Phantom Hourglass Defending Phantom Hourglass

[Zeldosopher]

The following article is my first article. I hope you like it, and please remember that it is just my opinion. I also would like to give a shout-out to the Z-talk podcast, who via searching for Zelda podcasts on ITunes brought me to this site. Goodbye and good luck Din and Rish!



Ah, Phantom Hourglass. Along with Twilight Princess and Wind Waker, it is one of the Zelda games that gets a lot of hate thrown at it – if it’s not completely forgotten.
Phantom Hourglass articles are sparse, and the occasional one is usually quite short.
Well I’m here to stand up for this game! No longer will it be tormented! No longer will it be forgotten, left to drop on the garage stairs just above the CDIs!
Well, probably not. But maybe at least I’ll be able to help explain why I feel so strongly that this game should be more fondly remembered.

I’m just gonna put this out there – Phantom Hourglass was my first Zelda game.
Now, before you leave this article, scoffing at the late coming noob who dares to call himself a Zelda fan, I beg you – please just read a little further.
I have played many other Zelda games, including the more popular ones, but yes, Phantom Hourglass was indeed my first. So this game retains a very special place in my heart.

When I played this game, I had no grasp of Zelda lore, and knew nothing of the traditional storyline of Ganon and the Triforce. I’d heard of Zelda, of course. I vaguely recognized the iconic boy in the green outfit. But I was enthralled by the magical, musical cutscene storyboards at the beginning of the game (at this time I didn’t know about Wind Waker).



I didn’t find the pixelated, downgraded-for-the-DS cell-shaded graphics ugly. To me they seemed cute and appealing. I loved every single character, and I didn’t find the music boring but exciting and adventurous (to this day Linebeck’s theme is one of my favorite Zelda songs ever).



I found the way the characters changed throughout the story heartwarming and exciting, and was so caught up in the story that I was genuinely shocked when Ciela the fairy turned out to be the spirit of courage. I found the little gags (Raise your hand if you laugh every time you see Linebeck knock over Tetra’s statue) and jokes hilarious, and was saddened at having to leave Ciela behind. Finishing the game was at first a great triumph, and then turned bittersweet by realizing that there was no more to play.



Yes, the dungeons were easy – but easier dungeons help, well, ease people into the format of the Zelda games.
I found the touchscreen format delightfully simple and fun to use, and enjoyed all the side quests – I still haven’t found every single gem!

All in all, I think Phantom hourglass is a great introductory game to the Zelda series, and I think it might work better if people treated it as a standalone game, rather than a sequel to Wind Waker, or simply a continuation of the Zelda series. The story of the boy in green and his fairy setting sail on an adventure sucked me into the franchise, and it is unlikely that any other video game series will ever surpass my love of this one.
But then again, this is just my opinion, and by no means do you HAVE to like Phantom Hourglass. But I hope you do.
Zeldosopher out.

PS. Also TARDIS :tardis:

 

[DarkestLink]

I'd say its tied for 2nd best 2D game along with ALBW.

 

[hwrdjacob]

An Opinion, again it's a declaration of nuclear war, so bear that in mind, but... I personally feel out of all the 2d games, ALBW is the worst. (Fanbase used UPROAR!)

 

[Ventus]

It is not a great introductory game and here is the reaosn why: the controls are funky, awkward, and quite honestly they are not adaptable. you see, they are forever ridden with the term of Gimmick; it is thsi Gimmick label that refuses entry to the great lands of Great; this is explained in the annals of History that show for a fact that the Generic Consumer will go aftrer what is Easy to understand and also what is Flashy. I'm sorry -- whether PH was a great intro game for many people or not is irrelevant, because the great Fact aat play here is that Public Opinion shall influence whatever is posted on the market; such is decreed in the Law of Economics, and such is what governs the Buying Power of the Dollar.

 

[MartDiamond]

Controls aren't funky, they are easy and quickly learned, most of all they are simple and responsive. I fail to see how it's a gimmick.. After MC this is my favourite handheld Zelda game (don't count OoT of course).

 

[A Link In Time]

When I first played Phantom Hourglass, I had only just beaten Twilight Princess and returned to Ocarina of Time (after getting stuck in Inside the Deku Tree for the longest period of time. I was a little kid. I know; it's embarrassing).

Even with such a limited knowledge of the Zelda franchise and expectations from completing one game in the series completely and scratching the surface of another, I was not impressed with Phantom Hourglass. It's not even the controls that bothered me so much as the repetitive nature of the game. With a few clever exceptions to unlock parts of the ocean map, sailing is a bore. The bigger offender is the Temple of the Ocean King. What is the point in retreading familiar ground over and over and over again? Although Nintendo has continued to reuse this idea with the Tower of Spirits and a brief return to the Skyview Temple in Skyward Sword, there were options to skip completed parts of the dungeon or the purpose was to uncover a new part of the dungeon in order to progress, respectively.

