come anticipate THE LEGEND OF ZELDA DS: PHANTOM HOURGLASS with me!!!

but yeah, ds + zelda in the same sentence = eeeexcellent

But who am I kidding - this is my buying a DS when it comes out.

I never got round to playing wind walker. I wonder whether the DS one will make me wish I had, or whether it'll be similar enough to it to make me glad I didn't. (Third possibility: I never get round to playing this one either).

(I've just realised that I have NEVER completed a zelda game. Came very close on the GBC, got halfway on the N64, played about an hour of Ages (or Seasons, I don't remeber), and haven't even started any of the others. This feels strange and surprising to me).

(however I must request a ban on talking about ejaculating over any game that doesn't have the words "Leisure" "Suit" and "Larry" in the title)

hay guys, this is nearly out i think! it got a 9 in edge!!

NA October 1, 2007
EU October 19, 2007
AUS October 11 2007

I am greatly glad for a return to the overhead view style; it looks like a lot of the stuff that was great about Wind Waker minus the hours of ridiculous sailing around. I hope there are items as fun as WARNING TWILIGHT PRINCESS SPOILER the spinner in TP. I guess I'm getting a DS.

YOU CAN STOP ANTICIPATING, YO

Anyone played it yet?

sooooon

I want to play that weird Tingle-only DS game they're not releasing in the U.S.

I am playing it now! As of last night, anyway. I'm only about an hour in, and I'm unconvinced by this "put the stylus where you want to run to" thing, cos it means when I'm running left, I can't see myself (or any monsters I might be running into).

I agree with the stylus thing. I've taken to holding the stylus at the top so I'm pointng from really far away, or generally contorting my hand. I've completed the first proper dungeon, and plan to get a little more done on my lunch break. I'm really enjoying it so far, and it's very pretty.

Being able to draw/write on the map is such a great addition.

Getting good reviews too, with most opting for a 90-95/100 scoreline.

Running with the stylus sounds lame.

It does sound kinda lame, but you see why they did it when (spoiler?) you get the boomerang, cos your map the route of the boomerang by drawing it on the screen. If you were moving using the dpad, that'd probably seem awkward, moreso than running with the stylus is awkward. (end spoiler?)

Hmm, the boomerang feels awkward to me anyway. And if I was moving using the d-pad, then I'd be able to do that and throw the boomerang at the same time, which would be very helpful.

Sailing around is a bit boring too. Not sure I'm going to stick with this for very long.

quite enjoying this, the phantom hourglass time limit brings a nice sense of urgency. the boomerang feels fine to me, the only problem i've found so far is getting Link to roll. sailing is better when you have a cannon to shoot things with.

I'm hoping to start playing some this weekend. There's too many games right now

This is the thread where I admit that I am not a big fan of the Zelda series at all. There, I said it. I don't really like Zelda games! Maybe I'm just Zelda-dyslexic, but I feel like the games are all "hey, here's a puzzle where you need to use an item in an interesting way, which might make sense logically, but in the game didn't make sense-- i mean yeah, you can throw your boomerang over this wall, even though you can't jump over it, and you can only throw your boomerang at chest level! this makes total sense! give me 99 metascore plz!" The level designs always feel, like, the opposite of how clever game puzzles should work out. Maybe it's just me. But it always feels like ridiculous, useless puzzles punctuated by repetitive, boring combat. I don't think I've ever beaten a Zelda game; they all beat me. I get so tired of not knowing how to do the next bit, I give up. It happened in Link To The Past (spent hours looking for the last small key in one of the dark dungeons), Ocarina (forget where I got stuck), Wind Waker (I didn't get very far at all, I was in some giant vertical tree dungeon thing with mushrooms)... oh, and the art is so BLEH. The first Zelda for NES was the best-looking one by leaps and bounds (that I've played), but as graphics have gotten "better," Zelda has just gotten more derivative and boring and lame. The baddies in Link to the Past are the least inspired baddies I can possibly fathom in my MIND.

