Rating: 
Summary: Almost worthless
Review: The masses are absolutely right on this one, people. This sad atrocity of a strategy guide is a classic example of the Dilbert mentality at work: why bother to do it right when you can dress your product's massive deficiencies as a ground-breaking feature? Right on the back, the FFIX strategy guide announces itself as the next evolution of strategy guides, enhanced by the official PlayOnline website.Yeah, right. This guide is enhanced by PlayOnline in the same way humans are "enhanced" by air or water. There's maybe three pages in this book where you don't see little blue sideboxes that say "Want to learn strategies to beat [insert boss here]? Go to PlayOnline!" or "A really cool artifact is nearby! Go to PlayOnline." Just what IS in this guide sets new records for shallowness and lack of effort. About the only thing of any use are the monster stats, and even those are incomplete ("Go to PlayOnline!"). Oh, yeah - weapons and armor are also listed, but don't go hoping this guide will tell you where to find them ("Go to PlayOnline!"). Oh, and you can see what all the many, many mini-quests ARE, just not how to beat them ("Go to PlayOnline!"). Is that it for the useful information? Just about. The "walkthrough" is little more than a glorified plot synopsis. Secrets? Hidden locations? Bonus items? Hah! You'll be lucky if the walkthrough even hints at them ("Go to PlayOnline!"), let alone hits you with hard information. There aren't even any fricking maps (!), something that, frankly, strategy guides have featured since the dawn of time. Unless you'd like to read more about who FFIX's characters ARE than what you're supposed to DO with them, this strategy guide is only for those who are running low on firewood or toilet paper. The worst part is, PlayOnline isn't even much of a site. For one, it's soooo slow that you'll probably figure out what you were going to look up before the page loads (wow, could this be because trillions of other FFIX players have figured out that PlayOnline is the only part of the "FFIX Strategy Guide" worth looking at?). Secondly, it's poorly organized - the creators have a serious aversion to putting information in one easy-to-find place (which, of course, makes the slowness even more intolerable). Worst of all, it's STILL incomplete. It's a shame, really. Final Fantasy IX is the best FF game in years, and it deserved better treatment than this. There's hope, though. As with many games, altruistic fans have come forth to post their own walkthroughs on the Web, and while they don't have flashy photos and illustrations, their efforts here blow the pathetic "official" guide right out of the water.
Rating:
Summary: I want to give 0 Star!
Review: Don't even TRY getting this guide. I bought this 11-dollar guide for a good reason...I don't want to go ONLINE to look up for the FFIX tips. Guess what? This guide tells you very few information and tells you to go on PlayOnline.com for MORE information. Well..I DON'T FEEL LIKE GOING PLAYONLINE. Do you expect me to go online everytime I need help?!
Rating:
Summary: Worst Strat Guide
Review: This guide was horrible, I tore it apart just for some of the Artwork, but then I threw that away as well. It's a waste of time and money. I beat the game without it, and like others have said, it's just a advertisement for playonline, which is fine site, but they should have just packed it in the book. There were no solutions from the guide that were of any use. Oh well, don't buy this book.
Rating:
Summary: A Total Waste of Paper
Review: This book is worthless. It tells you nothing. Every single peice of needed information is found on the playonline website. Basically this book is one big advertisement for the website disguised as a guide book. You can easily beat the game without it, or the help on the website. The book is not necessary, nor does it give any real helpful information. Don't waste the money.
Rating:
Summary: Not much to add...
Review: I just want to do my part to force the numbers down. I suspect Brady had little to do with the decision to omit all of the useful information from the guide (and that's no exaggeration; it provides only information that a novice player might be able to herself discern on the first time through the game), and that Square demanded this half-guide. No matter. Brady may have to learn the hard way that when you lie down with a dog, you'll get fleas. I suppose I wouldn't be so insulted by this guide if the things it omitted required extensive explanation that there wasn't room for. But it makes no attempt to cover its tracks -- most of the time it leaves out things that could be covered in a sentence, like the location of a special item. The guide needn't have been a page longer to be substantially improved.
