I figured you can play the game without the book. But there just seem to be many puzzles that would take hours, even days to figure out before you get through them. I don't think I'd have the patience to do so. Also, how can you figure out the sidequests, hunts, etc without having a strategy guide? Seems like not all sidequests stand alone. Some if not, a majority of them rely on completing a task or acquiring a certain object prior to being available.

From what I've experienced I don't think you can look this up within the game itself. It's also hard to remember the info given to you by the townsfolk as well, so that can't be too reliable.

But anyway, I find this game interesting. So versatile. So challenging. I'm used to playing straightforward, linear games that have a controlled environment. Usually takes an average 3-5 days to finish on a medium-advanced setting. I'm a PC gamer. My few only games I play on PS2 is the Madden Football series and the Grand Tourismo series. I'll now add the FF series to my repretoire.