well, this is still in the mail being sent, but it looks goo for the price we will see :)

the person selling has a great rating and i read other people's reviews nothing but good to say

I bought with my girlfriend Final Fantasy XIII and then this guide. It's much better using this then using the internet walkthroughs, since you don't have to go all the way to the computer to go search how to win some boss battles, or where to find the treasures, or even how is the best way to evolve your weapons. It doesn't give you spoilers so it won't ruin the game for you. It's also fully illustrated with high quality images. I really recommend it.

Excellent design, easy to follow and contains all the information about the weapons upgrades, enemies, maps and fighting tactics with spoilers at minimum. Great guide!!

This book is awesome whether you're using it to get everything in the game or just to collect. I'm doing both with it, really. There are only a couple things it doesn't seem to have in it, such as explanations of the 'abilities' on some of the weapons, but it's really precise otherwise.

I'm very happy with the guide itself. I don't know how I could ever have figured out upgrading weapons/accessories without it. However, my complaint is with the quality of the printing. I barely had the book a week when the binding started to weaken so I covered it in contact paper. That didn't help because a week later pages started falling out. For the price of this book I expected much better quality.

High quality publication, informative...a must buy for anyone hoping to get 100% out of this game.

-R294

This is a very nice guide book. All pages are colorful and nicely printed. It includes all maps in FFXIII and strategies for all major encounters. In my opinion, the system of FFXIII is novel and relatively complicated, if you want to master it fast enough, this is the guide you need in your hands. There are a few mistakes, but respecting to a book with over 250 pages, the number of mistakes is fair enough. The only thing I don't like is for some chapters the size of font is way too small...

First of all I'd like to state that the guide is great when it comes to upgrading weapons / items. They give exact values for EXP gain along with which materials to transform an item. List all the weapons, their statistics, and locations / price. If you want to know how to get great items and strategies for enemies, this is for you.

However, there are some big complaints on my end. The maps aren't really accurate to the in-game map. Often, the map in the book would be either not to scale, not the right shape, or upside down. Its takes quite an effort to decipher where you are on the books maps. It doesn't help that FFXIII rotates the map from time to time, but it rarely coincides with the maps provided.

Secondly, the Cie'th stone missions. They do provide the location of each and every mission, give strategies to complete it, and tell you what loot you get. Yet, they dont show on the game map for each mission, the mark's location. Granted, it appears on you map as a red star, but if you have not discovered that area of the map yet, you sure wont find it with the books help.

Finally, a lesser complaint is of the items descriptions. In the guide, they do tell you each items ability name, but not what that means. For instance, entite ring is 25% resistance to elements, but its upgraded version says, "rapid recharge". There is no description given as to what that means. It takes a lot of game materials to find out that it means status ailments last for shorter amounts. Did you want to have to spend 100,000k + gil to find that out? The book could have told you that. You can just equip and item to find out its special properties, but if you dont have access to it, you'll never know

Over all, I suppose that if you have a brain, you'll decide to save your game before you upgrade and transform anything, and if it turns out you dont like it, re-load.

The walkthrough is very thorough, no stone is left unturned, but there are just a few things that could have been better.

This purchase really paid off in the later portions of the game. Also, having it as a reference for the components and accessories would have been really helpful when I started. I would buy this and read the sections about the components, accessories, upgrade and dismantle as I feel those parts really should be part of the games instruction manual, or at least they should have worked it into the storyline by maybe giving you a reference guide in your datalog or something. They do have a map page, maybe in the next FF they will make it something like the C'ieth Stone page so as you come across different components it lists the components attributes. Great layout. Didn't spoil a thing, though I didn't have it or start using it until I was well into Chapter 10.

This guide is full of information like: weapons, summons, jobs and other random things. I'm so glad I got it.

