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The last time you bought a Strategy Guide?

I got the south park and dark souls 2 strategy guides.

Got them because I love both the series. Still haven't opened up the dark souls 2 guide since I haven't finished the guide.
 
My last 2 guides I bought:

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FF was a game worthy of a strategy guide.
 
last time i bought a strategy guide was for KH:DDD. I liked the art in the book but i find it hard to justify buying them from now on as the information can be found for free online
 
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First and last strategy guide I ever bought. Got it for the pretty pictures, never really read it. I probably still have it in some forgotten box somewhere.
 
As some people might recall, when Grand Theft Auto IV first released, Rockstar held a promotion in which anyone who completed the game to 100% within the first week would receive a physical key to the city. (They later, to my indignation, relaxed this requirement to within the first two or three weeks, either because their Social Club servers we had to use to confirm the achievement were totally busted, or because they realized people like me were blowing off a week of college classes to drive taxis for Roman.)

That was the last time I ever had to rely on an actual strategy guide, as I was on a time limit to shoot every stupid one of those two hundred pigeons before the week was out and I couldn't wait for any online walkthroughs to appear. Had to go back to the store and pick up the book. It was basically like paying for assistance DLC.

I got the key, though.

On the larger subject of strategy guides, however, they can be great! My bookshelf still contains a modest collection of classic Versus Books guides.
 
Phantasy Star III. The game itself was something like $75 which was insane considering it was 1990 and then I spent another $15 on the book.
 
SnakeEyes said:
Never. That's what the internet is for.
Click to expand...
True, except many of us were not buying strategy guides, prior to the dawn of the internet... in the days of yesteryear. When a Nintendo Power with a preview of GoldenEye (on the Ultra 64) was all you needed to buckle down and put your best foot forward with any given game.

Those were the days of Hype
 
I bought both the Dark Souls and Dark Souls II hardcover guides because they're just wonderful books on top of being very useful.

Strategy guides are largely superfluous because of the internet.. Maybe publishers would do well to make nicer hardcover collector's guides with art and other extras.
 
I generally don't buy game guides, but there's been a couple of exceptions.

GTA IV, which I got mostly for the motorcycle stunt locations and pigeon locations. After the fourth or so pigeon, I realized those collect-a-thon items were stupid and time-consuming (since you had to shoot the pigeons, I somehow always ended up with at least a 2-star wanted level), so I sold that guide to my local video game store.

Honorable mention: I bought a Tekken 2 guide back in 1996, which I still very proudly own :-)
 
This is the mother of all strategy guides. Still have this one. Funny thing is, this isn't even the legendary one which is even thicker.

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DoktorEvil said:
My last 2 guides I bought:

100_5114.jpg


FF was a game worthy of a strategy guide.
Click to expand...

So THATS what the FF7 guide front cover looks like.. the guide I'm holding has like 30+ pages torn out. The "beginning" page that I'm looking at starts out with the desert and Barrett 's feud, lol. Also, thats one helluva pristine copy. Very nice.
 
i usually get one for any big open world games and/or RPG's i play (very few) such as Fallout 3, Ni No Kuni, etc.

i was on the fence, but decided to get the Thief guide. ITS TOTAL BALLS ASS TRASH POOP.

it has a ton of errors, missing loot, doesn't even mention the Basso side jobs (at least not in list form with guides like the other side jobs), and is horribly organized and a pain in the ass to read or use. the maps for the areas will point to where a caged dog is, but only in one spot, and completely ignoring the caged dog that's guarding an alternate route. ugh... a nightmare.

and on top of it, the more i play Thief the less i feel like i even needed the stupid guide...
 
Either unofficial FFT or brady FF8 I think. The FFT one wasn't as good as the game faqs guides. The FF7 versus guide is something I still consulted even if I had a laptop nearby because it had great layouts and appendixes. If you wanted to do something like find a monster to steal items from in a low level game to make some money this guide was as good or better than having game faqs open.
 
I bought one for Red Dead Redemption, for kicks.

Sometimes those limited editions guides look beautiful. The Dark Souls II one especially.

But I don't care much for the gaming strategies, I like them for the art!
 
I got one with Stick of Truth.
I try to get one every time I pick up a retail game. Next one will probably be whenever I decide to try FFXHD.
 
It was probably some Final Fantasy game. Before the Internet was in almost everyone's household. Now all you need is the internet.
 
I believe it's Ocarina of Time or Majoras Mask. I might have bought a FFX guide too but I can't remember.

In any case it's been well over a decade since I've bought one.
 
Probably one of the pac-man arcade guides. I got sent to the principal's office for reading it inside the book I was really supposed to be reading.
 
I end up purchasing most of the Fighting Game strategy guides that come out with things like Day 1 BnBs, Frame Data and the like. It's always a good read, the frame data is super useful and the information generally isn't out yet. While this drought of information is "manufactured", I don't mind supporting those behind these kinds of books. Frame data can be tedious to produce.
 
The last guide I ever bought was for Tomb Raider 1 for the PlayStation.(Mainly for The Cistern) After that I just used the internet.
 
I remember calling a help hotline at $OMG per minute because I was stuck on MGS when you first meet Ninja/Grey Fox. Fortunately, the guy wasn't a dick and gave me the answer quickly.

I also had this magazine that was dedicated to FFVII. Not quite a strategy guide, but basically the same thing in practice.

Then the Internet came along at reasonable prices and that was the end of that. In fact, that allowed me to finish Shadow of the Beast II after over a decade. Great times, man, great times.

I see the guides at EB all the time and wonder who buys them. I guess they'd make a neat gift if it was a game I was really, really excited for. But given how much changes with patches, they all seem a bit redundant anyway.
 
I only buy them for Fallout, Elder Scroll and GTA games. I guess the last one I picked up was for Skyrim.

I prefer the paper versions over the pdf's. Wait, why? I have a tablet! Damn, I've been doing it wrong.
 
I own only 3.
Twilight Princess, a gift from the store I used to buy games from
New Vegas, giant ass guide I had fun reading here and there
Modern Warfare 2. Don't ask. I was into playing MP with friends and got it at day one.
 
I've only ever gotten 3 of them.

I got one for Majora's Mask because it was an Xmas gift from my parents.
I got one with GTA 4 because I was one of the first 10 people in line and they were giving them away.
The last one I got was FFXIII because it was 50% off when I picked up the game, and I really liked the artwork. I still have that one.
 
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