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Comments
My backlog is huge enough as it is, dammit!
That depends. Swordsmanship proper is very simple in application and only complex in theory. A combination of simplicity and versatility will, generally, create the deepest gaming experience. This is true from vidya to TTRPGs to board games to sports and so on.
If Skyward Sword doesn't have intricacy, then that has more to do with the adversaries than the core system. Giving players access to the complete strike compass and freeform footwork is all a game needs to give players the required options -- especially, once more, if weapons can intercept one-another.
The point remains, however, that allowing players access to the strike compass and free footwork already enables the essence of the art. As also mentioned, the core elements of swordsmanship are not complex; the complexity of sword combat is derived from the versatility that comes with such simplicity.
How games that include such elements choose to take advantage of them is up to the developers. The fact remains that Skyward Sword already contains the most important, fundamental elements.
I meant it when I said that Jedi Academy (or Jedi Outcast) is worth a look when it comes to this. It's an excellent example of how the strike compass and free footwork create a versatile, skillful combat system with great simplicity.
What Zelda should or should not be is now beside the point, at least when it comes to Skyward Sword. The elements are there. Now, I'm not claiming that every engagement should be a complex sword duel. But it would certainly be lovely if some minibosses, bosses and elite adversaries took advantage of the versatility that's already there.
Basically, I'm saying that what Skyward Sword currently has is fine in terms of mechanics. In fact, it's an excellent move. By keeping things both versatile and simple, it leaves room for the game to teach players and adequate variety of tactics and allow the players to discover their own.
I fully expect it to involve flying as Wind Waker line Links have so far gone by sea (boat) and land (train)
...:< I want to see Link using either a plane or a magic carpet
Keep in mind that fighting games are abstractions of fighting mechanics. Third-person, over-the-shoulder perspectives like in Zelda are derivations of the first-person perspective in concept. That is, they aim to provide a direct field of vision, while the extra peripheral vision emulates the senses that are missing in a true first person game -- the same way you or I just know something is behind us, or that we have so much free space to move to the side. A third person action game is always going to provide a very different experience, and also a much more literal one, no matter how fantastic it is. Even the most bizarre third-person action game is more "real" -- it provides opportunities to take advantage of terrain, further attack angles, retreat, luring and so on and so forth. "Real" is no better or worse than abstract or fantastic, but it's a different thing entirely and there's no way such a system can be compared with fighting games.
Besides, swordsmanship is a running theme in Zelda. Not with intricacy, mind, but the sword and the idea of a swordsman as a knight errant is very central to the continuous themes of the series. I don't see how developing that aspect further would take the series away from the central themes and its heroic fantasy template. And developing that aspect doesn't mean you don't fight bosses with one eye that is most obviously its weak point. What it does allow, however, is for those fights where skill with the sword is relevant (such as against Ganondorf in WW and TP) to become actual tests of skill and wit rather than slogfests.
It's not about turning Zelda into a sword simulator or forcing the player to get an education in martial fencing. It's about opening up options, making a few of them central (and clearly telegraphed to the player) and allowing the player to otherwise find their own solutions through the versatility of the system. There's a whole load of stuff I would certainly not advocate adding that would be necessary for a completely accurate system (binds, grapples and various longsword grip configurations come to mind). But there's a load of stuff you can do within the core simplicity of elements already available that would be easy to teach the player at intervals, much like in TP.
So let me make this clear one more time. I am no advocating making Zelda a sword simulator. What I am advocating is taking further advantage of the elements Skyward Sword has already introduced. If you think that would take Zelda off-message, then it's too late for the series already.
Except that the kind of combat in Skyward Sword is obviously an entirely different thing to what we see in Soul Calibur and Blazblue.
I'd say it's closer to a more general-audience, whimiscal Le Morte D'Arthur than either. And the sword certainly isn't incidental -- the concept of a magical, evil-destroying sword is very specific to this kind of tale. The sword is very deliberately used in the same way it is in fairy tales and folklore. In fact, I'd say The Three Musketeers has the sword as more incidental, as it's a tool and expression of skill moreso than a thematic measure.
And like I mentioned, the damage has already been done, if it was any damage at all. Making it slightly more expansive (and thereby more versatile) can't hurt the gameplay unless it's handled very badly. As I continue to mention, the most important elements are already in play. If they use weapon impact and make some adversaries more skillful with their own weapons, that's all that I would ever advocate for this kind of game or series.
>implying that discussing Zelda in context of Indiana Jones, The Three Musketeers and Le Morte D'Arthur is boring.
>those things are awesome man
how I read that
also how I intend to interpret that