Keri Honea - 27/183 - Strategy Guide Reviews

Monday Gaming Diary: Bunch of Slackers

April 4, 2016 By Keri Honea Leave a Comment

Neither Chris nor I have gotten much gaming done this weekend or even over the last week. He was actually being productive, traveling and taking photos for his photography business. I, on the other hand, did pretty much nothing but try not to die as I was laid up with a nasty stomach bug most of the week. And then I had a certification training class all weekend long, when I was finally feeling better, so once again, all work and no play made me dull indeed.

I actually did plan to play a bit this weekend, as I have a Vita game to review, but the technology gods continued to reign against me. I came home from class late on Saturday evening, and I was exhausted. I just wanted dinner, play with the kids, get stuff done ahead of time, and then work on a review or even the Doom closed beta. As I was writing an email, the screen on my phone DIED. It would flicker in and out, but it was obvious it wasn’t long for this world. If I didn’t have a full day of class on Sunday, I would have said, oh that sucks and moved on. But I knew if I didn’t have a working phone for the next day, I was inviting a flat tire. So it was off to Best Buy I went at nine o’clock at night.

Fortunately for me, my LG G3 lasted me over 2 years (suck it, Apple) so I was more than eligible for a phone upgrade. Also lucky for me, the LG G5 just released a few days before, which I was wanting. Well, I wanted to research it when I got the time to see if it was worth the upgrade, but my phone decided NOPE, you upgrade NAO. Naturally I was at the store for quite some time as it’s not so simple to purchase a phone and walk out.

So yay for a new shiny toy! Booooo I didn’t get any gaming done. I miss both Twilight Princess and The Division like you wouldn’t believe. Fortunately for me, I don’t have many reviews this month, so I’ll actually get some strategy guide reviews done in a timely fashion!

Also sad to report that Chris and I will not be recording the SGR Coffee Break this week, as he is still traveling. We’re not sure about next week either. He’s one busy, busy boy.

I hope you all got more gaming done than we did. What did you fill your weekend with?

Hyrule Warriors Legends Collector’s Edition Strategy Guide – Why Buy?

March 30, 2016 By Keri Honea Leave a Comment

The 3DS version of Hyrule Warriors is finally out—Hyrule Warriors Legends—and that means a new strategy guide is out too. There is only the Hyrule Warriors Legends Collector’s Edition strategy guide available for the 3DS game, and if you already own the first game on the Wii U or even the strategy guide, you may wonder why bother picking up this one as well. I know not everyone is as crazy as I am for all things Zelda.

I unboxed the new strategy guide and compared it to the original guide for the Wii U. There are some stark differences, one being thickness. Check it out below.

I do apologize for how out of it and how out of breath I am in the video. In case you were curious, stomach flu is the absolute worst.

Monday Gaming Diary – Was Twilight Princess always this fun?

March 28, 2016 By Keri Honea Leave a Comment

As I have said way too many times, I played Twilight Princess when it first released. I remember having a lot of fun with that first dungeon, even though it took me a long time to get through. Looking back, I know now that I was not skilled enough as a gamer to get through that game, much less on the Wii controls. It took me nearly 6 hours to get through the first dungeon the first time I played. I think I did from the start to the end of the first dungeon in 3, maybe 4 hours.

And now, I can’t stop playing.

I try to play a little bit before I head upstairs to work on my other reviews, as I can play on the Game Pad while the family enjoys TV time. But somehow, when it’s time to put the kids to bed and time for me to go to work, I can’t bring myself to stop. And the next thing I know is that it’s nearly midnight and I haven’t done a thing for work.

I feel really guilty, but at the same time, I kind of don’t care, which is all kinds of confusing.

Was Twilight Princess always this fun? I am I just now discovering how great it is because I’m not as terrible with Zelda games? Because they don’t intimidate me like they used to? Is it because I don’t get as frustrated with failing as I used to? Or is it because I’m using a controller instead of the Wii Remote?

Or all of the above?

If it’s mostly because of the controller, which I think is a good portion of it, then I should have played this on the Game Cube in the first place. I have a copy for the GC, including the GC guide; not sure what stopped me before, if it was time or fear. Probably fear. It’s hard to argue I don’t have time when I stopped everything to finish Dragon Age Origins and Dragon Age 2.
But seriously, the game is far more fun than I remember. Every time I start to work on a review, I instantly think how I’d rather be saving Hyrule. That thought is closely followed by, I wanna save New York. If I could split my time between Twilight Princess and The Division, I’d be the happiest gamer in the world. But even then, I think I’d want to play more Twilight Princess.

