Why do people continue to support

[Aeni]

Brady Games?

http://us.st11.yimg.com/store1.yimg....m_1883_1449772

840 and fucking something pages of guide. A crowning achievement that should be praised and supported by video game players everywhere (Or at least fans of the Radiata Stories game) Now, I know, bigger isn't always better, but you better believe this when I say that in this case, it almost always is better. Considering how complex and deep the game is (if you're looking to get as many or all possible NPCs on your friend list)

I look at the Brady Games version and I see about less than 100 pages of useful information and more than 200 pages of utter crappage and advertisements.

So I ask again, why do we continue to shovel our hard earned money up their ass for some makeshift piece of work called a guide? I think we should boycott Brady Games until they learn how to create a REAL guide. All it is now in current form is a bundle of errors and self-opinions of arse-hats.

[bikkebakke]

Re: Why do people continue to support

Because people are stupid and so is Brady, so they stick to their own kind. I dunno >.>

[Mog]

Re: Why do people continue to support

I was a victin of the "Gotta buy the Brady Games guide before I start playing FF11" hype. I rarely use the damn thing. It describes a lot of things in very poor detail. Only thing I ever use it for is when I'm checking what certain monsters are weak to. THAT'S IT. /fume.

Edit:

Then again, on a different note, one of the reasons the guide sucked was that it was too short. With the amount of detail and aspects of FF11, it would be impossible to shove all the facts into a simpleton 100-200 page book. We need a longer guide; one that is at least 500 pages long, that would captivate more of the game.

[bikkebakke]

Re: Why do people continue to support

The internet is the best guide. I'll just stick to that.

[Mog]

Re: Why do people continue to support

The internet is the best guide. I'll just stick to that.

Yeah, only guide I use is alla.

[bikkebakke]

Re: Why do people continue to support

I use mysterytour and somepage, I can't stand alla. Oh and the wikipages.

[Caspian]

Re: Why do people continue to support

I use mysterytour and somepage, I can't stand alla. Oh and the wikipages.

Agreed. Somepage for its quick lookup of a lot of just about everything, mysterytour for its accuracy and the fact that it has a lot of things most other sites don't. I bought both bradygames guides for ffxi before I was really playing. It does have some benefits, its nice to have a hard copy of something thats not something you just printed off the internet. Like arcadia said, it does list mob weaknesses and I also like that it lists mob levels, helps me know what I can walk around w/o aggroing.
I did buy the atlas as well, by far the most useful of any of them. What I don't like though is they chose to randomly leave out certain areas, as well as not include maps for several other higher level areas. Why do something then halfass it when you're almost done? The internet by far has the most accurate, and most up to date information you can find.

[bikkebakke]

Re: Why do people continue to support

In addition to my other sources, for maps I use ffxi-atlas.com

[silentsteel]

Re: Why do people continue to support

ffxi-atlas.com & the wiki are basically what I use, although I use alla lots of the time too.

[Jei]

Re: Why do people continue to support

I buy various brady guides for the illustrations and maps. I use them as referense for my own works.

[Geto]

Re: Why do people continue to support

Take a look at the Final Fantasy IX guide.

Worst publication ever.

All thru out the guide was "Go to playonline.com and find out for yourself."

It was like a $19.99 web link disguissed as a video game guide. ><

[Caspian]

Re: Why do people continue to support

Take a look at the Final Fantasy IX guide.

Worst publication ever.

All thru out the guide was "Go to playonline.com and find out for yourself."

It was like a $19.99 web link disguissed as a video game guide. ><

Hell yes, I remember that shit. That guide turned me off from the game completely. Bastards.
"So and so is due for a weapon upgrade. Go to www.playonline.com/wasteofmyfuckingtime to find out how to get it."

