Rating: 
Summary: Lots Of Info, But VERY Annoying Also
Review: Do you need this guide to play Baldur's Gate 2? If you want to get absolutely everything you can out of the game, not missing any quests, etc., then it's a must. If you want occasional help because you can't figure something out, the discussion boards at Interplay are a much cheaper way to go.This guide contains detailed information on all of the classes, a walk-through of the critical path to win the game, a walk-through of side quests, and then monster, spell, item, and lots of other statistics. A plethora of detail, so much that it's sometimes hard to find specifically what you're looking for, especially in the walk-throughs. The book also contains a lot of phrases like "Ugh... the most frustrating piece of ( ) spell ever put in a game" and "Nalia is nothing more than a fresh lil' hotty with an attitude". Neither of those are very helpful, nor do they impart any information I really need to know to play the game. To me, they're annoying and definitely unnecessary.
Rating: 
Summary: nice pictures
Review: First off, this guide does give you a lot of detail about character class, items, quests, and monsters(though combat stradegy is a bit amaturishly written). The author is a rude charlaton for lack of a better word(Just getting into charater with the game) who doesn't know how to play the game. For one thing, as I said in another reivew of ToB's 'Perfect' guide, he is saying play the game his way, or else. Well, there are many ways to play SoA. When I wrote this guy about stats for characters he wrote back saying that my paladin with CHR at 18 "was just plain stupid" to put it in his words. I think not. CHR was not even the stat I was asking about. In my opinion 18 for a paladin, if anything else gives you fringe bennifits not found at 17, like higher rewards for quests ect. Anyway(s) he was rude and I'm blaming it on Versus. I think players can make desisions for themselves thank you. Clean up your act people!
Rating:
Summary: Terrible! Should let Brady do the official guide instead.
Review: I read a lot of strategy guides in the past and the one publisher that has hardly ever failed me is Brady. I don't like Prima because their guide are thin, simple, and cheap. Brady guides are thick, detailed, and tell you everything. This book that I'm reviewing is from Versus Books is even worse than Prima. First of all it's hard to follow. For example, how come the numbers in walkthough don't match the numbers with the map. It's like, on the map on page 23, there are 16 numbers on the map and there is a chart below telling you what items are found at that location. However, the Critical Walkthrough is also numbered 1-4 on page 22 but none of those numbers show up on the map. It's like on page 22, 01 is Perusing the Town, 02 is The Circus Tent, 03 is The Brawl of Brawls. How come those numbers aren't on the map. It's like, the strategy guide is telling me to find this person or do this, but it won't tell you where on the map. Like it tells me to pull this switch or something, but where is it on the map? I though you were supposed to number the walkthough with the map, not with items! Another big flaw with this strategy guide is that you have to go back and for through the guide. It's like, when you encounter a new monster, a Brady strategy guide would tell you at that very page what to do. A Brady strategy guide would also probably give you stats on that monster even if it's indexed in the back. However, this Versus book doesn't do that. All the monster information is in the back of the book, so you have to constantly look back and forth for monster strategies. There's hardly any monster strategies at all. It's just mainly stats. The guide really doesn't tell you in detail how to kill this particular monster efficiently. Baldur's Gate II is a huge game, and a huge game deserves a huge strategy guide. What I see is a watered down pamphlet that barely tells you anything. And it's only 144 pages long. A good strategy guide would have been 200 or 300 pages long. Unfortunately, since it's the only official guide out there, and there are no others, you really don't have a choice but to buy this piece of crap. The only positive thing I can say about this guide is that the pictures and the map look pretty good. It's a pretty book. However, we all know that we can't judge a book by it's cover.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Book, Extremely Well Done.
Review: If you're looking for a comprehensive source of BG2 info, then look no further than Versus Books BG2 guide. Yes, there were a few errors here and there, which didn't bother me all that much. But isn't that always the case with every guidebook you read?
Some specific things I really liked were:
*Complete items lists shown as you play
*Interesting extra details shown as supplements
*Written by a gamer (you can tell)
*Cool graphic design
Overall, an awesome guide for a VERY awesome game.
Rating:
Summary: Imperfect Perfection
Review: Like the other reviewers here, I found this book to be less helpful than I would have liked. Very pretty, many nice charts, but flawed. Perhaps most annoying is the rah-rah adolescent writing style that sacrifices substance for style. MANY typos, which is inexcusable and tells you something about the quality that went into the text. There are many online strategy guides that are much better in content, thought maybe not in quantity. I mainly used this book for a quick-review type guide when I was playing the game and couldn't get to the information I had downloaded. The walkthrough section (which only covers the main quests) is very good and I liked have all the information about everything (spells, monsters, items etc.) in one place. Use this book as an introduction and a review, but if you really want to know the details about playing the game, go to the online sites and forums.
Rating:
Summary: Terrible! Should let Brady do the official guide instead.
