Final Fantasy X-2 Official Strategy Guide Reviews

• Over Engineered

  
  By A1M4NJYP0WNL8Q on 2003-12-07
  This is one of the most exhaustive guides I've seen. No doubt the occasion for this is the sheer size of the game. For the most part it does a good job of documenting the nooks and crannies of the game and providing a line of play that will maximize the completeness score (which affects the precise version of the ending you will see and very little else). It is heavily illustrated - mostly with pictures of Yuna, Rikku, and Payne - and comes as close to making sense of the complicated dress sphere based magic system as anything I've seen.

  For all this, and there is even more, I feel the guide is flawed. There are a small number of glaring mistakes that might be due to a difference between the Japanese and US versions of the game, or might just be mistakes. And there are one or two glaring omissions. The largest omission being the scant attention given to the 100 level dungeon that becomes available late in the game.

  I understand the woes and pressures of publication, and honestly wouldn't have let these issues bother me. There is a deeper problem with the guide that I think is its major flaw. I use strategy guides in a 'use as I go' pattern. If something puzzles me or seems over my head, I look it up. What I would never do is study the entire guide, take notes, and develop a preplanned attack. I prefer to interact spontaneously whenever possible.

  This guide is more of a textbook than a strategy guide. If you use it as I would, there is real danger that you will miss a subtlety or an order of play, only to find out about it 50 pages later. Of course, the other side of the coin is that, without the guide, you would have made even worse mistakes. So while I'm willing to deduct a star for ease of use, it still it the best assistant available for what is an incredible game.
  
  

• NOT a strategy guide

  
  By A2WVL42ATOC62D on 2004-04-19
  I cannot believe some of the high ratings people have given this book. This is by far the worst guide I have ever read. There are so many things wrong with it I can't even imagine how anyone would see it as worthy praise. I can't even see how Dan Birlew would allow this to go into print with his name on it.

  First of all, there are several instances where it does not give important information. As any one of the other bad reviews will tell you, there is an amazing item in the game that can only be found by talking to some guy in Kilika in every single chapter . . . and the book doesn't tell you this until the last chapter. A little late, don't you think? But that mistake has already been pointed out, so I don't want to beat it to death. However, there are several other important oversights.

  Take the "Blue Bullet" skills, for instance. The book lists all the skills and the enemies from which you can get them, but it doesn't tell you HOW to get them. For example, it does not tell you that a Malboro only uses "bad breath" after its health has been affected ten times. Also, it does not tell you that support skills like "mighty guard" and "white wind" can only be learned when the enemy is confused. I wasted so much time trying to get these enemies to use their skills on me and finally had to resort to online guides.

  Also, the book says that the only way to get the Mascot dressphere is by getting all 15 "episode completes" in chapter 5, but it doesn't specifically say how to get these "episode completes." The first time I went through the game I only sold 9 out of 10 of Tobli's tickets because the guide said the only reward for selling all ten was an item. Not until later did I learn that 9 out of 10 wasn't good enough for an episode complete. The second time through the game I skipped some annoyingly long CommSphere scenes in chapter 4. The book said that this prevented 100% completion, but it did not say that it prevented episode completion. 3rd time through I skipped animations that I had already seen twice . . . that's not allowed either, apparently. You'd think the book would tell you if you had to sit and watch the whole scene.

  But wait; there's more. There is a dungeon in the chocobo ranch that the guide never explains how to open. It does say that at the end of it you can get an important item, but that's all it says. Never is anything mentioned about how to get through this difficult dungeon or how to open it. Along the same lines there is a dungeon in Bevelle with normal enemies that are tougher than the final boss. All the book says about this dungeon is, "characters should be at level 99 with over 9000HP." One would think that specific strategies might come in handy for such difficult enemies. After all this is suppose to be "STRATEGY" guide.

  But even if the book isn't giving me all the information, at least the info it is giving me is correct, right? Wrong. Almost on ever page there is some sort of misprint in text or organization or maps, and these are not little mistakes. They are huge and are immediately obvious to anyone who plays the game. For instance, there is an enemy called a Node that will give you a very important item if you defeat it. The book says it has 30,000 HP so I figure I'd give it a shot. An hour later the enemy is still alive after pummeling it with my strongest spells, so I Scan it. Turns out it has 300,000 HP not 30,000. What a difference one zero can make.