I give this book a 5 out of 5, great quality all around and great graphics, maps, and pictures. however the collectors edition hard back is a pain in the butt. It will seem like a great idea for final fantasy fanatics but it is not. the reason being is with the hardback it won't crease and stay open when you are using it. that means any time you let go of it it will just shut on you and you will lose your place. the content is the same as the regular version so save your self the heart ache and buy that version.

a very good buy thanks to amazon lowered prices compared to the paperback guide. This still makes up for not being a collectors edition for the FF13 game. But we may see FF VS 13 one who knows go Square Enix

This book is extremely detailed, it even explains how to read it. Everything you need to get 100% of the game completed has been explained step by step. Also gives excellent suggestions on how game play would be the most beneficial. I would HIGHLY recommend this book.

I don't see why anyone would need this book. The entire game consists of movie shorts and hitting the "a" button in battle.

this is a must have own for any final fantasy fan.if your a true ff fan that wants to get everything in the game plus explore every part in detail then this is for you.The detail in the book is amazing.Full maps and everything you'd want to know about the game.

had i known that this was such a brand new sealed product, i would not open the seal. this is perfect for me because that the entries are more instructive. i am very happy with it. thanks much. t. yacabcci

Great guide. Well constructed and all the info is there. The only thing I would suggest is that they put the "recommendations" area at the end of every section on the page. I would make sure that you read these first so you dont miss a griding area (if thats your thing) while running through a zone.

Not a bad guide, the only one I was able to find, so what can yah do? The issues I have are that the side quests aren't very properly explained, however the side quests in the game aren't abundant, but I'd figure there would be a more thorough explanation of what little side quests their are. Also finding the enemies in the bestiary is a pain in the A...

On the plus side, it is perfect for the main story line, I adhered to the guide & had very few issues getting through the game.

Excelente producto, esta guia definitivamente es de colección, muy buen material y muy buen hecha... La recomiendo 100%

The strat guide is very detailed, with very detailed and illustrated maps. The maps will show you everything you want to know, from hidden treasure spheres and how to get them to where your next major boss encounters will occur. It gives you step by step information of the enemies you will encounter and the best way to beat them. It will also offer you advice on what areas to upgrade you crystariums, and in what order to do so to make sure you are well prepared to handle the enemies to come. It is also very helpful when it comes to upgrading weapons, telling you which ones are worth upgrading, and how to best do so. It takes you step by step through the chapters of the game, offering advice in those previously stated areas as well as what pardigms to create and use on which enemies. Even if you catch yourself reading ahead, it does a great job of not revealing any spoilers, so that you can plan your strategy ahead of time, and still not know what twists the story will take. Apart from the main story line, it also list how to complete the many sidequests in the game, and when its best to go ahead and try to tackle them. Many of the sidequests are pointless to try until you've beaten the game, since your characters won't be well equiped enough to handle the enemies that need dispatching until you've reached max level. The appendicies of this strat guide are awesome! They are the main reason I bought such a guide. They list everything that is in the game, where it is, and all the stats that accompany such items/weapons/bosses. They list every possible paradigm in the game, all the weapons and their upgrades, and give stats on every enemie in the game, as well as having appendicies for crystariums, items, and every possible strategy you might use in the game. The art is top notch, the quality is exceptional, and if your getting this guide for under $20 it is well worth it. The reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5, is because this product is a 4.5 product. Exceptional for what it is, but is not necessarily needed to complete the game and the majority of the sidequests. If your an experience FF player, you shouldn't have any issues completeing this game and the majority of the sidequests. It is incredibly usefull when upgrading weapons, so you aren't wasting a bunch of items upgrading stuff you don't need, but a more experienced player than myself might not care, and will upgrade as they choose, this guide just offers 'advice' on the best upgrades to get. So the only thing in my opinion that keeps this product from getting a 5 star review is that it is not necessary, but extremely helpful, and will ensure that you get the most out of your FF13 experience.

This guide is beautiful and very helpful. If you appreciate quality, hardcover guides and are a fan of Final Fantasy, then you will be satisfied with this purchase.

This book has everything that you'll need to finish the book. Unlike most guide books out there, the extra information after the walkthrough is actually USEFUL. I saw myself flipping back to the paradigm section to review the best strategies in completing my crystogen(sp?) circle.

