Heart Containers

[ShellShocker]

For those of us that have played Phantom Hourglass, we know that there are no heart pieces at all in the game - just full Heart Containers. The Heart Containers weren't usually hard to get (like defeating bosses), but there were a lot less of them than there were heart pieces in other games.

Anyway, to the point: Did you like it better like this, or did you want Heart Pieces?

I myself was hoping for Heart Pieces instead of Heart Containers so there would be a lot more puzzles and quests to do than normal. Plus, collecting pieces just seems more fun to me.

What do you think of this?

[Durion]

I prefer Heart Pieces, I was disappointed to find out that PH only had Heart Containers, They are easy to collect and as you stated there is a lot less of them. Heart pieces makes the game a fair bit harder to complete by yourself, Seeing as PH is already very easy this didn't help with making it 100%. Although it did have collecting all the boat parts. All games that use Heart pieces are always harder to get 100% on than those that don't.

Heart Containers are good for the earlier games when it was already very hard to beat them by yourself but seeing as Zelda's hardness rating has fell hugely I don't think they can get away with it now.

So as you have read I would have prefered for PH to have Pieces rather than containers, Containers are a good present to be left after defeating a boss but not when you can only get hearts by doing so.

[midnightokami]

Phantom hourglass was the first zelda game I have played so I think it doesn't matter that time when I started it. After I completed windwaker, ocarina of time and minish cap, I look back at it thinking that the game would be better if it had heart pieces. But the game is easy for advance Zelda players, and kind of a chanlenge for people who have played zelda for the first time.

[Josh]

I think I still like heart pieces a heck of a lot better. Honestly, there's more to collect, more to find, more to do, I haven't even gotten anything past the heart containers from bosses in PH, because I have no interest to. The world of PH kind of took out the search and find hearts like in every other zelda game. :(

[ShellShocker]

Honestly, there's more to collect, more to find, more to do

Agreed. It really takes some fun out of Phantom Hourglass because there isn't as many heart pieces to collect. Sure, you can collect Boat Pieces, but they aren't in set locations, really. Though, there are gems to collect. It would've made the game longer if there were heart pieces, even if they weren't that hard, I'd probably like it more.

[Nepolink]

I like to have Hearth pieces in it. Totally agree with Josh, if there are pieces you can search for more, even hidden secret places like in OOT and TP. But in Phantom Hourglass you got the gems, Wisdom, Courage and power. For me they are hard to find, and i want to get the level 2 upgrades! *Looks at ZD advice and places*

[Master Kokiri 9]

I myself would rather have the heart container mechanics of games like oot, tp, and windwaker. but really the heart container mechanic from phantom hourglass is nothing new. in zelda II they used the same mechanics and they also used it in the original Legend of Zelda.

[Len]

well... the heart containers makes a useful thing, like, makes you able to hold on when receiving dammage, allthough some are hardly hidden, for that exists the "easter eggs tips" i think that is more easy to find and collect complette heart containers, than heart pieces, just if the game does not end too fast, (oh my hand!, the pain!, it hurts!)

[basement24]

I dind't mind it probably because I'm a retro-gamer and I'm used to just getting full-hearts from multiple LoZ and AoL playthroughs.

Also, with so many other collectibles in the ship parts and the power gems, I dind't miss hunting for heart pieces.

I have a feeling ST will retain the same system of full containers, but as long as there's somethign else to search for and collect I'll be happy.

[Petman1325]

I like heart pieces better than heart containers (With the exception of killing a boss or completing an uber-hard challenge). However, due to the game's size, I can sort of forgive it, especially how they had the power/wisdom/courage gems. However, I would love to have the Heart Pieces instead of Heart Containers as collectable items (Once again, with the exception of killing a boss or completing an uber-hard challenge).

I mean, the DS can hold only 256 MB (so far), so if Nintendo put a lot of effort into it, it could be as big as ALttP, only with polygons and not sprites. I'd love to see the return of Heart Pieces in Spirit Tracks.

