Away Game Special: Trying to Make Better Triforce Matches

Getting the Triforce in Skyward Sword is every bit as challenging as was expected. The battles involved are all pitched and appropriately difficult, the puzzles as drawn out as they ought to be, the added challenge of shuffling rooms deftly used.

But.

The challenges set for each piece weren't entirely well matched. Having a puzzle put in the way to the Triforce of Wisdom makes perfect sense. This is the best match by far.

Setting a series of fights before the Triforce of Courage (including, technically, the battle with Dreadfuse) also makes sense.

However, with the exception of the large room filled with Bokoblin archers and footmen and Stalfos, the battles involved would have been better suited to the Triforce of Power. Especially the battle with the four armed Stalfos in which cursed Bokoblins constantly swarm you.

If Skyward Sword was a virtual reality game, this battle would suit the Triforce of Courage quite nicely. But, given that the game's core mechanic is 1:1 motion control over a sword, such an involved battle can easily be reduced to what is essentially button mashing. This intense quality of the battle would have made it a better fit for the challenge blocking the way to the Triforce of Power.

Moving on to that piece of the Triforce, the puzzle room set before it is quite a mismatch. Sure, the symbol of Din suggests the Death Mountain areas of games later in the timeline (and the fire temple found in Skyward Sword's own mountains), but what you need to do to navigate through the room has more to do with timing and problem solving - actions more readily associated with Wisdom than with Power.

Instead of this fire-based puzzle room, a better fit for the challenge before the Triforce of Power would be a battle with an incredibly powerful, highly intelligent enemy (such as a Darknut from Twilight Princess). In such a battle it would have to be necessary to overpower the Darknut-like enemy to create an opening. Perhaps to overpower this enemy you would have to perform well-timed shield bashes or make well-placed Skyward Strikes.

Actually, it's disappointing that there wasn't any need at all for Skyward Strikes in the Sky Keep, since that's this game's signature move. Not to mention, the supposed importance of that technique to Skyward Sword given its similarity to the game's title.

Nonetheless, the Sky Keep holds up as a solid dungeon, and something that I hope to see more of in future Zelda titles.

If we once more collect the Triforce in a future title, though, hopefully the method of doing so is better matched to game-specific mechanics and the meaning of those sacred triangles.