You like Nintendo? We love Nintendo!

Hey everyone, 4EVER here, writing a message about the awesomeness of nintendo. From the Wii, to the 3DS, we at the 4EVER Nintendo blog just can't get enough!

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Skyward Sword versus Ocarina of Time

Back in the day, the best game hands down was was The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. According to the critics, it still is. it is possible that no other game will ever triumph over that game. Skyward Sword might have if ONE CRANKY REVIEWER HADN'T GIVEN IT A FREAKING 7.5!!!
But anyway, the two games have been compared often and some say that Skyward Sword bests the almighty OOT. But does it?


Grahpics: Out of the question. There is actually no way to compare the graphics seeing as they're from two different eras. It wouldn't be fair on Ocarina of Time


Story: The story in Ocarina was somewhat lacking, despite what many will say. Basically, you go and fight monsters because a giant tree and an annoying fairy tell you to. Eventually, you find out that the world is in peril and you must save it by collecting some rocks so you can defeat the evil king Ganondorf. Yeah. 
The story in Skyward Sword is much better. It explains the reason for Skyloft and the Hyrule. It sets up great character relationships and in general, makes you care more for the characters and even fight for them. You always know why you are doing what you're doing and you never truly forget why you're fighting.


Extras: In Ocarina of Time, you get several minigames, all of which are fun. But after you beat them once, the rewards aren't enough to bring you back. In Skyward Sword, the minigames are generally more fun and yield greater rewards. There are also collectable which you search for. IN OOT, you search for the Golden Skulltalas. They are hard to find and you have no idea how to get them. But if you do find all 150 of them, you get great rewards. In Skyward, you find two types of collectables: the Gratitude crystals and the Goddess cubes. These together are slightly more numerous than the spiders and are more rewarding to find. Every Goddess cube has something of good value. Some things like the Potion medal can only be found in Goddess Cubes while others like 100 rupees is just a nice thing to have. 


Overworld: Ocarina of time has a fairly large one, but the unfortunate thing is that at first you don't have anything to travel on. It's a long walk. On the plus side, the world has many secrets hidden away and they are all waiting for you to find them. Skyward Sword has some islands that float above clouds, but there are only a few. Beneath the clouds are three different privinces. Each of them will eventually open more areas the longer you play, but have less secrets. Most of the discovery here will be done in a metroid-esque fashion where you return to places where you've already been and find new things.


Combat: The combat in Ocarina of Time revolves around hitting the right button at the right time. You must time your strike so that you kit the spider when it's back is turned. You must time your strike to defeat the Stalfos and wait for it to lower it's guard. You must time your attack so that you hit the Parasite Queen in the eye at the right time. Skyward Sword is more about positioning and blocking while still keeping the timing in tack. Blocking is no longer a natural thing, instead you have to time it right to reflect the move and so that your shield doesn't take damage. You have to hit the place where the bad guys drop their guard otherwise you will be blocked and in some cases, counter attacked.


Design: Ocarina of Time will let you find the temples in your own time, in your own way, in your own clothes. You'll have to search the amazingly amazing land of Hyrule to find and uncover the deadly mysteries of these temples. You'll sometimes be wandering around going: "WHERE DO I ^*%R*^# GO NOW!!!" But when you find da temples, you feel like a true. In Skyward Sword, you always know where to go next: (bar the Song of Heroes which is a bit more vague) but the journey to it contains it's own puzzles. It's like going through a slightly simpler dungeon as you make your way to the temple.
The dungeon Ocarina are overwhelming, in a good way and a bad. These will give you massive headaches as you wander through floor and floor of difficuly puzzles, but you're always having fun (maybe not the water temple) Skyward Sword's Temples are much better in design. It's hard to describe, but the temples are much more fun and they've done some major overhauling to the map and layouts, making it near impossible to get lost. 


Bossess: Hands down, the bosses in Skyward Sword are much better than the ones in Ocarina of Time. From the super powerful and super charismatic Demon Lord to the monolith of The Imprisoned, the boss battles are some of the best in gaming...sorry, let's make that: THE BEST! People will disagree with me I know, but I love these fights so much that I'm glad a boss run was added into the game. Ocarina's were okay, but most of them are so easy that you can beat them almost effortless.


So gamers: which Zelda game deserves to be called the best of all time? The classic Ocarina of Time? Or the modern Skyward Sword? The main argument for Ocarina of Time would be that it is the most critically acclaimed game ever and that it didn't lose the GOTY position to Skyrim. But truth be told, I don't think that Skyrim deserved the position, but that's a whole other story...