I finished Skyward Sword last night. Stayed up a little late to finish it and everything. Beat the final boss, collected everything I cared enough to collect, and and then overwrote my save data with a Hero Mode file I’ll play eventually maybe. Probably not for a long while, though, to be honest. The game was fine, story-wise, and there were a lot of improvements that cleared out the worst of Fi’s interruptions, but it is still a rather stiff, clunky game that tries to be expressive without the character model elasticity they need for what they’re doing. It’s a fun game, and while I can’t say I enjoyed the whole replay, I can say that I enjoyed it more than I used to.

Also, to follow up on what I’m sure is the most interesting bit of drama on my blog, I beat the whole game while only getting 4 of those stupid “common” items I needed to upgrade my weapons and whatnot, so I never actually got to the final level of power for most of those things. I did manage to get all the bugs I needed, though, even without relying on the late-game “pay money to catch nigh-unlimited bugs” mini-game, so things worked out alright in the end on the potion front. Still, only ever used potions twice, though. A single use potion to fix a shield and then half of a double-dose full heart potion during the final boss series of events.

I’d recommend the game to anyone looking for the whole Legend of Zelda experience, and anyone who is particularly interested in the explanation for the repetition and tropes of the series since this game is set up as the “first” game in the series, historically speaking. Otherwise, it’s just a remake and if you played the original, its probably not worth your time. If you really liked it or some part of the game really appealed to you, then I recommend picking up the HD remake since it has improved in a lot of “quality of life” ways that make the experience smoother.

I plan to put the catridge in my game case and probably never take it out again, if I’m being honest. Like 1-2-Switch, a game I played literally a single time and that I only own because there was nothing else available at the time and it seemed like it would be a fun party game. Turns out it is a bunch of gimicky bullshit and while I’m sure there are people who enjoy those types of games, I’m not one of them.

Instead, I might play some more Fire Emblem: Three Houses or maybe do another play-through of Super Mario Odyssey, now that enough time has passed for me to be interested in trying to 100% it (I went deep the first time, got about 50% of the way through the levels, collecting as many sprites or whatever as I could, and then just went for a quick run through the rest because I was getting bored). I’ve also got a raft of Mario ports, which might make for some fun relaxation in my evenings.

Or, if I’m being real, I can play through Breath of the Wild again. On Master Mode, this time, since my last replay was standard mode, and see what hijinks I can get up to on this challenging mode of play. Maybe this time I’ll actually stick to my “Horse only, no teleporting” rule (it’s just SO INCONVENIENT TO COLLECT STUFF WITHOUT TELEPORTATION) or maybe I’ll record the whole dang thing and actually make a “1000 ways to die in Hyule” video like I’ve been talking about this entire time.

Or maybe I’ll play Celeste again. It might be appropriate, though I’m not sure a puzzle-platformer will make for good end-of-evening gameplay. The point is to cool down, not die endlessly to a mistimed jump sequence. Or maybe Animal Crossing, since I haven’t run that game in months now. My poor island. I never finished redecorating after changing everything around.

I have lots of games to play, but very little that excites me in this moment, thanks to the rather dry spell for new, interesting (specifically, interesting to me) games on the Switch. Nothing coming out now or soon feels particularly compelling, and I’ve got a while to go before new pokemon games come out. There’s plenty more still to do in Pokemon Snap, but that’s a game I mostly enjoy when I’m at peace and right now I need some heavier escapism.

I’d love to hear if you have some fun Switch game suggestions, otherwise I’m probably just going to go with old familiar friends in my evenings. Which isn’t a bad thing. The whole point of that time is to give my eyes and hands something to do while I listen to Podcasts.