Addendum: Spirit Tracks made me retroactively like this game more, because while Spirit Tracks improves on many different metrics, it reminded me of the good things (puzzle design, bosses, the times when drawing feels good) that this game pioneered.
I started this game back when I was Young and Edgy and gave up about 2/3 of the way through. This time, I actually beat the game, and the complaints that I think I had as a teen did not hold up on this playthrough. But I did find other things to complain about.
The biggest problem in the end boils down to control. I never enjoyed controlling Link only via the stylus and often felt the game was wildly unresponsive. I don't think I ever intentionally forward-rolled after initially being taught how to do so and I couldn't discern any difference in my stylus behaviour to whether Link performed a slash or a stab.
It really sucks that the game was so unfun to play as a result, because there are so many great applications of the stylus: drawing on maps, taking notes, drawing a path for Bombchus to follow (genius), drawing Boomerang paths...the things that ARE really cool and make use of the stylus just make me resent having to use the stylus for everything else.
One drawing application that is great in theory, but in practice left me wanting, was routing the ship. Sailing in The Wind Waker is actually one of my favourite parts of the game, but the implementation in Phantom Hourglass sucked the fun out of it in the end. (Also, I experienced a lot of frustration when aiming the cannon, which is a shame.)
The biggest offence, though, is how Tetra is relegated completely to being a damsel in distress. Tetra deserves better. I hear Spirit Tracks delivers one of the all-time best iterations of Zelda, so--even if I'm likely to have the same complaints about control for that entry--I'm eager to try that out.
Final note: 19-year-old me was 100% wrong about the Temple of the Ocean King.
I started this game back when I was Young and Edgy and gave up about 2/3 of the way through. This time, I actually beat the game, and the complaints that I think I had as a teen did not hold up on this playthrough. But I did find other things to complain about.
The biggest problem in the end boils down to control. I never enjoyed controlling Link only via the stylus and often felt the game was wildly unresponsive. I don't think I ever intentionally forward-rolled after initially being taught how to do so and I couldn't discern any difference in my stylus behaviour to whether Link performed a slash or a stab.
It really sucks that the game was so unfun to play as a result, because there are so many great applications of the stylus: drawing on maps, taking notes, drawing a path for Bombchus to follow (genius), drawing Boomerang paths...the things that ARE really cool and make use of the stylus just make me resent having to use the stylus for everything else.
One drawing application that is great in theory, but in practice left me wanting, was routing the ship. Sailing in The Wind Waker is actually one of my favourite parts of the game, but the implementation in Phantom Hourglass sucked the fun out of it in the end. (Also, I experienced a lot of frustration when aiming the cannon, which is a shame.)
The biggest offence, though, is how Tetra is relegated completely to being a damsel in distress. Tetra deserves better. I hear Spirit Tracks delivers one of the all-time best iterations of Zelda, so--even if I'm likely to have the same complaints about control for that entry--I'm eager to try that out.
Final note: 19-year-old me was 100% wrong about the Temple of the Ocean King.