Huge apologies about the lack of writing last week. On Monday, a routine vet appointment for my beloved Chow Chow, Mufasa, turned into an all day emergency visit that did not end well. I love my dogs like I love my son, so I took the suddenness of it all really, really hard. I didn’t even contribute to Games are Evil last week, and well, I didn’t play any games either. Yeah, I was hit hard.

But I’m better now, and I’m ready to get my writing groove back on and continue my gushing over strategy guides. I have two strategy guide reviews planned for this week, AND I’m going to have a strategy guide giveaway for two different Collector’s Edition strategy guides. Has your interest returned? Let us begin…

As for the poll from two weeks ago, I’m thinking that maybe I should have combined the JRPGs and WRPGs into just RPGs. But then again, it’s interesting to see that the majority of you use guides for JRPGs. I personally find that JRPGs are more difficult in terms of gameplay just because the typical turn-based combat system creates really, really long battles. The super-secret stuff seems to be far more hidden as well than Western RPGs. I assume this is because JRPGs want you to play for a looooooong time. [Read more…]

The poll was quite a bit split this week with equal portions who have preordered and who is waiting for the 3DS Lite, and equal portions of those who need a specific game first and those waiting for the PSP2 (which is actually the NGP). As soon as a price point and a release date is set for the NGP, I’ll be asking the same question for this handheld too. I wasn’t interested in that one at all, but Sony’s recent press conference with the big reveal has slowly made me excited. However, such excitement will easily crash if the price is higher than the 3DS.

This week’s poll has been really sad for me to come up with. Since I finished Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood, I was eager to get to work on Epic Mickey, despite all the poor reviews and complaints about the camera. I thought the camera in Kingdom Hearts was horrible, so surely if I could get through that and love the game, I could have the same experience here. Besides, how bad could it really be? Surely everyone else is being extremely picky for no reason. NIER got bad reviews over one little mini-game, and I loved everything about that game. I know I can prove everyone is wrong here too. [Read more…]

The answers to last week’s poll were pretty much what I expected. I even voted for “Meh” and I bought the game. If I wasn’t such a huge KH fan, I wouldn’t have given it a second thought. I’ll probably keep the same attitude until the official announcement and release of KH3.

Last week, Nintendo announced the release date and launch price for their highly anticipated 3DS. There has been a lot of outcry that the price is set at $250, something that I don’t understand since I was expecting around $300 or more after E3. I’ve already preordered my 3DS, and I have a few other friends who have done the same. This should come as no surprise as I’m a huge gadget whore and I’m not shy about it.

I already know what my EvilCast brethren think of it as well, so now I have to know what the rest of you plan to do, if anything at all.

If you have no interest now, I have to say that you probably will once you see it in action. When I first heard of the 3DS, I had zero interest. It wasn’t until I saw how amazing it was at E3 that I spun in a full 180. Surely Best Buys and Gamestops of the nation will have kiosks displaying the greatness of the 3DS. And then non-E3 gamers will climb over the counters to get one, and plenty of young kids will be left in utter disappointment as their parents actually say no to them.

I am going to assume from the lackluster number of votes that most of you aren’t into RPGs like I am. My prediction for the poll would have been Dragon Age 2, and I think I’m still right in that prediction, just from the number of tweets I’ve seen. 🙂

But that’s old news. Let’s refocus on this week.

Last week, the new Kingdom Hearts game released, Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded, which is a remake of a series of phone-only games released in Japan in 2008. I picked it up on launch day like the die-hard KH fan I am, but I didn’t get a chance to play it until the weekend (had to finish Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box). I didn’t have high hopes for the game (it’s not really based off the main story, which at least the last few games were), but I wasn’t prepared for my personal disappointment with how ridiculous the storyline is. At least it’s about Sora (sort of) so I’ll be able to go through it anyway without too much whining.

However, this game made me think about KH fans’ issues with the last several games since KH2, and sadly, it just reinforces everyone’s negative feelings. So I wonder if anyone is even excited about this game, considering that there wasn’t much enthusiasm for the last two handheld games and it’s well known that this game has nothing to do with the main story. Let me know how you feel to the right.

As a note to Square Enix, please get a move on with KH3. If there will not be a KH3, then stop teasing us (ending to KH:BBS) and stop making random games with the KH universe slapped on it. Thank you.