The quality of the paper is phenomenal. It feels so good to flip through the pages and see the art. I think the pictures and paper quality alone justifies the price.

The walkthrough is also useful. It offers much needed tips for this complex game (FFXIII and strategy is synonymous with each other).

In short, I would buy this book. It's a shame that I didn't get the collectors edition when I had the chance. A++

I've bought my share of game guides, and this in my opinion is the way they should be. Excellent layout, nice paper, and loads of information. Everything is where it should be, maps that go along with the right chapters. Side by side comparisons, stats, gil components, and so much more. The company that made this product should be proud and more importantly make more. I know that if they do I will be buying their products not Bradly Games one's.

The walkthrough was very thorough and detailed, with suggested courses of action for every step of the game, the bestiary could've been a little bigger and the inventory could've used information on how much EXP each item needed to upgrade, but all in all, a good guide.

Im a huge fan of collector edition guides, especially if they're limited edition. this guide helped me greatly on some of the fights in this game since some of the bosses had to be beaten in a certain way under a certain amount of time. i highly recommend buying a guide for this game, it also has ton of extras, but i dont know if the normal guides has them. i have limited edition number 90,974 out of 210,000

was for my boyfriend-he loves it and loves the game that he got as well-he reads it more than any other book he has-lol

Because of the linear nature of the game, the "walkthrough" portion is not really necessary other than finding very easy to spot treasure spheres and general strategies for bosses (some are very difficult).

However, for those who plan to truly explore, level-grind, build out characters, and customize weapons, this guide is a must. Certain parts of customization require a reference list for understand exactly what path you are drawing out for characters or items, and having this guide handy is extremely helpful. The information is in the game, but switching between weapon customization screens and item statistics is virtually impossible.

For those who plan on plowing through the game in 50 hours, I cannot strongly recommend the guide, but if this is not your first Final Fantasy, you are probably aware the sheer amount of extra content to be found in any Final Fantasy game, and XIII does not disappoint.

If you plan on playing the game as it is truly meant to be played, and want to get as much as you can out of it, this guide does a great job of keeping spoilers to a minimum and offers more strategies and suggestions than a walkthrough.

This guide is a collectors must-have! The guide is thorough and highly detailed. The only downside with the collectors edition, is that you cant hold a page open without it closing on you. Other than that, it is GREAT!

I must admit they have done a expectacular job with this strategy guide. From the walkthrough to the sidequest and extra little details and effort they put into. I rarely find myself reading guides page by page, but this is a definately one of those that you just have to read all the way through.

I've seen a lot of different guides for games and this company Piggyback is the best I've seen so far. Nothing is missing from this guide. It's got everything you need, like an encyclopedia for FFXIII. The words are intelligent and descriptive and they think of anything you may need to know at any given point in the game. They even have spoiler warnings and an index, as well as an intermission mid-story to get you prepped for the rest of the game. It has an excellent strategy and analysis section that teaches you everything about the way the game functions, as well as tables for every weapon, accessory, component, dismantles, EVERYTHING.

A+ best I've seen in about 18 years of hardcore gaming.

Excellent book especially if u are a final fantasy lover/collector . First let me say Book is really not needed to play game because there is only really one path to take with this new game. Excellent to use for discovery of all treasure chest/globes, how to level up weapons, farming cp, how to earn gill, how and when to level up characters in each chapter, ect...... This game guide is absolutely beautiful, great image content this book is not cheaply made ( good quality pages and binding) so will not fall apart easily..

This guide is quite good and makes the game a lot more fun to play as there are a lot of things in the game that would be almost complete guesswork without the guide. My only major problem with the guide is in the upgrade components section it doesn't list what creatures the items can drop from which is kind of unfortunate. Looks like they tried to squeeze too much onto one page there. The other issue i had was that if i was having difficulty with a boss, or even just regular enemies, I'd check the strategies in the guide and i found them to not always be the best way to do things. for example at one point you come across a group of 2 enemies 1 does strong physical and has a lot of HP and is very difficult to stagger, the other does moderate physical attacks but after a minute or so unleashes a powerful lightning attack that hits all party members but can be staggered fairly quickly and then defeated. the guide suggests buffing up and going after the guy that does the strong physical attacks first. the problem here is that doing so will mean you almost certainly get hit by the lightning attack which is very likely to kill a party member whos health isnt in the green. I found that it was much faster and easier to kill the enemy that did the lightning attack first as i could get him out of the way quickly and then not have to worry about his attack. I'm not saying my strategy was the best just saying that if you are using a strategy in the guide and its not working out well that there could be a better strategy for you to use.

