I feel comfortable disagreeing on that last spoiler paragraph in particular

Khuutra, I respect you, so could you please indulge me in what ways you thought Zelda was given justice in this game. What non-standard character development - beyond her involvement with the horribly clichéd subplot of Staven's - was there?

Also, in what way is "The weather is cold... Or so I would have thought if I had my body!" not just downright poor writing?

This is about that time I independently arrived at the Hero's Shade = Hero of Time thing, isn't it

Anyway

Staven is the EU name of Byrne, right? Or am I forgetting something/someone? Forgive me, my memory is shot at the moment (need my vitamins)

I remember that discussion, but... I'm not sure I understand what you're getting at.

As for Staven, he's the traitor Locomo.

Ah, I see. He's called Byrne in the States version of the game. Can't imagine why they gave him two different names.

The thing about referring to her as "Zelda" in this context and whether or not she was done "justice" is that it's kind of counter-intuitive, because this is not the same Zelda as we're used to dealing with in the past, and this is established fairly early on. She's not anything like her grandmother, Tetra, nor is she like the "noble sacrifice" Zelda of Twilight Princess, or the "oh shit I just destroyed EVERYTHING" Zelda of Ocarina of Time. Each of them are their own characters, and we have to have different expectations of how each of them is going to be portrayed.

Do I think they did justice to the character? Well, that's hard to say. I didn't go into this with any particular expectations of how this Zelda should behave, so instead of thinking "Zelda should not behave this way," I mostly went "Haha! This is indeed a refreshing take on this archetype!"

When we talk about non-standard character development we have to keep in mind that we're talking about non-standard as far as Zeldas go, not the games but the characters, and in order to properly reference that we have to consider who this Zelda is. And that's the fun thing about her: she is a princess. She's not a pirate (WW/PH), she's not a queen (TP), she's not a tomboy (OoT), she's a flat-out girly-as-can-be princess whose cowardice is one of the early defining points of her character. She's absolutely terrified of dangers that can't touch her, as if her expectations of sensation override the fact that she doesn't feel anything (like how she refers to Phantom suits as being "hot" on the inside but mentions that she doesn't feel anything when she walks through magma, or how she mentions that she feels cold in the snow - but then, wait, no she doesn't, she just expected to). This Zelda is interesting to me because the growth of her character, as it's outlined in the first cutscene in the Tower of Spirits, lies in the direction of finding her courage. She starts off as a princess who is so ineffectual that she can't freely walk around her own castle and who would ask a crippled woman to brave a dangerous tower for her, and ends as someone who grabs a demon king, who is about to explode, and tells her partner to run. "Don't worry about me, Link! Just get away from Malladus!"

That and I will be honest, I found her character equal parts charming and hilarious. The first cutscene in the Tower of Spirits, starting with her "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" is probably the funniest moment in the franchise to me, up to and including Link being launched out of a catapult in Wind Waker. Her rant about how Link was going to go kick some ass while she sat on her royal duff because that is what princesses do had me and my wife laughing quite a lot.

I think they did justice to her in making her her own charactr, and makignn her charming and funny. It was a light-hearted game and they gave her a light-hearted character to go along with it, but with a feminity that subverts expectations created by past iterations of the character.

As to the relationship between Link and Zelda.... I liked how they handled it. Small and subtle, with a lighter touch than that handling the relationship between TP Link and Midna (which, while good, also characterized Link perhaps too completely). From the beginning (Link blushing the first time he sees Zelda) to the end (Link charging into an explosion because he refuses to leave her, Link holding herh and after the battle is over) it managed to be light and sweet without being saccharine, which is what I think was called for.

I apologize if this was too long but I wanted to give a complete answer

Don't worry, it was a satisfactory answer. But don't think those elements were lost on me, either. Remember, I mentioned that I thought Zelda's vanity and inexperience was one of the strong points of her character. However, my "problem" with Zelda is the fact that she is too stereotypical. Her character development is very "standard" in this sense, and that's what bothers me. Take note that I did not say it was poorly done, just not up to the level I expected. Of course, your point about the way Zelda approaches danger and let's her expectations dictate her actions - turning my example against me in the process - was an intriguing interpretation that I admit I had overlooked. Still, I would have liked it if Zelda shared with us a little more of herself, her life as a princess - that perhaps, is what I was expecting, more than anything.

That's reasonable, and I have no argument to make with it.

The two things that impressed me about Spirit Tracks were the boss battles and difficulty. For a Zelda title it was considerably more difficult than the recent entries. The last time I struggled this much was with Majora’s Mask – which in my opinion was one of the hardest titles.

The one thing I really didn’t like was being confined to the spirit tacks. Even with the boat you could go wherever you wanted, I just felt like it removed the exploration. No little caves or hidden passages, just going from point A to B. I was hoping they’d bring back heart pieces too… but sadly not =(

Man, this thread's no fun with all the black and white bars...
Then again, thank you for them, I'll be playing the game real soon and don't want to know anything important about it in advance!

I hated that the gameplay was slowwww