The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks

[darkhamsterlord]

I really enjoyed Phantom Hourglass (even the Temple of the Ocean King didn't bother me TOO much) so I'm pretty excited for Spirit Tracks. Though if it's as easy as Phantom Hourglass, I might just play through with 3 hearts my first time, to add some challenge. (I was able to beat PH with only 3 hearts on my second game only dying when I got bored and stopped paying attention on the boat. There is something wrong with this.)

[brawlfanatic]

everyone I know hates the train I think its pretty cool that you can shoot cannons at demonic creatures!!

[tanooki141]

first zelda game i am very unimpressed by, give me a new zelda wii

[cortjezter]

first zelda game i am very unimpressed by, give me a new zelda wii

that's what people said about wind waker... before they got to play it.

i am sort of indifferent to the train concept, and having played Spirit Tracks at E3, it was perfectly fine. if you enjoyed Phantom Hourglass at all, this should fit right into the family. i just hope they don't have a progressive dungeon like PH.

[sba sb3002]

How could you already say you're unimpressed with the game when so little gameplay footage has actually been shown?

[LuigiGBA]

I'm guessing he meant he was unimpressed by Phantom Hourglass, thus he's not very interested in this one.

[tanooki141]

I'm guessing he meant he was unimpressed by Phantom Hourglass, thus he's not very interested in this one.

Yea, thats what i meant, PH was a ok zelda game and of what has been shown so far of ST, it looks to be more of the same just with a train substituted in for your boat.

[brawlfanatic]

anyone know when this is coming out? I want this along with scribblenauts badly

[demonbaby]

I think it comes out somewhere around Christmas this year, not completely sure though. But I want this badly too!

[Shiiva_Wilding]

It'll be different, that's for certain! This game marks the first time Link has appeared cel-shaded travelling on land, the first time he's used a train and first time he's appeared on the DS and been good (hopefully). While Phantom Hourglass was alright as a title, it was too short, too easy, the temple of the ocean king was terrible and most of the time, things were too hard to find. The items were boring and the only good thing about it were the controls, which were superb.

People have told me it'll be out in time for Christmas, and some internet sources back it up as well. Check on Amazon for the pre-order and the date it becomes in stock, then you'll know the exact date

Here's to spirit tracks being the good little zelda game we've always wanted on the DS

[nintycool]

Wait a minute...the euro boxart has a large tower. So that would have multiple floors....*gulp*Please no let it not be what I am thinking!

[Ezekiel Rage]

oh my god please no..

i HATED PH because of the ocean king temple, stylus controls and uninspiring boring soundtrack...
good to get this again, another game i can skip.
too bad...

[RustyCage]

The stylus controls were the major thing that made the game worthwhile, dunno why they get bashed. They were fantastic. Same goes with StarFox and Ninja Gaiden on the DS. Those are my top 3 DS games as far as utilizing the stylus goes, with WarioWare just behind them.

Also, Toon Link has traveled across plenty of land before. If you mean the train travels by land and replaces the boat as the major mode of travel, that's another story.

[WesFX]

The stylus controls were the major thing that made the game worthwhile, dunno why they get bashed. They were fantastic. Same goes with StarFox and Ninja Gaiden on the DS. Those are my top 3 DS games as far as utilizing the stylus goes, with WarioWare just behind them.

I believe the contention for most people is not how well the controls work, but that they would prefer the option to have standard controls. Certainly for Phantom Hourglass I thought they worked great, but I would have preferred the ability to move Link around with the d-pad, if only because having a stylus in front of the action constantly bothers me.

I'm in a hard spot, because I'm really itching to play through Phantom Hourglass again because of all the Spirit Tracks talk, but I've never been the kind of person to play through the previous Zelda in anticipation of a new one, I honestly think that's a horrible idea and I don't know why so many people do it.

[Jirachi]

What the "spirit" in spirit referring to? The actual "tracks"?


maybe N is taking a page Final Fantasy 6 the train and train is a ghost

[nintycool]

Or maybe to the Ghostly Zelda sitting on the train? European box-art is good for things like this.

