Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass Official Thread

knighty said:
Does it get better after the beginning? Right now Im bored out of my mind and the controls are shite. Theyre so bloody unresponsive and awkward, especially rolling.

Keep playing - I'm almost finished and honestly, I absolutely love the controls. Incredibly responsive..

I did have trouble with the roll too though - my solution was not to draw a circle at the ends of the screen as Nintendo tells you to do, but to quickly scribble back and forth at the end of the screen.

Got this since last tuesday, I really love it! Never thought I'd enjoy a Zelda game again so much, so I guess Twilight Princess really did suck that much.

Controls are superb, and the drawing on the map is something I thought would be something for noobs, but it's really clever actually. I even fell for the pimp your boat bit, which surprised me. I have not been playing games for a while though, except for Baldur's Gate I and II.

Graphics are amazing for DS standards too.

I love the controls too. I can imagine people who havn't ever played it saying they look crap, but they seem so easy to get used to. It's like magic :3

The rolling was a problem, I didn't know how to do it at first, but you will get used to it.

unresponsive and awkward

Well say you're walking to a tree, if you hold it on the tree it's naf because as you get close Link walks ridiculously slowly. They feel like a step back from using an analogue stick. Not to mention sword swinging....that's just terrible. There's no way you can run and swing your sword at the same time. Why didn't they just assign the sword to L/R?

I think it's great that you can now just tap an enemy and Link will attack it. You don't have to move into position with an anolgue stick or d pad anymore, just tap it. Which I think works great.

I agree though, that for cutting grass, it's better to have the ability to run and slash.

But running/slashing has only ever been on TP anyway

Before that you always had to stop. I think it works really well. Most things that you can interact with, you just need to tap on them & you'll run up to it. As for rolling into trees... there's only 1 or 2 trees in the game that have real goodies in them anyway.

& items are assigned to L/R.

I've not been in this topic yet despite having it for about a week. So here're my thoughts. I'm only a couple of dungeons in, though, as I've had other stuff to play.

- The controls are GREAT. I don't know how it can be thought otherwise. The roll was dodgy at first, but now I'm used to it I'm really impressed with how they did it.
- Best game visually on DS.
- Fun bosses.
- The dungeons are smaller but it's nice not to have to go through sprawling massive things but still get a similar amount of decent puzzles.
- The sailing is...okay. I was expecting it to be far better, I'm actually finding it more tiresome than in Wind Waker because once you plot your route you don't really do anything aside fire your cannon or hop the occasional barrier, unless you want to spin the camera round like a maniac and be all cinematic (fun the first time when it's quiet, not feasible for the rest of the game). In Wind Waker at least you had full control of your ship at all times (I actually didn't mind the sailing one little bit in Wind Waker).

Good so far, hope it improves. I like the little screen wiper I got with it!

You're right on the sailing part, unfortunately. I was one of the few so it seems who also loved the sailing in Wind Waker, and looked forward to sailing the seas again in this game...

It's also a shame the boat shop guy doesn't look all depressed anymore when you leave his shop, I loved that.

Just finished the game... I must say I am very very very satisfied with the game. I never seem to like handheld games as much as console games, but this game is GOLD. This my friends, is my favourite game on ANY handheld. It truly does use every single last feature of the DS properly. Really the only thing that I really had a gripe was that musical score was pathetic to say the least and the story was rather bland. But there were some good elements in the story, I mean Linebeck cracked me up so many times its not funny. I will rant more about this game later.
Also, just remembered. The ending sequence is nothing short of spectacular, something we have all come to expect from zelda games. The time stop ability was awesome too.

( Edited on 28.10.2007 09:07 by Z )

iCAME said:
Just finished the game... I must say I am very very very satisfied with the game. I never seem to like handheld games as much as console games, but this game is GOLD. This my friends, is my favourite game on ANY handheld. It truly does use every single last feature of the DS properly. Really the only thing that I really had a gripe was that musical score was pathetic to say the least and the story was rather bland. But there were some good elements in the story, I mean Linebeck cracked me up so many times its not funny. I will rant more about this game later. Also, just remembered. The ending sequence is nothing short of spectacular, something we have all come to expect from zelda games. The time stop ability was awesome too.

