Customer Reviews

City of Villains Binder (Prima Official Game Guide)

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1 star:		(8)

 

 

Despite the novelty factor of the new 3-ring binder format for this book, shoddy editing and poorly researched data lead ultimately to disappointing product.

The 3-ring binder format should allow Prima to release incremental updates to this guide as NCSoft updates its own game, which is a good idea to keep the guide current.

However, with this new format comes several glaring flaws which Prima will need to rethink for future products:

- There are no page numbers.
- There is no table of contents.
- There is no index.

To compensate for this "numberless" paging system, Prima uses tab-marked pages to denote the basic sequence of pages. However, basic editing errors make even the tab system inadequate to its own purpose. For example, the entire section on the "Brute" archetype is labelled "Dominator," and appears out of sequence with the other tabbed sections.

There are also humongous gaps in the content. There is no description of "Pool Powers," which are powers common to all archetypes. There is also no description of character "reputation," which acts as a difficulty setting for City of Villains missions.

The powers which are described in the Guide offer little more than the flavor text which you can read immediately upon entering the game. Want to know the damage, recharge time, endurance cost, or hit probability of a power? Sorry, that information is not provided. (EDIT: recharge time and endurance cost are listed, but not damage or accuracy)

The chapter dedicated to teamwork within a group of Villains is one solitary page.

Don't buy this book. Prima clearly did not do their job when writing it.

This book/binder is a complete waste of money and time. I completely agree with the previous review.

City of Villains is a fun expansion to City of Heroes, but this Prima Binder is a waste of money. The original City of Heroes book by Prima Games offered some useful information, but all of that is lacking.

The archatype sections are out of order. The graphic design is inconsistent. They do not tell you simple pieces of information like when Masterminds get their bonus minions (something that a Mastermind character would very much like to know when creating their character).

The "base design" section doesn't tell you any useful information on base design, costs, what you can build, etc. I understand the book was supposed to be a "living" binder, but no content isn't content. Some of their advice on base building includes the section "Building a base seems deceptively simple. When you create a Supergroup, the Registrar offers to give you a base. Say yes and you have a base."

I just can't empathize enough how bad this binder concept is.

Save your money, search the web, talk to people online, and have fun.

I generally like guides, if just for the maps and possibly some extra color content for the game. This is without a doubt the worst one I have ever had the misfortune to purchase. They mention things in the guide that do not exist. They talk about badges and StrikeForces.. but never show any specifics. Avoid this product! You can get way better information online for free and just make your own binder.

Before ordering the guide I thought it was a great idea to be in binder format so that I could add my own stuff to it as well. Upon receiving it however I've changed my mind. Not only is the binder cheap in its construction, it is awkward to boot!

I was disappointed with the content as well... I don't think it gave me anything new of any substance; it is basically a rehash of everything that is either in the CoV manual or online in the official forums.

Quite some time ago when I bought City of Heroes (just before release), I also ordered the Prima guide for it... although a lot of the information was basic, it was hands down better than the CoV binder guide!

As with the City of Heros book this one was a great idea and then Prima in their great marketing skills decided to not print updates for customers. My children love the book and use it constantly, but now that a new update is out it is getting out dated. Don't buy it because you can't print the updates at a reasonable cost.

"When major updates or new Issues are released, Prima will release new, punched Update Packs for your binder." Or so says the product description above...not going to happen.

Prima has made it clear that they will NOT be printing the updates for purchase - they will only be available for download (at no cost) from their site. Which is all fine and dandy, but to print that "free" download on your own and at your own expense in full color would be so cost prohibitive that it makes the whole binder system obsolete. (In fact, one person on the City of Heroes forums burned the file to CD and took it to their local major copy shop, who promptly quoted them a price over $200.00 to print in color.)

So, it was a great dream while it lasted...and the cries of woe from disgruntled customers have fallen on Prima's deaf ears...

Thank God, I didn't pay more than $5.00 for this binder. This item is pure garbage.

Cryptic/NCSoft have issued the latest update as an e-guide, and have stated that they have decided against the binder update format. So it's pointless paying more for this than the usual cost of a strategy guide.