Strat Guide..yay or nay?

[Dwimmerlaik]

Has anyone bought the MTW strategy guide yet and is it worth the money? Just curious...

[youssof_Toda]

Depends on what you want: you interested in SP campaign and the mathematics of the game? yes --> buy it. You interested in MP and want to improve? --> play some games

[Dwimmerlaik]

Tut tut...I should have been more specific.. I mean is it useful for getting a handle on the intricacies of SP esp. to do with trade and all those other lil nuances of the SP game. Having your head handed to you by the Great Khan is a singular pleasure that doesnt come in the mail :-)

[TenkiSoratoti]

well for games in the totalwar series it focuses on things you already know, there a con these guides if you get the them for games like total war, there only good with game like tombraider and OFP, things that have levels.

Use ur head, i swear shogun made my logical mind bigger.

------------------
"The good fighters of the old first put themselves beyond the possibility of defeat, and then waited for an oppurtunity to defeat the enemy."

[Dwimmerlaik]

Good grief...use your head, play online...GAH! All I want to know is if anyone bought the guide and whether they found it useful.. the cheek I can do without thank you very much.

[Sjakihata]

nay

------------------
*bows* - Power to the Sultan!

Clan Seljuk

[TenkiSoratoti]

sorry dwimm lot my self there, yeah nay do not buy the guide save that £10.00

------------------
"The good fighters of the old first put themselves beyond the possibility of defeat, and then waited for an oppurtunity to defeat the enemy."

[Forward Observer]

Let me throw in my two cents worth.


Like had been said, there are a lot of pros and cons to strategy guides. They are very useful for level walkthroughs and puzzle solutions to FPS type games. They can also be very useful for technically oriented games like flight sims and such. For RTS type games it is really a hit/miss situation.

I would never buy a strat guide for an FPS simply because generally the all of the walkthrough info that you need can be found on the internet for free. For games like the total war series it is kind of a toss up.

I have seen strategy guides that really made a better manual than the one that came with the game. Others are just empty crap that are a waste of good paper and your money.

Of course some people like to get strategy guides just to collect everything associated with their favorite game. These people hang on to their original boxes and documentation too.

I have always thought that somewhere off in the distant future this sort of stuff might just get to be collectable--like GI Joes and Barbie Dolls.

Also, any strat guide is only as good as the author is at playing, understanding, and conveying the nuances of the game. I am talking about the single player info here, and not on-line play. As everyone said for on-line play, you just have get out there and do it.

All of that said, I will admit that I bought the original strategy guide to Shogun. I got it for only $10 extra since the store was running a special with the purchase of the game. I thought that it was actually quite a bit better than the crappy manual that came with the US version of the game. I eventually downloaded the UK manual and thought that it was substantially better.

The best thing about the Prima guide was that it also had a full page synopsis devoted to each and every province in the game in alphabetical order. This is what made the book such a handy reference as you moved through Japan.

Would I buy a strategy guide for MTW? Well, maybe, but I would spend quite a bit of time browsing through it to see if it would be worth the money.

I have always suspected that in some cases game publishers get kickbacks from stat guide publishers like Brady and Prima so they don't feel they need to put out a halfway complete manual.

The manual for MTW, while not huge and exhaustive, is still much better IMHO than the one that came with the US version of Shogun, and the basics are all there.

I am also interested to hear if anyone has the guide and thinks that it is worth a hoot. The strategy map side to MTW is infinitely more complex than STW, so a really good guide and reference might be worth it.

Cheers

------------------
Artillery adds dignity to what would otherwise be a vulgar brawl.

[This message has been edited by Forward Observer (edited 08-25-2002).]

[Papewaio]

Isn't Target the authour or at least one of them for the Prima guide?

[TenkiSoratoti]

you have apoint there

------------------
"The good fighters of the old first put themselves beyond the possibility of defeat, and then waited for an oppurtunity to defeat the enemy."

[Rob The Bastard]

Find yourself a copy and flick through it...if you find stuff you didn't know then it might be worth having...

If you have specific questions then the org should be able to help out...


------------------
Remember this!:

" Old age and treachery will always over come youth and vigour! "

[FasT]

Wait a months or so and a very nice guide will be here for all..Dont waste ur money as it will be all here in 1 nice thread i hope?? http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/eek.gif

[andrewt]

If CA is like Blizzard, then you don't need a strategy guide. Their webmaster posts everything on the web, including information not found on the strategy guide, updated info every time there is a patch and newly discovered info and tactics. He even posts useful non game breaking bugs that might be reconsidered as features. The guy is a jerk though.

Patches make strategy guides obsolete as they contain strategies that use imbalances that will be fixed. Also, most strategies there are newbie strats that won't last a month until better ones are found.

[NinjaKilla]

I had the Prima guide for STW - got it free with game. It's pretty much a waste of time IMO. Mind you I am selling it on eBay for about £5 not bad for a freebie. http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/biggrin.gif

------------------
Clan Kenchikuka (http://www.totalwar.org/kenchikuka)

[Target]

Quote Originally posted by Papewaio:
Isn't Target the authour or at least one of them for the Prima guide?[/QUOTE]

Actually, I didn't have a hand in the guide at all. LongJohn wrote a hell of a lot for the strat guide and he worked on the battlemap AI side of stuff, so what he's got to say is probably going to be very useful.

------------------
Quote MagyarKhans Cham:
i even suspect Target is coming here to hype things up.[/QUOTE]

[Shrinkwrap]

I haven't seen the strategy guide yet, but I'll most probably buy it. For me, it's a stuggle between wanting anything published to do with such a fine game and between the not unreasonable wish to have the pleasure (and learning experience) of figuring out strategies and tactics for myself. If the guide has the unit stats, all the better!

[ElmarkOFear]

I dont think it is out yet for some reason, not at any of the stores here.

[DragonCat]

I haven't found it anywhere either. The Map information in the original STW was very useful - even for online play.

I am so close to overwhelmed with the current game that I'm hoping for a brilliant Strategy Guide for a little help. . .

And I am so happy with the vices and virtues. Denmark went to hellinahandbasket once my cowardly, drunken pervert heir took over the reins of govenment. It was so funny, I didn't really mind . . .

------------------
DragonCat
. . . on the prowl!