429 replies to this topic

[Russ]

Huh? Where are the Dark Ore Mines?

[Moonbread]

Huh? Where are the Dark Ore Mines?

Okay. Do the sidequests involving Ferrus. The first one involves taking him to meet Alfonzo. Afterward, you'll get a letter from him that he's lost and wants to go somewhere. The drawing he provides will show where he is, and then he'll want you to take him to a certain place. Take him there, and the dark ore mines are opened up! There is another way where you don't have to take that annoying cave and fight another Gohma crab though... it requires a bit of a save and quit trick though.

[Zeldaman23]

Anyone know idea about arch on rail trail? I hit the green triangle and change to yellow. I have no idea how to use it. But only my guess. If I found other arch, it will able to warp other place where I found it?

[GanonThePig97]

After it turns yellow, blow the train whistle to open it.

[Adem]

Rem: In castle town, there's a building on the right that has three doors, and is effectively an enemy rush/boss rush. After the third dungeon you can do the second one.
Does this help, or are you as befuddled as before?

No, I know what you're talking about now. Thanks.

[Zeldaman23]

Ganon: Oh I see. Thank.

Anyone know puzzle on 6 floor in Ocean Palace? It hard to figure it out.

[Eddard McHorn Van-Schnuder]

Ganon: Oh I see. Thank.

Anyone know puzzle on 6 floor in Ocean Palace? It hard to figure it out.

I'm sorry, but unless you say which puzzle, we're going to be unable to help you. I'm pretty sure there was more than one on that floor

[Zeldaman23]

It said look sword place in fish mouth. It might same room that I already passed puzzle in floor 5. What is that mean? I have to look and memory where sword is and make other puzzle in floor 5? I get confuse.

[Eddard McHorn Van-Schnuder]

It said look sword place in fish mouth. It might same room that I already passed puzzle in floor 5. What is that mean? I have to look and memory where sword is and make other puzzle in floor 5? I get confuse.

Oh, right! Well, if I remember correctly, there's four (?) rooms like that on both floor 5 and 6. What you need to do, is to use your whip and take out the swords out of the fish-head-mouth-thingies on floor 5 and place them exactly like they are on floor 6. If that doesn't work, change it around so you move the ones on floor 6 instead... it's one of those two ways.

[Zeldaman23]

Ok I got it. Jeez that boss give me pissed off when that monster whipped me out of boss stage.

[Dawnlight]

I just beat the game. I must say, the ending to this game is one of the best I've seen. Not only that, the final boss battle is extremely epic. I can say it rivals that of the final boss battles in OOT and TP. Overall, this was a truly wonderful Zelda game. Migokalle was right. It certainly is a masterpiece. This and Modern Warfare 2 are the 2 best games I've played in 2009. As for how I rate the game, I would give it a 9.3/10. The only flaw in this game is that controls can get kinda rough. (Especially on the final battle).

[Eddard McHorn Van-Schnuder]

This started as a transelation of my review for GameReactor, but after a while, I decided to just write a new one tailored for PureZC This review also features the longest intro I have ever made in a review. Ever.



The Zelda series is one I'm pretty sure all of us here loves. It has brought us so many hours of fun. I still remember going over to an old friend of mine just to get some of that Ocarina of Time goodness. I was still young, and I had this amazing phobia of the Dekubabas, so when running around in Kokiri Forest as a child, I made sure to stay as far away from the path to the Deku Tree as possible. The few times I did venture out into Hyrule Field though, I made sure not to stay for too long, cause I did not want to get caught by the crazy skeletons running around. To me, Zelda was scary as hell, and I really only wanted to stay in the forest and live my life... however, that's not what the Gods wanted for me.

A few years later, I'm eight and my baby-sister is born. To celebrate this, mom and dad takes me to a supermarket to get a game for my Playstation. This is what we like to call in Norway "Big-brothers-gift" and it's sort of just a way of saying "Robin, go play this game for a few years while we spend all our attention on your sister. I was okay with that too, seeing as my mom and dad decided to give me a Gameboy Color instead. I was given the choice of one game, so I looked over the rather small shelf when I saw it. It was just sitting there, in the middle. I reach and grab, then turn it around to look at the screenshots. I poked my dad in the right leg and told him that I wanted this game. He looked at it and told me that he'd like me to chose something that he too could try to play. So I ended up not buying the Smurf game I originally had in mind, and my dad picked out this other game for me. I don't know why he thought it'd be any more mature... it had a sword on it, so that may be it. This was Link's Awakening, and if my dad hadn't given me that game that one day, I would not be sitting here today.

