The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword Playthrough - Part One

John's Vantage Point

Up first we have The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.  While this is the most recent home console version in the Zelda Series (not counting The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD), it's the very first story in the Zelda Chronology.

The prologue begins as follows:

"Long ago, on a dark day, the earth cracked and evil forces rushed out of the fissure. These forces mercilessly attacked the people of the earth, slaughtering them and destroying their land. They did this in search of the ultimate power, a power capable of granting any wishes of its holder. This power, passed down from the gods of old, was guarded by Her Grace, the goddess of the land. The goddess gathered the surviving humans on a piece of earth and sent it skyward, beyond the clouds. With the humans safe, the goddess joined the land dwellers and fought the evil forces in a war of unmatched scale and ferocity. They eventually sealed the evil forces away, restoring peace to the surface. However, the humans remained in Skyloft, as Hylia knew that the seal on the evil would not hold forever."

And with that, our adventure begins in Skyloft.

Nintendo opted to go with a more "cartoony" graphical scheme as opposed to the more realistic looking style presented in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.  However, it's not quite pure cel-shaded as was The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker.  I would be fascinated to see if Nintendo would re-released this game in HD as they chose with The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD.  My inner-gaming sense believes a lot of the hardcore players skipped out on this game because the Wii was undoubtedly tailored towards a younger generation, as opposed to the older folks who've been playing the Zelda series since the Nintendo Entertainment System days.

When first popping in the Wii Disk and beginning to play this Zelda game, the first detail I notice that trumps any other Zelda game is the facial expressions of the characters, particularly Link and Zelda.  It adds to the development of each character -- this is indeed one of the Zelda games where Link and Zelda are introduced immediately and have clearly been friends throughout their lives.  These facial animations, along with the casual conversations, made me feel more of a connection to the characters - which is impressive given the fact Link is yet again a silent hero as is the norm in the Zelda series - than perhaps any other Zelda title.

Another intriguing decision is that this is the first Zelda game to start the player with SIX life hearts, as opposed to the usual three.  When I first realized this, it made me wonder if the universe of Skyward Sword wasn't large enough to place enough hidden heart-pieces around the land.  Now that my attention will be directed towards evaluating this, we'll see if this ends up feeling true by game's end.

Despite what many others have suggested, I find the flying of the Skyloft Loftwings (birds) not to be terribly difficult - what could have been presented better was the tutorial on how to master the controls.  Admittedly, Ally and I glossed over the tutorial explanations the first time we played this game, and it wasn't until a second playthrough did we realize how simple the task actually was.

Skyloft appears to be a vibrant and large home town compared to some of the other Zelda games.  Clearly, players will come to realize there will be many sidequests to tackle after meeting many of the characters walking around Skyloft.

For the time being, there is certainly an introductory learning curve that players have to accept before being able to truly explore the land in the clouds (and perhaps the mystery of what lies underneath the clouds...)

This is Ally's favorite Zelda game.  On initial instinct, I'd say this feels like it's a middle of the road Zelda to me (which still makes it spectacular).  Let's find out together how impressive this Zelda game turns out to be....

May the Way of the Hero Lead to the Triforce!