Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass [DS]

[Dogg Thang]

Yes, d-pad and buttons are exactly why every Zelda game up to now has been pants and uncontrollable.

[Swallow]

I bet my left nut that they haven't.

Nintendo have perfectly justified (not that they had to) stylus control: having any other method available in this game would be a complete disaster, bother as a devaluation of everything they've tried to achieve with the inclusivity of the DS, as well as the game not working as well as it does with pure stylus controls.

[Daragon]

Yes, d-pad and buttons are exactly why every Zelda game up to now has been pants and uncontrollable.

Welcome to the wonderful world of opinion!

[Daragon]

I bet my left nut that they haven't.

Nintendo have perfectly justified (not that they had to) stylus control: having any other method available in this game would be a complete disaster, bother as a devaluation of everything they've tried to achieve with the inclusivity of the DS, as well as the game not working as well as it does with pure stylus controls.

Perhaps it was perfectly justified, but how much effort would it have taken them to add in D-Pad support? Not much I'd wager.

[Dogg Thang]

Hell, not just every Zelda game. Every console game ever was rubbish until Nintendo revolutionised gaming by nabbing stylus control from those wonderful PDAs.

[Swallow]

See my post, Daragon, I've already answered. It's not about how much "effort" it would take. Do you understand the direction Nintendo have been going recently? Do you see what they're trying to achieve with both the Wii and DS?

[Swallow]

Yes, d-pad and buttons are exactly why every Zelda game up to now has been pants and uncontrollable.

But Dogg, I'd sure you felt, as did *most* people, that the Zelda "formula", pretty much unchanged since Ocarina, felt "tired" in Twilight Princess.

A new control scheme is not the complete answer to anything, but it is quite a major part of how Nintendo is refreshing the Zelda franchise.

[Daragon]

See my post, Daragon, I've already answered. It's not about how much "effort" it would take. Do you understand the direction Nintendo have been going recently? Do you see what they're trying to achieve with both the Wii and DS?

I do yes, they want to attempt to "revolutionise" their games with "wacky-racer" control methods, whereas they should be striving for originality through other means.

If you can't see the point of my argument then that's fine, but enough people seem to share sympathy for the "poor" southpawers who can't adapt to control stick functionality.

[Dogg Thang]

Yep, I can't argue with that, Swallow. I'd like to, but I can't.

I don't know. Control is just control for me, a means to access the game. I'm an 'if it aint broke' kind of guy. But I can't speak for the game itself until I get it.

(please arrive soon, Mr.Zelda delivery men).

[Swallow]

Lol, wacky-racer. Just lol.

I can't believe you think I don't "get" your "point". Have I not, you know, directly referred to it, and given the reasons for why it's a piss-weak argument to throw against this game, and the system? It's just that I though I had, you see.

[J0e Musashi]

The "special" version isn't available in stores, neither is it endorsed by Nintendo.

The game wouldn't work half as well if it had d-pad controls. The entire idea of it is based around it using the stylus for control. The game is prolly the best you can get for DS. Nobody should miss out on it.

[MikeF]

Well I have hit a stumbling bloke. I need to use the mic and my son's DS mic won't work (the mic test doesn't detect anything) I hope its the mic on the DS that is buggered as my daughter has one and my new one is on its way

[bootmonster]

Been playing this quite a bit and its great. Anyone pondering why no d-pad controls were included only have to play the game for 10 mins to understand why. The clumsiness of slipping from normal controls to stylus controls would be far more cumbersome and unintuitive than what exists now. It's by no means perfect (rolling can be a pain), but it works. It is rare for you to get to a point in the game (so far) where some sort of stylus input isn't required, so its as easy as doing whatever you have to do, and then continuing on without having to change hands, drop the stylus etc.

This is the best Zelda I have played since GC Four Swords, and is leaning a close second behind Ocarina for me. Lets hope it continues to impress. Only slight gripe, and I don't know who else thinks so, but some of the effects, like the chest opening sound, I don't like, and the "successful" sound you get when you say kill all the enemies in a room and a door opens, arrives far too late, I dunno, just bugs me a little

Fantastic game all the same though!

[MikeF]

Played up till the start of the third dungeon so far and am loving it apart from having to do each each level of The

->Open Spoiler<-

Ocean King Temple

every time. Only a small gripe on an otherwise superb game

[Dogg Thang]

I played a bit last night but I'm not yet getting on with the controls. Haven't figured out the roll in any reliable way and some elements, like pushing a block, are slower than they should be or would be with d-pad control. Looks nice and the game seems well designed so far. Loved those intro pics.