Spirit Tracks Haters Beware

Don't you just love Spirit Tracks? I certainly do, because there hasn't been so many dislike among the Zelda community for a Zelda game since The Wind Waker. Back then I was 16 years old and I was one of the haters myself. I didn't touch the game nor the GameCube until I played the demo (on the Collector's Edition) in the age of 19. My time of being an ignorant idiot instantly ended there. However, now with Spirit Tracks it's actually very amusing and entertaining to watch the Zelda community from a different perspective. Right now there are three main arguments against Spirit Tracks floating around Zelda sites and communities. But none of them actually makes sense and all of them actually mean something entirely different in reality, something the haters don't want or fail to say. So, let me list, disprove and translate those arguments.


Argument 1:
A train doesn't fit into the universe of Zelda

Actually the long version goes more like this: "Well, the steam boat in Phantom Hourglass was okay with the game taking place hundreds of years after Ocarina of Time and all. But a train?!!!!!111 WTF?!!!! Nintendo went too far!!! Zelda takes place in the middle ages and there were clearly no trains in the middle ages!! It totally ruins Zelda!!!!!!"

There's clearly a lot of contradiction here. First of all, Zelda doesn't take place in the middle ages. It doesn't take place in any known time era, but in a fantasy world. A fantasy world does have fantasy elements. It's starts with monsters and dragons and it ends with technology like airships or robots. Just take a look at all the Square Enix games. Like Terranigma, where you spent a good portion in medieval environments and before you know it you end up in the computer age. Nintendo never has gone that far, but Zelda is still a fantasy game and different rules apply here. That's the case since the very first Zelda game, where we got bombs, while Link still fights with sword and a bow. It doesn't make sense, but it's fun. And over the time we got telephones, technicolor photo cameras, homing bombs, giant robots, floating cities in the sky and a steam boat. And the train does blend in perfectly. I mean, Nintendo really tries to make it look very rustic, it looks like it's almost entirely made of wood.

But the steam boat in Phantom Hourglass is the most contradicting thing here. A steam train is basically the same technology just used on the land. And Spirit Tracks takes place 100 years after Phantom Hourglass, so you could even say, that's not much progress for such a long time. But still there are Zelda fans, who got a problem with the steam train, while they clearly had no problem with the steam boat. The steam boat was okay, because it was more comfortable, faster and action-oriented than having a sail boat again. The steam train is not, because it looks childish and stupid. That's the whole problem behind it for those people. I don't actually believe, people do have a problem with the train fitting into the fantasy realm of Zelda, because there clearly is none. Their major problem is, that the train is not cool and mature. But of course their favorite game series has to be cool and mature or otherwise they don't feel like they are cool and mature. It's The Wind Waker all over again. And this is how the first argument can be translated.

Funny enough, you could come up with serious arguments, why a train isn't a good idea, but I don't see that very often. You could complain, that the train makes the game much more linear and takes away the feeling ot freedom and free exploration. In Twilight Princess you literally went on rails through the game and now in Spirit Tracks you have some in the game for real. It may look like a joke to everyone, who wants Zelda to be more non-linear again, including myself. But I personally don't worry too much about that right now. Because it's a very obvious problem, a problem, where Nintendo needs to take countermeasures, when they put such an idea in the game. And the NDS Zelda team already has proven to me, that they know how to make a Zelda game very non-linear in Phantom Hourglass, where you could play all the last three dungeons in any possible order. There's still much room for improvement, especially in the dungeons, but I can see Nintendo addressing the problem by saying "when we have a game on rails, we should try to make the experience as non-linear as possible". The whole railroad system will probably be pretty complex and the player will have a lot of choices where to go first. If not, I certainly will complain. But now it's still to early to judge the system.

