Spirit Tracks: Same Game, Lame Name?
March 26th, 2009
Well, maybe the name will grow on me, but in case you missed it, the followup to Phantom Hourglass will arrive later this year on the DS. The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks will see Link ditch the boat for a train! Not sure how I feel about that either, but the initial gameplay trailer does show off some new moves for Link, and let’s be honest, it’s Zelda so it HAS to be good! We’ll be sure to discuss this in the podcast, but in the meantime, there’s a discussion about it in the forums now, so chime in there!
Hopefully this doesn’t turn out to be a Zelda Western with Link as a cowboy with a gun…
“…and let’s be honest, it’s Zelda so it HAS to be good!”
Mah boy, this is what all true game developers strive for.
Does it ever say its a direct sequel?? I figured it can’t be since there’s not enough land for a train. Either way, I’m excited
I generally don’t like the dungeons in Zelda games, but Phantom Hourglass’s were the most forgiving from the games I’ve played, so I’ll probably enjoy this sequel. Seeing the train in the trailer was odd at first, but from a gameplay perspective it’s a lot like the boat from PH.
Honestly, I am reserving judgement until more information beyond a teaser trailer, but I would make one warning, it’s thinking like this that has brought us, slowly but surely, to Sonic and the Black Night and the like. 😉
No, they never say it is a sequel. People just like to jump to the conclusion that it is, because it uses the same game engine.
But from the trailer here is what i have come to think.
It is either a pre-WW game or a different timeline all together. Why, you may ask. Well first like you pointed out there isn’t enough land in the the WW era for a train to be efficient. Second, Princess Zelda is shown and not the Pirate Chick Zelda incarnate (i can’t think of her name). So I believe it is not a direct squeal.
If I read the reviews and they mention anything that ever RESEMBLES the effing Temple Of The Ocean King, I am not touching this game.
Well, the GoNintendo live blog says it is (http://gonintendo.com/?p=76796) but the later press release doesn’t (http://gonintendo.com/?p=76809), so I would say the press release is more reliable since that’s Nintendo’s own words. However, remember that Link and Tetra were looking for a new place to call Hyrule at the end of WW, so they could have found said land. I mean, they weren’t just going to sail around the ocean for the rest of their lives.
I posted this in the forums: “I’m leaning towards the second one because somebody theorized that Link starts out as a conductor (hence his suit), then gets called to Hyrule Castle for whatever reason by Zelda (leading to the scene in the trailer), and somehow gets his standard clothes and sets off to save the world.” So far that seems plausible, but it’s still to early to say anything for sure. That’s my take on it anyway.
Minish Cap and Twilight Princess are also fairly easy compared to the other ones, so if you wanted to try some more Zelda, maybe go with those. Just a suggestion though.
never really could get into the whole wind waker game because of the sheer dificulty of it, but might be willing to give this one a try.
I’ve always loved the idea of trains, I guess because I’ve never really ridden one… and they’re becoming the obsolete method of human travel… Maybe that’s the idea driving this game?
I guess the train kinda gets rid of the free-roam aspect of the game, and actually, if it does that, then it’s gotten rid of what makes Zelda great! Unless you can jump off the train at any time and roam about… at least in this game you wouldn’t have the threat of drowning.
Zelda goes steampunk? Don’t think so. Little too weird having the semi-medieval feeling and then inserting a train as a main part of the game… But I did like PH, so who knows? 🙂
I was really excited for this game, then I told my friends that a new Zelda game was coming out in which Link is a train conductor and it was called, “Spirit Tracks”. Then I realized how horrible an idea this really is.
I’m finally at the point where I downright skip the questioning of the concept part.
I questioned WW’s visual style, I disregarded Link’s talking hat in Minish Cap as idiotic, and now those two games are my favorite Zeldas now.
The only problem I have with Spirit Tracks is that the re-usage of Phantom Hourglass’s graphics is making me wonder if Nintendo will fix the mistakes that plagued PH. Those being the music (simple MIDI tunes, and only a few, too) and the lack of content (sidequests).
