Lets talk strategy guides: Likes, dislikes, favorites?

[Roufuss]

Alot of us have recently gotten a ton of strategy guides lately... I thought this would be an interesting topic. What are some of your favorite strategy guides, favorite companies, most disappointing guides, etc? I'll start it off.

Doublejump Books makes some awesome, awesome guides, but they seem to have a hell of a time getting rights to make them... either that or they are just super picky (yet they did do a guide for Genji...). I really wish they'd step in and get guides where other companies pass, like Stella Deus, DDS 1 and 2, etc.

Brady games has really turned themselves around lately. When I first saw Best Buy's penny guide drops and saw Ultimate Spider-Man and X-Men Legends 2, I thought to mysefl "wow, I bet those are some horrible guides, how much info could you possibly cram into them??" I was VERY wrong. Both guides have plenty of full color, original artwork, lots of information... probably some of my favorite guides recently.

Brady's Signature Series is some quality stuff, for sure.

Prima really drops the ball on alot of their guides... some of their guides are 100 pages or so, and very basic stuff. I guess it's hard writing a guide on something like Destroy All Humans, though. Their Wild Arms 4 and Wild Arms: Alter Code F guides were excellent though.

What's up with PC guides being garbage? Most of them I see are $19.99, but here's the kicker, they are in BLACK AND WHITE?!? Some of the most disappointing guides I've ever seen. Sybex did an awesome job on Dungeon Siege 2 though.

[mentos888]

my favorite pc guides are mostly for half-life 2:
the orange one by prima, surprisingly, and, of course, the half-life 2 artbook, which i actually bought for full price last year. :(.

some of the better guides i've seen include: msg3, tekken 5, final fantasy xi, and gta:san andreas. pc guides have pretty much always sucked as far as i remember and have mostly been black and white.

VVVVV btw, i'm looking for a certain doublejump guide (if someone wants to trade) VVVVV :drool:

[zionoverfire]

I really enjoyed the FF7 Versus guide, I really wish more guides would come with that style of layout rather than boring white boarders and this need to break everything down into sections that make each section of the guide look the same.

[Apossum]

the Tekken 5 and Street Fighter Anniversary guides were pretty informative, though some of the info is off. It's obvious they were made by people who play fighters, rather than just a cut and paste job from the game's movelist, like a lot of fighting guides do.

of course, double jump are the best hands down. the SMT:Nocturne(400+ pages), Disgaea and Castlevania guides are perfect.

[Zmonkay]

I must say my favorite guide I have ever had the pleasure of purchasing was one for Nightwarriors: Darkstalkers Revenge, for Sega Saturn.

I don't remember who made it (they aren't still around to my knowledge, and I want to say it was Gamefan Books, but I'm not sure), but it is one of the best strat guides I have ever witnessed, and for a fighting game no less.

Not only did they have the prerequisite move lists and such, but they actually took the effort to capture nearly every frame of animation for almost all the moves including standard punch/kicks, intros, stagger/effect animations, win quotes, endings, and even all the dif. pallet swaps that each button would get you when you chose the character.

On top of that, they had sections for advanced stragegies and combos for each character, and best of all, had a staggering amount of both official and fan art. They even had an apology in the forward for putting the guide out so long after the game came out, explaining they were trying to collect every piece of artwork they could find.

And I bought it at a Dominicks no less :)

Other than that, I've been a fan of most of Bradygames stuff, and I'll throw in my vote that DoubleJump makes some of the greatest guides on the planet.

[Stice]

the Tekken 5 and Street Fighter Anniversary guides were pretty informative, though some of the info is off. It's obvious they were made by people who play fighters, rather than just a cut and paste job from the game's movelist, like a lot of fighting guides do.

I know the SFAC guide was written with the aid of MrWizard of SRK fame.

I've only read one strategy guide and it was the god-awful Counter-Strike guide. The only way the guide could be of any use is if you're a first time CS player because it does give you some map strategies, although most you'll figure out within a few games.

