What do you look for in a strategy guide?

[Alpha]

I recently started a new game of Final Fantasy VII, I don't really know why. As usual when I play a Final Fantasy game, an underlying compulsion emerges in me to "complete" the game. To complete it "properly". To not miss any treasure chest, to steal the good items from bosses, to see as many pieces of dialogue as exist, etc. I don't care for a "perfect game" as defined by some (e.g. 99 of every item in your inventory), just a complete game as defined by my innate sense of what is reasonable.

To this end, I usually consult a strategy guide, which I read once when entering each area, so I don't miss anything. Sites like IGN have some really old walkthroughs, all written in plain text files (although this is admittedly also true for those walkthroughs not written in the 1990s). When I started this game, I consulted a few guides, but was happy with none of them. For one, plain text is boring, and very hard to read on a PSVita. Pictures are a much more efficient way to get a lot of information across, but these can't have any, except for crude ASCII maps. One of the guides was quite sexist. It told me to "slot the materia in her hole, if you know what I mean". Yes, I know what you mean... aaand now I'm no longer reading your guide, you immature little knuckle head.

When I first played the Final Fantasy games from X to XIII, I was old enough to also buy the strategy guides from the store. (Think Piggyback.) These were brilliant. They were beautiful publications and mementoes of the game in their own right, with encyclopaedic qualities, written by professionals—adults. But they were also expensive, and good luck finding them now for old games. (Heck, good luck finding them after the first two weeks after release date.) A solid piece of literature is also a pain in the ass to hold on to. My collection now collects dust at the bottom of my closet. I've only ever used one at a time.

I want a compromise between the two formats: beautiful, useful, mature, electronic, mobile-friendly. A video is OK, I suppose, but you can't search a video for the exact nugget of information you want. A bestiary is never going to work in video format.

So as far as I can see, this compromise does not exist. So I want to make it. I am a programmer by trade, and have been working on a beta version of my Final Fantasy VII guide. More accurately, the "behind-the-scenes" of this guide. The database that holds the bestiary (automatically scraped from the Final Fantasy Wiki), and webpage templates that automatically get populated on the basis of this information. An example of what it does at present: for each location, the name of the location gets sent to the database, and that returns all the random encounters for that stage of the game, including what you can steal from them, how much experience points they give, etc. This then gets displayed on the webpage. What is cool about it is that it's not at all tied to the content. If I want to make one for Final Fantasy VIII next, I'd just have to adapt it very slightly (additional information might be needed, for example, on whether a given monster can be turned into a card, and what this card can be card-modded into).

That's all beside the point though. If you're interested in that you can give me a yell.

What I really want to know is: what do you look for in a strategy guide? I know what I like, but I'm only one person. I think there is a legitimate gap for this format of strategy guide, and need your wisdom. Just let me know what elements you think are needed in a "good" videogame strategy guide. For example:

• Online
• Spoiler-free
• With monster information alongside the "over-world" guide, in the case of RPGs.
• Maps with treasure chest locations

[Also, it's totally possible someone has already had this idea before me. If you know of this, let me know.]

[Rowan]

What do I look for in a strategy guide? I looked for a walkthrough and ALL sidequests/hidden areas/missables/weapons list/monster list(with detailed information such as HP-EXP-STEALS and if possible, Lore). In a physical copy, I would demand there be artwork and screencaps of everything. I really relate to what you say about strategy guides being mementos in their own right. I really enjoy just opening up and reading it to get my fill of the game and story if I dont feel like actually playing through it. I was actually searching for old FF7, FF8 and FF9 strat guides on ebay, but theres actually more than 1 to choose from and I'm not sure who published the best ones.

[Pete]

Rowan, I always thought BradyGames had the best ones, but then again, that's all they sold at EB Games and Gamestop. I'd have mailed them to you if I still had them, but I threw them out years ago.

Today, if I need a guide, I want it to be complete but also spoiler free. I understand that sometimes this is difficult to accomplish with the way bosses pan out, but I don't want any more story revealed than absolutely necessary. I think I would really just want it as a reference, or like a tourist map. It won't hold my hand, but it'll guide me through where I'm going.

I think more importantly, with today's technology, I love guides that are accessible through my phone, and have youtube videos to show me how to navigate extra tricky terrain or find the extra secret passages.