So The Legend Of Zelda: Skyward Sword is easier than Ocarina Of Time. That's according to ONM's Steve Hogarty - the man who wrote our Legend Of Zelda: Skyward Sword review.
He revealed this little fact when answering your questions about Skyward Sword. It's quite interesting because the early signs were that Skyward Sword was the hardest Zelda game yet.
It's understandable that people who have played the game would feel that way. After all, the tough Ghirahim battle was playable during the E3 demo and many believed that the added strategy of the Motion Plus swordplay would make the game more challenging. However, once you get used to the fact that you can't just hack away at enemies you might not find it that tricky to observe weak points and execute your attack.
That's not to say that there aren't tricky moments in the game - The Ghirahim battle, the Silent Realm and the final boss are all tough - and besides, you'll be playing it for at least 35 hours before you see the ending, more if you do the side-quests.
After playing the original Legend Of Zelda and Zelda II recently on 3DS, I can safely say that I'm quite glad that Skyward Sword isn't the hardest Zelda game ever! It would be a struggle if it was harder than the originals.
As for Ocarina Of Time, those who have recently finished it again for the second time on 3DS and beaten the Master Quest may find it hard to remember how tough it was at the time. I got stuck so many times on the original and playing it again now, it's easy to see why.
Take getting Epona, for example. In a modern game, you would be told to go and chat with Ingo for a second time after you'd trotted around Lon Lon Ranch on the horse. There is no way you'd be left on the horse's back wondering what to do next.
Also, I can't imagine a dungeon in a modern game would feature a giant hand that would pick you up and dump you right back at the start.
While we're on it, how about the hidden key that you need to find in the Shadow Temple when you need to bomb that patch of earth in the corner of the room? I remember that causing me great difficulties.
For me, a game does need to be challenging but it doesn't need to be really hard to be enjoyable. If you've read our Skyward Sword review, you'll know that you're getting a wonderful adventure that will keep you going for a very long time and that is good enough for me.
How about you? Would you prefer it if Skyward Sword was harder than Ocarina Of Time and Twilight Princess? How important to you is the difficulty level of a game?
It doesn't really bother me if Skyward Sword isn't as hard as OoT, but I wouldn't have finished Ocarina of Time 3D without a couple of hints.
I dont really mind but apparently there is a second quest mode which is harder. is this true?
I think it will be harder once you take the sidequests into account instead of just playing through the main game.
If it's easier than Twilight Princess I have some serious concerns because TP was the second easiest game in the series and by quite a long way too.
While I'm a bit disappointed with the difficulty, I'm not with the game itself. Even Ocarina of Time is fairly easy to finish, but if Skyward Sword is even easier then I suppose that's just after you get used to it. After all, I found myself having to get used to the controls in the demo after playing Twilight Princess.
Oh, and I found Girahim really easy. He's seriously not as hard as people make him out to be. The Stalfos was much harder.
I played the demo of Skyward Sword, and I must say that what I played was about the same difficulty as Ocarina of Time. The dungeon puzzles are tricky to solve, but easy once you've solved them (A bit like Portal in that sense, one of my favourite games), and the combat is quite interesting, since the enemies block or have parts of them that are invincible so you have to attack in a certain way. I found that like an added challenge, but I can imagine as you play the game more you will be able to figure out an enemy's weak point fairly easily. The concept of the game sounds like there may be more thinking involved, as for whether the action is harder will have to wait until I can get my hands on the full game. I'd like the difficulty to stay around the Ocarina of Time level, since that was (for me at least) the perfect difficulty level.
Not bothered. Zelda games are about a sense of adventure, discovering new lands, enemies and people and indulging in the brilliant storyline. I couldn't care less about the difficulty level, to be quite honest.
It probably needed to be because of the control scheme, that has not been done in such a mainstream game before: The Move and WiiM+ have only been used in meh, minigameish hackandslashers before this.
I can't say I like the idea of getting stuck playing through the Silent Realm, those parts of the game sound really cheap, annoying and boring, and now you're saying the Silent Realm is one of the most challenging parts of the game?! My heart just sank a little!
Now that little outburst above is out the way, I'll get to the point.
I've never really been big fan of overly difficult games, the most important aspect of a game is how much fun it is to play through. I found Twilight Princess to be really easy, but at the same time it was an amazingly fun experience from beginning to end, and to be honest, I'm not really a greatly skilled gamer either.
Difficulty does not bother me for the game. I don't mind.
Not completly bothered, but sometimes it does feel more rewarding if things are harder to over come. I think i read somewhere on here that there will be a new game + mode? Hopefully i'm not going mad...
