5/5 ★ – Lazurus3P's review of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD.

Review God(dess) Tier Pros: - Honestly, pretty much everything is a pro in this game. I am blown away by how much I loved Skyward Sword. I was expecting to like it, simply because of the motion controls, but not to the degree that I did. I ranked it above Wind Waker for crying out loud, that is insane. I may put it lower than Wind Waker, but as of right now I can’t think of an argument for why it should be below Wind Waker. - I want to start by talking about the ending of this game. The ending had a profound effect on me, particularly during Fi’s departure, and of course everything with Zelda and Link. The music and writing during Fi’s departure hit me so hard, I was pretty much full-on crying. It was a perfect send-off for one of, if not the, best companion in a Zelda game so far. - I have to mention the fact that this game does not possess the typical Zelda bullshit that is present in pretty much every other entry, except maybe Twilight Princess. I was worried that I was going to have to go through every single dungeon again, since you need to go to the end of the Skyview Temple again, but thankfully that was not the case. Doing it just once is a weird decision, but I’m incredibly thankful it didn’t go further than that. You could argue that constantly going back to the same three Surface areas is monotonous and annoying, but I didn’t mind it since every time you went back you were either going to a brand-new area or were exploring the same area but in a new way. Whether that be by using new equipment you had acquired, or something like swimming through the Faron Woods. - This is probably my favorite version of Zelda, and either my favorite or second favorite Link, either above or below Wind Waker Link. Zelda is funny, smart and her relationship with Link is the strongest it’s ever been. At first, I wasn’t too keen on her design with the bangs, but her character convinced me and I have absolutely no regrets for buying the Zelda + Loftwing amiibo. - Also loved the supporting cast; Groose, Impa, Ghirahim, The Old One, and the people of Skyloft. Groose in particular, really grew over the course of the game and had some really memorable and poignant lines towards the end. His relationship with “Grannie” was really nice to see. - The music is sensational. The Ballad of the Goddess is honestly one of the best melodies I’ve ever heard, no matter what version of it plays. Fi’s Theme is beautiful, Skyloft’s theme is an accomplishment in that it doesn’t get annoying no matter how much you hear it. Zelda’s Lullaby might be the best it’s ever been in this game; the first time you hear it was so powerful and emotional. The Great Fairy Fountain also might be the best it’s ever been too. All of the Surface area themes are great, it’s just great all round. Loved it. - The boss fights are good to great. I’d say my favorite was the Pirate Ship squid boss, really loved that one. Demise, Ghirahim 3, The Imprisoned 2 and 3, the Scorpion boss and so on are all really good too. - The dungeons, apart from maybe the first and last one, are all great and not frustrating. The final dungeon was a cool concept but it was a little frustrating. - Special shoutout to the Lanayru timeshift stones, those were cool as hell. - The gameplay and combat are excellent in this game. The motion controls are fantastic, and I’m worried that future Zelda games, hell even future games in general, will suffer from lacking the added dimension of Skyward Sword’s motion controls. They make every fight more fun and difficult, they make controlling everything more fun, and they work pretty much flawlessly. The Skyward Strike mechanic is cool as hell. It takes a little getting used to, but once you get the hang of it, the combat sings in this game. - Flying around is great, love how it controls. Using both Joy-Cons to flap the Loftwing’s wings is so fun and smart, love it. Also really loved just jumping off of the Loftwing to fall down to an island at will; it made the game feel like a full-on open world game. - The stamina gauge, which I initially thought was going to be annoying as hell, was actually fine. Link runs faster than he ever has, so that cancels out any issues with the stamina gauge. Plus, he can climb up walls, which is a massively welcome addition. - Loved how a lot of side quests are set up before you can even start them, so you get the idea in your head that you may have to eventually go back to someone to talk to them to start a side quest. - Ghirahim and Demise. While Ghirahim isn’t the big menacing bad guy like Ganon, he is a great right-hand man type of villain. Slim, smart and cunning, he is kind of the perfect embodiment of that character archetype. Demise on the other hand, does have the design of a menacing, scary villain. His design is so damn cool, the hair is so sick. I wish he was just called Ganon, or maybe a spin on Ganon’s name, like an anagram or something lol. - Loved the Silent Realm sections, very reminiscent of the Wolf Link sections in Twilight Princess, except these are shorter and more intense. Loved the musical remixes of the themes for which area you’re in, and the conclusion to each one is satisfying and epic. - This game really seems to lay the groundwork for what follows in Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom; the stamina gauge, the flying around and jumping off of a Loftwing, going back to places and discovering new spots with your new gear etc. I don’t think I’ve been more excited to jump into Breath of the Wild ever before than now after having beaten Skyward Sword. - Now we come to the elephant in the room; I 100% completed this game. Except for completing it on Hero Mode, and one additional Boss Rush reward (plus another three in Hero Mode), I did everything in this game. I got every Heart Piece, every Gratitude Crystal, did every Side Quest, upgraded every piece of equipment, collected every bug, got every treasure of course, unlocked every Goddess Cube and corresponding Goddess Chest, I assume I opened every other chest, got all the Empty Bottles of course, and got all the dowsing targets. If you had told me before I played this game that I would have done all of that, I would