Reduced Price Guide Thread XIV (FAQ in 2nd Post)

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The Reduced Price Guide FAQ/OP has been moved to the SECOND post. Read this first!
[customspoiler="Disclaimer"]
All credit goes to IAmTheCheapestGamer, floormat, and guinaevere. They ran this thread for years, and I can safely say we would not have penny guides here without them. Thanks for your work!
[/customspoiler]

Private message me if there is something incorrect or needs to be changed in the non-wiki pages.
Below is two years or so of guide drop info. If you want to see the full list, please refer to the third post of the Reduced Price Guide Thread XIV that can be found HERE.​

Note that date may be of confirmation, and not of drop.

CE/SE/LE=HARDCOVER GUIDE
Red=Gamestop drop
Blue=Best Buy drop
Pink=Toys R Us drop

 

Recent Drops (Last Six Months)

Dropped 3.23.16 at GameStop

Game Stop 1 Cent

Assassin's Creed: Syndicate

Assassin's Creed: Syndicate CE

Just Cause 3

Halo 5 CE



Dropped on 3.26.14
 

Gamestop

Battlefield 4

Disney Infinity

Grand Theft Auto V

Remember Me

Super Mario 3D World

Dropped on 2.26.14

Gamestop 

Assassin's Creed IV: CE

Battlefield 4 CE
Grand Theft Auto CE

Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds CE

Skylanders Swap Force CE

Wonderful 101

Dropped on 2.14.14

Toys'R Us

Rage
Tekken Tag Tournament 2
Mass Effect 3

Star Wars The Force Unleashed II

Dropped on 10.31.13

Gamestop 
 
Animal Crossing
Assassin's Creed 3
Borderlands 2 LE
Call of Duty: Black Ops 2
Cheat Code Overload: Winter 2013
Codes & Cheats Vol. 1 2013
Dead Island Riptide
Diablo III

Disgaea D2

Elder Scrolls: Skyrim Legendary
Epic Mickey 2
Final Fantasy XIII-2
Halo 4
Hitman Absolution
Injustice: Gods Among Us

Injustice: Gods Among Us LE
Last of Us

Last of Us LE
Lego City Undercover
Madden 25
Mario & Luigi: Dream Team
Ni No Kuni
Pokemon Black & White 2 Pokedex
Resident Evil 6 LE
Resident Evil Revelations

Wind Waker LE
Dropped on 9.25.13

Gamestop
Army of Two The Devils Cartel
Dead Space 3
Metal Gear Rising Revengence
Star Trek
Super Mario Bros. Wii U
Epic Mickey 2 Limited Ed
Halo 4 Limited Ed
Hitman Absolution Limited Ed

Dropped on 9.04.13

Gamestop
 
Call of Duty Black Ops II CE
DMC: Devil May Cry
Dishonored
Tomb Raider

Tomb Raider CE       
 
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IndelibleSin said:
I'll never understand how it makes more sense to just throw guides out rather than selling them for like $10 or something...
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They get a credit from the publishers which they can use to buy more guides if they throw out the guides and provide proof. Is the credit worth more than the money from selling them for cheap? I dunno.

 
trunks982 said:
Cant they just giveaway for free? Take a pic of all the guides then give them away
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Many stores do, it’s entirely random. It is against company policy.

I’ve seen the same in the tech industry, specifically cell phone stores like ATT or Verizon. When cases or cords become ‘obsolete’, they get cut up or broke and discarded. And obsolete doesn’t even mean five year old items, it could easily just be a stock refresh or brand change. I’ve seen stores cut up new iPhone cords and cases, and I’ve seen stores give them away for free too.
 
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Plus with constant patches, some guides become obsolete very quickly. Things are changed in games that can make item locations, strategies, enemy strengths and weaknesses all worthless.
 
I generally only buy guides now that are the collectors edition and have bonus behind the scenes stuff (only recent guides I've bought are Horizon and Zelda BOTW). And even if I have the guide and am stuck, I usually go to Google anyway, as it's still quicker.

Shame, but hopefully Piggyback and Future Press can survive. Not surprising that this genre is dying.
 
well what IATCG couldnt do looks like the publishers did themselves. RIP strategy guides. I will miss them as well. Of course things kinda died for me when penny guides stopped being a thing around 6 years ago, but still looks like the zodiac edition guide will the last guide I ever bought. 

 
arsenalcrazy8 said:
well what IATCG couldnt do looks like the publishers did themselves. RIP strategy guides. I will miss them as well. Of course things kinda died for me when penny guides stopped being a thing around 6 years ago, but still looks like the zodiac edition guide will the last guide I ever bought.
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Perhaps penny guides stooped being a thing for Best Buy, though as a whole they are definitely still a thing.

 
Romeo said:
Perhaps penny guides stooped being a thing for Best Buy, though as a whole they are definitely still a thing.
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Yea I know they still exist, but I honestly have no idea how you guys ever get them anymore. All my GSs moved guides to the back, so theres no way to even look at guides anymore. Toys R Us and Blockbuster went out of business, and like you said BB stopped doing them.

 
Yeah it was drying up lately in my area at least in terms of penny or clearance guides anyway. Really like all the hardcover books on my gaming shelves though  :cry:

While some people don't like the idea of guides or think it's "cheating" or something, I always loved them for the fact that I don't have that much spare time to aimlessly wander and discover everything in every game by chance. I liked being able to 100% complete a game, not have to worry about what I might have missed, and move onto the next.

 
Retroxcellance said:
Maybe there will now be "Limited Run Guides" to go with Limited Run Games
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I was actually just thinking this. I can see certain games getting Deluxe guides through some place like Fangamer (or even LRG if they want to branch out). They would likely be high quality, expensive, and most likely somewhat limited. Fangamer actually already does this with select games like Stardew Valley.

 
Skyrim CE show up pennied on Bestbuy, but seems to have delisted

In other non-pennied guide news, for those that unable to hunt for pennied guide at GS anymore, AssCreed Odyssey and Shadow of the Tomb Raider CE are $9.99 each at GS

Sent from my SM-N950U1 using Tapatalk
 
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Perhaps I missed a cyber Monday sale. Did Shadow of TR guide get delisted?

Edit: it comes as as a ‘tome’ not a guide.
 
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FlawlesslyFatal said:
From where? It still up at all retailers.
Would be nice if Amazon could pm these, double dip their $5 off $20+ books.
Sent from my SM-N950U1 using Tapatalk
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Since this sale is ‘online only’ some guides are not coming up normally such as Mega Man 11 or Shadow TR.
 
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did tomb raider HC and mega man HC drop? not finding them on GS site

edit:eek:ops nvm they listed as something else than  guides

 
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lAmTheCheapestGamer said:
And yet people are posting pictures of guides that GS was supposed to destroy yet they somehow walked out with a big stack of them. The publishers really need to be aware of this.
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Hey I don’t agree with it, yet if people want to dumpster dive that is their choice.

You don’t work for the publishers nor GameStop, it has no effect on you whatsoever.
 
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Romeo said:
Hey I don’t agree with it, yet if people want to dumpster dive that is their choice.

You don’t work for the publishers nor GameStop, it has no effect on you whatsoever.
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Don't listen to him. He is a well known mental case on CAG, reddit and SD.

 
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Are you guys still successful in getting penny guides anymore?? I gave up a long time ago in my area. But damn do I have a stash of guides from way back when. Does anyone still trade?
 
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