I've never felt a game to be more disrespectful of my time than when playing Animal Crossing. The number of completely unnecessary menus, transitions, loads, and otherwise flow-breaking elements is astounding. That game was simply not for me.

I see those as QoL issues especially with New Horizons and not flaws in the core of the game.

> I'll take it you didn't play Skyward Sword? :P

I think Skyward Sword gets a bad rap. It's one of my favourite games, probably tied for my 3rd favourite Zelda game.

The tutorials are super annoying.

Once it picks up pace, Skyward Sword has some of the best dungeons and bosses of the series. Ancient Cistern alone is probably the pinnacle, but it's also got Sandship and Lanayru Mining Facility. Wind Waker and Twilight Princess are replete with weak dungeons aimed at more novice gamers. You'd have to go back to N64 or Link to the Past to find something that challenges the player, and none of these are as thematically satisfying as what Skyward Sword offers.

Skyward Sword's overworld is oozing with rich and evocative atmosphere, too. If you take away the Gothic veneer, Twilight Princess is almost sterile in comparison.

It's a great game that gets blamed for small pitfalls.

Twilight Princess is actually my favourite Zelda game. I enjoyed the darker atmosphere, and found the level of emotion in the game to be on par with Skyward Sword <spoiler type="rot13">(Gur frpgvba jurer lbh genafcbeg Zvqan gb Mryqn, naq jura Zvqan yrnirf ng gur raq ner gjb bs gur zbfg zrzbenoyr zbzragf va nyy bs tnzvat sbe zr)</spoiler>. I also still enjoy the dungeons and boss battles, The City in The Sky, Icepeak Ruins, and Arbiters Grounds all stick out in my mind as having difficult components. I also think that combat in general peaked in that game with the number of techniques you could learn. All of that being said, it's the first Zelda game I beat, so this should be taken with a grain of salt.

I do also love the dungeons/bosses and atmosphere in Skyward Sword however, and have to agree that it is where bosses peaked.

Twilight Princess is its atmosphere, though–it's just not the one that Skyward Sword is. Skyward Sword has more compact dungeons, sure, but I actually found them to be easier than Twilight Princess's. Sure, Twilight Princess is pretty big and a bit empty at times, but I feel this is just a setting thing. (Skyward Sword's overworld is kind of a weaker, larger dungeon to be honest.)

> Skyward Sword's overworld is kind of a weaker, larger dungeon to be honest.

Notably, if you read interviews with the developers, this is precisely what they were going for with the overworld.

It was a great idea that didn't pan out because, for whatever reason, the over-world areas simply weren't as well designed as the real dungeons. Fi interrupting you every 30 seconds didn't help either, of course.

At least Fi is no Navi ;)

Oh, I loved Skyward Sword, I was just talking about the tutorials! I really enjoyed the motion combat, and I think the dungeons were the best in the series.

The motion combat was fun but it's pretty brutal if you have a Wii MotionPlus that slowly drifts :(

I think this is just how Motion Plus is for everyone? I got into the habit of re-centering my sword after each swing, which eventually become relatively natural.

It will be interesting to replay the game in Dolphin some day with a more accurate motion controller.

I want Skyward Sword to be released on the Switch for exactly this reason.

Actually, it appears possible to use Switch controllers with Dolphin using this[1]. I may have to set this up in the near future.

[1] https://github.com/yuk27/BetterJoyForDolphin

By going through the thing where you place it on a flat surface?

There's a button you can press that recenters it. Down on DPad maybe? It's been a while since I played.

Yep, you press the down arrow on the d-pad. Fi does tell you about this, but I guess that's the other problem with giving too many instructions—you start ignoring them!

It's my favourite. I really mastered the motion controls, to the point that BotW felt like a big step backward in being able to get Link to do what I wanted him to. And I managed to tune out Fi.

I think if I hadn't been able to do either one of those, I would have gotten really frustrated though.

I streamed all the 3D Zelda games to Twitch except for Skyward Sword because I couldn't comfortably sit at my desk and hold/swing the controller as the game wanted without whacking my hand against all the infrastructure around me (stand mics, lighting stands, etc.).

Between it being incredibly uncomfortable to play (in my situation) and Fi coming up every five minutes to hand-hold me, it was not my favourite thing.

BotW felt freer. I could explore at my own pace and defeat enemies in many more ways than using my weapons. I could use Sheikah Slate abilities, push rocks, send them marching off cliffs, freeze them then plonk them in deep water, etc.

Skyward Sword punished me for sitting still at a desk. BotW didn't. I gave up on Skyward Sword partway during the first temple — which took two four-hour streams to arrive at!

I totally understand! I probably wouldn't have been able to play it at a desk either. And BotW is better suited to the portability of the Switch as well. I can't imagine trying to play Skyward Sword on the subway or in an airplane seat, but BotW works perfectly for that, and lets you feel like you're roaming an open landscape even when you're being crammed into a sardine tin.

But I miss being able to break into a sprint, then at the right moment, jerk my left hand to roll through an enemy's legs and get behind them, spin around and draw my sword while they're figuring out where I went. Or chase them off a cliff with my little remote controlled dronebug. The combat does eventually get a lot more creative than at the start, and the enemies in Skyward Sword (bokoblins especially) felt like they had a lot more personality.

I actually didn’t play that zelda!

If you get the time, you should. It's really a great game.