Skyward Sword vs. BOTW: for those who have played a substantial amount of both, which do you prefer?

Quite honestly I loved skyward sword... I feel the presentation and music and overall feel are closer aligned to what zelda should feel like... HOWEVER I really enjoyed the exploration in BOTW...
If they could figure out how to mesh both of those games I imagine it would be the perfect zelda game.

Story, characters & dungeons - SS
World, music, controls, combat system - BOTW

BOTW wins.

BotW is pretty much the better game in every aspect aside from its' dungeons, bosses and enemy variety. Ghirahim was a great villian who I wouldn't mind seeing return again.

The sense of exploration and choice surrounded by a variety of physics based puzzles definitely made it a considerably more enjoyable game. Although some of the shrines were a bit of a let down.

Getting told how to do things by Fi made some puzzles pointless. And having to got tedious fast.

I'm back doing my second playthrough of BotW, while there's no desire to go back to Skyward Sword. Which is really disappointing.

Played SS a bunch, didn't care enough to finish it. Had a bit of fun, but it was ultimately forgettable. BotW is one of those lifetime experiences from almost the get-go. Both Wii Zeldas are likely the worst mainline ones.

Skyward Sword had an incredible story, some pretty awesome dungeons, great bosses, and interesting characters. Breath of the Wild had an outstanding world, fun and intuitive gameplay, and some interesting characters. If they can combine the two of those together and bring back some caves and stuff to explore, then they'll have the perfect Zelda game I think.

Soapbox Killer Returns said:

Skyward Sword is a better Zelda game in almost every metric that measures the series .

It has two of the best moments for me in the entire franchise.





I had about 80 hours of Skyward Sword

Breath of the Wild is an ok Zelda game at best. It lacks in dungeons, story, music and boss fight are too few however, it is far and away a better game and possibly the greatest game ever made. It gifts you gameplay as if the player was the bride of a sultan. It feels more natural to play the any game in the series and the way it crafts the world in to a story all it's own is...amazing. Sometimes I wish it was a different franchise so they could have completely removed the shackles of expectation and it would no doubt be considered as close to perfection as can be.

I have 310 hours on Breath of the Wild.

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Could you take a look at my post containing a list, post #135? Would you refute any of the points I made there? I mean no offense but 2 youtube videos of cutscenes aren't going to convince me (or anyone, really, I believe) of your standpoint.

Phantom Thief said:

The whole point of the Legend of Zelda series, according to none other than Shigeru Miyamoto himself, was about the spirit of exploration, and the joy and wonder of discovery. It was never about dungeons. It was about the world.
Breath of the Wild is the first game in the series since The Wind Waker to understand that. It's also the most Zelda Zelda game ever, except maybe Ocarina of Time.

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Fair enough, but we can still judge a game for what it is by itself. I mean, definitely, Skyward Sword's exploration is as bad as it can be. But that doesn't stop me from enjoying the dungeons, even if they are secondary. No matter what the developers say. Someone who prefers exploration will (probably) prefer Botw and someone who prefers dungeons will (probably) prefer Skyward.

I'm slightly more attached to exploration myself (and thus to BotW), but I still love dungeons, puzzles, story, bosses... And so bettering those points in a future Zelda game can only make it better. I mean, they already nailed the exploration in BotW. And with previous Zelda games, they nailed all those previously mentionned points.
So really, they just have to find a way to mix those in order to make an even better game.

I think botw is the most boring thing I ever spent 100+ hours with... looking for the fun (spoiler: I never found it).
So naturally I would put pretty much any Zelda above it. Skyward sword gets way to much flag for a few annoying things, but the dungeons alone are soooo much better than anything in botw

Skyward Sword has a better story. BOTW has better gameplay. That's it.

BOTW is a better game, but it didn't feel like a Zelda game. Skyward Sword on the other hand is 100% a Zelda game, so my vote is for Skyward Sword.

Rouk' said:

Fair enough, but we can still judge a game for what it is by itself. I mean, definitely, Skyward Sword's exploration is as bad as it can be. But that doesn't stop me from enjoying the dungeons, even if they are secondary. No matter what the developers say. Someone who prefers exploration will (probably) prefer Botw and someone who prefers dungeons will (probably) prefer Skyward.

I'm slightly more attached to exploration myself (and thus to BotW), but I still love dungeons, puzzles, story, bosses... And so bettering those points in a future Zelda game can only make it better. I mean, they already nailed the exploration in BotW. And with previous Zelda games, they nailed all those previously mentionned points.
So really, they just have to find a way to mix those in order to make an even better game.

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That's totally fine, and I don't intend to tell you you're wrong for enjoying Skyward Sword for those reasons either. It's just the narrative that's BotW eschews everything about Zelda that's tiresome and that I wish to address.

EDIT: like the post right above this...

Played both to completion and I would honestly say, other than exploration, SS beats out BoTW. The shrines in BoTW just do not make a good replacement for dungeons and the bosses are so much of a joke that nearly every entry beats them out. I still enjoyed BoTW, but exploration isn't the only thing I'm looking for in a Zelda game.

