[EDITOR’S NOTE: Readers familiar with This Space[1] will recall that we were interviewed by a young[2] Speedrunner upon completion of Breath of the Wild. Wishing to keep this tradition, we sought out a slightly older[3] gamer who, like us, had played Skyward Sword in its original incarnation as well as SSHD for the Switch. We shared a Last Word cocktail, fittingly named for this blog, as the three of us discussed the game. A lightly edited[4] transcript of the conversation is provided here.]
DEMELZA: Thank you for joining us, umm, Mr. Speedrunner.
SPEEDRUNNER: Call me “Speed.”
ITZAL: Oh, boy.
DEMELZA: We’d like to know about your experiences with Skyward Sword, umm, Speed. When did you start playing?
SPEEDRUNNER: Oh, I played the Wii version as soon as it was released. I was maybe 12 at the time.
ITZAL: We weren’t.
DEMELZA: Shush, Itzal. He knows we weren’t. And, Speed, how did you like the first version?
SPEEDRUNNER: Loved it. Even on the Wii, Skyward Sword is a good dungeon game…
ITZAL: Cut! Cut! We’re done here.
SPEEDRUNNER: …better on the Switch, of course, because the controllers are easier. Not that I needed the game nerfed. But I’m 22, closing in on the big 2-3 soon. I don’t have a twelve-year-old’s dexterity any more.
ITZAL: Where’s my drink?
DEMELZA: Oh, you must be very talented. We struggled with the controllers in this game.
SPEEDRUNNER: From what I’ve read in your blog, you struggle with the controls in all—
DEMELZA: (interrupting) What’s your favorite part of the game?!
SPEEDRUNNER: The Spiral Charge. One of the few tasks that required deftness and skill. The rest of the game is pretty basic, ya know?
ITZAL: Are you kidding?! That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. And I used to work in government, so I’ve heard some pretty dumb things.
DEMELZA: We found the Spiral Charge to be unnecessarily hard to obtain. We used a workaround instead.
ITZAL: She means we cheated.
SPEEDRUNNER (finally exhibits some interest): Oh, yeah? Was it the one with the Life Tree combo that RBMs the seedling on Skyloft? A buddy of mine came up with that cheat. I told him it was easier to do the tutorial – he agrees, and naturally he did the tutorial first before devising the cheat – but when you’re ‘running, every second counts. ‘course, you have to go back to Faron to do the SotH quest, unless you skip SotH entirely by setting a scene flag with Reverse BiTMagic.
ITZAL: Is he speaking English? Or any of the three languages we speak?
SPEEDRUNNER (with mounting enthusiasm): You do that, you can fight the Horde and Demise after beating the Imprisoned 2 and opening the Gate of Time. Saves at least 80 minutes. Myself, I shaved off 86.
ITZAL: Why would anyone want to fight the Horde and Demise sooner than one has to?
SPEEDRUNNER: Even though it doesn’t save much time, my personal favorite is the Skip the Fi Chase Cheat. To do that, you start by activating BiT with a corrupt file –
ITZAL: Here’s a cheat for you. Skip Fi entirely. And to do that, you start by skipping the stupid game in the first place.
SPEEDRUNNER (blank expression): . . .
DEMELZA: To get back to the Spiral Charge, Speed, no, we didn’t – we didn’t RPM, or whatever. But it was a bit of Magic when we managed to kill ourselves with the Spiral Charge still intact. Usually, we kill ourselves when we don’t want to.
ITZAL: DEMELZA!!
DEMELZA (chagrined expression): . . .
ITZAL: Listen, can we all just agree that this game is lame, no matter which version you’re playing. The story is fine, but the controls are shite and the quests aren’t much fun.
DEMELZA: Well, I had rather more fun while I was questing there at the end, when you fell into a snit after the third time with Demise.
ITZAL: You denied having any fun!
DEMELZA: Erm, uh, where’s my drink?
SPEEDRUNNER: You guys seem to drink a lot when you play. I like to keep my head clear. Although this green drink you’re serving is pretty good. I might have another, if I weren’t trying to break into the under 27s in BOTW later today.
ITZAL: Is that an age category?
SPEEDRUNNER: Dude, seriously? It’s minutes. To beat the game.
DEMELZA: So. Back to our drink. It’s called a Last Word. Itzal can make one in under five!
ITZAL: And do you know why we are drinking the Last Word today? Because this is the last word we’re ever going to say about Skyward Sword. Done. Finito.
DEMELZA: That’s not precisely true, Itzal. You know you like to complain about Skyward Sword. I can’t see you stopping any time soon. It would be kind of like expecting the Imprisoned to stay imprisoned.
SPEEDRUNNER: Well, you’re not alone in how you feel about this game. People either love it or hate it. Most of the criticism is about the controls, but shoot, if you can’t stand the heat in the kitchen, don’t grab the spatula.
DEMELZA: I don’t think that’s how the saying goes.
SPEEDRUNNER: And you gotta love the dungeon play in Skyward Sword.
ITZAL: I don’t “gotta” do anything of the sort.
DEMELZA: What do you think about the theories that the SSHD re-release sets up the story for the sequel to Breath of the Wild?
ITZAL: Or the theories that the re-release was just a money grab?
SPEEDRUNNER: Oh, Skyward Sword‘s storyline is essential to the Breath of the Wild sequel. No question. We’re going to experience what happened on the Surface, how Hyrule came to be.
DEMELZA: Yes! I think so, too! And maybe Link will be able to go back in time not just on the ground, but also in the sky! Or what if the Yiga Clan invades Skyloft and we have to sneak around them on a Loftwing! Wouldn’t that be fun?
ITZAL: Where’s my drink?
[1] Capital letters make us seem so fancy.
[2] We think all Speedrunners are young, but this one in particular was not of drinking age.
[3] We are still drinking from the holidays and to recover from SSHD, so an older gamer made sense for a lot of reasons.
[4] Let’s be honest: Itzal swears. A lot.