29th June 2005, 11:52 AM
Nintendo Power had a purpose back when I got it, because internet game web sites didn't even exist at the time. (The internet was a huge BBS system wherein you first had to find out the phone number for the BBS you wanted access to, then in a DOS style you would view a large text file with COLORS, and then type in the download command if in fact there are one of those... things you can download... like the latest Commander Keen demo... at 8 baud....)
But anyway, I realize now that even then it was painfully biased. Occasionally they would take time out of their busy review schedule to tell the readers why the Genesis SUUUUCKED, and with little comic asides drawn in the style of a political comic...
Painful really to remember what I actually put up with in those...
But anyway, it had upcoming game data and in game information I got every month and couldn't get anywhere else except from other magazines that were already starting to get a little ad heavy, so it was fine. The classified info center was cool. I even sent in my own code to them once (forgot the issue, but I uncovered the "secret" that if you beat the game, you unlock hard mode... wow, no one would have EVER figured that one out...).
Anyway, I didn't care about them changing the look, but I did love the Epic center when that finally arrived, right about the time I was really getting obsessed with the SNES's great strength, a billion RPGs. It was nice to have this huge list of hidden one time only items for this RPG or that.
But anyway, in the end I still have those issues namely because if I end up going for a perfect file in some old game and I already pretty much know where everything is (but just in case...) I'll just lay out all these maps and data charts all across my bed and flip on the switch. There's just something a little... classic, about doing stuff like that.
Two particular game coverages are my favorites though, two things long gone from what I can tell...
The first was a 3 issue long total coverage of Secret of Mana. The special thing was that it was actually a first person narrative of the boy from the story explaining all this stuff in a very believable way with illustrations and stuff specially made for it. It also had all sorts of extra storyline bits for stuff like legends behind all the stages of all the weapons in the game (except 9th level).
The second was a similar thing done for Earthbound, but in the vein of a news reporter on the scene.
In conclusion, there was a time when this stuff actually was nice to have around. Today though, I can get all the upcoming game data I could want, in fact too much, for FREE. I have no reason to get the slow drip from a game magazine that's almost always behind the times. Magazines today aren't giving up the ghost either. They hang on for dear life by offering things like demo disks. I don't care about demo disks though. Now, one in paticular offers something that actually would be motivation for me, exclusive extra game content for certain XBox games. I do think that's a little rude though. All that content is probably downloadable on XBox Live by now though, or at least eventually. They'd be stupid not to do that...
Anyway, if I want game guides and secrets, I go to GameFAQs. That CjayC guy was a frickin' genius to actually organize a site where all the guide writers would want to go to organize and post their guides in one easy to navigate place. I wonder if Japan has anything like that site, or if they have to live like savages in the olden days when you had to actually use a search engine if you wanted to find a game guide on some random geocities site somewheres...
But there is one thing that the net doesn't yet offer. Even Gamefaqs almost never has full color maps, and I don't have a laptop so when they do I can't spread it out in front of me.
For that, player's guides, and EVERY SINGLE GAME has them now (used to be only the very best selling games had the privilage of getting a player's guide), are the thing to have. Not only that, there's not just the one by the makers of the game, there are 3 others by companies like Prima and so on you have to pick from.
Problem is, they all suck compaired to the old days of player's guides... Remember when a guide was a GUIDE? When they showed you stuff that wasn't even IN the game, but in the BETA? When they told you EVERYTHING, and not just the stuff they got to before the deadline was up and they had to go to print?
GameFAQs walkthroughs still tend to reveal more secrets than today's guides, which isn't good because those are secrets the guide makers should have found out right away.
I mean, they leave out things like "where every single item in the entire game is located" maps these days! That ain't right!
Back in "the day", not only did they give you info, they gave it to you PROPA! Today, they give you this bare bones walkthrough, which if you actually were the sort to follow it, you'd easily miss a LOT of one time only items, and then at the END they give you a list of all the secret stuff (which isn't all of it anyway). Back then, they told your arse where everything was with a FULL walkthrough. They had those lists at the end sure, but they were redudant for easy access because they also told you were all that stuff was during the main quest. They told you random stuff too like "hey if you spread magic powder on that sweeping woman she'll turn into a fairy".
