Author Topic: I Miss Cool Strategy Guides  (Read 3787 times)

Offline Jesse James

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I Miss Cool Strategy Guides
« on: May 14, 2007, 11:05 PM »
I really do...

-X-Wing
-TIE Fighter
-XW: Alliance

and more...

The old strategy guides used to almost be a novel, or they at least outlined and detailed story/plot points throughout them, and gave incentive to the gamer to buy them just because they were cool reads, had cool images in them (not necessarilly from the game, but rather art and things), and other stuff like that...  Anyone else a little annoyed that strategy guides these days are much "less" than that?  They're usually just gaming bits, nothing more.

I mean, X-Wing and TIE Fighter's strategy guides BOTH were stories...  They extended the mini-novels you got with the games (Steele Chronicles & Farlander Papers), they took you through the character's story along with the game...  Even if you beat the game without the book, it gave you the incentive to own the book for the bigger story around the story you just experienced...

This isn't always practical of course...  Battlefront has no real story, as their single-player game is fairly lame, and any attempted story mode for the game is "meh" at best.  So how do you put a "story" into a guide for the game, ya know?  But I was just thinking how cool a strategy guide could be for, say, EAW: Forces of Corruption.  Great characters, potentially great story you could mix INTO the guide...  Same with EAW really if you wanted, or what about the upcoming Force Unleashed?  Unfortunately I think the guide to FU is gonna eat it pretty hard...  At best you'll get some art in it, which is nice, but not like the old days of guides to games that really opened up the game's experience with a little reading.
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Offline Matt_Fury

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Re: I Miss Cool Strategy Guides
« Reply #1 on: May 29, 2007, 11:48 PM »
Yeah, these were pretty good.  Force Commander had a good one too if I remember....I'll have to look around to see if I can dig them up.
« Last Edit: May 30, 2007, 04:59 PM by Matt_Fury »
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Offline Jesse James

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Re: I Miss Cool Strategy Guides
« Reply #2 on: May 30, 2007, 01:32 AM »
FC's was good, yeah...  I wish they took the same care on them today but, really, even games aren't as in-depth as those ones were it seems.  Story is non-existant in some SW games, like BF and BF2...  That's why I think those are games I'm just not into.  They really disappoint me in their lack of an immersive SP experience.
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Offline Matt_Fury

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Re: I Miss Cool Strategy Guides
« Reply #3 on: June 16, 2007, 04:51 PM »
Well Jesse, you also have to remember people probably won't buy a strategy guide when you can get all you need on the internet for free.
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Offline Jesse James

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Re: I Miss Cool Strategy Guides
« Reply #4 on: June 16, 2007, 06:03 PM »
True, but even still they make strategy guides today, they just don't put forth the effort on them anymore. 
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Offline Madcow

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Re: I Miss Cool Strategy Guides
« Reply #5 on: June 18, 2007, 03:14 PM »
Well Jesse, you also have to remember people probably won't buy a strategy guide when you can get all you need on the internet for free.

Ugh, there's nothing I HATE more than drudging through walkthroughs/FAQs online. I gladly pay $10-15 just to have it right in front of me while i'm playing...

Offline Matt_Fury

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Re: I Miss Cool Strategy Guides
« Reply #6 on: June 18, 2007, 04:35 PM »
No printer?
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Offline Jesse James

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Re: I Miss Cool Strategy Guides
« Reply #7 on: June 18, 2007, 06:45 PM »
I agree though with Madcow...  You don't get the same thing out of a FAQ, and let's face it, it's not exactly fun printing out a walkthrough for a game like KOTOR or something...  I think that's why they still make them honestly.  It's just something more to it.  Still though as the old LA ones were, they were nice stories too.  Much more incentive to buy.
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Offline Madcow

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Re: I Miss Cool Strategy Guides
« Reply #8 on: June 19, 2007, 10:14 AM »
No printer?

The printer isn't the problem. The WT/FAQs are all text based and takes a while to read through. Also there have been a few times that i'll be reading one and their descriptions make absolutely no sense. I like when the Guides show a picture to go with the description, it's a bit easier to follow right in the middle of a game...