[Jirachi]

Or maybe to the Ghostly Zelda sitting on the train? European box-art is good for things like this.

I know that makes me wish I was in europe as their box art billions of billions of billions times better then ours

[WesFX]

Or maybe to the Ghostly Zelda sitting on the train? European box-art is good for things like this.

I know that makes me wish I was in europe as their box art billions of billions of billions times better then ours

Well, I wouldn't go so far as to want to live in Europe over a boxart, but I really wish Nintendo had made a reversible sleeve for the game, with the nice European/Japanese version on the back. I totally understand why the U.S. got the version it did, but it doesn't make it any more appealing to me.

[InvalidRobot]

Minus the fact I had to return to the same bloody temple throughout PHG, I really enjoyed it.

I'm always happy to experience new Zelda, but I do wish they would have improved the art style instead of doing a copy/paste job.

[Shiiva_Wilding]

I thought PH was a bit empty compared with most of the games in the series. There was nothing added to the surroundings that didn't need to be there and made the game look flat and boring. Lets hope they improve on it with ST and add in more detail to the world to make it a nice place to be, rather than a chore like it was in PH!

[RustyCage]

I thought PH was a bit empty compared with most of the games in the series. There was nothing added to the surroundings that didn't need to be there and made the game look flat and boring. Lets hope they improve on it with ST and add in more detail to the world to make it a nice place to be, rather than a chore like it was in PH!

I feel that way too. To contribute to that point, the Wind Waker style just doesn't seem like a fit for such poor graphic quality in my opinion, so it ends up looking bland and shoddy instead of charming like it did on the Gamecube. The blank, empty spaces stand out a lot more for that reason. It lacks the smooth texturing, and everything else that made TWW such a spectacle.

However, the latest screens suggest a more cinematic approach and there seems to be at least -some- improvement in the visuals. I'm sort of crossing my fingers that the improvement will be about the size of the hop from Ocarina to Majora, on a DS level.

[WesFX]

I thought PH was a bit empty compared with most of the games in the series. There was nothing added to the surroundings that didn't need to be there and made the game look flat and boring. Lets hope they improve on it with ST and add in more detail to the world to make it a nice place to be, rather than a chore like it was in PH!

I feel that way too. To contribute to that point, the Wind Waker style just doesn't seem like a fit for such poor graphic quality in my opinion, so it ends up looking bland and shoddy instead of charming like it did on the Gamecube. The blank, empty spaces stand out a lot more for that reason. It lacks the smooth texturing, and everything else that made TWW such a spectacle.

I fully agree with both of these sentiments. There wasn't much life to the environments, and the Wind Waker style didn't help.
I could be way off, but perhaps the cartridge size was a limiting factor; it is played in 2D, but everything is 3D. A first for the series, I believe.

[RustyCage]

I have to say, this new trailer may have just sold me on the game after all!

One of my two major concerns has been completely bulldozed, and in it's place have sprung countless roses. That concern was the story behind the Phantom, or whether or not there even was a story. I feared it was just a shallow gameplay gimmick, and happily I was wrong to fear it!

[joeshabadoo]

latest trailer/details have sold me ont he game TEN FOLD! I was already buying it as I was a fan of most of what I played in PH (save for the overarching difficulty issues until the end). And it's not the fact that the Spirit Tower won't require a certain amount of re-treading (quite enjoyed the TotOK), but it's the rich story I see unfolding, and (as Rusty alluded to) the way in which we discover why the phantom will be a companion and why their are spirit tracks across the land. Curious to learn about this new evil and how it might relate to the troubles that plagued other lands in the Zelda universe.

soundtrack/visuals/controls look just as good, if not better, than the previous title; and they've mentioned increased challenge as the game progresses. Sounds like the perfect storm of awesome and I am comfortably in my seat of the spirit hype train

[Jirachi]

After seeing a photo on zelda wiki I'm wondering if bellum(phantom hourglass) is the demon king I don't know how It could be but, I am thinking it's possible.