Final Fantasy IX Official Strategy Guide [Paperback]

Dan Birlrw (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Brdy Pblshng (2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0744000491
• ISBN-13: 978-0744000498
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.5 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 1.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #307,771 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Dan Birlew is an author and video game expert who has been writing official, published video game strategy guides since 1999. His original career goals included acting and directing. Video games always excited Dan since he was seven years old, but at the age of twenty-six he began honing his playing skills with the goal of becoming an expert gamer. He enjoyed publishing online documents regarding games, known as "FAQs". Dan inadvertently created an online persona for himself when he wrote and self-published on the Internet a plot analysis of the highly popular survival horror video game, Silent Hill. "The game's story was somewhat vague, and demanded that someone try to explain it," says Birlew.

Upon receiving an overwhelming number of positive responses from other Silent Hill fans, and after some gentle nudging from his wife, Birlew decided to set aside his acting and directing activities to establish a career as a video game strategy guide author. He sent writing samples to several publishing companies. Based on the merits of his very first submission, he was hired by a major publisher within 24 hours. Birlew says, "It was as though I had won the lottery."

Birlew has authored over sixty published video game strategy guides and seeks other methods of publication, such as review columns, articles, and other non-fiction video game-related books. Birlew says of his passion for games, "I love exploring video games, the industry, the culture, the fans -- and there is so much of it about which I can analyze and write." He also bears a strong desire to publish fiction, and is currently working on a novel concerning the paranormal.

Dan Birlew is a native of St. Louis, Missouri, and has lived in Pennsylvania, Texas, and California. He now resides in Las Vegas with his wife of seventeen years. He graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Texas at Austin in 1993. Besides video games, Birlew also enjoys Japanese films and dining with his family and friends in the restaurants and clubs of Las Vegas.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Buyer Beware, July 6, 2010

By 

vdub (FL) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Final Fantasy IX Official Strategy Guide (Paperback)

I will get the seller reveiw out of the way so i can dish on this horrible guide. The guide shipped fairly quick and was in the condition listed. Now for the guide itself. Do not, i reapeat, do not waste your money on this guide unless you are some guide book collector and have to get it for your collection. If your can read the cover from the pics of the guide, it says "Enhanced by PlayOnline". What this really means is that the publisher has just sold you a glorified instruction manual and if you want to know all the secrets and info on this game you must use the stupid online part of the guide. I am serious, you could read the manual that comes with the game and get as much use as this guide. This was obviously some marketing ploy to get gamers to use the publishers website to drum up hits. All the good stuff that the guide should have is on the website. The best part is that the site no longer exists, so you have basically bought a paper weight and will have to go online anyway to get all the info. Save your money and go look at one of the hundred or so faq's for this game. This guide is just a waste of space. Shame on you Bradygames!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Virtually worthless, May 29, 2011

By 

W. B. Dowler (Edmonton, AB CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Final Fantasy IX Official Strategy Guide (Paperback)

I typically find that the main, minimal portions of a Final Fantasy game are easy to solve and work through, and that the difficulty lies in seeking out every hidden treasure in the little nooks and crannies of the worlds. This book provides help *only* with the core quest, and all optional portions are instead relegated to boxes telling you which portion of the subscription-based website contains the answer. I expected this to be a disastrous approach, and that appears to be the case, as BradyGames no longer uses that practice. In short, they were directing their readers to the web, where you could pay to get the same information GameFAQs offers for free. Those of us who like the paper books because our computers and game systems are in different rooms will find this virtually useless. Those who have computers handy will find this to be a far more expensive version of GameFAQs, assuming that the subscription-based website is even still in operation these days.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars VERY POOR FOR A FINAL FANTASY STRATEGY BOOK., June 4, 2009

By 

L. B. Mascarenhas "LEONARD" (MG/Brazil) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Final Fantasy IX Official Strategy Guide (Paperback)

An excellent game for a poor guide of information. Almost all the secrets to be discovered we must be online. The only good thing of this guide were the illustrations of the characters.