Although, no more jousting boss battles. I was so terrible at that. The only reason why I finally defeated that boss is because the game pitied me. There there, you tried so hard to not careen over the bridge; here’s a freebie on us. You did good, oh yes you did! You tried so hard!

The Guest Mini-Review

March 23, 2016 By Keri Honea Leave a Comment

One thing that has been really awesome with my job lately is that I’ve played so many indie PC games this year. I love AAA games, but indie games often bend the traditional rules of games or they bring back that retro feature/mechanic you had no idea that you missed. The Guest is an indie game that takes a page from Gone Home, in that it is a first-person exploration game, but unlike Gone Home, it stays as sinister as the game appears. In fact, the game goes downright WTF up to the very last second.

The player controls Dr. Leonov who was summoned from Volgograd to Boston to give a lecture at Boston University. He wakes up in the middle of the night in his hotel to quickly learn that nothing is what it seems, and he’s actually a prisoner in this room. The only way to escape? Why puzzles, of course!

Here’s a bit of my review from Action Trip:

Like most puzzle games, The Guest starts players off lightly and then pulls no punches later. I doubt it’s half as complicated as the puzzles from The Witness, but a couple did make me tug at my hair in frustration, and sadly, there were no other puzzles I could distract myself with at the time. Only one puzzle made me turn to the Internet for assistance, and the solution still baffled me for a while.

Dr. Leonov doesn’t have many rooms to explore in his little prison, and backtracking is kept down to a minimum. My overall time with the game ended up being between three and four hours, and yet according to the Steam Achievements, I didn’t find half of the items Leonov could add to his inventory or read all the newspapers. I cleaned out every drawer and cabinet I came across, but it is possible that I missed a secret room in my fervor to plow through the puzzles. However, the story isn’t enough to make me want to play again to find these wayward items and there are a few puzzles I couldn’t be paid enough to go through again (I’m looking at you, you damn valve puzzle).

My overall experience was okay, I guess. The ending wasn’t predictable, but I have no idea why any of it happened. I thought I was pretty thorough with exploration, but as I mentioned in my review, the Steam Achievements say I didn’t look at half of what I should have been able to find. I liked the story better than in Gone Home, as at least this one didn’t seem as pointless, but I didn’t like the puzzles as much either.

I definitely learned that if I’m ever kidnapped and can only escape by solving puzzles, I will die alone. That is a fact.

Monday Gaming Diary: The Division is Too Distracting

March 21, 2016 By Keri Honea Leave a Comment

While yes, I have been rather busy with game reviews for Action Trip, I fully admit that I have been shirking some duties in the name of The Division. I haven’t really played any story missions in awhile, but I am determined to clear out every region I have unlocked before moving on to the next zone. It’s partly because doing so is fun, and also partly because I’m hooked on the phone recordings and evidence folders.

People who say that the story in The Division is shallow didn’t go collectible hunting. The game uses these recordings to shed light on the people of New York, what they are personally battling during this outbreak, why they feel the way the do, and what they do to survive the shut-down of the largest city in the US. Most of these give me fucking chills. And some of the Echos, that show exactly what happened in certain situations, have brought on horror and tears.

If you played BioShock, then you know most of the story of Rapture is found in the tape recordings, which is exactly how The Division runs. Collectible hunting could be the best part of this game, just for the story snippets alone.

That said, I did manage to FINALLY get out The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess over the weekend (and ignored my next game for review). I haven’t played this game since it originally released, which I realize was so very, very green at gaming in general. I didn’t remember much about the beginning of the game, but I remember it took me several hours to get through the exploration of the first village, before Ganon comes through the dark world. What was so hard for me back then, I didn’t bat an eye at this time at all. I’m sure some of it has to do with the fact I’m not using motion controls, but it also has something to do with confidence as a gamer and a bit more experience with The Legend of Zelda games. I was really green with those games and 3D open-world style games to begin with at that point. I couldn’t even hack Wind Waker a few years earlier, so now I’m feeling more confident that I’ll be able to finish both of these games, something I always wanted to do with both.

This week is Spring Break for me, so I have a feeling I’ll have to put The Division down (*sniffle*) for Twilight Princess and work review. It also means no SGR Coffee Break this week, and then again for next week since Chris will be traveling.

In the meantime, remember that no matter what you play, HAVE FUN WITH IT, whether you need or want to use a strategy guide or not. I personally won’t take a step in a Zelda game without one, and I don’t care how “pathetic” that makes me. It’s how I have fun, and everyone should have fun with games.

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