[:plant:] Right. Let's talk guides.

Jesus Meia, you guys make me so jealous. I've always wanted to start a huge guide collection, but I simply didn't have the green to throw around for it. I did my share of purchases, but I about half of them have vanished on me one way or another.

I just placed a order for:

Super Mario Galaxy Collectors Edition Guide
Eternal Sonata (Brady Games)
Lost Odyssey (Prima)
Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Prima)
Mass Effect (Prima)

Ones that I have on me:

- Brady Games -
Final Fantasy Chronicles
Final Fantasy Anthology
Xenosaga Episode 1
Star Ocean 3
Phantasy Star Universe
Final Fantasy XII
Tales of Legendia
Tales of the Abyss
Chrono Cross

- Versus -

Phantasy Star Online

- Prima -

Breath of Fire IV
Starcraft 64
Wrestlemania X8
Resident Evil 2 Dual Shock
Fear Effect 2

- Nintendo -

Pokemon Diamond & Pearl
Super Metroid

M.I.A Guides that I remember having in the past:

Saga Frontier 2 (Brady)
Resident Evil 2 (Prima)
Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Nintendo)
Digimon World 2 (Prima)
Final Fantasy VII (Versus)
Driver 2 (Prima)
WCW/NWO Revenge (Prima)
Eternal Darkness (I think Prima)
Many others that I'm forgetting.

People tend to be too spoiler happy with FAQs. Plus, you can't beat having area maps right in front of you. My friend bought the GODAWFUL FFIX guide. As far as my most hated guide that I own goes, FF Chronicles has to take it. You know there's something wrong when the guide is barely 150 pages for TWO games... I also disliked the Nintendo Zelda: OOT guide a lot. Instead of explaining everything, they tried to write it like a story. Interesting idea that made it fail ever so miserably. My favorite guide is the Super Metroid one. Screen caps of all the whole game map is as good as it gets.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

No, I think scratch 'n' sniff cards of game enemies is as good as it gets. That's one thing you just can't get on the Internet.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

In case anyone hasn't heard, apparently EB is dropping guides from their stores in order to make "more room" for their other products. That means we fanatics are going to have to get our fix by buying online.

How ya doing, buddy?

At least they'll be on clearance.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Dhsu

At least they'll be on clearance.

Yeah, but they're all old guides that most of us already have. Go check it out sometime, basically all you're going to find now is like, FF XI guides.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by Dhsu

Edit: Also who is this "SD" you keep referring to, BTW?

SailorDaravon for short, my other half. Which I SHOULD mention that, he's just as a serious collector as I. (Lol, similar interests is what got us together afterall.) So both of us collecting and having enough money as is, is what contribute to this massive collection as you can see. Of course our tax return paid for those rare guides too. So don't feel so bad for not having enough green for all that!

And no kidding, I thought the stores already are doing this years ago Deni. :\ We managed to score a lot of decent guides from second-hand stores who scored from the official game stores' trash bins.

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Originally Posted by Dhsu

At least they'll be on clearance.

Except that no, for some reason, they ain't. Still full price.

Considering they're selling them to get rid of them and get more space, because no one was BUYING THEM, the logical next step would be to ENCOURAGE THEIR PRODUCT FLOW A BIT.

But no. Nope. No sir. Ain't happenin'.

I'm up to 90 or so, now. There's a few I want to order in from Amazon, but lawlshipping makes it more economical to search around locally for them first.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

If I had the money, I would probably collect guides for the games I buy, because it's handy as a reference for any part of the game I need to look up spontaneously. GameFAQs has plenty of guides, but sometimes you just need one at your and and not run back to your computer to check something out. But alas, I don't have the money to keep up with that, not since I just unloaded a ton on PS2 games I need to catch up on.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I've got this guide for Quest for Glory 1-4 (I think it includes 4, might just be 3). It was done in a pretty neat style. There was one section where it just told you exactly what to do, with no story information or anything of that sort, and there was another section where the walkthrough was written more as a novel, including most of the character interactions and what everyone says. I wound up just reading that instead of playing the games after 1 since it was entertaining enough and I really didn't like the town interface they had swapped to in 2.

Also have a few guides that I got for subscribing to Nintendo Power ages and ages ago.

