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SuperWes
Joined: 04 Dec 2006
Location: St. Louis, Missouri
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 Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 5:22 pm |
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| firenze wrote: |
| The FFXII guide? Now THAT'S a nice guide (good job SuperWes!). |
Woo!
I agree on the DoubleJump guides too. It's kind of nice that they mimic Japanese guides (this is something I suggested at Brady for Japanesey guides like Onimusha, but they shot it down because the printing logistics just didn't work), and I like that they're often packed with charts and numbers and information, but there are just some things about them that scream unprofessional.
I have the Disgaea 2 one and I absolutely hate the fact that the front half of the book is printed right-side-up while the back half is printed upside-down. I get that the second half is "spoliers," but if you buy the guide you obviously don't care about having the game spoiled. Don't ruin the experience of actually using the guide. The comic in the back, aside from making no sense at all, is also really fanarty and obviously not something that the designers of the game created. I buy guides (I actually don't buy guides, but in theory if I were to buy a guide it would be...) to experience the most of what a game's artists and designers put into it, not to revel in fandom. Doublejump guides sometimes feel like I'm wallowing in an anime convention.
-Wes
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SuperWes
Joined: 04 Dec 2006
Location: St. Louis, Missouri
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| Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 6:07 pm |
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A look into the mind of a strategy guide company:
1. Game Publishers like the larger guides because it means their cover art will be seen by more people in a game store.
2.
| Quote: |
| Fucking A, they had a full write up on how to beat the first boss in Dawn of Sorrows. There was no reason for anyone to discuss any more strategy than "beat him until he dies" but by god they did it. |
A good strategy guide writer gives a lot of information about things like boss fights. A good strategy guide editor pares down that information to just what's needed. A great strategy guide writer does both on the first pass (note that you can remove all instances of the words "strategy guide" from the above sentence and it's still true).
3. The number of spreadsheets in a guide is directly proportional to the amount of support a game's publisher gives the guide publishers. If the publisher doesn't give much support they're probably getting the info from a Japanese guide where the writers were given support. Note that the Japanese guides are often given to the US Strategy Guide publishers from the US game's publisher as reference material.
4. Some guides that obviously won't make strategy guide companies any money are done specifically to please a publisher so that they'll be able to do guides for more popular games that they'll make a lot of money on.
5.
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| Japanesey meaning smaller font, more information, and extra sections for things not related to the game? Like art galleries, interviews, and fan input (like if it's an arcade game talk to actual arcade players for more info)? |
Partially. The size was the main thing I was thinking of, but there are other things. Again though, most of the bonus stuff is less dependent on what the guide's publisher wants to do and more on how much support the game's publisher gives them.
6. Also the best-designed guides in the world are the European Piggy Back guides. HOT fucking shit. I'm pretty sure that recently a few of them have been brought over to the US as Brady or Prima guides.
-Wes
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Last edited by SuperWes on Thu Feb 01, 2007 6:12 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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SuperWes
Joined: 04 Dec 2006
Location: St. Louis, Missouri
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| Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 6:33 pm |
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| Predator Goose wrote: |
| Then you and I have different opinions on what makes a good strategy guide editor. Though I never, nor would anyone, had any need for the strategy for the first boss fight, I was still pleased that they included it. It helped the guide feel more complete. |
I was more just making a statement. I'm pretty sure Prima, Brady, and Double Jump all give just as much information on throw away boss fights. I'd be surprised if this was exclusive to Double Jump.
Also: Some of the stuff you're talking about gets shot down because the approvals process can be a big pain in the ass. Certain designs can't be done because the art isn't allowed to be obstructed in any way, and some ideas I've had (like including some historical information on the inspiration for characters in the Onimusha: Blade Warriors guide) wouldn't have been worth the effort of getting Capcom to sign off on.
-Wes
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Last edited by SuperWes on Thu Feb 01, 2007 6:46 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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SuperWes
Joined: 04 Dec 2006
Location: St. Louis, Missouri
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| Posted: Fri Feb 02, 2007 3:57 pm |
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So I have EXACTLY $40 to spend at Best Buy. Should I get Rogue Galaxy or should I get Lunar Knights next week?
-Wes
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SuperWes
Joined: 04 Dec 2006
Location: St. Louis, Missouri
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| Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2007 6:10 pm |
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I don't particularly like it either, but for some reason I keep playing it and I can see myself possibly even playing it through to completion. I'm like, 11 hours in, which is insane for me for a game that I started playing Saturday Morning, and I just unlocked the factory (which I do actually kinda dig).
I think the big reason I'm actually putting time into this is that I kept telling myself that I didn't want to get it because I knew I wouldn't put enough time into it to justify the cost. Kind of a silly reason, eh?
-Wes
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SuperWes
Joined: 04 Dec 2006
Location: St. Louis, Missouri
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| Posted: Tue Feb 13, 2007 4:06 pm |
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I agree with schild here. There's a teleporter every 50 feet, and when there's not it's usually because you're supposed to have some difficulty getting to wherever it is you're going.
Aside from this, I'm not sure what sort of transportation device they could have had given the way the engine works.
I'm still kinda feeling like this game isn't anything special, but I haven't lost any desire to play it, and am probably going to see my way all the way through. I think the best thing it's got going for it is excellent pacing. There are a lot of different parts to the game and they reveal little pieces to you bit by bit, keeping you going the whole way, and constantly giving you interesting decisions to make (usually on how you're going to use your items or spend your money). It's a neat game.
-Wes
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