Official Nintendo Fanboy Smugness & Gloating Thread

IronGiant · Post by **IronGiant** » Sat Jun 23, 2007 2:34 pm 0

Nintendodragon wrote:why would you want to use the D-pad???

the stylus is far superior! you might just need a bigger stylus, the DS lite ones are much better than the DS phat ones and if you still have probelms you can buy ones that are almost as long as a pen, i've got a pac-man one thats brilliant, and you have no excuse for finding that uncomfortable unless you have trouble holding a pen...

But that looks even thicker than the standard stylus - what's needed is a long thin one (oo-er!

)

Size and thickness of stylus aside, I just can't get to grips with executing all the moves with the stylus, it just doesn't feel 'right'. Perhaps I need to spend a few days on it, but doesn't that defeat the object, ie it's supposed to be easy and 'natural' to use isn't it?

I think it's a bad decision and feels very 'tacked on', all in an effort to make use of the touchscreen and stylus.

Darkflame · Post by **Darkflame** » Sat Jun 23, 2007 2:54 pm 0

Not a fan of another code then?

IronGiant · Post by **IronGiant** » Sat Jun 23, 2007 2:57 pm 0

Never played it.

Nintendodragon · Post by **Nintendodragon** » Sat Jun 23, 2007 3:22 pm 0

Nintendodragon wrote:the pac man one is ideal, its just long enough to rest in that bit between your thumb and first finger and where you grip it is similar to a bic but slightly thinner, and its very light..

carolen · Post by **carolen** » Sat Jun 23, 2007 9:02 pm 0

Just got back from my mate's, having had the chance to play Phantom Hourglass for an hour or so.

It's all good news, I'm glad to say. The WW music is there plus some new arrangements, the 3D bits are very well executed (I especially like the cutscenes when your ship sets sail or docks), and the DS-specific play mechanics are extremely well executed.

You have a map on display pretty much permanently, and at any time you can call it down from the top screen to the bottom and make notes on it using the stylus before sending it back up to the top. All very useful when you are given a hint or directions. The use of the stylus to control Link is intuitive and simple, though I can see lots of touch screens getting scratched during the later stages of the game.

As I don't read or understand Kanji, I can't say much about the dialogue except to say there is a lot of it, but hey, it's a Zelda game.

Roll on September....

Perkunas · Post by **Perkunas** » Sun Jun 24, 2007 11:54 am 0

I accidentally dropped my DS Lite on the floor yesterday and there's a small crack in one of the two spots where the screens are connected. Should be alright I guess, but has anyone encountered something similar?

IronGiant · Post by **IronGiant** » Sun Jun 24, 2007 12:17 pm 0

I shouldn't worry about it, the actual hinge is metal so all you've probably cracked is the outer plastic covering.

Does it still open and close alright?

The Captain · Post by **The Captain** » Sun Jun 24, 2007 12:56 pm 0

Perkunas wrote:I accidentally dropped my DS Lite on the floor yesterday and there's a small crack in one of the two spots where the screens are connected. Should be alright I guess, but has anyone encountered something similar?

This happened to mine and the whole thing eventually came apart. Pay close attention to how the plastic wobbles around the crack when you open/close your DS - does it look like there's some give.There is no metal support bracket; it seems to be an inherent weakness in the design of the Lite. Interestingly, even when the screen was hanging off it was still perfectly usable, if you could hold it together and use the buttons and stylus at the same time.

However, Nintendo sent us a replacement DS in record time when we sent it off - it didn't cost us a penny. So break it a bit more, ring Nintendo and live without it for a few days.

IronGiant · Post by **IronGiant** » Sun Jun 24, 2007 1:19 pm 0

The Captain wrote:There is no metal support bracket; it seems to be an inherent weakness in the design of the Lite.

Looks like metal hinges to me:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/95/23919 ... 36.jpg?v=0

Roobarb · Post by **Roobarb** » Sun Jun 24, 2007 2:00 pm 0

The hinge barrel itself is metal, but it looks like it is enclosed by plastic. If the plastic cracks too much the barrel will revolve in its enclosure rather than remaining fixed, presumably making the crack worse over time...

I'm really looking forward to seeing how Miyamoto and Aonuma have 'reinvented' Zelda with the touch screen. On the other hand, I really hope that reinvention doesn't include cramp if you play too long. The whole essence of Zelda for me is exploration, and that takes a long, long time. For that I'd much rather have the option of being able to move about and examine things and sword fight using the d-pad as well as the stylus.