have said you’re crazy and called the police on you. But I did. And I have to admit, a big factor in my doing so is that I was on holiday when I played this game, so I naturally had more time to play it. I also realized pretty early on that I was definitely going to beat it before I had to go back to Waterloo, which allowed me to spend even more time running around and collect everything. If I was playing this during a work term or maybe even a school term, I might not have 100% completed it. That being said, when I look back at the other Zelda games, Wind Waker and Twilight Princess are the only two that I would have considered 100% completing. I was almost going to with Twilight Princess, but I think I decided not to because of the impending Spider-Man 2 release date. And I think with Wind Waker, I realized it was going to be too much to 100% it, and I didn’t want to risk ruining the game. After watching some videos on it, I’m glad I did not 100% Wind Waker. On the flip side, I realized 100%ing Skyward Sword was not going to be frustrating, and I did it and mostly enjoyed doing so. Some of the side quests may have been difficult to find, but I’d say 80% of everything I did without a guide, maybe more. This is a huge, huge compliment to the game, as I would never have guessed that I would have 100% completed a Zelda game ever, just because of how frustrating of a task that has seemed to be for all the previous entries. But I did. - The story and lore of this game is great, probably the best so far of the series. Loved all of the Goddess Lore, the Zelda stuff, The Old One’s lore drops etc. I was also motivated to keep going with the story to see what happens next, where I go and all that. - I think the game is paced out very well, the dungeons are paced out well and going to new areas or the same areas is paced out well. Side quests are also paced out throughout the game very well. - Like the visual style of the game, more uplifting and brighter. Probably the closest to Wind Waker that we’ve gotten. - The light realm sections are cool and unique, remind me the tear sections in Twilight Princess mixed with the knight sections of Phantom Hourglass. - Catching bugs is so damn fun, honestly they’re probably the most fun collectibles to catch in a game ever. - Also the Goddess Cubes are fun to find and activate. The rewards from finding them aren’t always the best, but some of them are quite good. Cons: - Biggest con. Ballad of the Goddess, the version that is in Smash, and that I have now learnt is in the trailers (only?), is not played in the game. The entire, and I mean the entire game, I was waiting to hear it play. It did not. When I look back, I don’t think there was any time for that version to be played, at least in its entirety, except for maybe the title screen. Nevertheless, I am still disappointed by this, as I absolutely love that theme to death. The versions of Ballad of the Goddess that do play in the game are great, don’t get me wrong. But I just really, really wanted to hear that Smash version so badly. - As mentioned before, going back to the Skyview Temple to get the Sacred Water was a big worry for me, but ended up being a minor con. - To be honest Skyview Temple in and of itself is a con, wasn’t that great. Made me worried about the quality of the rest of the dungeons, but luckily the Fire temple was great. - Had one instance where frame rate dropped, where a bunch of fire bats were on screen. - The final dungeon, as mentioned previously, had a really cool concept where you decided how you progress through it (except for the Triforce of Courage being that last one you can obtain). However, the rooms themselves were not that great, I really wish they were better as this might have been the best dungeon in the series otherwise. - The Imprisoned cutscenes where he stands up and regrows the pillar and all that take too long. - No fast travel, isn’t that big of a deal but it would have been nice to be able to go from each Surface area to another or even just to Skyloft without having to fly. Not a big deal though. - Demise not being called Ganon or something similar. - Some side quests and collectibles would be difficult to find/complete without a guide. - The rain effect isn’t good. Conclusion I loved, loved The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD. In so many ways it is the best Zelda game yet, with the best story, Link, Zelda, companion, combat, side quests, collectibles, and more yet. I’m still conflicted on whether it’s better than Wind Waker, as that game was so special to me and had some insanely high highs. But I feel that the lows of Wind Waker ensure that Skyward Sword is above it. I recognize that the inherent quality of life improvements that come with Skyward Sword being on the Switch, namely the ability to stop playing whenever I want and not worry about losing progress, is a huge benefit to Skyward Sword’s quality. Maybe if I had played Wind Waker and even Twilight Princess on Switch, I would have those two above Skyward Sword. But as it stands, Skyward Sword is above those two, and currently sits at #1 on the Zelda ranking. The biggest compliment I can give this game is that I 100% completed it, something I never would have thought I would do with any Zelda game, but here I am. I went from just planning on beating it, to wanting to get all the Goddess cubes I came across, to wanting to do any side quest I came across, wanting to collect any bug I found, upgrading anything I could, to wanting to complete all of those, plus seeking out all the Gratitude Crystals and Heart Pieces. Credit to the game for making me want to do that. I did not ever expect that I would love this game as much as I did. I think it is so deserving of all of the 10s it received back in the day. I was in tears by the end of it and did not want it to end. I think that’s why I went around and did all of the side stuff; I was having such a good time and wanted to extend my time with this game, before it was over forever. I have been wanting to play this game ever since it came out in 2011 and I saw its boxed set with the gold Wii Motionplus controller, and now 12 years later I have beaten it and 100% completed it. It was better than I had ever dreamed it would be. 9.8/10