  And as long as we're pointing out the mistake in calling this a "strategy guide," I'd like to call into question the strategies that it does list. Quite often, the strategies are overly complicated or require levels that characters haven't yet reached. Spending time leveling up characters is not strategy; it is merely a substitution for strategy. Heck, I don't need a book to tell me that being level 99 is better than level 30.

  In conclusion, this book is NOT a strategy guide because it either does not list any strategy or the strategy it does list is questionable. This book is NOT even a walkthrough because it skips important steps. It is obvious that no one at Brady Games actually tried to use this guide. If they had they would have realized that this book is nothing more than a waste of 347 pages and a waste of 16 dollars. I do not advice anyone to buy this guide! If you are reading this review you obviously have the internet, so use an online guide. These guides are copious and constantly updated by input from the users. Perhaps if everyone starts using these online guides the competition would hold the official guides to higher standards.
  
  

• We Suspect Strategy Guide Publishers Just Doesn't Care.

  
  By on 2003-12-22
  We (my husband & I) suspect strategy guide publishers just don't care. Time after time we have used strategy guides from Brady Games and Prima Games, and, each time, found dozens of mistakes - some of them very crucial. This guide is no exception. Unfortunately, it's the only option if you want a printed guide, so either you buy this one, or you have to work with what's available online (which is often faulty as well).

  All we ask is that somebody who works for these publishers use the guide to play through the game before it goes to press, to check for mistakes. That's all! The mistakes in the guides are so obvious going through and playing these games, it would seem impossible they could be missed if someone just took the time to check them out first.

  But enough of that rant. I'm sure you want some specifics.

  This guide has some helpful maps and pictures, which is a plus. But often the information it provides isn't specific enough. It tells you to find a particular person in an area, but it doesn't tell you exactly where that person is. It tells you to find treasures in an area, and sometimes it won't tell you where specifically those treasures are. And the worst bit is that it has two checklists of things to do to gain 100% completion in the game (which is required to get the "perfect" ending), and the two checklists conflict! We had to start the game all over because the checklist in the back of the book listed something we should've done in the game's Chapter 1, but that action wasn't listed in the main walkthrough. And now that we're into Chapter 5 of the game, we're finding tons of instances where it says, "If you've spoken to so-and-so once each chapter, now so-and-so will give you this really cool item," and it hasn't mentioned this at all up until this point! What good is a walkthrough if it expects you to read and memorize the entire book before you begin?

  It's quite frustrating. I tell you this as a warning - because there is no other choice. This is the only published walkthrough out there for this game, so if you want a walkthrough, you might as well buy it. Just don't expect it to be as helpful as you'd like.

  And expect to get really irked with it. A lot.
  
  

• Essential for the Game

  
  By A29BQ6B90Y1R5F on 2003-12-08
  Final Fantasy X-2 is a spectacular game, but trying to master it without is guidebook is near impossible! Nice user-friendly walkthroughs and text make this one of the better guides Bradygames has ever created!

  What probably stand out most is how thick this book is! It's HUGE and since its over 350 pages I expected quite a bit from it. It delivers quite nicely and helps you master the game to 100%

  The characters section of the guide goes into each character introducing you to the ones used in your party and what role they play in the game. No problems here.

  The Dresspheres chapter is beautifully done telling you what abilities you get, how to get them and they even suggest when you should get them. All the Garment Spheres explained and a detailed screenshot and listing of what abilities and power ups you can gain for it.

  The battle system is explained VERY nicely. While the battle system doesn't require that a whole section of the guide is dedicated to it, for those new to the world of Final Fantasy it helps, especially considering the battle system differs from Final Fantasy X.

  The walkthrough is perhaps where the guide begins to fall and it's understandable to see why. Since Final Fantasy X-2 has no set path (its VERY non-linear) it makes the walkthrough nearly impossible to organize. All sidequests are incorporated into the walkthrough as well as several secrets. The walkthrough touches on one area and then doesn't return to it for a while. So if you're one who uses a guide as you go, it's difficult to do with this guide.

  The information in the walkthrough is all over the place. Plus, the table of contents doesn't help you find what part you're at so get ready for a lot of page flipping. However, for what it's worth, the guide doesn't spoil any of the plot and it helps you obtain all the endings as well as 100% completion of the game thanks to the handy-dandy flow chart in the back, ensuring that you do everything you possibly can in one area. Not to mention the maps are highly detail. Each area shows enemies stats perfectly without having you flip to the back of the book (and page flipping in this particular guide is a real pain!).

