I've been looking at the Twilight Princess one just because I tend to buy too much merchandise related to Zelda, and it looks pretty impressive.  I'm talking the hardcover collector's version.  Some of the reviews I've seen online say that there isn't a good index and that there aren't good checklists for things like pieces of heart and poe souls, but there's also apparently a revised edition that has 14 more pages and sounds like it contains those things.  Anybody seen the later version?  I can't seem to find reviews specifically for it (for Amazon they just use the reviews from the original version).  I'm also wondering if there's a decent amount of artwork present in these nicer guides.  I know somebody here (Angela, maybe?) said they picked up the Mario Galaxy one - how's that?

Last question: Amazon has this listing for what I THINK is the one I'm looking for, but it lists it as a paperback.  I'm confused, since the description says that it's hardcover.  The ISBN matches Prima's for the hardcover version, so I assume it's hardcover?  Anyone know anything?

http://www.amazon.com/Legend-Zelda-Twil … 95&sr=11-1

Hey, outa curiosity, how many guides do you own? Any favorites? Are such guides super collectible these days? I've seen people trying to sell guides at ridiculous prices...

cheers,

-avatar!

Since those questions seem like the kind that anyone can answer... ^_^

I remember people asking decen money for the Chrono Trigger guide by Nintendo. (30 bucks or so)  There's also that legendary Versus Books guide for Final Fantasy VII, though I'm not sure that people will pay a hundred bucks for that one anymore.

Anyways:

Own: 39

Faves: Earthbound (Nintendo), Star Ocean 2 (Prima), Final Fantasy III/VI (Nintendo), Metal Gear Solid (Millenium Books), Super Mario RPG (Nintendo)

Earthbound's guide would probably be my number one favorite.  Despite a couple of errors (mainly just the Broken Antenna and Gutsy Bat info), they pulled out all the stops in infusing that guide with the spirit of the game and making each of the areas seem 'real' in that humorous Earthbound way.  The genius of the game lives within that guide.

My friend had that book, and I borrowed it all the time, even after I'd been through the game several times already. It was just so well put together. Surprised someone else remembers it. Casey Loe (former editor of Gamefan, and current editor of Play) had so much pride in it being an unofficial publication, and I remember being really impressed by that.

If you hadn'ta already mentioned it, that was what I was gonna say. Nothin' else even comes close for me.

"The Completely Unauthorized Resident Evil 2 Perfect Guide" from Versus books is the best guide I've ever come across - it completely makes the official guide look like a piece of crap. It's extremely funny to boot.

The worst guides:
Prima's Unauthorized Wild Arms guide - pure, mindless text
Brady Games Official Final Fantasy IX guide - oh lord, I'm still haunted by this thing and play online.
Prima's Lunar SSC guide - yeah, let's list definitve enemy HP totals when they're calulated on the player's current level.

Sadly, I never had the pleasure of reading/using it.  I still have the original Bradygames guide for FFVII, but I remember hearing about how the Versus Books guide was superior, especially since it helps you without spoiling anything.

There's an infamous guide.  Didn't it give you half of what you needed for each section and then tell you to go to PlayOnline for the rest?  Terrible.

I was hugely disappointed by Prima's Grandia guide.  I expected it to be comprehensive, well-organized, and visually appealing like their guide for Star Ocean 2.  Instead it adopts a confusing screenshot to screenshot approach.  You can tell that whoever put it together didn't give a thought to inspired or appropriate design.  They didn't bother to include character profiles, area maps, or a bestiary.  Grandia deserved a 'grander' effort.

I sold mines for ~50ish.  All Nintendo guides (well, the older ones, anyway) tend to keep good value since they really are very good books.  Too bad the Net sort of replaces the utility aspect of them, but even as collectibles/art books they're acceptable.

One that I remember some people were trying to sell for a high price was the KI Gold Prima (I think) Guide... a few hundred dollars!  I thought it was some sort of joke.

Yeah, I flipped through some of the FFIX one back in the day and every other blurb ended with a link to Play Online. Totally worthless piece of FF propaganda. Almost as good as when EGM started saying "for the full story, visit our site". WHY THE f--- DID I BUY THE MAGAZINE THEN!?

Still have my Suikoden II guide. Good and thorough, that one...And worth some $$$ as a collector's item. Also, good way to revisit the story.

I started playing FFIX years and years after it came out, and my friend lent me his copy of the Brady guide... I didn't realize he was playing a sick joke on me.

One of my favorite guides was the Versus Books Street Fighter Alpha 2. Very comprehensive coverage for all characters, discussed individual differences between all home versions and the arcade, and had a ton of official artwork, almost like a miniature art file book (ahead of its time). Yeah, it's safe to say Versus were the king of guide books and it's a shame they died young. I remember their Pokemon guides being well done, too.

Yep, 'twas I.  The Collector's Edition makes a great first impression; it's gorgeous looking, decked out in that totally sleek, all-black motif.  And it's got good weight, too; folks like their guides to have weight to them - heavier weight means more content, and therefore more value for the money, right? ;)

Content-wise, it does the job well enough.  The format is very much like the Twilight Princess guide, and though it still suffers from a bit too much "wordiness" (as per the Prima standard), I'd say it's quite a bit easier to follow than TP, given the more straightforward gaming aspect of Galaxy.  The table of contents breaks down the guide by Observatory location, and then by all the featured galaxies within that location, hidden ones included.  They cover each galaxy with a 3D-rendered flowchart of the level's planetoids, and then they run through each portion as you'd go along in the game.   

