Choo choo, I'm on a train.

So I picked up Zelda: Spirit Tracks earlier this week, though it would be good fun over the long weekend. And indeed it does possess a fair bit of fun however the feeling I'm getting now is that its really more or less an endless fetch quest.

The premise of the game is that the rail ways that cover the world, aka spirit tracks have been removed due to the evil-doers. Link, as usual, gets roped in to save the world. You know, standard JRPG fare, young kid no more than oh, 12? Saves the world.

Now Spirit Tracks has a formula that's really grating on me: go into spirit tower, obtain map, go visit a sage, go to the temple, kill the boss, repeat.

So far, I've done this four times, and next I'm supposed to go to some region of fire after I've once again obtained another map in the spirit tower. BLARGH. Fetch quest.

That said, some of the level design in the dungeons are really challenging, which makes them freakin enjoyable. Controls are tight, probably similar to phantom hourglass (which I've not touched in years).

Another rant is the bosses, some are just too damned simple (like the spiked boss, which is the 4th boss). And some are friggin' annoying to fight (3rd boss, master of ice fire). I'm assuming that 10 year olds have much better reflexes for these kinda stuff.

I'm not sure how enjoyable this game would be if it were not of the Zelda franchise; The Legend of Zelda has been building the world for decades, and it is very nice to see familiar faces, enemies and music pop up. If it was a totally new world though, perhaps I'd just stop.

What I really need to do is play the older final fantasy games again. How did though damned games hook me for so many hours as a kid? I can actually put down spirit tracks to do stuff and not get sucked in. Was it because of the story and expansive world to explore? Hmmm.... well thinking back to say FF6 (FF3US), that was definitely a perfect combo of both. Strong characters, massive world with a great story.

Ok getting old, signing off before I show off more of my age.