Poll of the Day > Are Phantom Hour Glass and Spirit Tracks worth playing?

(+) Yeah! (+)

They take place after wind waker and follow part of the story right?

i heard there were some gripes about phantom hour glass

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I heard they were shit but that might just be an over exaggeration

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I had fun playing. I think Phantom Hourglass is right after, having the same Link and Tetra. And I believe Spirit Tracks in like 100 years in the future of something. But Niko is still alive...
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eh
they have linebeck tho the goat

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TheSlinja posted...

they have linebeck tho the goat

He even has his own theme!

Heres the ocarina version...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eh2qmeNbqp8
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Yes and yes. Spirit Tracks is generally better than HG, although I liked the concept behind The Temple of the Ocean King and Vellum was a pretty cool enemy.

Dmess85 posted...

They take place after wind waker and follow part of the story right?

Never played WW, but HG has Tetra who I understand was in WW. ST isn't directly connected to HG afaik.

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I preferred Spirit Tracks, but I'm also a lover of trains so...

Zeus posted...

Never played WW, but HG has Tetra who I understand was in WW. ST isn't directly connected to HG afaik.

Technically, one of Tetras pirates is still alive...
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They're okay. ST has better controls and a phenomenal OST and imo is inarguably better than PH.

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Good games but controls are sort of awkward.
I remember fishing from the boat in PH was not well explained.
I didn't finish ST because it required you to blow on the DS too much.

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I played both and I enjoyed PH, but I found ST to be a disappointment despite hearing many people say that it's the better game.

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Biggest issue is that Nintendo wanted them to use touch screen controls and ignored all the buttons the DS has. If they had a setting to use buttons for even most of the gameplay, I imagine they would have been much more popular.
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I remember ST getting a lot of hate when it came out, PH has Linbeck which is its only saving grace.

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aHappySacka posted...

I remember ST getting a lot of hate when it came out, PH has Linbeck which is its only saving grace.

Dont they both have a Linbeck?
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PH is the worst main series Zelda game. ST is better, but still a below average Zelda game.

You're not missing much by skipping them. I haven't replayed through either since I got them. I've replayed literally every other Zelda game numerous times.

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You could always watch them online instead of playing them yourself, I guess.

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I played phantom hourglass and enjoyed it but that was many years ago so I dont remember it super well

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I think I read both of these are pretty bad. Never really play it personally though.

Zelda always seems to be those games that have good runs on console, but failed on handhelds.

In this case especially, NDS have a lot of great games, but pity that neither Zelda game is one of them.

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Phantom Hourglass for sure, Spirits Tracks eh

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blasster posted...

Zelda always seems to be those games that have good runs on console, but failed on handhelds.

Link's Awakening, Link's Awakening DX, Oracle of Ages, Oracle of Seasons, Minish Cap, 4 Swords, all great games. The DS were the first ones which weren't quite so loved on handheld.

And then 3DS had some good ones as well.
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blasster posted...

Zelda always seems to be those games that have good runs on console, but failed on handhelds.

Nah, not true at all. LA is solid, especially with its Switch version getting rid of most of the things that dated the original (story is still about a subtle as getting hit with a sack of bricks, but what can you do?). OoX games are great, though each has like one or two things that are frustrating but I think that applies to most games. MC is not as strong as OoX, imo, but still solid. ALBW was great fun for me (loved ALttP) so I might be a little biased in its favor, admittedly.

I like Spirit Tracks; I think it's charming and fixed most of the issues I had with PH. PH is, imo, still worth playing, but... gonna be real with you here, other than the original Legend of Zelda, PH is my least favorite official Zelda game. The only thing that really stands out to me about PH is Linebeck and that's just not good enough; even most of the music is not worth mentioning (and yes, this means I like Zelda 2 more than PH and LoZ).

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Interesting thoughts. Thanks for the quick summary about other Zelda handhelds that I might have underestimated.

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No.
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I like them both but they aren't for everyone.

Linebeck is easily one of the funniest characters in the series IMO.
Too bad he was only a minor character in Spirit Tracks though.

Oh and about Spirit Tracks, fuck that Spirit Pipes thing. It's so annoying to use and it almost always takes multiple attempts to do one song.

What I mean specifically is everytime you're doing a duet with one of the sages and you're supposed to play in tandem with the same rhythm as the sage.

And how the Pipes works is you slide the stylus on the touchscreen for the different notes and blow in the mic to play them.
Unfortunately the mic is kinda shit and it picks up other sounds aswell and it ends up playing other notes you're not trying to play.

... Other than that, they're both neat games that feels slightly different from other Zeldas.
I even like Temple of the Ocean King in Phantom Hourglass.
Every time you get there you have new tools to work with and you can take shortcuts. It's like a speedrun and it feels so satisfying when you get a fast time.
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DeltaBladeX posted...

Biggest issue is that Nintendo wanted them to use touch screen controls and ignored all the buttons the DS has. If they had a setting to use buttons for even most of the gameplay, I imagine they would have been much more popular.

tbh, I still don't get why they couldn't have used that as an *alternate* control scheme. It was still fun, but it's an adjustment and some people just didn't want to bother with it.

faramir77 posted...

PH is the worst main series Zelda game.

Boo! Shame!

blasster posted...

Zelda always seems to be those games that have good runs on console, but failed on handhelds.

LBW might be the second-best Zelda game, after LttP. And OoT had a damn good 3DS port.

Gaawa_chan posted...

OoX games are great, though each has like one or two things that are frustrating

Frigging Goron dances are way worse than anything the other has.


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Zeus posted...

Frigging Goron dances are way worse than anything the other has.

Fuck. Thanks for reminding me of this horrible part of the game.

Zeus posted...

faramir77 posted...

PH is the worst main series Zelda game.

Boo! Shame!

Zeus posted...

Gaawa_chan posted...

OoX games are great, though each has like one or two things that are frustrating

Frigging Goron dances are way worse than anything the other has.

You're right about this though, that was an awful part of Oracle of Ages.

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Spirit Tracks sucked.
Also if you had an OG DS the game was pretty much unplayable because the shitty microphone couldn't pick up the flute noises.

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They're shitty, but

TheSlinja posted...

they have linebeck tho the goat

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The central dungeon you keep revisiting filled with enemies you can't defeat and instant kill you, so you must run from them, is controversial, and a lot of people hate it, but otherwise, the games are okay.

Spirit Tracks is better than Phantom Hourglass in my opinion.

In fact, I would argue Spirit Tracks is good.

I still hate the entire concept of the central dungeon though.
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I'd say they're worth playing. They're among the worst Zelda games, but they're still decent in their own right.

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adjl posted...

They're among the worst Zelda games

Not even in the ballpark, particularly given the spin-offs, CD-I games, etc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TN8-Pdz-ns8


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Zeus posted...

Frigging Goron dances are way worse than anything the other has.

I never finished Oragle of Ages because of that.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD4hUrLczws

*RAGE*

I liked em and there are patches to give them button controls.