What's the deal with guide collecting?

This is not a troll -- I'm genuinely curious. I see a decent amount of guide trading / penny guide deals on this forum, and I personally can't imagine who would care. Since you can always go to gamefaqs, I assume buying these guides is seen as an end in itself. Is there enough of a community that some guides are valuable, the same way a rare, sought-after game can be? Just looking for some replies from anyone who does this...

What's the deal? Are you glad to get the guide? I couldn't be glad to get the guide. I'm just not a glad guide getter.

My rule is if I can find a guide at a reasonable price buy it, instead of printing out pages from Gamefaqs and getting lost in all the text!

This is not a troll -- I'm genuinely curious. I see a decent amount of guide trading / penny guide deals on this forum, and I personally can't imagine who would care. Since you can always go to gamefaqs, I assume buying these guides is seen as an end in itself. Is there enough of a community that some guides are valuable, the same way a rare, sought-after game can be? Just looking for some replies from anyone who does this...

Click to expand...

There is DEFINITELY a set of rare guides that are worth a lot, mostly the old RPGs. The vast majority of them are worth absolute jack-shit though.

I dont know anything about rare guides or any of that but I do know I prefer to have the guide handy rather than having to get up and go look on a webpage. Also in my experience the guides tend to be a little more thorough (If i spelled that right).
Stephen

I do a little guide collecting. Mainly I'm trying to get the guides for my rpgs. It's nice to have them for rpgs since there is so much in them. I've gotten most of my guides from the penny guides and trades. Most other games, I don't bother with. Right now I'm trying to clean out some of my guides. I've got alot I don't need.

There are a few guides that are sought after. I think the Working Designs hardbound lunar guides are really sought after. I have the Suikoden II guide that goes for around 40- 50 on ebay. Right now I'm trying to track down a Valkyrie Profile guide that goes for around the same.

Most guides at Gamefaqs (especially for popular games) are much, much more thorough than any book.

I like em for artwork (look through Jak III's guide and good luck not being impressed by the quality) for the most part. I've actually only used the guides I've bought like 3 times. I actually find myself beating a game, and a couple days later, see I have the guide for it sitting on the shelf. I get em mainly cuz they are (almost) free, and thus is just free gaming swag.

[quote name='ne2eire']Most guides at Gamefaqs (especially for popular games) are much, much more thorough than any book.[/QUOTE]

Gamefaqs is really hit-or-miss imo. Some guides are thorough, many are more scattered & missing information. All of them are harder to read than a nicely laid-out guide, and I'm stuck either running back & forth to my computer or printing out a ton of text & having to try to sort through it to find what I need.

Guides are handy to have, they usually have some nice artwork, they make a nice collectable imo, and they can obviously be had for very, very cheap. I guess a better question is why NOT use a guide over Gamefaqs?

[quote name='Strell']

What's the deal? Are you glad to get the guide? I couldn't be glad to get the guide. I'm just not a glad guide getter.[/QUOTE]

[quote name='argyle']Gamefaqs is really hit-or-miss imo. Some guides are thorough, many are more scattered & missing information. All of them are harder to read than a nicely laid-out guide, and I'm stuck either running back & forth to my computer or printing out a ton of text & having to try to sort through it to find what I need.

Guides are handy to have, they usually have some nice artwork, they make a nice collectable imo, and they can obviously be had for very, very cheap. I guess a better question is why NOT use a guide over Gamefaqs?[/quote]

Because we are supposedly all cheap asses.

[quote name='argyle']Gamefaqs is really hit-or-miss imo. Some guides are thorough, many are more scattered & missing information. All of them are harder to read than a nicely laid-out guide, and I'm stuck either running back & forth to my computer or printing out a ton of text & having to try to sort through it to find what I need.

Guides are handy to have, they usually have some nice artwork, they make a nice collectable imo, and they can obviously be had for very, very cheap. I guess a better question is why NOT use a guide over Gamefaqs?[/QUOTE]

I can never get in on any penny guides, so they're usually $10-15 everywhere I look.

Also for every game I've downloaded a Gamefaqs guide, there are usually at least 5 complete guides. And add to the fact that I only use guides if I'm absolutely stuck in some part. Plus with a book you're only getting the authors perspective on how to get something done. With Gamefaqs you're getting multiple opinions on a particular objective/boss/secret.

Also I have a really nice laptop (with 8 hour battery life on my 8 cell), and can just save the guide as a text file and use CTRL + F to find anything I need.

Artwork is the only thing I'm missing out on.

I don't see what's the big deal either, I do have a couple for some of my RPGs though. Regardless, I'm grateful to guide collectors. Thanks to some hype, I sold my Silent Hill strategy guide (almost threw it away) for $55!

For the pretty pictures! And because GameFAQs sucks ass compared to an official guide. I'll take an organized book with pictures over GameFAQs any day. For $0.01 each, I think they're worth it. And as a video game collector, guides are always great to have to complement your game. I've got Prima and Brady for a lot of games...some games I have like 4 guides for: Bradygames, Prima, Nintendo Power, and Versus Books.

Why have to print out a boring text guide or run back and forth between the computer and your TV? The only thing GameFAQs is useful for is PC games where I can alt-tab out of the game into an open GameFAQs window.

I agree about the usefulness of guides over FAQs as well. For example, a Gamefaqs guide may tell you what you need to do when you're stuck on a particular level, whereas the guide will SHOW you in pictures.

This can be tremendously helpful and far outweigh the convenience(if any) of a FAQ over a guide.

Moreover, certain guides are more than just mere guides. Take, for example, the Half Life 2 book. It has full color pictures of every enemy type you could imagine and then some. It has in depth information that you just wouldn't get in a FAQ.

I,myself, have a personal collection of over 100 guides right now. Some of them are utterly useless to me, since I don't have the game, but I look at it as 'IT WAS A PENNY'.

How can you pass up something that normally retails for $14.99 to $34.99(half life 2 and GT 4 books) for a PENNY???

Sure, after awhile they take up a bunch of space, but thats what the guide trading/selling is about, getting rid of those guides you have that you don't need.

Hope this helps clear things up......

Well I got rid of my Hardcover Lunar 2 stratedy guide from (rest in peace) Working Designs for 75 dollars worth in games. That's more than the game's worth.