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FINAL FANTASY(r) II Official Strategy Guide (Official Strategy Guides (Bradygames))x$7.99
  (15 reviews)
Best Price: $7.99
The Final Fantasy II guide book contains 176 fully colored pages.Complete Walkthrough:Detailed tips and proven strategies to navigate every dungeon.Area Maps:Maps for every dungeon and town. Locate each key item and treasure chest in the game.Boss Strategy:Proven strategies to defeat every boss.Item and Equipment Listings:Comprehensive statistical information for every armor, weapon, and item.All-Inclusive Bestiary:Enemy strengths and weaknesses, treasure drops, resistances, and much more.
MPN: GKW33667 -
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Customer Reviews
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Makes the Best of a Bad Situation
By A29BQ6B90Y1R5F on 2006-11-15
Well, since I finished my Final Fantasy collection off, it only seemed right to finish off my Final Fantasy guide collection as well. Final Fantasy III is a complete remake full of its own exclusive secrets and side quests. A guide could come handy and luckily this guide really isn't all that bad. It has its sticky spots, but at least it isn't useless. This review is pretty long, so if you want a basic rundown of what's good and bad about the guide, you can look to the bottom at "The Good" and "The Bad."
The guide begins, like every other guide out there, with a game basics section which is, of course, a rehash of what you'll find in your instruction manual. It's not necessary, but as a "just in case" it works to quickly help you get adapted to the game. It isn't that many pages, and you probably won't need it. Although, there are some tips outlined here that aren't mentioned in the instruction manual or in the game itself. So it's still pretty handy to have along. Afterwards it goes into the characters and sub characters. Again, more stuff you probably won't find yourself paying much attention to. It tells you each characters starting stats, but it really isn't necessary to talk about those things anymore than it was necessary to explain the simple battle system.
After all that stuff, though, the guide talks about the jobs, which you actually might find pretty useful as a whole. All 23 jobs get an in depth explanation and tips on how to use them, and they're actually not half bad. They'll tell you what abilities they've got, what magic they can use, and effective ways to use them. There's even some detail about using them once you near the end of the game. Finally, you'll find out what their weapons for achieving job level 99 can do for them. It's pretty good stuff, and doesn't waste a lot of time. It's also nice that they give you a table of stats for each level the characters reach. It's also pretty handy that they give you a list of there equipment on the spot rather than making you flip through all the weapons and armor. This section is extremely useful to those new to the game.
Afterwards we have the list of weapons, armor, items, magic, etc. All this stuff is pretty standard for an RPG guide. It's an unwritten law that this stuff must be here, and you probably won't need to refer to it much, but it's nice that it's there.
After all this we finally get to the meat of the guide. The walkthrough. I must say that I was quite pleased with it. There are no story spoilers, and the walkthrough gets right to the point. It's divided into sections based on what crystal you're going after (i.e. there's a whole chapter concerning the wind crystal, a whole chapter concerning the fire crystal etc.). All the objectives are listed at the beginning of each chapter in the walkthrough. There are then sections for each dungeon, town, etc. So it's pretty well organized. For each town they offer tips on what to buy, and they'll tell you what it is you need to be doing, while also providing you with the appropriate information for inns and the weapon and armor shops. In dungeons the walkthrough tells you what enemies you'll encounter and the basic stats about them, and then lead you through. Boss strategies aren't so bad, and also don't waste time. The screenshots are also crystal clear.
The walkthrough has a couple of things that make it effective. The first is that it doesn't waste time catching you up to speed on what you should be doing. The second is that there is not a lot of page flipping as found in several other Bradygames guides. Finally, the maps are extremely detailed. Taken from a birds eye view, they'll be easy to use as you go through your adventures. The walkthrough doesn't refer to the maps often, but it ensures that you're going to use them. All the items are pointed out on the maps, but it probably would've been nice to have a list of items to collect in the area.
There is one big glaring issue about the walkthrough, however. There is no world map, which would've helped. Before each area you'll see a screenshot of the world map in the corner and it can help, but it's really small. Still good, but really small. If the world map had been used on one page, it would've been several times better. Still, on the whole, the walkthrough is a blessing. They'll even mention which job classes you should use and when.
After the walkthrough there's an enemies list. This bestiary isn't bad, but it's pretty annoying. The monsters aren't listed in alphabetical order. Instead they're listed in the order you should encounter them, with the exception of all the bosses actually being in the back. This isn't horrible, but can be really annoying if you're someone who puts the guide down for a long period of time and then picks it up about ten game hours later. It causes for a lot of page flipping. The good news, at least, is that all the enemies are listed in the walkthrough. So there's no real reason to use the enemy list. For item drops there's a handy table at the beginning that you must use along with the enemy list. It can be annoying to keep flipping back and forth between them, but again, all the data you'll actually need for the monsters is listed in the walkthrough.
