Presenting Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
From the link you can see it in action(it looks awesome):
It looks like it's controlled more by the touchscreen than anything else, to me. Navi's your pointer, and Link just sort of blindly follows her - at least, that's what I've gathered.
I'll wait and see. It could work better than just using the D-Pad, it might not. Cautiously optimistic's the key.
It's possible that it could be a combination of both d-pad and touch screen controls depending on certain areas.
I'm glad that they used the Wind Waker art style for this title. =)
Perhaps this is a Wind Waker sequel?
You think?
Anyway, yeah. Return of "Cel"da look and it appears boating will be prominent. I can already hear the screams. 😛
Touchscreen use looks great. Charting courses and making little notes on your in-game map... wicked. Hopefully the whole touch Navi thing is an optional component rather than the main control method for Link. I'm just too used to the dpad for movement purposes when it comes to Zelda. But, maybe it'd turn out great... who knows.
Can't see it here at school without my trusty proxies, but honestly, after the huge amount of negative reaction Windwaker's art style got, they wouldn't do it again.
IMHO, I like the realistically-drawn Link more just because it looks cooler.
EDIT: Before I get flamed, I'm not saying I dismissed the whole game because of the graphics... although I never got into it much because it tended to be boring compared to OoT and MM.
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honestly, after the huge amount of negative reaction Windwaker's art style got, they wouldn't do it again.
Have you been asleep for five years?
Because yes, the reaction was negative in 2001. By the time a playable demo made its debut in 2002, most critics had come around. When it was released worldwide in 2003, nearly everybody had stopped complaining about the graphics. The game was a humongous commercial success, got excellent reviews, including a perfect score from Famitsu (one of only six games to have ever received that honor), and won several awards for art direction.
The reaction to the graphics was overwhelmingly positive.
*hits head on desk*
Must buy a DS! Must buy a DS! MUST BUY A DS!
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When it was released worldwide in 2003, nearly everybody had stopped complaining about the graphics.
Except me, who still doesn't like them.
Right, and I understand your position. In my opinion, each style has its good and bad opoints.
But this topic doesn't have to dissolve into a debate over whether or not we like TWW's graphical styles. The point is that there was no huge negative reaction that would dissuade Nintendo from doing another game in the same graphical style.
I'll agree with both Dirk AND Xagarath Ankor...
I didn't like TWW's art style...but
1) It is a Zelda game... They haven't screwed one up yet (ignoring the CD-i ones)
2) It still looks sexy... especially for a handheld.
What I'm really excited about is E3... I mean, they just announced a Zelda game at GDC... Imagine what they'll announce at E3!
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Because yes, the reaction was negative in 2001. By the time a playable demo made its debut in 2002, most critics had come around. When it was released worldwide in 2003, nearly everybody had stopped complaining about the graphics. The game was a humongous commercial success, got excellent reviews, including a perfect score from Famitsu (one of only six games to have ever received that honor), and won several awards for art direction.
The reaction to the graphics was overwhelmingly positive.
Yeah, there are a lot of people who are estatic about this title because of the Wind Waker's art design. Heck, I personally prefer it to the realistic design of TP since I find that 3D realism isn't that impressive since everyone uses it instead of giving the graphics a more distinct art design(also see Okami.) =)
And Neo, don't you mean a DSLite? 
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Yeah, there are a lot of people who are estatic about this title because of the Wind Waker's art design. Heck, I personally prefer it to the realistic design of TP since I find that 3D realism isn't that impressive since everyone uses it instead of giving the graphics a more distinct art design(also see Okami.) =)
Agree. Everyone has their own perferences. The graphics in Twilight Princess is pretty, but I also perfer the "Cel"da look, simply because it's so simple, yet vibrant and unique. Different strokes for different folks.
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And Neo, don't you mean a DSLite?
As long as I have a DS...
Actually, I could stand the Cel-da look a lot more if it was just as cell-shaded and vibrant... but I could do without the extremely disproportionate models. Link's head is nearly as big as his body, which I think looks really ugly.
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Yeah, there are a lot of people who are estatic about this title because of the Wind Waker's art design. Heck, I personally prefer it to the realistic design of TP since I find that 3D realism isn't that impressive since everyone uses it instead of giving the graphics a more distinct art design(also see Okami.) =)
Generally, I;d agree with you. I just didn;t like the WW style in particular. Too twee for my taste.
This game looks awesome, but personaly I think they're doing the Wind Waker graphics a little too much. I guess I like the more 'serious' art styles that I grew up on. When I first saw the official art for OoT when I was very amazed. Then I saw the cool anime-style of the Oracle games, then Wind Waker was very cool to me. The problem is, I prefer a more serious style to Zelda, and I think they're overdoing these particular graphics.
With Twilight Princess around the corner, maybe I don't know what I'm complaining about.
~T2K
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This game looks awesome, but personaly I think they're doing the Wind Waker graphics a little too much.
Two games is 'too much'?
I'd say the Four Swords games and Minish Cap counts as "Wind Waker" style.
~T2K
Yes and before that Link had the same SD-look in his sprites since the Link to the Past. =P
In other semi-related news OOT and MM aged horribly in the looks department over the years. I expect the same thing will happen with TP more so than WW.
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In other semi-related news OOT and MM aged horribly in the looks department over the years. I expect the same thing will happen with TP more so than WW.
...wha? I still think OoT looks great, and personally prefer it by far to WW. I don't think OoT looks worse just because it's older now.