[knowlee]

Well honestly I like the idea of having Heart Pieces instead of Heart Containers. Having the entire heart container completed for me already instead of it being broken into pieces kinda takes the fun out of going to search for them. In my opinion, it kinda defeats the purpose of searching to extend your lives when it's given to you anyway without having to really look.

So in short, I'd like to go seaching for the pieces myself instead of having them all handed to me on a silver platter.

[Aerostella]

I definitely like having heart pieces better because it's such a huge sidequest in all of the other games. It felt so odd having a major part of Zelda being wiped out. A lot of Zelda is about searching around to find hidden things such as a secret grotto with a cow hiding in it, sailing around a vast ocean to discover more islands, or finding a beaver's hideout and racing against him and his brother for a new empty bottle. It just wasn't there as much in Phantom Hourglass. With the Spirit Gems, yeah it was there a little bit, but I found all but about 3 or 4 without using any kind of guide.

[voltarrow]

getting heart pieces can be sometimes really annoying but i still enjoy it a lot

[NoRush]

That was my major concern for this game, a lack of a seriously involved side quest. I understand that now that the DSi can only hold so much, but still, they could have gotten away with it.

I would prefer heart pieces as well simply because this was too easy. (Noting my other posts about how hard LoZ/Aol are, you can tell that this really was too easy).

Power Gems, however, did slightly make up fort this.

[Brandikins]

The original Zelda only had heart containers in it. I personally think Heart Pieces are way more fun than full ones. We all know, that Majora's Mask has 52 of them! This is because there are only four bosses, meaning 7 of your hearts are from the begining and the four bosses. The rest are all from pieces believe it or not.

[Anthony]

Heart Peices, in my opinion, where quite fun to search for.
In some of the origional Zelda Games, only Heart Containers were available,
which ruined some of the gameplay.

With Heart Peices it provided a challenge, and you had to search for them to gain extra lives, which made it all the better when you finally aquired them.

I loved Heart Peices, and I hope Nintendo continues this idea in future Zelda Games.

[Werewolfy]

I prefer the heart pieces, definitely. There's more to them than there is to the heart containers. More exploration, more puzzles, more side-quests, etc. Granted, some of the heart containers were a little hard to get (I'm mostly referring to the shooting gallery one here), but there could have been so much more with heart pieces.

PH seemed to take a lot of chances. Heart containers rather than heart pieces; 9999 wallet from beginning to end rather than upgrading as you went; use of an engine; touch screen; and of course, ship parts. Most of these things did pretty well, but I have complaints against a few, including the heart container idea.

[Twilight Prince]

I liked having the heart pieces, in a sense of a way, it was like a side quest, something that was not really needed, but was a fun/challenging thing to try to do. I wish that they would have put them in the game, first without them you seemed not to have enough health at times, and it would have been a fun extra to be in the boat and finding a heart piece in the Middle of the ocean.

[Seethe]

Also, with so many other collectibles in the ship parts and the power gems, I dind't miss hunting for heart pieces.

I have a feeling ST will retain the same system of full containers, but as long as there's somethign else to search for and collect I'll be happy.
Agreed. As long as they supply us with something that substitutes the searching for the heart pieces (such as the ship parts and gems), then things will be fine.

[Alex_Da_Great]

Although I don't really care if it was only containers or not, but if I did, I would like pieces because containers just take the fun out of everything. You are in Hyrule (or whatever) and you are just missing 1 piece of heart. That is when the fun kicks in when you are trying to look for it while containers are like "Here's are container, there you go. More life".

[Seethe]

In all honesty, with all of the game guides on the internet, as well as official guides that you can purchase, finding the heart pieces isn't really any harder/challenging... Just creates more play time and maybe some puzzles, etc.

In WindWaker, I'm actually missing one heart piece. I have 19 Containers. I never felt like looking through a guide and going to each location to figure out which one I was missing. This system in PH kind of stops that from happening.