That said... I am enjoying Phantom Hourglass. Pretty much everfything zappi said two messages ago was OTM. I HATE that they felt the urge to make me use the microphone at points in the game, which I think should be completely optional in DS games. I play exclusively while riding the bus, you see... and I don't like looking like a retard. Playing DS makes me look retarded enough, but talking to it? Fuck you Nintendo. Also, the salvage arm minigame/not-minigame-because-it-is-a-plotpoint is an unresponsive piece of crap.

i'm feeling this!

i love how they're all pretty much the same!

i also love how they give me all the stuff i want from an RPG without all the annoying statistics and grinding and micro-management.

which i go in for sometimes, but rarely can keep up the interest for.

I was wholly satisfied by this game, but then I was a huge fan of Wind Waker too. I totally agree about the Hourglass dungeons, it's weird how they completely appropriated the Metal Gear Solid gameplay for it, but it works! The new stuff they tried in general for this (i.e. the stylus control, simplifying the ship play) were all nicely implemented.

I did enjoy the treasure hunting and what not. I also like the Animal Crossing-like feature of playing every day to get new ship parts from Beedle and the online item trading (though the multiplayer game is... interesting, it's pretty limited) and how the value of your items is different from other players.

i also love how they give me all the stuff i want from an RPG without all the annoying statistics and grinding and micro-management.

so OTM, all the exploration of an RPG without the boring levelling up stuff (grinding in games like WOW is my idea of hell). i'm loving this game, and feel the opposite of nearly everything Will M said, i love the art style, the talking/blowing things out, and the puzzles are beautifully designed! could do without bumping into that pirate woman for the nth time though, and the bosses are far too easy.

Playing Zeldas now for me feels basically just like nostalgia for the original Gameboy one I completed. Except this one -- it's proper fun. I like using the stylus, although I can't make Link roll, and I worry that it's going to bite me in harder levels. I could barely get him to walk through wide-open fire traps

The sailing *is* kinda dull, but way less than it was on GC.

I think I'm getting pretty far on this now, but I avoided it at the weekend in favour of getting back to some Twilight Princess, which I just kinda stopped playing for no real reason.

I don't like the timed dungeons in Phantom Hourglass that much, so it's a shame it's such a big part of the game... Still, really enjoying it on the whole, even though the storyline isn't as strong as some other Zelda's.

With regard to all the rolling problems folks are having. There was a thing on some game site (that's good an vague), about Zelda tips that don't include spoilers. One was how to roll effectively, and it works quite well. Rather than scribbling little circles you just move the stylus to the edge of the screen you're running at, draw it towards the centre a little bit, the back out to the edge.

timed dungeons?

YUK!

guys i finished it last night.

timed dungeons gives the wrong impression. i like them.

I've only done one timed dungeon section so far and it was actually quite enjoyable.

I wish I'd heeded the instruction to take notes, I didn't realise I'd have to go through the same damn timed dungeon again and again. It's still fun, though.

The baddies in Link to the Past are the least inspired baddies I can possibly fathom in my MIND.

Dude no I love this! Esp. that worm-thing with the rolly eyes at the end of the first desert castle. So awesome, man. Or the jellyfish covered in puffy balls. Hilarious!

is this worth getting a DS for? i am so tempted. i loved wind waker.

hard to say. i fuckin' love wind waker so much and this was a nice reminder of it, very fun and diverting for a few days, but short of WW's beautiful chilled-out awesomeness.

still if you like playing other games at all a DS is a wonderful thing.

OTM

This game is fun! I felt like such a dumbass when I realized I had to actually blow into the microphone to blow out the candles in the first dungeon.

I just got this. I only have a DS with me for the summer, so I saved up a bunch of blockbuster hitz to play for the next few months.

I'm just past the Temple of Courage, so I probably have a long way to go. I'm really enjoying it, especially the last Zelda I really sunk my teeth into was Link to the Past, and a quarter of Minish Cap, so the gameplay feels really fresh to me. That said

I HATE that they felt the urge to make me use the microphone at points in the game...I don't like looking like a retard. Playing DS makes me look retarded enough, but talking to it? Fuck you Nintendo.
I HATE that they felt the urge to make me use the microphone at points in the game...I don't like looking like a retard. Playing DS makes me look retarded enough, but talking to it? Fuck you Nintendo.
I HATE that they felt the urge to make me use the microphone at points in the game...I don't like looking like a retard. Playing DS makes me look retarded enough, but talking to it? Fuck you Nintendo.

