Before we even begin, some of you might be
wondering why this video includes two Zelda games. This isn't the same as the Oracle games, which
are quite clearly connected. Originally I was going to keep them separate,
but after mulling over them for a while, I came to an unexpected realization. I loved them both, but I also hated them both,
and the reason for that is simple: Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks are two halves
of an unfulfilled whole, and I feel as though talking about them separately would be doing
them a disservice. These games are Nintendo DS titles in every
sense of the word; tech demos to show off the unique capabilities of the system using
Zelda as its communication method. You can only move using the stylus, you can
draw on maps, you're forced to use the microphone at various points, and there was online multiplayer
integration. They're also some of the only Zelda games
next to maybe Majora's Mask that can call themselves direct sequels. All of these games are supposedly on a timeline,
or so the fans insist, but this is one of the only cases where a Zelda game was given
the opportunity to play off the original: twice over. Since these two games occur within the same
timeline of events, carry the same mechanics and overall structure; I would be repeating
myself too often if I decided to tackle them separately. It's very hard to talk about one without the
other seeing as Spirit Tracks both fixed and created new problems that Phantom Hourglass
never had. I know a lot of you may have preferred I talk
about them separately, but rest assured: I will look at both of these games as thoroughly
as I would if I were looking at them alone. One game should not outshine the other, and
by the end my hope is that you'll understand more clearly where I'm coming from. With that, we begin a Phantom Hourglass and
Spirit Tracks Retrospective. -- As continuations of the Wind Waker, both of
these games do a great job continuing its momentum. Moments after the ending of the original,
the gang stumble across the mysterious ghost ship, which abducts Tetra leaving Link stranded
on an unfamiliar island. There you meet a fairy named Ciela and a brave
warrior of the sea named Linebeck, who both assist you in your travels to find the ghost
ship, rescue Tetra, and eventually put an end to the life-eating monster known as Bellum. Can I first just say how refreshing it is
that Phantom Hourglass respects the amazing ending of the original? Where cycles are broken, tradition cast aside,
to allow a new generation to take hold. There is not a single mention of anything
pertaining to the main series: Tetra being Princess Zelda is never brought up, she’s
just Tetra; the story of Ciela, Linebeck, and Oshus is a unique conflict unconcerned
with relics like the Triforce. It's an honest to god new threat that exists
out in the world somewhere: a legend made real, if you will. You're carrying on the will of the Ocean King,
who failed to entirely stop Bellum from invading the world; you're exploring even more of the
Great Sea with new companions. It's fine-tuned to the same light-hearted
frequency of the Wind Waker. It's genuinely funny, due in no small part
to characters like Linebeck: aka, the OG Groose. He's less of a bully figure turned good, and
more a pathetic man turned heroic. Your first encounter has you save him from
the Temple of the Ocean King, only for him to ditch you seconds later. He only agrees to assist you in your search
for Tetra because there's rumored treasure aboard the Ghost Ship. Link and Ciela do all the dirty work while
Linebeck ferries them around, basically: he often chastises Link for taking too long,
boasting that he could have done better. Though, he’s also the same character who's
constantly being chased by his ex-girlfriend and hides waiting for Link to handle it whenever
she pops up. Jolene harasses you on the high seas every
once in awhile, and though it's the same encounter every time, you get more insight into their
relationship, until it's revealed near the end that one of his acts of cowardice ended
up saving her. From that moment, she was captivated by him:
but he didn’t feel worthy of her. After all, he’s a coward at heart, but his
stubbornness is what won her over, and it's why despite his antics, she kept chasing him
even though he didn't even steal anything that important from her. It all culminates in this ridiculously great
character moment where he saves Link from Bellum: where before he would avoid conflict
at all cost, sticking by the sidelines and running off with the treasure, he realized
his own hidden potential. That's why he wishes for his ship back at
the end of the game: his adventures aren't over, in fact, they're only just beginning. He's a new man, a new Captain Linebeck. Much like Groose, it's incredibly simple,
yet it works just as well. Linebeck goes from hilariously afraid to respectfully
courageous and there's just something admirable about that. Through Link, he became the man he was suppressing
all along: in a way, the player inspired him to get there by sailing the seas without a
hint of fear. While characters like Ciela and Oshus don’t
really get the same treatment, I don't think they needed to. Ciela is a fun companion, not too obtrusive,
and plays off Linebeck in humorous ways. She just will not put up with his shit, I
love it. When it's revealed that Oshus was the Ocean
King all along: for once, I did not see it coming. The Temple of the Ocean King is an old relic,
the legends of the Ocean King are similarly ancient: so the idea that the Ocean King would
still be around and kicking never even crossed my mind, making the twist even more powerful. Which is funny because, in retrospect, it’s
foreshadowed pretty hard. He knows so much about the world and what
Link has to do, and characters even ask him how he knows so much. I just assumed that he was an adventurer who
tried to explore the depths of the temple a long time ago a lot like Link, evidenced
by the sword he keeps behind his house. Ciela's lost memory being wrapped into this
doesn't really go anywhere, but again it was a nice mystery with a satisfying payoff. It feels like a big new adventure! New Islands with unique temples, cultures,
and never before seen races! Sure, maybe the Gorons return, but what about
the Isle of Frost? It introduces the Anouki and the Yook, two
races in conflict ever since a Yook kidnapped an Anouki 100 years ago. Discovering the hidden Yook disguised as an
Anouki, uncovering the Island’s secrets, and ridding it of Bellum's presence reveals
that the Yook were being controlled this entire time. It's a neat, self-contained story on your
path to defeating Bellum. Or what about the Cobble Kingdom? The ruins of an ancient Egyptian civilization. Not only do you have to find out Cobble's
location on another island, using a past adventurer's notes as a set of clues: you communicate with
its ghostly denizens to learn more about the kingdom and to find the mineral within its
temple. This adventure feels distinct from the one
in the Wind Waker thanks to all of this: the first game was a journey to save your sister,
which saw Link saving the Rito and Koroks before finally facing down Ganon and ending
the cycle of tragedy brought on by the Kingdom of Hyrule and its denizens. Phantom Hourglass is a quest to save Tetra,
which sees Link ending a feud between two warring races and putting the spirits of a
long-dead civilization to rest, before finally inheriting the will of the Ocean King and
striking down the evil Bellum once and for all. I can't overstate how wonderful it is that
these two narrative structures can be so similar, yet so different in substance. I'm not trying to say that Bellum is some
