Currently replaying Spirit Tracks after I unearthed my old copy of the game, and wow I forgot how good this game was. In my opinion, this game has the best Zelda in the series, she's actually useful, and the different phantoms with their different abilities is a great concept. The story is a breath of fresh air and you have to applaud Nintendo for always trying new things. The soundtrack is top 5 in the series easily as well. Also, the dungeons are pretty damn good, despite being far too short and not enough of them. The items steal the show however. The whirlwind sees some good uses, and the boomerang is used far better than in Phantom Hourglass. The whip and the sand wand are incredible fun too, and whipping out the bow and sniping enemies is really satisfying. A common complaint with this game is that the train is too slow, which is true to an extent. I only really noticed how slow it was when I was running all over the world after I got the freight cart looking for side quests to complete, but this is only because I was so excited to unlock the new stations and get the treasures and all the rabbits. On that note the sidequests are great too, I'm currently headed into the final boss fight with the engineers clothes alongside the 2 swordsman scrolls and it's immensely satisfying. This post kind of turned into a mini review or sorts..sorry!
Nintendo Spirit Tracks Underrated?
- Thread starter Bdog1337
- Start date
Spirit Tracks is right behind BotW for my favorite Zelda game. Zelda is the best companion in the series and I really want that to be a thing again, especially in BotW 2. ST has a story I like a lot, music I like a lot, characters I like a lot, and the Tower of Spirits which is one of my favorite dungeons in the series due to the teamwork puzzles. It's definitely underrated in my view.
Cfrock
Keep it strong
As long as there is one person on the planet who likes this game I will consider it overrated. Zelda was the only thing that wasn't trash about it, and she's not worth putting up with everything else. The only Zelda game I've never bothered to finish. It's awful.
I think most people think Spirit Tracks is the better game out of the DS Zeldas. Phantom Hourglass isn't too great. I tried playing a little bit of it, and I didn't like it. I can't really speak to the whole of PH though to confirm if it's really as bad as people say. Anyway, I guess by virtue of being a DS Zelda, ST is probably a little overshadowed. I wouldn't say its underrated, however. It isn't trash I'll say that, so this leaves me with no option to vote in your poll.
- Joined
- Nov 29, 2011
God no, its overrated as hell.
For me it's only better than the multiplayer games and PH.
PH was bloody terrible too, but at least ST didn't make you repeat a stealth-based dungeon over and over with a time limit.
The flute was a terrible idea, the train was awful and there was too much of an over-reliance on ferrying NPCs around as sidequests.
The controls were also crap. The DS games suck.
Zelda was written okay but she isn't reason enough to suffer through that game.
Far too overrated
For me it's only better than the multiplayer games and PH.
PH was bloody terrible too, but at least ST didn't make you repeat a stealth-based dungeon over and over with a time limit.
The flute was a terrible idea, the train was awful and there was too much of an over-reliance on ferrying NPCs around as sidequests.
The controls were also crap. The DS games suck.
Zelda was written okay but she isn't reason enough to suffer through that game.
Far too overrated
Storm_Echo
Gamer of Videos
- Joined
- Feb 21, 2020
- Location
- Ethereal Plane
I thought Phantom Hourglass was a masterpiece, and although that opinion is clouded a little by nostalgia as the DS was my golden-years gaming console, I 100%ed Phantom Hourglass twice and still look to it as an example of item usefulness in the franchise. Everything was useable, all the islands had secrets worth coming back for with other items, the ship customization was actually really fun, the sword combat was great and very adaptive once you got used to it, and the dungeons were PREMIUM. Seriously, the temple of the ocean king was one of the best dungeons I've ever played in, with the timer mechanic forcing you to think of things differently and requiring you to come back into the feedback loop of "get cool item, expand dungeon exploration to get cool item" multiple times during the game. Loved it.
Spirit tracks, meanwhile, was a continuation of Phantom Hourglass and thus I give it praise. Same great combat, attention to detail, items, and almost-as-good dungeon designs. Definitely one of the best soundtracks of all time, and I did genuinely enjoy the Phantom Zelda mechanics. One big downside was the train was, simply put, just not as entertaining as the S. S. Linebeck - because everything was literally "on rails" it was a lot harder to hide small secrets throughout areas and it felt more tedious and less adventurous. Also, lots of 'get on the train and go make a burrito while you bring an NPC somewhere" missions, which were pretty lame... But, overall, Spirit Tracks is reasonably high on my all-time list of games and I would definitely say it's an underrated title worth playing. Not one of the best Zeldas, not with competition like Ocarina of Time, Skyward Sword, Twilight Princess, Link to the Past, Breath of the Wild, and Phantom Hourglass. But a good game nevertheless.
Spirit tracks, meanwhile, was a continuation of Phantom Hourglass and thus I give it praise. Same great combat, attention to detail, items, and almost-as-good dungeon designs. Definitely one of the best soundtracks of all time, and I did genuinely enjoy the Phantom Zelda mechanics. One big downside was the train was, simply put, just not as entertaining as the S. S. Linebeck - because everything was literally "on rails" it was a lot harder to hide small secrets throughout areas and it felt more tedious and less adventurous. Also, lots of 'get on the train and go make a burrito while you bring an NPC somewhere" missions, which were pretty lame... But, overall, Spirit Tracks is reasonably high on my all-time list of games and I would definitely say it's an underrated title worth playing. Not one of the best Zeldas, not with competition like Ocarina of Time, Skyward Sword, Twilight Princess, Link to the Past, Breath of the Wild, and Phantom Hourglass. But a good game nevertheless.