Better Than Phantom Hourglass?

[Master Link]

For those of you that have the game already do you think it is an improvement from Phantom Hourglass? In an interview Miyamoto (I think it was him) said that it would be harder than PH. In your opinion, is this statement true? Does it have a deeper storyline?

[Enraikou]

look i hope that this game is harder than PH , because there aren't WI-fi matches...

[MrMosley]

So far, I really like Spirit Tracks. Something about it just makes it so much better than Phantom Hourglass, because I really dislike PH. Even though you can't explore Hyrule on foot, it still feels like you are getting to explore everything in the land. You can see everything really well, and they did a great job in the graphics department. The story is great, IMO. I see ST as the true sequel to WW because we actually get the story of the new Hyrule and all that, and that is something I've been waiting on for a while. On top of everything else, the music in this game is simply epic. I really think that this game has the best music of any Zelda title I've played, and I'm only on the second dungeon.

Short answer: Yes, definitely better than Phantom Hourglass.

[MohakVaati]

IMHO, Spirit Tracks is much better than Phantom Hourglass. First off being on land just feels better. The music is really great. Graphics are a bit better than Phantom Hourglass. It's harder and the puzzles are much more fun. Boss fights are truly epic, and a lot of fun. The game also uses the microphone and the touch screen in more ways than PH, which, in my opinion, is a plus.

[Mii85]

Wow, that's awsum you guys like it so much. I still have to wait many long days until European release, but your comments just made days fly so much more faster. I also thought Phantom Hourglass was huge disappointment.


So far, I really like Spirit Tracks. Something about it just makes it so much better than Phantom Hourglass, because I really dislike PH. Even though you can't explore Hyrule on foot, it still feels like you are getting to explore everything in the land. You can see everything really well, and they did a great job in the graphics department. The story is great, IMO. I see ST as the true sequel to WW because we actually get the story of the new Hyrule and all that, and that is something I've been waiting on for a while. On top of everything else, the music in this game is simply epic. I really think that this game has the best music of any Zelda title I've played, and I'm only on the second dungeon.

Short answer: Yes, definitely better than Phantom Hourglass.

I can't wait. :cry:

[Megamannt125]

Everyone i've talked to who's played it says it's far better than Phantom Hourglass, this game is getting nothing but good reception.

[Ver-go-a-go-go]

Everyone i've talked to who's played it says it's far better than Phantom Hourglass, this game is getting nothing but good reception.

No surprise. Every single Zelda game has always gotten stellar reviews and amazing reception. That's just the way it is. Hell, even PH, what many consider to be the worst from the series, was awarded best handheld game of 2007. Just because it's received well by the world hardly means squat to the biggest of fans. I'll be picking up the game in about an hour; I can only hope it surpasses PH.

[Crazyfreak]

Yup the game is much better then Phantom Hourglass, I liked Phantom Hourglass but Spirit Tracks is just greater.. Maybe it's also because of Princess Zelda taking a bigger role... and the music is just sooo much better =D

[K4KING]

ok after i beat the game (i still have to find other sidequests cause i lack some heart containers) i can definitely say that ST is way harder than PH.

why is this? well the dungeons are harder to beat than in PH, some answers of the puzzles in ST are not obvious some just need to relax and think. The enemies are the same, well except that da** Blasted Bomb train, I nearly keep encountering it and well i hate going up to it and attack it since it is invincible, and you die if you get hit. X(

The music in the game is very beautiful, more than any other Zelda handheld game. (Except Link's Awakening, nothing can beat that classic.) The storyline is very straightforward and very obvious, though what surprises me most is the fact that Zelda is your partner this time, i am still stoked to see that Zelda is at my side helping me. That and her crazy moments (Like she is paranoid of her body being stolen and being afraid of mice. XD) (highlight to see spoiler-ish message)

Overall the game is enchanting and very awesome, it could be what we have waited for in a handheld game for a long time. A true epic, wonderful, enchanting, exhilarating and appealing game that Everyone one will like, whether be young or old, man or woman, black or white, fat or thin, single or married, rich or poor, Asian or European or American or whatever nationality you have, healthy or sick and for better or for worse, till death do I part with my partner (somebody PLEASE slap or kick or give me an "It's over 9000!" moment or a IMA GONNA KILL YA NAO!!!, i can't resist XD)

[Mases]

I will be writing a full review of all the pros and cons, but thus far, I can say that it is better than Phantom Hourglass. I think Phantom Hourglass was a big jump in the franchise because of the new controls. Granted the sailing on the boat and Islands made it seem awfully familiar to Wind Waker, but other than that, I thought Phantom Hourglass was very new.

