Spirit Tracks Dude, This Game is Cool.

[ihateghirahim]

From the comments of people on the site, I gathered that ST was a gimmicky and stale game that didn't fit well into alongside the other Zelda games. Now, I've got a copy, and that last statement is completely wrong as far as I'm concerned. This game is awesome. The stylus controls are a little painful upon first use, but you get used to them. The dungeons, while not particularly hard, feel fun, adventurous, and they do make you think. The story is great by Zelda standards, and I actually really like these Toon characters. The train gameplay is fun and unique. I love the new train combat, rail racing, and hunting all those wabbits (I've always wanted to say that). It proves Nintendo is still creative and fun. This game also puts the DS to its max. It takes advantage of the two screens, for organizing maps and menus, cinematics, and there's even a boss battle where you have to use both screens. It's a great game from a great system. You guys agree?

 

[Mido]

I have to say, you've hit it right on the money! Sure the Stylus controls are something to get used to, but everything really is cleverly done!

 

[Azure Sage]

Yay, another person who appreciates this game! I completely agree. Spirit Tracks is one of my favorite video games ever, right next to Ocarina of Time. The story is my personal favorite, and the game is a lot of fun in general. I love the characters and the bosses and the soundtrack. Item use was clever, especially the Boomerang. The dungeons were a bit on the easy side, but the Tower of Spirits was fantastic. The teamwork between Link and Zelda was phenomenal, and it makes Zelda the best partner in the series in my opinion. I really enjoyed the trains too, even if we're confined to the tracks. The game is much better than people give it credit for.

 

[Ventus]

I think it's a great game for a great system (what Zelda games aren't bar Wii titles because that system was RANK AF), but it really isn't an super amazing Zelda title. It has great elements, but put to poor use. Why force us to on-rails? Oh because the game was uber linear. I loved the Tower of Spirits, though. Overall, ST improves many of PH's problems but it still isn't a 1337 title.

 

[JuicieJ]

One of the better Zelda titles, although not quite one of the best. It kicks the **** out of TWW and TP, but it doesn't even touch ALttP, OoT, MM, TMC, and SS, although it does rival MM and SS in puzzle-solving. It's a pretty fantastic game overall, but it suffers from its horrid story pacing and long on-rails train portions, even if those do have their cool merits.

Glad to see you enjoy the game!

 

[ihateghirahim]

Well, I'm glad I enjoy it too!

 

[Lord Carlisle]

The DS games get far too much hate for what they really are. This is probably the most well-designed portable Zelda game, excluding OOT3D. The train travel was often fun, and I actually enjoyed unlocking tracks with those triforce shards. It had some extremely creative boss fights, as well as an extremely climactic final boss.

While I prefer PH solely for Linebeck, this is a great game, and I think you'll find that half the people who complain about it haven't played it.

 

[A Link In Time]

Spirit Tracks is among the most underappreciated Zelda games. I'm unsure why a lot of people have taken to bashing it. The game's dungeons and bosses are very well designed with some of the more devious mini-games in the series. Controlling Phantom Zelda is a great idea although I was annoyed at her girlish fear of rats, lol. I never had a problem with the touch controls in Phantom Hourglass and that carries over to Spirit Tracks.

My main complaint about the game is the lack of story development. Nintendo front loads the narrative with a lot of details thrown out early on but fails to progress these events until after the third dungeon. The final resolution, however, is well developed earning Byrne a spot among my favorite Zelda characters.

 

[ILU]

I actually really liked this game. I loved the characters, and I loved the story. I didn't like that the end fights were a Ganon-faced train and a beast-Ganon copycat. They dropped the creativity ball there, which was a shame because the rest of the game was very creative.

I did not like the train travel one little bit, but the music was fun. The overworld looked like it would be very fun to explore... all the regions were very interesting. It's a shame (IMO, that is) that they opted to restrict players to the tracks. I wouldn't have minded it so much if you could get off the train at more points and explore the surrounding area. Using the train for a means of faster travel over longer distances while resorting to foot-travel or horseback in other locations would have been ideal, but that would probably have been too much for the DS cartridge to handle.

Had Spirit Tracks been a console game, I think it could have made some huge progress for the series. Maybe we'll see something similar in the way of its map-screen utilization on the Wii U. Still, it did pretty darn well for a handheld title.

 

[ihateghirahim]

Nah, not a console game. This is small portoable adventure. I mean making a gimmicky train game, instead of SS? Not even Nintendo would take that risk. The trains would work well in a console game, but it would have to a smaller part of a much larger game for it to be worthwhile. I'd be down for a cool super train that you ride through canyons and fields battling swarms of enemies, and one that gets cannons and passenger cars as you progress. This would all be great, but it would have to balanced out with cool towns and dungeons. I think the dominating role of trains is better suited for a smaller game like ST.

