The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

[Thursday Next]

I agree with Motivated.

 

The touch only control scheme did work for me. Nintendo are really caught between a rock and a hard place on this one. Either they allow movement with the d-pad and hamper the touch controls, or, they restrict controls to touch only and lose out on some input fidelity.

 

Overall, I think I preferred the touch only scheme. I'm a lefty too, so while they could have mapped d-pad controls to the face buttons, it would still have been somewhat alien to me.

 

On balance, I think the innovation possible with the touch screen only controls, the boomerang being a good example, outweigh any apprehension over the unfamiliar control scheme.

 

It's similar to the Sharpshooter control scheme for Killzone 3. It's a bit clumsy sometimes and I am definitely more precise and accurate with a dualshock controller, but the experience is more immersive and fun when you're holding a gun and shooting stuff. The major difference there is that you have a choice, so I'm not really comparing apples to apples, but there's plenty of titles that use move only, that could be replicated on a controller and would give better control for it. It's just a design choice, one that some people may not like, but that doesn't make it wrong or broken.

 

Also, there's no need to act so hostile just because someone suggested that you may not like the control scheme because you aren't very good at using it. It's quite possible that you found it difficult to use, so your performance suffered, so you decided you don't like it. Getting all uppity about how awesome you are at Zelda games that don't use these controls is childish.

[Johnny]

I stopped responding to this because the argument has gone way off track, but now that it's been rescurrected, I might as well.

 

My point was never that the people who liked the controls are wrong. My major points were:

 

1) The people who dislike the controls aren't wrong either.

 

2) Trying to say that the people who disliked the controls are "to blame", as well as assuming that the people who dislike the controls simply found them too hard, is nonsensical.

 

3) Nintendo could probably have designed the control scheme better to make sure it felt right to use for more players. Either through reworking the control scheme present or offering an alternative. Do note that I'm not arguing that they SHOULD have done this, but merely that they could have.

[Mr W Phallus]

2) Trying to say that the people who disliked the controls are "to blame", as well as assuming that the people who dislike the controls simply found them too hard, is nonsensical.

Please explain how this is nonsensical. When presented with a sample of players, some for whom the game controls worked fine and some for whom the controls didn't, why would we blame the variable that stays constant (the controls) instead of the variable that changes (the player)?

 

Both you (Johnny) and Slagathorian seem to be taking this as some sort of personal slight, or accusation of incompetency; its not. It could be something as simple as the size or shape of your hands made the DS uncomfortable to hold, or when you were playing you just couldn't find the right grip, or any other factor which doesn't make you incompetent but nevertheless impedes your use of the PH controls.

[BrainHurtBoy...2]

So I'm not really speaking for anyone but myself here, because the controls worked for me, personally, though I would have preferred actual controls. I think, though, that if the controls are 'too hard' and aren't suiting a large group of people, and the group is large, then they don't have much merit. If a bunch of people have trouble using the game's most basic of controls, then there's something wrong with them.