You could also complain, that the areas in the game will end up being just like islands in the water. But with grassy fields instead of water. However, I'm still not worried too much, because that's a very obvious problem as well. If you look at the Japanese title of the game on Wikipedia, it's "Train Whistle of the Earth". So, the whistle, which you use to call your Phantom buddy, will be important. Probably with it you can also call your train like your horse Epona in earlier games. Which means you're not bound to a single train station and can go from one area of the game to the next by foot. Which means the world design doesn't work like in Phantom Hourglass. Again, if I'm wrong, and the areas will be just end up as islands in the grassy fields, I will certainly complain. But not now.

So, if you want to say something against the train, you can say a lot of things, but stop riding on the statement, it doesn't fit in the world of Zelda.


Argument 2:
Nintendo is just recycling Phantom Hourglass

"Look, look!! It has the exact same graphics and controls!! Nintendo has become real lazy lately!!! I'm not going to buy the same game again!!"

This is even less sophisticated. It's like they didn't pay attention in the last 25 years of gaming and never played any sequels in their lives. Nintendo does that all the time and not solely Nintendo, the whole game industry does that. Just take at look a the Zelda series. The Oracle games were based on Link's Awakening, they completely reused the engine, all the graphics, sounds, enemies, items and game elements from the game. But no one did have a problem with that. Majora's Mask totally recycled Ocarina of Time. Even all the character models were reused. Four Swords Adventures was built on the style, graphics and sounds of A Link to the Past. And The Minish Cap basically just was a singleplayer version of the first Four Swords game on the GameBoy Advance. Link's Crossbow Training recycled everything from Twilight Princess and turned it into a minigame. It's done all the time, not just in the Zelda series, nearly every good game today gets some kind of direct sequel. Take a look at Super Mario Galaxy 2 or the Metroid Prime Trilogy. It's reasonable and economical, if you're making a sequel to a successful game on the same platform, to reuse it's engine, as well as some of the graphics, sounds and gameplay elements. That way you spare a lot of development costs and time and can focus more on new gameplay aspects. It's exactly what they do in Spirit Tracks, but still some people out of nowhere seem to have a problem with it. The reason for this is very simple. They have a problem with it, because they didn't like Phantom Hourglass. They don't understand, how Nintendo can possibly make a sequel to a game, they didn't like. Because if they didn't like it, the game clearly has to be a failure. But I got news for you, Phantom Hourglass was a big success. Not counting any re-releases it's despite being the youngest already the fourth best selling Zelda game with 4.83 million copies sold world wide. In Nintendo's eyes, it's clearly a hit, and the choice of giving it a proper sequel is more than natural. And those, who liked the style and controls of Phantom Hourglass, personally can't wait to get it.


Argument 3:
Spirit Tracks is going to be a casual game

"Nintendo makes all their games for the casual gamers. Stupid retarded non-gamers!! But what about me?! The hardcore gamer!! Give me HARDCORE games and not casual crap!!! It hatez teh casuals!!! They're destroying gaming!!!"

This is probably the biggest bullcrab of all the arguments against Spirit Tracks. First of all, they clearly don't know, what a so called "casual game" is and where the terms casual and hardcore gamer come from. They didn't exist before the Wii and they were probably made up by Sony's and Microsoft's viral marketers crawling all the internet platforms. It's a label that had to be made up as a last stand against the new generation of gaming. Sony and Microsoft are selling hardcore games to hardcore gamers and Nintendo is selling casual games to stupid, retarded non-gamers or "casual gamers". But in reality Sony and Microsoft are selling games for nerds, who spend most of their free time playing violent games, while Nintendo does now sell games to normal, sociable people, who got a life. But saying that doesn't sell well for Microsoft and Sony and the core game industry, which is why they use "hardcore gamers" and "casual gamers" (the funny is, that years ago no one would have considered playing FPS games with analog sticks to be "hardcore", it was pretty "casual" back then). In marketing those terms don't even exist, there you have core, classic and expanded audience. Nintendo tries to aim for all of them, but with focus on the expanded audience, because they're fighting against a shrinking market. However, I'm drifting away, you can ask Sean Malstrom more about that topic.

