Anyone purchase the new Zelda? It came out today?

I’ve not bought it but I think I will. Legend of Zelda was great but this looks even better

I preordered it through my local video game store and he called me yesterday and said it was delivered to him and if I want, I can come get it early. I did!

I only played the opening scene/mission and then saved & quit right after I got the sword and shield. Total playtime for just that opening mission… two and a half hours. This is going to be a fantastically epic journey. I’m so excited to be playing a Zelda game again. I miss it dearly.

Just got it, now don’t expect to see me around the web for a few days. ;)

I’ve never played it. It looks a lot like early Final Fantasy games. Maybe I’ll give it a try after I kill all the zombies in Dead Island. But before I do, I have to help Vince climb those cubes in his nightmares, help Solid Snake resume his romance with Meryl while saving the world from terrorists, and help Chell escape from GLaDOS yet again (maybe there really will be cake this time).

I would like to know how this compares to Skyrim, if anyone out there has already played both. Looking forward regardless.

I’ve just ordered it from Amazon along with the wii motion plus. Thanks @Jude for the suggestion.

It should arrive on Wednesday from Amazon. I bought it as a birthday present for my older brother. Our whole family was raised on Zelda.

I would if I had a Wii, but alas, I’m PC only.

The Witcher 2, Saints Row 3, and Battlefield 3 have been keeping me plenty occupied, though…

@vine I have been playing Skyrim. It’s beautiful and entertaining, to be sure, and the dual-wielding system is quite the improvement, but it still has it’s fair share of kinks and biases which only take a couple hours of play to find. It’s probably still more immerse in terms of content variation, but with all the good things being said about the motion plus controls, Skyward Sword is probably going to win best combat, hands down.

So?????? What’s it like?

Thisd is how it starts

I should’ve never bought the bug net so early. Over 11 hours of gameplay now… most of which was me running around catching bugs. I never bought Animal Crossing for Wii, so this makes up for it.

@Jude Do you plan on buying the game at some point? If you already have a Wii, this game is a must. If you don’t have a Wii, it’s probably worth waiting for the WiiU to come out & then you could get the game/console at a deep discount. I’ve waited a couple years before buying games. I bought Donkey Kong Country Returns for Wii just a month ago for $25. It was released a year ago for $50. Since this was a Zelda game… I pre-ordered because I just couldn’t wait.

Got it when it came out… finished it yesterday.

I would say it’s the second best game I’ve ever played, after Ocarina of Time. It’s the first major advance in 3-D gameplay and control since Ocarina of Time.

Playing Skyward Sword reminded me a lot of playing OoT for the first time in 1998—both games were slow and frustrating at first, the new controls felt unwieldy, the fairy helper companion is insulting in her hand-holding… and by the time you have your first swordfight with a Stalfos you realize you are having the most fun you’ve ever had in a videogame.

There is so much stuff in this game that is obnoxious and dated-feeling that probably doesn’t exist in a game like Skyrim or Halo Reach or what have you. The story is lame and nonsensical, the dialogue takes too long to scroll through, the first couple hours are unbearably slow, the game constantly and insultingly interrupts you to tell you that you’ve found a bug or an ornamental skull or “hey look at that shiny rock that only an idiot would not see is important.” But all of that stuff is tangental to gameplay—and no game feels as good to play, period, not even close. Once you get the swordfighting and the motion control you will never want to go back to the old way of playing 3-D adventure games. (Finally being able to run helps a lot too.)

It also goes a long way towards evolving the traditional Zelda level design. The “overworld” is much more detailed. People have said the overworld’s areas feel like giant dungeons, but I would say they feel more like Mario levels. Flying on the bird is really fun too, once you get used to the controls.

Also the final boss is the single raddest thing I have ever seen. I actually started laughing because it was so awesome that some of my synapses must have broke.

I don’t want to say much more about the game because I don’t want to spoil anything.

You have finished ‘Skyward Sword’ already? At my rate of progress we will be well into the new Year before I get finished. I am really liking it, savouring it almost.

@vine, I’ve never played Skyrim. But I don’t think it’s really fair to compare the two games. Sure they’re both fantasy games with swordfights and magic and filled with sidequests, but they have very different focuses.

Skyrim’s focus seems to be on exploration. It’s an RPG in the most traditional sense, it’s very open-ended and non-linear. Its combat, judging from videos, seems somewhat abstracted compared to an action game (critics have said it feels “floaty,” and while it’s real-time, you still select stuff from menus). A lot of the joy in playing Skyrim, from reviews I’ve read, involves the feeling of freedom and finding your own personal path through the huge world.

Zelda is much more linear and scripted. Its structure is basically a giant puzzle that you have to solve. You have to explore in Skyward Sword, but it’s more in the sense of looking closely at your environment to figure out a puzzle. SS actually has more RPG-like elements than other Zeldas—you can upgrade your shields and other equipment—but it’s definitely RPG light. The joy of playing Zelda, imo, isn’t about freely experiencing a vast world, it’s about the vicariousness of controlling Link in that world, the way the items feel in your hand and how you have to wield them precisely to solve puzzls, and of course the sword duels.

@flutherother, I took the week off work. :)

Oh! I forgot to mention the music. Best music in a videogame, in my opinion. And I love, love, love how the music shifts based on what’s happening. OoT did that too, but not nearly as well as this game does.

I bought a Wii so I can play it.