A Strategy Guide for your Strategy Guides
I’ve kind of had The Witcher on the brain lately. It’s only fitting that The Witcher 2: Assassin of Kings make this week’s Strategy Guide Cover of the Week.
1) It’s an amazing strategy guide.
2) The cover is beautiful. Just look at it! I’m still a little disappointed there was never a CE for this guide, but considering I didn’t want it to be CE until I played the game…probably not entirely fair.
3) No Yennefer. Seriously, cannot stand that woman. #TeamTriss
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt strategy guide arrived today! For the first time in my video game playing history, I have gotten a copy of the strategy guide BEFORE the game. I am so excited about this, let’s unbox it and make a video to share in the excitement together! Yay for awesome Collector’s Editions of strategy guides!
Final Fantasy Type-0 HD is the most un-Final Fantasy game I’ve played since Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII. It’s action-based with random encounters AND not-so random battles, it has similar side quest system where the quests have to be sought out, there’s a limited hub world, and you make abilities more powerful by synthesizing materials. It’s absolutely insane, not much makes sense, and the difficulty is brutal to say the least. On top of that, the game is meant to be played multiple times, as that is the only way to uncover everything or even complete every last side quest. Like Lightning Returns, I am not sure how it is possible to find everything on your own, so a strategy guide seems to be a very high requirement when it comes to uncovering every little secret and completing every task and side quest. I still think this is the case, but unfortunately, Prima Games’ Final Fantasy Type-0 HD strategy guide fell a bit short of the goal due to poor organization, inefficient information placement, missing information, and a lack of an index.
Since I didn’t receive the strategy guide until I was nearly done with the game, I knew I missed out on several key pieces, and the strategy guide walkthrough was very kind to tell me just how much I did miss in the six chapters I played without it. So many side quests, so many tasks, so many Rubicus entries, and I wasn’t able to complete the Kazusa and Emina sub-events since I didn’t know the trick to completing them. The strategy guide also taught me that I really went about the real-time strategy sorties the wrong way by choosing characters that made the excursions far more difficult than they should have been. I can also say that the strategy guide taught me how to embrace Jack, the one character I loathed using, and how to use his stances and abilities to easily achieve breaksight and killsight with enemies.
And that’s really all the nice things I have to say about the strategy guide (well, that and the chocobo breeding tips).
Yes, yes, this is pretty helpful, actually.
Obviously, I was able to get through the game and survive it, and a lot of that was due to the strategy guide’s tips and tricks, especially in the last never-ending dungeon of doom. However, while I would have been able to find and complete many of the side quests with the guide’s assistance, there are plenty I would not have due to its vague information.
For example, one task requests that you bring back three mauve phantoma. Okay, so how do I get mauve phantoma? According to the strategy guide under the “Phantom” section, mauve phantoma can be gathered from defeated enemies. Gee, that’s a huge help. Mind telling me which enemies? Oh wait, there’s a Drop Rate Chart that will point out which enemies drop mauve phantoma and the likelihood rate, right? Nope. Mauve phantoma can be harvested from “Generic Enemy 2” with magic-based kills. Time to turn to the Bestiary section and find out what in the world Generic Enemy 2 is. Turns out that Generic Enemy 2 is a mid-level run-of-the-mill enemy, which appears to be anything but a boss. I can’t believe this method is the most efficient one they found. For the record, the reward received for bringing back those three mauve phantoma is not worth this headache.
So I need the Setzer Airship to get here. And how do I get this airship?
The strategy guide’s biggest disappointment is in explaining how to acquire the Setzer airship. This is an Achievement/Trophy, and it’s the only way to reach the Agito Tower in the middle of the Rubrum map. Learning how to get it should not take heavy reading to even find where it is mentioned. The first place I saw it mentioned was in the Side Quests section, where it lists the trials of the Agito Tower and comments that the only way to reach the Tower is with the airship. There is no reference where to turn in the guide to acquire said airship. I pored over the walkthrough, looking for any mention of the airship in the main walkthrough, the side quests, or the trials. I finally resorted to looking it up online, where it directed me to a trial only available in Chapter 7. Opened the strategy guide to Chapter 7, and no, there is no mention of this particular trial. Other trials are listed as for the second playthrough, so where in the world is this one? I looked through the Second Playthrough portion, just in case, and lo and behold, there is the wayward trial. This trial should have been listed in the original walkthrough with the “second playthrough” label slapped on it like it has others, AND it should be referenced in the Agito Tower walkthrough in the side quests.
As for more information about the trials, they aren’t even in the Side Quests section at all, despite the main walkthrough saying that they are! There is also no appendix for the Achievements and Trophies, and no index. An index that included every Side Quest title, Task title, Trial title, collectible, etc. would have made me overlook this issue with the Setzer airship, because then the airship would be in the index.