[thorbahn3]

Well for one I think they are really over priced. It might sound crazy but I don't like how they go from $14.99 to $00.1 with-in seconds. Find a middle ground so I can pick one up before a guide hog gets them all or worse, are thrown in the garbage. I think they'd sell better that way. With that being said you guys forgot the Nintendo produced guides. My favorite being the Pokemon G&S guide they made which had all kinds of info on mating, stones and other evolving techniques.

[Psykodelik]

I agree, Brady guides have definately gotten better these past couple of years. However, the one company I miss is "Versus". Now that was a good company. Doublejump is also a good one too, just hard to find sometimes.

Thor - I agree, some of the prices are a little too high. You pay for a game that would cost $50 + $20 = $70. Then there's the "X%" when buying both at the same time. It's not much but that's still a lot of money.

I try to wait until they get cheaper, but I usually end up buying some for games I really like.

[Reality's Fringe]

All of the versus guides were realy good, but my favorites are:

1. Earthbound (SNES)
2.Lunar SSSC
3. Lunar 2 EBC

I haven't found any that are better written.

[ZForce]

Versus guides and Gamefan books (who made that Night Warriors guide mentioned earlier in this thread) Were both very good guide makers.

As has been stated, Double Jump is really good and I often wind up preordering their guides direct just to make sure I'm able to get one

Brady Games used to really suck, but they're become pretty good as of late, especially their signature series guides

Prima seems to have gone the opposite route, their stuff used to be good, but now they tend to suck (their Ninja Gaiden Black guide was atrocious, with no really interesting content and really crappy paper used) Their RPG guides are generally good though (most specifically, the KOTOR games and Jade Empire)

[Run4Fun]

The best guides for fans were the ones put out by Working Designs. A few of them were hardcover, and they always included some kind of extra goodies. Stacked to all of that was a lot of quality and color. The writing was always pretty humorous too.

[WebScud]

I hate the DoubleJump format. I have the Nocturne guide and for me, the print and screen shots are too small to just glance at while playing. I have to pick it up and read it like a book.

My favorite guide is Half-Life 2 (PC). Author would be Dan Birlew, who seem to write everything that Brady does. The man is a machine.

[BustaUppa]

The guide for Shenmue is funny, it kind of pokes fun at the game and the characters. Like there's this one annoying friend of your in the game, and the author of the guide keeps going on tangents about how much he hates this guy. I actually bought the guide after I beat the game, because it was funny and it only cost like 3 bucks.

[b3b0p]

Chrono Trigger Nintendo Player's Guide

All the endings, how you would have figured it out otherwise, I don't know.


Final Fantasy VII Brady (never seen Versus guide)

Chocobo breading and Knights of the Round, I would have never figured it out otherwise.

Someone mentioned Earthbound, but the game really does not need a guide. It's alot more straight forward then many RPGs.

I'll put in honorable mentions for Final Fantasy VIII Brady, Final Fantasy X Brady, Animal Crossing Nintendo, and Zelda Collector's Edition for the map(s).

[daschrier]

gamefaqs.com

Unless you collect the guides because of art work etc, I don't see the point.

[evanft]

gamefaqs.com

Unless you collect the guides because of art work etc, I don't see the point.

QFT.

[Graystone]

I like guides that are written by a person you can feel their pain in certain areas. By that I mean, they will say jump, but you can't really jump. So they have a pic and a note on the side and the author is like right here you can't really jump so crouch and fall. I mainly by my guides to complete the collection of my favorite games and the art as well.
Stuff like Bustauppa said like the shenmue guide. I like stuff like that. I hate guides that are like extend instruction manuals. for example Driver 2, SvR 2006 guide I hate those. They give you no help and are a waste of money.

[b3b0p]

Game FAQs is a neat, but I hate the guides on Game FAQs. I can't stand them. They are hard to follow, hard to read, hard to understand, and just poorly written.