Review: Normally, I despise strategy guides for PC games, mainly because I was once a Console-only player, before I got a computer, and found PC Strategy Guides too boring. I would hold something, normally the size of a phonebook in my hand, flip through it, and it was a chore to find what I wanted, not because they were disorganized(Well, most of them weren't), but because, frankly, I found them boring to read(The only exceptions to that were the three Strategy Guides for StarCraft and Brood War). I truly enjoy the Versus Strategy Guide for BG2 for one main reason; it's fun to read it. It's not a bore, or a hassle, but actual fun. Plus, they include things most strategy guides don't, like cheats, which is useful if you don't have a netlink. The main reason I didn't give it 5 stars is because I found it lacking in some info(Like all small quests, which I would've enjoyed having), and some minor errors. I say you really can't go wrong with it.
Rating:
Summary: You've got to be kidding
Review: Ok, so I made sure I read all the reviews first to get a general idea if it was worth the hefty price. Based on what I read I decided to get it. What a mistake. Sure, the book looks outstanding, plenty of full color and detailed maps, great character, NPC, monster spell and equipment lists... I just found it to be really lacking in information. There was so much left out about areas that I came across on my own and would have loved to know more about. While I didn't expect a step-by-step walkthrough, I did expect the covered areas to be a little more informative. I also didn't like the way it was written, "Duh!", "If you're playing a multiplayer game (like we TOLD you to do)...", "...you have to admit that she's pretty darn hot, eh?". There were times I felt like they were speaking to a moron and I didn't appreciate that at all. Well, I bought it and I'm stuck with it, for now, but I can safely say I wouldn't purchase another guide from Versus again, unless their writing staff grows up.
Rating: 
Summary: With the good comes the bad...
Review: Overall this is the best guide on the market, quite thorough and doesn't divuldge any of the plot line (which I love). But there are a few mistakes in the book. Several instances of deviations from the game and the book appeared (would love to go into more detail but I don't want to give any of the game away). Another thing was it didn't tell you anything about some of the very small (but very important) things along the way, like near the end there is a situation between you and NPC and an Evil NPC and they don't tell you how to make it better (this NPC is very important to your character), they say nothing about it, quite annoying, and there is minimal mentioning of the stronghold quests which frustrating especially for the Paladine where you are forced to make extremely difficult decisions. But all in all this is a fantastic guide with very useful tips for battling any and all monsters and bosses. Lists of Magic items and spells, what each does and where they are (very helpful). Key item locations and solutions to those tough riddles. I suggest running throught the game once before you use this book, just to see how you do for fun, then making a run through with this book and see everything you missed. At some points this book is an extremely valuable resourse, especially when trying to sort through the dozens and dozens of side quests (they can be overwhelming at times). Excellent tool. When you get stuck (and you will) you will be glad you bought it, trust me.
Rating:
Summary: The best guide that I've ever used.
Review: The guide for Baldur's Gate I by Brady Games was abysmal. It's far better to go online for information BG:I than buy the guide.
However, the Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn Guide by Versus is absolutely brilliant. It gives you all the secrets, tells you exactly where everything is, exactly what needs to be done to get what, how much XP you get from each quest, etc. It's nigh on perfect.
I have never seen another guide as good as this one. Perhaps it has some errors in it as other reviewers say, but what guide doesn't? I certainly have no complaints.
I want a guide to give me detailed maps, detailed explanations of side quests,and detailed information on what items and XP you get from each monster, quest, etc. In short, I want it to explain everything there is to know about the game, except perhaps for strategies on defeating enemies - those are nice once in a while, but I tend to have my own style of gameplay anyways. This guide did all that. It gives all the vital information for this game - INCLUDING cheat information in case you are so inclined.
This guide is nigh on perfect. I just wish that more guides were like it.
Rating:
Summary: Great visuals, but where's the proofreading?
Review: This was a mixed bag of treasure and trash. The screenshots and maps are excellent, but the writing left a LOT to be desired. First, numerous typos and misinformation (for example, listing an item as found in one place when it's found somewhere else) made for a lot of frustration and confusion. Second, there is far too much glossed over, such as the different strongholds and the NPC quests; the main reason given was that most people would play through the game only once and therefore didn't need the in-depth explanations. Personally, if I buy an RPG that has several different play options, such as various character types, I play it through several times just to see how the different mix works; besides, you really get your money's worth that way! Lastly, the walkthrough and descriptions sounded like they were written by Wayne & Garth... "serious swonage", "really doesn't give a crap", "deformed-looking chicks" (referring to the female NPCs), etc. Versus Books should realize that not all RPG gamers are teenage boys; there are a lot of us women who love playing but don't appreciate that type of juvenile expression. All in all, this book is good if you're stuck and need help, or need a map of an area, but I didn't find it nearly as useful as I hoped.
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