And, they had time to give you all sorts of exclusive illustrations with all sorts of random storyline data, or in the case of Mario World, a history of Mario so detailed they actually raced the previous Marios to gather a "blocks per second" speed for all the games up to that one, and interviews with The King (Miyamoto). In LTTP's case, it was loaded with all sorts of random data about the world like the history of the jewelry hylians wear or the makeup of that pot the witches stir their witch's brew in. Come and get it! Fresh hot cold witch's brew!
That all said, as you may have gathered I'm the sort to go through a game the first time or 3 without help unless I manage to get into some situation where I really am hopelessly stuck, though even then I'll tough it out for a few days if possible. However, when I do want to find everything I simply could NOT discover by my own power, I would like a guide that really can promise me that when I'm done with it, I WILL attain perfection.
Today's guides don't do that. It may be no surprise I don't have many of them compaired to my stack of old player's guides. The cool ones.
But, with MMORPGs, a whole new thing comes up.
Those games change over time, sometimes very drastically. Any guide on paper WILL be obsolete within a year's time. While a static guide format is fine for a static unchanging game, it is terrible for a dynamic one.
The guide for that kind of game must also be dynamic. Hence, it must be a digital one. Not PDF! (Why is PDF even still in use? What possible advantage does that have over what I'm about to suggest?) I'm suggesting HTML as a possible format, or maybe even the Windows help file system (it does allow images in it, I think animated ones too, but mainly it has an index and a table of contents system that would be very helpful). This sort of guide is the sort that you can update online whenever the game itself updates so it's not behind the times. The problem of course is that you may find yourself paying a monthly fee for THAT. I'm only barely willing to pay money for a guide to begin with, but I don't ever see myself paying for a spoiler on a monthly basis.
But that's okay. Anyway, during this whole thing I actually did find a pretty interesting site with info on the more popular MMORPGs out there that is always updating (WoW, FFXI, Various Everquests, SWGalaxies, and some I've never heard of too...). The data is free but if you want to actually ask them something and expect a response you have to pay a fee. I'm not even playing any MMORPGs so you can understand I'm not exactly wanting to do that :D.
http://wow.allakhazam.com/
But anyway, I realize now that even then it was painfully biased. Occasionally they would take time out of their busy review schedule to tell the readers why the Genesis SUUUUCKED, and with little comic asides drawn in the style of a political comic...
Painful really to remember what I actually put up with in those...
But anyway, it had upcoming game data and in game information I got every month and couldn't get anywhere else except from other magazines that were already starting to get a little ad heavy, so it was fine. The classified info center was cool. I even sent in my own code to them once (forgot the issue, but I uncovered the "secret" that if you beat the game, you unlock hard mode... wow, no one would have EVER figured that one out...).
Anyway, I didn't care about them changing the look, but I did love the Epic center when that finally arrived, right about the time I was really getting obsessed with the SNES's great strength, a billion RPGs. It was nice to have this huge list of hidden one time only items for this RPG or that.
But anyway, in the end I still have those issues namely because if I end up going for a perfect file in some old game and I already pretty much know where everything is (but just in case...) I'll just lay out all these maps and data charts all across my bed and flip on the switch. There's just something a little... classic, about doing stuff like that.
Two particular game coverages are my favorites though, two things long gone from what I can tell...
The first was a 3 issue long total coverage of Secret of Mana. The special thing was that it was actually a first person narrative of the boy from the story explaining all this stuff in a very believable way with illustrations and stuff specially made for it. It also had all sorts of extra storyline bits for stuff like legends behind all the stages of all the weapons in the game (except 9th level).
The second was a similar thing done for Earthbound, but in the vein of a news reporter on the scene.
In conclusion, there was a time when this stuff actually was nice to have around. Today though, I can get all the upcoming game data I could want, in fact too much, for FREE. I have no reason to get the slow drip from a game magazine that's almost always behind the times. Magazines today aren't giving up the ghost either. They hang on for dear life by offering things like demo disks. I don't care about demo disks though. Now, one in paticular offers something that actually would be motivation for me, exclusive extra game content for certain XBox games. I do think that's a little rude though. All that content is probably downloadable on XBox Live by now though, or at least eventually. They'd be stupid not to do that...
