Diablo II Official Strategy Guide (Official Guide)

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Summary: Never since Pong!!!
Review: I have been gaming since pong!!! And i have never seen a "Strategy Guide" with such lackadaisical walkthroughs as this. Of course the game itself is very askew and nothing compared to the original Diablo. Shame on BradyGames and shame on Blizzard. A curse on all your houses.------ adgil

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Summary: Outdated right from the start
Review: I have preordered this strategy guide with Diablo II Collector's Edition back from april. And when I receive them in July and start playing the game, I found out a lot of information stated in the strategy guide is already outdated. I also found out there are alot, and I mean like %70, of the information missing. The description of the skills are too short and simple. There are almost no mention of how two or more effect affect each other. Not to mention missing creature types, item types, etc. After applying Patch ver 1.03, half of the already little amount of information is obsolete. If you want to learn more about the game, and there is a huge amount of things to learn, goto a fan site like diabloii.net or game site like gamespot.com. You will find much detailed and updated information there.

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Summary: Scratching the surface
Review: I was extremely excited to purchase this book but fairly dissappointed in the results. True, most of this information is already online. There are some good things: ready reference for those who don't have fast internet access or who prefer paper to monitor. It also gives some additional insight into the skills and what they do. Another plus is that it doesn't give too much information away -- it doesn't spoil the stuff that should be found out about during game play. I guess what I was looking for was a more comprehensive decsription of game play and rules -- things like "Does two items of 'Half Freeze' duration equal full imunity to freeze? Or does one simply cancel out the other?" -- that type of thing.

Rating:
Summary: A dissapoinment.
Review: I was greatly disappointed by this book. The layout is very good, but most of the character and quest info can be found in the game manual as well. I had hoped for more information in subjects like Cube recipes. The item charts, including unique items lists and set items attributes are useful, especially if you don't have Internet access. If you do, pass on. The bestiary is interesting, but in my opinion it could include the number of experience points each monster gives you. Overall, I think it was fun to read, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

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Summary: This Guide is an essential!
Review: I would recomend that you get this guide, it has listings of armor, weapons, skills, magic, and many others. If your a newbie or a pro this stratigie guide is for you. It has stratigies for desinging your skill tree, and it gives pictures and deatailed decription of what monsters attacks, weaknesses, and health. It also sheds some light on the NPC's backgrounds. For any true DIABLO 2 Player this is for you!

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Summary: D2 Strategy Guide... Awesome!
Review: If you bought Diablo 2 and are a little lost, or even if you think you know everything there is to know about it you must get this book. It will really help you to understand and beat the game.

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Summary: Piece of *!@$ (DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY)
Review: if you ever play D2, do not buy this guide, I did when it was brand new, then you know what happened? They released version 1.02, and changed every skill stat, and item stat in the game, making every chart in the entire flippin book worthless. And even the writers opinions were killed because all the changing was to "change the balance" which makes other things more powerful than before, and some things less. As I write this, I still play D2 (quite obsesively) and we are now on patch 1.09 so even the expansion pack strategy guide, is out of date (based on 1.07) and it is now rumoured that version 1.10 is comming out soon. I sometimes look in my strategy guide and look at an item's stats, then look at the item in my inventory on the game and compare stats, all I can think about is laughing at how I wasted $20 on this when it was new. :(

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Summary: Excellent Reference Guide for the game
Review: If you opened up the Diablo II manual and found it lacking in information on items, skill levels, and spells then this is the book you want to get. I look at this as more of a reference book than a strategy guide and it is sitting right next to my computer. If you plan on being hardcore with DII you can't just randomly pick and chose your skill sets, you need to go in with a plan of action. The regular manual doesn't give you enough information to do so, but this guide does. Sure you can probably find all that stuff on the web somewhere in the numerous fan sites, but it won't have the ease of use that this guide does. You have your choice, either a ream of printed out webpages or a condensed book with elegantly done tables.

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Summary: Great Reference Manual
Review: If you read through the manual that came with the game and found it lacking than this is the guide for you. I look at this guide as more of a Reference Manual than a strategy guide as it contains such a wealth of information on skills, items, and spells. If you are serious about playing DII you know that you can't just pick your skill sets randomly; you will need a plan of action. The manual that came with the game simply does not give you enough information to make these choices - but this book does. That is why it sits right next to the dictionary by my computer.

Rating:
Summary: Reference yes; Strategy no
Review: If you're into lists this is a great reference book for the items and skills available in the game. However, the actual strategy portion is somewhat lacking. But to be fair about this, with so many variations in play, it would take an encyclopedia to explain all the possible strategies. Maybe "Strategy Guide" was a bad choice of category on the publisher's part but the book still has a lot of useful and interesting material in it.