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Re: Zelda - Phantom Hourglass for DS by Last 10/17/2007, 11:07am PDT
First impressions -

This Zelda is significantly more challenging than recent Zelda games (not including Twilight Princess since I haven't played that and don't know how hard it is). The puzzles are more challenging and you get fewer clues, which is good for graybeards that still want to play titles they enjoyed when they were 12.

It's based off of Wind Waker, with similar world map and art style, but the sea travel has been greatly improved in that you have a steam engine boat and you don't care which direction the wind is blowing. Also, there are more enemies and encounters on the oceans so that travelling between islands is more interesting. There are also more NPC boats for you to visit and complete quests for.

Sword combat is a little worse than previous Zeldas because of the stylus controls. You have to make quick little strokes for Link to stab, but slow strokes for Link to walk. Sometimes I stab when I mean to walk and vice versa. That's only the sword though - other combat items are VERY MUCH IMPROVED by the stylus. When throwing the boomerang you can just doodle the path you want the boomerang to take and it will follow the path exactly. This is really a lot of fun and you can set up elaborate traps where you doodle a bunch of hash marks and wait for a solder to patrol through your area before releasing the boomerang. The soldier gets hit 20 times and it's pretty awesome. Also, it's just fun to throw the boomerang around even if no enemies are nearby. Throwing bombs is a lot easier now because you just tap the screen where you want the bomb to go and Link automatically throws the bomb to the right spot.

One big change is that you can draw directly on your map, which plays a role in many puzzles where you have to draw lines between four landmarks and then dig at the point that the lines cross, or if you have to follow a particular complex route in order to escape from a foggy maze, etc. You can write on the map at any time, so it's helpful to remind yourself which islands have areas that you need to return to. For example, you spot a cracked wall and don't have bombs yet, so you mark it on the map. It's surprisingly handy and a welcome improvement.

Your boat is upgradeable, which is cool. You can find about a dozen different 'equipment sets' for the boat, each consisting of about ten pieces of equipment with I think their own unique bonuses to whatever (hull, prow, cabin, cannon, salvage arm, rudder, engine, etc). The more you apply equipment from a single set to your boat, the cooler your boat looks and the more cumulative bonuses you get. It's like how Diablo armor sets worked.

It's really a lot of fun, and there are no flaws. Positive!
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Zelda - Phantom Hourglass for DS by Last 10/15/2007, 10:04am PDT NEW
    Re: Zelda - Phantom Hourglass for DS by Last 10/17/2007, 11:07am PDT NEW
        Re: Zelda - Phantom Hourglass for DS by Jhoh Clbbl O_____O 10/17/2007, 1:03pm PDT NEW
 
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