I like games which are not too hard , it just means the gameplay will flow easier and you wont be stuck at one point for hours on end
Depends on how easy we're talking here. With Zelda I like a bit of challenge but nothing ridiculous like puzzles that you just get angry about and then stop playing the game
Exceptionally disappointed.
It's over, Nintendo are finished.
IN YO FACE Skyward!!!! Thank you so very much ONM for being honest.
Just kidding, it doesn't matter if OoT is the better challenge.......as long as you guys have fun.
as long as the games long i dont care, if its quite a short game and not 1 of the more difficult zeldas i will be very disapointed
I'll elaborate. What's been lacking in challenge in recent Zelda games is the combat, not the puzzles (except in Phantom Hourglass where both were a joke). The enemies just do not do enough damage that you ever feel under any degree of threat and if they do their moves are too easy to avoid. However, judging by NGamer's previews it suggests that more damage is done early on in the game, so I'm pretty sure that's been rectified. In TP, the final boss does half a heart's damage and you have a maximum of 18 hearts, the boss has to hit you no less than 36 times to kill you, and that's never going to happen.
I'm all for a good challenge but I don't need a game to be so tough that I'm throwing the remote at the tv in frustration.
If its easier it just means you can enjoy the fun of the game more
For me, it's more about the journey. The connection you make to the game and the story telling are what makes a good Zelda game. I don't think difficulty is THAT important if the game is still going to take at least 35 hours. Obviously i want some challenges along the way but it's certainly not the most important aspect of the game.
I remember getting through Twilight Princess without too much trouble and i loved every second of that game.
I'm glad to hear the puzzles are challenging, and the difficulty of the combat sounds fine. But when you say the game is easier than twilight princess i would be interested to know if you were referring to the bosses; if so i'm quite worried because the TP bosses were a joke. Which part of TP are you saying it is easier than?
It's better than Twilight Princess (for me that isn't that hard to beat) and I find it hard to believe a game that uses true motion controls is easier than spamming a button all the time.
Difficulty doesn't fluster me, as long as it's fun it'll still be the best game on wii and the best Zelda game
Difficulty doesn't matter to me, however it seems that ONM consider difficulty to mean being stuck trying to work out how to progress rather than risk of being killed by an enemy, in TP you could easily complete the game without dying once. I would like to know if SS is the same?
To be fairly honest, as much as I play video games, I'm not terribly good at them... I'm not the type of person who'd practice for AGES to win an online tournament on Mario Kart for example. I like games to be difficult enough to be satisfying when you figure out their puzzles, but easy enough so that I don't get frustrated and give up! I've always found (barring the Water Temple) that Zelda games strike this balance well! If Skyward Sword is easy, so be it, but as long as it has the length to make up for that, then I have no problems with it
To be honest, I'm glad it will be easier. Don't get me wrong, I am enjoying Ocarina but as I never played the original I am often stuck.
Have not played OOT so I'm not that bothed how difficult it is.
Yeah i dont really mind im just happy to have the game after all these years lol but to be honest i guess its down to the person like everyone has said the new motion plays an important part and im just looking forward to being able to feel like im actually using the sword instead of just sitting there swinging the remote like the batterys are dying on it lol
With all the side-quests, it'll certainly be longer than Ocarina of Time. If it isn't as hard, it won't bother me because there'll be more of it to enjoy.
It should be quite hard in my opinion.
It should be on par with OOT and Majoras Mask.
TP was too easy as far I am concerned.
I won't be getting Skyward Sword,I'f there is no challenge what's the point...???
So long as it isn't as easy as Twilight Princess, that was laughable
I feel some disappointment but it's not at the game, it's at Nintendo.
As far as the game's concerned all that matters to me is whether it's a great ride (and I'm confident that it is)! Easiness or complexity of fights, dungeons and puzzles won't affect that so much as presentation, appealing characters and a nice story - for me anyway.
But as has been more than implied, Nintendo made a song and dance about having better AI for enemies, having them attack in larger groups and various other statements that suggest a higher element of challenge. If the game is indeed easier than Ocarina of Time (which I believe because someone who has beaten the game has now confirmed it) then I would to Nintendo that they'd be more straight with us. If a game's going to be easier, say so! It's not like I didn't see that coming in my mind's eye from way back anyway; I mean Zelda games have been getting easier for years...
I'm relieved actually.
I always want games to be challenging! Something that'll test my skill
If it's about the same difficulty as twilight princess then i'll be happy 
As long as its still challenging I'll be happy with it. After all I want to enjoy it and not break it out of frustration.
What am i saying?!?! Twilight Princess was quite easy, as long as its difficult then i'll be happy lets just leave it at that
What many are saying though suggests otherwise 
I want it to get more difficult the farther I get into the game. Start off easy then get harder is what I like