Strategy guides you found the most useful

[sirhansirhan]

I was just thinking last night and today about which strategy guides over the years have been my favorites. I'm a total strategy guide junky, and I've been using them for about as long as I've been playing video games. My first (that I remember) was the Nintendo Power special on the original Final Fantasy, but the two that I think of first that I liked the best are the strategy guide that came packed in with Earthbound and the Brady Final Fantasy VII guide (I know people contend that other FFVII guides were better, which may be true--I think the issue here is that FFVII was the first game I really needed a guide to to unlock everything in the game). Since then the only ones that really stand out are all of the DoubleJump guides, especially the ones that they made for the Disgaea games.

So, what're your favorite strategy guides?

[Dreamc@sting]

Not gonna lie, FFVII was it for me, I went through the game at least 5 times maxing the clock out before finally picking up the guide to get everything I could in the game. I don't think I ever really found any other game necessary to use a guide for.

[VACRMH]

http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=43583

Mine still stands as FFVII by Versus.

[Blitzwing256]

It'd have to be the suikoden tactics one , my roomate gave me a stack of strategy guides this one amoung them, I never had any intention of playing the game (more so i didn't know it existed) but flipping through it I got interested in the game and eventually bought it, quite an incredible game and the guide really augments it (finding all the secret charecters is a challenge as well as knowning what you need for each of the missions.) Easilly the single best game on ps2.

[TurboGenesis]

I like the Valkyrie Profile guide.

It was well written and have very valuable maps.

I have also meet the one of the writers as he is a local (Jim Ratkos - he signed my FF Tactics guide ^_^)

I am a huge fan of guides and actually collect guides as well as reference them for the games I play. I regret that I cannot be 'hardcore' as I once was so I refer to guides when I get stuck or when I need a map. Maps are very critical to me and is why I prefer a guide over a Gamefaqs.

[Snapple]

The FF7 one was good. Conversely, the FF9 official strategy guide is probably the worst guide ever written.

I have a Star Ocean 2 guide that really helped me, too. It has all the item creation formulas, notes on all the Private Actions and the choices there, everything you need to know about the game.

[G-Boobie]

I have a couple favorites....

The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind Prophecies guide is utterly fantastic, and the one guide that I used before I had beaten the game it goes to once. It's huge, well organized, and full of random knowledge and helpful info. It's something that most strategy guides are most certainly not, and that's fun to read all by itself.

The Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin guide was very well done, too. In addition to the usual walkthrough and secrets sections, it has a comprehensive section on player controls and techniques; move canceling and slide running? In Castlevania? I would have never figured those out on my own, and I'm a Castlevania nut. The actual walkthrough part is actually pretty 'meh', but the secrets and player strategy sections are obvious works of love, and you have to respect that.

And of course, the Diablo II guide is utterly fantastic. Nuff said there.

[Wraith Storm]

The FF7 one was good. Conversely, the FF9 official strategy guide is probably the worst guide ever written.

AGREED!!! The entire guide was just an ad for PlayOnline!!!! It would hint at something or help you partially through and then tell you "Log on to PlayOnline for more."

Seriously... Why did they bother?

[tom]

The best ones were the SSI Gold box strategy guides. I still have most of them and they have become quite collectable.

The Parasite Eve strategy guide is very useful (and nicely made too).

Origin Quest for Clues book series was always very helpful.

[sisko]

I've got two:

Disgaea 2. The item and class listings are invaluable and save hours and hours of time.

The Armored Core series of guides is useful for the same reasons. While the information is presented in the game itself, it sucks going back and forth and back and forth and back again while comparing the weight and energy consumption of various pieces to find the best fit for your mech.

[rbudrick]

Phantasy Star II definitely did it for me. It came with it's own guide back in the day. This baby was a total bitch without it! I can't even fathom the thought.

People say PS1 was too hard, but it was totally doable without maps and such. Maybe one or two or 3 dungeons would have been hell, but pretty easy to map with patience. PS2, though....whew. Without that book, the game would have been extraordinarily frustrating.

-Rob

[Dreamc@sting]

I'm going to add FF Tactics was a pretty good one, I never bought the guide but GamePro had like a 20 page guide in it, it helped with picking jobs and such. It could of been beat without it easily, but it moved things along a little quicker and I was able to utilize all the jobs the second time around

[heybtbm]

Mine still stands as FFVII by Versus.

100% agreed. I sold the Versus FFVII guide 8 years ago and regretted it ever since. 2 weeks ago I walked into my local used game store and found a copy sitting on top of a stack of old guides. It didn't even have a pricetag on it yet. I asked how much...$4.99. I'm never letting that copy go.

[raregamergirl]

Lufia II guide.

[Flashback2012]

#1- Phantasy Star II mini-guide. My original had spine creases, dog ears, and pages falling out I referenced it so much.

Other useful guides...

FF7 by Versus Books
Animal Crossing (Gamecube)
Animal Crossing: Wild World (DS)
Several different Everquest guide books
World of Warcraft

[Natty Bumppo]

My favorite is the guide for Vandal Hearts II. Well laid out, covers all the secrets and it is in full color.

I actually have two - I bought a somewhat beat up one at a game store as a second copy. Since the pages were already loose, I separated them all and put them in clear sheet holders in a ring binder. Really handy since the thing will lay the pages flat and you can clearly see the whole page. And it is also much easier to leaf through when looking through for a specific page.

[Nirvana]

Final Fantasy VII (Brady Games) - This strategy guide helped me out enough. I am curious to see what's in the versus guide though.

SaGa Frontier - Although some stuff was inaccurate, it had good walkthrough information. However, there was a TON of information that it could have had in it.