Best gameplay, possibly in the whole 3D series : Skyward Sword.
Best world and sense of wonder : Breath of the Wild.

Gimme my Skyward Sword remaster Nintendo!!!!!

thats easy, one of them didnt have waggle controls so it wins by default.

SS in many ways felt like a proto-BotW. You could see the ideas that helped make up BotW in the game, but BotW expanded on those ideas.

Anyways, I don't hate SS, but I think BotW is the superior Zelda game.

I beat and liked both. While Skyward Sword has some great elements (e.g., characters, dungeons), I had to vote for Breath of the Wild.

Wamb0wneD said:

Could you take a look at my post containing a list, post #135? Would you refute any of the points I made there? I mean no offense but 2 youtube videos of cutscenes aren't going to convince me (or anyone, really, I believe) of your standpoint.

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Your list is fine. Don't misunderstand me, Breath of the Wild is a better game by far but it fails to tick many of the boxes for me that make a Zelda game "Zelda." Kinda like how The Dark Knight is a better movie than Batman Begins but Batman Begins is a better Batman movie. Skyward Sword in comparison to Breath of the Wild is more in line with the traditions of the series is what I'm saying and many people love the set-up. It doesn't hold up as well as other traditional 3D Zeldas and may very well be the worst one but it's still pretty good.

I remember quitting Skyward Sword after having to fight the Imprisoned a third time and getting stuck underneath him when he fell over :p It has some really high highs (the sand sea + time robots bit) and some really low lows (the imprisoned and those awful trials) The opening is a drag as well. The story is one of the best in the series imo.

BOTW is a whole other level though. It took me 55 hours before I even started my first 'dungeon' because I had too much fun doing other stuff. The sense of wonder and adventure made me feel like a kid again. Also: Kass is just the best.

IMO, strange to have "20 hours" as a threshold for games that are so different. 20 hours nothing in BotW (for how I played it), but it's a big chunk of the whole SS game.

I've played 250+ hours of BotW, recently bought the 500 page BotW book and was amazed of all the details that I've still missed. I plan to dive back into the BotW world during the holidays this year, after a 1 year hiatus. The no-handholding exploration of that game was amazing!

I played through SS once (don't know how long it took), and see no point to revisit the world. To me, SS felt just like a regular linear game but with a great soundtrack.

Both the SS and the BotW OST has some of my favorite music tracks, though.

I like Skyward Sword, but this isn't even a contest. Breath of the Wild by a mile.

Depends, main dungeons amd bosses were better in SS...
Everything else I'd give to BotW.

Not surprisingly people are goint to wiote 4 breath of the wild, objectively I can actually agree and I'm glad for your sake.

However, I really loved skyward sword. It's actually my third best zelda game (after link 2 the past and link between worlds). The game is flawed and it took me some time to get used to it. What stand out to me is the characters, music and lore combined with the sense for adventure. It seems like I want more story in my zelda game. I feel similarly towards windwaker.

I've played probably 30 hours of skyward sword and 150 hours of Breath of the Wild. I far prefer breath.

That said I would like to play Skyward again some day, hopefully an HD remake that streamlines a couple things and makes some quality of life improvements

Not really a dissenting opinion or anything but I prefer Breath of the Wild. I do feel they are different kinds of games though even if they share the same series and it's not a bad choice to play Skyward Sword, just a completely different game type. It (Skyward Sword) is the most "focused" of that style of Zelda game so I can definatly see someone picking it over Breath of the Wild if they are more interested in a focused direct path action adventure game

Breath of the Wild is my favorite by far, but Skyward Sword is still probably my 2nd favorite Zelda (at the very least, it's up there)

Breath of the Wild has free camera controls so it's better by default. I was wreslting with the camera most of the time playing Skyward Sword, couldn't even finish the game.

Breath of the Wild is a lot better than Skyward Sword. It starts with them getting rid of the shitty Wiimotion Plus controls. (But there are more reasons).

The only thing Skyward has over Breath is story, which is near non-existent in Breath.

I prefer Skyward Sword. I like dungeons, it had a more compelling story and the motion controls worked well. I don't really care much for player freedom/agency or whatever, so BotW overstayed it's welcome.

Is this even a contest. Skyward sword sucked even in the first play through and BOTW is one of the best games ever made.

Until BotW, Skyward Sword was my favourite 3D Zelda. I genuinely think it's brilliant.

Skyward sword gets the most undeserved hate. It's right up there with Kid Icarus: Uprising.
Both are amazing games but people refuse to stop calling motion and touch controls "gimmicks" to give it a real chance

Skyward Sword was the established 3D Zelda formula taken to its logical extreme, where every space in the game was like the room of a dungeon, or the Hyrule Field-like hub areas. Highly restrictive throughout, though it was just like previous games. I generally liked the dungeon design and boss fights which were what I placed a lot of importance on in past games, but I was never in love with any of it. It was just good or fine.