This might sound strange, but I think the biggest redeeming factor for Phantom Hourglass is its multiplayer. The strategic design was fun in and of itself, while big plays offered incentive to keep playing to make 100%ing the single player mode by obtaining the golden ship parts easier. It also still perplexes me to no end why Nintendo refuses to integrate online play for competitive modes in recent Zelda games. There was no reason for Spirit Tracks' battle mode to support download and linked play only or A Link Between Worlds' Shadow Link Battle to be limited to Streetpass. Expanding beyond not only minor online multiplayer modes, but also offering online cooperative play and leaderboards is an easy way to modernize the franchise outside of the single player.

 

[Dio]

I could never get into PH, I played because of its brand but, it wasn't enjoyable for me. It did not compare to the other Zelda games I had played before it, the controls were nasty and the art style was as well, I never liked the WW look but this was pixelated and even more gross. PH has a dull story and a crappy villain and forgettable music. If it weren't called legend of zelda it is something I would not have bothered to finish.

 

[hwrdjacob]

Except for Linebeck's theme. Also, Bellum and the Ocean King represent the seldom known predator-prey nature of Squids and Whales. While PH beats ST to me, I will admit Cole was slightly more memorable, but only because of 2 things:

1: No one bothered to question how he could balance two top hats on his head? Or even just the 2 top hats?!?!
2: That mischiveous/evil sounding earworm of a theme https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMD8dd0xPHk That alone single handedly saved the game from the CDi pile.

 

[Farore's Chosen]

An Opinion, again it's a declaration of nuclear war, so bear that in mind, but... I personally feel out of all the 2d games, ALBW is the worst. (Fanbase used UPROAR!)

was it super effective?

I haven't played PH yet, but I figure if its like ST then I probably won't like it, simply because of the controls. But to each their own right.

 

[PalaeoJoe]

PH was certainly not the best game to come from this beloved series, but the phrase "certainly not the best game" could be applied to any of the recent Legend of Zelda games except ALBW which has been the last "perfect" Zelda game since the MC. Though I had fun with PH and am happy that it is being recognized and appreciated, as the only real gripe I have with the game is how artificial the world feels. It felt this way because you are constantly transitioning (with a cut scene) from an Island with no day/night cycle to a transportation over world with no day/night cycle, this took away the feeling of a flowing, immersive world and made it feel more like a game. (This is actually one of the problems I have with SS.) Other than that I have little else to complain about and the things I would complain about are minor complaints, If anyone wants to hear them just tell me and I will.

 

[Zeldosopher]

Of course dis is just my opinion, and I totally get its not the same for everyone, but for me, playing it WITHOUT HAVING PLAYED ANY OTHER ZELDA meant I wasn't used to any other controls, and the PH ones flowed seamlessly and easily to me, but then again, that's just me.

 

[Planet Keetis]

PH was a original idea and a great step forward for hand held zelda games. and Linebeck’s character development is some of the best seen in any zelda game to date!!

 

[the8thark]

The following article is my first article. I hope you like it, and please remember that it is just my opinion. I also would like to give a shout-out to the Z-talk podcast, who via searching for Zelda podcasts on ITunes brought me to this site. Goodbye and good luck Din and Rish!

Firstly don't expect to many people to care about your article. I have written a couple for here with much (or any replay) reply at all (for some).

Secondly, to reply directly to your piece:
It's a great game. All you said is "I like the game for X and Y reasons". That's cool and I agree, it's a nice little game. Not the best LoZ game ever but I did like it when I played it. So I can agree with you.

 

[Zeldosopher]

Firstly don't expect to many people to care about your article. I have written a couple for here with much (or any replay) reply at all (for some).

Secondly, to reply directly to your piece:
It's a great game. All you said is "I like the game for X and Y reasons". That's cool and I agree, it's a nice little game. Not the best LoZ game ever but I did like it when I played it. So I can agree with you.

I totally get that basically nobody's gonna read it, partly because I'm new, and partly because the title 'Phantom Hourglass' is... How should I put it? A 'Zelda turn-off' for most people.

Thanks for sharing your opinion.

 

[Curmudgeon]

You can keep telling me that the controls aren't terrible - this won't change my mind. I hated them. PH and ST were fine as Zelda games (I even found ST good at times) but the touch controls will forever relegate them to the one or two playthrough pile.