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Anyone ever look at a BradyGames guide and wonder if the people that created it even bothered to look at the game? My friend just bought it and typical of their guides it's filled with bad advice, missing information, and other stuff that's just plain wrong. And what's with the whole Fall 2003 version? I know that the game is going to have updates and modifications; but who's going to buy the "lastest release" of a guide that doesn't guide you.

Save yourself the money and find all your information here. The actual players of the game have more valuable information than would ever be in a guide.

I bought this when it first came out. In the early days of the US launch (yeah, I know it was only "yesturday" :P ) there wern't too many sites up with enough information to help out such a newbie as myself. I'll admit that the first pages (ie, half the book) is completly useless and the maps are a total joke, but I still find a little comfort in it. It has a very nice spell list, Monster weaknesses (because I can't remember them all), a Renkei chart (yeah, a POS but it works for me), some starter quest and missions and what monstes can be found in what zone. It was worth twenty bucks back in the day, but these days, you can save your money.

A good book overall, but in no way should it be dubbed "official" or the "end all FFXI book to party etiquette and survival". Use the charts. Ditch the other info.

If this is their first in a volume of FFXI strat guides, I can't see them getting any repeat customers from this one. Ever tried to do the bard quest from the guide? Eheh, yeah they got that one wrong. Ever go to Bastok last for the rank 3 missions? Oh yeah, they say nothing about a dragon in that one. So you walk in there solo all disappointed because if you'd gone to Bastok first you could've fought a dragon in San d'Oria... but wait... now you're de-leveled and trying to fight a dragon solo.

I bought the guide mainly for the crafting recipes, but even those are terrible and incomplete. Hell, it didn't even tell you how to harvest anything. Had to search on the internet for hours trying to figure that out after just running around trying to use sickles on random patches of grass.

I completely disagree; I think BradyGames rocks.It's a BOOK. They do not instantly go from writing to print like online rescources, ***. Not only do they have to write an entire book before releasing it, they have to edit, print, and distribute it. And unlike some other guides *coughPrima* they did not build their entire knowledge base on an early BETA version of the game. (Even if it was the English beta, the game had been released and running smoothly for a year in another language.)

BradyGames' Official Strategy Guide couldn't stay in stock for weeks at the release of the game because it was an excellent source of unique information. It's still an excellent quick reference for skillchains (I love it), creature weakness, creature AI, beginning crafting, fishing, finding the ellusive home point, all jobs' skills and spells, a quick reference for advanced quests, and it's still an excellent guide for newbie etiquette and protocol.

It sounds like none of you have ever picked up a strategy guide before, so yeah, this is how it goes: It's not meant for you who have played for 6 months and know the online sites, and it's not the end-all in information. But for $20 BradyGames released a spectacularly useful product in an undersaturated market of information.

I liked their advice for killing the San D'Oria dragon.

Oh wait, there was none. They stop at the mission guide where spotter summons the dragon, then continue at the next paragraph with "when the dragon is defeated" No mention of the delevel, no mention of the cursing, and worst of all they don't tell you you should kill spotter first or he'll be casting on you nonstop as you fight the dragon.

I also bought the book when FFXI was released and I love it. I use it while I'm in game, I can't go online and look for who I am supposed to talk to about this mission/quest and find out where they are exactly. The charts for recipes are lacking yes, but the armor, weapons and magic chart is great. As with anything it isn't 100 percent perfect and it could use some fixing (especially the typos) but I can live with it. It was worth my $15.

It couldn't stay in stock because it was the only source of information. The manual was pathetic, and unless you knew Japanese at the NA launch, you were SOL with regards to figuring out anything within the game. I'll look up BradyGames the next time I want a half-assed, oversized coaster to put my coffee on. It's better to detail one part of the game perfectly, than all of it with missing and incorrect information. Honestly, you know the first half of the guide was written by an intern with a high school equivalency degree.

I believe thats what we bought it for.

Actually I thought the guide was good. Keep in mind it is not designed for Uber players. The Strategy Guide (as most strat guides for MOG's) are designed for the newbie. It has nice Monsters per Zones charts. Newbie Quest information, Missions up through 3/3, a list of Jobs AND their roles in a group. It has newbie crafting recipes up through the 4th rank. It's not going to have "How to kill the Shadowlord in 3 easy steps!"

The guide isn't designed for us players who scower the Internet trying to find the most 1337 strategies to bet the best toon ever. It is designed for the more casual player, the ones that don't come to Fan Sites and Message Boards (believe it or not, not all players come to message boards)

Isn't that what I just said?

I also said:BradyGames released a competent guide that was literally 100% better than anything else out there when the game came out. I think this thread needs a disclaimer:

DISCLAIMER: If you want to pick up the strat guide after having this or any complete online resources, don't. It's old and incomplete and you'll just get all pissy about it.

Eh, we're not asking for them to have comprehensive drop lists, spells and abilities up to level 75, boss strategies, and uber-leet power-leveling strategies. All I ask is that when I pay $20 bucks for a supposed "strategy" guide, the information I pay for better be ******* correct. The "official" guide of FFXI, give me a ******* break. There should be a sticker that they put on this guide, "The Fall 2003 Version: Now with almost 65% correct information!"