Price: $179.99
User Reviews about Final Fantasy VII Ultimate Guide (Versus Books)
Final Fantasy VII was the second Final Fantasy I played, the first being Final Fantasy VI. Though I was intimidated by the genre with FF6, I played with a friend who took the lead and knew what they were doing. The story was so compelling I was immediately hooked by the genre. It felt like I was playing an epic novel or movie. And this was in the SNES days, obviously.
I was determined to play through FF7 but still wanted to use a guide, as again I was new to the genre. This guide was the one I used and I'm glad I did. Being spoiler-free made use of the guide a little bit more guilt-free. Sure you could see some of what was coming up, but you didn't know why.
I'm surprised to see how high the price is, but for being such a great guide that is now out of print I can see why. My own copy likely would not command such a price; the binding was shot long ago but each individual page (save for one that was lost) has been placed in a page protector and inserted into a 3-ring binder. That, and the fact that I still have it after 13 years, tells me I really like this guide a lot. -- Spoiler-free; great for those new to Final Fantasy
It's sad that VERSUS books went out of business. I really liked their strategy guides over Brady. This guide may not have been detailed enough in its maps or not have all the things that you had to find or didn't reveal weaknesses of the enemy BUT that's where the fun and idea of exploring and beating the game works best. I was never disappointed with book at all and I'm glad that it NEVER spoiled me on what I was going to do or see in the game. It gave me enough of what I should do to move on and complete what I needed without giving everything away. This allowed me to enjoy the game the way it should have been enjoyed in a complete surprising and unknowing manner, yet it was powerful enough to make the game satisfying once you've gotten through with the "guide." Gaming guides like this should be made more but unfortunately they aren't. Thank you VERSUS books for making this guide a rarity. Other guides vs. VERSUS are not the same! (sigh) -- THE best guide...period!
great strategy guide. i had the BradyGames guide, and my friend had this. i had to borrow it because this blew my BradyGames POS to pieces.
this guide really helped while i trekked through the snow while the BradyGames guide made it quite confusing
i remember it helped with obtaining limit breaks easier. and it also actually provided information about each Ultimate Weapon.
good guide. wish i had it. -- VERSUS BOOKS>BradyGames
The VERSUS BOOKS Final Fantasy VII guide has, over the past few years, become one of the most highly sought after strategy guides in existence. Going easily for more than $100.00 people are wondering just how fantastic this guide has to be! Countless reviews under the BradyGAMES guide even tell you to go with the VERSUS BOOKS guide. Unfortunately its out of print and Versus Books is out of business. However, don't be alarmed. This is a fantastic guide, but its far from being "the greatest strategy guide ever written," as so many have already gone so far to jump. It is much better than the official guide, and more organized, but it is not worth forking over the price that several people are constantly ask for it. Even if you're a strategy guide collector.
This is the strategy guide that ended up making Casey Loe famous among many video gamers. The guide begins with a heart-warming note from Casey Loe describing that you will find no spoilers (a promise he keeps) and then a fantastic game basics section. Usually the game basics are a rehash of the instruction manual. Not true here. In this guide the basics go so deep as to provide you with gameplay tips not listed in the manual. Tips that by now most Final Fantasy veterans know. Back then, however, these tips were boss. Not a whole lot of people knew them at all.
Then the guide jumps into the walkthrough, and this is by far what makes the Versus Books Final Fantasy VII guide the ultimate guide (and overall best one) for the game. The walkthrough is user friendly, not holding your hand, but being sure to point out all the important stuff. Each section begins with a check list of what you need to do (a technique BradyGAMES would later use in several RPG guides), followed by a complete list of items, and then all the enemies stats following the side. With each enemy is a list of their weakness, the enemy skills you can learn, what you can steal and what you can morph them into. Also, they list the HP, Experience and Gil obtained from them. No use wasting time giving us stats such as strength, magic etc. The tips are helpful, and the guide pretty much paved the way for no spoilers. There are no spoilers throughout the entire guide. The walkthrough is spoiler free.