I generally factor the system a game was designed for into my opinion of graphics though, so I'm a good deal more tolerant of the graphics of older games that a lot of people. (I'm still impressed by games like RayStorm and the original Armored Core and Gran Turismo games, considering the capabilities of the PS1) I usually tend to think "wow, that looks great for a [insert system] game" rather that "wow, that looks pitiful compared to [insert newer system]". Probably due in part to my strange fascination with some older tech-related things.
Concerning this DS game, it doesn't interest me, but I'm kind of glad it uses the WW style. Kind of nice for fans of the WW style, since those who don't like it are getting what they want in Twilight Princess, and it means a potential decrease in Twilight Princess complaints from WW fans. 
Of course, alternately, if this DS game was using a OoT style (and was comparable to OoT in quality), I just might've bought a DS for it. Heh.
But the fact remains that polygonal graphics age far less well than pixels or cel-shading do.
I mean, Final Fantasy 7 looked great for its time, but by just about any standard it now looks like... well, crap.
The same thing goes for Oot: It was impressive as the first 3D Zelda game, but now the imperfections and low poly count are really quite glaring.
I think what still hits me about OoT is the story...
Wonderbat:
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But the fact remains that polygonal graphics age far less well than pixels or cel-shading do.
I mean, Final Fantasy 7 looked great for its time, but by just about any standard it now looks like... well, crap.
The same thing goes for Oot: It was impressive as the first 3D Zelda game, but now the imperfections and low poly count are really quite glaring.
BINGO! And that's expecially true when you are pointing out 3D graphics in most games from the 32-bit/64-bit era. 
ZeroSky:
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Of course, alternately, if this DS game was using a OoT style (and was comparable to OoT in quality), I just might've bought a DS for it. Heh.
Ugh.
They should only attempt a "realistic"-style handheld Zelda when Nintendo next handheld is as powerful as the PSP.
That nice little controlling the boomerang's path with the touch screen is a very nice little feature. It might work out well with some of the weapons, arrows and the like.
As for my liking of the art style, I think it's okay, but I too prefer more "serious" graphics. Though, I think if they tried graphics from OoT on the DS it would look absolutely terrible, so I guess I'm happy that they are using the cel-da.
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Them polygons may have wowed me back during the times when they were supposed to be "wow"ed, but nowadays, it's all got that dated feel that you can't believe you got sucked into it.
I'm still wowed by it, after taking into account the capabilites of the N64... >_> I guess I'm just weird about older games that way...
*sits in a corner clinging to a copy of OoT protectively, hissing at any who walk by*
Meh, the world design is what gripped me more than dated graphics when I started playing it way back in 2002/2003/whenever Wind Waker came out. It just has some kind of dreamy feel to it - to me, at any rate - that I really can't describe, but like all the same. It's something Link's Awakening had for me, but surprisingly A Link to the Past DIDN'T have... maybe it's just the whole open-ness of it all - LA has that huge lake leading out to the sea, OoT has expansive skies and long views... LttP is boxed in in a small area with cliffs on all sides. Wind Waker had something similar, but the overt amount of ocean kinda killed it.
Don't get me wrong, they're all great games - it's just some of them feel even better to me for some reason I can't really explain. I suppose having played LA first out of all the Zeldas would play some part in my opinion of it, but I really dunno why LttP underwhelmed me, especially since its music is so good, and gameplay, and... well, pretty much all of it.
Ahh I love the OoT visuals. I have yet to see them as ugly.
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I mean, Final Fantasy 7 looked great for its time, but by just about any standard it now looks like... well, crap.
When I first played FF7 that was late 1999, 2 years after it's release...I thought the graphics were fugly XD (except for battle moments were decent and SOME cutscenes were as well. Just didn't like the look of towns and the chibi character models). Still that didn't stop me from enjoying the classic....fanboys killed it for me in later years though....
~T2K
Graphics are good up to a point but if the game is plain unfun *coughGrabbedbytheGhouliescough*, then a well made game can be a load of junk.
That said...I still hope for a return to the regular look of Link. Cel-da still doesn't sit well with me...
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That said...I still hope for a return to the regular look of Link. Cel-da still doesn't sit well with me...
Er, well there is this game called Twilight Princess which has been hyped up since...I dunno 2004!
And up into this game, Link has always been portrayed as a super-deformed sprite in the handheld games.
The main reason people well complaining about WW-design was because of Spaceworld of when they showed a realistic Link fighting enemies for a proposed GCN Zelda and months later at E3 "Celda" was revealed shocking and confusing everyone who was anticipated the stuff that was shown at Spaceworld.
Anyway, my biggest problem with Wind Waker is not the art design and animation as the majority people nowaday actually praise it like it was mentioned, but the fact that there was few dungeons, non-existant challenge, and that Triforce quest which seems to be the majority of complaints about the title from people. Had they actually fixed those three problems, then it would have been probably been more of a classic.
I hope Phantom Hourglass somewhat remedy this though the main concern is the touchscreen controls. Hopefully it will be playable at E3 so we can get impressions and so that Nintendo can actually improve on it incase the controls suck.
I'm talking about for the DS...
Again:
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They should only attempt a "realistic"-style handheld Zelda when Nintendo next handheld is as powerful as the PSP.
I bet that there will be more people complaining and mocking a an attempt to recreate a "TP"-design Zelda on the DS than the stylised WW on the same handheld.
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I mean, Final Fantasy 7 looked great for its time
I recall reviews criticising those hideous out-of-battle character models when it came out.
Since htis is becoming a discussion of graphics...
In my opinion, TP's style looks too generic.
