The spectre of Skyward Sword's infamous busywork begins to loom in the gap between dungeon 3 and 4. Up until this point I honestly think the game paces itself mostly fine-ish outside of its frequent trend of making you think you're about to progress to important area/event only to roadblock you at the last moment, in essence these segments aren't doing anything bad by themselves, stuff like Eldin's key hunt or the desert detour don't feel quite like "oh come on..." to me, from here on though the game has a lot of more bits where you're going to do one task that turns into more tasks and it starts feeling a bit silly.
And yes I'm talking about the pinwheel/propeller mainly, I feel like maybe the snarky robot could be introduced later on for Eldin round 2, having it on top of the rest of the content in this between dungeons downtime makes it really feel less like a moment to cool down after the desert of endless puzzles, and more like ticking the tasks of a list that keeps growing.
And once again, it's not like the actual content is that bad (I single out the pinwheel because it's the one part that feels like it could be happily cut), It's just doled out in a way that harms the pacing for the main game progression.
But opinions I guess, you could feasibly cut out silent realms without having to tweak the game much, but I actually really dig those segments, the series best "stealth" segments AND tear segments, I'd weep for their loss honestly.
But man, it's a lot of STUFF, I get that this is supposed to be the classic big mid game moment section but...
Imprisoned - To Skyloft, fixing scrapper, finding the pinwheel - Thunder Head - Faron Silent Realm - Tree and Lake Floria - Return to Skyview
That's a lot of steps, the last of which is an interesting idea but coming at the end of this conga line with the justification of "I gotta get water, SPECIAL water" feels like a real padding moment, could've been a cool sidequest for Faron instead I feel.
Going back to part 1 of this list, It's funny how easy the imprisoned is when you know the tricks, Fi should actually have really lived up to her reputation and screamed at the player about the central air stream that puts you into the freefall, it's easily overlooked.
The last bit of waffle for me now, is the one motion control element I never liked back on the Wii, Swimming.
I'm something of a water level apologist, swimming is great! or it should be anyway, I think I finally nailed down why Skyward Sword's swimming bugs me in any case.
Link moves in a manner that makes tight movements awkward, the motion swimming isn't capable of making a quick turn or a loop and thus Link making a turn in the water is like an aquatic shopping trolley, that is unless you release the A button to halt motion control and then make the small adjustment with the stick, it's pretty inelegant and a janky way to turn the guy though not actually too dissimilar to previous Link in 3D swimming segments like the Zora mask (admit it, you bonk into walls more than you like to admit) or Zora armour (probably the cleanest movement but not the fastest).
Compared to the Loftwing which controls in a similar motion manner, it's 90% motion on the Loftwing's end, there's no odd breaks of adjusting the stick because you're on the water's surface or trying to get Link out of a tight spot, so it feels more consistent.
Anyway Fetchquest Faron beckons, but the payoff of Ancient Cistern makes it all worth it.