 

[DarkestLink]

Good game. Currently I'm name it the best Top Down title the series has to offer. The story is a little weak, but leagues ahead of nearly all the other Top Down titles.

 

[Hylian_Monolith]

Yay, anotehr chance to love ST. ;3

I adore Spirit Tracks. While technically Twilight Princess was my first game, ST was what got me into Zelda. Its whimsicality, the seriousness and intensity of the plot even if it is badly balanced, how enticingly beautiful and enveloping the overworld is--I mean, talk to people, do sidequests, it's worth it! The overworld of ST is perhaps the most real of any game, imo. I don't mind linearity--I got so into it that I practically created half eh plot with my imagination. the train riding sequences made me feel as if I was really riding the train, and their length didn't bother me at all. I guess I'm rather biased in its favor due to how well I was hooked into it as my first Zelda game, but oh, well. I still love it. It's great to know that there are other ST lovers here--it gets such a bad rep.

 

[Sir Quaffler]

Yay, glad to see another Spirit Tracks fan! I consider it the most underrated Zelda game out there. It was the game to reinvigorate my love for Zelda after hitting a low spot with Phantom Hourglass. The much-increased difficulty in puzzling really wracked my brains in quite a few instances, and I loved the dynamic between Link and Zelda, which was graciously improved even more on in Skyward Sword. [Thinking back on it now, perhaps it's because of ST that I enjoyed SS's dynamic with Zelda so much.] It's definitely one of the DS's best games.

although it ain't got nothin' on Pokemon. But then nothing does...

 

[onebizarrekai]

I really like Spirit Tracks, it was very fun, but I never managed to beat it since I got stuck at the top of the Tower of Spirits, which was unfortunate because I REALLY liked that game back when I was playing it a year ago or something.

I definitely know that I like it more than Phantom Hourglass, since the "sneaking past Phantoms" part became much more interesting and enjoyable.

 

[Spirit]

I always thought the DS was a bit too primitive when it was new. the 3DS is a much greater enhancement over old tech. I personally feel that the ds Zelda games should have been on the 3DS.

Anyway, Spirit Tracks; i like it a lot better than PH, the main temple is much better, the travelling system feels more in tune with the control system, actions like rolling have been made easier and the presentation is a lot better than PH.

Also, any game to make train gods seem believable or at least not stupid and tacky, is definitely doing something right. Characters like Chancellor Cole and Staven/Bryne are somewhat fresh archetypes for a Zelda game and they definitely intrigue. there is an interesting political air that the game playfully toys with and the representation of Princess Zelda herself is perhaps the best written of the character that the series has to offer.

New Hyrule may be relegated to sight-seeing along straight lines but the world around you that you see from your train looks as every bit thought out as games like OoT and MM did. New Hyrule feels like a huge place with mountain ranges, expansive fields and coast lines (a particular gem within these elemental realms is the Ocean Realm) even though you can't move around on foot in it. the idea that you can always see the Tower of Spirits in the background where ever you are gives a good air of geographical placement of yourself within the world and makes the whole experience feel more immersive.

Boss battles are just as fun as they were in PH and some of the dungeons are, in my eyes, the best i've seen in a 2D Zelda, particularly the early ice dungeon.
As a side note the items are handled quite well and unlike most games since ALttP, Link will use a lot of his items in more than one place.

The sidequests in this game are also enjoyable, it is fun to search out those rabbits.

However, while i do believe that Spirit Tracks is a very good game and perhaps one of the most overlooked and best 2D games since ALttP, it does have some problems that i really wish it didnt.
The Spirit Flute is a pain, i can spend ten minutes trying to get a song down with a sage and feel lucky when i pull it off rather than happy that i did it.
Slashing with the sword still feels clumsy especially when you're predicated with being on the move.

The story itself, while intriguing for a Zelda game, is very much non-existent through most of the game, we get a few major scenes in the beginning before the first realm and dungeon is visited, then we have little to no exposition at all until a brief scene more than half way through the game and then the story fizzles out again until the end of the game. Much like Ocarina of Time did but in ST it is very noticeable, you do end up wondering to yourself what are the enemies doing with so much free time when they have evil deeds to be getting on with.
But Zelda will never win any award for narrative structure or story pacing so we can let that go.

All in all ST is a very pleasing game. We could have done without Ph and gone straight into this and the Adult Timeline would have been all the stronger for it.