After first playing, then months later replaying The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, I think I have decided that it is my new favorite handheld Zelda game. I don't even know if I can fully put my finger on why I enjoy this game so much, but it was definitely the one I looked most forward to replaying, and the one I had most fun replaying.
For one thing, I love the music in this game. It has one of the my favorite soundtracks of any Zelda, handheld or not. I could listen to the train-driving theme for hours, and I also love the background music in the regular areas. I like the new tools this game introduces. And even though its operation seems inconsistent at times, and doesn't work well at all on the trains I ride every day, I still love that you have to play a musical instrument by actually blowing into the system. Some day I want to master this instrument.
I also really love the story. In particular, this is one of the best and most engaging incarnations of the character Zelda in the entire series. This version of the princess is also easily one of the best companion/guide characters in the series, possibly even better than Midna, who was my previous favorite. This is actually the only handheld Zelda game with more than minimal involvement from the eponymous character. But her presence in this game rivals her roles in the best of the best console iterations.
Spirit Tracks didn't really have any particular collectibles whose acquisition stumped me overall. I do remember having a hard time with trying to deliver Dark Ore to Linebeck, before I realized I wasn't taking the correct path (and in fact hadn't even unlocked the correct path at that time). I really liked the variety of things to search for in this game, from Heart Containers to filling a stamp book to finding rabbits in the overworld, and ultimately finally finding the special scrolls. This game has a lot to offer for an intrepid treasure hunter.
I also liked the treasure and train upgrade system in this game much better than the one in Phantom Hourglass. It's a lot more fun to look for the treasures when they have more specific uses than just selling them. I also find it fascinating to see how the treasures from Phantom Hourglass evolved into this game's system, which was the clear predecessor to the crafting system in Skyward Sword, which preceded a much more massive and detailed crafting system in Breath of the Wild.
This game also has my favorite final boss sequence of any handheld Zelda.
Even though both DS games seem to get less love on the internet, I enjoyed think Spirit Tracks in particular is fantastic. On the other hand, A Link Between Worlds seems to have been much more popular in general, but my first impressions of the game were relatively underwhelming.
A Link Between Worlds is a good game, and I've had a great time with it. It is great for evoking nostalgia, which is probably a huge reason it was so well received. And it does wonders with the flattening-into-a-wall mechanic prominent throughout the game. I think the main problem with it is that it does very little to set itself apart from previous hits. In particular, when comparing it with its predecessor, A Link to the Past (and the game invites direct comparison on every level) it seems inferior at nearly every point of comparison. It's still a great game, and better than many of the other overhead 2-d entries. But it's not better than A Link to the Past, and I'm not sure it's definitively better than Minish Cap either.
There is one very important caveat to my impression of A Link Between Worlds, which I only discovered on my replay, which I'll discuss in a moment. This is the first game that I did not need to do a replay to find pieces of heart or anything else, because I found all of those with ease on my first playthrough. I actually found all the Pieces of Heart before I had even completed the game, making this the easiest game in the series to find all of the Pieces of Heart. And the Maimais aren't too hard to find with the Maimai map. In retrospect maybe I should have tried without using it, but it's so integrated into the map display that I didn't even really think about not using it.
But, aside from reliving the story and giving myself a chance at a second impression, there was still a very compelling reason to replay the game, which is the Hero Mode that unlocks upon finishing the game.
And, wow! It's amazing how much the Hero Mode impacted my overall impression of the game. This was my first time trying a Hero Mode in the Zelda series. The only other one I've played that has such a mode is Skyward Sword, but my replay of Skyward Sword didn't start until after my replay of this game. I found the Hero Mode to be one of the most refreshing things I've seen in this series for a long time.
I've loved the Zelda series since before it was a series, when I had Zelda for my NES as a child. Before I entered adulthood, I was a dedicated fan who had played every game in the series. Even though overall I have loved the direction the series has taken, there is one major complaint I have had about its direction, which has been a valid complaint at least since the series went to 3D in Ocarina of Time. My complaint has been that the games are too easy from a combat perspective. There's a great amount of challenge in solving the dungeons and finding pieces of heart and other collectibles. But when it comes to just staying alive, the games have been ridiculously easy for a long time.
For example, I always get frustrated with keeping space in my bottles. For, even in my first playthroughs of every game at least since Majora's Mask, every time I've obtained a potion, I've never found on occasion where I actually needed to use it. I usually have to end up drinking it at some point just to make room for something else in a bottle. But once you get one or two heart containers, there's just nothing there to put you in danger of dying.
I remember in the original Legend of Zelda that there were enemies that would do two entire hearts worth of damage to you if you just had your green clothes. At full health that would take eight hits to kill you. With the blue ring you could extend that to sixteen hits, but there were a lot of these enemies in the late stages of the game, so potions were a necessity unless you were particularly good at avoiding damage. Zelda 2 is notorious for its difficulty in keeping your character alive, and even though Link to the Past was easier than both of these games, it still kept more of the challenge than entries since then.
So when I first tried the Hero Mode here and the weakest enemy in the game did two hearts worth of damage to me, after I picked my jaw off of the ground I went through and found myself thoroughly enjoying the rest of the game. I died many times, and I actually found use for my potions. In fact, when I fought the final boss I had to use all of my potions to survive my first try.
This game offered a very refreshing challenge that I haven't seen in so long. Although, as I'll probably write in my next entry, the challenge is one of the things I loved about Skyward Sword as well, even not considering the Hero Mode. When I subsequently replayed Twilight Princess, I found myself being very careful to avoid damage and then a little disappointed when I would get hit and realize how unnecessary it was. At some point, I really want to play the Wii U versions of Wind Waker and Twilight Princess, just because I know they added Hero Modes.
I'll finish this entry with a quick note that I just need one more Streetpass medal to get all fifty and really finish 100% completion. Unfortunately, as of this week, my 3DS doesn't seem to be working and is in need of repair. Hopefully that won't be too expensive, or else I may be 3DS-less for a little while.
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