Zelda games is really good at improving themselves, but in the later outings of the series, some of the games have been a little lackluster. I'm not talking about Twilight Princess, that's still a fantastic game. I'm talking about Phantom Hourglass. While I did play through it, it didn't really cut it for a Zelda-title. It was an okay game, and one of the better for the DS-system, but it was by far the worst Zelda game not counting the CDI. The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks is finally out, and holy **** is it good!

When I first entered the editorial office that one Monday to get my hands on the game, I had some worries that this was a PH-clone... I mean, it's on the DS, features a train, and there's this huge tower with many levels that you have to revisit between the dungeons, similar to the Ocean Kings Temple from PH... the game had written "disaster" all over it before I even got to hold it, and that's not a good sign. At all. I popped in the cartridge and was amazed. Zelda is back. The first thing you'll notice is that like Phantom Hourglass, you only have two savefiles. This is sad, cause this is a game you're going to want to play through again and again... and once more, so deleting one of your earlier saves is a must once you're done.

The graphics are almost identical to Phantom Hourglass, however the resolution seems to have been improved on just a bit and this shows when the game puts the camera behind Link's back similar to the other 3D-Zeldas. This usually only happens during the bossbattles, but the camera is still fixed in one spot, but in a way that puts you more into the action. The bosses always takes up both of the screens, and when you as Link are standing on the lower screen looking up at the amazing monsters you can find in this game, you truly feel small. Just like you did in Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess. The graphics does a good job at delivering a neat looking experience, and while I've seen better 3D material on the handheld console, it works really well. There's a few hick-ups when you're out in Hyrule Field driving your train at full-speed while being attacked by pirate-cars. The frame-rate can drop dramatically, but these encounters usually only lasts for a few seconds, so it's never a big problem.

We are used to controlling Link with a d-pad or an analog-stick, and I still prefer the Gamecube version of Twilight Princess for its controller, but sadly Spirit Tracks doesn't even give you the option of using buttons. To me, this is a big mistake from Nintendos side, but that's not to say that the controls does not work. They do. They work better than many games even on the 360, with its perfect controller. My hand tends to start hurting after an hour or so of playing this game, but that's caused by the size of the pen I'm using. I played this on the original DS-system, so I still have that tiny pen, and to be honest, my hand is way to big for it. The controls works perfectly, but I would have preferred button-controls. I will go get myself a new DS-pen though.

The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks features that old Zelda-gameplay we all know and love. Doesn't matter if you're running around the villages, blowing the steam-horn on your train or if you're stuck in a dungeon, the gameplay simply rocks. There's tons of villages and train-stations to find, so for those of you that's a little bummed out by the fact that you can't run around Hyrule Field on-foot, don't worry. I've gotten my share of it, and I'm almost always looking forward to getting back to the station to blow some steam. The train handles perfectly, and while it can get a little tedious to get around, due to the relatively slow speed of the train, the developer has made sure to put in as many stargates as possible, which you can use to warp around Hyrule. This, when used properly, can and will speed up the long-distant rides to a mere two minutes. Since they are not marked on the map, and there's no indication for knowing which "stargate" goes where, you as the player are in-charge of marking your map and finding out where they go. I decided to mark all gates that go to the snow-region with a poorly drawn snow-crystal, and all that goes to the forest-region with trees and so on. This way, if I'm on the other side of the map, I can easily find a portal that will take me to my destination quickly, and a hell of a lot more safely than traveling through the entire country would be.

The dungeons have also received a major overhaul. Since Wind Waker and Minish Cap, most dungeons have been pretty easy, and while I never looked at that as a big problem, the challenge you get in some of the Spirit Tracks dungeons are really just too awesome to explain. There's one, and this is probably my favorite Zelda-puzzle ever, were in the first room of the dungeon there's a big bell and a stone with a sheet of music on it. There's two notes, and you have to go to another room and solve a secret there before you're rewarded with a new pushable block with a smaller bell on top of it. This, you'll have to take back to the big room with the big bell, and place it in the correct spot. Now, you can use your boomerang to play the song, hitting both bells. This opens up a new door... however, there's still two more slots for bells like the small one on the block. The rest of the dungeon is about finding these and taking them back to the main room. When they're all in the correct spots, you'll have to figure out what song to play. Now, this part is really genius. The answer to the riddle is to look at your map. The room has some weird formations, and when you draw a few lines over the map, it suddenly looks more like a music-sheet. And guess what: That's what it is! Play the song, again using your boomerang, and you'll be able to continue.

