Customer Reviews

Kingdom Hearts II Limited Edition Strategy Guide (Official Strategy Guides) (Official Strategy Guides) (Official Strategy Guides)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

While trying to figure out what game guide I should buy I read reviews on here for both and was left confused as ever. Just in case you don't know I'm talking about this copy and the regular cheaper copy of the Kingdom Hearts II guide books. So I bought both and did a side by side comparison.

Plain and simple here's the bottom line. Both books are the same. Page for page, made by the same company, say the same thing. Only difference in the book is the cover. The cheap one has just one cover with a picture of all of the characters. The limited edition has 4 different covers that have Sora being one of 4 of his different colors.

The bonus to the limited edition in the inclusion of Jiminy's Journal. In this book it gives a little more info on each of the characters you will encounter. Now when I say a little more info I mean two or three sentence giving a general history. It does go over the Heartless a bit and how to defeat them a little more then the guide.

Like the first book where you collected the 101 dalmation puppies and put a sticker on a poster for everyone you found. This has a sticker for every character you meet, for things you pick up along the way, and for every world you make it too.

So what one is right for you? If you want just the basic no frills stick with the lower cost one. It does have all the info you need and if you need a little more help there is plenty of sites that can help you through a difficult spot. If you wanna have a little more fun with keeping track of who you have encountered and what you have collected as well as being able to write your top scores to mini games you play along the way go for the limited, it's a bit funner.

As for me I went with the Limited Edition verision just for the extra fun with the stickers and because I'm a huge Disney and Kingdom Heart fan. If you have questions feel free to contact me through here if that is possible. And remember this review contains my thoughts, ideas, and opinions on both of the books meant to help you decide which one is best for you. Hope it helped!

I have been waiting a longgg time for Kingdom Hearts 2 to come out. When I heard there would be a limited edition strategy guide, I was estatic and decided on the spot that I had to buy it. The only problem was that I had no idea what exactly I was getting for the extra money. After looking around, I found little and vague information. I decided to take my chances and buy it anyway, even though there were no pictures of it when I preordered it.

If anyone has bought or seen the limited edition strategy guide for Final Fantasy X-2, the packaging is identical. The package is 3cm (or a little over an inch) thick. As you can see from the picture above, the cover is all white with a picture of the cast on the front. Upon opening the envelope-like cover, you are greeted with two books- the strategy guide on the right and Jimminy's Journal on the left. Both books are in soft cover. When the books are removed, the inside cover features the words displayed in the game when you are at the title screen and don't press anything so that a little "extra" movie comes up.

The only difference between the strategy guide included in this package and the one you can get separately in the store is the cover. With this package you can receive one of four covers- each is of Sora in one of his different forms. I distinguish them by colors- there is a silver/white, yellow, red, and blue cover. (I got the blue one.) Each cover features Sora in a different pose. The actual contents of the book is no different than the "regular" guide.

Now on to Jimminy's Journal- which, I believe, is the real reason for this "special" package. As I've said, this book is also in soft cover. It is dark brown with the little yellow symbol of a crown seen in KH1 I believe.

It is NOT an artbook as previous rumors have said. (I would have prefered an artbook.) Jimminy's Journal is just as it sounds. Remember the journal you had in the Kingdom Hearts 1 game? It had a bestiary of all the heartless, characters, etc. This book is like that. It has pictures of all the characters in the order of the worlds in which you meet them. Each picture has a little description (probably the same ones you will receive when you meet the characters in the game). In addition to character descriptions, it lists all the items you can find in that world. Remember the little 101 Dalmation stickers you received in the Kingdom Hearts 1 strategy guide? The ones so you can keep track of which puppies you've found? This books has 2 pages of stickers in the back- stickers so you can keep track of which items you get, and stickers of each of the characters. I guess this is in case you want to mark off which charcters you've met in the game? It's not like these are big stickers that you can put on books or anything to display. They are small. Also, marking off the items and characters would be done in Jimminy's Journal, not the strategy guide. So regular strategy guide buyers are not missing anything stickers-wise.

After the characters and items for all the worlds, you get pictures of the heroes in their different costumes, i.e.- Atlantica, Halloween Town, etc. You get picture discriptions of summons, friends, and Organization XIII. Finally, there is a small picture of each enemy you face with a little description. There are also a couple of pages where you can record your best scores.

And that's it. Is this worth the extra money? That's for you to decide. If you are an artist or like drawing, you'll enjoy this book. I presonally think it is nice, but not something you must go to buy if you bought a regular strategy guide or if you don't like strategy guides. It's not to die for. I hope this review was helpful. Enjoy!

