Do you still buy new player's guides for recent games?

[Jorpho]

I have no doubt there are still many people out there who haven't caught on to the glory of GameFAQs, and certainly guides from days gone by have a certain charm and collectable value. And of course when they're reduced to a penny, there's no harm in making a purchase.

But do any of you hip folks here still buy player's guides? I suppose they're all shiny and have nice pictures and stuff, but I can scarcely imagine they're worth twenty bucks each. Maybe there are some extra-thick ones for real complex games that might be handy to have as a desk reference, but even then they lack the searchability of a computerized version.

[skaar]

Every once in awhile I'll spring for one with a game. The last one I bought new was the fancy FF XII one.

[Shadow Kisuragi]

I'll buy guides whenever they're cheap and I'll purchase discounted guides when I'll use them or they're thick. I'll also pick up LE or hardbound guides when I find them discounted.

I won't pick up full price guides for $20-$30 though.

[TRM]

My brother grabs them for the games that he owns. I definitely understand his reasoning behind it though. He feels the same way about downloads versus in-the-hand product whether games, music, novels, etc. Anyone can print a guide off of GameFAQs or some similar website and are provided with the information that he or she needs to complete a game by walking through the trouble spots. However, having a professionally printed guide is so much nicer on an aesthetic level, in my opinion, and since my brother rarely purchases new games, it doesn't seem so ridiculous to splurge for a guide now and then.

[Jorpho]

People print out GameFAQs guides? It seems so wasteful. And the searchability goes, too.

[buzz_n64]

On very rare occasions I'll buy one. I bought the Street Fighter IV one, but haven't really used it. Bought the collector's edition Super Mario Galaxy when it was on clearance for less than a dollar.

[Aussie2B]

Why's this in Off-Topic? o_O

I do because I learned my lesson after several guides I wanted to get eventually got more expensive than the MSRP on the used market even in crappy shape. So these days if there's a guide I know is a must-have to me as a collectible I just buy it at launch, sometimes even picking up the guide without the game because I have more confidence in the game being available for less later on than the guide, which starts at a low MSRP to begin with. On Amazon, guides are usually under $15, at least for normal non-premium guides. I definitely wouldn't spend that much on any guide, especially if I just wanted it for info, but it's a fair price for RPG guides when they so often get inflated and generally aren't available in such large quantities that they get pennied out.

[Fuyukaze]

Ya, but rarely full price. I like it when they are done right with lots of charcter art. Even so, I have a problem paying $10-$15 for the game only to pay $20 for the strat guide. It still doesnt help for the rare games I buy new at $30-$50 and be paying $20 for a strat guide. Last guide I paid full for was the Pokemon Plat guide. $18 for that huge tome was worth every stinking penny. Getting 10% off from the pre-order definitly made it worth it IMO.

[DonMarco]

I buy guides 99% of the time to fill a spot on a shelf, very rarely for gaming/informational purposes. Like I bought Dragon Quest V's guide last year- not because I needed it, but I knew it would be harder to find down the road. I always buy my new guides online. Amazon has new guides for about 60-70% the MSRP. Older guides under a buck are easy as hell to find, too. Damned impulse buys.

Weird as it sounds, some guides can be like an investment.

If you do a search on ebay/amazon/addall there are quite a number of guides that fetch more than $15 used. I'm not even talking about old guides, like Earthbound or Chrono Trigger. Just two or three years old: Uncharted: Drake's Fortune is $30+, Tales of Vesperia $40+, Lego Star Wars Complete Saga $60+. I just recently watch a Obllivion GOTY Edition guide end at $51 (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190364647767). And you all balk at paying $25 new in a store or $18 online? I bet you that auction winner wished he could travel back in time and only spend $25 plus tax on that guide! Anyone that has the guide now is probably just holding on to it, waiting for a later date before they sell it for even more.

Buy low sell high, you know? If you ever see a copy of Oblivion GotY guide at a yard sale for a buck, be sure to pick it up. Even if you don't want it, I'll buy it off you for $10.