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Originally Posted by RacinReaver

I've got this guide for Quest for Glory 1-4 (I think it includes 4, might just be 3).

Ooh, I think I know what you're talking about! When I was a kid, I had those style guides for Space Quest 1-3 and Police Quest 1-3 (I think), in Dutch. They were awesome, I learned English through them/playing the game/dictionary. Way to go Sierra!

I've never really been interested in guides for whatever reason, but I've always wanted to buy artbooks from various games, but I didn't know where to look for them. Also, they seem really expensive, the kind of price where you're absolutely certain you're being ripped off because you're such a fanatic that you're just a captive audience.

Since I'm cheap, I never could bring myself to buy them. A friend has some of them though, and it's really awesome to see some of the WIP art sketches and such.

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I use to collect them some time ago, usually though they were used and/or most likely when gamestop had that "buy 2, get 1 free" deal that went for Game Guides too.

I mean, 4 bucks for 3 guides? Awesome.

Before collecting them, I would especially like to get them for various games I had, most specifically Final Fantasy III. I remember getting one guide that was like the FFIII encyopedia which had TONS of information but agood bit of it was incorrectly named items.

Other times I got guides for the artwork, like Zelda: OOT. Good stuff there.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Only two game guides I possess are for Metal Gear Solid and Ocarina of Time.

I technically did have the FFIX LOLPLAYONLINELOL, but it has since disappeared long ago. It will not be missed.

I wouldn't mind collecting some more, but... I'd prefer the straight up artbooks.

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I purchased the game guide for Disgaea 2 a week after purchasing the game. I'll probably search on Ebay for the guide to Disgaea 1 and pick it up. Other than that, the only guide I own is for Asheron's Call 2. Lol; it wasn't much help but it was interesting reading.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by speculative

I purchased the game guide for Disgaea 2 a week after purchasing the game. I'll probably search on Ebay for the guide to Disgaea 1 and pick it up. Other than that, the only guide I own is for Asheron's Call 2. Lol; it wasn't much help but it was interesting reading.

Just buy the Disgaea 1 special edition guide from doublejumpbooks.

FELIPE NO

Ah, yes, video game guides. Love 'em. But it's been ages since I bought one. I used to be mad in love with them. Mind you, the guides I have are basically Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts and Pokemon, all from when I was younger. All of my Pokemon guides are essentially torn to shreds. =P (The last guide I bought would have been my Ape Escape 2 one a few years ago~)

My authorised collection/piggyback interactive guides are probably my favourites. Never owned a Versus or Double Jump guide, but would definitely like to. I've also got some pretty lame ones; my Final Fantasy IX guide sucks ass (playonline?!), and I guess that sentiment is echoed throughout this thread. And rightly so.

Couple of questions: is there only one kind of Suikoden II strategy guide out there? (I wanna buy it, and I wanna know if there are any higher quality ones out there) Also, was a guide ever released for Suikoden? How about Chrono Trigger? (And Deni, or whoever, who published the Pesona I & 2 guides you mentioned?)

And is there a site for Working Designs? (Lunar etc) As you can say I really want to get a decent collection of quality guides; mine's pretty pathetic, and I enjoy them oh-so much. Not on the first playthrough though.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by Muzza

Ah, yes, video game guides. Love 'em. But it's been ages since I bought one. I used to be mad in love with them. Mind you, the guides I have are basically Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts and Pokemon, all from when I was younger. All of my Pokemon guides are essentially torn to shreds. =P (The last guide I bought would have been my Ape Escape 2 one a few years ago~)

My authorised collection/piggyback interactive guides are probably my favourites. Never owned a Versus or Double Jump guide, but would definitely like to. I've also got some pretty lame ones; my Final Fantasy IX guide sucks ass (playonline?!), and I guess that sentiment is echoed throughout this thread. And rightly so.

Couple of questions: is there only one kind of Suikoden II strategy guide out there? (I wanna buy it, and I wanna know if there are any higher quality ones out there) Also, was a guide ever released for Suikoden? How about Chrono Trigger? (And Deni, or whoever, who published the Pesona I & 2 guides you mentioned?)

And is there a site for Working Designs? (Lunar etc) As you can say I really want to get a decent collection of quality guides; mine's pretty pathetic, and I enjoy them oh-so much. Not on the first playthrough though.