And there is no such thing as a "casual game". They don't label games with the genre casual games. Those games are mostly educational games, practice games, sports games or minigame collections. Anything that is somehow connected to the reality and fulfills a proper job. People are playing Train Braining or WiiFit to improve their health and mind. People are playing WiiSports, because it's a very sociable and fun game. No Zelda game can ever be a casual game. Because Zelda games draw the gamer away from reality into a fantasy world. Zelda games are meant to spent hours with. The so called "casual gamer" doesn't want to be drawn away from reality and to spent hours alone with solving puzzles. They don't have the time for that. No matter what, you can't put the label "casual game" on any game of the Zelda series.

So, why are some Zelda fans claiming, that Spirit Tracks will become a casual game? It's simply because the games are getting more and more easier for them. While this still doesn't make Zelda "casual", I totally agree with this statement. But on the other hand it's important, that Nintendo tries to attract some of the expanded audience for their core audience games, because they want to win a larger core audience. And this is only possible with easy access. However, I listed a variety of solutions how to make a Zelda game attractive for both the expanded audience (potential new Zelda gamers) and the core audience (the Zelda fans) in my The Difficulty of Zelda article. Be sure to check it out.

Legend of Neil Season II

...started today. Or yesterday, depends on the time zone. Well, have you ever been annoyed by Zelda fangirls screaming for a Zelda movie? Or by those idiots, who fell for last year's IGN april fool's joke, and who still hope it's real? And do you absolutely dislike the thought of a Zelda movie, may it be a real one or a fan project? Yes? Then Legend of Neil is for you. It's a comedy web series, which is based solely on the original Zelda game. It's about a gas station attendent named Neil, who gets sucked into the game while masturbating to a fairy and choking himself off with the controller cable. Well, you get it, the humor is black, rude and perverted, but the show has some absolutely hilarious moments. I especially enjoyed the dialogues between the Wizzrobe and Ganon in the first season. Or the second season starts for example with Neil noticing the hurtful way, that his crappy shield is way too small. But just watch for yourself.

Official Site
Atom.com
Interview with Zelda Universe

Wuhu Island and the Magic of Free Exploration

One of my favorite modes in Wii Sports Resort is definitely the Island Flyover. Not only because it is a very relaxing mode and the perfect diversion from exhausting gametypes like swordplay. They should have included more like that, Fishing for example would have been a perfect fit for the setting. However, the real reason why I enjoy it so much, is because I am a Zelda fan. And Zelda fans love free exploration and collecting stuff. It's in our nature. And the way, Wuhu Island was designed is really great. Everything flows in naturally and I love, how the different places are connected. Especially the locations around the mountain with the mountain paths and the cave tunnels. Whoever designed the island, did a great job at Nintendo's and should work for the next Zelda game.

No, really, what defined the original The Legend of Zelda game, what made it Zelda in the first place, the original idea the game was built upon, was free, non-linear exploration of a coherent world. As an opposite to the linear level design of Super Mario Bros. You could do most parts of the game in any order. And that's something, that got more and more lost over the times in the Zelda series and found its absolute anti-climate in Twilight Princess, which is the most linear Zelda game up to date. They gave up, what Zelda originally was about, and let the player now go on rails over the world just so they can tell their stupid storyline and show us boring cutscenes. I never played Zelda for the story or the cutscenes, I hate cutscenes, because they take control away from you. A game should always be about control, you should be in control of what to do next and where to go next.