BotW was the inverse in that it bucked most 3D Zelda trends, and the way it made simply moving about and interacting with the open world made me realize I didn't need the classic dungeon-focused formula or item progression to love a Zelda game. The game captures a sense of adventure through traversal and exploration that I only experienced moments of in past games. Having relatively so little handholding made virtually every moment so much more significant and meaningful for me.

In BotW, just stumbling across a new town or kingdom from a random direction without the camera fly-through cutscene or long-winded NPC dialogue let me savor the sensation of entering a new place, taking in the details of the architecture and people all at my own pace. Coming across what looks like a spatial puzzle that's contextualized in the environment and solving it and using a real logical solution always made each puzzle solving an enticing challenge since it was never just a matter of going through restrictive motions or just using what we item I just got.

Previous Zeldas were abstractions of the act of traveling and going on a huge adventure—climbing Death Mountain in actuality just following a linear path. The mere act of moving through BotW was the adventure. While there's still room for improvement, climbing a a place like Death Mountain in BotW involves actually climbing it, actually having find ways to protect against the heat, and having to take into consideration many other aspects of that trek into account. The adventure is fundamentally more substantial than it ever would have been before.

Skyward Sword is the worst mainline 3D game by a large margin.

Skyward Sword has a lot of cool elements but the moment to moment gameplay feels like a chore whereas I consider BOTW to be one of the best games ever made.

I got issues with botw, well known by now, but my god, it is like miles ahead of SS. I don't even know how they could be compared

Linde said:

Skyward sword gets the most undeserved hate. It's right up there with Kid Icarus: Uprising.
Both are amazing games but people refuse to stop calling motion and touch controls "gimmicks" to give it a real chance

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I adore Kid Icarus Uprising.
Skyward Sword is a bad game.
Zelda is my favorite series. Skyward Sword is its nadir.

I loved Skyward Sword's uniqueness and variety in characters and locations. BotW's greatest asset is sheer physics. They're both great at what they do, but Skyward Sword appeals to me more. A harder question would be if I had to choose between Skyward Sword with BotW physics or BotW with Skyward Sword characters and locations.

No contest. I preferred everything about Skyward Sword over BOTW.

BOTW is literally another open world game with a Zelda skin.

JimJamJones said:

Skyward Sword's story is better than BotW.

That's about it.

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basically my thoughts as well, hopefully next game combine both aspect of story telling and exploration

I played enough of SS to know I really prefer BOTW lol.

Skyward Sword is annoying and tedious. Even though I like parts of it.

Take the overworld of BOTW and scatter the dungeons of Skyward Sword about and BAM, you have my dream Zelda game.

I like Skyward Sword better as a whole.

I love Skyward Sword and think it gets a bad rap partially because people had already turned on motion controls/ the Wii when it finally came out. That's not to say the actual criticisms are invalid but a lot of them seem greatly exaggerated or, in the case of the controls, just completely do not match my experience at all. Only thing I didn't like about it was the Tadtones section and some of the minor stuff like telling you what things are every time you pick them up after reloading a save.

Breath of the Wild is still better though.

Skyward Sword, as many before me have said - has the better dungeons by far. Probably the best in the series. I liked the story quite a lot too and this version of Zelda is my fav. so far. (That red button nose is adorable)

But Breath of the Wild is just.. Epic. Where I would moan in defeat to having go back to the same areas (although to be fair they are changed up significantly the second time) I never had that feeling in BotW. Sure the dungeons are weak compared to other games but they are still pretty damn fun and unique and will have you thinking on how to progress.

Skyward Sword gets a lot of hate but it's still a pretty damn great game with blemishes here and there.

I finished Skyward Sword, and it has pros and cons, but it's a game I never want to replay. The motion-control sword and forced right-handedness for Link meant that, as a left-hander, I either had it in the wrong hand as it awkwardly tried to match my left to his right (which made the electrified enemies annoying as a rest position for me thus had the sword held across his body) or it just felt wrong to be doing something that required precision in my offhand. Why they couldn't have a mirror mode for Link to offer a choice of handedness for the swordplay in a game sold on motion-control swordplay with motion+ is beyond me. The repeated boss fights were tedious. Tadtones were tedious, as was the escort mission. Crafting felt pointless. Flying just felt boring. I liked the bowling bombs, the drone, archery, the music and the dungeons. Ultimately gyro was great, motion less so for me. BOTW was a return to what I loved about the earlier games, a sense of wonder and the possibility to miss loads of stuff by sticking to a path of your own choosing, and to face the chosen trials on that path in an order (within reason) of your own choice. Skyward Sword felt incredibly linear and packed with unskippable bloat in comparison.

Vivian-Pogo said:

Take the overworld of BOTW and scatter the dungeons of Skyward Sword about and BAM, you have my dream Zelda game.

I like Skyward Sword better as a whole.

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See. That would be amazing.

As much as I love BotW I miss the traditional dungeons immensely. Which is why the next big console Zelda game is going to be even better.

Breath of the Wild. It's the only 3d zelda I think is actually good.