ScuzzBlog: Diaries November 2018
Entry 28th November 2018: Post 01: Game Books - Pt 1
Game Books - Pt 1 - Final Fantasy
Guides to games I find most fascinating. From my earliest days of
playing games and following the walk through guides in magazines
I have collected various guides. Some have been as simple as the
words I have written for myself playing to the very detailed thick
manuals that accompanied various games. It wasn't that I wanted to
cheat the game, but more to make sure I didn't miss anything. I
very often reviewed the guides after completing various stages.
The best of the best in terms of guides has to be the Final Fantasy
series. I swear the game was designed so that you had to buy the
books. With each successive version of the Final Fantasy series
came the new and thicker book. Although the game wasn't exactly
what you would call sandbox, it definitely did let you adventure
and explore freely and earn your passage to better gear and skills.
Knowing where everything was in game and how to discover those
obscure and powerful boss' was a real bonus, though you still had
to defeat them all on your own.
It is quite amazing now just how many tiny facts and figures I
consumed in my quest for knowledge and a more rewarding play
experience. And I really did read these books from cover to
cover. Dunno where I would have been without them.
So for part 1 of this mini series I include the very wonderful
Final Fantasy series. So much was produced for the game and even
some of the characters became sex idols. Not really sure why but
hey.. what ever gets your motor running.
Final Fantasy is very Japanese. It is suited to their culture and
for me is a wonderful way to escape the normal games we get here.
There is an almost child like innocence to the stories which while
dwelling on the most basic of human emotions does make for an
incredibly deep story plot. Some of the concepts are a little
confusing but that simply adds to the allure.
The skill sets in Final Fantasy are a subject of immeasurable
depth and complexity. To unravel the mysteries of just how the
systems work you really need the books. I find this part of
the game the most interesting. It is never the same from one
game to the next so with each game the old book is simply shelved.
I have all my games volumes carefully stored in one location.
Not for prosperity or anything, but simply so I know where they
are when I need them. The books are for the most part very well
thumbed. I also have boxes full of reams of papers printed from
the web. I would send a document to the printer and then find
this two inch thick batch of paper with endless passages on the
merits and pitfalls of certain aspects of the games. And it
wasn't just this game it was every game.
And so to start I give you Final Fantasy. Probably the best
ever series of fantasy games created on the PlayStation.
Final Fantasy
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