, GB always seems to focus on the slow start/Fi, but I think the game has other significant failings.
Namely, the game’s 6 or so dungeons feel well crafted, but the rest of the game felt extremely thin and it recycles areas in a disappointing way for a top-tier Nintendo game.
That said, I do think Skyward Sword does story pretty well, with an interesting origin story that isn’t *too* retconny. Good characters, especially Groose and original villain Ghirahim, though he goes sadly underexplained other than maybe he was some kind of minor demon trying to summon the demon king? Also, the game laid the groundwork of the Zelda team trying out new ideas like breakable equipment (shields), gathering crafting materials, stamina meter, etc,. which eventually helped Breath of the Wild make big changes.
I'm not going to try and ignore everything else you posted (it's probably valid, I admittedly haven't played it since it came out and I basically remember the positives + Fi's over-explanation sucking), but this is really the important part for me.
The things you mention it doing well (Dungeons, Story, Characters/Villains) matter WAYYYYY more to me than anything else. It'll probably be un-surprising to hear that I didn't like Breath of the Wild because I felt like it dropped the ball real hard in all those areas (except maybe characters, but even then there's only 2 I really liked and they're not in it much). I would rather go back to a handful of areas that I thought were cool and interesting than slog through the (in my opinion) pretty dull open world that BotW had. I'll also admit this is probably a "Me" thing as other games that people have infamously had issues with "recycled areas" and "backtracking" have never bothered me, because I liked other stuff about it enough (See: Devil May Cry 4).
Still, it bums me out to hear people so roundly shit on it when I thought it did a lot of stuff really well and is more than a "slow intro" which, like you said, is all anyone really seems to say and it just feels lazy at some point, which is honestly where more of my issues lie. I can definitely see where all of that other stuff brings it down for a lot of people, for instance.
As an aside: I believe Ghirahim is explained as basically being an equivalent to Fi for the villain, but with more autonomy I guess. Like I said, I haven't played it in a while so I don't remember a ton of specifics.
I love Skyward Sword. As a long time JRPG guy, the long opening never bothered me and I enjoyed all the motion control stuff. I'll agree Fi is bad, but in the grand scheme that's my only real problem with the game. Probably in my top 3 Zelda's.
I was gonna say the 80s song stuff was getting old (as someone who loves cheese and most of the mentioned songs), but going all in on making list has brought me around on it. Good shit.
Also DEFINITELY making a playlist as the list is built
@homelessbird: Yeah, but if a game explains it's mechanics upfront then it's "hand-holding" and we all know how unacceptable that is.
This mentality is honestly the thing that has always kept me away from these hardcore RPGs, asking you to make a bunch of stat choices off the bat with little to no idea how they'll actually manifest has always seemed bad. And the "just start over then!" solution is even worse.
Having a greatest of all time year personally, so every time someone says it's been "weak" it always feels so weird. KH3, MK11 and DMC5 were all incredible for me, as were Fire Emblem and Astral Chain.
Definitely more that I've enjoyed than the past couple of years where I could barely make a top 5 honestly. Though them saying it's weak and being excited for CoD just shows a difference in tastes I suppose.
Also beginning of next year seems like a bunch of BANGERS personally (Crystal Chronicles and TMS#FE remasters are only the beginning).
@gundato: In addition to what the other guy said, the one in the bottom right tends to be called "Mechagodzilla II", but not in this game for some reason.
There's also something I enjoy about Jeff describing the "obvious" plot for the Mechagodzilla movies and it's actually the plot of... None of them. The first one was built by ALIENS and the second one is just the government, no stealing plans or anything.
There's also one from the early 00s where they built it using the literal skeleton of the original Godzilla which goes hilariously bad.
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