That's really neat, I just completed the snow (2nd) temple, so not yet at any underwater part, and feared I was about halfway through the game already, good to hear that's not the case!

Anyway, so far I'm absolutely loving the game, though calling it the best handheld Zelda ever is pure blasphemy! That honour goes to Link's Awakening DX.

Also, how anyone, anyone, could find PH better than ST is beyond me. Truly. Of course everyone's entitled to their opinion, but imo, if you look at it objectively, ST is just all-round a better game than PH, which had a bare, uninspired and empty overworld. Yes the 2D trees in ST don't look so hot, but at least it's better than empty expanses of flat water. Right? ST's landscapes have tons of variety. And yes, the boat offered a bit more freedom than the train, yet it doesn't really make a difference, since there weren't many places to go in PH that were really worth the effort it took to get there. If you wanna get from A to B, and there's basically just empty space in between, what does it matter how you get there? It's not like the boat was faster or looked better. PH's entire overworld looked the same.

Also, the music is lightyears ahead of anything in PH. There's more variety, the melodies and tunes are more fleshed out, longer and catchier, and the actual quality of the sound has been improved too. The script is also much better written, with more humour and a story that's better executed than PH. The cinematics in the game are a dramatic improvement over PH as well, where they were pretty boring and almost nonexistant.

Then, that time-restricted Ocean Temple in PH was a total bother, and Nintendo have successfully remedied that with ST's Spirit Tower, which is a huge improvement in every way.

I do agree the combat (at least what I've experienced up until now) is pretty easy and there's not a whole lot of it in themples, yet that was true for PH as well. There's more interaction with NPCs, and the puzzles have been given more attention and been made less obvious than PH's (where they were easy as heck).

I could go on for a while, but really, the above are facts, not just my opinion. Like I said, people can have their own opinions, fine, but no-one can deny that ST is, in design, simply superior and better executed on pretty much all fronts, than PH was. That said, I really enjoyed PH a lot, too.

Spirit Tracks is in my top 5 Zeldas, so you can already tell I disagree, I am to lazy to explain why I disagree though. :D I do have to say that you wouldn't be rating it a 7/10 if it wasn't a Zelda game though, would you?

I personally liked Phantom Hourglass, and I like Spirit Tracks too, but honestly, the Boat/Train really bore me. Then again, the wide open world in Twilight Princess bored me too, however they could have easily fixed that with more action going on in the overworld. If you look at older games, there was a lot more action in the overworld, yet now it is so vast it takes 5 minutes to get between bad guys let alone villages

I think this game is one of the best ds games and a great games, but (as well a ph) it doesn't match the zelda quality

nordlead said: I personally liked Phantom Hourglass, and I like Spirit Tracks too, but honestly, the Boat/Train really bore me. Then again, the wide open world in Twilight Princess bored me too, however they could have easily fixed that with more action going on in the overworld. If you look at older games, there was a lot more action in the overworld, yet now it is so vast it takes 5 minutes to get between bad guys let alone villages

This. I can hardly say who's better.

I hated Hourglass, it was too dumbed down and boring. Does this happen again?

Thankyou!

I was wondering if I was in bizaro world because I too am enjoying this Zelda more than any I can remember since Majora's Mask and then I come here to see loads of people bashing on it.

Story was where they truly excelled. The Train was more memorable than the boat. The boat was just kinda there, but you really had to invest in your train, pay attention to what you're doing, which was a sight more than the boat.

The dungeons were more engaging too, i think.

sorry but I LOVED the game!

I am really liking Spirit Tracks so far... it seems in every way better than Phantom Hourglass. The train is a nice addition but my greatest hope for Zelda Wii is a very detailed and completely interactive overworld.