There isn't nearly as much new in the game. I think Princess Zelda is a better companion than Ciela was, but I do miss the subtle humor of Linebeck in his quest for treasure.

Probably the biggest change has to do with the storyline. The PH story... seemed like one of those games where you played through the entire thing and made you go.. .'oh, so that's what happened'. However, there was constantly things going on within the storyline. Still, as a gamer, I don't think most gamers really got into the storyline of Phantom Hourglass. Spirit Tracks on the other hand jumps right into the storyline and its rather dark... But then the story inexcusably disappears for the almost 2/3 of the game with absolutely nothing happening other than going through temples, and restoring more tracks.

The part of Spirit Tracks that shines is its quests outside the main story. While I personally think Phantom Hourglass had superior and meaningful collectibles, Spirit Tracks has better event side quests. You can use the train to carry passengers around from village to village. The sense of having an impact and helping the not as important characters hasn't been as apparent since the days of Majora's Mask. That's certainly back in Spirit Tracks.

It's too early to tell, but I think I'm leaning towards Spirit Tracks. One thing is for sure... those that loved Phantom Hourglass, Spirit Tracks doesn't really miss a step and you'll likely enjoy this one. However, a lot of the Phantom Hourglass haters seem to be jumping on the Spirit Tracks bandwagon.


(There are a lot of other aspects such as character development, music, difficulty, depth, etc... and I'll be touching on that later)

[Rensch]

I've completed four temples now and as of yet it doesn't seem tough at all, easier than the previous one, even.

I can't really say if I like it better than Phantom Hourglass yet, it will take a while before I can look at it in an unbiased way I guess. I consider Phantom Hourglass the finest DS game up till now but it might change with this impressive new effort. At least it's got one big improvement over the previous one, and that is the fact that you do not have to redo all those floors again in the Spirit Tower like you had to in PH's Temple of the Ocean King.

[Mii85]

Dusted off my Phantom Hourglass and Nintendo DS (old fat thing. I haven't got new one since release date) this morning and I noticed that my DS upper screen seems to be broken.. It almost fell of when I started playing.. haha.. I have no idea how that happened. Well, it still works perfectly (thank god for that), but I need to handle it with care from now on. 10 minutes and I can officially say that Spirit Tracks release tomorrow!

PS. Funny thing I also noticed today... My local video game store (same one I have my ST pre-ordered) has Spirit Tracks as #5 most selling DS title this week..!! What's up with that.

[NorthApple]

Hah, I still have another 2 hours before I can say it's released tomorrow xDD And wtf... a 5# best selling game that's not even out yet, there's something you don't see everyday. But eh, I just hope mine comes on time on friday :3 From what I've heard though, it seems a lot better than PH, and I had loads of fun with PH so it should be good~! Can't wait until I can properly reply to threads like this :D

[Nintendo_Master]

Two Words: Heck Yes. the train is so much fun to ride, and the game incorperated the mic into the game so much better than PH. You get a flute (Yay for instruments), which I missed having in PH. The world seems larger, there seems to be more places to explore. I haven't seen all of the weapon just the SPOILER...I guess...cyclone shooter (or whatever it's called), but that in itself is pretty cool. The Spirit Tower is nice becuase I don't have to do the damn thing all over again. figuring things out with the Knight is awesome, like using him to treverse lava and whatnot. There are so many things to love.

Don't get me wrong, I liked PH, but ST is going to be played for quite a while, and I have barely started it!

