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Unboxing the Mass Effect: Andromeda Collector’s Edition Strategy Guide

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The Mass Effect: Andromeda Collector’s Edition strategy guide arrived today, one week after the game’s release, but it is definitely worth the wait. I’m happy I bought it even though I didn’t enjoy the game very much. For starters, I love strategy guides (duh) and secondly, backpacks are cool. Can’t have too many backpacks. You can have too many purses, but too many backpacks? Please.

And thus I have it, and I am rather pleased with it. Super thankful for my Amazon Prime discount, though, because I don’t believe the Pathfinder Edition is entirely worth $130. Watch the video for yourself to see why!

And now it is time for me to roll a new character and play the way I WANT to play. I think I’m gonna like this strategy guide-only thing with video games.

Gaming Diary: Continuing that Ys Hype Train

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Wooo woooo!

Since I’m not reviewing any games (woohoo!), I planned on starting Breath of the Wild for that guide review after I finished up Ys Chronicles II. I was almost done with that, so I knew it wouldn’t be long. In fact, I finished it Friday night and got pumped to finally try out Breath of the Wild the following day. On Saturday morning, I received a reminder that my Mass Effect Andromeda collector’s edition strategy guide would be here on Tuesday. Yeah…there’s no way I can do both of these. I called Chris for help, and he’s on it for Breath of the Wild. He’s been playing a lot of the game already, so he’s the best man for the job.

Now that I have time to wait for Andromeda, I figured why not start the next Ys game I have in my catalog? I never did finish Ys: Oath in Felghana, which is a remake of the third Ys game. Of course, I’m going to play it on Easy because I don’t have time to challenge myself in games anymore. Also, this game is a bit old, not to mention incredibly punishing. Go on ahead and say current games have made us all sissies and then ask if I care. Because I don’t. That’s the glory of various difficulties! It’s also kind of why I got into strategy guides; I don’t like being punished.

Ys Oath in Felghana

Even on Easy, Oath in Felghana is a bit difficult in that you’re punished if you don’t have the right armor. Usually buying new armor, finding new armor, or tempering the armor makes all the difference in the world, particularly with boss fights. That first boss handed me my ass in two minutes, but then I tempered all of my equipment and she went down in less than two minutes. I had the same results with other bosses. I think I’m about halfway through the game, so I won’t finish it before the Andromeda guide gets here. However, Andromeda guide will get top priority once it shows up. I’m ready to roll a new character in Andromeda and play the way I want to and do all the side quests I want to.

Until then, I’ll remain overly frustrated at the ridiculous platforming in Ys: Oath in Felghana. I have a feeling this was rather simple to do on PC, but the controls are awkward on the Vita/PSP.

Gaming Diary: Mass Effect Andromeda Week

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Last week, I was buried face down in reviewing Mass Effect Andromeda for PlayStation Lifestyle. Being the huge Mass Effect fan that I am, I was overjoyed to get my hands on this big title and be responsible for reviewing it. My expectations were rather high as a fan, and I know I wasn’t alone. I did constantly tell myself that this is a new chapter in this universe, and it could be a slow start and a bit rough. I wasn’t prepared for the technical mess that it was, and really, I could have overlooked it if the plot wasn’t so cliche, the writing wasn’t cheesy and lazy, and the pacing wasn’t so bad.

That’s all I’m really going to say about it here, but you can read my full review on PSLS.

The week I was reviewing it happened to be Spring Break, and my kids were gone all week with my in-laws. They offered to take them on a road trip all week, the dear hearts. The review code came down the day before the kids left, which made it perfect timing. Now I had all week to play this game to my heart’s content. I didn’t have to worry about picking them up from school, taking them to after-school activities, getting homework done, cooking dinner, any of the normal parenting stuff. The husband even said he would take care of dinner so I wouldn’t have to stress about it. I still had other work to do, since I own a couple of businesses that have clients, and I couldn’t ignore them for a video game.

By Thursday of the week, I realized I had barely slept all week long. Laundry didn’t get done. The house was a wreck. I lost two pounds because I wasn’t eating much. I had barely seen my husband all week long. Then the big truth dawned on me: the only reason why I had been able to get as much done in this review as I had was because the kids were gone and I was neglecting everything else. That sealed it for me. I finished my review, handed it in, and after it went live, I wrote my letter of resignation.

it is time

I’m not just leaving PSLS; I’m done with games writing, period. I’ve been part of this industry for 13 years, and I wouldn’t trade that time for anything. I’ve met my closest friends through gaming, including two of the writers here! But I don’t have the time I once had to devote to games. I’m trying to build two businesses, and I can’t work those properly if I’m always spending 50 hours a week on reviewing a game for very little pay.

It’s just time for me to close this chapter in my life and take the next steps forward.

What does this mean for Strategy Guide Reviews? Not a damn thing. We will plunder on, because this was always my little pet project I developed out of the love of strategy guides. I’ll actually have more time to devote to guides now! Maybe I can even play Breath of the Wild! That just sounds like crazy talk to me, but it’s my kind of crazy.

Gaming Diary: Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop the Ys

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It was nearly right after the credits finished rolling on Ys Chronicles I that I started up a new game with Ys Chronicles II. It’s been a difficult game to put down, even with Breath of the Wild in the house and a certain, rather important review for PSLS. It’s such an old school JRPG that there’s so little hand holding, and the puzzles are slightly more difficult to discern than in the first game. I’ve had a tab open on my phone or tablet for the GameFAQ of Chronicles II, something I rarely looked at with the previous one. After I ran around one area for nearly an hour, trying to figure out what I’m supposed to do next, the online walkthrough has been my bestest friend.

The sequel has significantly improved, and not just with the puzzles. You still attack by ramming Adol’s body into creatures (which is still dumb, by the way), but the addition of magic adds a new fun twist. Most of the bosses require magic in order to defeat them, which kind of takes down a lot of the novelty of using magic and the potential creativity between magical and physical attacks. It almost feels like it’s presented like a new console that has new gimmicks. Take the Vita’s game launch, for instance. Most of their first-party games overused the new features of the Vita, such as the touch screen, back touchpad, camera, and tilt controls, to the point of rendering games unenjoyable. I’m looking at you, Uncharted: Golden Abyss. In Chronicles II, now that we have magic, let’s require it for all the bosses!

At least not all of the magic is attack-based, allowing some creativity. I particularly enjoy turning into a Roo and talking with the demons. They have some of the best dialogue in the entire game.

Ys Chronicles II

Pardon the photo…apparently you can’t take screenshots of PSP games on the Vita.

But yes, I have sampled a bit of Breath of the Wild, and I haven’t gotten much further than I did in the demo I played at E3 last year. The world is huge, gorgeous, and I’m so glad I have a strategy guide as a security blanket.

Unboxing The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Collector’s Edition Strategy Guide (Video)

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I had hoped I’d have the strategy guide for Breath of the Wild today, and I was not disappointed. It arrived, and it appears to be everything I hoped for in a Legend of Zelda strategy guide. Please note I said “appears.” This is not a review of the guide at all, merely an initial impressions, if you will.

Who’s ready to see what’s inside?

I’m not reviewing anything right now, which is amazing, to be honest. As such, I hope to spend lots and lots of time with Link and Hyrule. It helps that this is portable. I haven’t really played with it yet and I’m already loving the Switch.

Curious about the collector’s edition for the game? I unboxed that too.

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