Limited Edition Strategy Guide

[Jecht Shot]

Details emerge

* The Final Fantasy XIII collector’s edition guide will be a pristine coffee table book, printed on highest-quality, 100# paper and encased in a hard cover. It will be limited to just one print run and each copy will be sequentially numbered.
* The complete official guide to FINAL FANTASY XIII
* Every secret, every side-quest, every mini-game, every bonus, every Achievement and every Trophy revealed and explained in a dedicated Extras chapter
* Dedicated walkthrough charts the most rewarding path through this epic adventure
* Strategy & Analysis chapter exposes hidden mechanics, advanced battle tactics and techniques for obtaining optimal rewards
* All-encompassing Inventory and Bestiary chapters feature exhaustive lists and tables covering all enemies, weapons and shops
* Bears all the hallmarks of a Piggyback guide, including annotated maps, hi-res screenshots and a wealth of exclusive, official artwork
* Carefully designed to avoid unnecessary story spoilers

I'm going to get this.

I realize in this day and age of Gamefaqs, strategy guides are overrated. But I get these to collect them more than anything else, and to have something to look at (especially the art). I got the limited edition guides for FFX-2 and FFXII, and I absolutely love them. I usually don't use any kind of guides anyway until I beat the game once by myself. Then I use guides (typically Gamefaqs anyway) to get 100% on everything.

Plus, for some things (namely maps) I like having something right in front of me instead of having to stop, and go back and forth between my computer.

[Bolivar]

I agree with you 100%, Jecht Shot, and I'm glad there's someone out there like me.

I'm in Law school right now and when we were walking through the library, one of the professors explained to us how a lot of people still come there to use the books, even those from the "digital generation", because going through an index, flipping between pages, keeping your place and comparing the two is actually easier with a book than it is on a website like Westlaw or LexisNexis.

And I feel the same way about strategy guides. I'm glad people take the time at places like gamefaqs.com to compile all this information in a presentable and often-times well designed fashion, with elaborate ASCII title logos and easy-to-navigate keywords, but nothing beats having a well put-together strategy guide, in color, with the artwork, screenshots, detailed maps, and overall just a great presentation. I really like it a lot, and for games in series that I really like a whole lot, I'll probably get the guide, as I did for Dragon Quest VIII and the last 2 full Metal Gear Solid games.

But I probably won't be getting this one. Money is tight and I have enough games to play on my console at home and handheld on the go, so I might not even be getting FFXIII all that soon, much less the strategy guide. In a little while I'd like to get an art book or something for this game, if this one has really elaborate concept art I might get it eventually. Piggyback did the one for Metal Gear Solid 4 and it had like a 13 page analysis of the entire series in the back.

[qwertysaur]

I might get this if only for the Hi Res Screenshots and artwork

[Rye]

I really like strategy guides. Even with GameFAQ, I tend to still buy them for the Final Fantasy games. I might get it for this one - unless I want to really challenge myself without any guide at all! I won't last 5 minutes though!

[qwertysaur]

Also if I run into trouble, I'd rather ask a ff community than Gamefaqs.

[~*~Celes~*~]

I have yet to buy a strategy guide for anything, but, I would probably buy that one if I had the money.

[Masamunemaster]

yea when I first heard about this my boss said it was only a four day ordering period so I was sad that I missed out on it, but when I went to pre-order it the other day I was told you could still do it....I threw an extra $39 to the guy and said lets go for it lol

[Raistlin]

I sometimes get the strategy guides; it depends on how much I think I'll like the game. I try not to use the main part during my first playthrough too much, but I still like extra information on side quests/rare items and pictures and maps and other neat stuff.

I'm not sure about paying $35 for one, though. At least, not for FFXIII, a game which I have fairly mediocre expectations for.

[Madame Adequate]

I wonder what this one's Zodiac Spear will be

[theundeadhero]

Just pre-ordered one along with the game from Gamestop.

[eestlinc]

i used to get strategy guides and read them to help decide if I wanted to play the game. and my favorite moment ever was when I found an item location that was not given in the exhaustive ff7 strategy guide. I may buy this guide, depending on how much money I feel like spending.

[Dignified Pauper]

I find video game guides today to be terrible. Back in the SNES days, strategy guides were incredibly deep. Now, for instance the FFXII strategy guide was terrible. I hated the design and that I had to flip back and forth from the maps in the beginning to sidequests at the end. Just print the maps again, I'm already paying bazillions of dollars for the strat guide anyway. I dunno, I'm skeptical of strats.

[Lightening]

I think I'll play the game first, then I'll see if I need a guide or not

[Chloe.]

The limited edition one looks extra cool, and I've seen it online for pretty much the same price as the normal guide. I'll possibly buy it, depending on how much money I have when I buy my PS3 and FFXIII.

[Shadowdust]

I'm not sure about paying $35 for one, though. At least, not for FFXIII, a game which I have fairly mediocre expectations for.

Yeah, $35 is a bit much. Fortunately, Amazon is selling it for $19.24 at the moment.

Amazon.com: Final Fantasy XIII: The Complete Official Guide (9780307468383): Piggyback: Books