  Final Fantasy X-2 is full of mini games and this guide has an entire section for them. Every mini-game is explained in great detail with tips that will help you through. Again, it's nice because you'll get everything.

  The bestiary is detailed explaining all stats but that information is also all over the place. Each fiend has their own box where their stats are detailed. A nice easy to use bestiary but again, a lot of pages to flip through.

  Lastly the guide comes with a two sided poster. One side with a mixing chart the other just a poster. The mixing chart is actually in the guide so I wouldn't worry if you lose it or anything.

  Overall, the guide is pretty good.

  The good:
  +Detailed Walkthrough
  +Nice for those new to Final Fantasy
  +Clear Screens
  +Mini-Game Coverage
  +Detailed Bestiary
  +A Flowchart for 100% completion.
  +Helpful Boss Strategies

  The Bad:
  -This information is all over the place!
  -A LOT OF PAGE FLIPPING!
  
  

• Incomplete

  
  By A1V51M8M216Y69 on 2004-01-15
  First of all the good thing about this book is that it has a lot of color pictures. Other than that, this book is a bit of a mess. The problem comes from the layout of the book. The game itself is a nonlinear game, and the book tries to be a nonlinear book. THe problem with that is that it jumps around too much. Using this book, it's difficult to follow the course of action, and impossible to get a 100% complete. It would have been better if they had chosen a certain course, and then presented a walkthrough for that course.

  Another thing which wasn't very good in my opinion was that the item list wasn't very helpful. If an item isn't sold in a store, then you wouldn't know how to get it. You'd have to spend about 15 minutes looking through the creature list to find out if you can get it from a creature or not. If you can't, then it would be impossible to find where to get it using this book. You'd have to find it by chance.

  Basically, I found that this book gives you lots of information that you already know, or is in the game, or is easy to figure out. The really difficult things are hardly covered and the detailed information that you need isn't even covered. I would pass on this. You can find better guides elsewhere.
  
  

• Soooooo helpful
  By A3JC1SRM928AYB on 2003-12-01
  This was so incredibly nice to have. I got to the very end of this game and had no idea how to beat it, so my sister and I went out and bought the guide. We started a new game and used the walkthrough inside it. It shows you step by step how to complete every quest and side quest, where to find all of the dress spheres, and about everything you could possibly need to know. Also, it doesnt give any spoilers, so you are safe there. It tells about all the charators, weapons, and boss's as well. This can be a really confusing game so I you should definatly BUY THIS GUIDE NOW!!!
  
  
• Missing A LOT
  By A1YAK0Z0GJRNW9 on 2003-12-24
  I've just completed Final Fantasy X-2 with a little assistance from the strategy guide. The strategy guide does have it's pluses. The bestiary is a good tool to use when you start bribing fiends and when you need to defeat a boss or tough fiend. Some of the mini game sections are very in depth and can be crucial to getting certain rare items. Some of the maps are very important to have also, unless you want to spend hours completing a relatively unimportant mission. Also, the completion guide is good in guiding you to get the perfect ending.

  This guide left way too much out for it to recieve a good rating however. A few MAJOR things: They list all the Garment Grids and Accessories that are available to get in the game but do not list how to get all these items. To get the most powerful garment grid in the game you need to make every fiend oversoul where it's possible. They fail to mention this. There should be a whole mini game section for this. I played FFX and used the guide my second time through and this is very similar to a task in FFX, which the same author did a much better job of providing for. They fail to show you where you get other grids and accessories that seem very important.

  Overall this guide left out too much and seemed rushed. You'd be better off using gamefaqs.
  
  

• Important Information concerning an error.
  By A1I84KIBW71ZF5 on 2003-12-30
  I have the guide and looked at other reviewers' opinions of it. I have not started the game yet or begun using the guide, but I found the mistake in the guide where one reviewer states that a percentage is thrown off in the 100% completion list. On page 250 of the guide, it appears that after completing events at Bikanel Desert, you will have 18.2% completion total at this point. Then, it states that a Calm Lands percentage of 0.2% adds up to a new total of 19.0%. This actually is supposed to add up to 18.4% So where did the other 0.6% go? For the sake of people using this guide like I will be, take note that after doing Bikanel Desert events, there is an event in Bevelle where you talk to Bararai for 0.6%. This brings the 18.2% from Bikanel + 0.6% from Bevelle to 18.8%. Add the 0.2% from the Calm Lands that I mentioned previously and we are back on track at 19.0%. It wasn't really an error in the guide, rather an omission. Once you do the events at Bevelle, the guide can once again be on track and no errors will be seen in the 100% completion list. Hope that people who buy the guide will take note of this and not miss out on 100%!