great new antagonist, he’s really just a big ol’ evil thing. I don't really like Bellum, I like what he
represents. He’s part of a legend, his presence inspires
adventure the same way Calamity Ganon does, on an admittedly smaller scale. There are a surprising amount of parallels:
in Breath of the Wild you learn about events in the past that lead to Calamity Ganon destroying
Hyrule and Link's failed attempts at vanquishing him, the same way you learn about the Ocean
King's failed attempts at vanquishing Bellum; though, if I might be controversial: I think
I prefer the implications of Phantom Hourglass. In Breath of the Wild, it feels less like
a legend and more like a thing Link already did but forgot about. He already faced Ganon and already lost, so
when he comes back for the rematch: it's somewhat impactful, but none of it is very mysterious. Whereas, Oshus is a better stand-in for a
previous incarnation of Link: even if he is a giant whale. Link is a foreigner to this land, which has
its own pre-established backstory, so when you come in and take up the mantle previously
retired by Oshus, it feels more impactful when you eventually slay that evil. After all, in both of these games the player
is never the one that fails, which defeats the purpose of going back for a rematch. The final battles aren't rematches as far
as the player is concerned, they're first time encounters: which is why it's more effective
for me that someone else failed to defeat Bellum, that this long-forgotten hero was
unsuccessful, where the player has a chance to correct those mistakes and craft their
own legend along the way. Spirit Tracks takes place 100 years after
Phantom Hourglass, and opens once again with Nico as a framing device. Link is ready to become a full-fledged engineer,
but instead he finds himself with ghost Zelda forcibly cast out of her body, ready to restore
the Spirit Tracks and stop the Demon King from being resurrected. Though it does reference aspects of Hyrule,
I get the feeling this was done more as an homage than anything else. For one thing, this story is still entirely
unconcerned with Ganon, and secondly: the garb that the guards wear is almost certainly
an homage to Link rather than an homage to Hyrule itself. Sure, Zelda looks similar to Tetra, but as
evidenced by the stained glass window with Tetra on it, this was probably just out of
respect to the King of Red Lions, or an acknowledgement of her legacy. Again, there’s no mention of the Triforce
or anything like that: the villains want to resurrect the Demon King Malladus, another
faceless evil, another legend made real. There are mysteries surrounding who made the
tracks and what purpose they ultimately served; the Lokomos are cool analogues for the sages
of old. It feels like a plausible society built off
the backs of Tetra and her pirate gang. It seems this land exists in peace, the only
evil residing in human insecurities and fear. Byrne has an interesting character arc based
on his own fear, wishing to be as powerful as the Demon King should he ever arise. After not receiving that power, he realizes
just how much of a mistake he made and assists Link and Zelda in defeating Malladus, sacrificing
himself in the process. It’s not as memorable or charming as Linebeck’s
evolution, but I'd be lying if I said his death didn't get to me, the sly bastard. The Chancellor is just evil, it’s less about
a cycle of despair brought on by a long dead wave of evil, and more an ignorant, stupid
human set on ruining the land. The Demon King isn’t fated to rise, in fact
they seemed to have a pretty tight grip on on his seal until one of their own went about
trying to summon him. Maybe the antagonists aren’t amusing in
their own right, but Zelda more than makes up for that. This is arguably her best incarnation: she’s
quippy, funny, scared of bugs, and has some of the best cutscenes in any Zelda game. Having her accompany you as your companion
is the best of both worlds: this is exactly what I wanted from Tetra in both the Wind
Waker and Phantom Hourglass, but it was never adequately delivered. Phantom Hourglass, even, shoves her away for
the entire game besides the beginning and end, which was a massive shame. Spirit Tracks Zelda isn’t exactly like Tetra:
she’s a sheltered scaredy cat, but they play less on the negative attitudes associated
with that archetype, and more on the comedic undertones of that archetype. She’s not an ice queen, she’s genuinely
nice and wants to help people. She kinda reminds me of Ciela but with better
character moments. She’s so sheltered that she genuinely believes
that she can’t be of any help to her kingdom, and assumes Link should be the one doing all
the work: controlling her in the Phantom and being a crucial asset throughout the game
shows that she is just as capable as him. When Link struggles to deliver the final blow
to Malladus, Zelda strolls up and pushes the sword in with Link: signifying this as both
Link and Zelda's adventure. When Link and Zelda hold hands at the end
of the game, it was one of the only times I bought a connection between the two. It isn't a random kiss like the end of the
Oracle games; it was built up throughout the game, since you were controlling the both
of them, and watched them grow closer the farther into this mess they got. It symbolizes the end of Zelda's development:
she grew into a hero worth respecting. It's refreshing after recent comments about
her place in the Triforce and how she can't be a hero because Link is a hero, blahblah. Spirit Tracks already proved that wrong, so
there you go. While neither of these games deliver a theme
or message as powerful as the Wind Waker, they carry on its legacy through well-written
humor, excellent cutscene direction, a memorable cast, and an entirely new world to explore
that gives it a sharper edge than some other games in the series intent on dredging up
old foes or concepts. I appreciate that originality. -- If you'll recall, my criticisms with the Wind
Waker can be broadly placed within two categories: the Great Sea and Dungeon Design. I would assume you'd have already watched
that video, but in case you haven't: I think the Great Sea is too repetitive, funnels you
into exploring at the very end of the game, and is far too restrictive in its linear progression
for anything about it to feel exciting. Its dungeons are far too simple, relying heavily
on logic puzzles and foregoing all sense of mystery by limiting your potential paths. In my opinion, Phantom Hourglass fixes at
least one of these problems in its entirety. Sea exploration has seen a variety of tweaks
that make it more exciting. It may lack in quantity, but it more than
makes up for that in its quality. One of my chief issues with the Wind Waker's
ocean was that it recycled a lot of uninteresting content, likely to make it seem larger than
it actually was. Phantom Hourglass doesn't fall into the same
pitfalls since the ocean itself is smaller in size. It has 16 islands in total, and all of them
are much closer together; meanwhile, Wind Waker had 49 locations of note, spread out
across the ocean. Phantom Hourglass is a bite-sized adventure
by comparison, but that bite-sized adventure packs more of a punch; absolutely none of
it feels like filler, and you're allowed to explore all of it by the halfway point. You've got a few mini-game islands, you've
got fishing sidequests, you've got a memorable, short trading sequence, you've got an island
you're forced to create a map for yourself, you've got Salvage Arm mini-games, you've
got distractions to keep you occupied as you travel an already smaller distance, Islands
not yet marked on your map that you stumble across on a whim, some of which contain permanent