And now look at Wuhu Island. What makes the flyover mode so great is, that you can go anywhere you like. There are no ingame rails forcing you to go to the lighthouse first and then go collecting the i-Points at the castle. Why can't the world of a Zelda game be designed like that? Why do I have to be trapped in a forest and why can't I just go to the mountain and the fire dungeon first? Why is the overworld designed like chambers inside a dungeon with all doors locked except one? Only a few Zelda games after the first managed to give a you a more open, non-linear world design. In A Link to the Past you were able to swap some dungeons. The adult part of Ocarina of Time was mostly non-linear, though not a lot of people noticed this. Did you know, that you can go play the Ice Cavern first? Or the Water Temple before the Fire Temple? Yes, it works, but only a few people really tried it, because the annoying ingame guide wants you to go to the forest first. Which is why it doesn't happen often, that someone accidently plays the dungeons out of order. In the original Zelda game you had absolutely no guide and sometimes it just happened, that you came across a dungeon, whose level was above your head. But this article is not about the annoyance of ingame guides, it's about open world exploration and non-linear game design. The Wind Waker had a very open world, too, but the dungeon order was still linear. Though it would make sense, if you could swap the Wind Temple and the Earth Temple, but I never heard about, that this is actually possible. The second half of Phantom Hourglass was totally non-linear, you could play the last three dungeons in any order, which is the way it should be. But the overall linear design of the dungeons theirselves destroyed a part of this feeling. The other Zelda games offered a mostly linear dungeon order and world exploration. Some games managed to compensate that somehow, like Majora's Mask with its large variety of sidequests or the GameBoy(Color) games with their non-linear dungeon design.

But overall it would be nice to have an overworld again, which is absolutely coherent and which lets you explore itself any way you want. There's no real reason to force you to play the dungeons in a specific order except if you need the item from one dungeon in another. But you don't have to design the dungeons that way. Story is not an excuse for linear game design, Ocarina of Time managed to tell its story with a non-linear dungeon order. What I also liked about Wuhu Island was the large island setting. It makes the world feel even more coherent. There are clear border and there's no spot you can miss. You can go everywhere. The overworld in Twilight Princess is the exact opposite. It shows you many places, where you simply can't go. Like Death Mountain or large parts of the Zora River. Fields and woods in the background. Also, you are not allowed to explore the world freely. You have to go to Kakariko first, all other paths are blocked and it continues that way. This always gives you the feeling of restriction. "You're not allowed to go there." But the overworld in Zelda should give you the feeling of freedom.

So, hopefully the Zelda team working on Zelda Wii right now will be inspired by the design of Wuhu Island. Hopefully one of the paths of Zelda Wii is to remember the roots of the The Legend of Zelda series. Non-Linearity and free exploration.

Zelda Wii: The Sword Spirit of Recalibration

Wii Sports Resort was released today in Europe and I just love that game. It has a great variety of different fun games and it shows, what could be possible in Zelda Wii. The sword combat is very accurate and a lot of fun. The Archery is epic, probably the best sport in the whole package, and I would be very disappointed, if it isn't done that way in Zelda Wii too. Though the way you hold it might be a problem, because you would have to switch Wiimote and Nunchuk ingame. Canoeing is also relevant, if they include canoes like in Twilight Princess, and the Frisbee shows how the Boomerang in Zelda could work. MotionPlus is definitely a great tool to make the next Zelda game an unique experience. However, the MotionPlus needs to be recalibrated from time to time. It's not as troublesome as some so called professional review site editors might want you to think, it only happens once in a while and you just lay down the Wiimote on a flat surface (like a table) for like two seconds, that's it. You can manually recalibrate it during the game by pausing, but most sports use a stance determining mechanism anyway, so there's normally no need to do so.



To come back to Zelda Wii and the mysterious artwork with the Mastersword fairy/spirit, I have a new idea, why Nintendo uses this story concept in the upcoming Wii Zelda game. In my previous article about the Zelda Wii artwork I've dealt with the theory, that it has something to do with first person gameplay, since the development of Zelda Wii probably started around first person gameplay ideas. However, Miyamoto then recently stated, that Zelda Wii is not going to be that different, remember? Which is why I basically backed off from the whole first person thing. A different theory now would be, that the sword spirit idea could have something to do with the recalibration of the Wii MotionPlus. That Nintendo wants to make the recalibration into an ingame gameplay feature. I proceed on the assumption, that the fairy/spirit on the artwork is the Mastersword and that the Mastersword can transform into this living being and back into a sword, so it can communicate with the player. The sword is basically your sidekick this time. Now what if Nintendo wants you to use the recalibration of the MotionPlus as a trigger to call your sidekick? Like an ingame feature. Take off and lay down your sword (your Wiimote), so it can transform into the spirit. While this may have certain important ingame advantages, your Wii uses this time period to quickly recalibrate your MotionPlus. Actually not a bad idea, Nintendo. Not bad at all.