[Aussie2B]

Anyone that has the guide now is probably just holding on to it, waiting for a later date before they sell it for even more.

That's generally not a good idea. If the gettin's good, get it now, especially if a guide is already pulling in 50-60 because they don't tend to get much higher than that. From my experience guide prices are even more volatile than game prices, and sometimes they drop for seemingly no reason. A few years back I was lucky enough to come across several copies of a couple guides I thought I could sell for around $10 a piece, but they ended up selling for more around $30 a piece. However, I still have a pair because of issues with a buyer that was supposed to get them, and I never got around to relisting them in a timely manner. These days I'd be lucky if I could pull in $10 each.

Or if a game gets ported/remade and gets a new guide, it doesn't matter if the new guide is completely different of even if it's of significantly lower quality. The Star Ocean: The Second Story guide, a great one by the way, used to pull in upwards of $50, and it's now selling for as low as under $10 following the release of the Second Evolution guide, which most regard as a piece of crap.

Granted, I'm not going to play that game of luck and hope that a guide will miraculously become cheap when I can buy early and skip that stress in the first place, but sellers definitely shouldn't sit on their laurels.

[aaron7]

Nah that's what google is for.

[Kid Fenris]

I own about five game guides, and most weren't bought for gameplay help. For example, I picked up the Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume guide just because it was cheap and because I like the artwork.

[shopkins]

I've never bought single-game guides that I can recall, at least not new. I try to only resort to guides when I'm stuck or looking for secrets and Gamefaqs is good enough for that, plus if the FAQ writer knows what she is doing she can make the guide searchable without being spoilery. Guides just don't have any collector value to me for some reason, either. I can admire some of them as physical objects but don't feel any need to own them.

Guides would have been nice when I was a kid, though. I had to make do with the How to Win at Nintendo Games books and tips and guides from magazines. A lot of the time I couldn't even afford the magazine and I'd just go into the store and read it and try to memorize the solution. Sometimes I would brink a piece of paper and copy the code from it.

[jcalder8]

I'll pick them up if they are cheap but $5 is my max unless I love the game then I'll go up to 10.

[The 1 2 P]

Bumping this year old thread since it's easier than starting a new one. Anyway, those who view my finds know that I absolutely buy new strategy guides every chance I get. And of course most of those are penny guides that get clearanced months after the games and guide initially came out. But it's nice to have guides even though I rarely use them for their intended purpose anymore. I like them for their collectible aspect. Sometimes you get lucky and find out that the guide you have is going for alot more than retail. But that usually doesn't happen unless it's an rpg guide. But I've still been surprised a few times at how high some strategy guide prices have reached. The only problem with collecting guides is that they take up alot of space. I have had to rearrange my shelves several times to keep up with all my guides.

[kupomogli]

If both of the closest Best Buys weren't an hour away from me in different directions, I'd try to purchase the strategy guides for a penny. Never interested in driving an hour only to be awarded with absolutely nothing for your troubles... except for the hour drive back.

As of right now, I only own three strategy guides. SaGa Frontier, Dragon Quest Monsters Joker, and official Arc the Lad 1 and 2 hardbound guide. The Arc the Lad 2 guide is still sealed, the SaGa Frontier guide I started bringing to school to read about the game when I couldn't play it, and the Dragon Quest Monsters Joker guide I got along with the game for $15 although have still never used. I'm not much of a fan of using a guides to get through a game, and if I do use them to get through a game it'll be when I've exhausted every possibility that I can think of. I mainly only like to use them as a way to immerse myself into the games world when I want to play a game but I what I'm doing won't allow me to. Or after completing as much of the game as I can, look and see what I've missed, or find things that the guide may have missed.

[JSoup]

I haven't bought a game guide in years, but I've been meaning to keep an eye on the prices for those fancy Zelda ones.


People print out GameFAQs guides? It seems so wasteful. And the searchability goes, too.