This guide is completely pointless, the game is linear with zero room for exploration. Literally almost no NPC's to talk too, pretty much no towns and the towns that were in the game had no vendors or npc's that serve a purpose. A Guide is pointless because libra's tell you exactly how to attack any opponent. Don't waist your money on this guide unless your a very serious collector. I have beat nearly every Final Fantasy game and this one was a serious waste. In conclusion don't do it, its not worth the money.

This is one of the best game guides I have purchased. I have purchased several game guides and usually I feel like I have wasted my money. Now that most information is quickly available on the internet game guides are mostly worthless. The good thing is you have a lot of information right at your fingertips. In this case the information is very well done. The graphics are nicely done and the walk through give you advice without spoiling the game.

Worth a purchase, I am glade I bought it for this marathon game!

I got the limited edition guide for $18 from Amazon, when stores like Target and Gamestop are charging $35 (or more) for it. The standard edtion is even $25 at those stores. So it was worth paying extra just in that regard for the limited edition.

Other than that, there isnt really too much difference in the limited and the regular. Hard cover, "better quality paper" as they put it, which I could not tell the difference between the LE and my friends standard guide. And "numbered" (which is out of 220,000 copies, so it's not really that limited.

I would say it's worth it to get the LE, because it's not really that much more on Amazon. And the guide itself is A+.

For the most part, this guide is worth the money. Without it, you will not get very far into the game without the guide's combat strategies. However, there are a few errors in the guide and it appears that it was only edited by a few people and not by someone who has played the game using the guide for the first time. Visit [...] for better powerleveling tips and a more efficient way on how to upgrade weapons.

As far as completing the game, the guide isn't really necessary. However if you want to effectively upgrade equipment, find the best places to get CP, know which items are best for selling or upgrading, the value of each item dropped by monsters, how to get the rare stuff and details on how to conquer the world of Gran Pulse then this guide is a must have. Quality pictures and pages and priced for quite less than that store that sells video games. I wouldn't spend 28 on it but 13.99 was definitely the move. Over 200 pages of things about the game, some nice art and screenshots along the way and is just a quality product. If you feel like going on the sidequests and shooting the breeze throughout the Final Fantasy world then this book is the ticket.

I ordered this book from a different place, but I am sure they are all the same. Anyways you have to watch out for the pages, they smear. If they smear you can't clear it any other way or it would weaken the pages. If you rub it the words/pictures would be ruined.

(This is a review for the hardcover collector's edition, which is sold out on amazon.com right now. The differences between the hardcover and paperback version are fairly minimal, though.)

I don't normally buy strategy guides for video or computer games, and this is the first guide I've purchased in at least a decade. Nowadays, comprehensive game information and walkthroughs can usually be found on the Internet for free, so it's not really the information inside the guide that I was interested in buying. Rather, it was the appeal of a professionally written, well-designed book which was both pleasant to look at and easy to read. That it turned out to have lots of good information in it was a welcome side-effect!

The guide is quite comprehensive, with a section devoted to a walkthrough of the story portion of the game. It has the mandatory maps and treasure charts, but also provides useful strategic information on how to overcome powerful bosses and monsters. Unlike some previous Final Fantasy games, FF13 has its fair share of difficult (or at least nontrivial) battles, so for certain tricky encounters the walkthrough might come in handy. Nevertheless, it isn't overwhelmingly difficult to finish the game without using a guide. The optional mark sidequests can be much more difficult than any encounters in the main story, and the guide provides detailed suggestions on strategy for defeating these monsters.