Only one authorized guide for both Suikoden and Suikoden II. CT has a player's guide, published by Nintendo. And I think both Persona and Persona II are Prima. But I haven't looked at the guide for I in a bit.

Unfortunately Working Designs folded, but you can find a lot of their guides in good quality on ebay.

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Great stuff, thanks for the info. ^.~

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Muzza

Great stuff, thanks for the info. ^.~

Any time, mate. If you can get a hold of the Versus FF VII guide, do so. It's amazing.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by DarkMageOzzie

I think the most helpful guide I have is the one for Star Ocean 2. I can't imagine trying to keep track of the town character interactions without it.

Was it really helpful in the item creation aspects as well? I've been wanting to track down but I'm sort of holding off whenever it's confirmed that SO2 will be rereleased here for the PSP in hopes that they'll rerelease the strategy guide or at least some form of it as well.


I like strategy guides for the art and hints. My favorite one would have to be the Millennium version of Metal Gear Solid. That thing is awesome. Chock full of facts pertaining to the game that really add some background to it. Includes interviews with Kojima and many other people involved with the game and some great concept artwork. My second favorite would definitely be Earthbound. They put so much thought into it making it seem like a travel guide. Definitely not going to give that one up despite how beaten it is.

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Originally Posted by guyinrubbersuit

Was it really helpful in the item creation aspects as well?

Oh yes. Very much so, however, I'm recommending you wait til you see the psp's version (I'd check it out myself too). I'm sure there's a lot of updated data (specifically character's probability percentage in learning a talent). I'm actually hoping that they fix that in the psp version (no more resetting til you got the specific initial talent).

Having that specific talent goes a LONG, LONG way to making item creation successful.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Hmmm... I'm not one for game guides. The few I own are actually my boyfriend's, and most of those are from his youth (good old Pokemon Red/Blue guide).

Only ones of real interest are special edition FF12 and KH2 ones (I was told this loooong story about how certain Sora covers are rare, and we got the yellow one... too bad that it got messed up it a small flood)... But I really like the Brady Metal Gear Solid Tiwn Snakes one. Has a ton of artwork for a guide... I don't know how the actual walkthough is, though.

I usually don't use walkthoughs or guides at all. If I get really stuck, I'd hop online real quick, but, that's about it. I think I should get a few though for some games, but... I don't really have the money for it yet. Ah well.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I've always been a collector of guides if it comes out for a specific game. My fiance and I have a pretty big collection of guides, if we pre-order a game we usually get the guide that comes with it.

I tend to use guides quite often, because I try to complete everything in a game the first time I play it. I do have certain rules when it comes to using guides. I never read stratgeies for boss fights, I try to beat them on my own accord. I also never read solutions for various puzzles as well since I try to finish them for myself.

I usually use guides more for item collection purposes and certain plot points or side quests in the game I might of missed. I also want to make sure I get all the endings if a certain game has multiple endings.

FELIPE NO

I've owned 2 Versus guides, and have enjoyed them tremendously. their Pokemon guide, along with being extremely informative (area %'s and whatnot) was absolutely hilarious. for example, in p2p strategies, they have about 5 different teams. The last one is 6 magikarps. The strategy is wait until your friend/enemy is literally ROFL, and pull out his GBC batteries and call it your victory.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Heh...I remember the FFIX guide. I own it unfortunately. That truly was a piece of a crap guide, it ruins the whole point of guides. "to beat this guy! go to this site" wtf was that about. Might as well go to GameFAQs. -_-

Anyway, I never really collected them. I only own a handful of them, and most of them are from games that I already beat a previous time, just to see what kind of stuff I missed before.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I used to have an immense desire to collect things and would buy the guides to all of the Final Fantasy games as well as a few others but I quickly realized that I only really had them because they looked cool, something I grew out of quickly in my late teenage years.

I became very disillusioned with paper guides due to their uselessness over internet guides, or rather, their just plain uselessness (take FFIX's guide as an extreme example of this).

Now, if guides where more often smaller, say, closer to pocket sized, more comprehensive, and better yet, written by the software developers themselves, I'd be more opt to purchase one.

There's nowhere I can't reach.