One of the brilliant things about Zelda on the Wii is that I can play for hours at a time and not have the faintest sign of cramp, and part of that is down to being able to swap the wiimote and nunchuck between hands, and lounge around in positions only previous attainable by Mr. Good-Time himself, Bacchus:

IronGiant · Post by **IronGiant** » Sun Jun 24, 2007 2:08 pm 0

Roobarb wrote:The hinge barrel itself is metal, but it looks like it is enclosed by plastic. If the plastic cracks too much the barrel will revolve in its enclosure rather than remaining fixed, presumably making the crack worse over time...

Ah, I see. Useful to know that.

I'm really looking forward to seeing how Miyamoto and Aonuma have 'reinvented' Zelda with the touch screen. On the other hand, I really hope that reinvention doesn't include cramp if you play too long. The whole essence of Zelda for me is exploration, and that takes a long, long time. For that I'd much rather have the option of being able to move about and examine things and sword fight using the d-pad as well as the stylus.

While I wouldn't say that using the stylus gave me cramp, it did feel uncomfortable even after just a few minutes.

For me the stylus really isn't suited to this type of game. Some people love it which is great, but it's not so good for those of us that don't like it. Still, nothing will change by me moaning so I'll just shut the f*ck up.

Darkflame · Post by **Darkflame** » Sun Jun 24, 2007 2:38 pm 0

Roobarb wrote: The whole essence of Zelda for me is exploration, and that takes a long, long time. For that I'd much rather have the option of being able to move about and examine things and sword fight using the d-pad as well as the stylus.

One of the brilliant things about Zelda on the Wii is that I can play for hours at a time and not have the faintest sign of cramp, and part of that is down to being able to swap the wiimote and nunchuck between hands, and lounge around in positions only previous attainable by Mr. Good-Time himself, Bacchus

I quite agree.

One thing that worrys me is not the controlls, but the time-limit in the dungoens.
Now, I'm a bit fan of Majoras Mask, but I'm still skeptical of any use of time limits.

IronGiant · Post by **IronGiant** » Sun Jun 24, 2007 2:54 pm 0

Darkflame wrote:
One thing that worrys me is not the controlls, but the time-limit in the dungoens.
Now, I'm a bit fan of Majoras Mask, but I'm still skeptical of any use of time limits.

Me too - I hate time limits as I love to take my time and explore - it's both fun and relaxing.

So for me, Phantom Hourglass has two major up-cocks so far:

a) The Stylus control method
b) The dungeon time limit

I'd really been looking forward to Phantom Hourglass but the more I look into it the more I feel a bit 'meh' about it all. Think I'd just replay Link's Awakening.

Nintendodragon · Post by **Nintendodragon** » Sun Jun 24, 2007 3:01 pm 0

Perkunas wrote:I accidentally dropped my DS Lite on the floor yesterday and there's a small crack in one of the two spots where the screens are connected. Should be alright I guess, but has anyone encountered something similar?

this happens to most DS Lites eventually... even if you dont drop it. they ran a feature about this on Kotaku for a while.

Roobarb · Post by **Roobarb** » Sun Jun 24, 2007 3:30 pm 0

Darkflame wrote:One thing that worrys me is not the controlls, but the time-limit in the dungoens.
Now, I'm a bit fan of Majoras Mask, but I'm still skeptical of any use of time limits.

It sounds more like a health/damage model (like the lantern in Zelda:TP) than a global time limit (like in Majora's Mask) though, in that it only counts down in certain areas and can be replenished:

wired blog wrote:This is going to be a major part of the gameplay, so pay attention. When you've got the Hourglass, you've got a timer that ticks down whenever you're in a part of the dungeon that is cursed. Your health won't drop while you stand in it, now, but the timer will go down. It won't tick down when you're standing in the safe purple areas, though. And you can refill it by taking it outdoors. It's explained that as you clear dungeons, you'll get more time on the Hourglass.

http://blog.wired.com/games/2007/06/sec ... ressi.html

Also of interest:
. Earlier impressions from the same blog
http://blog.wired.com/games/2007/06/fir ... essio.html

. Video of first 30mins of play
http://www.thehylia.com/index.php?subac ... 1182634719

IronGiant wrote: forward to Phantom Hourglass but the more I look into it the more I feel a bit 'meh' about it all. Think I'd just replay Link's Awakening.

Grumpy