Firefly Fairy
http://i438.photobucket.com/albums/qq110/syniram/...

mario_mikoto27@yahoo.com

I think I remember that article on the mutual dimension in the split timeline. Any chance you still have a copy of it floating around (or could direct me to where I might find it?) No clue what it was called, so I doubt I could stumble upon it on my own.

[I did not think on spoilers. Whoops. Because of the game's link as 'sequel' it seemed unnecessary. If you haven't beaten it, my humblest apologies. Though, it's not really that big of a surprise.]
The Sea of the Ocean King isn't the same Great Sea as in Wind Waker; they entered another dimension/world when they walked on to the ghost ship. There are hints scattered throughout the game, and confirmed in the post-game ending sequence.

Hahaha! I try; took like an hour and a half to formulate right, but hell, it was a great distraction from real life.

I'm one of those fans that never quite got in to Wind Waker. I agree that the feel of the world was vastly new, and fresh, but I've always been fond of tradition. The part of the game I enjoyed the most was seeing the world beneath the sea: the shadow of that ancient Hyrule.

After I've finished a game, the part I recall most fondly isn't the dungeons or the worlds or the subplots. It's the story. Probably because I write so much. And the games I enjoy the most are the ones that tie back to those older premises, revealed in aLttP and OoT, and even better, the ones that can be linked to the minuscule bits of information found in LOZ and AOL.

And not to say that Wind Waker's story wasn't brilliant, but it wouldn't have been complete if the whole of it wasn't a tie-back to those older games - a "what-if" situation covering a possibility much darker than one would expect, based on the carefree look of the game. Twilight Princess was the same way, though its darker tone was much more overt (which was both a curse and a boon to it. But I don't want to talk about TP versus WW).

Phantom Hourglass didn't have that connection to bring it to life; like the Oracle Games, Majora's Mask and Link's Awakening before it, it's one of the travelling games. And that's fine: variety and deviation from the standard 'Save the Princess! mission' is essential to the franchise's continued existence. But I can't say I'm fond of the notion of continuing to develop one of those worlds. [It should be said here that I'm ignoring Four Swords, which I technically oughtn't be. It's tied to Minish Cap, which gives it an edge up in this argument. But I do my best to forget that Four Swords exists at all, so forgive me for the glaring gap in my logic.]

The worlds of Koholint, Termina, Labrynna, Holodrum (and Subrosia, too), and the World of the Ocean King (notibly nameless, in this list) are well enough, but I don't feel they are designed to be grand enough to go back to: in Hyrule, even as the characters change, you still have the tie-backs to hold the world together. What would Labrynna be without Ralph and Queen Ambi? Or Termina without Kafei and Anju or Sakon and that stupid bird of his?

Hryule has more legends and history than any of those other worlds (and the history, game-wise, to keep them going strong). You knew, stepping into Twilight Princess's version of Kakariko that it was the same village, even if the western twang in the music seemed foreign. Or looking up after exploring the Forest Haven's floor and seeing the Deku Tree - looking more like the Maku Tree with age - you knew that it was the same woods from Ocarina of Time, thousands of years later.

The World of the Ocean King doesn't have that. One could say (mean though it sounds) that the world doesn't even have a proper existence in its own right: like Koholint, it is shown as a dream-world, an alternate existence. And not that that's detrimental in itself, but it certainly doesn't have the depth I feel is necessary to create a path of its own in the franchise. A future-scape game or not, there's not enough history (both in the premise and the franchise) for Spirit Tracks to pull it off well.

Going back to Wind Waker, despite how different the world was, there was that lingering echo of "Hyrule" writ in each island and each people's history. Or in Twilight Princess, which was so obviously recognisable as the same world, despite the grandness of it and the altered hierarchy. That echo isn't going to be there in Spirit Tracks: not like it ought to be. At this point, we don't even know if we'll see familiar names: Mercay Island, The Isle of Frost, the Ocean King himself could all be far away or history. And without those details, those places and stories to tie the game back to its roots, what will be left? The Anouki and the Yooks? Two admittedly novel races, but hardly a good enough summation of a whole game's premise. And even if we do see Mercay, or the Ocean King, in a world so radically different from the World of the Ocean King that we know, how will we recognise them? There won't be obvious clues like background music or stained-glass windows to help us out: one short game isn't enough to ensure the warmth of familiar reunion in places one-hundred years different, especially in a direction of change as radical as Spirit Tracks promises to be.

So, long argument straight: I still don't trust Spirit Tracks, but not because of fear of the 'future' (though, admittedly, an industrial revolution Zelda game is still really creepy). Honestly, labelling it as steampunk helped; I can now keep in mind that trains might not ruin the classic feel of the franchise.

It was good to read an article of yours, pipking. It's been a long while. Thanks for the discussion-fueling post.