It's funny that no one reported this during E3, but there's actually a Piece of Heart hidden in the E3 demo dungeon, that now happened to be found in some Gamescom coverage. It's in that large round room, there's a switch on top of the center room, where the Beedle Upgrade is hidden, that removes some bars to an alcove with a treasure chest inside. But just watch for yourself.
You need four pieces to assemble a new Heart Container. And I have to say that I'm disappointed. And not because it's not five pieces, like some people would want. I would prefer full additional Heart Containers instead. Like in the NES Classics. Or the Nintendo DS Zelda games, just not hidden so obviously in minigames and shops. An extra Heart Container should be really hidden and it should feel rewarding to get one. You really should be in need of them, especially early in the game. But that doesn't happen anymore. Zelda fans are making "Three Heart Runs", because that's the only challenge they'll get from the new games. You don't need any extra Heart Containers and collecting 40 or more Pieces of Heart is not a rewarding activity. I want the space for more interesting collectible items. Something where collecting actually feels rewarding.
Source: Zelda Informer
You need four pieces to assemble a new Heart Container. And I have to say that I'm disappointed. And not because it's not five pieces, like some people would want. I would prefer full additional Heart Containers instead. Like in the NES Classics. Or the Nintendo DS Zelda games, just not hidden so obviously in minigames and shops. An extra Heart Container should be really hidden and it should feel rewarding to get one. You really should be in need of them, especially early in the game. But that doesn't happen anymore. Zelda fans are making "Three Heart Runs", because that's the only challenge they'll get from the new games. You don't need any extra Heart Containers and collecting 40 or more Pieces of Heart is not a rewarding activity. I want the space for more interesting collectible items. Something where collecting actually feels rewarding.
Source: Zelda Informer
The availability of Heart Pieces allow more sidequests and secret areas to be available. Neither PH nor ST had much to do in the overworld due to the Container-only system, and TP's 5-piece was pretty much useless because a good third of the total were in dungeons anyway.
ReplyDeleteUpon reading this, I noticed that your skepticism towards SS came to an extreme level (you already criticized several other aspects of it). Why don't you just pass on the game and save yourself more unhappiness? Just asking
"The availability of Heart Pieces allow more sidequests and secret areas to be available."
ReplyDelete-> and other more interesting collectible items (e.g. Spirit Gems, Rings, etc.) don't allow that or what?
"Upon reading this, I noticed that your skepticism towards SS came to an extreme level (you already criticized several other aspects of it)."
-> yes, I did.. I wouldn't call it "extreme" though. I also praised a lot of aspects, for example the non-linearity, the items and the motion controls... there are things I like and things I don't like, that's called opinion and only very natural. I'm not some fanboy, who never dares to say anything bad about his beloved games.
"Why don't you just pass on the game and save yourself more unhappiness? Just asking"
-> You're the one, who's getting extreme now. I'm writing a ZELDA BLOG, before I ever pass on a Zelda game, I would stop being a fan of the series first and wouldn't care about things like Heart Pieces anyway or write any articles about it...
Also, I already have a Wii and bought games for it, where I was a lot less excited about them. And actually this is my most anticipated Wii title. I'm really looking forward to the MotionPlus swordplay action. I can't wait to get Skyward Sword, I'm really hyped atm.
Does that mean I have to like every aspect of the game? No... I also criticized Spirit Tracks a lot, but I still enjoyed the game at some level. There's no such thing as a bad Zelda game (save CD-i), only imperfect ones. ^^
You saw what the Container-only system turned into in the DS games, right? You don't want to purchase entire upgrades and Containers in shops, right? If Nintendo ever thought on revisiting the idea again, then it would execute it the same way again.
ReplyDeleteAlso, you're of course entitled to your own opinion. It's always good that everybody listens to no one but themselves when it comes to having a take about something. However, seeing how you point out the games' (not just this one) flaws every time you write an article gives the impression that you're not actually enjoying playing them. Take, for example, Mr. Simmons from Gemakei. He's likely to be the fiercest detractor of SS ever. He may have his opinions against it, but wasting money to get game he thinks he won't possibly enjoy playing, only to continue bashing about it and giving it a low score during a review anyway, is a waste of time and space as well. I thought it would be your case as well, but you clarified that at lest you're optimistic about the game, so that's a good sign.
Well, I stated in my article, that I would prefer Heart Containers in the way they were used in the NES Zeldas, not in the NDS Zeldas, because giving them away in shops and minigames is quite boring. I agree with that.
ReplyDeleteI don't think you're understanding, what my problem is. I want collectible items to be as interesting as possible. They should be hidden cleverly and they should feel rewarding. Now take the Pieces of Heart in Twilight Princess as an example, they were too predictable (hiding two pieces in each dungeon, etc.) and they didn't feel rewarding, because you can easily beat the game with 3 hearts. You don't need them.
This is not what I want. Collectible items should be unpredictable, I should really have to look for them in every place, it should be challenging. I shouldn't be able to tell from miles away where the next piece is hidden. And they should feel rewarding. Either I collect a certain number of a kind and then I get some cool reward. Collecting 20 seashells in LA gave you the Seashell Sword and that was totally awesome. Or collecting the Spirit Gems in PH felt rewarding, because the fairy abilities were really cool and useful. Or each collectible item has individual value. Like the rings in the Oracle games for example.
When I say that I want the Heart Pieces to go away then mainly to make room for more interesting and rewarding stuff. But right now there isn't much known about Skyward Sword's sidequest and I'm really excited to see what the game has to offer next to Heart Pieces. There was some talk about collecting items to make new upgrades, that sounded really cool.
And I admit that I tend to focus on the flaws I'm noticing. I grew up with the classic Zelda games and I'm defending their old ways. I prefer it when Zelda games focus on exploration, hidden secrets and combat, etc. And if this would be just some fanboy's blog, who only talks about how great everything is, then this would be boring.
But I certainly do not want to give the impression, that I just want to bash the new games. I'm certainly skeptical and after the last three Zelda games I have every right to be skeptical, but that doesn't mean I hate these games. For example read my review of Spirit Tracks, when the game came out, it equally deals with good and bad things. Read my "Rail Diary" and you will find many things that I've enjoyed about ST. And I'm one of the biggest defenders of PH out there in the net, even though the game has some big flaws. But go to Zelda Universe Forums, there PH is the most hated Zelda game and I defend it regularly for what it did right, for example in one of my recent blog posts. So, do you still think I'm just going to bash SS? I hope not... ^^
But thanks for your input and in the future I will also try to talk more about what I'm excited about. :)