General Modern Why Do People Dislike the DS Zelda Titles So Much?

[ToonLinkGaming]

Honestly, the DS games (PH, ST) are what brought me to love the Zelda games. Over the 2 years of reading the forums and replies to the "news" posts, I've read that quite a few people really dislike the DS Zelda titles, and my question is; Why?

To me, these games are up there with the best of the best games ever made! They're fun, have good graphics, and the plot is amazing! Why not LOVE these games? Sure, the 3D titles may be better to some, and this whole topic may be opinionated, but IMO, they're fantastic games that deserve more loving. These two games may not have fantastic replay value, but they ARE fun to dust off, and get back into again. Not to forget, but the soundtracks in both games are easily one of the best. Especially Spirit Tracks, the soundtrack for that game ROCKS!!

I will admit, PH & ST aren't the best games Nintendo have produced, they do have their down-sides, such as lag in intense battle scenes, and (PH especially) the speed of the vehicle, it's too damn slow! But, they are what brought me to the Zelda franchise, I am glad they did. They are great collectors items and I will never dispose of them, ever.

I'm interested to see some of the things people dislike about the games, because it is pretty difficult to find things to hate on about the Zelda series, but please, reply to this, because I want to know why it is so widely dislike and criticised.

-ToonLinkGaming

 

[DARK MASTER]

The DS Zelda's are 3D, A 2D game would be something like MC or FPTRR. Yes I agree with you, people shouldn't hate on them in my opinion. I love all 6 of the DS Zelda games because they provide a fun experience.

 

[KaeporaGaebora]

First off I think the lag is your DS, not the game. It never had frame rate issues for me. But I don't think they are hated, just undiscovered gems. PH is the first Zelda game I got serious with and did speed runs of it every Saturday. I never really played ST, but people say it's better than PH. And the boat isn't slow, it just not as fast as it was in WW, but there is a overworld size difference between the two. Although people say PH and ST are almost the same, they themselves are almost polar opposites. I personally loved the touch screen controls, the ability to change the screen dependent on whether your right handed or left handed. PH had a great story line, just having to repeat the same floors in the Temple of the Ocean King was really annoying. Bellum was a great final boss, especially loved the way they designed the fight. PH also had good, not great, character development. But still I say Linebeck is the most annoying character in any Zelda game, IMO. I'm hoping on re-buying a DS for Christmas and getting ST. Hopefully then will I will fully understand what people mean when they say ST was a bad game.

 

[Zleda]

To be honest I still havent even FINISHED Spirit tracks after owning it for almost a year. I enjoyed Phantom Hourglass quite a bit, but something about spirit tracks... I dunno. I think it was the horrid graphics coupled with the extreme lack of exploration and having to be stuck on that darn train X(.

 

[goomboo]

First off I think the lag is your DS, not the game. It never had frame rate issues for me. But I don't think they are hated, just undiscovered gems. PH is the first Zelda game I got serious with and did speed runs of it every Saturday. I never really played ST, but people say it's better than PH. And the boat isn't slow, it just not as fast as it was in WW, but there is a overworld size difference between the two. Although people say PH and ST are almost the same, they themselves are almost polar opposites. I personally loved the touch screen controls, the ability to change the screen dependent on whether your right handed or left handed. PH had a great story line, just having to repeat the same floors in the Temple of the Ocean King was really annoying. Bellum was a great final boss, especially loved the way they designed the fight. PH also had good, not great, character development. But still I say Linebeck is the most annoying character in any Zelda game, IMO. I'm hoping on re-buying a DS for Christmas and getting ST. Hopefully then will I will fully understand what people mean when they say ST was a bad game.

No... Spirit Tracks was certainly NOT a bad game. I loved the game and had great fun playing through it. It is also a challenge for the 3 heart runs.

 

[Cuju]

I haven't played either of them, but I really want to. One of the things that makes me want to play Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks, is that these are the two most recent Zelda games, and I would really love to see in what direction the series is going. Also, Skyward Sword shares several features with ST, like the Whip and the Big Blin in the GDC trailer, and I would like to see what else Spirit Tracks has to offer to a 3D Zelda game...

 

[guy123]

Call me insane, but I enjoyd the DS titles MORE than Ocarina of TIme. The DS titles actually had a plot, music, characters... it's always annoyed me how they get bumped down.

 

[KaeporaGaebora]

No... Spirit Tracks was certainly NOT a bad game. I loved the game and had great fun playing through it. It is also a challenge for the 3 heart runs.

I never said it was a bad game. I said people say it's a bad game. But I hate 3 heart runs. I only did one for OoT and I will never do another.