Also, it is a big inconvenience to have to get up, go over to my computer, find my place in the text file. Read it, remember it, then go back to my game. Then forget some of it and repeat...

Sure, you could print it, but paper costs money and injet/laser refills cost big bucks. I'll save my printer and paper for job interviews and best buy coupons.

So, I would rather have the perty guide written by someone who can actually write in english (most of the time). They also are easier to read and are portable. To boot, the art work is magnificent to look at most of the time. I would rather spend the few bucks on a guide or for certain games big bucks on the guide. Plus I don't even own that many games, so a game and guide purchase is really no biggie to me.

[Graystone]

Game FAQs is a neat, but I hate the guides. I can't stand them. They are hard to follow, hard to read, hard to understand, and just poorly written.

Also, it is a big inconvenience to have to get up, go over to my computer, find my place in the text file. Sure, you could print it, but paper costs money and injet/laser refills cost big bucks. I'll save my printer and paper for job interviews and best buy coupons.

So you just hate all video game related help? :D

[b3b0p]

So you just hate all video game related help? :D

No, it is just like I said, hard to follow, hard to read, and poorly written. I'd rather just spend a few bucks on a guide that I can take with me and have while I play the game.

[captaincold]

There's only 1 problem with guides and that's PRICE!!

$15 or more is absurd & that's why they all eventually drop to 1cent or get thrown in the trash.

[jer7583]

yeah and prima and brady are getting pretty bad wanting $18-20 per guide now. You can easily pick up another game at that price..

Nintendo makes quality guides though, I'm tempted to pick up the AC:WW guide. its only $15.

The guides for Fallout 2 on PC and the morrowind prophecies are both amazing. And the GTA:SA guide for xbox and pc is amazingly in depth. There's also that thick Star Ocean: TTEOT guide.. jeez

[b3b0p]

Agreed, price is a problem.

However, when you are used to paying $120+ for a book or two that are completely worthless and not useful. A guide with glossy quality paper, awesome artwork, and is actually helpful and you use it, $15 seems cheap.

I wish they were $9.99 or less though. Then I probably wouldn't wait for the penny drop.

[BustaUppa]

I hate guides that are like extend instruction manuals. for example Driver 2, SvR 2006 guide I hate those. They give you no help and are a waste of money.Yeah, an SvR 2006 guide is useless on principle alone, without even getting into the actual quality of the guide. First of all, all the moves are PERFORMED the same way, regardless of who your choose. Second of all, you can change the movesets of any wrestler in the game. For any wrestler I use a lot, I always spend time editing their moveset to make it more accurate and intuitive. A guide would only cover the terrible default movesets. And I assume there's an unlockables guide as well, which is once again useless since the lockerroom tells you how to unlock everything!

[SOSTrooper]

I thought the FFX and FFVII guides by Brady were good >_< I've used them from beginning till end and I understood everything that these 2 guides said.

I liked Perfect Guides only cuz they had really nice posters, but often I find it difficult to understand exactly what the authors are saying.

I personally think the Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne DoubleJump guide is not that great. It's too small to read and I cannot leave the pages open as I play the game since the 'novel' is so thick and small. Also the DOA4 guide is shit, as well as some of the often-watered down Nintendo Power guides.

[ananag112]

The Resident Evil anthology guide is mad nice. I can't wait until that drops in price. Besides that, I love the Earthbound and the SF:AC guides

[Scahom1]

I liked the GTA: San Andreas guide...they put a lot of effect into making it.

Pretty much all FPS guides are useless, as are sports games...I always pick up the guide for an RPG game I'm buying, A) because of wanting to find everything the game has to offer, and B) as a collectable.

[willardhaven]

I buy guides that I think are worth collecting.

I love the Radiata Stories, Resident Evil 4, FF VII-XI, DQVIII, Xenogears, etc. guides.

Star Ocean III and Metal Gear Solid 2 have awesome Brady guides also.

I prefer Brady guides because the design is excellent, and they usually have a large print run.