[Avilink777]

I've been playin' it for about 3 days now, and I think it's FREAKIN' SWEET, and much better than PH. Though I already beat about 3 dungeons and passed 3 floors in the tower of the spirits.and the flute is a great improvement to the game!For those who have Zelda and the ocarina of time, I figured out the song of time!It's Orange,Green,White,...Orange,Green,White,...Orange .Purple,Yellow,Blue,White,Blue,Orange,Green,...The re are three notes missing but it's still all good!:)

[Notorious NATE]

I am probably the minority here, but so far I liked Phantom Hourglass more.

The game seems a lot shorter than its predecessor. I've only been playing for four hours and I am already heading towards the second temple. As far as I know, there's only four temples. This means I am already one fourth of the way finished with the game. Secondly, the temples are very easy and the tower to find the map takes probably ten minutes to complete every stage. It's ridiculous. I can run through a temple within twenty minutes tops. It might be the shortest game I've ever played.

I really liked the concept and the train traveling, but this game is very short. I miss Linebeck too. Zelda is cool and all, she adds a lot when controlling the phantom, but it kind of ends there.

I'm not done with the game yet, but so far I prefer Phantom Hourglass. I am just a big fan of Phantom Hourglass. It's my favorite Legend of Zelda game.

[manoelpdb]

I think Spirit Tracks is much better than PH because is harder and more creative puzzles and dungeons. But still, there're 3 things I wish they had made in this game:

1 - It's great to have a full map of the level you are, but it'd be much funnier if they made something like FFIV DS: you start with a white map of the area, and while you walking on that area, the map starts to show little by little. When you get it 100% completed, you get rewards. I think it'd be more hard too, but still, more fun to play.

2 - Time with days and nights. Since this game have a lot to do with "spirits", some cool events would happen only at night, like a ghost village or ghost people. I think it'd be very interesting too to have days of week, so some side-quests would be in specifc day. The time would be something like Animal Crossing.

3 - And the last thing is not a big deal, but still I wish they made it: display the time you have played. I think a lot of people like to know how much time you played the game, so it'd be nice to have this.

[the legend]

yeah spirit tracks does have better parts then PH but the game would be so much better if 1.it had wifi battles and it had something to teleport around whenever you want like the frogs in PH here its just the gates and you have to get to them but still love the game

[Link 2 the past]

It takes everything good about PH (controls, puzzles, bosses) and cuts out everything that sucked (the time limit thing, the sailing and lack of challenge).

So I would say it's far better. But PH did a lot of what makes this game great, first.

The only thing I don't like is the fact there are only 5 dungeons, not counting the Sprit tower. Also, as much as I prefer the train to the boat in PH, why did they make it so you can you only warp from certain pionts, and each warp piont only take you to one other fixed warp piont? Why not use the Sprit flute to warp like in WW?

But above all, no long time Zelda fan can deny that it's really cool having Zelda alone for the ride. Sure she helps you out with the final boss in OoT WW and TP much like in this game, but this is the first time she's with you thoughout the game and this game's Navi. Not to mention this is the closest we've ever come to actually playing as Zelda! (unless you count the CD-i games)



The game seems a lot shorter than its predecessor. I've only been playing for four hours and I am already heading towards the second temple. As far as I know, there's only four temples. This means I am already one fourth of the way finished with the game. Secondly, the temples are very easy and the tower to find the map takes probably ten minutes to complete every stage. It's ridiculous. I can run through a temple within twenty minutes tops. It might be the shortest game I've ever played.

I really liked the concept and the train traveling, but this game is very short. I miss Linebeck too. Zelda is cool and all, she adds a lot when controlling the phantom, but it kind of ends there.


There are five temple and 6 trips to the Sprit tower. So in a way there are 11 dungeons. Linebeck is sort of in it.

I don't think you should be suprided to find the early parts of the game easy, a lot of game start easy and get hard as you go alone. For me, the last trip to the Sprit tower and the final boss battle was pretty tough.

[Gon-Gorooon]

Cleverer Puzzles, bigger bosses, more interesting weapons, and a deeper storyline. The sand wand was better than all the items in Phantom hourglass combined. Spirit Tracks blows PH out of the water.