Depends on the situation, but I've done that too. When I first discovered GFAQs, I had a highly unreliable internet connection and would print guides out for use later. I've also printed out story/plot analysis guides and game console FAQs to read in between this and that. If you happen to be a guide writer, printing a copy out for proof reading is actually pretty effective, I've improved a number of my files this way. It's also a good way to back up early versions of files. Somewhere in my storage I've got a copy of the Chrono Trigger/Cross plot guide from 2002, which was well organized and entertaining to read. The current version...not so much.

[G-Boobie]

It depends on the game, but usually no. I picked up the Dark Souls guide, not because I wanted the spoilers or help, but because it's well designed, well bound, and fun to read through now that my time with the game is over. It's like an encyclopedia. I also picked up the Marvel vs. Capcom 3 guide, because it was written by people who know what they're talking about and had reliable frame data.

I think they're fun, and some of them are interesting to read. Plus, Amazon makes them CHEAP. The aforementioned Dark Souls guide, a beautiful hardcover well bound with quality paper, was purchased right after release for eighteen dollars.

[The 1 2 P]

People print out GameFAQs guides? It seems so wasteful. And the searchability goes, too.

I know your response was from a year ago but back during the PS1 days I printed out several guides from Gamefaqs. Specifically I printed out the controls and move list for all of my import wrestling games, and I had pretty much every PS1 Japanese import wrestling game. Those came in handy, especially for All-Japan Pro Wrestling and All-Japan Women's Pro Wrestling.


If both of the closest Best Buys weren't an hour away from me in different directions, I'd try to purchase the strategy guides for a penny. Never interested in driving an hour only to be awarded with absolutely nothing for your troubles... except for the hour drive back.

Gamestop also pennies out their guides every few months and I'm pretty sure you have atleast one Gamestop within a reasonable distance to you.

[heybtbm]

I always buy Zelda guides new...and that's about it. The rest I buy used or cheap from Amazon. 99% are RPG guides. GameFAQ's is fine, but I like shiny color pictures and maps. Actually, Youtube has been more helpful than GameFAQ's the past few years.

Not to mention with the advent of DLC, most guides are incomplete the moment they come off the press.

[RPG_Fanatic]

I buy strategy guides only for RPG's. My last one I think I bought was for dragon Quest VI for the DS.

[Lady Jaye]

The last strat guide I bought was for Dragon Age II, but I don't usually buy them. All in all, I only own a few guides, and none for recent games aside from DA2 (the second most recent guide on my bookshelf is Kingdom Hearts II).

I'm a visual person, so I'm not too fond of GameFAQs for that reason, but it's better than nothing. Now that I have an ebook reader, I use it to carry the walkthrough to my current handheld game (right now, Ocarina of Time for the 3DS), so I can consult it even on the go.

Anyway, Aussie was right 2 years ago, this thread shouldn't be in OT. Time for a move! (swoosh)

[Tron 2.0]

Strat guides rarely and if i do get one it's for a rpg.Usely i try to play the game the hard way but if i get stuck then i check,gamefaqs and youtube.Still if either doesn't cover what i'm looking for then i buy a guide.

[SpaceHarrier]

I haven't purchased a strategy guide since 2007..

[Colorado Rockies]

I only buy the hardcover Bethesda and Bioware guides

[AceAerosmith]

Never bought a one. By the time I get around to playing a game, there's a complete walk-thru somewhere on the interlinks.

[calthaer]

I've historically bought the Pokemon guides, largely because of the compendium of information they used to contain about characters, moves, etc.

However, of late they've been withholding info on the "promo" guys that haven't been released as of the guide's printing - info that's readily available on Serebii.net in a lot better format. There were a few things that the guides used to be useful for, but no longer. I wasn't that impressed with Black / White, and probably won't get the guides in the future.

For most other games, I use Gamefaqs. I do like guides with maps and pictures and such, but it's not really a necessity worth paying $15+ for.

[xelement5x]

I like to get the guides, like most I normally pick them up for RPGs though. The last one I got at retail was the hardbound Skyward Sword guide, before that it was the the FF13 limited edition one. I didn't need to open either though :(

[kainemaxwell]

People print out GameFAQs guides? It seems so wasteful. And the searchability goes, too.

