Spirit Tracks: Anouki Village

wow, so it's been a while since i've done oekaki! i missed it!

just finished spirit tracks. although i have some serious qualms with the game, all-in-all it is a very fun, enjoyable game and a worthy addition to the zelda series. i think my favorite town, maybe apart from the first town in the ocean realm, is anouki village. these guys are definitely my favorite newer zelda species. they're so cute! and i love how they're all kind of conceded and don't like to work. XD this is the scene where link delivers wood for them to build a fence!

this is my review of the game. IT CONTAINS SPOILERS!!

***things i love about the game:

-the SIDEQUESTS!! i am a huge fan of sidequests to begin with, but these are especially fun and satisfying because they give you new tracks to explore!

- the music. this game has some of the best zelda music i've heard since the wind waker. i want to get the soundtrack! only complaint is they re-used the music in the last (sand) temple. that was pretty disappointing. however...

-the inclusion of a fifth (sand temple) dungeon was awesome! i thought the game was over the first time i reached the top of the tower and i was pissed lol. i'm SO glad they included more.

- general level/game design. i love the look of the towns and the characters. the overworld left me wishing for a little more, but the rest of the game makes up for it.

- the NPCs. i LOVED the lokomos. they're all so great and have a lot of personality! also, byrne is totally FTW. want to draw him sometime. XD and zelda's teacher is adorable. ^^

- LINEBECK!!! even though it's not the real deal, i was very, very happy they included a linebeck character. i actually liked him a lot in this game, too.

***things i do not like:

- ZELDA......the WORST sidekick in the entire HISTORY of zelda games. (i know i'll get a lot of crap for this, but it's true.) first of all, her character in the game is really boring and lame. she has no personality. all she can talk about is how she WOULD be feeling the elements but OH POOR ZELDA SHE HAS NO BODY!!! D: D: D: OH NOES! we need to hear it fifty times a day because it's not obvious that she's all floating and pale! and controlling her as a phantom was a nightmare. the AI for her is slow and stupid. she'd always be running into walls or failing to follow the drawn path for one reason or another. i thought she would be a bigger part of the game, but she really only comes into play in the tower of spirits. she doesn't even give you hints as to what to do next! midna kicks zelda's ass. HARD.

- the rail system. never has travel been so tedious and annoying in a zelda game. i want the SS Linebeck back! ;_; i think it was a really cool idea that had a lot of potential, but the end result was just really boring and took up way too much time. i especially hated the evil blue trains. traveling around was just a chore, and i wish the warp arches would have been better integrated and placed. they really didn't help much.

so, as you can see, good things > bad things in this game. but, the bad things are really bad...lol. like i said, though, i really enjoyed the game and i think it's a great new addition to the series! i'm curious to know what other people think, though i haven't seen too many posts about it yet...