Overall, the game was too short.

I agree with every word! One additional point I would have in my own list would be: the puzzles! The dungeons in the game and the puzzles in them are so awesome. I had so much fun playing them, and it used the map-noting function so geniously!

I agree on all fronts save for one: The Temple of the Ocean King

I love the game and would play it again if it were not for that blasted temple! When I play my DS I play in spurts. Sometimes I will play every night for hours on end, but then after a week or so of this I stop and switch to something else each night. After a month or so I come back and repeat. This cycle means that the times I put the game down are also the times I forget the path through the temple. This means I either die due to time, or get frustrated and quick. In order to beat the game I had to go to gamefaqs to figure out the temple. The rest of the game was so awesome that there was no chance that I was going to quick just because of the temple, but man that was a pain.

I’m not a fan of the game.

Ironically, if I was to make a list of “Five Reasons why Phantom Hourglass was Disappointing”, I would use the same first four titles

Temple of the Ocean King made me not want to play the game again, I hope in this new Zelda there is no such awful thing =(

I completely agree with everything you’ve said, but I’m probably in the biggest minority of all, I didn’t like Twilight Princess. I can’t say why for sure, it just never felt right to me. Maybe it was too real, I’m not sure. I did love Ocarina, so don’t dismiss me as just a Wind Waker/Phantom Hourglass fanboy. Regardless, Phantom Hourglass was the perfect handheld Zelda game, I can’t wait for Spirit Tracks.

You know something I whole heartedly agree with this article for several reasons. It does point out all the great things about Phantom Houglass, which to me isn’t my favorite Zelda game, but it certainly isn’t the worst or a bad game at all.

To me all the whining, and moaning about Phantom Hourglass, and the newly announced Spirit Tracks for that matter, is due to ever growing elitist mentality. People say things like “Oh PH is too simple” or “PH lacks a fleshed out story” or “PH is too short”… which is fine everyone is entitle to their own opinion. It’s just that everyone seems too high on their horses these days to simply sit down and enjoy a game.

Even worse are the so called older gamers who grew up with Nintendo saying “Oh Nintendo’s gone downhill” or “Nintendo franchises were better on the N64, and newer games in franchises don’t add nothing or do anything new” who to me are obviously hung up on their old child memories of playing the old Nintendo games, which don’t get me wrong were great, but you’d have to be absolutely blind not to see the progression of their franchises and see that despite the high quality of their old titles, their new titles have the same amount of quality put into them. If only people would just play the games instead of complain about them.

—–

Sorry if I’m jaded… but honestly yesterday I had someone trying to tell me that Halo had grown and evolved as a series from the first original title to Halo 3, and that Super Mario peaked at Super Mario 64, and that Super Mario Galaxy was just the same old crap.

I honestly laughed at hos blind some people are.

@The Maverickk, I agree completely. gamers on the internet are too caught up in being snarky and complaining about everything. they seem to have a hard time taking a game for what it is, instead of what they think it should be.

This game was a model of what it means to make a fun adventure game and the Zelda series is a whole model in itself with how you can take a skeleton story plot/characters and change it just enough to not have sequels (most of the time, in a way) and create something new every time. And I loved Wind Waker. The whole boating part brought me back to when I used to travel the skies in Skies of Arcadia (only without being interrupted by battles). Too short? It is a handheld game after all…

I can’t wait to play the new one.

I agree with all points. Phantom Hourglass was an elegant Zelda game tailor-made for the DS. The only tiny thing was the soundtrack that was a bit less engaging than previous titles.

Also, Linebeck was the greatest character introduced to the Zelda universe since Tingle.

Yeah, PH is a great game. I’m one of those that didn’t like the Ocean King Temple though. Adding a time limit to a stealth game just stresses me out too much. Time to stop, think and strategize is important for stealth games, but the time limit took away from that. Beyond that, I love the game. I almost forgot how cool the all-touch controls were too, so thanks for reminding me!

Five Reasons Phantom Hourglass was NOT Awesome:

1) Touchscreen controls. Sure, they worked, but they served as a constant disconnect between the player and Link. If felt like you were dragging him around instead of actually controlling him. And some of the exact mechanics were very Wii-like in that they weren’t always consistent. “Roll dammit, don’t slash!”

2) Uninspired Temples. Seriously, these may be the ugliest temples the series has ever served. Each room is essentially a square, with a boring ground texture repeated, and almost nothing visually to differentiate it from the other temples.

3) Sailing! Yes, sailing was simplified (and improved) over Wind Waker, but it still amounted to nothing more than a boring on-rails segment that served no practical purpose except to artificially extend the gameplay.

4) The story? Ugh. I felt no motivation to play through it as the story wasn’t interesting in the slightest.

5) A general lack of Zeldaness. To be fair, this isn’t a complaint untented only for Phantom Hourglass–I just haven’t liked any Zelda game since the amazing Majora’s Mask. They’ve lost something and I’m not quite sure what it is, but I hope they find it!

I’ve always had a problem with people (such as Yahtzee) citing redundant nature of Nintendo stories as something bad. The games are by design meant to showcase gameplay mechanics. The stories and settings within them may seem “recursive” - but this is a conscious design. All of the Nintendo stories reflect the universal ideas of “good vs. evil” without trying to reinvent the wheel with “new characters.” New details, however, are most certainly welcomed, and such are present in every one of the incarnations of the old classics…

It is difficult to make the above statement without sounding extreme: there are certainly games where the originality of the story is the driving force (Psychonauts, anything else by Tim Schafer). What I am trying to say, however, is that Okami is hardly “original” in terms of pure story alone - it is just as universal, just as “good vs. evil,” and just as “cliche” as any of the Nintendo titles.