This guide is well worth the extra $10. Not only do you get a bunch of bonuses like a hard cover for the guide/s, you get the
guide, 1 of 4 limited covers, 400 stickers, Jiminys Journal, & a fold out poster. My fiancee is an advid Kingdom Hearts fan & she loves this guide. If you don't have the extra money, then go for the regular guide, if you do then this guide should definately be picked up before it goes OOP.

Update: 'Jiminy's Journal' is the so called 'Art Book', you use it to keep track of all the side quests & different things you can do in addition to following the regular story line of the game.

I really like this guide. The artwork is nice, it's very helpful without giving away too many spoilers. I've got the Valor Form cover art and I think that's the best.
The synthesis guide is invaluble and saves much time when hunting for things to complete the Jimny(sp) Journal. The Gumi Guide is also quite helpful.
This book will help get you through the game without giving away the ending (or the secret one. which I'm still working on thanks to the last cup.)
What I don't like about this book is that it's falling apart so fast. Having the book try and lay flat, so you can read while you play, puts horrible creases in it. On top of that, from the first day we used it, the glue started to give at the ending and very middle pages.
The guide is nice, helpful, fun to look at, but could have been made to be actually opened up and used a little better.

First of all, i just want to say that the guide included in this package is NO different than the 1 sold separately.. unfortunately i bought both so now i'm stuck with two poorly-written guides..

i bought the guide for KH1..and believe me i've never had a guide as comprehensive and thorough as that one.. Dan Birlew covered EVERY aspect of the game..$15 well spent

So when i had a look at this guide i was DISAPPOINTED.. First of all, it doesnt cover each world in detail..and the boss strategies are sumtimes vague and hard 2 understand..also sum essential strategies arent even included (battle vs sepiroth)

Second, every KH fan knows that synthesizing is important.. yet the writers make no mention of the ULTIMA WEAPON (the most powerful keyblade that every player wishes to acquire). Third, i thought that the synthesis process was a bit more complicating than the 1st game.. and ppl playing 4 the first time might get lost.. the writers of course didnt bother 2 explain what to do there..

Fourth, the cups in Olympus Coliseum are not mentioned and no indication of how to unlock them is given.. and 4 those who bought the regular strategy guide they would find difficulty completing jiminy's journal cuz its not even mentioned..

if ur a big fan of KH, then get the LE guide why not.. the jiminy journal included is guaranteed to help u obtain any missing items, provide info on how 2 unlock certain games etc.. but if ur just looking 4 a guide my advice, dont buy the book and just log on 2 a KH website and post ur q in the forum.

Ok, i am not one to use strategy guides because i like to figure it out by myself. It makes me have a real sense of accomplishment. Anyway, when they asked me to preorder it with the game i didnt. Than it finally came out and they had a lot of extra copies. But $30 is a lot of money to spend on a book. Especially one where you can get the info off the internet. Then i was browsing on amazon and saw that this book was only $20 which was the price of the regular edition. So i bought it. I am enjoying it. It has a lot of pictures and info on everything. The strategy guide is really nice, to tell you the honest truth i dont care much for the 1 of 4 covers. I like the regular editions cover better. Some people say the guide is terrible and doesnt cover everything. But what they dont get is its a "Strategy Guide" Meaning it helps you get through the game. Why would anybody want the strategy guide to hold their hand and take them through the entire game. If you do that, its not your game, its bradygames. Jiminys journal was a nice edition too. It is filled with info on everything through the game. And it to is well picture filled. And it comes with stickers to keep track of your progress. My opinion is buy this on amazon instead of ebay or at a local store because its cheaper.

This strategy guide is one of the most high quality, detail oriented I've ever had the chance to use. There are TONS of graphics and a descriptive world by world guide. This is quite heavy, and the cover is somewhat like a box? I suppose the only negative is that since the book itself is heavier grade, the pages are a bit more delicate. The spine and pages needed to be handled carefully as to not remove them from the binding. Otherwise, you should be able to accomplish the entire game quite smoothly and quickly using this guide! Enjoy! This is one of my favorite games of all time.

My teenage son was thrilled with this book. It has a sleeve and is just not a regular book. We could not find this in Canada, and only found it here.

Very informative, has lots of detail, comes with many extras. Must-buy for any Kingdom Hearts fan.

This is the best biggest guide to any game I have ever bought, I love it! I read it just like a book, it is so awesome!