The side quests and secrets are at the very back of the guide. It's useful and in depth, particularly on the secrets unlocked using the mognet. The only big problem with the sidequests is that the secret dungeon doesn't have a map. They'll tell you about what you'll encounter there, and give a big fantastic strategy on the boss, but they don't tell you how to get to him or anything.
With the minor problems aside, the Final Fantasy III guide really isn't all that bad. It's well organized and doesn't dilly dally with the objectives. If you're stuck on Final Fantasy III, then this guide will certainly help you get unstuck.
The Good
+Detailed game basics section with tips that otherwise aren't detailed in the game or instruction manual
+Great run down of all the jobs, providing tips and strategies on how to utilize them
+Detailed walkthrough that doesn't waste time
+A Spoiler Free Walkthrough
+Detailed maps
+Superb boss strategies
+Crystal clear screenshots
+The side quests and secrets are all covered
The Bad
-There is no overworld map
-The enemies list is heavily disorganized
-Secret Dungeon is missing a map
Not the best guide, but helpful anyway.
By A3QZDAH82WTUZ4 on 2007-01-02
Ok I guess I've been spoiled by the quality of most of the other Final Fantasy guides by Bradygames. This one is just not on the same level.
Good points:
-Helpful hints about jobs
-Help w/ bosses
-maps
Bad points:
-Rather simplistically written, as if for children.
-Not a very good bestiary. This bothered me a lot.
-No world map w/ all locations on it.
-No play-by-play list of activities in each area, as in many guides.
If you're like me and prefer to have a guide with you while playing an RPG, this book is not a bad idea. But if you're used to much more detailed guides such as the ones for Final Fantasy X and XII, you may be disappointed.
Great Guide but a little vague on the Side Quests
By A20MBRLYU45ADE on 2007-01-09
I found this a great guide but myself and a friend who has the same game. We are trying to get the hidden class character and it doesn't say who the 7th email comes from or how to get it. Otherwise a great guide.
Final Fantasy III Guide
By A1XJY9IO75Q4MQ on 2007-02-20
Very good map to find hidden treasures and well described battle tactics.
Good map collection / bad strategy Guide
By A3RTZZNS41S70Q on 2008-01-07
If you are tired of exploring every dungeon by your self, this book holds all detailed maps you may need.
Sure, at least one map is missing (again). But I haven't completed the game / book yet.
Even if Bradygames "lost" some maps again, they made a huge development compared with their FF1 Strategy Guide. The caption tags do not cover important passages on the maps anymore.
If you need a hint how to solve a specific puzzle, this book hardly provides answers. E.g.: I needed "something cold" to cool down the Dreadnaughts machine during one of the bonus-dungeons. If I refer to a book with a walkthrough, I expect the name of the needed item and where to get it. But this book just repeated the task: you need "something cold". Nobody needs these stupid "gap-fillers". My primary intention is to play the game. I just need a hint if I got stuck during the game. Some short and precise information's. I definitely never need this multi-page repetition of the obvious main story the game is providing anyway by itself.
In my opinion, the old strategy guides distributed by Piggyback (ff 8 etc.) were much more useful.
Conclusion: If you need some Dungeon maps for your orientation, this book is the right choice. If you expect any hints how to solve a puzzle, better try to find it in the www. !
- Fantastic
By A3HZ018XXTNHED on 2007-05-14
I think this guidebook was fantastic.It was a great help and I'm very glad I bought it.I think Bradygames made a very good playbook and hope to see more of them.I would recommend this Players Guidebook to anyone who plays FFIII./
- You MUST have this before you play the game.
By A1NFQYKQ49HTR9 on 2008-01-13
This is helping me BIG TIME. It's very useful and it can help you get through some tough missions. It is very detailed and explains and breaks down the objectives for each mission, you would be lost without it.
- Final Fantasy for DS
By A3QE2O0ZWPJE5Q on 2008-01-13
I have been playing FF for many years. This game is fun and easy for anyone to play, always remember to build up your levels and equip the best wepons.
- What a good guide
By ACGBVUZB4X86L on 2008-02-09
I love this guide. It it easy to use and makes for easy refrence.
- This actually isn't a review...
By A1AWDFOVEH6U3E on 2008-03-06
How useful do you think seeing a review for FF# strategy guide is when you want FF12: Revenant Wings? If you review something make sure its for the RIGHT item. thanks.
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