Strategy Guide Reviews

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The Corner of Randomness: Hello Destiny 2

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Destiny 2If the news of hurricanes, wild fires, droughts, and other horridness has kept you busy, then you should know that Destiny 2 is out now. Well, it’s out on consoles now with the PC version having to wait another month before that version will see the light of day. Yet, I’m not snagging Destiny 2 right away. I’m a bit sad by this, but not that sad.

You see, what made the original Destiny fun for me was playing with friends and family. There were the times I’d get up at 4AM so Blake and I could play through a new expansion. Just as we would finish and he’d head off to work, my brothers would be jumping into the game and I’d play through the expansion again. This would inevitably lead to various friends getting home from work and, wait for it, I’d do it all over…again.

That is what I will miss from not being able to snag Destiny 2 right away. I have heard the story is much improved over the first game. Not that it would take much as the story for Destiny was pretty weak. From what I’ve watched on Twitch.TV, it seems like there is quite a bit more to do. That is always a good thing. The game does look like the developers listened to some of the gripes of players, and made changes for the better.

Yet, as I watch streams of the game, it just looks like more of the same thing that I’ve already played. If you liked the first game, then this sequel should be great for you. For me, the part that I’m missing the most is just joking around with people, catching up with my brothers, and simply being able to play video games with friends that are hundreds of miles away. I guess I could always just call them to talk…psh, that’s such a 90s thing to do.

The Corner of Randomness: Back Into No Man’s Sky

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No Man's SkyNo Man’s Sky is surrounded by so much controversy that you could basically cut it with a knife and serve it on a platter to all the haters. There really is no middle ground when it comes to this game. People either enjoy the game, or they just crap all over it. I get it. No Man’s Sky promised a lot, but fell flat at launch. It was essentially a $60 early access title. Well, a year has now passed since the game released. Patches and content have trickled out in that time. So, I decided to see what all has changed.

To start, I enjoyed the game when it launched. It was more of a relaxing kind of game for me. Now that there is more content to it, the game is even more fun. I decided that I’d delete my old game and start anew. Might as well experience what all has been added.

I can say that the game is vastly improved. Simple things like refilling your life support systems, or adding fuel to your thrusters, is simplified and streamlined. There is still that annoying part where inventory management is a constant battle. Yet, there is more spaces to store materials, and it’s pretty painless to now send and retrieve stuff from your ship. Speaking of your ship, the ability to just call the ship to you as opposed to trying to find it is a welcomed addition. There is even a decent photo mode, and I love a solid photo mode!

No Man’s Sky now has a few new modes as well. There is a hardcore mode where when you die, that’s it. There is also a more relaxing creative mode. No more storage management issues as everything is available to those that just want to explore the universe, or build whatever their imaginations can cook up.

At this point, I don’t think anyone is going to change their mind on the game. Like I said earlier, I enjoyed the game at release, but these improvements make the game much more enjoyable. I know there is still some broken promises when it comes to what No Man’s Sky promised and what it delivered. However, it’s nice to see Hello Games continuing to support this game with new content and improvements, even with all the crap they have gotten over this title. If you own the game, patch it up and take a look at it. You might just be pleasantly surprised by how much the quality of life has improved on this game.

Gaming Diary: A Pillar of the RPG Community

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The console version of Pillars of Eternity definitely has its share of problems, mostly from the translation to console from PC. However, it’s still great fun, and it’s almost more enjoyable the second time. Half of that is because I know a bit more of what is going on, and the half is because of the strategy guide. I had no idea how many side quests I missed completely the first go around. And do you know what side quests do? Rake in the XP. And what does that do? It makes the main quest ten times easier.

Pillars of Eternity complete edition

So uplifting.

I have a few gripes about the Pillars of Eternity strategy guide, but I’ll get into those in a full review.