Anyway, if I want game guides and secrets, I go to GameFAQs. That CjayC guy was a frickin' genius to actually organize a site where all the guide writers would want to go to organize and post their guides in one easy to navigate place. I wonder if Japan has anything like that site, or if they have to live like savages in the olden days when you had to actually use a search engine if you wanted to find a game guide on some random geocities site somewheres...
But there is one thing that the net doesn't yet offer. Even Gamefaqs almost never has full color maps, and I don't have a laptop so when they do I can't spread it out in front of me.
For that, player's guides, and EVERY SINGLE GAME has them now (used to be only the very best selling games had the privilage of getting a player's guide), are the thing to have. Not only that, there's not just the one by the makers of the game, there are 3 others by companies like Prima and so on you have to pick from.
Problem is, they all suck compaired to the old days of player's guides... Remember when a guide was a GUIDE? When they showed you stuff that wasn't even IN the game, but in the BETA? When they told you EVERYTHING, and not just the stuff they got to before the deadline was up and they had to go to print?
GameFAQs walkthroughs still tend to reveal more secrets than today's guides, which isn't good because those are secrets the guide makers should have found out right away.
I mean, they leave out things like "where every single item in the entire game is located" maps these days! That ain't right!
Back in "the day", not only did they give you info, they gave it to you PROPA! Today, they give you this bare bones walkthrough, which if you actually were the sort to follow it, you'd easily miss a LOT of one time only items, and then at the END they give you a list of all the secret stuff (which isn't all of it anyway). Back then, they told your arse where everything was with a FULL walkthrough. They had those lists at the end sure, but they were redudant for easy access because they also told you were all that stuff was during the main quest. They told you random stuff too like "hey if you spread magic powder on that sweeping woman she'll turn into a fairy".
And, they had time to give you all sorts of exclusive illustrations with all sorts of random storyline data, or in the case of Mario World, a history of Mario so detailed they actually raced the previous Marios to gather a "blocks per second" speed for all the games up to that one, and interviews with The King (Miyamoto). In LTTP's case, it was loaded with all sorts of random data about the world like the history of the jewelry hylians wear or the makeup of that pot the witches stir their witch's brew in. Come and get it! Fresh hot cold witch's brew!
That all said, as you may have gathered I'm the sort to go through a game the first time or 3 without help unless I manage to get into some situation where I really am hopelessly stuck, though even then I'll tough it out for a few days if possible. However, when I do want to find everything I simply could NOT discover by my own power, I would like a guide that really can promise me that when I'm done with it, I WILL attain perfection.
Today's guides don't do that. It may be no surprise I don't have many of them compaired to my stack of old player's guides. The cool ones.
But, with MMORPGs, a whole new thing comes up.
Those games change over time, sometimes very drastically. Any guide on paper WILL be obsolete within a year's time. While a static guide format is fine for a static unchanging game, it is terrible for a dynamic one.
The guide for that kind of game must also be dynamic. Hence, it must be a digital one. Not PDF! (Why is PDF even still in use? What possible advantage does that have over what I'm about to suggest?) I'm suggesting HTML as a possible format, or maybe even the Windows help file system (it does allow images in it, I think animated ones too, but mainly it has an index and a table of contents system that would be very helpful). This sort of guide is the sort that you can update online whenever the game itself updates so it's not behind the times. The problem of course is that you may find yourself paying a monthly fee for THAT. I'm only barely willing to pay money for a guide to begin with, but I don't ever see myself paying for a spoiler on a monthly basis.
But that's okay. Anyway, during this whole thing I actually did find a pretty interesting site with info on the more popular MMORPGs out there that is always updating (WoW, FFXI, Various Everquests, SWGalaxies, and some I've never heard of too...). The data is free but if you want to actually ask them something and expect a response you have to pay a fee. I'm not even playing any MMORPGs so you can understand I'm not exactly wanting to do that :D.
http://wow.allakhazam.com/
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)