[blackice_cc]

Eh, that's a really hard question for me to answer. They both had their strengths and weaknesses for me. PH had more humor, and the boat had more parts to it. ST had a better storyline overall, a tiny bit more difficulty, and plenty of sidequests (akin to MM, as mentioned by others). That being said, while PH was easier overall, I ended up stuck in the dungeons once or twice in it, whereas in ST I don't think I was ever stuck for more than a few minutes.
ST' Tower of Spirits was much better than the Temple of the Ocean King in several ways. First of all, it did get tiresome going through the same levels over and over again in the Temple of the Ocean King, almost so that I didn't really feel like going there when I needed to get another Sea Chart. In ST, all that was a lot different. Being able to just skip what I'd already done, I looked forward to ascending the tower some more, plus the fact that it was actually a bit of a challenge in comparison with the rest of the dungeons.
I suppose I'm leaning a bit towards ST (as most seem to be), but I think that is mostly because it still feels fresh, whereas PH is old news. In a year or two, maybe I'll have to replay both of them at the same time, and see which one I enjoy more.

[Ninten*]

Well, I've seen walkthroughs on it so it looks better than Phantom Hourglass, so i'd have to say yes. But I should really stop watching video walkthroughs because it's spoiling and I just want it even more even though there is a huge chance I won't get it. I might though because I have a B+ in my Algebra semester grade so I'll be in Geometry next year(I'm in 7th grade).

[Arkatox]

I certainly hope it is better than PH. From what I've heard of it, it should be. Also PH wasn't really that great. I'm hoping my brother will get me ST for Christmas, 'cause I really want it. I'm trying to find out as little about it as I can, so the game itself will seem a lot cooler.

[Notorious NATE]

I don't really like this game as much as I thought I would. I thought Phantom Hourglass was an amazing game and I expected this one to be just as good. It went the other direction unfortunately.

The storyline is too repetitive and some of the missions just don't grab my interest. Warning, there's a spoiler ahead. For example, I was about to quit the game when I had to retrieve the keys from the flying monsters over the Fire Realm. I just got the feeling that they added it to extend the game a little bit. I thought it was cheesy and it didn't add a lot to the game. I also don't like those silly duets you have to do with the people on wheels. I understand that the Zelda series has always incorporated music into its games, but playing the spirit flute with a guy in a wheelchair to bring back some tracks just didn't do it for me. Spoilers end here.

The game did feature better weapons than Phantom Hourglass. That's probably what I liked the most from the game. I liked the whip that they used from the Earthbound series and I did think that the wind stick was pretty cool to add into the game. I thought Nintendo was creative in adding these items into the game.

Overall though, this game doesn't do it for me. I don't know if I'm going to finish it. I like Twilight Princess so much more, but I expected this one to be better since I liked Phantom Hourglass more than Twilight Princess. I just think that the bad elements in Spirit Tracks outnumber the good elements. I was expecting a lot more and I got a ridiculously repetitive product that was too short and unsatisfying.

[El Bagu]

I do think that Spirit Tracks is a lot more interesting and entertaining game than Phantom Hourglass. Riding the train was/is far to superior to the steamboat and the plot has a lot more feel to it. The only problem I have with the game is that things are far too obvious and it was too easy to solve "the main plot". The temples had some interesting puzzles to solve but apart from that it was too easy and straightforward in my opinion. I´ve worked a lot lately and haven´t had a lot of time to play the game. Still I completed it in about a week. In my opinion that´s too short but again, PH had the same problem to it.

[Wolfe]

Much better, only the tracks have almost nothing to do with the rest of the series.
Weird aye?
And Niko must be pretty old to have been reduced to an old guy showing boring plays.

[Cameron102030]

[QUOTE=Notorious NATE;85071 As far as I know, there's only four temples.[/QUOTE]

SPOILERS: Notorios NATE, sorry to say but there is 5 temples: Forest,Ice,Ocean,Fire,Sand.
Actully, It's kind of 6, because of the tower of spirits.
Just following on to Link 2 The Past.