  - Joseph
  
  

• Waste of money
  By on 2004-01-09
  As a number of people have already stated, this guide is subpar. While i will admit that some parts are definately helpful, this does not make up for what the guide lacks. There are a number of tasks the guide neglects to mention that are required for a number of items that could otherwise be found. The author has the uncanny ability of leaving out important points until chapter 5 or later, at which point he mentions, "oh, but if you'd done THIS in chapter 1, you chould get THIS..." Of course, now in chapter 5 and 150 hours into the game, this does little to help a gamer out. Important notes should you buy this guide: (1) During EVERY chapter, check back with the completion guide at the end of the book. They've conveniently neglected to mention everything one should do in the correct chapter, but included it here. (2) Read through all the side quests before beginning in order to circumvent the above problems. (3) Spend your money on something more worth while.
  
  
• Did they even test it out first?
  By on 2004-01-28
  Ok, this guide has alot of information and is very helpful with a lot of parts in the game. The problem is that there are a lot of mistakes in it. It tells you to go left when you are suppost to go right, things like that. You have to flip all around the book in order to make sure you get things at the right time and at the right place instead of them adding an additional line in the walktrough. It is very disorganized in this way. I would think that once a guide like this was "finished" they would have someone play the game while using the guide in order to see how helpful it was. This obviously didn't happen because whoever was using it could have easily found the mistakes and pointed them out so that they could be corrected before they put the guide out for sale. It just seems unprofessional to put out a guide with mistakes in it. I could of went to gamefaqs.com and got all the information that i needed on this game but decided to buy the guide because I thought it would be all organized and put together. Unfortunatly this guide wasn't organized well at all. I dont know if this company has a new editor or if they just don't have one at all. I do know that if it were my company someone would be getting fired.
  
  
• Missing details
  By on 2003-12-27
  There are Many Many things this guide leaves out. Like when you first start the game it makes a comment that you should sleep in the cabin in every chapter of the game.

  Well 50 Hours of game play later I forgot about it, When to my horror in chapter 5 it mentioned it again. But by this time it was to later, I can't get 100% complete now!

  There are other parts where just just give very little detail or forget to mention it.
  
  

• About as helpful as a fart in a windstorm
  By AI51Q65LHYALY on 2004-03-09
  Oh dear God, where do I begin... First of all this guide has so many inconsistences that I promise it will ruin your enjoyment of the game. I spent so much time scared half to death that I wasn't doing something right. I would get to a point in the guide where they told me I was supposed to get an item or some event would happen, but it didn't. Some of the maps are all wrong. And don't even get me started on that "100% percent completion guide" in the back of the book. I just beat the game by strictly following that entire guide for over 3 months and it told me that I only had 99% completion and therefore I missed out on the PERFECT ending. AGH! I am so angry that it makes me sick. If you look, you can see there's a glaring error in the percentage points at the end - 95% + 2.6%= 96% WWWWHHHHAATTTT?!?!?! Oh and thanks for waiting until Chapter 5 before telling me I should have talked to some guy in Chapter 1 to get the best item in the game. That's like working all week at your job and then when payday comes your boss says "We're going to have to dock your pay and not give you 100% because you didn't do this little task earlier on in the week. We probably should have told you to do it first before we penalized you, but oh well." They left out a LARGE section near the end that is crucial to getting 100% completion and the PERFECT ending. You're better off finding an online guide on some fanboy's website. It's obvious that they didn't even test out this guide first before spreading it to the public like sickness and it's also obvious that the glowing review in here from "kaitlyn" is someone connected to the publisher of the book. If you sort the reviews by "highest rating first" you'll see it and promptly become infuriated just like I did at the bitter thoughts of wasting time AND money on this crap. It doesn't tell you how to get the majorly important items even though they say it does. It's a whopping 350 pages of wasted paper. This guide RUINED my enjoyment of the game completely! I spent $90 getting ALL 3 limited edition guides with ALL 3 covers, only to get a big fat slap in the face from the folks over at Bradygames. Thanks for nothing Dan Birlew and if I see you crossing the street, I'll be sure not to brake.
  
