Zelda Phantom Hourglass

I never really gave this game a chance when it came out in 07. With the DSi coming out I have been purchasing a ton of DS games and this was a classic I got. Shame on me for not playing it back then. I may be in the minority but I loved the artstyle of Wind Waker, and this shares it. But the gameplay is still tried and true Zelda. Why is it that I can never get enough of this formula? My only complaint would be having to go back to the same temple over and over again and having to pretty much redo all the same puzzles to progress further. (yes I know the items you acquire shorten this process up a bit.)

While I wasn't counting the days till this game was released, I got it not too long after launch and was sucked in for several days straight till I beat it. I loved how ingenious some of the puzzles were. (One I actually had to look up how do to, I'm sure all you who have played it know which one I'm talking about, it has to do with copying a map) Even though this takes place in the Wind Waker universe, the dungeon level design always reminded me more of the original Zelda. Maybe it's the top down view , maybe it's the misleadingly simple looking dungeons. Overall, the game is classic Zelda and a good one at that, yet in all honesty, it's probably one of my least favorites. (Not a bad thing, though, when you look at the Zelda series' history) For some reason it just didn't charm me quite like the other titles such as A Link to the Past, Link's Awakening, and Majora's Mask did. It's still a great addition to any DS library, and who knows, maybe in the near future I'll go back and play through it again.

Shame on me for having it on my backlog for so long. A Zelda game should never spend more than 2 months on a backlog. For me it's going to be 2 years. Cheator gave me this game for Christmas in 2007 and finally after I beat Popstar Guitar I'm going to dive into this one. I also was in the minority of those that embraced the new cel shaded look of Wind Waker (remember the haters called it Cel-da?) from the beginning. True I did wonder what happened to the original Zelda game shown at E3 but this was never a disappointment.
I hear what you are saying about the Temple that you have to keep going to over and over (this part scares me) but I'm still very excited to crack into it in about a week.

Finally beat Phantom Hourglass and it was truly awesome. Ocarina of Time and Minish Cap are the only other Zeldas that I like better. To be fair I haven't played Majora's Mask, Oracle of Ages/Seasons, or finished Twilight Princess yet. I didn't know what to expect playing a Zelda game using only the stylus but it really works well and you get used to it pretty quickly. The boss battles are all very memorable and unique. I did run into a few spots I couldn't figure out and had to turn the pages of the massive player's guide about 7 times. Still I managed to finish with everything except one heart container, one power gem and the third coupon you can get from Beetle. I knew what to do when it came to closing the DS to make an imprint on the map thanks to reading posts here in the forum. I probably wouldn't have known otherwise. Some familiar tunes returned and the graphics were close to that of Wind Waker on the GameCube. Now I'm about to crack into the online portion. One hell of a game. Zelda titles are where it's

Well I just had my first experience with Phantom Hourglass online and it was fun but with one major problem. The people playing it. I am sitting on a 2-1 record but should have a 7-1 record. 5 games where I was about to win my opponent disconnected. I'm assuming they just hit the power button.

One time I thought for sure I was finally going to log my third win since time expired on the last round with me up, but when the screen went black the disconnect screen was what popped up next. Too many pansies play this online. Whatever happened to honest competition? I hope they get a loss every time they do that because I'm sure not getting the win.

Streex wrote:

Too many pansies play this online. Whatever happened to honest competition?

Yeah like when I was kicking this ONE GUY'S ass on Mario Kart DS all the time, and he was probably embarrassed by his horrendous record, so he started using his Action Replay to cheat...

That one guy...

Yeah what's up with that guy?!? Take his DS away from him. You know I bought one of those to out cheat the cheaters back in the Mario Kart DS days. You remember, the snakers and of course the other guys playing with Action Replays. Since you got so good at the game I decided to activate it once racing you to see how you reacted. Priceless.

All in good fun but that was the last time you raced me. C'mon man! I was just tryin' to get a ride outta ya. One time!

I haven't been able to test it out online, but from what I hear the sequel is shaping up to be just as good if not better than Phantom Hourglass. I might have to wait a while before I can get my hands on a copy of Spirit Tracks though.