[Silver]

Yes, I do in fact think that giving Heart Containers was a little to easy. It was super easy when you could buy it at the Masked Man's shop. (What ever his name is :O) Though, it did give some memories of previous Zelda games like The Legend of Zelda: Adventure of Link. It was a DS game, so I wouldn't think that a lot things were to be added, due to the lack of exceeded memory space.

[Seethe]

The heart container received from scoring 2,000 points at the Shooting Range has proven to be the most challenging for me. I probably spent 300 rupees just trying to get 1,700. I'm just awful at that mini game...

[elliotstriforce]

i like the heart pieces because you get to spend more time playing the game and trying to find everything that there is then you can restart and play through again.

[Silver]

I like the heart pieces because you get to spend more time playing the game and trying to find everything that there is then you can restart and play through again.

That is true, I do find the urge to play it once more, it has that type of "feeling". I think I will play it again over the weekend. Also, yeah the Mini-Game Heart Piece was hard! I give props to who got it!

[Seethe]

Also, yeah the Mini-Game Heart Piece was hard! I give props to who got it!
You are still talking about the Shooting Range? Still seems almost impossible! I also had trouble with the boat cannon mini-game... Shooting the targets. Maybe I just suck at this whole mini-game thing, but I havn't had any luck. I havn't even bothered with the Dee-Ess mini-game for the larger Bombchu bag...

[arkvoodle]

I quite enjoy collecting the Heart Pieces, the Heart Containers where too easy to collect, and Heart Pieces provided a challenge and were fun to look for.

Pieces made the adventure seem more worth it when you collected all of them, it also added some depth to the games.

[Durion]

I believe that this was a bad move by Nintendo, It has always been fun and hard finding all the heart pieces without a guide. As well all know, todays games are getting far too easy and as far as PH goes it doesn't help in anyway at all.

Although, Then again PH is only a handheld and its plot, gameplay and graphics all make me believe this is a game for the younger audience so it doesn't need to make it harder by adding these. I'm not sure which audience Nintendo intended this game for though.

[Link Master]

I do enjoy the Heart pieces as well but I think they were limited to what the could put on the cartridge. I do not think they could put huge caverns or a side quest like Anju and Kafei.

[ottobot]

I do enjoy the Heart pieces as well but I think they were limited to what the could put on the cartridge. I do not think they could put huge caverns or a side quest like Anju and Kafei.

i don't think they were limited to the space on the game. look at minish cap; it had heart pieces, seashells, and the minish portals and roads. however, phantom hourglass kind makes up for it. it had gems, 3-D graphics, more dungeons, treasure charts, and ship parts, so give it some slack O.K.

[hojumski]

I applied:PSo as you have read I would have prefered for PH to have Pieces rather than containers,

[Dungeon killer]

I did think that this was a disappointment to me I loved the tension of finding the different heart pieces and completeing the game with every single collectable.:nerd::thinking:

[Yoshi_FTW]

I think, if you say you want pieces instead of containers, you're basically just saying you want a longer, more difficult, more puzzling game. I personally hate having to collect a those little pieces, but yet I still want the game to be just as long, hard, etc.

[PixelSmile]

Phantom Hourglass was the first zelda game i played.. and that was just before christmas i completed it so i really don't mind if it had heart peices or heart containers. I haven't played many Zelda games but of what i have played (PH & ST) they seem to be amazing.

[Raven]

Another one of the reasons i dont like PH, i just remember so many times when i thought i was going to win some heart container and it turned out to be a ship piece or a gem (beacause of the total lack of collectible hearts). i would rather collect heart pieces than all of those other things because to me it is like Link had won that persons affection or trust for doing a good deed, or figuring something out. Heart Pieces are why i love OoT and MM so much but I sold my DS and PH because it never really captured my imagination. although i kinda wish i hadn't done that because ST is out now =(

[Dark Princess]

I thought that even though they used heart containers instead of heart pieces, I still thought the game was good, but I guess I would've liked it more if they did use heart pieces. It makes the game funner when you're looking for all of the pieces.