Zero Punctuation: Zelda Phantom Hourglass

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lol...Half-Life Source...

I have to agree with you on the whole Nintendo situation, they have such wealth, talent and resources to create so many great new games but they just constantly stick to the same old over and over again. Their fanbase is massive, there's no reason why they can't take the risk of creating a new IP that at least has an interesting script. Instead, every time Nintendo go for the easy option and churn out another Mario pal or Zelda title. It's amazing how they get away with it, like you say, any other developer would be lynched for doing such a thing.

You mentioned Hero Quest. You are now 8+ shades of awesome and I'm recommending that Yahtzee replace Good in the 3rd revision of the Ministry of Truth's New Speak dictionary.

LOL! too funny, and extremely accurate! I gave up on zelda after WW, The forced sailing for triforce made me tear my pubes out. Really.

he's right, stop banging on about flak towers (look closely) it's only blooby a game review, a funny one mind you, keep it up.

Reminds me of your earlier review about consoles and the Nintendo idea of beating a dead horse often enough you still get some life out of it.

But their fan-base doesn't care...

jaredgood1:
You mentioned Hero Quest. You are now 8+ shades of awesome and I'm recommending that Yahtzee replace Good in the 3rd revision of the Ministry of Truth's New Speak dictionary.

Yes, this got my nostalgic nerd juices flowing too.

Good review as always.

Flak Towers.

"Please stop telling me about Flak Towers."

Also you were speaking even quicker than your usual blistering pace there, Yahtzee.

And nice but of self-deprecation there with the single women bit.

So I guess you enjoyed Okami?

It would be fun if those reviews had subtitles or something so we can all understand what Yahtzee is saying. I have trouble fellowing what he say from time to time and it's frustrating to replay the same video over and over again just to understand a small part of the video.

Who's with me on this one?

Here's a picture of the princess to help my point get through.

Great review as always, i gave up after Majora's Mask though. So bloody sick of Zelda games.

By the way did anyone else notice that the escapist site was down at 11:00? Guess we are redefining "slashdotting" on wednesdays.

Oh, and flak towers!

Aramax:
It would be fun if those reviews had subtitles or something so we can all understand what Yahtzee is saying. I have trouble fellowing what he say from time to time and it's frustrating to replay the same video over and over again just to understand a small part of the video.

Who's with me on this one?

Sort of, I think subtitles would be too obscuring considering the size of the video player however a transcript would be good.

Out of curiosity, how do you feel about those rare cases when Nintendo does use their usual character lineup but throws out the standard plot and goes with something different? (like that old Game Boy game, Link's Awakening)

doesn't happen enough in my opinion for it to really count...

Aramax:
It would be fun if those reviews had subtitles or something so we can all understand what Yahtzee is saying. I have trouble fellowing what he say from time to time and it's frustrating to replay the same video over and over again just to understand a small part of the video.

Who's with me on this one?

I think they'd just be annoying. You've got to look at the animation when listening,not read subtitles.
Just watch it a few times, you'll understand everything.

I'm not even a native speaker and I understand him clearly!

Whenever Nintendo DID try something new with a series, like Majora's Mask, where Zelda's nowhere to be found except in a flashback and Ganondorf is as good as dead and the plot revolves around attempting to stop the ****ing moon from crashing into the earth all within a three day time period, why does it still get categorized as the 'same Zelda game?'

Anyway, if anyone's to blame for Nintendo 'rehashing' titles, it's the fanbase; after all, the fans kept saying 'we want the Ocarina of Time successor,' and Nintendo obligated. If people really wanted the company to try something new, they'd stop buying the games.

It's just like Metal Gear; Hideo Kojima said he wanted to stop making the Solid series after 2, but people kept begging for closure and hence got Solid 3, but obviously the closure wasn't enough as the fans kept begging for another installment and now you've got Solid 4, and it's obvious that Kojima is ready to put the series to an end regardless of what people think by making Snake die at the end of the title (hinted at it dozens upon dozens of times). But even then, the series might still continue since he made ANOTHER hint in a different interview that if enough people wanted it, he'd continue the series.

