Zelda on the Wii To Include Sword Swinging

IGN has the news that the Wii version of Twilight Princess has been retooled to allow you to swing Link's sword. The bow and arrow has been moved to the 'B' button, alleviating one of the big complaints hands-on users had at E3. From the article: "Miyamoto felt that that shooting the arrow with the D-pad was too difficult, and the B button allows for quicker and easier shooting. It's unclear if the game will require the new control scheme or if players will be able to chose between different methods of control. Nintendo Dream closed off by asking Miyamoto to name the version of Zelda he personally prefers. The master game maker said that he'd play the Wii version, but added that both versions will be fun."

Comments

Why wouldn't it?

[stevencbrown]

I can't believe there was ever a stage where the wiimote wasn't a sword swing!!

what's the point of coming up with a unique control system, then just using it like a conventional controller?

Does Red Steel not have something pretty weak too - i.e. you swing the wiimote, but the sword on screen swings in a standard way, regardless of how you actually swung the remote?

Re:Why wouldn't it?

[timster]

So you don't believe somebody could come up with a swordfighting AI good enough to take advantage of random flailing? It doesn't seem too hard to me.

And sure, a sword is heavier than a wiimote, but that doesn't matter TOO much. Mario can only jump so high no matter how hard I push the button; it wouldn't be a problem if the character inside the game had limited speed or strength.

Re:Why wouldn't it?

[Sigma 7]

So, why don't people do that in real sword fights?

For one, it leaves you vulnerable to attack. Unless you are doing some very blatent feigning (i.e. you know what you're doing), a semi-experienced swordsman would just hit you in an area not protected by your sword. Alternativly, it just takes one well-placed attack that a parry doesn't have much effect (or even worse, the attacker takes control of your blade so that a parry does not work.)

Next, flailing your sword about tends to exert fatigue. You don't want that.

Re:Why wouldn't it?

[timster]

No, I don't think so. If the user is just flailing, they aren't paying any attention anyway. If they are paying attention, then they can get used to the feel of the controls. If they are looking at the screen, then they can see what is happening, just like I can see when Mario is up against a wall and easily understand why pushing right isn't doing anything.

I still don't understand why people claim that you couldn't have a swordfighting game for the Wiimote because people would just flail around. This is easily countered with decent game design, just like button-mashing in fighting games was. Honestly, I don't understand your comment at all, because a limitation on the speed of the in-game sword movement doesn't create a situation where "nothing is happening".

Re:Why wouldn't it?

[AvitarX]

I doubt the AI can compete with a truly endless range of attacks like in real life.

Also, try swinging a sword that weighs many pounds over and over, now try it with a Wii mote, One is fatiguing, the other boring.

Sword swinging may be the obvious use for a wii-mote, but it may not be fun. I think the non-obvious uses are where the fun will be anyway.

Re:Noooooooo!!!

[clydemaxwell]

Why are you even considering buying the Wii, then? Get the gamecube version.
I mean, did you think it was just a glorified lightgun? The wii will require interactivity!

Not a real sword, folks.

[dmwst30]

The Wii controller isn't a sword, there's not that much weight extended several feet from your arm. It's not going to take physical training for most people to use this. More importantly, given the motion detection and location detection described so far, a small twitch of your wrist should be enough to move the cursor across the screen.

So while you CAN pretend to really sword fight, you don't NEED to do so. Nothing to complain about here.

Re:Not a real sword, folks.

[dmwst30]

Ok, I'm game. I swung my arm in circles for about a minute. I don't feel ANYTHING. I'm not tired. Are you, when you did this?

You missed my point, you're not swinging heavy weights in large circles with the Wii controller. It seems to be more like a mouse, except you flick your wrist, or forearm, or entire arm, or entire body, to move it. You don't have to do the exact same motion each time, so you won't wear yourself out even if you did have to move it often.

You don't spend an hour of Zelda sword fighting; there are long stretches without battles, and even dungeons have a large element of exploration and puzzle solving. This isn't a FPS.

No, we don't know exactly what the swordfighting will be done. But I trust the game designers to actually try playing the game before release, and probably for long stretches at a time (imagine!), so it probably be enjoyable to most people or it wouldn't ship.

Re:Not a real sword, folks.

[Anonymous Coward]

Why are you waving your arm around? Your wrist broken?

Re:I'm interested but I don't know.

[another_fanboy]

Actually a bigger problem that will come up with the system is will it allow lefties to hold the wiimote in the left hand and the nunchuck attachment in the right hand

You'd probably have to swing the controller with the left hand anyways, seeing as Link himself is left-handed.

Ambidextrous Link?

[the_crowing]

Has anyone ever noticed that Link is left-handed? I wonder if Nintendo is going to allow Link to hold the sword in either hand to match the players unidexterity? I'm not an experienced swordsmen by any means, but I think I would have a hard time playing a game that forced me to use my left hand for something like that since, like the majority of the population, I'm right handed. And I think it would be pretty awkward swinging my right arm and watching Link mirror my motion with his left.

Re:Ambidextrous Link?

[mdielmann]

like the majority of the population, I'm right handed

Welcome to my world, you bastard! I have to use my off hand for shifting (I live in North America), I have to use the weaker muscles of my hand when inserting screws with a screwdriver, most can openers require that you turn them with your right hand (or turn the can upside down - that'll work!), my blackberry has the main control buttons by my fingers instead of by my thumb, the list goes on and on! But you have to use somewhat unusual actions when playing Link with the wii controller. My heart bleeds.
</pseudo-rant>

All kidding aside, you'd be surprised with the number of inconveniences left-handed people deal with every day. I trained myself to be somewhat ambidextrous to compensate for that, in those rare circumstances where I'd rather do it poorly with my right hand than do it with difficulty or danger with my left hand.

Re:Noooooooo!!!

[_xeno_]

How often do you actually swing the sword in the Zelda games? You're not constantly swinging the thing, assuming you're any good. You're going to be doing a few flicks every once in a while.

Zelda is more about solving puzzles than beating up enemies. I somehow doubt that you'll find flicking the Wiimote every couple of minutes to be a big deal.

Re:Feedback

[JourneyExpertApe]

The real difficult part is feedback. You swing a sword from right to left. Halfway through the swing, on screen, your opponent puts out his sword and blocks the attack. Your hand keeps going. Now your hand is all the way on the left, but on the screen, your sword is in the middle of the screen, confusing the heck out of the player.

Try something for me. Click on the scroll bar to the right and drag it until it reaches the top. Then drag it some more. The mouse cursor continues to move, but the scroll bar doesn't. Now move the mouse back down (without letting go of the button). The scroll bar doesn't move until the cursor reaches the point where the scroll bar stopped moving. Neat, huh?[1] Why couldn't this game be the same? If you swing past your opponent's sword, you can't recoil your sword until you move the wiimote back past the point of contact (in all three planes). Sounds simple enough to me. (Yes, yes, I know it would actually be a lot of work to implement. But the games industry is supposed to be cutting edge. Let's see some more edge cutting!)

[1] This post is only supported on Windows XP. If you are using some other window manager, this may not work. But trust me; it works on Windows.