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66 of 68 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Poor organization and strange errors cause an otherwise likable guide to falter, November 18, 2006
This review is from: Final Fantasy XII Signature Series Guide (Paperback)
Brady Games is notorious for putting together somewhat haphazard game guides, and the FF12 guide is no exception. What we have here is a colossal guide for FF12, featuring almost all of the information that any player needs to complete the game. It includes lists of all of the loot drops in the game, strategies on how to beat all of the optional bosses, and advice on how to build your party so that the license board does not completely perplex you. However, the guide has many inherent flaws, which make it a little less than lovable.
To begin, the guide is chock full of spoiler information. Nowhere in the guide can you go and get the quick and simple advice that you might be seeking for a part of the game. Instead, the writers have chosen to fill almost every part of the walk through up with unnecessary information on the storyline scenes and spoilers that which makes playing the game a little boring. The guide could easily have had 50+ pages taken out of it if the writers had avoided spoiling most of the game's storyline. Instead however, it seems that they have (with Square-Enix' blessing) filled every part of the walk through up with spoiler content in order to add weight to the guide when the weight is superfluous.
Another hindrance on the guide are it's strange typographical errors. Throughout the guide the reader will find instances where references to other pages are turned to question marks. For example, when going over a side quest, the guide says to look to page (???) for more information. This is rather troublesome and it leaves the reader wondering if that page is even in the guide.
The guide also suffers from bad organization. The maps of the dungeons are small and cumbersome, and while playing through an area, players will have to continuously flip back to the page with the map and squint their eyes to find out where the treasure chest they want is located. The guide also fails to mention where some of the "good treasure" drops are in each dungeon and the player will have to refer to the exhaustive bestiary section to find out where the monster they want is located and if they are capable of killing it.
Another lack of organization is the lack of an index. The guide is set up in such a way that in order to know everything, the player will have to start using it when they start the game. If they begin to read it during any other point, they will have to flip back and scrounge around before they might be able to find a piece of information that otherwise could have been found by using an index.
The final blow to the FF12 guide however is the complete lack of explanation of how the treasure chest system works. There are tables however, that break down the frequencies of finding an item, but it requires trial and error before the player will find out exactly how to use the table. A thorough explanation should have been in order to explain this critical aspect of the game.
Despite these numerous errors, the guide still offers much to players who are in need of help for completing the game. It offers great advice on how to defeat all of the bosses (and the previously mentioned optional bosses), it gives the location of every single item, and it has a very pretty presentation, chock full of screen shots and artwork. If a player is seeking this guide, the best advice would be to locate the limited edition version of it, as it comes in a hard cover case and has an extra "art book" that comes with it.
*Update* Another serious flaw with the guide that I didn't realize until I got towards the end of the game was the lousy advise the game guide gives on one of the last dungeons. While this dungeon is indeed optional, it features a few of the best items in the game as well as some of the hardest fights, so boo on Brady Games for not taking the time to explain this dungeon in better detail.
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19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Need more organize and detail data! Essential for such complex game., November 3, 2006
This review is from: Final Fantasy XII Signature Series Guide (Paperback)
Final Fantasy XII is a very complex game with all treasure box items being random and rare monster appearance. A complete strategy guide is highly recommended. A good example is that one single mistake at the beginning of the game might change the entire probability of occurance down from 100% to 0.1% for certain powerful items, such as the Zodiac Spear. There are also near 400 different monsters, bosses, and enemies data that player should know their strong and weakness in order to defeat them at ease and obtain rare items.
Moreover the maps in FFXII are HUGE, very similar to MMORPG scale, while contains many hidden paths that are NOT shown by pressing SELECT button for the in game maps. A printed collection of maps are very convenient.
The US version FFXII strategy guide is actually a translated and reorganized version from the two Japanese guides: FFXII BATTLE ULTIMANIA & SCENARIO ULTIMANIA. I give the two Japanese guides 5 stars due to their complete data tables for monsters, items, equipment tables and most efficient boss strategies. The US Bradygames guide however, I give 4 stars due to not 100% complete as the Japanese guides. The US Bradygames version is lacking the most efficient strategies in certain boss fight, for example the US version says use QUICKENING (it works for most kind of bosses if player is skillful, so no need to mention everytime in the strategy guide), and the Japanese version actually teaches you to cast certain magic and Gambit combination to against certain boss that player has to defeat it within a time limit (Use ZAP + VIRUS combination, where ZAP can lower the HP continuously (Numerator) and VIRUS is to lower the maximum possible HP (Denominator) of the boss, this combination guarantees the HP of the boss can never be increased nor restored to the initial max. E.g. HP=50000/50000 can be lowered to HP=200/200). There are so many different ways to defeat a boss in FFXII, but QUICKENING is just not the most efficient way against certain boss unless the player is very skillful.
The Bradygames monster table is a lot simpler compare to the Japanese Ultimania. For example, the US version shows the monsters' weakness and strengths but does not show what kind of magics are effective against or Null to them. Morever, the Japanese guides has a collection of monster data with certain probability of dropping or able to be stolen different items, while the US version just lists them out without the degree of rareness.
Apart from those differences, I still think that the US guide is good enough and I highly recommend people to get the collector's edition due to the extra BEAUTIFUL ART BOOK!! Worth every single penny! Exclusive in EB Games/ Gamestop.
--Updated on 11-03-2006--
I think the US version is needed to be a little bit more organized and add more important detail data. For example, if I need to find a map for a certain area, I must need to flip to the page at which the story has that particular section of the map. There is no index table for me to find the maps either. Moreover, I just figured one of the mistakes that the Accessories section for the Diamond Amulet ,which improves the probability of rare items apperarence, has only listed one location : Dalmasca Esterland!!! But there are several other locations where you can obtain it too!!! They are: The Tchita Uplands, and from Bestiary # 169: Mom Bomb with low chance for dropping the item. The locations to obtain this Diamond Amulet is summarized very clearly in the Japanese Ultamania Guides, but this information is scattered around in the Bradygames guide. It is kind of dissapointing to me.
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50 of 59 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Another Good BradyGames Guide, October 31, 2006
This review is from: Final Fantasy XII Signature Series Guide (Paperback)
First of all, I must say that this guide is absolutely gorgeous. If nothing else, it is worthwhile for the collectability and the beautiful artwork.
Second, BEFORE YOU DECIDE TO BUY THIS GUIDE be advised that there is a special edition version of this guide. The special edition is more expensive but it includes an artbook (VERY beautiful and detailed), the guide, and a folder to keep them in. The special edition guide has one of six covers featuring a character from the game, but the artbook contains all of the images - so no worries if you don't get the one you want. However, the inside contents of the two guides are EXACTLY THE SAME. Just be aware of that before you decide to buy.
The guide contents themselves pretty standard - the guide first includes a story, character profiles, and even a "relationship flowchart." There is a full explanation of the License Board system including a chart that shows how each character can access the complete board. Other sections include Gambits, Espers & Quickenings, a complete Walkthrough, Hunts, Side Quests, & Secrets, Weapons, Armor, & Accessories, Magicks & Techniques, Items & Sundries, The Bazaar, Marchant Shops, and last but not least, a Bestiary. This guide is great for getting everything in the game, and as I said before, if you're a collector, this is a must have.
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by Dan Birlew
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