...wow. I kinda wonder if Yahtzee was still ticked off over Medal of Honor: Airborne when he made this.

Don't get me wrong and suspend my account when I say this, but this isn't a review: this is simply hateful bashing. Sure, the Zelda series seems to now be going the way of the original Mega Man series, and I agree about the shoehorning of the stylus controls, but beyond that it seems to simply be bitter for bitterness's sake. Phantom Hourglass, despite its shortcomings, is a good game that's worth anyone's time, and this video is hardly informative about the game at all, it just rips on it for the sake of entertainment.

But you know what? That's ok. People like Yahtzee are important because they expose hypocrisy and bigotry to an otherwise oblivious world. They may seem lonely, petulant, and vile, but they don't hate mankind, just mankind's excesses. Thus they arm themselves with irony, satire, sarcasm, ridicule, and march against pretense, pomposity, conformity, and incompetence. There's a fair amount of truth in what Yahtzee says after you sift through his seemingly unjustly misguided attitude.

"It is a fine thing to face machine guns for immortality and a medal, but isn't it a fine thing, too, to face calumny, injustice, and loneliness for the truth which makes men free?" - H. L. Mencken

Yeah I have Phantom Hourglass and I have to say that Yahtzee was correct on this one (especially the main temple part). I also see why Nintendo can be infuriating at times as well with the so called "re-hashing" of the franchises. Its not like Nintendo hasnt tried to make new Franchises. Take Elite Beat Agents for example. That game was fun, quirky, and original. But did anybody buy it? Course not because its a fun game and nobody wants that anymore. So yeah they are making new IPs.

And like he said in the beginning, The world without Nintendo would be a bleak place.

CK20XX:
... but this isn't a review: this is simply hateful bashing.

And i loved every second of it.

Another ace review :):)
You will never need to decide on what game to buy again.
Just read these.

Loved it, can't wait til next weeks.

Good one.
I think my favourite part was probably "Sometimes I like to rename Link 'I say', because it makes all the other characters sound like Foghorn Leghorn".

Woohooo I love Wednesdays and Zero Punctuation day. Amusing review as always! Thanks!

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JustDJR:
So I guess you enjoyed Okami?

As did I, very pleased to see it mentioned after the vitriolic hilarity.(The magic Japanese paintbrush dog he was alluding to at the end for those who may not be in the know)

Despite the fact that I loved Phantom Hourglass, I still enjoyed this review quite a bit. I actually enjoyed the temple that you go back to again and again because it's essentially a new dungeon each time. I think the timer was well implemented and it's one of the few things in Zelda that requires you to think before you act. At one point, I actually ran out of time in the temple, trying to go further than I needed to go, trying to manage the remaining life I had, as well as finding ways to gain more time created some tension I haven't felt in a Zelda game for a long time.

I love the nod to Okami, that was a super-fantastic (and horribly underappreciated) game!

I like the review but I think the arguement of Nintendo not trying anything different is fairly stupid. Considering all the new ips the have created over the last few years I dont know how you say they arnt trying create fresh games. Animal Crossing, Pikmin, Geist, Disaster, Praject Hammer, Custom Robo, Battallion Wars, just to name a few.

No politics this week?

But we can't possibly appreciate the minutiae and subtleties of the game without properly understanding the socio-political context in which it was created.

I'm going to start a 28 page flame-fest right now demanding that the controversial political content be put back in.

Who's with me?

"... but this isn't a review: this is simply hateful bashing."

Cry mich ein river? : P

Watch the first five seconds of the bioshock review. Your answer is there.

That being said, I didn't find this too funny. I guess that's because I've avoided Zelda games since Zelda 2 : )

CK20XX:
...wow. I kinda wonder if Yahtzee was still ticked off over Medal of Honor: Airborne when he made this.

