11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Much Better then the Fall 2003 version!, April 13, 2004
This review is from: Final Fantasy XI Official Strategy Guide for PS2 & PC (Spring 2004 Version) (Paperback)
This book containes information on Final Fantasy XI for both the PS/2 and the PC. This version improves in all Areas it list crafting skills all the was up to level 79. A full map of how to get to every location. Much for detail and helpfull information includeing a more complete list of items, quest, food effect. a Must Buy! If you Own Final Fantasy XI for Ps2 or PC BUY THIS BOOK! I never buy guides but a friend talked me into buying the previous version and it was extreamly helpfull and this updated guide is ever more so!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
72 of 99 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
An extremely poor and incomplete guide LESS then 1 star, September 29, 2004
This review is from: Final Fantasy XI Official Strategy Guide for PS2 & PC (Spring 2004 Version) (Paperback)
This seemingly updated version of the original FFXI official strategy guide was highly anticipated by many of my friends. When this guide was issued I hurriedly ran to the nearest EB and bought this guide thinking it would unravel more of the countless mysteries that surround FFXI and would not disappoint me like the original had. What I received was the exact same FFXI official strategy guide whose pages I had been using as padding material for packages with only about 50 pages of new content added in.
PLAYERS BE WARNED, this guide is NOT worth the money you spend on it, all the information contained within is extremely basic and can be found out from numerous websites or by simply asking ANY lvl 50+ person within the game. This guide is COMPLETELY useless. It does not profile HNMs, gives no information on DYNAMIS, <<<NO RANK MISSION INFO AFTER RANK 5>>, gives absolutely no system for lvling craft skills or useful info on ANY craft. It gives a player NOT even a conception of how the aggro system, renkei system 50+, conquest system work or how the night and day cycles, moon-phase, affect a player's performance both on the battle field and while crafting and harvesting!!!. This guide does not even give basic lessons in EFFECTIVE PARTY STRUCTURE, something that should be on page 1!! of any guide dealing with a game as party reliant as FFXI (They EVEN SUGGEST making 4 man parties to challenge VT monsters if you cannot make a 6 person group!! That's fine and dandy in the first 15 lvls!! of a 75 lvl game but after that, this advice will HURT you more then help you and your friends will laugh at you for even taking it). This guide does not even offer practical pros and cons for jobs and advanced jobs and even suggest TARUTARU as a race choice for a first time through Dark knight. This guide could be the INSTRUCTION MANUEL for this game and not a strategy guide because it barely gives anything away. Every time I walk through a wall and find a "strange device" and am asked for a password, I curse at this guide and rip another page from its spine. THIS GUIDE DOESN'T EVEN SUGGEST GOOD LVLING LOCATIONS PAST LVL 25!!! There is no mention of the Maat fight nor any real help with ANY GENKAI! a MAJOR part of the game when a character reaches 50+. ANY experienced player knows that this game only BEGINS at lvl 60 and this guide ENDS at lvl 50. 90% of useful game info is MISSING from this guide. It is as if I made a walkthrough of the first hour of a regular console RPG and then leave you to figure out the rest. This is supposed to be a strategy guide. Its supposed to give me answer not leave me with more questions then I went in with!
OH, you want MORE things that are missing from this guide... hmmm lets see: BCNM 30,40,50,60, garrison, kindred seal BCNM, coffer locations, Artifact armor gear locations, Relic armor descriptions and info on obtaining them, Relic weapons info and info on how to upgrade them, garrison, ballista, the LVLS OF NMS!!!! and HNMS, info on Zilart missions, info on the sky pass, info on Tu'lia and the hall of the gods, info on the GODS, profile of forced NM pops, tricks and secrets such as how to walk on the rail of an airship, info on mining and ifrit's cauldron, info on the AVATAR BATTLES! and fenrir, info on QUESTED RARE/EX items like the Opo Opo Crown, not to mention info on ANY serious quest in the game. So what are you left with: a guide full of "oh this is a sword.. you have to attack enemies for experience"! and other nooblette things like LISTs of weapons and armor in the game... oh , wait they have that list already up in the Jeuno AH you fools!, any noob can check it and see almost ALL the available items in the game, their stats and lvls, and *gasp, even how much they have been selling for! If lists are your fetish then by all means spend the money, you might even take this guide to bed with you! I have seen poor guides before, but this is by far the most infuriating of them all, even 90% of the players in the PICTURES of this guide have armor less then lvl 20 and not one has armor greater then lvl 50.
But I must confess this guide has served a purpose... It has kept me warm on a particularly chill summer's eve when I used it as kindling to start a fire in my fireplace.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Use the Internet Instead, December 23, 2007
This review is from: Final Fantasy XI Official Strategy Guide for PS2 & PC (Spring 2004 Version) (Paperback)
For one of my favorite games, I really don't like to bash it like this. However, this guide was, and is even moreso now 3 years later, pathetic. Back in the day, it was decent, but the lack of maps, real strategy for quests and the exclusion of things including skill caps for crafting really killed this. Not to mention there are only strategies listed for missions until you reach Rank 5. There's still 5 more levels to be reached afterwards.
To add insult to injury, there's nothing on any of the expansions, and at the time of this guide's release, Rise of the Zilart had already been released, yet there was no mention of the Zilart missions here. While it's understandable there wasn't anything for Chains, Treasures, or Wings, they still could've included something for this, let alone continuing the trend of releasing new volumes of the guide quarterly to keep players up to speed, but alas.
There is no mention of Dynamis, Beseiged or Sky, as well as guides for Level Limit Breaks.
I've come to love Brady Games and, while I do get some help out of this guide, I would much rather use a website like Killing Ifrit, Allakhazam, or FFXIclopedia.
***3 stars for occsional usefulness***
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
