Player Reviews: Help or Hindrance?
After spending time poking around the game manual, I decided to take a walk around the net to see what I could find. Indeed, there is no shortage of player commentary out there about any game - from fan fiction to design criticism, but I was hoping to gain some insight into gameplay and maybe find some nugget of information that would make my play experience a little richer.
The most elaborate site I would daresay is the [unofficial] FFX2.com site. It is a project of love by several fans who have spent the last while accumulating game play information, multi-media extracts and links to the forums. One of the more interesting online spaces dedicated to FFX2 is the wikipedia page. An interesting, relatively objective entry that includes a "reception and criticism" section. Interesting read, but I have to say, besides being chalk full of interesting tidbits of information, I am more and more often coming to the conclusion that all of this outside information - be it walkthrough's, faq's or general knowledge sites - all of these spaces build the perception of a large fanbase and surrounding game culture, but in terms of actually helping someone play - someone who is actually struggling through the game.
My partner often refers to walkthroughs after completing a game as a way of either making sure he didn't miss anything or to learn every nook and cranny of a game - but it means something to him since he was able to complete it in the first place. In my case, even though these reviews have helped me know where I am supposed to go or who I am supposed to talk to, but it doesn't help my dexterity or play skill.
Essentially, strategy guides, player reviews and other lateral, outside reading has been helpful to deepen the narrative or to make me appreciate game elements such as battle strategies (like I have ever been able to even strategize!! most battle scenes for me are a mix of luck and anxiety ridden button mashing!!). They allow me to identify with elements of the game that I would otherwise not be aware of since I've always been too busy concentrating on not falling off a ledge (when the game mechanism actually allows you to fall) or trying to remember how to get out of a town (I've never had a good sense of direction - and multitasking maps inscreen only makes things worse!).
The most elaborate site I would daresay is the [unofficial] FFX2.com site. It is a project of love by several fans who have spent the last while accumulating game play information, multi-media extracts and links to the forums. One of the more interesting online spaces dedicated to FFX2 is the wikipedia page. An interesting, relatively objective entry that includes a "reception and criticism" section. Interesting read, but I have to say, besides being chalk full of interesting tidbits of information, I am more and more often coming to the conclusion that all of this outside information - be it walkthrough's, faq's or general knowledge sites - all of these spaces build the perception of a large fanbase and surrounding game culture, but in terms of actually helping someone play - someone who is actually struggling through the game.
My partner often refers to walkthroughs after completing a game as a way of either making sure he didn't miss anything or to learn every nook and cranny of a game - but it means something to him since he was able to complete it in the first place. In my case, even though these reviews have helped me know where I am supposed to go or who I am supposed to talk to, but it doesn't help my dexterity or play skill.
Essentially, strategy guides, player reviews and other lateral, outside reading has been helpful to deepen the narrative or to make me appreciate game elements such as battle strategies (like I have ever been able to even strategize!! most battle scenes for me are a mix of luck and anxiety ridden button mashing!!). They allow me to identify with elements of the game that I would otherwise not be aware of since I've always been too busy concentrating on not falling off a ledge (when the game mechanism actually allows you to fall) or trying to remember how to get out of a town (I've never had a good sense of direction - and multitasking maps inscreen only makes things worse!).
posted by Kelly at 8:52 p.m.
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