  
• Very Helpful, but flawed
  By A24M1DAMRGDL on 2004-03-29
  If you want to get 100% completion in FFX-2 you will need this guide. Unfortunately, Brady Games cut a few corners in the making of this guide, most likely to insure a concurrent release with the game. As a result, there are numerous typos and errors, such as mislabelings, omissions, and incorrect information. The most unforgiveable of these mistakes is guide's failure to tell the reader about certain side quests. When I reached the chapter 5 section I was greeted with: "If you had talked to this person in Kilika Port, you can get one of the best items in the game!" This was the first time in the guide that anything had been said of such a side quest. As I went on through the chapter 5 section, I was disappointed to see that there were a multitude of these little side-quests that the author had failed to mention previously. As a result, I only got 95% completetion percentage my first time through the game.

  Still, without the guide, I would have had only about 40% of the game complete. Don't get me wrong; this guide is very helpful and well worth 15 dollars. I just wish more care and editing had gone into the guide.
  
  

• Not so bad as what others had said
  By A323I4J9FWM365 on 2005-03-21
  I was so worried when I was deciding whether I should buy this guide, but I glad I did. It wasnt so bad as most people had said. I would make a comment on those people would said this is not an accurate book. IT IS AN ACCURATE BOOK!
  
  What most people failed to do is read the completion guide at the front and at the back. My brother just read the front and ignore the completion guide list at the back, and he didnt completed 100% On the other hand, I had completed 100%, first time, no help from online (some online strategy were useless), with this guide. So i didnt know why many didnt benefit from this guide.
  
  However, I need to admit some stuff that this guide lacks.
  1. You need to flip front and back to check the requirement for 100% completion. Example, the front did mention rest in every chapter while the back forgot to mention it in first chapter.
  2. the completion percentage was not correct towards the end but if you follow all instruction, believe me FFX2 are not that unmerciful. You will be able to get 100% the first time you played. I did!
  3. Some people complain that the guide didnt tell you where to get the item, come on, that's not true. All the while, they tell you what would you get and where were they. only those miniscular items were left out.
  4. Ommission issue, yes, this guide did not have a good strategy on the Via infinito bosses and chocobo dungeon. You have to get the dungeon map online and also how to fight the strong bosses such as paragon, trauma and chac. However, the online strategy, to me, are not as effective as they claimed would be. I figure out simpler way to deal with them myself based on analysis and investigation.
  
  So to sum it up. If you dont have the money to buy the more expensive original guide, and you want 100% completion, you should buy this. It helps and if you are careful, you will get 100% completion. I was a good example. Thanks.
  
  
  
  
• Really Helpful!!!!
  By A6UYSG10YKU3M on 2003-12-09
  I am currently at 30% in the game.
  SPOILERS FOR GAME
  This Strategy Guide is very helpful!! It tells you where to get the Special Dresspheres for Paine, Yuna, and Rikku (I have Paines and Yunas). Also when you are in Guadosalam it tells you a hint to get the most money out of a certain buyer for some data. It gives you the info you need to know for the bosses like if you need to have a White Mage out or a Black Mage or a Gunner to defeat it. I think it is very helpful if I didn't make my mom go out to Blockbuster and get it at 10:30 pm I would've been stuck for so long and not this far!!! :)
  
  
• Probably the worst ever
  By on 2004-01-20
  Strategy guides published by Brady Games always seem to be rife with errors, but this one is quite possibly the worst one I have ever seen. It's full of inacurate maps, incomplete and misleading explanations. In some instances it will tell you only generally what you need to do but give no indication about how to go about doing it. Perhaps worst of all it neglects to tell you about things you should have done until it is far too late to do them.

  Don't waste your money on this book. Far better help is available for free online.
  
  

• Disgusted!
  By on 2004-04-23
  I was fortunate I didn't follow this guidebook.
  After reading it, I was disgusted with the publisher and author.
  It's very obvious they didn't put enough effort in making this guide.
  Compared to the Japanese strategy guide (FFX-2 Ultimania), they really should be ashamed of themselves. The Japanese authors spent 10s of 1000s of hours replaying the game to make sure what they wrote are without any mistakes and contains ALL the information the readers need.
  But this book is not only full of mistakes, it's missing important information (such as a guide to the underground dungeon) and doesn't have enough references between chapters.
  It doesn't even tell you where to get each accessary or item, they just listed them, and pretend that's enough.
  Don't trust those descriptions on the back of the book, this guidebook will only misguide you.
  
