Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #357168 in Books
• Published on: 2006-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 2.54 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Customer Reviews

As an owner of both the Piggyback and Bradygames FFXII guide, this one thoroughly disappoints.
I purchased this guide along with the US version of the game on the US release date, and having now access to both official guides I can honestly state that the Bradygames version should be avoided.

I think the previous reviewer of this guide may be confused about Piggyback; they generally release their guide to tie in with the European release of the game. The Bradygames guide does contain some useful charts such as a fold out License Grid, Bestiary info and a standard walkthrough. Unfortunately however, the guide is poorly designed (bar the front cover), and has a horrendous layout.

Furthermore, if you go on to do later sidequests some maps are either omitted or incorporated into obscure regions of the book which are poorly labelled. Monster info is also incomplete, with status resistance of individual enemies absent. The font used is rather ugly and large, and vast amounts of text are utterly useless. Examples include "100 secrets" which list information of no real use, even wasting pages to show the battle stances of each character while equipping different weapons.

I cannot stress enough that compared to the Piggyback guide, this is poison. Avoid at all costs, and buy yourself a professional guide.

Good Walkthrough, Bad Description and Layout
Ever since Final Fantasy came out, I've purchased all of the guidebooks so that I am able to play the game how the gamers intended it to be played. Final Fantasy series consists of several hidden quests which you won't be able to find if you do not have a proper guide.
I don't know why Piggyback won't do Final Fantasy XII. I own several Piggyback gameguides and they are easy to read and refer to when you are in the middle of playing the game. Piggyback offers a good reference, and that is how a gameguide should be. Bradygames made Final Fantasy XII and to my disappointment the layout is absolutely poor - the correct term should be: abysmal. They've packed lots of interesting clues and guides, but who ever made this game guide just made it for the sake of making a book. Its as if they didn't have proper planning nor do they have any idea how gamers play. Like every Final Fantasy, there are certain areas which you will have to return later to fulfill a certain task. Bradygames layout of the quests makes you flip through it vigoriously just to find a simple clue/hint regarding the quest you are currently at. I want to play the game and refer to the book when needed. Now I'm spending time going through the book just to find out what I need to do on some of the side quests, which now I dont bother going through the book. The worst part of this book is the part about the Clan Hunt. Even if they provide a detailed description of how to defeat each monster, it is written in "FINE PRINT" - black font on a brownish background. Do they expect me to get a magnifying glass and turn on my lamp to read this???? If I had known this is how its gonna be, I would have just printed the pages from the Internet - its even easier to read than this book!
If you are used to with Piggyback gameguide, you might be disappointed with this. I wish Piggyback can create the gameguide for the next series of Final Fantasy - they kept the theme of how a gameguide should be: a walkthrough + quick reference (without any hassle of reading too much or with a magnifying glass).
The maps are fine. The weapons list are fine. The shops layout are chaotic. The Espers descriptions are good. The bosses descriptions are so-so. Not much concerning magic. All in all - I'm just disappointed, but it does provide a good read.
I'm giving 2 stars because of the layout, fine print and the abysmal method of presenting the guide ruined it all. Only 2 stars goes to the information which I can actually print from the internet.
My advice - save the money and go buy a pack of paper then print it off the internet.