So, SO many people absolutely despise Skyward Sword. When you ask anyone on the internet what the worst canonical Zelda game in the history of the series is, you're almost guaranteed to hear someone say this one is the culprit. And from a certain standpoint, yes, I can sympathize with the massive amount of disappointment this game got. Exploration was barely possible and often fruitless in the tightly-confined overworld, backtracking to previously-visited areas to advance the main quest is a VERY frequent occurrence, your companion made most of the puzzles and dungeons you come across a complete joke if they weren't already, one particular boss is fought a grand total of three goddamn times in just one playthrough, and the motion control didn't add anything into the already stagnant 3D Zelda formula. Then there was the Groosenator, the harp sections, the fucking ancient robot helper guy... What could anyone possibly even like about this game?!
But I still liked it. Even with a trifling amount of Zelda experience beforehand, I still enjoyed it. Maybe that's why I'm stupid and that's why it wasn't a huge disappointment to me, but even with the odd, unnecessary changes to the formula, I found things to love about this game.
First and foremost, I was absolutely infatuated with the game's art style. It burst with color at every seam; even the dry, dirty desert region was fun to look at when you found the time warping mechanic and you got to run around through two conflicting art schemes. All the characters were chock full of animation and livelihood - let's face it, there's a reason why Groose got as popular as he was. Every cloth, every hair, every limb on every NPC's body was in motion compared to the soulless, rigorous figures in past Zelda titles. Just the way they looked told a story about them, and Zelda's redesign for this game in particular is my favorite out of any of the Zeldas to date.
Another bullet point that makes Skyward Sword enjoyable to me was all the new things it was willing to try. This game allowed you to sprint, introduced precision sword swinging (which, while most people would complain, I had barely any trouble with the WiiMotion Plus registering the direction of my sword swings, so if you ask me, it's mainly operator error), a fucking mountable flying bird creature (that admittedly controls like feces, but that's besides the point), an inventory system (that most people again complained about, but if you ask me, it adds a bit of complexion to the game, having you choose which items are most important to you in the heat of battle), and introduced plenty of new and exciting gadgets like the beetle launcher and yes, the goofy-but-fun-to-use leaf-blower-lookin' thingy, rather than simply giving you the same damn boomerang-bow-and-arrow-hookshot-mirror-shield bullshit that Ocarina, Wind Waker, and Twilight Princess were ALL guilty of. It wasn't afraid to branch off and try new things, and while not every addition was welcome - the harp and the flying bird spring to mind immediately - there were some new features that genuinely pleased me.
And the soundtrack? Don't even get me started. It's one of my favorites out of every Zelda title hands-down. The orchestra did a knockout job; I loved the blissful melodies that played when I faffed about Skyloft, I loved the chilling tension coming from the boss fight music, and Fi's Theme in particular almost has me in tears every time I hear it. It's just so amazing, and to think that the sound directors took Zelda's Lullaby, REVERSED IT, and made it into something as epic as the game's main theme is truly astounding to me.
Aesthetically, I can see why everyone shits on this game at every opportunity they can get, but I was enthralled enough by the artistic design and the atmosphere enough to finish the game. To date, it's one of the only Zelda game's I've played to completion. Maybe I'm an idiot for that, who knows, but I just don't think Skyward Sword gets a fair shake nowadays.
...get it? Shake? Cause of the WiiMotion Plu- ah, forget it.
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