Rating: 
Summary: playonline site is horrible
Review: Well this is a fine mess, you pay for the book and then it refers you to an online address that you must register for and doesn't work. I suggest you save you money and use the great sites like gamefacs.com and rpgamers.com.
Rating:
Summary: Not what I was looking for
Review: If you are looking to pass the game this book is probably for you. But if you have played RPG games before, like to explore, and want to get the guide for the extras that is impossible to find without reading it from somewhere then this aren't it. The strategy goes on telling you what to do but when it comes to getting secret it has a side note telling you to go look online at the squaresoft page....
Rating: 
Summary: New Web link makes this half a book
Review: To push registrations to their new website, Playonline.com, Square and Bradygames have made this hint book link to "additional" hints on the playonline website. Now that'd fine and dandy if it wasn't for certain things:1) When I buy a hint book, it's expressly so I DON'T have to go to websites to collect up all the hints and tidbits to complete a game. There's not a page that goes by in this guide that doesn't have a callout box suggesting you go the website and learn an even BETTER way to defeat this monster, or where the last of the umpty-umpth Magic Thingy is hidden. I bought the book to learn these things; 2) as of the moment (either from overload or over-fancy design, I can't tell yet) the website you're supposed to link to is DEAD slow. And there's no easy way to collect all the hints at once; yu have to enter these search codes listed in the book, resulting in a LONG visit to the site, racking up lots and lots of hits for Square to crow about. Now, what's IN the book is choice as always. The walkthru is easy to follow, and doesn't ruin the twists of the plot any more than a walkthru has to. The monster and item guides are well laid out, if a bit incomplete (see above) There's a nice selection of original concept art peppered throughout the book, the kind of stuff you only see in the imported Japanese art books at a premium price. So it's still worth getting but... I feel like when you used to look at the pictures of all the things you could build with Legos, and once you got the set, the small print said "items on box require more than one set to build". Yeah, I can play with what I got, but I was expecting a more complete experience that wouldn't require more of my time.
Rating:
Summary: Same Old Spoilers
Review: This strategy guide is nice for going through and getting everything in the game and doing a thorough job in defeating tough enemeies and what not. However, like most Brady strategy guides it gives away crucial events in the game! If you glance ahead, even if by accident, you will likely see something that will spoil what could be a great surprise for you and ruin the affect it is supposed to have. It's a real shame that Brady can't make a guide without spoiling such a great game. You want to see a good Final Fantasy guide? Check out Versus' Final Fantasy VII guide. Now that was what a strategy guide should be. Unfortunelty, Versus hasn't made another Final Fantasy guide since.
Rating: 
Summary: Useful Guide
Review: Most people here are complaining about the "advertisements" in the guide. Wrong! They aren't advertisements - the web site featured is actually beneficial to your gaming. When you have a internet-capable computer it is very easy to access this webpage and find quick secrets in the game. The online feature is for people who don't mind taking 2 minutes to log on AND register at the site.
Rating:
Summary: Not a REAL strategy guide!
Review: A strategy guide is supposed to have every single detail about the game in it and this guide doesn't. I have just about every Final Fantasy strategy guide and the Final Fantasy IX guide is the only guide that doesn't have everything and I have to go online to find out things.
For the main game, just getting through the game, this guide is perfect. I was able to get through the entire game with only this guide. Then I wanted to do sidequests. That's where this guide fails miserably. The sidequests are only listed by name but it says to go to PlayOnline.com to find out what to do. I have played FFVII, FFVIII, FFX, and FFX-2 and have guides for all those from Bradygames and in every one of those guides, they really go into detail about every single sidequest and mini-game and I never had to check online.