combat upgrades like increased attack power or defense; some of which contain tools used
to fast travel. It is important to note that the Wind Waker
also had this: fast travel was obtained by fighting a miniboss roaming the seas; the
mask of truth gave you a permanent UI upgrade, etc. The chief difference is that Phantom Hourglass
eliminates the reefs and other pointless islands, in favor of adding more sea charts with a
retooled rewards system. In the Wind Waker, everything you could find
had to be important in some way; unless it was money, there had to be a rhyme or reason
for you to explore, which usually meant a heart piece. That's fine, heart pieces are a good reward,
but you don't get that immediate satisfaction. Since there are so many of them, a few of
them were bound to be locked behind blatantly uninteresting and annoying objectives; like
destroying a special pirate ship or finding the golden beedle shop. There just wasn't a lot to find besides rupees
or more sea charts that lead to more rupees, some of which you couldn't even hold without
wallet upgrades; your treasure, more often than not, was funneled into an endgame quest
almost no one enjoys. Phantom Hourglass still often rewards you
with rupees, but at least in this game it feels like they have a purpose. Fairies cannot be obtained in the overworld,
your only source of healing as an item is through potions you buy at shops. Additionally, there are orbs you can buy that
contribute to sword and shield shield upgrades. I cannot tell you how satisfying it was to
complete an optional dungeon puzzle, or a hard maze mini-game, only for it to allow
me to shoot sword beams and stuff: it's really cool. Finally there are ship parts you can buy from
Beedle. There are a lot of ship parts you can find
throughout the game; so much, in fact, that an average playthrough won't even yield half
of the available options. Besides making your ship look awesome, they
also raise your ship's constitution depending on which set you roll with, which will change
with each playthrough based on which parts you find. Not only will your playthrough be full of
different treasures and ship parts than your friends’, they'll be different every subsequent
playthrough. Your ship is almost never going to look the
same, since there are so many different parts. This makes exploring the ocean even more fun,
because what you'll find at the bottom of the ocean floor, or at the end of a sidequest,
or as the prize of a mini-game, will always be different. They'll also always be useful, even if only
a little bit. Different playthroughs will also change the
value placed on different ship parts and treasures. There are several different treasures you
can find that really only serve to be sold; however, some treasures will be worth more
or less on different playthroughs. You'll quickly find out which treasures are
worth the most, and when you find a treasure chest through a secret puzzle, there's a rush
of anticipation. What are you going to find? Will it be worth a lot? There's no wallet in Phantom Hourglass, you
can hold 9,999 rupees at the start. Even if you reach that cap, you'll almost
always be spending it on useful items or parts. It is a satisfying incentive to explore. No matter where you go in this game, it'll
almost always be worth your time, and while that bolsters a first playthrough the most:
the fact that the magic doesn't wear off on subsequent playthroughs is genius. I played this game twice, back-to-back for
the purposes of this video, and had two entirely different experiences. It's very rare I can say that about a Zelda
game, especially the Wind Waker which still feels like the exact same adventure every
single time I revisit it. Of course there are still static rewards,
but even those have been improved: instead if a bajillion heart pieces, there are now
13 heart containers. Meaning that any side quest or puzzle you
solve with a heart container as your reward will see an instant bump in your maximum health. Quite frankly, I never knew just how much
I needed this until I got it: this makes collecting pieces of a heart container feel even more
redundant in retrospect. This only works so well because there's a
robust reward system that exists alongside the heart containers. It's the best of both worlds: the trading
sequence is more interesting both because you aren't trading with the same three NPCs
over and over, and because it rewards you with a helpful new attack; fishing for the
legendary Neptoona is challenging and fun in its own right, but you also get a heart
container out of it. Nothing you do is useless. Once you're past the halfway point and pick
up the final two sea charts, the sea is quite literally your oyster. Every island has an initial purpose: fast
travel, upgrades, mini-games; however, they all also have side purposes you fulfill with
dungeon items. This ensures that you won't stumble onto an
island with literally no purpose, there is always something for you to do. I really hated having to turn away from an
island in the Wind Waker because I lacked the tool required to explore it. It was fun to go back once I got the tool
I needed, but that initial frustration is one of the reasons it failed as a sea exploration
game. Phantom Hourglass sidesteps this problem without
ruining the appeal of gaining new dungeon items. Maybe you reach an island that you can't fully
explore, but you'll always get something out of the trip. This is helped by the latter half of the game
being nonlinear: the final three objectives can be tackled in any order you desire. Where the Wind Waker's blindingly linear story
progression clashed hard with its core conceit, Phantom Hourglass embraces that explorative
spark in its second half. It's surprising that this game allows for
so much freedom in a series that has traditionally had a very hard time balancing its linear
and nonlinear elements. Spirit Tracks changed a lot about its overworld
by comparison. There is almost no freedom: you can choose
where you want to go, and discover new locations, but you can only do so on rails. Literally. In Phantom Hourglass, you had complete control
over where you wanted to go, and in what way you would get there. Spirit Tracks strips out the “way” and
only leaves the “where.” Certainly the train is a novelty: you can
control the speed at which it moves, you can blow the horn, switch train tracks. But it's really only a novelty. In fact, oddly enough I found myself incredibly
bored on long stretches of track where I almost never was in Phantom Hourglass. They both have fast travel, yet Spirit Tracks
still had long stretches of nothing. Imagine trying to chart the Great Sea, but
there were dividing lines everywhere deciding where you were gonna go. It isn't just annoying, it's really boring. You still travel back to towns and caves once
you get new items, but it's not as fun to actually do. Especially since the fast travel is no longer
accessed in the menu, you have to enter designated gates, which simply means more uninterrupted
travel. Some of the connected gates are confusingly
placed, and can only be accessed by completing a side quest that rewards you with a Force
Gem. Phantom Hourglass’ fast travel was simple:
bonk a gold frog with your cannon, write down the symbol on your map, and you can warp back
to that location whenever you want. In Spirit Tracks, you first need two gates
that are connected, you'll often pass by inactive gates and make note of them on your map. Once you find a gate with a gem on top of
it, you shoot it with your cannon, activating the link between them, blow your whistle,
and fast travel. Some of these gates take a very long time
to activate, seeing as they're usually hidden behind sidequests you can't complete until