The walkthrough also works in a unique way because where as each guide is often given its own section for secret goodies, this guide didn't bother. The guide is designed for you to use as you work your way through the game. Thus, whenever the secret becomes availible, it pops up in the guide. You'll be getting level four limit breaks much earlier than the official guide will tell you when you can get them. They even include secrets of the beta version that were later taken out of the game. The way the secrets are spread out causes for quite a bit of page flipping though, but as I said, the walkthrough is pretty well organized to the point where it's not much of a problem at all.
The guide doesn't have a final boss strategy either, and by now it doesn't matter. The guide also uses screenshots maps as opposed to the traditional maps seen in other guides.
After the walkthrough there's even more gold. A complete run-down of Gold Saucer, including what you can do with the items gotten from the battle arena (surprise surprise, nothing). The guide also provides fantastic boss strategies for Ruby and Emerald weapons.
Perhaps one of the greatest goodies of this guide are the materia combinations listed within the materia section. These combos are not only devastating to use, but allow you to fully restore your HP AND MP, while attacking an enemy eight times before your other characters ATB gauges even have a chance to fill up. They didn't put in all the combos they discovered, but they are combos that even expert gamers might not find so easily.
Perhaps the best part overall about this guide was that this is the only Final Fantasy VII strategy guide that actually tells you where to find all the enemy skills. This includes the often overlooked Chocobuckle. There is no other Final Fantasy VII strategy guide out there that gives the details on how to get this enemy skill. It's only within the Versus Books guide. They also have a complete list of items and equipment, including the useless things like the precious watch.
However, as I said, it's not quite as perfect as it seems. This IS the best FF7 guide, I won't lie, but there are things that do keep this guide from being the overall perfect guide. For one, the maps are just screenshots. They don't locate items or anything. The only thing these maps do is take you from point A to point B. In that regard the maps work, but you really won't find anything using these maps. The boss strategies are also really weak. While I enjoyed that they mention you can use a phoenix down to kill undead enemies, the strategies don't really go deep when they should. Most of them are basic, "just keep attacking him," strategies with no real insight as to what you could use to take out a certain boss. The only worthwhile boss strategies are the Emeral and Ruby weapons. Also, it's rather sad that with all the stuff they do tell you about enemies, they neglect to mention what an enemy is immune to, which in some cases could probably help.
Finally, the guide doesn't have 50+ secrets that aren't in the official guide. Actually, it's more like ten. And while we're talking about secrets, not even Versus Books has all the secrets to Final Fantasy VII. In fact, there are some secrets in the BradyGAMES guide that don't get a mention here at all. Since this guide wasn't done with the help of Square, and it was a beta version, there are some secrets that came around later that you couldn't possibly expect Versus Books to find (along with glitches). For example, they don't mention about the All Lucky 7's or the Special Cinema that you can view. And they claim the rewards for defeating Ruby and Emeral weapons are the gems with their respective names. There's also no mention of the Underwater Materia at all. There are also numerous typos and mispellings throughout the walkthrough.
Is this a great guide? You better believe it. The best Final Fantasy VII Guide you coul possibly buy. However, again, the prices that many people are asking for this guide are outrageous. It's a great guide, but not worth forking over 150 or 200 dollars for. If you find you must have this guide (perhaps you collect them like I do) then head on over to ebay, or good luck searching.
The Good
+Detailed walkthrough
+Fantastic Game Basics, stuff that actually isn't in the manual
+Really clear and detailed screenshots
+Tons and tons of secrets revealed, including some not found in the BradyGAMES guide
+Well organized walkthrough
+Great optional boss strategies
+Crazy Materia Combinations
+No Plot Spoilers
The Bad
-Not EVERY secret is revealed
-Weak Boss Strategies (Save for the optional bosses Ruby and Emerald Weapons)
-There's no final boss strategy
-Being one of the most highly sought after strategy guides of all time, this guide comes at ridiculous prices -- One of the Best Final Fantasy Guides Ever Made
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