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Game Ramblings #144 – The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD

More Info from Nintendo

  • Genre: Action RPG
  • Platform: Switch
  • Originally Released On: Wii

Playing remakes is usually a bit weird. They’re typically a mix of nostalgia with enough of a new platform benefit to make replaying worthwhile. Skyward Sword isn’t necessarily different in that regard, although I think a lot of people’s opinion of the original was not great. This one on the other hand benefits from some core things being reimagined – because the Pro Controller is a thing, there’s now a control scheme for this game that isn’t simply motion waggling. While that was a big change that benefited the game a lot, it was interesting seeing where other parts of the game have aged better than others.

The input changes are the obvious focus of this remake, so it’s also the obvious place to start. Waggle sword has been replaced with right analog sword, and in isolation its an interesting and powerful change. The game was able to keep some of the direction based mechanics in an easy to use form factor (ex: scorpion boss requiring specific direction claw strikes). It still has spots where it felt like the responsiveness wasn’t quite there if I didn’t flick at the right speed, but it was a marked improvement over the Wii Remote input system. Nunchuck thrust shield bash has been replaced by a simple click of the left stick. Not having to lift off the movement controls or swing my arms around was a huge boon to shield bashing, and led to me using it to a far greater effect than the original game, despite the fact that my timing still sucks.

On the other hand, having two sticks dedicated to movement and combat means that the camera system is the odd man out. On the one hand, having to hold a button to use the right stick as a camera is still a significant improvement over the original game and other single-analog Zelda experiences. On the other hand, I’m not really entirely sure why they didn’t have an option for a simple L/R camera rotation system. With ZL target locking, having vertical camera movement isn’t super important. Not being able to move the camera at the same time as swinging was definitely a hazard during boss fights to the point where the camera button was frustrating in those situations. It felt like a weird way of trying to blend modern camera systems with a game clearly not built for them when there was likely better intermediate solutions.

On the general gameplay front, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I ended up enjoying the overall meta game. In my original playthrough, I remember being frustrated that there was so much re-traversal of areas that you’d already been to. Compared to previous Zelda games, it felt like a cop out to minimize content production. I don’t know if it’s because Breath of the Wild was so fundamentally different, or that I’ve been playing a whole hell of a lot more Metroidvanias in the last decade, but this go around I really enjoyed it.

Part of this playthrough for me was that I was a lot more intentionally completionist than I typically would be. I was making mental notes of areas that I couldn’t get to, treasures I didn’t have the right tool for, paths I couldn’t make my way through, etc. Because of this, I also had a checklist of new things to do when revisiting an area. Sure there was always a cool new section of the regions to visit, but I also had other things to do – grab heart pieces, grab rupies, grab bugs, get those item upgrades – so revisiting an area never felt like a chore. I think ultimately it comes down to me just playing games differently now than I did at the first release of this game, and the overall meta game setup just hit better for me this go around.

What didn’t hit so well with me was The Imprisoned trilogy of boss fights. The amount of times this thing fell just right to completely block the path, or fell just right to knock me off a cliff DURING ITS OWN CUTSCENE to my doom was obnoxious. I actually died in the second fight because I flippantly started it at low health already, got knocked off the cliff all three times when it collapsed, and died. These fights just didn’t age well, and it was entirely down to bugs.

The other bosses generally worked much better. Some of my frustration with them stemmed from odd camera difficulties that existed in the original game, so in a lot of cases it was expected frustration. I ended up dying my first go around in the final fight against Demise because my shield bash timing was quite frankly that bad. Some of the Ghirahim stuff was mechanically weird in ways I didn’t remember (ex: hold sword to the left as a distraction then QUICKLY do a swipe from the right to damage him?????). By and large though the fights are generally as good as other 3D Zelda games, even if they have the same typically three phase pattern in all of them.