much later. For instance, to get a fast travel point to
the middle of the Snow Rail Map, you first need to clear the Fire Temple, which is the
fourth temple in the linear sequence. Some side quests give you shortcuts by way
of creating railways that connect them in different areas, but this still means a whole
lot of nothing while you sit on the train and occasionally tap the screen or catch bunnies. Phantom Hourglass places no such restrictions
on travel: as soon as you get the northeastern sea chart from the Temple of the Ocean King,
you can travel north, solve the whale island puzzle, talk to the gold frog, and you now
have access to fast travel. All you need to do is find the gold frogs,
which are usually near places of interest anyway. There are typically two of them for each quadrant
that are situated around areas of interest to cut down on travel time. When travel time was higher than average,
it was typically only because there was a fish to catch or treasure to find. Spirit Tracks’ only comparable overworld
objective are the ten bunnies located in each rail map. It's a fun sidequest, but the mini-game itself
is much shorter than the fishing or the Salvage Arm, so you're typically right back to a whole
lot of nothing after catching a bunny. Which would be fine, if there were other fun
objectives to distract you. The vast majority of overworld objectives
involve taking someone or something from one place to another. The amount of times you're asked to do this
boggles the mind. What you're usually tasked with is, for example,
taking an Anouki from Anouki Village to a place that's warmer. In this case, to the Gorons. You have to take him there while abiding by
railway laws: blow your horn when there's a horn sign, slow down to normal speed when
the sign says so, go back to high speed when the sign tells you, don't get hit by enemies,
don't come to an immediate full stop, and stop before the line at your destination. The first couple times you do a quest like
this, it's pretty fun: you're forced to pay attention and actually follow the game's rules
so you don't upset the passenger. There are similar quests that see you transporting
fish or ice from one town to another, usually with the caveat being that it will melt or
spoil over time, and you'll lose cargo if hit by an enemy. Again, fun the first few times, but when you
realize that you are forced to, in effect, travel from one place to another a whopping
22 times, and that it makes up almost all of your overworld exploration: it gets maybe
a little old. These quests are used as a way to open up
a secret, startlingly similar to the kinstone system: you aren't allowed to travel to these
locations whenever you want because you're supposed to be humming along the path the
game directs you down. New railways usually lead to a dungeon with
treasure, a fast travel gate, or more bunnies. I can't tell you how disappointing it is to
travel to a new railway, only for it to be a dumping ground for bunnies and nothing else. That's why I hate this stuff: not necessarily
because I'm a completionist, but because I would appreciate if what I decided to do outside
the main quest felt worth my time. I've often gotten comments telling me that
expecting Zelda games to be completionist friendly is a flawed mindset. I agree, that isn't what I'm trying to say
here. Often I won't complete Zelda games that aren't
satisfying to complete: whenever I decide to go back to Ocarina of Time, I probably
won't be collecting the Skulltula again, or doing the mask sidequest, or using the song
of storms to blow holes into the ground. I care far more about the dungeons. The reason I talk about all the side content
in these videos is because that's what you're here for right: I evaluate all of a game's
content. Isn't it fair of me to point out that doing
side content might not be fun? Imagine a world where there wasn't pointless
filler in games like Spirit Tracks, Wind Waker, or Minish Cap? They'd be better for it, right? I would want to engage with the game fully,
rather than only in pieces. There are many Zelda games I love fully completing,
or at least completing most of. You won't see me doing so with something like
Spirit Tracks or Minish Cap ever again. It's hard not to imagine a world where Spirit
Tracks had more freeform exploration: the pieces are already in place. When the Spirit Tracks vanish at the beginning
of the game, and you get your hands on the magical Spirit Train: is it so farfetched
to imagine your Spirit Train creating its own tracks? This would certainly eliminate rail switching,
but I feel like that's a worthy sacrifice in the face of increased freedom and less
travel time. If that's too radical a change, maybe upping
the travel speed, or adding an additional notch that increased your travel speed would
have been a good compromise? In the dark realm, your train is suddenly
much faster than it used to be, and as soon as I saw that I wondered why it couldn't have
been that fast for the rest of the game. There really is no explanation that would
satisfy me: just make it an optional speed notch so players could adjust if need be. Make it an unlock later on or something if
you don't want players to be too overpowered. I don't care how you fix this, I just don't
want to be on the train for hours of my life doing nothing. Now, I'll admit: what it lacks in freedom,
it makes up for in substance. While I loved sailing in Phantom Hourglass,
certain aspects of it could get repetitive. There weren't many enemies: sharks, pirate
ships, floating eyeballs, squiddies, vine traps, and whatever this is. Bosses would appear from time to time, but
they were never more complicated than “shoot it repeatedly.” Spirit Tracks has four different biomes, with
interesting new enemies and objectives in each quadrant. There are demon train cars halting progression,
forcing you to think out your path carefully; a boss that forces you to be precise with
your aiming, and even lead your shots since the target is always moving; wild boars with
moblin riders; evil snowmen that chuck their heads at you; pirate ships even still; evil
squids that change location rapidly; sand sharks that only become vulnerable during
specific windows. Sometimes you travel underwater, or to a snow
biome through a winter storm, or through the lost woods on a specific path, or lugging
ice through the mountains, or finding out the most optimal path to your objective so
the dark ore doesn't melt in the sunlight: maybe it gets old after a while, but it's
variety that the Great Sea lacked. There was a section of Phantom Hourglass where
you have to chase the ghost ship through thick fog, and you take notes from the wayfarer
to take the correct path. This was really cool, and a neat use of the
mapmaking mechanic, but it never really popped up again. Spirit Tracks has you taking down specific
directions very frequently: I remember in the Sand Rail Map, you had to recognize that
the Sand Sanctuary map was the same as your Rail Map, and find out where the overworld
statues gazes all connected, and transfer that information to the sanctuary map. When the path forward isn't obfuscated, you'll
be boarded by pirates or something. It feels like there's always something fun
happening. By the time you reach the final boss, where
you have to keep up with the demon train, switching rails to avoid colliding with it,
shooting the various targets, maintaining your speed: it feels earned. There's even a Pac-Man like section where
you pick up tears of light and destroy the smaller demon trains, which is a puzzle in
and of itself. The only equivalent section in Phantom Hourglass