Don't get me wrong and suspend my account when I say this, but this isn't a review: this is simply hateful bashing. Sure, the Zelda series seems to now be going the way of the original Mega Man series, and I agree about the shoehorning of the stylus controls, but beyond that it seems to simply be bitter for bitterness's sake. Phantom Hourglass, despite its shortcomings, is a good game that's worth anyone's time, and this video is hardly informative about the game at all, it just rips on it for the sake of entertainment.

But you know what? That's ok. People like Yahtzee are important because they expose hypocrisy and bigotry to an otherwise oblivious world. They may seem lonely, petulant, and vile, but they don't hate mankind, just mankind's excesses. Thus they arm themselves with irony, satire, sarcasm, ridicule, and march against pretense, pomposity, conformity, and incompetence. There's a fair amount of truth in what Yahtzee says after you sift through his seemingly unjustly misguided attitude.

"It is a fine thing to face machine guns for immortality and a medal, but isn't it a fine thing, too, to face calumny, injustice, and loneliness for the truth which makes men free?" - H. L. Mencken

What? He gave plenty of reasons for why he didn't like the game, thus it was a review and not 'simply hateful bashing'.

Well, if your looking for a Nintendo Zelda-esq game that shakes up the formula, there's the import-only from jp/eu, Freshly-Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland, staring everyone's favorite Burger-King-creepiness-level faux fairy, Tingle. Apparently, unlike the US, he's huge enough in Japan to warrent his own game...

It's just like Metal Gear; Hideo Kojima said he wanted to stop making the Solid series after 2, but people kept begging for closure and hence got Solid 3, but obviously the closure wasn't enough as the fans kept begging for another installment and now you've got Solid 4, and it's obvious that Kojima is ready to put the series to an end regardless of what people think by making Snake die at the end of the title (hinted at it dozens upon dozens of times). But even then, the series might still continue since he made ANOTHER hint in a different interview that if enough people wanted it, he'd continue the series.

Sounds like what happened to DragonBall Z to me.

That game was fun, quirky, and original. But did anybody buy it? Course not because

Because 1) it wasn't advertised very well, now, was it? 2) Nintendo hasn't figured out what sort of song selection is going to attract masses of folks to a music and rhythm game.

Seriously, though, I didn't know Elite Beat was out until my friends all had it. So I would say Nintendo's marketing is a lot of the reason that failed.

I like the review but I think the arguement of Nintendo not trying anything different is fairly stupid. Considering all the new ips the have created over the last few years I dont know how you say they arnt trying create fresh games. Animal Crossing, Pikmin, Geist, Disaster, Praject Hammer, Custom Robo, Battallion Wars, just to name a few.

Firstly, aren't some of those third party? And second, a lot of those titles aren't advertised very well, such as the case with Elite Beat Agents. After all, Battalion Wars II didn't get any Preview channel. In fact, does it even have any commercials?

I decided this week I'd just keep my own opinions out of it and enjoy the latest Zero Punctuation for what it was, kind of like how I dropped all standards to enjoy Live Free or Die Hard. Unfortunately, I haven't played the game, and with a lot of his ranting I agree. Still, I think this is the best review he's done in a long time, and hopefully he'll keep it up.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Nintendo was involved in all of those games, and in some form and own them. The point is Nintendo is the one of the most creative of the top name publishers and developers.
In any case keep up the good work with the reviews.

Surprising lack of angry comments, considering what a Sacred Cow the Zelda series is on the internet. It's like actually having a negative opinion about a title in the series is like admitting you had an awful childhood with a sex-offending uncle, although in truth there's at least one game or another in the franchise we all like to bitch about behind everyone else's back.

That said, I'll probably borrow my friend's copy of Phantom Hourglass at some point (He likes spoon-feeding everyone else Zelda to show us how awesome the series is just to sound betrayed when the rest of us don't think it's the hottest shit in town afterwards) and I'll probably finish it, although like every Zelda game since LttP, I probably will stop bothering with item hunting basically around the time I actually get the items that let me do most of the hunting and just want the game to be done already. Especially since that goddamn ocean and boat nonsense is back.