The thing I think I’ve got out of this is that I can recommend Skyward Sword a lot easier than I could before. I always really adored the original game, but I was cognizant of the fact that it was a hard recommendation. The controls were just too inconsistent. However, that’s mostly gone away and the rest of the game has aged well enough that I think it’s worth playing. It’s an interesting transition point between Twilight and Breath where it’s still got the linear dungeon path, but starting to move into some open worldish stuff and upgrade systems, and despite the odd controls it’s a lot of fun to run through. It being readily available on a very popular system also isn’t going to hurt its case. If you’re looking for that classic 3D Zelda itch, you probably won’t do better any time soon.

Also, the cat dog bird thing is a jerk.

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Shelved It #11 – Scarlet Nexus

More Info from Bandai Namco

  • Genre: Action RPG
  • Platfrom: PS5
  • Also Available On: PS4, PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S

This game sits firmly within the good but not great quality band. It does some things well; overall world building, base combat. It does some things poorly; longevity and balance curve, storytelling choices. Where it ends up fitting is that while I was having fun when I was playing the game, it ended up missing that thing that really grabbed me to keep playing the game, or even choose it over others. With Skyward Sword coming in yesterday and Diablo III on Switch back to filling a lot of smaller time gaps, it lost the battle.

Combat is where the game really continued to draw me in, but it’s also where the game ultimately caused me to back away, so we’ll start there.

The game is an action RPG that combines pretty basic controls (a couple of attacks and dodge) with a more complex backing system of powers. The powers are where the real interest lies. This runs the range from gravity manipulation to time manipulation to electric attack buffs. The gravity manipulation is also the player’s core ability, and it’s tied to a meter charged via attacks. What this ends up doing is causing a satisfying rhythm to form in combat. Do a few attacks up close, dodge out to range, then lay in with the telekenesis attacks.

Where this really gets fun is that you’re effectively borrowing and combining powers from your party members to activate and use to your advantage. Enemy goes into hiding when you get close? Combine time manipulation to slow them down with electric to stun them. Need to knock a flying monster out of the air? Use the duplication power combined with the player’s own gravity manipulation to huck some projectiles their way. The combinations are a lot of fun to learn.

However, that learning stopped far too early. By about the 10 hour mark, I was no longer seeing new enemies. Sure, their levels would be higher, and sure they may have some new wrinkles in terms of debuffs or actions, but the approach was the same. This was also met with an unfortunately common tactic of just adding more. More enemies, more debuffs, more ranged attacks being thrown your way. Rather than being rhythmic, the combat became chaotic. It was no longer challenging because of learning and using the right things, but challenging because the window to attack became so small. I’d run around dodging things until my powers came up (particularly the time manipulation and invisibility), get in a few attacks, then go back to dodging. It was slow and trudging, which is the opposite of the first 10 hours, which are fast and exciting.

Typically speaking that wouldn’t have been enough to run me away from the game, but the story side of things was similarly unbalanced in terms of how I liked it.

The world building side of all of this was something I really liked. The tl;dr is that this is a future Earth where some apocalypse event caused by an atmospheric belt has caused demonic monsters to invade and attack humanity. Humanity has managed to get to a point where people are basically part of two classes – those with powers and those without, and those with powers are effectively conscripted into the military to defend the remains of humanity, while those without are shunned. At its core, this is a fun potential setting, and in a lot of ways the first arc of the game is really enjoyable. I was able to sink into the setting while enjoying the way that the events around was presented.

However, again around the 10 hour mark things started to sour. At this point, the split character choice at the beginning of the game reared its ugly side. This point of the game put me in a place where the two main character’s stories diverged heavily. What this ended up resulting in as far as the first play through goes is that I was seeing one side of the game, then when the two stories intersected there was a big knowledge gap and a lot of “how the hell did you guys get here?”. Since seeing the other side of the story involves starting from scratch, it left a lot of confusion. It’s not that I inherently like games that hop you between two characters a lot, but it solves this issue particularly well, and it becomes pretty obvious why hopping characters in a split story is a better option. Ultimately I think the anime that’s currently running will do a much better job of keeping my attention since it will avoid this issue.

