NOTE: I'm reviewing this on launch day. In the past, the Dark Souls 1 guide wound up becoming riddled with inaccuracies due to the patches the game received post-launch which drastically impacted certain information. The guide's information is accurate as of this date. If that should change down the road, I will update this review accordingly.
THE BONUSES
Let's be honest, you're looking at this book for the Estus Flask. We all are. It's a cool extra, but it's a distinct case of "know what you're buying."
The Estus Flask is small. It's made of resin and is of pretty solid quality. However, "solid" is the keyword: this is not an actual flask of any sort. I wouldn't even call it a replica. It's a display piece. If you have the handful of statues released for Dark Souls (or the Pop figure), it's a cool little collectible to go along with your display. The sword bookmark is as well. However, you cannot use the Estus Flask to drink from it. You also cannot do much of anything with it aside from displaying it somewhere. It's cool for hardcore fans of the series, but your purpose has to be for display. For its size, the uptick in price from the standard guide is frankly a little much. However, Amazon's price point is the best as of this date (MSRP is actually $130, and there are retailers selling it for that price). The box is cool and it all has the distinct Dark Souls vibe, but be forewarned about the main draw, the flask, so that you do not buy it thinking you can actually use it.
The set also comes with a little notebook, which is cool enough and looks nice, but in the end of the day, a notebook is a notebook.
THE GUIDE
The strategy guide for Dark Souls III is immense and looks great on a shelf with the Dark Souls, Dark Souls 2, and Bloodborne guides. The cover art is excellent. However, this is a Prima guide, not a Future Press (the company who did the other guides in the From Software game series). While it is very good, so far the quality does not seem to be quite on par. All of the information is there from what it seems, and there are plenty of helpful maps pointing out enemy and item locations. In a time where strategy guides are largely getting replaced, the burden is higher on companies who specialize in making such guides to make them worthwhile. This particular book seems to be very good. Plenty of information is provided regarding character builds, boss tactics, and how to effectively level up and improve your weapons, armor, and stats.
The other big perk of having a print guide is that it sort of doubles as an art book. The art for Dark Souls III is gorgeous, and this book has a lot of wonderful images.
[Disclaimer: The game came out today. I'm not especially far into it. So far (about 3 bosses), the information seems accurate and I have not noticed anything incorrect of note. I will edit this review accordingly in the event I come across something. If you do, kindly comment so I can include reference to it.]
SUMMARY:
At the outset of this review, I pointed out that you're clearly reading this if you're curious about the bonus content. The Estus Flask is a great display piece. Is it $77 (as of today) worth of a great display piece? Your mileage may vary. The book marker sword is cool too, but again, whether it's worth the fairly substantial investment is up to you. I don't personally regret buying it. The extras enhance my little Dark Souls series display. But again, recognize you are buying this as a display piece and that's it. It's not an actual, usable cup. That may not be a big deal to some, but it needs to be noted for those who wanted it to be functional, for lack of a better word.
The actual guide collects tons of information and the maps are helpful. If you want to use a guide for the game, this is very helpful. As with all guides, there will inevitably be a bunch of additional information available on the Wiki for the game regarding specific boss tactics. Dark Souls III is a game about discovery, and while the guide strives to be as complete as possible, and while it will get you through the game, the Internet will be your backup if you get stuck.
I can't recommend this to everyone. In fact, most gamers who are buying Dark Souls III probably won't want a guide to begin with. If, however, you do, I hope you found this review informative as to the quality of the more expensive collector's edition of the guide. The paperback version would probably suffice otherwise (apparently there is extra material in the hardcover book, but I don't have the paperback to compare the two). If you understand what the Estus Flask is and your purposes in buying this are to get a cool little display piece, it comes recommended. If you've only got a passing interest, the guide alone is probably the way to go.
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Prima's free online guide is better.. Save money, use google.
Reviewed in the United States on May 4, 2016
The case that it all comes in that is painted like a chest is actually just card board. I would be afraid to carry the guide in it without it tearing the binding apart. I currently just use the chest to support the statue I received from the collectors edition of the game, which looks nice. The book mark is actually really nicely detailed, great weight and rather large. Great for game guides and a letter opener, but not realistic to use on any other book. The sword is about 6 inches long and maybe made of pewter and aluminum.The dust cover for the guide really is nothing special. Decent material was used in making it, but the art work is simply game artwork. I would have preferred a unique piece that only estus guide buyers could ever obtain.Now, the guide:This guide is the most useless companion to dark souls 3. It doesn't even remotely do the game justice. It is vague, difficult to follow, the numerical numbering system for the paragraphs correspond to numbers marked on the map. However, the numbers and map have no logical path that they follow.Therefor, if you are following the guide sentence by sentence, sequentially in order of numerical paragraphs, you will have no idea what you are doing. You will back track hundreds of time and miss plenty of things the game offers.The guide instructs you how to get to, and maps out the boss strategy for the great wood boss, without ever mentioning how to enter mound makers until afterwards! That means you entirely miss out on your first opportunity simply by following the guide.Although, it does describe how you WERE supposed to have entered it, but by this time you can't, because the boss is defeated!There is no index for any items, and no table of contents. There is no real table of contents page either. It is more of a brief breakdown of chapter pages. The side tabs list 10 chapters, however only 7 exist. Chapters one and two are somehow absent, and chapter 10 doesn't exist either. It starts at chapter 3.The "table of contents" does not break down the main walk through at all, it simply says the walk through (chapter 3) starts on page 42, and the very next chapter starts in page 224; if you are looking for a specific area or map, good luck! Because there is no listing for where or when they advise you to go to any specific area. So you will simply end up thumbing through pages until you hopefully come across the area you need.All the information is vague, there are no explain actions to the endings or the necessary steps needed to ensure the endings are obtained without doing something wrong.Oddly enough, the guide on the prima website for dark souls 3 is free, and can be google searched with hyperlinks to specific events, and is very detailed and clearly written. However the printed guide doesn't even provide links to these specific web address or a follow-along code to get even more info on their website in the book. So, essentially, following their FREE online prima guide is more beneficial and informative than the 129.99 retail version!
Reviewed in the United States on May 4, 2016
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