But what speaks against this theory is, that Miyamoto stated, Zelda Wii would only utilize MotionPlus, if MotionPlus is successful. So, why preparing ideas like that, if they still aren't sure, if they're going to use it? And, more importantly, why showing artwork of such ideas? Well, maybe because they liked the idea storywise so much, that they kept it, even if the initial reason, why it was developed, may not be part of the game anymore. This could also apply, if the idea of the Mastersword spirit was created by first person gameplay concepts. Maybe it really was, but now it's used for MotionPlus. And maybe Miyamoto just said funny things, while he knew, that MotionPlus is going to be successful anyway. Even if it's not, Zelda Wii could be a strong draft horse for it.

The Legend of Zelda 3D

Yay, I found something to talk about, that doesn't have anything to do with Tingle. Well, I like fan games, that try to be different. Which means not the typical "look at my version of Zelda made in RPG maker" thing. Legend of Princess is definitely a very good example for this and my favorite fanmade Zelda game so far. But if you ever wanted to know, how first person perspective in Zelda, which was discussed in the recent past, would work and how the original The Legend of Zelda game from the NES would look like in 3D, then this is for you. So far this game covers the first half of the Eagle dungeon and lets you stab Keese and Stalfos and collect keys. It also is as close to the original game as you can get:



Hahaha, this reminds me on old FPS games on the PC, like Doom. Go here if you want to download the game, test it for yourself and support the project. If you're too lazy to try it out for yourself, you can also watch this very informative video:

-- video removed --


Source: TIGForums - WIP LoZ Fangame

Color Changing Overview Trailer

Overview Trailer

I apologize for the wave of Tingle news lately, but a Japanese overview trailer for Color Changing: Tingle's Balloon Trip of Love appeared yesterday. The game launches on August 6th in Japan, so expect more to come.

Well, storywise we will get a new Tingle. Much like we get a new Link in every second Zelda game. In Freshly Picked: Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland we learned, that a "Tingle" is not a single person, but a state of being. So, like we have different generations of Links and Zeldas, we have different incarnations of Tingles over the ages, too. This one, however, is trapped in this fairy tale book. To escape, he has to dance with the princess. So, that's the final goal. But I would expect some nasty story twists here, much like in the first game.

And it still looks like a Point & Click Adventure. But there are some special action sequences, much like the boss fights in the first game. Those work in a try and error fashion, so you either win or you have to start over. But it looks like, there won't be any regular fighting. The humor is great, like always, I especially liked the last scene in the trailer, it was hilarious.

Color Changing Gameplay Videos

At Gametrailers there is a series of gameplay videos of the new Tingle adventure game Color Changing: Tingle's Balloon Trip of Love available:

Tingle's Balloon Trip of Love videos

It shows how the three companions work. Like I thought, they will replace the bodyguards from Freshly Picked: Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland and come in three sizes. A large lion, a medium sized female robot and a small scarecrow. All of them have special abilities to solve different puzzles.

But there's one thing, I've noticed in these videos. It totally looks like a classic Point & Click Adventure game and NOT AT ALL like an Action Adventure, which is how Zelda (and Zelda related games) should look like. I hope, there will be still fighting and dungeons and other classical Zelda elements, which made the first game "enjoyable" to begin with. If I would like to play classic Adventures like Monkey Island, I wouldn't buy Zelda games. I know, this is NOT a Zelda game, please don't kill me. But it's a spin off to the Zelda series and the main reason, why the first game was so interesting for me, was because it shared so many similarities with a Zelda game. It had action-oriented gameplay, the overworld/dungeon world layout, and so on. Just read my review. If this would be missing, then Vanpool is definitely heading into the wrong direction.