Those additional sixteen pages exclusive to the Collector's Edition..... about six of those pages are dedicated to conceptual artwork.  What's there is nice, but is a massive tease, because it's just a small taste of what likely went into the production of the game. (They really do need to release a dedicated artbook for Galaxy.)  The rest of the pages are dedicated to a Star checklist, which simply consists of a single shot for each Star's location, and the location names themselves.  To me, this section is completely useless, because 1) You already KNOW that each galaxy has at least one star to be found and 2) The guide already covers, in detail, on how to get those stars.

Do I recommend the Collector's Edition over the regular edition?  I would from a strictly aesthetic viewpoint; the hardbound cover quality is top-notch, plus it includes that nifty, large-sized, glow-in-the-dark poster, depicting an expanded version of the game's U.S. cover.  I had put up the poster at my place, which you can check out here:

http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/3583 … tergb2.jpg

I'll try and get a glow-in-the-dark shot of it tonight.  ^_^

EDIT - Snagging a decent glow-in-the-dark shot is proving difficult.  It's just too dark to capture the image properly -- and turning on the flash pretty much lights up the whole room.  Ah well.... just know that Mario looks pretty smokin' in all his phosphors-induced glory. ;)

I mostly pick up the strategy guides for the artwork, especially full page inserts, if anything...especially when I can't find pics for free on the internet...

Wait, Prima guides are actually good now? It's been years since I've actually looked in one, but I remember they used to be strictly black-and-white affairs with no maps and little in the way of art. It's good to hear they've upped the ante since then.

My favorite domestic guides were most definitely the old-school Nintendo Power ones. The maps were gorgeous (and hand-made!) and there was always an abundance of extra information. The Link to the Past guide was my favorite because of its exclusive artwork, though I sadly never got a chance to buy one. I do have a bunch of other NP guides from that era, with the FFVI guide being my favorite. I remember being absolutely shocked upon learning about the Limit Breaks.

Wow, I have that guide and had no idea it was worth that much money. It really had a surprising amount of information for a domestic guide back then.

If you guys want really outstanding strategy guides, you have to get the Japanese ones, known as 攻略本(kouryaku, or capture book). Some publishers are better than others, but in general they're extremely comprehensive and have tons of official art. Studio Bent Stuff in particular produce unbelievable guides; their Final Fantasy X Ultimania Omega guide was 640 pages and all color!

Hmm, I might part with my LttP one soon, just so you know...

Yes, the 攻略本 are amazing, and theres SO many of them!  Even the most unheard of games seem to have one!

I remember getting the Persona 2 guide as a freebie way back when Gamestop started their discount card thing.  I had no idea what the game was, I thought it was some stupid sim or something.  Really, paging through it, it looked like the most retarded game ever to me.  So enter a few years later, I was trying to clean up and get rid of stuff I didn't want/need, so I threw it the trash can.  Enter a few years later, and now it's apparently worth $100+.  Easy come, easy go I guess.

The greatest, most comprehensive guide I've seen and own so far is the Front Mission World Historica: Report of Conflicts one. It covers every detail on every single FM game out and includes all of the separate missions for each game. They even give you tactical tips, wanzer and upgrade stats, backstory in Japanese and English, character relationship charts, character sections that list them from birth to end of the overall FM conflict, and official artwork from *all* the artists involved. It's a huge book, but it just covers so much. My next favorite is the Vagrant Story Ultimania that covers speedruns, easier ways to execute jumps, backstory, details every single room in every section of the Lea Monde map, and includes a bestiary.

But oh crap, have you seen the size of the FFVII: Crisis Core Ultimania? That thing is a monster!

whoa, the Chrono Trigger guide is worth that much? I bought mine from the Nintendo Power catalog for $5 when they were clearing out old guides. The picture quality in the guide was pretty bad from what I remember. Or maybe I just got a bad print.

Man, I hated the FFIX guide. So useless. The Play Online page took forever to load on my old PC, so I just went with GameFAQs the rest of the way.

I try to avoid buying guides to complete games, but the collector in me loves them. I've purchased most of the Double Jump guides...I like the compact form, even though it's not really as convenient to handle (i.e. keeping the book for the maps). They go great alongside the games on my shelf, too. I also favor guides with tons of art, too. That was one my reasons for buying the Okami guide. ^^;;

I wish more games came in spiral binding, especially for RPGs. I remember the Baldur's Gate manual was spiral bound...definitely came in handy when I needed to look up spells.

This may sound like a silly question, but does anyone collect strategy guides? I know generally most guides (especially older ones) have errors and miss things, but sometimes reading about a game is as cool as playing it.

I bring this up because I just scored a handful of guides on the cheap (a fraction of what they'd probably go on eBay) and they are like new: Final Fantasy Tactics (Prima), Breath of Fire III (Prima), MediEvil (Dimension?), Xenogears (Brady), Parasite Eve (Brady), SaGa Frontier (Brady, which I already have but is very beat up cause I've played the thing a lot), and Final Fantasy Anthology (Brady).

The MediEvil guide will probably come in hand when I get around to playing it for the first time.

Not so much now, but I used to buy strategy guides to keep as mementos of my favorite games.  And before the Internet, strategy guides were for me the most accessible source of game artwork.

I do, but not for reasons related to practicality; Gamefaqs is free and takes up less space.

I do it because they sometimes make for interesting collection pieces.

I was going to point this out in my post; both of these points are right on the money. Most of the time a GameFAQs FAQ is better and more complete despite being text based and its pretty much the collection factor that interests me as long as the price is right/isn't too high. If an old guide were selling near retail or higher (like on eBay) I wouldn't bother. I would like to get my hands on the official Wild Arms guide at some point, not the text-based, error filled thing Prima put out that I used during my adolescence.