occurs when you chase the ghost ship, and even then Linebeck sails it for you, so all
you're really doing is tapping a bunch of objects. It thankfully retains the train customization
system, instead opting to use treasure as both a source of money and a component to
craft train parts. This is a double-edged sword: on the one hand,
it does make your exploration feel meaningful, as the game's relative lack of freedom means
that overworld exploration is more challenging. I never died in Phantom Hourglass, where I
died a few times, or came close to it in Spirit Tracks. When you're on rails, it's a lot easier for
them to craft harder challenges: so not only are the train car upgrades useful for increased
health, it gives new purpose to the treasures you'll be collecting. It also means that you can more easily get
the ship parts you want, since you can craft almost any of them you like. Nothing was more frustrating in Phantom Hourglass
than getting the exact same ship part three times, especially if it only sold for 50 rupees. However, it also means that the treasure system
had to be changed: no longer are values random; the treasures you find are still semi-random,
but they're placed into categories. Some challenges or chests will contain uncommon
items, some common, some rare. They will all have values according to their
categories, so even if they're random treasures, they will always net you around the same price
based on the difficulty of the task you completed. This defeats the point of having a treasure
system in the first place, honestly. It would likely be more lucrative to give
you rupees instead since that initial wonder upon opening a chest will only ever be there
on a first playthrough. You could argue that it was necessary because
Spirit Tracks had tougher challenges, so getting a bad reward would have felt cheap: I do agree
with that sentiment, but Phantom Hourglass didn't seem to struggle with this because
you would only figure out the treasure values late into the game. Until then you're usually left wondering,
which eliminates the potential frustration. Spirit Tracks is more predictable by comparison,
which is probably fine for some people, but I don't like it as much. The way I see it, they “addressed” a problem
that I don't think ever existed. While Spirit Tracks has a more visually appealing
and mechanically challenging overworld, it often comes at the price of a railroaded progression;
whereas Phantom Hourglass often gives you that freedom, at the cost of the interactivity
with the sea being fairly minimal. Compared to catching bunnies or honking your
horn at golden dolphins; doing the Salvage Arm mini-game for the umpteenth time, while
challenging, can get repetitive. Especially since the Great Sea, as open as
it is, is visually exhausting after already seeing similar sights in the Wind Waker. Spirit Tracks is a breath of fresh air in
that regard, with a music track that feels more its own. Phantom Hourglass didn't have a bad overworld
theme (any game borrowing music notes from the Wind Waker is already off to a good start),
but it's clearly reminiscent of the Wind Waker, giving it less of its own identity. Through just the overworld alone, I hope you're
starting to understand my dilemma: it's very hard to talk about these games separately,
because they're structured almost exactly the same way, they just change each other's
particulars. Which brings me to something they both share. -- The Nintendo DS is a unique system: it has
two screens, a touch screen, a microphone, and dammit if these two games weren't gonna
take full advantage of it. Link is controlled using the stylus: Spirit
Tracks Link is a little more comfortable to control, at the cost of his jump attack feeling
incredibly awkward and precise; while Phantom Hourglass Link is less comfortable, but his
jump attack is more forgiving. I swear I'm not making this up, there's a
really weird give and take between these two games. Every single action is done through the touch
screen: shoulder buttons are used to activate items, and the d-pad is used as a menu shortcut. That's it. No doubt this is at least a little controversial,
but I enjoy how much use these games get out of the stylus. Movement is whatever: you move how you move,
you know? Nothing feels different than if you were just
using a d-pad, but combat is very different. You slash using horizontal swipes, and lunge
by tapping at the enemy. A spin attack is executed with a spin of the
stylus, and paired with dungeon items all being controlled using the stylus, combat
takes on a different rhythm than past entries. Where before you would face a direction and
press the attack button, you have a freer degree of control here. This is technically the first 2D Zelda with
analog movement, just without the actual analog stick itself. As much as I love past 2D entries, I am so
happy to be playing 2D Zelda with free movement. Additionally, the touch screen items make
combat a joy: where previous games would see you simply throwing a boomerang in front of
you, or using lock-on, these games let you draw a path for the boomerang. In combat, this means you often need to anticipate
enemy movement to account for the throw delay, and while it doesn't revolutionize combat,
it does lend each encounter a memorable solution. You might have to take out your Whirlwind
to send a projectile back at an enemy, which requires taking aim with the stylus and firing
by blowing into the mic. As gimmicky as that sounds, it feels refreshingly
original in its own way. It's hard to deny how fun it can make 2D Zelda
combat, though it is often easier than previous titles since you do have a lot more control
over your character. They do both have moments of Metroid Prime
3-itis, as I like to call it. Moments like having you shout into the microphone
to get a character's attention, or speaking answers into the microphone, or blowing torches
out with your microphone. They're undeniably gimmicky, but not all of
them are as useless. There are cool DS related puzzles and uses
in both these games: one of my favorite puzzles involves putting your DS into sleep mode to
copy a map on the top screen onto the bottom screen. Essentially you're pressing them together
by closing the top screen onto the bottom one. The game only hints at this, which makes it
all the more satisfying to figure out. While it does not translate well to virtual
console, I think that fact alone shows that it couldn't have existed anywhere else. Similarly, the Spirit Flute is one of my favorite
Zelda instruments for the novelty alone. I'm probably the only person who likes this
thing: idk, while it can be a little finicky, I like the idea that I'm actually blowing
into a flute to make music, rather than inputting buttons. It's a cool successor to the Wind Waker. By far the biggest inclusion, though, is mapmaking. Using the stylus, you can draw on any map
you own: dungeon maps, area maps, sea chart maps, and railway maps. You can take notes, draw symbols, you can
do practically anything and I love it. This might just be my favorite thing about
these two games, and it's one of the only things I feel both titles do right, mostly
because they handle it in exactly the same way. Be it surface level uses: jotting down directions
on a map; or more advanced uses: connecting various objects via lines and digging at their
intersection, almost as if you're creating your own treasure map. Though they often don't go as far as I would
have liked, I appreciate the attempt. I also need to sometimes remember that these
games were made for children, so a lot of what I suggest in these videos probably isn't
entirely fair. Nonetheless, I'm glad we got puzzles like
figure out which of these six Anouki are lying or find out which one of these two heads are