  
• The content of the guide is disorganized, misleading, often incorrect and frequently omits crucial information.
  By A1T5UZADDWLV0C on 2007-02-06
  I've been an avid RPG player for years and don't have the time to go rooting around for secrets. I use guides as a time saver to get me through. It is plainly unacceptable that the FREE on-line guides provide greater depth and attention to detail than this commercially published guide; particularly when FFX-2 has strict unforgiving conditions required to achieve the 100% best ending. The content of the guide is disorganized, misleading, and often incorrect. Furthermore, the guide also omits crucial game completing information, information on items, and does not include specific details and strategies for important dungeons, monsters, and bosses.
  
  My biggest complaint is that for a commercial guide, Dan Birlew's Final Fantasy X-2 Official Strategy Guide is simply not easy to use. The walkthrough section of the guide is inconsistent with the section on chapter completion often leaving out crucial interactions required to winning the game with 100% on the first go. Since the guide requires constant page flipping across whole sections of the entire book, it is very easy to miss relevant information. Furthermore, the language of the walkthrough is by and large sparse on specifics often making the walkthrough itself a guessing game as to what to do or where to go. Using the guide should be intuitive and fun. It should not be like trying to study for the California Bar.
  
  My second greatest complaint is that this Brady Games publication also lacks completeness. For example, this guide fails to mention how to obtain certain items like the "End Game" garment grid. The guide omits the consequences of completing certain chapter 5 events out of order. The guide also excludes any relevant strategies and maps to the Chocobo Dungeon and the 100 levels of the Via Infinito.
  For the Chocobo Dungeon, this commercial product merely graces the reader with a paragraph stating generally that useful items are somewhere in the dungeon. This is in stark contrast to the FREE online guides that put forth the effort to create a map of the Chocobo Dungeon (one even made a map out of ascii) complete with item locations and combat strategies.
  The publisher's work on the Via Infinito leaves even more to be desired. It is true that this dungeon randomly generates dungeon levels. However, given the limited number of permutations the game comes up with, it would not have been impossible to generate all the maps the player will come across. This might have actually been helpful in preventing a player from getting lost in the Via Infinito. The strategy guide is also silent on combat strategies for any of the bosses or monsters throughout the entire dungeon preferring to surprise the player rather than generate any useful hints at all. With two of the most difficult bosses in the game back to back in this dungeon, the publisher should be ashamed to have the user of its product completely unprepared for the Via Infinito denizens and the final encounter.
  
  What happens to a gamer with a guide that is disorganized, misleading, often incorrect and frequently omits cruial information? That gamer gets lost. A lot. That gamer dies a lot and does not win the game with 100% completion. Frustrated, the gamer also curses Brady Games and Dan Birlew for publishing an untested low quality guide that is a waste of time, paper and money.
  
  
• Thank You
  By A1SFVU6B0SW3KE on 2003-12-03
  This guide is great. It tells you where all the garment grids are, where and how to play minigames(including blitzball). It also tells you the way to beat the game 100%. YOU NEED THIS FINAL FANTASY X-2 STRATEGY GUIDE WRITTEN BY DAN BIRLEW.
  
  
• Could have been more helpful
  By A2WU79E6567M5G on 2004-02-13
  I personally bought this strategy guide and used it to help me throughout the game. It gives you an in-depth walkthrough and a 100% completion guide that is very helpful. The other good thing about the guide is the in-depth coverage of the mini-games. From the Calm Lands games to Blitzball to Gunner's Gauntlet and others, this guide covers them all. Well most of them at least. It has it's flaws. Here are my problems with the guide:

  Some parts are missing. I personally am one of the people who likes to play a FF game and beat the hardest bosses and get all the best items/accessories. The problem is that there's NO info on how to get each garment grid. I found myself having to go to various sites on the net to find this info (the whole reason I bought the guide was so that I wouldn't have to go on the internet for help).

  Accessories - The guide tells you the name of each accessory, the sale price, and all of its effects. The problem is that it doesn't tell you where and how to get each one. When I pay $14 for a guide then I expect it to be worth it.

