Call it a nerdy trait or collector's obsession, but years back, I used to purchase strategy guides for almost every game I owned, certainly if that game was an RPG. The guides for non-RPGs, in general, were more to ensure I covered every detail of those games, but more or less were just a collection of pretty pictures. Guides for RPGs were a little more mandatory, because back then, even with my obsessive need to soak up every sidequest, secret, treasure, and challenge, there were some I missed.
Fast forward to the last five to seven years or so, and in spite of the number of great RPGs that have come out, I haven't needed a strategy guide to find all their secrets. What little I missed I'd find online, but I still purchased the strategy guide purely on a collector-type basis. I've all but stopped buying guides for any other game but an RPG, as most of those books were high-priced jokes. For the RPG guides, I found that very few of them were worth the 15-20 dollars I shelled out, and those I deemed of value were more to show a historical record of great games I've played, conquered, and mastered, rather than a reference guide in the event I replayed the game and got stuck (there were exceptions, but few). For those of you that have played (or are continuing to play) Kingdoms of Amalur, you know the game is obscenely massive. I'm literally more than 90 hours in and get the impression I'm not even 2/3 done.
Anyway, about this guide: HOLY CRAP, IT REALLY IS 600 PAGES LONG. It also is indeed high-quality hardcover, has thick, rigid pages, and really reminds me of a wizard's tome or old-school encyclopedia rather than a video game strategy guide. Truth be told, I have NEVER owned, or seen, a strategy guide as chock-full of information as this. It contains 40 pages on the game system, skills, and general strategies, 80 pages on the game's classes, custom skills and abilities, 100 pages on the game's enemies complete with tailor-made killing strategies, 130 pages on the side areas and side quests listed by map location, 60 pages on the main quest, 120 pages on all the faction quests, and 60 pages on the game's secrets, extras, achievements, and unique/class loot tables (with pictures!!!). Every page is filled with colorful screen shots, detailed and accurate maps, locations of important persons, objects, and quest flags, and contains individual strategies for all major classes on each main or side quest and references to past quests or future quests where applicable, to either guide the reader step-by-step or make for a magnificently divided strategy or summary guide. I cannot stress enough how much data this book contains.
Let me just say this: if you're having trouble in Amalur, you will no longer after picking up this guide. It is worth every single hard-earned penny you spend for it, even at $28 (the price when I picked it up). I don't care that it was expensive. I don't care that the publisher delayed its release to two weeks after the game's release date. I don't care that I have to use two hands to pick it up without breaking my wrist.
This book is MANDATORY if you're a collector like me. In that regard, it puts literally 90%+ of all other guides I've ever seen to complete and utter shame. Alternately, if you're in need of strategies or tips to finish the main quest or locate any and all of the secrets, you're a grade-A, monolithic, supreme IDIOT if you don't make the investment. It's easy to enjoy Amalur regardless, but with this guide in arm, you'll dream sweet dreams of its mastery and come drooling back for more.
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