Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Walkthrough for IoH and Guides in General

Instead of creating a new post, I have edited the existing post that provides a Walkthrough for the 1st three seasons of the 1st Year in Island of Happiness. The Walkthrough is included now at the end of my General Guide as well. In the Summer and Autumn seasons, I no longer provide a daily walkthrough as most of the activities a player needs to perform each day are no different from those given in the Walkthrough for Spring.

I now have begun to work on Rune Factory 2, although I am far from finished with IoH. As this is the only place in the world where I can moan about my frustrations in writing guides, I am going to be selfish for a moment and MOAN a little.

Whenever I begin a new game, I feel like a schizophrenic. There is a part of me who wishes to PLAY the game freely, without responsibility or delay. The other part of me feels compelled to write down every Event and every action taken in my game journal in preparation for the guide... It is the latter that ALWAYS is victorious in this little internal personality war. I therefore am moving EXCEEDINGLY slowly through Rune Factory 2, as I transcribe the text of every Introduction Event and every list of items offered at every shop or business.

I want to scream: 'Let me play this game!' 'Let me ENJOY it a little!'

I couldn't enjoy it properly though, if I neglected to write down the information that will be needed for the guide. I would be nagged by a little voice that would continue to tell me that I was not doing my self-appointed job...

Well, there's the MOAN out of the way. Now I will return to the labour at hand, which is to write down the list of items offered by another shop...

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

You should tell that voice that it's time for a break and just fool around with RF2. At least with your first game - just mess around and explore, you can always get more data in the 2nd one. I would think that would be easier, Freya - cuz you always have a lot more understanding about things the 2nd time around.

Plus ... you've already done extensive work on IoH and made a written guide for BradyGames ... not to mention helping a countless number of gamers. And I'm not even counting ALL the previous guides.

Trust me, everyone needs a break sometime ... otherwise, you'll go coo-coo for cocoa puffs ... and that's never pretty. I've seen it myself ...

Anonymous said...

You should tell that voice that it's time for a break and just fool around with RF2. At least with your first game - just mess around and explore, you can always get more data in the 2nd one. I would think that would be easier, Freya - cuz you always have a lot more understanding about things the 2nd time around.

Plus ... you've already done extensive work on IoH and made a written guide for BradyGames ... not to mention helping a countless number of gamers. And I'm not even counting ALL the previous guides.

Trust me, everyone needs a break sometime ... otherwise, you'll go coo-coo for cocoa puffs ... and that's never pretty. I've seen it myself ...

Freyashawk said...

Ah, Mar, yours is the voice of a true friend and certainly some one who understands the joys of gaming.

You are quite right as well. The second game always offers more value for any game guide than the first. On the other hand, any work I do now is time saved later...

I suppose the best solution would be to find a 'happy medium', writing down some of the stuff, but letting some of it pass for now.

Synth said...

You should get a magical pen/feather from Harry Potter, the one that writes what you say :D
But if you don't have any trips planned to Diagon Ally you could maybe try with a dictaphone? Play normally and say what you'd want to write and transcribe later.
But anyway, always remember that your work has helped, helps and will help a lot of players around the globe :)

Anonymous said...

I struggle with this problem as well! When I want to write a guide for a game, often I want to get started quickly, but I also just want to play the game, for myself, and enjoy it. How frustrating! So, that's why I usually make second playthroughs/files dedicated to my walkthrough, the first playthrough or file simply for me to enjoy and play at my own rate. Perhaps all guide writers suffer this kind of problem?

Anonymous said...

I for one am very impressed by your walkthroughs for all the Harvest Moons and have relied on them and been helped by them on many occasions. As grateful as I am, I agree with Mars Frog! Take some time to enjoy Rune Factory 2. You have worked so hard and what is the point if you can't enjoy it yourself! It would be a shame to turn this game into a chore! Once again, thanks for all your hard work!