  Garment Grids - At the front of the guide there's a diagram of each garment grid and it explains all of its effects. The problem is the same as the one with the accessories. It doesn't tell you where to get them. For example, the guide doesn't tell you where or how to get "The End" Garment Grid which is one of the best in the game. I went through the game using this guide and got all the ones covered in the walkthrough and still found myself missing several of them.

  Via Infinito - For this extremely challenging dungeon the strategy guide simply tells you to be Lv 99 and have at least 9000 HP. It doesn't give you ANY sort of strategy whatsoever for the difficult bosses that you will have to face in this dungeon. Each level of the dungeon is a puzzle and the guide doesn't even touch on how to solve them. Neither does it tell you what items and accessories can be acquired in this area(including the incredible Iron Duke accessory). The poor coverage of Via Infinito led me to believe that the guy who wrote this guide didn't even beat it himself.

  Overall I don't recommend you buy this guide unless you only want to beat the game and not get everything. If you want to do everything in the game then you would be better off going to gamefaqs.com for a guide. Also if you don't have a reliable internet connection then you should buy this guide. I only bought it because I didn't want to have to run back and forth to my PC while I was playing the game. Other than that don't get it, it's not worth $14.
  
  

• Worth getting, but be wary of mistakes
  By on 2004-07-04
  This book is incredibly useful to get through this massive game. As others have stated, there are a few mistakes and certainly some omissions (like the Amazing Chocobo dungeon!), but for me it is easier to read and navigate than an online guide. Although you will still need to refer to the Internet here and there....
  
  
• Incomplete
  By A2VCLTWOR503MS on 2005-12-31
  GOOD: Comprehensive information on garment girds, dresspheres and battle system. Almost everything you need to know about them is in this guide. The maps for the all the areas are also very helpful especially when you want to grab all the stuff in treasure chests.
  
  BAD: This guide claims that you can get a 100% completion in one game...which is true if you've read every single page of the guide and make notes on the all the stuff you need to do to get 100% completion. I learnt that the hard way when I was on chapter 5 and I realized I messed up big during chapter one. *SPOILERS* For example on pg.83, you were supposed to hear out some guy's story but the guide neglected to mention that for it to count as a percentage, you're not supposed to press any buttons (no interrupting and no stopping him) until he finishes talking. It only mentioned that on pg. 249 and I realized that when it was already too late. One more thing of note: naps are important! The guide neglected to mention this during the walkthrough and only appeared in the percentage tally at the end of the walkthrough.
  Therefore, read the percentage tally section every time before you start doing a particular mission or sidequest.
  Also, there is not enough info on certain sidequests, such as Den of Woe and Via Infinito.
  
  In summary this guide is not that worth it as it requires meticulous reading of every section to ensure you get the 100% completion.
  
  
• The Walkthrough doesn't cut it
  By A2VY3CJ4XAS4IS on 2004-01-16
  Im about 90 hours into my first game, staggering my leveling/mastering up. So Im also about level 65-70. And I am in Chapter three. Ive been using this walkthrough for more or less the entire time, and many times have I been dissappointed with the mess of information they dare to call a walkthrough. For instance, when I want to do most of the Cactuar mission, it says "go to the chapter 5 section."

  I feel the walkthough must have everything that we can do at that moment. I hate the page flipping and I have about 4 bookmarks so I can keep things in check. Also, Ive been following the walkthrough to the T, and I willnot have a 100% completion. Its left out Waaay too many things. And since I hear from other reviews that there are a lot of things that in the chapter 5 thing, it just mentions we should have done earlier but fails to mention earlier, is again infuriating.

  This walkthough is subpar at best, a mess to read with a horrible layout of the information with 10pt Times new roman making it hard to even read. Even with some of the pictures and Maps, (which are helpful) they are often presented in such a way as it is hard on the eyes.
  
  

• Hmmm.....
  By A2VQA26E20ZA4R on 2004-01-17
  This guide is pretty helpful, for the most part. The pictures are pretty nice and I like the extended coverage for the abilities of the dresspheres and Garment Grids. I'm in Chapter Four right now, and I have 70% completion. If I didn't have this guide, I would have about 50% completion. I'm trying right now to get at least 90% completion so when I press X at Farplane Glen, I can get the Happy Ending.

