Are you in the mood for a quirky Japanese role-playing and strategy game for your Nintendo Switch? The Princess Guide is a title that may fit the bill if you like fun characters and fast-paced combat.
In The Princess Guide, you take on the role of a guide for one of four princesses, where you train them in battle to become a worthy heir to the throne. Here are some beginner's tips on getting started with the game!
- Pay attention to the tutorials
- Don't think too much about your first princess
- Follow the arrow during your mission
- Always look for relics and capture them
- Kill as many enemies as you can for loot
- Praise or Scold your Princess when needed
- Save frequently
Pay attention to the tutorials
I know, sometimes you just want to jump straight into the action of a game and not go through the tutorials. And while you can skip the tutorials at the beginning of the game, I highly recommend that you don't do that.
When you start, you're thrown into combat quickly. It turns out that this is a tutorial that shows you the basics of the combat system. And while you can definitely go and just mash some buttons and be on your merry way, that's probably not a good idea.
During the tutorials, the game tells you to do certain actions with the mapped buttons. If you fail to do it, then you'll keep getting the same enemy over and over until you follow the instructions. Don't worry about dying here: it's a tutorial. It wants you to learn the basic commands, so read the text and do the action on the foes on the screen. Once you do the required action, you've cleared that step and will move on to the next.
The combat in The Princess Guide is somewhat messy and confusing, especially since so much can be happening on the screen at once. That's why I recommend paying attention to the tutorial, otherwise, you're not going to have a fun time.
Don't think too much about your first princess
There are four princesses in The Princess Guide: Liliartie the Warrior Princess, Veronica the Witch Princess, Monomaria the Rose Princess, and Alpana the Dragon Princess.
When you first start the game, you can only pick one princess to guide and train through a short campaign. But once you complete the story for that princess, you can go back and select another one to guide. Each princess has their own standalone story, and eventually, they all come together in the final act of the game. So if you are torn between the princesses, don't worry—you'll get to train them all, eventually.
Follow the arrow during your mission
When you send a squad out for a mission and encounter an enemy piece on the over-world map, it takes you to that location and you'll have to fight enemies in a traditional top-down perspective battle arena. These encounters have different objectives, including defeating all foes on the map before time runs out, capturing relics, and more.
There is always a mini-map in the corner of the screen that shows you the level you're in. Enemies appear as red dots and relics are black squares. However, some levels may be a bit larger than you'd like and you may be confused as to where you should be going to complete the objective.
But the game provides an easy solution. Just follow the yellow pointer that is above your squad's leader (usually the princess you chose), which conveniently says "NEXT." This guides you towards your objective and makes it impossible to get lost.
The pointer always knows!
Always look for relics and capture them
On each level, there will be relics, such as statues, that you can capture for your squad. It's important to take advantage of these monuments, because when you capture them, they'll provide beneficial properties, such as healing or attacking enemies, to your team as long as you're within the relic's range.
Once you have captured a relic, the benefits only work for a brief amount of time. You should take advantage of that as much as you can until it runs out, and then you can proceed onward. There are multiple relics on each stage for you to use, so always keep an eye out for them.
Kill as many enemies as you can for loot
After you defeat mobs of foes, they'll leave behind some treasure chests that are sure to catch your attention. Just give these chests a whack like you do with enemies, and they'll bust open without issue!
The chests will contain valuable loot such as money, upgrade items, and other useful gear. You'll need all of this when it comes time to upgrade your Princess's skills and attributes, so always kill as many foes as you can.
Praise or Scold your princess when needed
Since you're training your princess to be a worthy heir to the throne, you'll need to provide praise when she does something good or scold her when she gets into trouble. Doing this will help with the growth of your princess, increasing her potential.
To initialize the Praise or Scold option, you can do it at any time during battle by pressing both shoulder buttons. Then you choose to either give her Praise or Scold her.
You'll need to do this during the right times though for it to affect her growth. Since the game is a bit messy in terms of combat, this part can be a bit tough to figure out.
Save frequently
Unfortunately, the biggest letdown with The Princess Guide is the lack of autosave. I mean, what kind of Nintendo Switch game doesn't include autosave at this point?
Either way, you'll need to save often and the only way to do this is through the game menu. It's highly recommended to save each time after you complete a mission or make any significant progress. We all know how much it sucks to lose several hours because you didn't save and the software crashes unexpectedly.
Ready to guide your chosen Princess?
While The Princess Guide definitely has some flaws, it's still a pretty fun game once you get used to everything. All of the princesses are fun and charming in their own way, and the action-packed combat is definitely entertaining.
Are you planning on picking up The Princess Guide? Have any more tips to share for beginners? Let us know in the comments!