Not only does it make you speak into the microphone, at points you really have to yell loudly! I guess most people are used to to that sort of thing these days, with headsets and Halo and WoW and all of that stuff, but I'm still at the point where I kind of bark "HEY!" and then get all sheepish. Fuck you Nintendo.

I liked that part, especially what the assistant tells you after you do it.

I HATE that they felt the urge to make me use the microphone at points in the game...I don't like looking like a retard. Playing DS makes me look retarded enough, but talking to it? Fuck you Nintendo.

If you tap hard on the microphone with the stylus it produces the same effect as shouting! you will still have to blow on the screen at various points though, you don't get away totally free

I tried that, the tapping on the mic thing! It works occasionally, but in certain parts (like when some guy politely asks you to basically yell in the microphones as loud as you can for a lower price, tapping on the mic just doesn't work as well. I beat the shit out of the mic with the stylus and the lowest price I could get was 1000. Later, I looked on gamefaqs and it turns out that if I could have driven the price all the way down to 200 if I was loud enough.

I HATE that they felt the urge to make me use the microphone at points in the game...I don't like looking like a retard. Playing DS makes me look retarded enough, but talking to it? Fuck you Nintendo.

lol at nintendo, did they forget that the whole point of the DS is that people can play it out and about in public places.

rub the microphone with your thumb to get an extended "tap." i got the 200 price point with thumb-rubbing.

TMI

I was playing my DS in the waiting room of my therapist's. She came in, and saw what I was playing. "My nephew has one of those, and you get to blow on the screen! And talk to it! Can I try?" I told her I was just playing the NYT Crosswords and she seemed a little disappointed.

If you don't try to collect all the gems or gold ship parts, you will end up beating the game prematurely and will never want to finish these side quests. I hate how games like final fantasy and stuff have really cool alternate paths (too new items etc..) that you can't go back and do after you passed a certain point.

This raises questions about the proper way of making an rpg or action rpg. Obviously non-linear (go wherever you want) is preferred, but you need linearity to an extent so that you don't go missing an item, character, or quest that would have been really fun.

i don't think non-linear is the obvious choice.

i like a lot of super-linear games like half-life 2. i think linearity is cool, i don't need to spend all my life wandering around a virtual world. i like games that are light tight compressed shots of fun. also much better for narrative purposes.

i'm gonna start a thread about this.

is this game good?

yes

but you have to keep returning to the same dungeon, so if that kinda thing gets your goat, think twice. other than that, i'd rate it as highly as link's awakening

internet people seem to hate it, but i really enjoyed it. its a bit easy. returning to the same dungeon is a bit annoying, but your exploring it more each time & new skills/items gained can be used to create shortcuts, which mitigates somewhat.

I'm saying

ocarina of time > a link to the past > wind waker > majora's mask > minish cap > twilight princess

I haven't played zelda 1, zelda 2, link's awakening, the oracles

I'm going to give this one a try; I do wonder if I'm a bit old for zelda now : /

naaaaah. it's magic.

it's good, it's zelda.

this game is boring (for a Zelda game). Minish Cap was like 10000000000000000000000000000000x better.

^

loved it

SO much better being able to play with the dpad; SO SO much better

handheld wind waker omg

wait. what the hell are you talking about?

there's a hack?
some unconfirmed rumours out there that Spirit Tracks is going to be DSi only. which would suck.

i would def like to replay this with dpad. spill it cozen

honestly I don't quite understand the fixation with D-pad for this, give stylus a chance

I am playing it on a rom and via the cheat menu you can choose to play w/dpad controls and it is SUPER LEGIT

combat and communication is still stylus based (you can use buttons but it's finnicky) but that's no problem; the main problem w/the stylus movement was being unable to see where you were going or even see and enjoy the game imo

yeah my hands kept getting in the way and my peni.. i mean hands aren't even that big