  As usual, there is the usual typos and misleading info. For example, at the scene when Yuna accidentally drops into the Farplane from Djose Temple, it says "When Yuna says, 'I'm all alone, press X to hear a familiar whistle." I forgot to press X and Tidus just whistled to me automatically. The guide says to press X four times for it to end, and I did-but no whistle. Also, on finding the Nine Gatekeepers, the third cacutar is in a chest in Ormi's room. But the first cacutar chart in Chapter 3 says the third cacutar is in the chamber where you fought the Leblanc Syndicate. Hmm......

  I've memorized most of the strategy guide so I don't go page flipping often. But still, don't burn this book. It is worth the twenty dollars. :-)
  
  

• incomplete
  By AAURX2MV3C4UL on 2004-01-25
  this book is very sneaky. they say that you can play the game once but that is a lie. unless you read the entire book before playing the game there is a very slim chance you will get everything. you will be flipping pages and raging in anger when you find out that you missed out on something in chapter 1 when you only found out about it in chapter 3. this book is not a walkthrough. there are many errors in the bestiary. the hardest parts of the game will be a mystery to you. the blue bullet abilities are listed but they dont tell you how to get them. for the best items in the game, there are no locations. i am on my second game(new game plus) and i have only gotten some of the best items through the places which are not explained like the secret dungeon in the chocobo ranch or as a prize in the via infinito in bevelle. also.......i got an episode complete in every place but yet i have no mascot dressphere. they dont tell you that macalania cant be your last episode complete which was( unfortunately) mine. you need to automatically return to the airship after the episode complete and after you get the second episode complete at macalania outside the travel agency with o'aka you dont go back to the ship. buying this book will get you towards the end of the game, i dont deny that, but it lacks obscene amounts of detail. when you need the guide the most it doesnt have the information. if you want to beat the game in one shot good luck to you because with this guide it doubt it will happen unless tragedy struck your friend first and they can warn you. a word of advice....have lots of space on your memory card because you will be needing many files to pick up the slack on the strategy guide's lack of info.
  
  
• Not Bad, if you read the completion guide first
  By A1TKCD4VNVPA8W on 2004-01-26
  Read the completion guide before you start playing. You can get 100% if you read the completion guide first. I didn't realize it was there until chapter two. I missed .6 percent because I didn't do two small things. It's a lot of page flipping, but you will get 100%. Oh yeah, and you can get all the Al Bhed volumes in chapter one if you're a digging maniac. I got them all eventually. I did like 110 digs and just kept finding them every once in awhile. Plus my level went way up from so many battles and I mastered some dresspheres.
  
  
• Missing Info.
  By A11JZ0N75WUX6L on 2004-01-26
  You'll find using the 100% completion guide in the back the most helpful.
  But you won't find how to get all garment grids or the best accessories in the game. And the worst part of this guide is There is absolutely NO INFO on the Bevelle Dungeon, None!
  Even if you have this book you'll still find yourself heading to gamefaqs trying to find how to get tips, accessories, and missing garment grids.
  
  
• Whoever buys this is an idiot
  By on 2004-01-28
  HOW CAN PEOPLE LIKE TO BUY THIS? I'm not saying it's not useful. aLL I'M SAYING, IS WHY DON'T YOU GO TO SQAURE-ENIX USA.COM ITSELF, AND GET THE GUIDE FROM THEM! SAVE YOUR CASH!
  
  
• Good but False
  By on 2004-01-31
  I have been a FF person all my life, so I had to get the game and the book. Dan Birlew is one of my most favorite authors in the Stragedy guide book section, but this was one of his worst. Unlike Kingdom Hearts, he made many flaws, and a couple not true statements. Although the bestiary and guide through the game is good, he doesn't show all the main characters like Nooj, Gippal, or Baralai for instance. Also in the guide an error is in the part to get a book for that big thing in Djose in chapter 5. Many errors were also made especially in the mini-games section. Although it is a complete guide and gives a walkthrough through the whole thing except for the last battle in the game which is against Shuyin and the guide for 100% part were not in there and flawed, I gave it a 4 star rating for it because I've seen other guide books and believe me, either I couldn't understand them, or they didn't give enough information.
  
  
• Good, but could be better
  By A26DTWSDQ8GYOF on 2005-09-15
  This guide is worth it for the one place consolidation of everything in it and the maps. You can get most everything and more online through FAQs, but they are not organized as user friendly in my opinion. Helpful in the game.
  
  

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