It does? I must be the only one who isn’t too wild about the Zelda series. I’m sorry, but Phantom Hourglass sucked. It’s amazing to me how they went from the awesomeness of Wind Waker to the…well…crap, that is Phantom Hourglass. If they get rid of stealth in this game (as WW and PH have both had it) then it might be good, but it also needs more sidequests. That’s what I loved about Wind Waker. I’ve stopped caring about the whole industrialization thing, and I probably won’t pick it up on launch, only to get it later because of all the good reviews and go “That was fun, but not as much fun as the reviewers made it out to be.” like I always do.
I Think this is suffering from “Animal Crossing Syndrome”, the sequels offer little to no added content from the last game.
You really have absolutely nothing to judge that claim on. The only item we’ve seen so far (the statue) seems to be a new thing so that doesn’t really help your point. The train could also really change things up depending on how it turns out, but we haven’t seen enough of that to know whether that’s the case or not.
Guys, I have a (near) perfect story for the next Zelda game.
You’re adult Link in this game and you are a servant of the King of Hyrule (The one who turned into the boat in Wind Waker). You’re actually a bastard child of the King and another servant, but the King never told you. The king tells you to do some small tasks and then when he finds you competent, he tells you to bring his daughter Zelda to the top of Death Mountain because his advisers warn of a great flood. You bring Zelda there. During this, you realize that you have a sort of telepathic connection with Zelda and she will serve as your partner (like Navi). On your way back, you notice that it has started to rain hard and that people’s houses are flooding. You help some people get to higher ground and somebody sees how much you’re helping, so he gives tells you to go to the headquarters of a community help organization. You brush it off for the moment and head back to Hyrule castle, but see that everyone there has evacuated already. Nowhere to go, you find your way to the community headquarters and become a member. This next part of the game is about helping people get to higher ground and saving certain people from situations in which they might drown. After you help everyone possible, the water level of Hyrule has gotten fairly high. You find that one last person (possibly someone you know) is trapped in a dungeon, and at the end of it is Gannondorf who is currently doing a sort of spell that keeps Hyrule flooding. He makes short work of you and knocks you out. When you regain consciousness, Gannondorf is gone and Dark Link has the Master Sword at your neck. You quickly jump away and have an epic battle. After you’re finished, you take the Master Sword and you find the thing (an orb) that Gannondorf was casting a spell with. You gingerly touch it and the triforce of courage shows up on your hand. Telepathically, Zelda tells you that this is one of a few orbs of legend that have the power to either destroy or protect Hyrule. The power of the orb drains out of the orb into your hand and you get one of the powers that the Great Fairies gave in Ocarina of time. There are three other orbs and you go and find all of them. This takes about 50% of the whole game to complete. Also, you can get the three orbs in any order, but the water level rises after each dungeon, so the puzzles change depending on which order you complete them. Once you get the power from all of the orbs, Hyrule becomes frozen in time (like it is in Wind Waker) and you go to Gannon’s Castle to banish him. You have a final battle and just as you’re about to get hit by an unblockable spell, the King of Hyrule comes and takes the hit for you. He turns into a large block of wood. You continue the battle and defeat Gannondorf. Once it’s over, you take the block of wood (which is kind of an enchanted block because it still has the soul of the King in it) and you ascend to the current water level because a frozen Hyrule has nothing left to offer. You find yourself floating on the sea on top of the block and you realize that you’re screwed. After floating a while, you wash up on a shore. You decide to carve the block into a boat and that’s the King of Red Lions. The game ends as you sail towards the top of Death Mountain to pick up Zelda after your long adventure.
I am truly sorry, but I would buy that game. It sounds awesome. I love games setup as a Western. The only real problem is how they would make the story fit, but lets be honest, we never played Zelda for the story anyway.
It sounds really stupid, but long ago I decided that I would not judge a game based on how stupid the concept behind it is, or that I would at least give the game a chance before I judged it. I have found that game makers can make an amazing game out of a very stupid concept. Case in point, Katamari Damacy. Anyway, making a good game out of a stupid concept is what Nintendo does best. when my friends told me about Pikmin I was very skeptical, but now it is one of my favorite games.
That said, I doubt I buy this game. I am not interested in playing another Phantom Hourglass, and this game looks to be practically identical besides the boat swapped for a train.