More than anything, I’m just super happy that this incredible cRPG is now available for all gamers. The better experience is, by far, on PC, but not everyone likes playing on PC or even has a proper gaming PC. That’s one thing with consoles—you don’t need to worry about specs for your games. Just pop in the disc (or download it) and go. All RPG fans, especially those who enjoyed the classic cRPGs like Icewind Dale and Baldur’s Gate, should give this game a try.

As I continue my trek through the PoE strategy guide, I have to turn my attention to the next review and get back to Splatoon 2 strategy guide. Splatoon is a rather amazing little shooter, and the sequel does it justice. Although, I have totally forgotten about Link to the Past. I left off at the Ice Palace. I hope my rhythm isn’t too messed up to not continue. If I have to start this game over again, I know I’ll never finish.

The Corner of Randomness: Randomize All the Things

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A Link to the Past randomizer tournamentI’ve noticed a big upswing in various games getting the randomized item treatment. Maybe it’s because I’ve been watching a lot of A Link to the Past and Super Metroid randomizer runs as of late. Of which, the latest Entrance Shuffle mode for A Link to the Past is stupidly fun to watch. If you haven’t watched one of the Entrance Shuffle runs, you should seriously consider giving one a watch in the not so distant future! Yet, these are not the only games that now have a random item location mod.

Recently I was watching one of my favorite Dark Souls streamers playing two different types of mods for Dark Souls 1. There was an item randomizer run where the game had all the weapons, armor, and items randomized. So you never knew if he was going to get some sort of badass weapon from a boss, or if he was about to get trolled with some crappy item that really wouldn’t help him out.

The second run he did, he used a mod that made it so every three hits he scored on enemies/bosses would “level” him up. It would also assign some random gear to his character and level his stats appropriately to use said gear. If he got hit, he was back to level 1 with absolutely no gear outside of some basic weapon. This run was extremely entertaining to watch due to just how much skill went into trying not to get hit to lose an overly powerful setup.

Some other notable randomized games I’ve watched have been Mega Man X1, Pokémon Red, and even Super Mario Bros. Currently, all these randomizer runs exist due to mods or changing some code in the ROM that the people are playing. Yet, it has me wondering if we will soon see a developer take note of how much fun these types or games are and actually develop a game around this idea of randomizing where items appear in the game. I think it would be fun while adding a new level of challenge to video games. Hmmm, I wonder if SpeedGaming has anything on right now!

Gaming Diary: Remember that Pillars of Eternity Strategy Guide?

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Pillars of Eternity strategy guide

I reviewed Pillars of Eternity when it originally released for PC in 2015. I hailed it as a fantastic return to the cRPG genre, and an overall wonderful RPG. My boss argued with me when it came time for GOTY awards. I demanded PoE be the RPG of the Year. It’s releasing for PS4 at the end of this month, and guess who is reviewing it? THIS GAL.

Not sure if I announced here that I’ve returned to video games writing, but I have. I’m back with PlayStation Lifestyle, but this time in a more editorial capacity. I’m their copy editor and SEO wizard, which is how I started at Kombo all those years ago. I happen to also be an occasional reviewer and feature writer. It’s so nice to be back, and even nicer to be back in a slightly less stressful capacity. Plus, I really love editing. That helps so much.

I’m excited to come back to PoE and review it for a couple of reasons. For starters, I’d like to actually finish the game this time. Secondly, I’m stoked I can use my Pillars of Eternity strategy guide that Prima Games sent me awhile back! I always meant to use it to review the PC game, but you know how that goes. This is how the stack of shame comes to life when you review games and/or have any sort of busy life.

So far, the book has been a fantastic companion. I used it for character creation as well as double-checking some of my route decisions. This time, I don’t want to miss picking up a character before tackling the stronghold. I did that when I first played on PC, and honestly, I should award myself a medal for defeating that first boss with only three people in my party. Yes, it took multiple tries. I nearly rage quit. I paused so much to dole out orders to my team. Imagine how stupid I felt (and yet proud) when I learned there are two other party members to recruit BEFORE tackling the stronghold boss. It’s amazing I’m allowed to play video games at all, actually.

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