Where this book really shines is in its detailed explanation of some of the mechanics of the game which are not so immediately obvious. For example, it provides precise numerical information on how the weapon and accessory upgrading system works, which is given a rather vague explanation in the game. You'll also learn how battle ratings are calculated and how they impact the items you receive, and there are complete charts of all the weapons and accessories in the game. There is also considerable analysis of this information, which explains effective general strategies that will optimize the battle performance of your party. There's a fairly in-depth analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of each of the six main characters of FF13, and a lot of discussion on the strengths and weaknesses of each paradigm.

The book is also pleasant to look at and read. The writing is high quality - certainly higher quality than free guides written by non-professionals on the Internet - and the included images from the game are well-chosen. As a matter of fact, half of the appeal of this guide to me was as a sort of art book. There are a few images which are of unusually low-resolution, but these are definitely in the minority. The hardcover version has an "extras" section which I believe is not in the paperback version; it has some interesting trivia (like an actual translation of the Pulse and Cocoon writing systems) and a nice synopsis of the story of the game.

One last note - if you are playing the game through for the first time, you might want to be careful to not read ahead of where you are in the game. While the authors did their best to minimize spoilers both in the walkthrough section of the guide as well as in the more statistics oriented sections, there's only so much they can do. If you're only interested in the information in this guide, you can probably get most of that for free on the Internet, but the design and writing in this guide certainly makes it worth the price.

you gotta get A.S.A.P soon this encyclopedia strategy guide tells everything boss guide, accessories and many more its kinda little expensive i just spend and extra $15 you gotta it buy soon they will increase higher price and soon they won't sell collector's edition.... TRUST ME

very detailed, have all the information that you need to know in order to excel the game.

First I don't know why this call official guide. It is not written by Square. If it is under support of the game developer, it should not be a piece of crap. No clue at all.

The worst of this book is orderless. It looks like everything is in order but when you try to find something, you cannot even find it right away. They don't know how to heightlight the critical words by different color or by diagram which make you hardly read through. For example, when they tell you which Paradigms to be chose, they tell you the shxt terms like "Bully" rather than COM+SAB+SYN, which make the new guys very confusing and need to check this out in the chart. Of course they might say they doing in this way in order to save some place. But I don't think how much room could be saved. Also, this is totally misleading because when you know SYN is used at the very beginning to add magic such as "shield". When it finish, you should change to other Paradigms right away. There is no need or say stupid to put a COM there. It should be MED at no doubt because the enemy will attack you while you are waiting for the shield magic. This guide is full of this kind of stupid hints. I don't follow it at all.

The only thing I appreciate on this book is the map and the weapon level-up chart. With the map I can easily know if I miss any items. With that chart I can at least know how should I upgrade the weapon and accesorries. Beside these two, everything is crap to me. There is much more useful guide online such as telling you how to gain the CP, money or rare items in the best way. But this book telling you most thing in a stupid way.

First off the book itself is made of great quality, very durable hard-covers and pages are thick. About everything you'll need to know is covered in the guide if not everything, I'll know once I beat FFXIII! One thing that I wonder is if this will ever be worth much? I bought it for just under $19 and now I see listings starting at almost twice that, time will tell.

I've always bought strategy game guides for the maps, tables and most definitely collecting.
First of all, the cover is nothing like in the pictures, I don't know how to explain it, but I was expecting it to be thicker and softer. Second, the pages are like carton board, you cannot keep it open... they are VERY thick. I believe they did it this way so the guide would look bulkier. Third... the guide is missing stuff. So far, I've detected it's missing mission 11 on the list of missions.

All in all, a disappointment. Makes me want to work at Bradygames and fire the people who are in charge of the guides. If I knew the CE was going to be like this, I would have saved my money and used the internet - or maybe buying the normal edition.

Great guide. I wish I would have bought the paperback version. It's almost impossible to keep the page open when playing with the hardcover version.

Not too many spoiler in the walkthrough. Quite accurate info.

Sturdy binding.

