video games

People get paid for this!? If Square had given me two weeks, a pen, and lots of paper, I could make, all by myself, a strategy guide MUCH better than this for those in need of one. As the world's biggest Final Fantasy IX fan (believe it), I had to check this out and see if A. there were any extras in here worth buying it for and B. there was anything I missed, so that way I could get all that I could out of this epic masterpiece. Here's the problem: There are no extras for this guide. There's lame biographies for the characters, and you basically get the same drawings you'd find in your instruction booklet. No exclusive anything. It gets worst, too. If I did miss anything in the game (I didn't, sadly), it wouldn't have mattered anyway--as it only tells you to log onto PlayOnline.com (which is pretty lame itself, not to mention a pain). So if you want help on finding all the treasures with your chocobo, forget it, you won't get any help at all. The second ending? Nope. Finding out Garnet's real name? Sorry. The black jack code? I didn't see it in this guide. Even if it didn't include extras in here, I wouldn't have given it two stars. But to NOT include all the extras is a complete rip-off. There are lots of extras in this game for every gamer to enjoy--so why not put some more space in this guide on how to get them all? Put it this way--did you buy Final Fantasy IX only to play three of the four disks? Not likely. So why buy a guide that only walks you through the main sections of the game? Also, some of the battle strategies are laughably bad. Just check out the strategy for the last boss. Helpful? Uh, no. However, there is a few reasons why I didn't give this one star, one of them is the layouts. They're not the best I've ever seen, but they are pretty good. This guide also, for the most part, manages to walk you through the main sections of the without spoilers--something that should be in all guides. My advice is this--if you wanted extras like I did, just pick up the latest issue of Gamefan (a real magazine for real gamers, I might add) with Vivi on the cover--they have a great layout section for the game and a little history about the series for those that weren't there when it happened. But if you're looking for a great walkthrough...I'm sorry, it isn't here. I haven't seen an unofficial strategy guide yet, but one will surely pop up soon enough, so definitely wait for it instead of picking this up. If you can't wait though, don't do what this advertisement of a book tells you, as I've said earlier, PlayOnline.com is a pain to deal with. Instead, check out GameFAQS.com--they usually have tons of very in-depth walkthroughs for the latest games. Even if I had this when I first went through the game, it wouldn't have helped much, if at all. I can see certain parts were gamers might have trouble with this game and the guide doesn't help--and that is the sole reason this got a two star rating. I wanted this to have since I'm trying to get my grubby little hands on anything and everything FFIX related...but after looking at this, I put it back on the shelf (perhaps I'll get it down the road, just to have, since I love FFIX so much). Unless you desperately (very desperately) need a guide to this game, then you might want this. But check it out before you buy it--it isn't very helpful. Disappointing, kupo.

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.

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.