[Anson]

Re: Why do people continue to support

While Brady may do a half-assed job at putting some of their guides together, I do not think that guides for all of the games they do are that bad. I got Dragon Quest VIII along with Brady's strategy guide for Christmas, and although I still have yet to beat the game, so far the info that the guide has provided me with is sufficient. In fact they took somewhat of a different approach with Dragon Quest VIII's guide in that they don't spoonfeed you everything, which is good. My biggest pet-peeve with RPG strategy guides is that you have to buy them if you want to complete everything in the game--without having to spend hours wondering around aimlessly ingame doing guesswork or going to Game FAQs.com and printing out some 500-page txt document only to spend half of your gametime shuffling through that document trying to find the information you need--but when you use them, you're spoonfed all sorts of info, that you would have rather figured out on your own. And if that wasn't bad enough, they set up these guides so that you can't even look up something like "where to find a hidden item" without also reading in-depth coverage over every aspect of that certain part of the game that you would have rather figured out on your own. It really takes the challenge out of RPGs when guides do that. Oh and be careful when you flip to the back of the guide to look at the index for monsters, items, and side-quests, or else you may end up landing on the five-page final boss battle strategy with the name of the final boss typed in superlarge font at the top of the page to ensure that if you turn their by accident, the identity of the final boss is spoiled for you. But in Brady's Dragon Quest VIII guide, however, they only give you the essential information. For every area they cover, all they give you is a list of the monsters in that area, some brief descriptions of some notable aspects of that particular area, and a simple map with the locations of treasure chests marked along with a list of the items found in that area off to the side, although it does not say which item is where and in towns they only display the list of items and you have to find out where they all are on your own. It's good to play through an RPG for once and doing everything there is to do in it without inadvertantly knowing what to expect at every turn. I think they did a decent job with the guide. Brady has come a long way from when they printed their FFVII guide, which not only gave you a synopsis of what occurs in the game's storyline for EVERY FREAKING AREA (making it so that you could not even read one sentence ahead without spoiling an upcoming event in the story), but also was kind enough to include a full page of screenshots from Aeris's death scene one page before that event occurs ingame so that you're sure to know it happens, thus completely eliminating any and all shock effect!

Now as for Radiata Stories, well I can't really express my opinion on that guide, as I have not seen it nor have I even played the game. Although I can understand why someone would need coverage that in-depth for such an expansive game, but I think the question is how many people would need it? I personally think how well Brady covers a game really depends on how good the game is and how well they predict it will do saleswise. I don't know how many units Radiata Stories sold, but I have a feeling that it wasn't very high on the sales charts. And although the game got decent reviews, it might not have impressed Brady enough to make them want to do more in-depth coverage of the game. If they were to do an in-depth strategy guide for a game only to find out that very few people bought the it, it would be a HUGE waste of time and money. Now I know it sounds unfair, but that's just how marketing works.


Now as for FFXI's strategy guide, while I do agree that it's not very well-written in some parts and some of the the info in it has been long-since outdated. I often find myself using the Brady's guide to FFXI just for quick reference. Sure websites like Allakhazam provide better information, but I really don't wanna waste my time looking up something simple on the internet (such as crafting or gardening) when I could just crack open the guide and look it up right then and there. And although it's missing many of the quests that have been added, it still lists all of the lower-fame quest, making it useful for newcomers. The FFXI Atlas is also useful as quick reference for things such as what mobs are in the area and what they agro to (it's easier to look that info up in the atlas than it is in the area monster index in the back of the original guide. So I don't know about you, but I still have use for the guide yet.

[bikkebakke]

Re: Why do people continue to support

Well, I know for a fact the Brady games Dragon Quest VIII guide is at least missing some weapons. In fact, it's missing the best weapons and armor in the whole game. Didn't feel like reading the rest of your post... eyes are tired.

[TheGrandMom]

Re: Why do people continue to support

I always encourage new FFXI players to get the Brady guide. New players are sometimes too darn lazy to look stuff up on the web and sometimes they are too stupid to know how to find the websites even! >.< The guide helps a lot in the lower lvls with basic info, maps, quests, and such. By the time they need more detail, they are hooked and have probably been online rummaging around for more info anyways so the guide is collecting dust.

The Brady guide for us veteran FFXI'ers is useless for the most part but for beginners it can really help them a lot. It has its place with people just not with the majority.