friends based on a stone tablet riddle. Even when remade on the Wii U, the Wind Waker
had none of this which is a shame. Obviously I wasn't expecting them to rehaul
the puzzle design, but at least letting me draw on the map with the gamepad would have
been nice. In Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks I can
write notes wherever I happen to be: notes telling me to revisit a town later on, notes
about traps, or notes about bunnies I might have missed. It's especially fun in Phantom Hourglass,
since it complements the exploration a lot more. You also tend to take in your surroundings
more closely when you're taking notes: it feels a lot more natural to talk to every
single NPC than it is in other Zelda games. You're sometimes forced to for additional
directions: it's like you actually don't know the way forward, you need to figure it out
yourself. Phantom Hourglass actually has an island that
you chart yourself. Much like a cartographer, you walk along the
edges, drawing lines, until you've charted out a whale. It only occurs once, which is a shame, but
this is completely unlike other Zelda games: it's innovative. It asks you to think about the world and solve
puzzles in a new way. Which is why I'm slightly more forgiving of
the dungeon design, Spirit Tracks especially. I'm going to save the Temple of the Ocean
King and the Tower of Spirits for the very end of this section: they are, we'll just
say, oddities even in their own series. For now, let’s focus on the dungeons and
other areas you only visit once. How should I say: in terms of complexity,
they kinda suck, not even just by my own insane standards. I would go as far as to say they feel more
like a straight line than the dungeons in the Wind Waker. In terms of progression, the Wind Temple is
very straightforward. You solve puzzles or complete combat challenges
on a linear path to the end, occasionally opening up ways to backtrack more easily (even
though you never need to do so). It is not an exaggeration to say every dungeon
is like this; some puzzles might be larger and more complicated, but they’re always
confined to one room, and the way forward is always obvious with no exceptions. I think I’m more okay with these dungeons
because they don’t try to be more complicated than they actually are, and lean into other
aspects of their design: it’s sorta like how I still enjoy a lot of the dungeons in
Twilight Princess despite them mostly being straightforward. Each dungeon in both of these games will present
you with an enemy that is more cumbersome to defeat at first: in Spirit Tracks you’ll
come across elemental enemies that can only be taken out when you use the Whirlwind, an
item that surely isn’t as easy to use as your sword; however, when you get the boomerang,
you’re suddenly able to deal with these enemies a lot easier. Once you’re at the end of both games, it
feels like every enemy has an intended item solution: in Spirit Tracks you use the boomerang
to stun Wolfos, or the Bow to knock the heads off a skeleton. I’m mentioning Spirit Tracks more and more
because I feel like it does a better job leaning into its unique design aspects than Phantom
Hourglass when controlling Link. Phantom Hourglass had its moments: there are
several moments in Mutoh’s Temple where you have to activate objects out of view of
your camera. In the beginning, there’s a switch you have
to activate from far away so you have enough time to enter the doorway ahead of you; later
on, you open a doorway so that on the other side of it, you can shoot an arrow at the
switch that changes the water level. Unfortunately, most other dungeons never even
get that far. Pair that with the dungeons looking incredibly
generic and same-y, and you get a fairly boring main quest progression. Spirit Tracks, while not doing anything exceptional
with its dungeon design in particular, generally has better ideas in its linear progression. Ideas such as: sending keymasters after you
while you carry the Big Key. Phantom Hourglass also had this mechanic,
where you have to carry the Big Key to the boss door, but I’m seriously not exaggerating
when I say it did NOTHING with this idea. The closest it brushed was maybe Mutoh’s
Temple, where you take it with you on a moving platform and fend off skeletons. You can put it down while this happens, so
it’s really no different than if it wasn’t there. In Spirit Tracks, when you pick up the key,
keymasters are immediately on your ass trying to take it away from you. In the Fire Temple, you have to guide the
Big Key through a minecart switch challenge to ensure it isn’t lost along the way. It isn’t taken nearly as far as I would
have liked, but at least it’s taken somewhere as opposed to nowhere. Additionally, the items have more original
use cases: the boomerang can now take on ice as an element and you have to use it to create
temporary platforms on the water, while also contending with enemies. This is surprisingly tricky to do and is used
frequently both inside and outside of dungeons. Or the Sand Rod, which has you digging up
items under the sand, creating platforms for yourself, stopping spike cylinders at just
the right time to create platforms, creating height for yourself to jump on Zelda, transporting
Zelda across sand she would otherwise sink into, and solving those weird falling cube
puzzles: you know the ones I’m talking about. Or the whip, which is not only a cool redesign
for the grapple hook, it has an element of timing associated with it, which is expanded
upon really well in an optional mini-game. Compare that to the Hammer, which is only
really used to flip enemies over, activate switches, and fling yourself into the air. The Boomerang can only really transport fire
from one torch to another, or activate a switch from far away; same with the grappling hook. Overall, Spirit Tracks does a good job expanding
upon the often lackluster ideas in Phantom Hourglass, and does so more frequently to
boot. Though much of it is optional, it has more
instances of taking notes or completing challenges. Phantom Hourglass didn’t have all that many
secret caves or dungeons; mostly just mini-games and treasure, which worked fine enough, but
I’d be lying if I said the game wasn’t lacking in side content. There just isn’t as much to do as there
is in Spirit Tracks, and though I’d argue that Spirit Tracks had far too much, most
of the locations you uncover are well worth the trip, and beef up the side content in
a positive way. Especially the various optional stations,
which either test you on a mechanical skill, like running across ice as fast as you can,
or test you on your ability to solve riddles, like the disorientation station. Spirit Tracks just has more optional treasure
chests, rupees, items, and fun challenges than average. You could often dig with the shovel to find
optional sea charts and rupees in Phantom Hourglass, which was fun in its own right
and often accompanied by a riddle to solve; but Spirit Tracks lets you blow away leaves,
defeat all the enemies in a room, hit a hidden switch almost out of view, blow a cucco off
a building by positioning it just right, and using it to fly to other buildings, doing
an entire Temple of the Ocean King inspired dungeon without a sword. This can go on for quite a while, and the
rewards can sometimes be more interesting than they were in Phantom Hourglass. Finding the stamp stations, for instance,
will reward you with permanent cosmetic changes like engineer’s clothing or the Wind Waker
shield, and many of those stations are difficult to find, especially the ones located in dungeons. Many of the mini-games from Phantom Hourglass
return in an improved format: where previously you’d shoot cannons at targets for a while,
