I get the feeling that by the end of writing the Lost Odyssey strategy guide that the writers got bored of writing. Like most guides, the writers placed the guide information for all of the sidequests at the end of the guide, but before the appendices. (However, they placed the Achievement appendix before the sidequests, which makes no sense to me, but whatever.) Most of the sidequests are not that long, but they feel hastily written. A few lack maps, and while it makes sense for a couple of areas not to include maps — one area is like the Lost Woods from the original Legend of Zelda — the largest sidequest that has many floors does not contain any maps. Maybe they found it difficult to construct a map since you can alter the floor with a press of a button and utilize many elevator pads to go from one floor to another. However, it doesn’t mean constructing the maps is flat out impossible. The writers did include a detailed walkthrough, but without maps as a reference guide, it’s easy to get overwhelmed and lost. Might have better luck forging ahead on your own.
The walkthroughs also do not contain any information about the enemies you encounter other than the typical picture list of the enemy and its stats. It really would have been nice to know that if you physically attack one enemy, he will counterattack with a severe beatdown. It’s not that you can’t recover from said beatdown, and if you die, well, you regroup, develop a new strategy and try again, as you’re supposed to do with turn-based games. But if you do that, then what is the point of having the guide?
Most of the guide section for the Temple of Enlightenment sidequest makes you wonder why you have the guide in the first place. For areas like these, you’re using the guide to help you get from point A to point B as quickly as possible or to help you find all of the treasures (and no, it doesn’t do that at all). You aren’t using it to wander all over the place and get lost or stuck. You could do that on your own. But the guide can’t really help you in the desired manner if there are no maps, and it offers walkthrough instructions such as, “The best way to navigate this section is to remember what route you took starting from the save location; it’s a good centrally located landmark to help you keep your bearings.”
This is really the first time I’ve even counted on the guide, because this dungeon features elements I personally hate with a passion. I wanted to skip through them quickly. Looks like it’s the old fashioned way for me. At least I’ll level up a ton in the process.
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