I guess the unfortunate thing is I’m left wanting to like this game more than I did. It has enough going positively for it that it doesn’t feel that far away from being a truly good game. The things that I find wrong with it aren’t egregious problems, but are polish issues that never happened. What it ended up being was a game that couldn’t keep my attention in long enough stints to allow me to finish it before something higher priority came out, and with so much coming out every month it’s hard for me to give it a boost above so many other things.

What I will say is that I would probably recommend catching the anime. It may not be the most original, but there’s an interesting core world here, and presented in a fashion that does a better job of making a coherent story path, I think there’s a lot to enjoy – just not quite in a game form.

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Game Ramblings #143 – Watch Dogs: Legion

More Info from Ubisoft

  • Genre: Action/Adventure
  • Platform: PS5
  • Also Available On: PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series, PC, Stadia

I really enjoyed Watch Dogs 2. Ya, it’s clearly an Ubisoft open world game with all the things that come with that. Ya, it’s clearly got some elements of Grand Theft Auto. However, where it stood out was in its use of stealth and hacking to make direct combat largely a choice, and not a necessity. Legion continues that path, and improves in it in a number of ways. While some of their story and metagame choices didn’t hit as well as me, the stealth aspects alone ended up being enough for me to recommend this one.

We’re starting here because the stealth spider is where I spent probably 75% of my game time. I’m not kidding. As a gadget, it does damn near everything the player can do in terms of the core loop in Watch Dogs. It can take out guards, it can hack things, it can open doors, it can pick up items. What it also does is give a much smaller visual footprint, allowing for an even better ability to hide. It transforms the series from something where a stealth focus feels like a fun but lucky situation into a place where stealth is absolutely a primary way to play the game.

However, this thing isn’t just useful for stealth on its own. Outside of combat and need to get in tight spaces? Use the spider. Stuck in cover trying not to get shot? Toss the spider thing out to flank your enemies and start taking them out one by one to open things up a bit for you. Need some sight lines but don’t have a camera to hack? Toss the spider out to a spot with a better vantage point. It’s such a versatile tool that in a lot of cases it would feel incredibly overpowered. However, in game like Watch Dogs? It just makes sense thematically with all the hacking and hi-tech involved, and makes sense within the gameplay where stealth as a full-time option is already encouraged.

If there’s anything I really had a big issue with, it’s around the story. It’s not that I found it bad – generally speaking I found the overall story to be fairly interesting – it just felt unfocused.

One of the big marketing features around the game was that you can recruit anyone and play as anyone. That’s pretty close to true. If you see someone that you find interesting in the world, you can start a recruitment mission for them. Finish up the mission, and they’re added to your team roster. You can hot swap to them at any time and go right away. If you die in a mission, the person that died can either be perma-dead or on a bit of a timeout, depending on the difficulty you choose. This part is all pretty interesting. You can build out your roster focusing on the skill set you want – whether it’s hacking, weapons, stealth, team buffs, etc. In that regard, I think the system succeeded.

However, on the story front it felt less successful. Since anyone can be thrown into the story at any time, it felt like the story happened around the team members. If they die, it’s not generally a big deal. They’re replaceable. They each have some voice acting, but most of the story is presented by fixed members, whether it be your AI assistant, the DedSec London leader, or the antagonists. From a story perspective, it doesn’t really matter who you’re playing as so in that regard the stakes for individual team members feel pretty low. Within the overall narrative, you have an interesting tech-focused story, but it feels like something that happens regardless of who you’re playing as. It was kind of a weird thing that I never really could reconcile in my head, and it resulted in the gameplay being the thing that drove me forward, and not so much caring about where the story was going to end up.

Luckily, this is a game I would recommend on the basis of its gameplay alone. The core game is fun enough. Combat works pretty well, driving works pretty well, the upgrade systems work pretty well, there’s enough fun side content to do between story missions. However, the star of the show is the stealth aspects for me. Those alone make this game one that will bring me back when the DLC expansion comes out, and it’s enough to have me looking forward to the future of this series.