I thoroughly agree, a wonderful little zelda game that is a great foundation for future console versions to learn from.

What do you think future console versions can take from this game? (a open question to everyone)

( Edited on 29.10.2007 10:49 by Linkyshinks )

If Nintendo made Phantom Hourglass, then I'm very optimisitc about future Wii titles indeed. The Zelda series is evolving.

I loved the ending sequence too, & the end of the game was full of twists & turns.

& yeah, Linebeck is a great character, he's already one of my faves from the Zelda series

Well Linkshinks, I don't know about gameplay innovations for the series, but maybe a zelda game set in the future. As long as its done right, I think it would a very refreshing change. Also I heard in an interview that Anouma had thought about one set in the future. Only thing zelda's gameplay really needs to do is make the level progression maybe a bit less formulaic? I mean there has been some progression in that respect, but perhaps not enough.

iCAME said:
Well Linkshinks, I dont know about gameplay innovations for the series, but maybe a zelda game set in the future. As long as its done right, I think it would a very refreshing change. Also I heard in an interview that Anouma had thought about one set in the future. Only thing zeldas gameplay really needs to do is make the level progression maybe a bit less formulaic? I mean there has been some progression in that respect, but perhaps not enough.

Well as long as Link stays in a funny green hat I am OK with the future setting idea. That drawing on a map feature must now be put in every future Zelda for sure, it would be criminal not to do so. SL I also grew to like Linebeck, I and many did not like the look of him before hand.

But the drawing bit might be a bit hard pulling off on consoles other than DS. Oh and about Linebeck... I liked him as soon as I saw him.

So how big are you all's fish? I'm a bit disappointed that there are so few to catch, but its still a fun diversion.

My Largest Fish:

Skippyjack: 2 ft. 5 in.

Toona: 4 ft. 4in.

Loovar: 6 ft. 7 in.

Rusty Swordfish: 11 ft. 10 in.

Neptoona: 17 ft. 3 in.

Anyhow, as far as the game goes, I've beaten every temple, have the Phantom sword etc. I just need to go defeat the final bit. Which is why I have pretty much stopped - I'm now playing and enjoying all the minigames. The archery range one is killer - currently stuck at 1950, I always miss one shot!

Edit: Also, about Linebeck, I liked him as soon as I saw him too. Great character - might even rank second in the Zeldaverse behind Midna.

( Edited on 31.10.2007 18:51 by Jacob4000 )

>_< the online pissing me off when ppl not wining they just drop out

Jump_button said:
>_< the online pissing me off when ppl not wining they just drop out

Play with people you trust using the Zelda PH Hub or any other similar group.

iCAME said:
But the drawing bit might be a bit hard pulling off on consoles other than DS. Oh and about Linebeck... I liked him as soon as I saw him.

It wont be the same as drawing using the stylus but the Wii remote still works pretty well with that kind of thing despite, I mean we are getting Okami and that requires something very similar. Alternatively some DS compatibility is not out of the question, especially when you look at Four Swords adventures..I think it would be a nice option to use your DS as a map.

( Edited on 01.11.2007 08:06 by Linkyshinks )

A bit gimmicky though... I personally could not be bothered hooking my DS up.

iCAME said:
A bit gimmicky though... I personally could not be bothered hooking my DS up.

Well if it was a simple as pausing your Wii game and making the DS download something it would not be too much of a problem I think.

I think one aspect that they have to retain is the Boomerang functionality of drawing a path, but they really should change the name to Magic Boomerang with it's new level of capability.

Jacob4000 said:
]my solution was not to draw a circle at the ends of the screen as Nintendo tells you to do, but to quickly scribble back and forth at the end of the screen.

Wait i sort of skipped over the introduction to the control scheme...wasn't scribbling bakcwards and forwards what you're supposed to do!!??

I can pull it off doing the small circle thing better but initially I too thought the back and forth route was the way.