 

[Emma]

I didn't like the controls. Though granted they were well done. But still... touch controls... when I think touch controls I think of... menus, maps, buttons. NOT controlling movement. Granted that the touch screen only allows one action at a time, it's not exactly practical for movement. Even if they had the same touch controls, button controls would have been nice. A good example is Golden Sun: Dark Dawn. It had touch controls very similar to the Zelda titles. AND it had button controls too. Somewhat cumbersome for the d-pad though. So I suppose given what they had to work with, touch controls might have been the only real option. However, now that the 3DS is out, that should be over. That same game, Golden Sun, has vastly superior button controls versus touch when played on the 3DS due to the circle pad. There should be absolutely no reason at all that any Zelda game on the 3DS and future handhelds should ever be touch only ever again. The button control system is just better, way better given the circle pad.
And as I said, touch controls are the domains of menus, maps, and sets of buttons. And that is exactly what they did in Ocarina of Time 3D. This, I think, is the perfect marriage of button and touch controls. Touch is faster and more efficient for menus, likewise for buttons and analog controls for movement. That way you get the best of both. I certainly hope all the Zeldas in 3Ds format use this formula. It's, as I said, ideal. We can expect very enjoyably controls from OoT 3D and its successors.

 

[JuicieJ]

They were so different than all the other games and "weren't as good." Many people were just disappointed by Phantom Hourglass, and in turn took it out on Spirit Tracks.

 

[ZeldaMaster]

Well I think most people disliked the DS Zelda title because they took away the open world exploration. For example in Phantom Hourglass when you arrived on a island you got to walk around but you didn't get to enjoy the environment like you did on the console Zelda's. What most people need to releaize is that the DS is a portable system, yeah it will lag some and the graphics aren't the best but just look at it and suck it up. I mean it's a Zelda game at the portable gaming systems, well at least Nintendo's portable gaming systems got to see the greatness of Zelda... It makes me wonder... Will the DS Zelda haters like OoT3D?

 

[Smitie]

I really like the DS zelda titles, but I can understand if people are disappointed by it. The DS titles tried a new dungeon format, with one main dungeon that has to be revisited several times. Going back to the same temple over and over can be very annoying (and the time limit in PH doesn't help). The games also have a less serious note than the older zelda titles. There is still an adventure, but there is a lot more humor and emotions than for example twilight princess. In PH the islands were very small with not much to do, while in WW the small islands sometimes had secret caverns and hidden treasures. In ST you could only explore the towns, which was a disappointment for me. Both games also have a lower difficulty to attract the younger gamers that are a large group of DS owners. I think that they are still great games despite the flaws. PH had very good humor and ST had some awesome villains (Staven/Byrne = the most awesome bad guy ever and Counselor Cole is just silly)

 

[ironknuckle1]

I truthfully don't. PH was one of my first Zelda games I had played so it has become one of my favorites though now that I have beaten all of the canon Zelda games I can see why it is devalued. But that doesn't mean that it is a bad game. I like I have said find PH to be a great and entertaining game. Then on the other hand their is ST which I don't hate as much but it is definitely not on my top ten Zelda game List. It was very repetitive (even more so then PH), had a slower form of transportation, and seemed to be a semi copy of PH with better graphics. This game though had some things I did like about it them being: enhanced Graphics, Sand Wand, and the Whip.

All in all I don't think that the DS zelda games are awful.

Edit: I just wanted to add that I liked the Temple of the Ocean King because it was hard unlike the Tower of Spirits which I do Not like because it just isn't as difficult.

 

[Ventus]

Generally I think the DS games were bad because of the touch controls. I think Nintendo could've easily added D-Pad support for movement and the A/X button for swinging the sword. Everything else about the games, even the sometimes cheesy cutscenes seemed great to me. There isn't anything that I can immediately think of that would go against the games except the controls.

For example, common reasons for hating of Phantom Hourglass is that Temple of the Ocean King is repetitive. Granted, it IS highly repetitive what with going through the same floors over and over and over again, but it is also kind of realistic and given that we have steamboats (or non horse/non Ocarina transportation in general) for crying out loud, I say having to go through floor after floor shouldn't be so detrimental to your experiences with the game.

 

[Unlucky Monkey]

I love all 6 of the DS Zelda games because they provide a fun experience.

Did I miss the other 4?

Well. There is a simple reason why I don't like the DS games not as much as I did any other Zelda. It's not the bad controls, or the graphics, or the Dungeons. The games just have not the typical Zelda atmosphere (like I said in the other Tread). There are a few things missing. Like secret ingredients. Or like mixing a Gin Tonic with a cheap Gin. Some of these ingredients were missing in the DS titles. The cocktail has a solid taste, but it is far from awesome.

Don't get me wrong. The DS Zelda games are good, but also kills some of this unique Zelda atmosphere. They just don't fit in the series.