I think I would buy some of those criticisms if the games did not consistently feature new gameplay mechanics and (loaded word) innovation of dungeon-based puzzles and challenges. Sure, Mario Galaxy is still a platformer with a lovable protagonist, but I wouldn’t be nearly as impressed if it wasn’t for SPACE WALK Level, Dark and Anti-Matter levels (or whatever that stuff was called) and whatever else I’m currently forgetting that the game introduced.

tl;dr version: stories have always been secondary to gameplay in Nintendo titles.

Urgh, touch controls. I think it can be cool, and works for some games.. But I don’t feel like Zelda is one of them.

I never played Phantom Hourglass, but Windwaker is definitely my favorite 3-D Zelda, so I should probably check it out eventually.

BLAG BLAG THEY CHANGED SOMETHING NOW EVERYTHIG SUX!!! MAKE ANOTHER OCARANI NAO!!!

Therefore, your argument is invalid.

This was my favorite Zelda games. I can’t complete the rest of them. They anger me with their random stupid clues. This game was awesome. can’t wait for the new one!

Jam - Who are you even talking about?

I pretty much agree with everything you’ve said here. I hope to see Linebeck again, and Midna for that matter (though it seems that’s pretty unlikely).

Nice article. I actually enjoyed Phantom Hourglass, and hell, even the Ocean King Temple was interesting. People complain about each Zelda game being the same, but whenever they put in something new, it’s the same people whining about the new stuff.

The Ocean King Temple had a sense of urgency, and I found myself just barely getting through the time limit by the skin of my teeth. I also don’t understand the complaints about “playing through the whole temple over and over again”. There ARE several checkpoints you use to bypass segments of the temple, so that’s just pointless whining again.

I HATED THAT TEMPLE. SO MUCH. It just felt like some arbitrary element tacked on to increase play time.

I guess I just like trolling through each new dungeon, not making my way through the SAME ONE.

Good sir, your idea were all quite on par with mine except for the fact that MAKAR, not LINEBECK, is the greatest of Zelda side characters, I don’t have a wordy argument for my opinion, but that little Deku scrub is the epitome of lovable.

Foo

I did enjoy the game very much but personally I thought Bellum was the lamest villan in the zelda universe.

The entire Zelda series is like the internet’s grade school girlfriend. We’ll always love her, we’ll always want her, but we’ll always be a bit disappointed or frightened when she doesn’t do exactly as we think she should.

I suppose I need to finish this game now that there is another one coming out. Overall I have enjoyed the game but I must say that Ocean King temple was a turn-off. It was ok for awhile but the seemingly endless back-tracking became frustrating and seemed like a cheap shortcut in game design. Kind of similar to that pointless fetch quest near the end of Wind Waker (which otherwise was one of my favorite Zelda games).

I agree with every line of your appeal to Phantom Hourglass. My only qualm with this game is that Bellum was not very memorable; this is evident by me forgetting it was Bellum at the end of PH at this point.

I’m lookin’ forward, very much so, to Spirit Tracks!

People hated Linebeck??

I thought the temple was okay, I didn’t hate it but it wasn’t that interesting, not the best Zelda thing ever.

being a handheld game, it was a game i played in bursts, took with me to places, savored. but the after taste is bitter… for all i feel that i remember from the game in the long term is either sailing (or watching my boat sail with annoying enemies popping up), and the temple of the ocean king and the temple of the ocean king and the temple of the ocean king.

also unfortunate was the incredibly uninspired music. by far the worst dungeon music. EVER.

I think the top down Zeldas work better in general than the 3D. I love the positive attitude of Zeldas, even when there is drama this don’t have the glum, depressing feel of other ‘epic games’. You generally do feel like it is an adventure in the best sense of the word, full of wonder like a child imagining an epic battle at the bottom of their garden with their toys. I think this is captured better by the cartoon style.

I agree.

Now… about that last paragraph… it’s “ganon”, not “gannon”…

I totally agree with you.

Everyone I talk to keeps complaining about how short or boring Phantom Hourglass was. But, to tell you the truth, i found it quite challenging. It took me forever to get past the Courage Temple and returning to the Temple of the Ocean King was fun, but a pain at the same time. Another thing that took me a while was the Triforce puzzle in the Ocean King Temple. I kept drawing the Triforce wrong, but when I finally got it right and opened the door, I was overjoyed.
All of the dungeons and bosses were amazing as well. Although my favorite would have to be Bellumbeck. That fight was intense, because you couldn’t stay in one place for too long, you had to use the Phantom Spheres against Bellumbeck while trying not to get hit, and you had to constantly watch the top screen to stop time at the exact moment Bellum’s huge eye opened. At the end of the battle, while I was laughing with relief and watching the credits, I realized how sweaty I was.
In my book, this was the best game for DS I have ever played, as well as my first Zelda game. From that day on, I have been a dedicated Zelda fan.

I wholeheartedly agree with this article. I loved PH to pieces.
Heck, I liked the temple of the Ocean King far more than any other dungeon in the game. But that’s maybe because I enjoy backtracking.

Yes, that’s right, I like the thing most ‘high-minded gamers’ hate with a passion. I like to backtrack, especially if it’s done well, ala Zelda or Metroid.

And Bellum was probably the one villian above all others that made me actually shudder. Not only is he creepy as all get out, but he rips the frickin’ life force out of people, turning them into stone! Sure, he may not have had much of personality, but I think he’s the first major villian to simply be a giant source of evil. He doesn’t have a purpose or major plan, he’s just evil and wants to suck out your life.

I’m wondering though, if there’s a possible connection between Bellum and Nightmare (from Link’s awakening).