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Initial Impressions of White Knight Chronicles Strategy Guide

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Sorry Darksiders fans, but the guide got pushed aside for now due to the release of White Knight Chronicles, a JRPG I have been eagerly waiting for for well over a year.

The game itself has been…interesting to say the least. I’ve never played a combat system like it before, and I’m still trying to figure out why I created an avatar for it to have no real relevance to the story. Maybe it will come to me later. But for now, it’s just a created being that I have taught all magic to and kept it in the back for healing while I control the main protagonist and his—I can’t believe I’m going to say this—MECH.

But as for the guide, I’m not a huge fan of its design. It doesn’t flow very well and its blocks of text make it somewhat difficult to quickly find out 1) where you are and 2) what information you need. But considering that the guide’s design earned the Uncharted 2 strategy guide a 4/5, and this guide was written by the same group, I’m not surprised.

As for what advice it gives, I have to say that when I do use the guide, it has been most helpful. As I said earlier, the combat and skill system is quite strange, and the guide gave very sound tips for manipulating the system. It’s also a lifesaver when it comes to prep, from basic battle prep to boss prep. However, I do find one thing about the prep to be funny: it expects your levels to be quite low at certain points, and my party has had far higher levels than the guide predicts. On the one hand, it makes me wonder how hard the writers made things on themselves, but on the other, such low expectations are nice, because they tell you things like, “Yulie is probably around level 3, so don’t go too far north until she’s level 6.”

I haven’t used the guide at all for boss fights yet, because I’ve found the bosses to be somewhat easy and straightforward. But when I read the strategies after the fact, I laughed at how complex the strategies were. They would tell me to order this character to do magic or make sure I had this combo learned, and I was able to get the job done with little struggle. Maybe it’s because my levels were higher than suggested, or maybe the writers really did make things hard on themselves.

It’s going to be an interesting ride, for both the game and the guide, methinks.

Initial Impressions of Spirit Tracks Guide

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I will get into what I think of the game later, but as for the guide, I am quite happy with it so far. It has the same design and set-up as the guide for Phantom Hourglass so everything is very easy to find and the walkthroughs are incredibly easy to follow along. I’m also pleased to find that the author’s humor has once again found its way back into the words.

My only complaint is that I bought the Collector’s Edition guide like I did with Phantom Hourglass but no fancy leather bookmark came with it like the last book. I supposed I could use the PH bookmark, but it’s already in use for the Uncharted 2 book, since that guide came with nothing for me to tear out and use as a bookmark. Fortunately, ST has a nice separate fold-out map, so that is sufficing for now, but I was really looking forward to collecting another leather bookmark. But I suppose I’ll survive and make do with what I have. Grumble grumble…

Bookmark aside, unless I find something completely flawed or useless, I expect that this guide will also be a perfect 5/5 like its predecessor.

Tales of Symphonia Dawn of the New World Initial Impressions

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So far, this guide does as many things right as it does wrong.

The dungeons all have about the same element – insane puzzle mazes – and the guide is wonderful at providing quick solutions to the puzzles that include collecting all of the treasure chests. I have saved myself at least a few hours of agonizing torture in completing these mazes. For those late to the party, I hate puzzle mazes. And I’m not talking about the Legend of Zelda style mazes. I think a more recent example of such a maze can be found in the Eastern tribe temples in Lost Odyssey. I shudder to think of those puzzles again.

While the guide includes a large overworld map, it contains no other maps. No maps of the dungeons, villages, nothing. This leaves a large black mark on the guide. Since you can’t do any overworld exploring, I’m not sure why the guide includes an overworld map at all.

Boss tactics are in great detail, although I admit I really haven’t looked at them since I haven’t found the bosses too difficult. On the flipside, there is no detail on the bosses themselves. No information on the HP or weaknesses. Sometimes it’s nice to know that a boss has over 14,000 points of HP when you’re slicing just ten points of damage a hit. Occasionally these facts are mentioned in the tactics paragraphs, but that’s just poor design. At the very least, the HP should be designated next to the boss name.

I can honestly say though that I wouldn’t be playing this game without the guide. I like the story and the dialogue cracks me up, but the dungeons drive me insane. Not particularly my idea of fun, so if I didn’t have the guide to soothe my frustration, Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World would be on my Amazon seller account.

Initial Impressions of Phantom Hourglass Guide

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The walkthrough for this guide is so incredibly fantastic that I haven’t looked at the appendices once. I have no idea what is in the back of the book. The appendices could be horrific as far as I know. I’m hoping that they aren’t, because this guide is already a 5/5 and I don’t want to knock it down a level for crappy appendices.

Okay, okay I’ll admit it. Phantom Hourglass for the most part doesn’t need a guide — except when it comes to finding the elusive and random heart containers — so I’ve not really glanced at it that much. I also shamefully admit that without the dangling dog treat of Achievements, I’m not as eager to make sure I don’t miss anything. But after every dungeon, I do flip back through the guide to see if I have missed anything, and there have been a few times I wished I used the guide because it would have saved me a lot of trial and error and well, grief.

I have used the guide a lot when it comes to maneuvering the Temple of the Ocean King. I made it through the first time fine, but since you need to go more quickly each sequential time, I’ve used the guide to help with the shortcuts. It’s been especially helpful in this arena because I don’t get to play the game that often, so if it’s been weeks since the last time I visited the dungeon, I know I’ll forget what I’m supposed to do next.

So yes, this isn’t exactly a first impressions post for the guide since I’ve been playing for awhile, but eh, sue me. I hope to have this game finished by the end of the month, as well as the guide review!

Initial Impressions of Lost Odyssey Guide

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I have somewhat of a love/hate relationship with the Lost Odyssey strategy guide. I’ve been playing Lost Odyssey for what seems like an ungodly amount of time. My game clock says 65+ hours, but it seems like days longer than that. I’ve used the guide on and off during that time, mostly for help getting through the few maze-like dungeons (I just don’t have the patience for those) and treasure chest hunting. For the most part, the guide is helpful, but as much as it is helpful in some areas, it’s extremely unhelpful in others.

For example, most of the mini-games have few to no tips on how to complete them. For those who don’t know, I hate mini-games, so if I have to complete them for whatever reason, I need help just for the sake of my patience. This guide is just as helpful as the Kingdom Hearts 2 guide when it comes to the mini-games (meaning that it is most decidedly not). I also find the maps to be incomplete in some places. Sometimes not all of the treasure chests are marked, and they are even overlooked in the walkthrough. And it would be nice if the maps of the areas that include one-way roads with no return — such as ice slopes and mudslides — were clearly marked.

I actually have not been using the guide at all for the boss fights, so thus far, I have no commentary there. Perhaps I should give them a look-see before I hack out my final review.

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