[WebScud]

I throw this one out there. Worse guide ever.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance for the PS2. It didn't cover any of the SoL gameplay. Why on earth should I have to pay $30 to get the SoL walk-thru and the Substance bonus features walk-thru? UGH.

[FaintDeftone]

I remember the official Nintendo strategy guides always sucked bad, especially the Goldeneye 007 one. That guide was useless.

[Dr Mario Kart]

I find the Nintendo guides to be a poor investment because for the big games, they'll take whole sections out of it and reproduce it almost verbatim in Nintendo Power, which I have a subscription to.

[alonzomourning23]

I like good maps that show item locations. I hate guides that reveal the plot either in the actual text or in background info section. I hate guides that expect you to do exactly what they say, meaning they omit things that aren't currently important but obviously have importance so you become extremely confused or screw things up permanently.

I like nintendo guides because they seem more "official" than the other official guides. I haven't had any real problems with them, my only problems with guides stems from things mentioned above.

[b3b0p]

The Nintendo Guides are just that, Guides.

They don't reveal secrets, at least from what I remember. They give you hints or tips to keep a look out for certain things, but they never reveal information that is not obvious.

I have not looked at it in a while, but how can anyone get and know about all the endings in Chrono Trigger without the guide? From what I remember, it would seem impossible.

In the Brady guide for FF7 it told me exactly where and how to get Knights of the Round and how to get a gold Chocobo. I really wish they would have had a warning or something, because I would have felt a lot better figuring it out myself. Sure I could have not read it, but how was I suppose to know that it was going to be mentioned until I read it. There was no warning what so ever.

[TheBlueWizard]

gamefaqs.com

Unless you collect the guides because of art work etc, I don't see the point.

I buy guides because I don't like having to run to the computer and look up a guide, figure out where to find what I'm looking for, etc. I'd much rather keep my lazy ass on the couch and not have to move.

TBW

[thorbahn3]

I find the Nintendo guides to be a poor investment because for the big games, they'll take whole sections out of it and reproduce it almost verbatim in Nintendo Power, which I have a subscription to.

Only like the first 20-60 minutes of the game. After that you're on your own. Every once in awhile they have a part 2 but again it is only 20-60 minutes of gameplay which leaves an awful large gap considering which game it is.

[beerguy961]

I haven't bought a strategy guide in a years other than one penny guide I traded for FFTA guide, but back when I was younger, I used to buy Nintendo guides for SNES games that were great. SMRPG, DKC, LoZ all had awesome guides. They seem to be pretty good to this day.

[AlbinoNinja]

normally just use gamefaqs.com, and i rarely ever have any problems with a guide being unclear.

i did buy a world of warcraft strategy guide when i started playing. big mistake. the guide was already outdated, and by now it's virtually useless (rather use thottbot.com.) thats the last time i buy a guide for a constantly changing game

comics are pretty though

[Run4Fun]

I love guides that don't ruin plot, but I do enjoy nice screenshots to look back on in rememberance. Quite the conundrum.

What's pissed me off before is having to use both Gamefaqs and a print guide to find everything in a game - you would think that a guide titled "official" would actually contain all a game's secrets and info, but this is too frequently not the case.

[kakomu]

I haven't ever bought a guide, and I don't really plan on it. While maps are great, I prefer just playing the game on my own. Every once and a while, I'll need a little help in a game, and I can check a gamefaq guide for that.

I don't like piss poor descriptions of location. Every once and a while, a hidden item will elude me, and I don't like finding guide after guide that won't describe where an item is, but simply that you have to get it.

[kamui34]

I got both Xenosaga II and Stranger's Wrath that came with my trades and I have to say that I am very pleased with them.

The artwork and choice of colors make it pleasant to read and the the various sections make it simple and not a hassle to search for a specific information. No offense to gamefaq guides but they give me a headache with all those .txt texts. Myriads of words chaining and ASCII drawing ftl!