Link's Awakening, eh?
Eh. I never liked it that much, though the story was quite good for it's time.
Phantom Hourglass was a sort of spiritual sequel to LA I suppose - though it's also a spiritual sequel to LoZ and TMC and an actual sequel to TWW. Anyway, I really should play that game again - I loved the way the narrative tied itself to the gameplay, and the plot was both focused and dynamic - as were the characters and their relationships, for that matter. The way the game contrasts the heroic persona of Link - on his personal quest to save his "girl" - and Linebeck was great. That made the story much more emotially powerful than, say, Twilight Princess was, despite the much simpler plot. I also liked the fact that the game had a genuine sense of humor and didn't take itself too seriously. Also, Oshu might well be the first "guardian" character in the series that didn't just sit around on his ass waiting for Link to defeat the villain and actually took action against his foe.
The general gameplay was good, if not perfect. I did not have a problem with the Ocean King's Temple as many other people did, and the stylus controlls worked well for the most part. However, I did not appreciate the empty "dead" island-overworld and it's derivative music. The dungeons were also extremely linear and predictable - the puzzles were good, but the "fight rooms" were pointless and boring. Combat was definitelly a weak point of the game. On the bright side, as I mentioned before, I really liked the way events of the story had a real impact on how you played the game. Stuff like the Spirits being able to power up your sword, or more importantly, the Phantom Sword enabling you to defeat the Phantoms - that was the first time that I felt the need for a new weapon to defeat the villain, let alone experienced a real effect on how I played the game - was great.
All in all, I really liked the game and I hope they learn from it when they make Zelda Wii. That rumored patent wouldn't exactly be un-welcome, either.
Oh yeah...
The whole timeline idea has gotten too messed up to work. There are some vague ideas and theories about how all the games tie together, and yes, Miyamoto said (years and years ago) that there were supposedly 2 timelines. However, with each and every new Zelda that comes out, it's gotten more and more impossible to fit all the pieces together, and now it's just one big horrific mess...
Actually, Aonuma said that - after Twilight Princess came out! It hasn't really had a lot of time to change. Now, I'm not going to argue about the timeline - I've done enough of that! - but it would be better if people actually researched these things before comitting themeselves. So much confusion about the Zelda chronology stems from ignorance of simple facts and plots, it's ridicolous.