or shoot arrows at wooden targets; Spirit Tracks sees you in a mountain range, with
moving targets that have punishments for shooting too early, on a train that varies wildly in
speeds, or a shooting range that is also a prison breakout with a boss at the end. From being ambushed and having to protect
the Lokomos against a unique miniboss, to inquiring about the correct path through the
Lost Woods, to transporting ice through a route infested with enemy train cars. It feels like, on the main quest at least,
you’re always doing something fun or interesting; it’s a shame that many of the side locations
are only unlocked after you slog through transport mission for the eighteenth time. I know I haven’t talked a lot about the
dungeon design itself, but it would really just be me repeating myself, which is also
another reason why both of these games are in one video. If you really want a video of me saying, “The
Fire Temple is too simple, the Ice Temple is too simple, the Forest Temple is too simple,
yada yada” I guess you’re out of luck: just take my word for it. I guess Spirit Tracks has stronger overall
dungeon design, especially in its final three dungeons. They have interesting moments; the mini boss
of the Ocean Temple is tricky at first because you’re supposed to let him pull you in so
you can counterattack, rather than trying to run away. Same with the room where you have to hit a
switch so some boulders will fall in another square. Initially you’d think this is supposed to
let you cross the boulders, but you can’t open them in a way that lets you sneak past. You have to realize that this changes where
the boulders fall in the floor below you, which is sneaky and I like that. The Sand Temple has a fun riddle to solve,
subtly teaching you that the Sand Rod can be used to dig up items; you're tested later
in the dungeon to find the Big Key. It also has a slightly more complicated progression
by allowing you to go to so many different places at once after getting the Sand Rod,
though admittedly it closes up pretty fast and is nowhere near as complicated as some
of the better dungeons in the series. The bosses are often the highlights, either
using the DS in a cool way, or by just being fun bosses. There are too many to count: I like how the
colossus in Mutoh’s Temple plays with perspective; I like the bosses in both Fire Temples, one
forcing you to make tricky shots with the bow on a moving minecart, and the other a
battle to multitask between a Goron and Link; the boss of the Temple of Courage has you
looking to the top screen through the eyes of an invisible boss so you can aim at the
screen to hit it. None of them are terribly complex or difficult,
but I appreciate how unique they are. Some of them, like the boss of the Snow Temple,
make really creative use of the boomerang’s elemental effects and can be genuinely challenging
in the heat of the moment. That’s just it though: these dungeons all
have satisfying and creative moments, they don’t necessarily come together in a compelling
way. There are a lot of moments that feel way too
simple: whenever you’re asked to hit switches in a certain order, they all but spell it
out to you. You’ll be asked to draw a path for a moving
platform, but all you really have to do is remember the order to hit the switches because
an earlier stone tablet literally told you to remember the order for the entire dungeon. You’re never going to forget that, so it
leads to a lot of the puzzles being solved for you. Spirit Tracks, at least, doesn’t rely on
the hand holdy gossip stones that spell out the answers for you: that’s a large part
of what made the dungeons in Phantom Hourglass so boring. There were more moments in Spirit Tracks where
I had to think for myself, but not many more. They’re largely disappointing, aside from
the two standout examples. The Temple of Spirits and the Temple of the
Ocean King are the two best dungeons across both games, but for entirely different, often
opposite reasons. On paper, it sounds like a terrible idea to
revisit the Temple of the Ocean King over and over, but in practice it becomes one of
the most unique dungeons in Zelda history. Whenever you return, you have items that open
up new shortcuts, so while you are running through the same level design, you can run
through the dungeon a different way each time. It incentivizes you to really learn the layout,
jot down helpful notes, so that when you return later on, you can speed through it like a
pro. It’s genuinely difficult to avoid the phantoms,
as they’re usually the biggest obstacle to a speedy run: you’re encouraged to learn
their patrol paths and find clever ways to bypass them so you don’t run out of time. One of your revisits allows you to grab two
new sea charts all in one visit, but only if you’re good enough. I found myself very, very deep into the Temple
having completely run out of sand, and attempting to finish it while losing health along the
way was one of the most harrowing experiences a Zelda game has ever offered me. Exploring the Temple of the Ocean King is
dangerous, it’s tense; but when you come back at the end of the game, storm the Temple,
and show Bellum who’s boss: it’s insanely satisfying, because you developed that path
throughout the game. You conquered this huge challenge over time,
and I love that so much as a concept. Some of the final rooms have you doing some
tricky maneuvering to stay away from the phantoms and transport heavy items, all while you have
to manage your walking speed to not alert nearby phantoms. They also have hidden items you can try for,
but only if you’re truly confident you know what you’re doing, since going for optional
items eats up a lot of time. Unfortunately, that focus on moment-to-moment
puzzle design holds it back from being truly brilliant. Imagine one of the more complicated Zelda
dungeons in the series: the water temple, maybe. There are a lot of people who would absolutely
loathe this, but a complicated dungeon under the gun of a timer with enemies that could
shave off that time: I would love something like that. It reminds me of tackling a dungeon near the
end of the third day in Majora’s Mask, I really haven’t gotten a similar feeling
until I played Phantom Hourglass. But I also think, as dungeons, Majora’s
Mask had much more complicated design that complemented that timer even more. The Temple of the Ocean King only really asks
you to hit a switch and run to your objective, or stay away from the phantoms that you can
eventually stun. It’s fun to see how fast you can eventually
clear it, but that initial run through is always gonna be less complicated than it could
be. The Tower of Spirits fixes that aspect of
it. There are some devious puzzles in this game
that had me stumped for quite a while. Adding Phantom Zelda offers a whole new dimension
to puzzle-solving. You can jump on her shield for additional
height, or you can use her as a shield to fight larger enemies or protect you from fire;
but she also can’t cross sand or use Link’s items, so you have to find clever ways of
getting her where she needs to go. There’s one room where Zelda is able to
warp to the seeker eyes, but the obvious warp points don’t really allow her to do anything. You need to, instead, get her to teleporters
so she can warp with Link at various points: they both need to do their own parts of the
dungeon, working together to bypass obstacles that neither of them could accomplish alone. Not only is this complex, it also strengthens
the bond between Link and Zelda, showing that the both of them are accomplishing great things,
not just Link. Just compare the final floors of the Tower