I do not know why Bradygames went out of their way for every other guide but this one. I was really disappointed that for me to do the Chocobo treasure digging, I had to go to some site, print off a map of where all the chocographs, cracks and bubbles in the water were that should have been included in this Strategy Guide in the first place. FFVIII's guide had 2 maps in it, one for the towns and dungeons and the other for the Draw Points. That's what they needed in FFIX, 2 maps, one for the towns and dungeons and one for the chocograph and dead pepper locations. It's really too bad that the Bradygames company was the only company to put out a guide for this game.
Rating:
Summary: Playonline?...BOOOOOO!
Review: This guide is good axcept for the fact that you have to go online for all the good stuff.
They say, 'this is an amazing weapon but to find out where it is go online', or 'for boss fight strategy, go online'.
And for those that don't have access to the iternet it's useless.But other than that its pretty good.
Oh yeah, they also like to tell you things after the fact so read ahead!
Rating:
Summary: Attempt At Something New Gone Horribly Wrong
Review: As has been already mentioned, this book attempts a new concept (one that fortunately was not tried again) in which pictures and basic strategy are provided, and for more information, the guide gives codes to access a site called PlayOnline for more detailed information. Apparently, perhaps the author was thinking that those who needed only basic help would sit and just use the guide, while the more "hardcore" players would access the information online. The problem is that it's the hardcore players who are probably going to be getting the guide anyway. Maybe they have their game system in a completely different room from the computer. They got the guide because they wanted something with detailed information and pictures without having to print something out online. This defeats that purpose.
The site referenced in the book no longer works, but fortunately you can still activate all of the old codes by visiting the guide section at Square Enix's website. In fact, the entire guide, with much more detail, is all available there. If you can do without pictures, it'd probably be much easier to copy and print the entire thing.
Fortunately, I didn't shell out one cent for this strategy guide. Instead, I checked it out from the library. For that rate, I think I got my "money's" worth, a basic description of how to get through the major parts of the game. I would have been very disappointed if I had actually paid money for this.
Rating: 
Summary: I'd like to give this Guide a lower score....
Review: Anyone who has engaged in the fine art of Final Fantasy mania has come to recognize the excellent strategy guides associated with the games. The guide for FF8 was absolutely incredible; it was packed with virtually every conceivable detail, from sidequest info to weapon creating info to the walktrhrough itself (which was excellent!). SInce the FF guides have such a distinguished history, we are left begging the question:why does the guide for FF9 suck so miserably? This guide is practically useless. Although it presents details of the game concerning weapons, armor and associated item and character abilities and does have a walkthrough, there is NOTHING here you need the guide to solve. This guide was created with a single purpose in mind:to get people to visit PlayOnline.com, which supposedly "boosts" the info in the guide. That's right, kids...if you want the REAL game insights and secrets, you have to go online to do it...oh but there IS a small problem...PlayOnline.com doesn't contain any FF9 info anymore! That's right! It's totally dedicated to the new FFXI expansion for online play. This means that if you are a retro player like myself, this guide isn't going to help you out one bit. Apparently, the publisher, Brady Games, thought we'd love to read a little blurb about some unrevelaed secret, then run to our computers and go to an online guide, which no longer exists. Excuse me, but doesn't that defeat the purpose of a hard copy guide? This guide is blind corporate thinkng at it's best. So do yourself a favor, my fellow FF fans:forget this guide, shoot over to Gamefaqs.com and print yourself out a REAL guide/walkthrough.
Rating:
Summary: Useful Guide
Review: I beat FFIX without the guide. I picked up the guide in a Blockbuster store to see if I missed any major game elements. I'm actually happy that I didn't beat the game with this guide, otherwise I would have made a major mistake. There are advertisements that are littered throughout the guide (i.e. The book says that you can unlock a secret weapon in the game, then there's a little sidenote that says "Refer to Playonline.com for details!"), and it happens on every page. Finally, when you try to go to Playonline.com, you have to become a memeber first. Sigh.
I looked at the final battle's description, and it didn't say much about how to beat it (luckily, I beat it without a guide). Overall, it's a reasonable book, but you may be better off just figuring things out on your own.
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