Rating:
Summary: A complete guide to aggravation
Review: I purchased this guide on the assumption that the quality would be up to the usual standards that Brady's other guides were...what a mistake.At first glance this guide appears to be another good guide from Brady,consisting of a nice lay out and what appears initially to be actual strategy.Once you begin to read the fine print however you then start to see why I gave this book such a low rating. Unfortunately the "writer",if he can be called such,wrote a guide that does not even cover the basic elements of a normal guide.When you flip through all of the pages the first thing that may come to mind is "Where are the maps?"The answer to this question is simple...there are none.In fact this guide can't even seem to get through the character section without referring you to play online.Perhaps there are some people out there who don't mind pausing every two paragraphs and running to their computer,but I for one was certainly not one of them. Just imagine,if you will,having to cease playing your game for SUBSTANTIAL periods of time just so you can read through squaresoft's playonline site.The site is mind numbingly slow,something that will even further annoy you(like having to run to the computer every other paragraph wasn't enough aggravation in itself).I can honestly say that there is nothing you would find in this guide that you couldn't print out from playonline except for the codes that take you directly to a certain subject.Take my advice and don't waste your money on this haphazard and frankly lazily written walkthrough,and maybe,just maybe Brady will decide to never offer such a poorly written product to consumers again.
Rating:
Summary: Poor trees
Review: I feel sorry for the trees who died to have this guide published. There is absolutely no doubt that this is the WORST strategy guide ever made. The intro to the book explains the whole "Playonline" stuff. Whenever something is mentioned in the guide you have to go to PlayOnline.com and enter a keyword to get more extensive info on that particular subject. The end of the intro states "Without a doubt, this new approach will provide a new aspect to your gaming experience." What they forgot to add is what that new aspect is: ANNOYANCE! Some pages have FIVE(!) Playonline callouts. That is simply ridiculous. BradyGames cut a deal with Square to promote their new site, and they probably were only worried about the $$ rather than their customer's happiness. Actually, I must admit, the initial idea was not that bad. But it was used way too much and has 2 major flaws. 1) I probably would've actually liked the Playonline feature if they used it only in the obscure circumstances, like maybe stupid little things that are kind of interesting but have no real purpose. That way if I thought I was interested in that thing, I could just look it up. But instead, the author got lazy and just used PlayOnline as a way to make his life easier. Practically every event in the game has a vague strategy and then a Playonline callout. Ugh 2) The Information you get from the keywords in the guide isn't even exclusive to the guide owners! It's just something you could get even if you didn't own the guide! This guide should be called "The official quick PlayOnline Access Guide". Good points? Barely. I actually liked their boss strategys, as they provided a way for you to make your own strategy for the boss, but still give you the essential preperations and stuff. But the last boss strategy was ridiculous. It was TWO sentences! And one of them is "You will have to figure out how to cure mini-status". That sentence pretty much defeats the purpose of a guide. Do not waste money on this waste of trees
Rating:
Summary: Not a guide to FF9, but a guide to PlayOnline
Review: This book is supposed to be a strategy guide for Final Fantasy IX. I bought it expecting to be told where all the hidden secrets are and a detailed walkthrough of the game. Instead, I get paragraphs telling me, "There's a secret hidden item in this town that very valuable to have. For more information, go to PlayOnline." NO! I DIDN'T PAY $12.00 TO BE TOLD TO FIND OUT ONLINE!! I say we boycott this book and show whoever is responsible that we don't appreciate being tricked. This book should at least tell its customers that if they don't have internet access or don't feel like signing-on every 2 minutes to find out the information you paid to have in print, then this book is USELESS!! A definite bomb!
Rating: 
Summary: The worst stragedy guide I have EVER seen...
Review: This is the worst stragedy guide I have ever seen, when I pay like 10 bucks for the damn thing I want all the hints with out having to go online to find out everything, thats the WHOLE reason I got the stupid thing in the first place. Okay now that I got that out of the way...here is the problem, it gives you enough hints so not to ruin the story (this is what I do like about the thing...thus the 2 stars) but, to get any more info you have to [go online] to get the stuff. TO me that kinda kills the reason to get the thing in the first place. Like I said before, the one good thing (the one and only good thing) is that it doesnt ruin the story by giving you to many hints...they really could have done better. And I want to know whos stupid idea it was to have all the extra hints online anyway.
Rating:
Summary: Different Author
Review: The reason why this guide is so bad is that it was written by a different guy (Dan Birlew)than in the previous guides by David Cassidy. My theory is that this new guy is the MOD for PlayOnline.com. There is absolutely NOTHING in this guide that you could not find on the website. NOTHING. Do not buy this guide, and if you have one, I recommend that you return it immediately so that BradyGames will get a clue and never write a sorry excuse for a guide like this again.
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