Final Fantasy XIII is a great game, and there are some subtleties that this game helps to iron out. Some of the boss fights are a little more complicated than you'd expect, and after trying a few times, it's nice to have a guide to point you in the right direction. There are also several tables, charts and diagrams that spell out who's good at what job, and how the weapons benefit. This guide isn't necessary to have, but it does add to the over all experience. Recommended.

This is (at least for me) an essential tool for playing FFXIII. Not only does it tell you where to find hidden treasures and weapons, it also guides you on upgrading your character, building paradigms, fighting eidelons, and creating weapons. Let me just say that with so many large and difficult battles, it really helps cut down on frustration and pointless deaths by kind of pointing you in the right direction.

As for the book itself, it is absolutely beautiful, and is filled to the brim with everything you need to know about this epic game. There are maps for each area, weapon charts, character art, and a full bestiary. There is also a guide to getting all the trophies/achievements (trophies) in the game (not easy). All of this is printed on sturdy paper with a solid white hardcover. A great guidebook that doesn't look bad on a shelf either.

If you can still get your hands on one you should if you love FF you'll want this book.

This strategy guide is easily the best I have ever owned and at a very good price (while they lasted). The limited edition is sold out, so I suppose this review will have limited use. I'm sure the guide will be sold used though. I'd like to preference his review by saying I bought this guide to use, not to be a collector's item.

First of all the guide is hardcover which really helps it look good and will help it survive the test of time very well. Paperback guides always have a problem of pages separating from the binding and the covers getting bent out of shape after repeated use.

Every limited edition of this guide includes its number out of the 210,000 printed on the inside cover.

Another feature is the quality of the paper, it is far thicker paper than you'll get in a paper back edition. The possible downside of this for some people will be this guide is thicker than the paperback, which also makes it heavier. I find this to be a positive personally and not a negative, but your views may be different.

Lastly, the limited edition contains a few extra pages in the back as a story synopsis. It's a nice touch, but the words themselves are not something you would miss since you can get a story synopsis in the game itself. However, each of the extra pages also contains additional art images which make it worth it in my opinion.

As for content itself, it's identical to the regular paper back edition (minus the story synopsis). I have found the content to be very good and very informative. I have not come across the numerous typos and errors that I've seen in BradyGame guides which is a nice improvement. The maps are nicely laid out and treasure locations and contents are clearly marked, long with save locations and points of interest.

People complain that the game is 100% linear and you only have to press the up button. Well, yes you could do that, but you'd miss out on a lot of treasure which the guide nicely points out.

Boss strategies do the job they're supposed to do. I've had a little trouble following a couple of them, but that could also be due to user error. I would have liked to see strategies that would get you a five star rating, but several give me zero to two star ratings following their advice. The bottom line is though that the star rating means nothing in boss fights, aside from the amount of time it takes to kill the boss, so a safer and surer way to win is probably best. These can be quite long in FFXIII and if something goes wrong at the end of a boss fight (I'm looking at you Chapter 9 boss) you'll find yourself looking at another 15 minute boss fight.

Overall I'm very happy with this guide and it far exceeded my expectations. This is easily a 5 out of 5 stars for me. If you were unsure about "Piggyback" as opposed to BradyGames I can assure you this guide is far better in both physical quality and content quality.

We all know that this is the first time taht Piggy Back made a Final fantasy game, and were curious as to how well they would do it. I have to say this guide is amazing. One of the best designed guides I have seen. They have almost every bit of information that you would need to play the game. For thoes of you who would like to play through the game w/o it, this guide will work well for you post game when you try to unlock the secrets of FF. Only problem is that there is really no way to effectivly find what items drop from what enemy. You have to just go and search through the list to see who drops what. Also, there are some properties of items that really arent explained what they do in the guild. So, ya having 2 ribbons = resiliance, but what does that do.

The paper back version is a little easier to use as the hard copy has thicker pages that make it hard to read any text toward the binding w/o totally destroying the book. But the hard copy is still very nice, and may be worth a lot of money some day (they are only making 210,000 copies.

Over all I would highly recomend this guide.