So, everyone's thoughts on Phantom Hourglass?

[tiesto]

Just got

spoiler (click to show/hide)

the Sea Chart for the SE region of the map

[close]

... was wondering what everyone's impressions of the title were? Personally, I don't like it at all. It has so many trends that I despise of last gen... escort missions, fetch quests, handholding... I never liked the Wind Waker bug-eyed Link model. Linebeck is an awesome character though, one of my fave Zelda characters yet. But the main problem for me, is the control scheme... it seems like it only works 80% of the time, aside from taking notes on screen, this game would've been much more suited to the traditional D-pad and buttons. But what really gets me is going back through the annoying stealth of the Ocean King's temple time and time again.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Yeah, I know that the items you have make subsequent trips a little easier, but still... annoying.

[close]

Not sure how much I have left in the game, after this its time to play both 4 Swords and 4 Swords Adventures in my quest to go through every Zelda that's not the CD-I versions

[Van Cruncheon]

i would let linebeck honk my tubefish

[recursivelyenumerable]

I'm loving the Ocean King sections.  I'm also a big fan of escort missions, card minigames, breakable weapons and whatever other perfectly delectable game-design spices people like to whine about.  (fetch quests are a recent trend?)

[Van Cruncheon]

you are not a fan of escort missions. "internet contrarian" is an overplayed gimmick

[recursivelyenumerable]

I'm affecting a snarky tone to fit in but the content wasn't born of snark. I honestly can't think of any game I've ever played with an escort mission I didn't enjoy.  I can think of one stealth section, in Ocarina of Time, but for the most part I always enjoy those too.  In Phantom Hourglass the stealth stuff is a variation on the normal game mechanics rather than an essentially unrelated minigame as in Ocarina, and I appreciate that.

The animus against breakable weapons is something I don't get at all.  People complain bitterly about them even in games like Saga Frontier II where (, unfortunately,) weapons are so common and have so many charges that the limited-use system barely has any effect on gameplay at all.  I can only hypothesize that there's some basic psychological mechanism at work here that doesn't affect me, probably related to why they obsessively try and collect every item in these games and I don't, and also to why I'm a Marxist and they're not.

[Van Cruncheon]

you have obviously played very vew space sims or fps titles. escort missions are an abomination in any real-time game, largely due to terrible pathfinding algorithms, stupid scripting, and godawful scenario design.

i'm cool with breakable weapons. i like resource management, so it's great by me.

[recursivelyenumerable]

you have obviously played very vew space sims or fps titles.

Props for the adorable typo, and I've never played a single game of either genre.  Wait, does "The Halley Project" for Commodore 64 count?

[TVC15]

Phantom Hourglass is the best Zelda since probably Wind Waker.

[TakingBackSunday]

I liked it a lot!  Actually really surprised by how much I liked it, to be honest.  Great characters as always (omg Linebeck), awesome bosses (omg ice temple boss, omg final boss, omg rock titan dude), and what I thought was a more challenging Zelda since the Oracle games.  Maybe it's due to the controls or the fucking stupid Ocean King Temple, but whatever.  Controls for the most part are nice, but I think Drinky said something about it being a lateral "progression" instead of a flat out step forward for Zelda.  I agree with that 100%.  They're nice, but I don't know how much I'd prefer them to any regular control set up.

8/10, my favorite handheld Zelda since the Oracles games.

[bluemax]

Its not particularly challenging and the puzzles have been pretty straight forward.

And yet I'm enjoying myself. I love the WW art style and the writing isn't too bad.

[Fragamemnon]

you have obviously played very vew space sims or fps titles. escort missions are an abomination in any real-time game, largely due to terrible pathfinding algorithms, stupid scripting, and godawful scenario design.

Freespace 2 had a couple of escort quests that were stunning in mission design-it's the only game I can think of off the top of my head where escort quests decidedly did not suck.

Then again, it's sort of an anomaly in many different ways, most notably in the way that it is Volition's only real AAA game.

[Oblivion]

I honestly can't think of any game I've ever played with an escort mission I didn't enjoy.  I can think of one stealth section, in Ocarina of Time, but for the most part I always enjoy those too.

The heck? That section in OoT is probably the most tolerable stealth section of any Zelda.

Phantom Hourglass is the best Zelda since probably Wind Waker.

And here I was actually curious to try it out. D:

[TakingBackSunday]

lulz