General Modern Phantom Hourglass or Spirit Tracks?

[Heroine of Winds]

Despite not being the best games out of the Zelda series, which one do you think is the better game? Personally, I prefer Spirit Tracks over Phantom Hourglass due to having a good story, awesome music, & a memorable cast of characters. However, it still has its fair share of problems (the train sections, for example), but not in the same league as Phantom Hourglass's. As for Phantom Hourglass, it really wasn't a great game at all. There's barely anything memorable or good about it at all. The plot was crap, Tetra's awful characterization, and the controls were terrible (Spirit Tracks' controls felt a little better, imo). Overall, Spirit Tracks is a better game for me.

 

[DarkestLink]

Spirit Tracks. Easily the best 2D Zelda IMO.

 

[Salem]

I would say PH, it's traveling method is far less annoying than ST, plus, the second half of the game lets you do dungeons out of order.

Although I really like both, Zelda was awesome in ST cause she can possess certain enemies, and the overworld themes were nice.

 

[sailormars109]

Spirit Tracks is my choice. It's also one of my favorite in the series!

I love how much more interaction there is in the game. The fact that you can switch between Link and Zelda is awesome. The interaction with the Spirit Flute and blowing into the microphone is pretty cool too. Over all, compared to how you interact in Phantom Hourglass, Spirit Tracks definitely hit a lot more higher targets.

The story line is much deeper as well. In Phantom Hourglass, you went on a quest to save Tetra from the Ghost Ship and then to get the power to change her from stone to human again. In Spirit Tracks, you go on a quest to restore the Spirit Tracks so the Tower of Spirits will be whole again and to get Zelda's body back to prevent the full resurrection of Malladus. In the game Zelda's character develops more as a princess kind of like how Midna's did in Twilight Princess in a way.

Let's not forget the music either! The music was a lot more moving and better at telling the story in my opinion. I loved how the music gave a better sense as to how everyone felt and almost sucked you into the game as if it were you battling alongside Zelda to defeat Malladus. The Sacred Duet/ Final Boss music was amazing to me. It really gave a sense of urgency and heroism to the battle. It also gave a sense of confidence to me.

That is why I prefer Spirit Tracks over Phantom Hourglass.

 

[Doc]

Spirit Tracks.

While I don't essentially like this game, it was much more enjoyable than PH. The Spirit Tower was much more enjoyable than the Temple of the Ocean King. I always hated having to go back and fight through areas I already finished. And the only thing that was different between each visit to the temple was the inclusion of a new way to travel using the new weapon(s) required. Spirit Tracks offered multiple different phantoms and made it more puzzling than an avoid the phantoms area.

 

[Mellow Ezlo]

Spirit Tracks, definitely!

Almost every aspect of this game was an improvement over Phantom Hourglass. The characters, the controls, the story, the soundtrack, etc. The only thing I'd really put PH higher for is the transportation; I wasn't a huge fan of it in either game, but PH did that better.

Also, ST is notably the more difficult of the two games. Neither of them are remarkably hard, but PH was a tad too easy for my liking.

Oh, and I forgot to mention the Tower of Spirits. How could I forget that? The Temple of the Ocean King sucked imo, but the ToS was actually quite fun. It was much less annoying to traverse, and much less repetitive.

 

[Vanessa28]

When it comes to lesser flaws I'll have to say Spirit Tracks. The train is more fun and of course we don't have the Ocean Temple or whatever it was called again. So no time limits. But I have more fond memories of PH to be honest. It was my very first Zelda game I played and although it is not perfect at all I did enjoy that game. I had actually fun hitting the phantoms and making them go insane about who hit them

 

[Skunk]

Phantom Hourglass had a better concept going for it but Spirit Tracks was the better game.

Reasons Why Spirit Tracks was the Better Game(because I'm too Lazy to Write Paragraphs Now)

1)Though both games had a recurring dungeon, returning to previously beaten areas was optional and only necessary(most of the time) for treasure hunting; in Phantom Hourglass the recurring dungeon forced you to not only go through every part of the dungeon multiple times, but also with a time limit.

2)Spirit Tracks didn't try to be another game in the series but modernized and made to be more accessible, whereas Phantom Hourglass seemed like a slightly modified version of the(much better, if I may add) Link's Awakening on newer engine with different graphics and more islands.

3)Spirit Tracks had a memorable cast that had different roles interloping in different quests. Phantom Hourglass had characters that existed to give out tutorial controls, companions to the protagonist, minigame operators, and characters who existed to give MacGuffins.

4)Spirit Tracks gave a better world to explore even though the range of exploration wasn't free. The world of Phantom Hourglass was like exploring a giant room with nothing in it, empty and filled with freedom to see nothing.

5)The overworld of Spirit Tracks was directly influenced by the players choice of whether or not to do side quests. Other than the pieces of the rail map that were required as a part of the story, the player could collect Force Gems which would lead to new stations, as well as provide short cuts and alternate routes of travel. The overworld of Phantom Hourglass had something similar to this with the ice surrounding the Isle of Frost, but that event was only to open a port and nothing similar happened again.

 

[43ForceGems]

Personally I like Spirit Tracks a lot more than Phantom Hourglass. It felt kinda like the transition from Portal to Portal 2 to me, or Pikmin to Pikmin 2. They experimented with an idea, and made a game along with it. But Phantom Hourglass was so bland and empty sometimes, the overworld wasn't too filled, the music really did kinda suck... and overall it just wasn't the best. I liked it though. But Spirit Tracks really took it to the next level. The story was good, yeah it lacked a lot for a good chunk of the game, but I thought it was a lot deeper than PH's. The soundtrack was PHENOMENAL, the overworld was beautiful and full, puzzles were good, I just really liked that game. A heck of a lot more than PH, you can't even compare them in my mind. So yeah, ST all the way!

But... **** the rabbits

 

[Sydney]

Neither, both are horrible games. Spirit Tracks had no idea what it was doing in terms of plot, and Phantom Hourglass was just... eh? Plus touch controls are a huge turn-off for me. 0/10 try again, Nintendo.

 

[r2d93]

Spirit Tracks no competition.

Spirit Tracks was charming and new and creative and had a great story, a stellar soundtrack, great characters, really good puzzles, etc.

Phantom Hourglass, while still a good game, doesn't add up. I've beaten it 3-4 times and still it's probably the least memorable title to me. I thought the new sailing mechanism ruined the freedom and exploration of Wind Waker's sailing. Plus the Temple of the Ocean King was an absolute train wreck in my opinion. It's still a good game with solid story and characters and such, but unfortunately, the negative aspects of the game greatly effect the game too much for it to be considered as good as Spirit Tracks.