Dungeons also tend to get you stuck more often that you're used to now, as some of the puzzles are more or less brutal in their ways. There's one in particular, which I won't spoil for you, but it involves an entire floor with little to no light. I was stuck here for two hours, but it never got boring. I just wanted to figure this out. I had to figure this out. This proves that Nintendo still cares about us hardcore fans, and it's really pleasing to know that. It's also really pleasing to finish a dungeon that has had you almost breaking your DS in sheer frustration, and this is a feeling that only Nintendo can give us.

I usually start my reviews by talking about the story, but I decided to go a different route this time, but it's a subject we need to look at before we can call it quits anyway, so let's get started. The story in this game is good. It's not as epic and grand as Twilight Princess was at times, but I don't think it should be either. The story follows a new Link and Zelda. Link lives with his guardian Niko, who you all know from Wind Waker and Phantom Hourglass. Niko is now a very old man, but he still has his same personality, which is a nice touch. Their house is in Outset Village (European version of the game) and Link is aspiring to become an engineer. His teacher Alfonzo wants to take him to Hyrule Castle so that Link can finally graduate from his training. Zelda herself participates in the ceremony for Link, and while the two don't actually know eachother yet, Zelda asks Link to sneak into her living quarters later, cause she has something to tell him. It turns out one of Zeldas closest advisers, Chancellor Cole, is conspiring against the throne. He wants to release the evil demon king, and without ruining the surprise, Zeldas body is taken, but her spirit somehow manages to release itself from the body, and only Link can see her.

Zelda decides to follow Link on his adventure, putting her in a role similar to Navi or Midna. Link and Zeldas relationship is really top-notch. Zelda shows that she's still human, by saying more than once that she really just wants to get her body back, instead of actually saving the land... there's this spark between them, without there being any sort of love-relationship (god forbid) between them. It's similar to Link and Tetra really, but I enjoyed this a bit more.

Now, the music in this game is fantastic. It's probably the best of the series, and you all know how much that means. The Zelda-series is known for its music and Spirit Tracks pulls it off to the otherworldly extreme. Not only is almost all the songs perfect, but the overworld theme you hear when riding down the Spirit Tracks... it's a masterpiece worthy of any big-shot composer that has ever lived. When the pan flute starts shooting out its magical aero-music, all your body hairs will rise, and you will get those weird goosebumps on your arms that you get only when you're really really amazed. This song is one of the absoloute best songs I have ever heard in my entire life, and I am so happy it came from a Zelda game.

The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks is a foolproof game. There's nothing here that I can really say is bad, but there is SO much that's just totally amazing. Even when you're done with the main game, there's still a lot to do. There's even a few stations that weren't visited throughout the story, and just last night I found an entirely new dungeon hidden behind a few unlockable tracks. Sure, this temple isn't as big as the main dungeons, but it was big enough for about 20 minutes of playtime, which was really nice. There was even what you could call a bossfight! I don't know how many more of these that's scattered across the land, but let me tell you: This game is filled to the extreme with sidequests and other stuff to play around with. You'll find yourself exploring every single little bit of Hyrule and it WILL leave you starving for more, even though there's already more than there's been in any Zelda game yet. I mean it, this is the biggest of the series to date, and the fact that it's all on the DS is even better. Now you can ride your Spirit Train while riding the train! How awesome is that?

For all of you that's still not sure if this is the next game to buy, just trust me on this one. After having let it sink in a little more, I have decided that this is now my favorite Zelda game, even beating Link's Awakening. This is the definitive Zelda-experience, and you can not call yourself a fan anymore if you decide not to play this freakishly awesome masterpiece. It's one of the best games of all-time and you owe it to yourself to play it. Zelda is back, and this time I hope it stays.

Gameplay: 10
Grapihcs: 8
Sound: 11
Keeping Qualities: 10

Overall Score: 11/10
This is the perfect Zelda game. Buy or die.

[Adem]

I'll read that. I will. I just need to wait until I have the time and wasn't up extremely late...

Anyways, conveniently, when I decided to stop doing side quests (I've almost perfected the game without actually beating it, if that's possible...), my top screen decided it wasn't going to work anymore. Soon after that, my whole DS kicked the bucket. I'll post a picture later if anyone would like...Anyone could see it was bound to happen soon. lol But yeah, I'm going to have to use my brothers DS whenever I want to play it now. Woo.

[Koh]

I'll try to get this AFTER I get my copy of Pokemon Heart Gold/Soul Silver, after all, those are more important atm .

[ZebraStallion]

I just beat the game. My opinion on the game still hasn't changed like I thought it would. My final rating for the game is about 7/10.

@Migo: What do you see in the game that makes it deserve that high of a score?