I am honestly not sure if this strategy guide was rushed, hastily put together at the last minute, or just flat out disorganized, because this Final Fantasy Type-0 HD strategy guide is not a typical Prima Games product when it comes to Final Fantasy games. It will get anyone through the game once, that is for certain, but as for helping users find everything and find it all easily? Well, you’ll find the collectibles with no problems and breed chocobos like a pro, but be prepared for a lot of page flipping and perhaps some online assistance. That said, it may be best to just use online help only.
Authors: Garritt Rocha and Nick von Esmarch
Publisher: Prima Games
Editions Available: Collector’s Edition
Acquired via Publisher
Dying Light is an interesting blend of shooter, scavenger, and parkour simulator. While the story was rather bland, the game itself was a friggin’ good time. Sadly, that good time didn’t translate to the Dying Light strategy guide from Prima Games. Usually I tackle my guide reviews in a section-by-section format, but I want to try something new. So I’m just going to write what I thought was bad and good from this guide.
Unfortunately, the part where most readers will spend their time is in the walkthrough and side quest portions of this guide, and those are really rough. I found both of these to be littered with inaccuracies on how to tackle a specific quests. Either the strategy guide would tell me to go to the wrong place, or it would leave out vital tasks that needed doing before the quest could be completed. There were quite a few times when I’d have to go to Dr. Google and ask its advice, because the guide just left me hanging and questioning what the heck I needed to do/go next.
Gotta love the art!
Another point of contention comes in the form of the character development part. Outside of the experience and progression table, there isn’t anything here that is not already clearly shown within the game. It would have been nice to have some pointers on how to develop the character to make the earlier portions of the game a bit easier. Sure, I don’t have to follow those tips, but it would have been nice to see them included.
The biggest issue with this guide comes down to the collectible section. There is a map and a correlating picture for each item, but these don’t always match up with what is actually in the game. The map doesn’t mark all the collectibles accurately, which left me high and dry at times. When the map was right, there were times that the attached screenshot was incorrect. I don’t know if the author had already snagged the item before doing a screen capture, but it made this section feel very incomplete and disjointed.
What the collectible section really needed was tips on how to snag the more complicated items. Until you get the grappling hook, trying to parkour the terrain to get to some difficult place can be an exercise in frustration. Having some direction would have helped. It doesn’t make things better when I spend ten, or more, minutes getting to a place that was shown on the map to have a collectible, and yet I’m greeted with a big fat nothing.
Lastly, the multiplayer could use some love and attention. The guide has some basic maps and tips on how thing work when online. However, anyone wanting to learn more about being the monster will find absolutely nothing on the matter. There is just nothing of solid in this section, and for a game with so much that can be done with friends, this is not okay.
Yet, the strategy guide still has some redeeming qualities. When it comes to presentation, the book rocks it. The pages look like they are dingy and come from the game. The side navigation markers made it easy to get to specific areas without much of a hassle. The artwork, especially in the bestiary, is phenomenal.
I liked that the blueprints actually had info on where you obtain them and what they provide. Granted the map still suffers the same kinds of issues as the collectibles, but not nearly as bad. I used the blueprint section a lot more than I thought I would.
I like it when you scream!
When the guide nails a mission or challenge, it does so in such a solid manner. There is a hefty amount of reading, so be prepared to spend a few moments digesting a heaping portion of text. However, when all that text leads to a successful mission without any major hiccups, it’s a glorious time.
What I really dug about this guide comes in the last few pages. These contain all the Easter eggs, developer tips, and little quips on how to make the game a bit easier. It was fun to read that there was a Mario Bros. reference in the guide and then being able to find it in the game. It’s not exhaustive, but enough that I spent some time actually enjoying the world and getting a laugh between all the work of caving in zombie heads.
When it comes down to it, the Dying Light strategy guide is hard to recommend. There are times it nails down its job and provides concise and useful info. Sadly, the amount of misinformation, bad maps, and lack of thoroughness just drag this guide down and make it unreliable. This is one guide that it is best to skip and just save yourself the headache by using online resources.
Author: Michael Lummis
Publisher: Prima Games
Editions Available: Paperback
Acquired via Publisher
I received a delightful surprise yesterday: two copies of The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask collector’s edition strategy guide. One I preordered with the collector’s edition bundle from GameStop, the other I received from the wonderful people at Prima Games.
As such, I’m going to give away one of these Majora’s Mask strategy guides to one of you! It has something to do with the unboxing video below, but you won’t know what until Friday! This week’s Free Guide Friday will literally be a race to see who responds the most quickly, so it will help if you watch the video early and often, depending on how much you really want the free guide.
Without further ado, watch me unbox this gorgeous collector’s edition of the Majora’s Mask strategy guide.