of Spirits to the final floors of the Temple of the Ocean King. At most, the latter asks you to hit a switch
with your boomerang and book it across the level. Phantoms do chase you, that much is true,
but they'll never catch up to you and can't chase you onto the second floor. It's made especially easy considering you
can permanently take out the seeker eyes that alert phantoms to your location. The final floor sees you picking up triangle
pieces, stunning the phantoms as soon as they spawn in. Seriously, there is almost nothing challenging
about this. Spirit Tracks places the challenge within
progression itself. There are various different types of phantoms
Zelda can control: some will light torches and dark areas, some can roll around and destroy
obstacles, and the cost of not being able to pick up Link or other items, some can instantly
teleport to the seeker eyes. None of them can do everything, though, and
you need to switch Phantoms, going from one level to another to first find three small
keys by solving multi-level challenges; and then activating three switches in multiple
rooms on the same floor. You've gotta do things like: create sand platforms
to hop on top of Zelda, or intentionally get caught by a seeker eye so you can move it
to a place that would be ideal for Zelda to warp to; or have Zelda hold an arrow shooter
so it's at the right height for Link to shoot it. I was in the last stretch of the Tower of
Spirits for an hour and 25 minutes on my first playthrough, it genuinely confused me and
I was in love. Zelda, as a mechanic, is used appropriately
up to the final moments of the game, where you're using her as a shield to advance on
Malladus, while you use Link to keep the electric rats from breaking her composure; later you
use her to get behind Malladus by controlling her path and distracting him with Link: you're
controlling two characters at once, it is an intense mechanical challenge to multitask
this much and it's a skill I don't rarely see tested as wonderfully as this. It's a mechanic that is taught through a seemingly
throwaway stealth section at the beginning, and used throughout to great effect. Phantom Hourglass doesn't get the same mileage
out of its endgame: sure, you draw the hourglass symbol, and it uses the two screens of the
DS to link Ciela's sight with the top screen, but it doesn't really expand upon many of
Phantom Hourglass’ mechanics in the same way Spirit Tracks does. It's similar in the sense that the main dungeon
of Spirit Tracks has far more meat on its bones. Yet, even though it feels more fulfilling
to complete than the Temple of the Ocean King, it completely ditched what made that temple
great in the first place. There is no longer any timer, making the Phantoms
feel almost useless as a mechanic; and you don’t have to redo any of its content, which
defeats the purpose of travelling back at various points. Like the games themselves, their weaknesses
are fixed as much as their strengths are completely ruined. Why travel back to the Temple of Spirits at
all if you aren’t going to redo content you’ve already done? There is almost no point: you could just take
these ideas and put them in the regular dungeons, it would change absolutely nothing. There isn’t as much significance to scaling
the Temple of Spirits, because you don’t come back to it with the same confidence:
if anything, the pacing issues that people claim exist in Phantom Hourglass fit Spirit
Tracks far more. I’ve heard complaints that having to run
back to the Temple of the Ocean King over and over is annoying, but I felt far more
annoyed that I had to keep going back to the Temple of Spirits because all you were doing
was completing disconnected challenges. Even I can admit that the Tower of Spirits
is a little too long, and some of its puzzles don't lend themselves to being done really
fast, so perhaps some of the slower stuff you end up doing could be toned down or removed. I'm not suggesting that the Tower of Spirits
as it now exists be exactly like the Temple of the Ocean King, but as it currently exists
it's missing what made the former so special in the first place, even if in terms of design
it hits all the right buttons for me. If only Phantom Hourglass had better dungeon
design, and if only Spirit Tracks had better overarching design. This is what lead me to the video’s thesis:
what Phantom Hourglass lacks, Spirit Tracks has, and what Spirit Tracks lacks, Phantom
Hourglass has. They are both held back from being truly great
Zelda games by each other. I can imagine a truly amazing successor to
the Wind Waker, but I’m not sure either of these games really provide that in isolation. Which is a saddening realization when you
consider that another game like these two will probably never happen. The DS is long dead, the 3DS winding down:
and the Switch simply can’t carry over these same ideas and make them work, there’s just
no way. Unless we get a successor to the DS line that,
for some reason, takes the best ideas of both Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks: I don’t
think we’ll ever see these ideas again. For all that they failed to do, I also feel
that they were some of the most innovative Zelda games of their time. They tried some interesting things, and though
they didn’t always work, I’m impressed by just how far they were willing to take
some of these ideas. Phantom Hourglass is a joy to explore and
get lost in, but the main quest drags it down and the lack of meaningful content makes the
adventure feel shorter and less impactful than it really should be. Spirit Tracks has a fun main quest with a
lot of interesting dungeon ideas and fun optional areas, but it has one of the worst overworlds
I have ever seen in a Zelda game, filled with so many repetitive fetch quests that listening
to one of the best overworld themes in Zelda history eventually drove me insane. I’m hoping, at least, that a future game
will carry on these forgotten ideas: a dungeon you visit multiple times, perhaps, or a set
of items with unusual uses, or maybe even a limited mapmaking mechanic, however hamstrung
it might be on a system that can’t take advantage of two screens. Whatever the case: we will likely never see
a Zelda this specific a fusion ever again. Playing these games back-to-back is worse
than playing them individually, and that’s just depressing. Just, indulge me for a moment. There was a steampunk Zelda concept going
around a while back, and I can't help but feel like it would be one of my favorite games
ever made if it took the best of these two games. You get an airship you can customize, they
just let loose and let you explore the fucking land, sea, AND sky. I know it sounds like a pipe dream, but just
imagine it. You'd still have mapmaking, it would continue
to expand the world and introduce new enemies, characters, and concepts. Not only is it the kind of originality I've
craved for a very long time in a series so committed to Hyrule, it would blend two of
the most creative Zelda games ever into an unforgettable experience. Look, I love Breath of the Wild, but even
I can admit that it didn't really scratch that same itch. It took Zelda into new territory, but in terms
of identity: I don't feel like it made as much of a statement as it could have. By sticking so steadfast to series staples,
while also abandoning so many others: it feels almost half-committed to its own ideals, where
these two random DS games were closer to realizing it years before Breath of the Wild was even
a concept. I mean, I have no way of knowing if that imaginary
game would be good: all I have is this video as my claim. All the evidence is here: somewhere between
these two games rests the best Zelda ever made, one that we'll never get, and I know
we'll never get it. *sigh*