Exactly, especially if your pc is away from your consoles and dont feel like printing for each section of a game or running back and forth. Games that dont have game guides use gamefaqs, others i use both.

[Zama]

I do buy game guides but not very often anymore. RPG games seem to be the exception though :)

[duffmanth]

I never really bought game guides much to begin with. I have a few old Metal Gear Solid guides I picked up for dirt cheap simply as collectables. I would never spend $20-30 on new guides when you can hop onto any number of gaming sites and have access to a million walkthroughs/guides.

[BlastProcessing402]

Last one I bought was Dragon Quest IX. Mainly wanted to be able to look up recipies for the alchemy pot and stuff without having to keep my laptop running. Sadly, compared to the DQ8 guide it's not as good for that sort of thing. (Not that the DQ8 guide didn't have issues of its own).

Even with the internets, I probably would still buy them more often if they hadn't shot up in price so much. I used to buy a lot when they were like $15 or less, but now they're like $20, $25 or more and I just don't want them quite that badly.

I really miss the guides that Nintendo published. Those really seemed to be a notch above what Prima and Brady put out. And of course Working Designs had some guides that were in a league of their own, even before they went all hardcover deluxe; those are some guides I wouldn't mind paying 20 bucks for.

[duffmanth]

I also pick up collector's editions of guides if I come across them for dirt cheap.

[Beefy Hits]

Yea, but only for RPGs usually. recently I caved in and picked up the strategy guide for Zelda: Skyward Sword. I get it out of convenience. But I get the RPG strat. guides for collectability.

[thegamezmaster]

Once in a while. Usually use Gamfaq or emuparadise for guides. Try to use them if I just get stuck.

[Flashback2012]

The last guide I bought with a new game was Disgaea 4. I miss the days of getting penny guides. :|

[The Shawn]

After reading this thread I decided to check out Amazon and picked up a brand new Dead Rising 2 hardcover guide for $4.14. Just came today actually.

I only buy the guides aftermarket for games I enjoy, or think I'll enjoy if I haven't bought the game yet. (Such is the Case with DR 2)

Besides, seeing that DR 2 is another real-time themed game I wanted to make sure I knew where shit was while playing it. (God I wish they'd stop doing that in Zombie games!)

[joshnickerson]

Generally if it's a game I like, I'll pick up the guide as a companion piece, though sometimes a long time after I buy the game. I picked up the Skyward Sword hardcover guide off of Barnes & Noble's site for $25, since paying $40 retail is just insane for a guide, and for some reason Amazon is sold out of them...

I do wish I had picked up the New Super Mario Bros. Wii guide when I had the chance, since it commands insane $50+ prices on eBay now... not even sure why, because it wasn't even THAT good of a guide!

I will say that I enjoyed the old Nintendo Power guides much more than the Prima guides these days... they just seemed much more organized and better laid out, with big maps and points of interest... the Prima guides read more like rambling GameFAQs postings... sigh.

[RPG_Fanatic]

I do wish I had picked up the New Super Mario Bros. Wii guide when I had the chance, since it commands insane $50+ prices on eBay now

I still have it sealed in the shrink wrap and to think I was thinking about throwing it away since I don't have the game anymore. Looks like I'm going to have to Ebay it soon.

[jrokshady]

Complicated, really long, difficult games, games with a lot of secrets or unlockables, hidden items, stuff like that is what will make me purchase a guide. Pokemon, Grand Theft Auto, Halo, Metal Gear Solid, and any RPG guide are what I need a guide for.

[The 1 2 P]

I do wish I had picked up the New Super Mario Bros. Wii guide when I had the chance, since it commands insane $50+ prices on eBay now... not even sure why, because it wasn't even THAT good of a guide!

Damn. I managed to find one of those as a penny guide at Best Buy last year but it was opened. I believe it sold for around $7-10. I should have held on to it a bit longer.