Phantom Hourglass, my impressions (spoilers but tagged)

Let's see...I started to play the game around 2:30pm and played to about 4:15am, with of course breaks for lunch, bathroom, brushing teeth, dinner etc and overall about 12 hours of play.

Controls - Good for the most part. Link moves fluidly and the sword swiping is mostly good. I do have difficulty with rolling though. I've only been able to do it like 10 times so far in the time I've played. There is also some general difficulty at times, like with bombs.

Graphics - They're nice for the DS. Particulary nice are the ocean graphics. However, they do pale in comparison to The Wind Waker's graphics. Also, Link looks ugly. His head is way too big (or is his body too small?) and looks deformed (not as deformed as in the trailers though)

Difficulty in terms of damage taken - A lot harder then The Wind Waker so far, actually, About 15 deaths, although I think about half of them were because I had an issue with the controls. But yeah, considering on my recent playthrough of TWW (which I finished last night) I only died one time, PH is a heck of a lot harder.

Length - Pretty decent for so far. I beat the first three dungeons and got the *SPOILERS*

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three fairy spirits of power, wisdom and courage. I'm currently on the Ghost Ship. I have to kill this boss. I couldn't do it the first few tries and my reflexes are kinda bad since it's late, so I stopped playing for the night.

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*SPOILERS OVER* So yeah, at this point I'm about 12 hours in after beating the first three dungeons. From what I hear there's *SPOILERS*

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nine dungeons

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*SPOILERS over* in the game so w00t.

Music - It's alright. Seems to be mostly the same four or five songs over and over again. Each dungeon besides the Sea Ocean dungeon has the song, every island has one of two songs. The ocean song is alright but not as good as the one in TWW.

Puzzles - They're good, and some of them are pretty clever. I did have to use my strategy guide for one or two, like the one where you *SPOILERS*

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need to close your DS to copy the thing I would have never figured it out, ever. My favorite puzzle so far would be the one on a secret island (I solved this one myself like most of the puzzles). Anyway, the island has no map. You have to walk around the island and make your own map for it. Then you need to hit certain switches in a pattern. It might not sound great, but I don't want to completely spoil it as it's really clever. So yeah, the puzzles are pretty good.

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*SPOILERS over*

Story - Kinda weak so far. The characters aren't as likable or as strong (plot development wise) as in The Wind Waker. IDK, like the mailman. He's very annoying and I want to shoot him out of the sky, compared to the pleasant Rito mailmen from TWW. Also, they used Navi's voice for Ciela. Her exact voice clips from OoT. And continiuty errors. The fairies in this game resemble OoT/MM fairies rather then the TWW fairies. *SPOILERS* T

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he pirates have all entirely disappeared now that Tetra is gone, Linebeck is too irritating and Ciela being the fairy of courage was predictable and somewhat dull, maybe the plot will improve, I'll just have to see.

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*SPOILERS OVER*
Dungeons - They're good I guess. *Spoilers*

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I mean they're pretty easy...the first dungeon was hysterically easy, the 2nd and 3rd had some challenge but not really that hard. Good but not as good as TWW's, the first was easier then anything in TWW and the second and third dungeons were about equal to the first and second dungeons from TWW. The Sea Ocean dungeon irritates me with the stealth and having to do it over and over. About equal to the third dungeon in TWW in diffiuclty.

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*Spoilers over*

Bosses - All of the bosses so far are pretty creative. *spoilers*

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The first one is simple, throw your boomerang to gather it together. The second one is also simple and easy, throw bombs into the cyclones. The third boss was really creative. It's invisible, and the top screen is from it's vision. You need to wait till you see yourself looking right in the middle of the top screen before you pull out an arrow and fire and hit the boss. The second stage isn't as good and the boss is a bit too easy though.

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*spoilers over*

Other - I do like how you can customize your ship. Nice feature. Also, I'm a bit disappointed that there's no bottles, no compasses to find in the dungeons, only heart CONTAINERS and seemingly you get the largest wallet at the start. (I know it goes up to 1100 rupees at least, I think it goes up to 5000 but I'm not sure) Also RUPOORS FTW Another thing though. The feel from the game is a lot different. I don't know what it is but...it really doesn't feel like a sequel to TWW. I just can't put my finger on it but the tone seems different and just a lot of other stuff. Other then the beginning cutscene, Link, Tetra, the graphics, a few of the music tracks and the Great Sea, it really feels almost like an entirely unrelated game.

Overall - So far so good. The game is the best 2D Zelda I've played so far. However, it almost every aspect it pales compared to The Wind Waker, as well as Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess. Still though, just because it isn't as good as its predecessor doesn't mean it's bad. After all, The Wind Waker was an amazing game that IMO is my second favorite Zelda. Anyway, I can't wait to play some more tomorrow!

I'd like to add that the ending was good for only one thing - something zelda fans have always wanted to happen finally happened (almost)

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No, malon didn't inexplicably appear and make out with link.

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I also agree that the uncharted island puzzle was pure awesome.

One last thing, if you are planning to get all the jewels, I strong suggest that you mark off on your map where you get each one. With 20 of each jewel strewn out everywhere, finding them all will become exceptionally difficult and will probably require a walkthrough. I currently have 15, 10, 10 (p, w, c)

Originally Posted by dmitric300

I'd like to add that the ending was good for only one thing - something zelda fans have always wanted to happen finally happened (almost)

Spoiler (Highlight to read):

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No, malon didn't inexplicably appear and make out with link.

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I also agree that the uncharted island puzzle was pure awesome.

One last thing, if you are planning to get all the jewels, I strong suggest that you mark off on your map where you get each one. With 20 of each jewel strewn out everywhere, finding them all will become exceptionally difficult and will probably require a walkthrough. I currently have 15, 10, 10 (p, w, c)

I'm not planning to do the jewels. The sidequests in this game kinda irritate me and so I won't be doing them.

Oh and I can't wait for the ending now!

Originally Posted by dmitric300

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No, malon didn't inexplicably appear and make out with link.

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Making assumptions, eh? That was rather rude. I for one have always considered Wind Waker Link to be one of the few that was given romantic hints toward the princess. I thought it was cute.

Making assumptions? I never said that zelda fans have been waiting for link to make out with malon. In fact I said the EXACT OPPOSITE. Take a joke, watch the ending, you'll see what I mean.

i need help with the uncharted island. i have tried several things even drawing the island out. i just don't understand the riddle. i'm apologize but i haven't really played that many zelda games. i did like the first zelda, and orcania of time, but i never really got to play the other ones. please if i can get some help with the uncharted island i will be forever grateful. at least a hint at the riddle.

Originally Posted by dabruiser

i need help with the uncharted island. i have tried several things even drawing the island out. i just don't understand the riddle. i'm apologize but i haven't really played that many zelda games. i did like the first zelda, and orcania of time, but i never really got to play the other ones. please if i can get some help with the uncharted island i will be forever grateful. at least a hint at the riddle.

It's a whale.

thank you so much. i can't believe i never noticed that.

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