Customer Reviews

Dark Souls II Collector's Edition Guide

First things first - This is a fantastic guide and 'Future Press' do things much better than almost anyone else out there.

Great attention detail has been taken with pretty much everything. The walkthrough section itself has been written by members of the Dark Souls Community and is about as thorough as things can get. Although item stats and spawn locations are bound to go out of date (From Software makes constant changes to game balance) it will still be a more than handy companion for most of us.

I initially pre-ordered the guide from Amazon UK, but when the release was delayed decided to cancel and order it from Amazon.com instead. In the meantime I also ordered a couple of copies from the 'Book Depository' which finally arrived today.

In side by side comparison the differences are pretty obvious - The US version is heavier, slightly larger and appears to be printed on glossier paper. The UK version is still fine, it's just disappointing that changes always seem to be made between US and European versions.

Unsurprisingly the US version also costs less! If you have the patience then I'd recommend ordering off the Amazon.com website ASAP. The guide works out at �14 and standard international postage takes it up to about �18.24. This works out cheaper than the UK version + postage by at least �4 with the only downside being that you'll have to wait 2-3 weeks for it to arrive.

If you don't have the patience to wait that long then the UK version comes highly recommended anyway. For those of you that can wait - A heftier product will be yours to delve into.

P.S I'll put a comparison photo on here as soon as I can work out how to do it. The UK version will still be sealed as I passed the open copy to a friend of mine, but at least you will be able to see the general difference in size.

‘Dark Souls II CE Strategy Guide’ published by Future Press is manual that was eagerly anticipated by numerous players of this great and extensive game which were so far finding all the game information on the net.

And although it is often the case, especially lately, that the manuals for the game disappoint the fans once they come out, with this guide luckily that was not the case because it is good, thorough and beautifully designed book that leads reader/player through the game making it recommended to anyone who so far enjoyed game or plan to do so.

The book contains plenty of helpful information, starting from detailed description on each enemy, map details, list of armor, useful weapons and magic, together with index which is a great thing in games of this type, where there is large quantity of various data that can be searched by various criteria. The authors made great overview of all the enemies that can be found inside the game and they even went so far as to specify the exact number of enemies encountered or things that can be found somewhere making this guide a good choice for casual gamers who want as quickly as possible and as painlessly go through the game.

After a long time it seems to me that this is a game guide that can be used as a benchmark for others to follow, because besides the nice visuals full in color and a lot of information that offers both for experienced and less skilled players, it’s beautifully designed and in every way is luring attention.

I plan to give it as a gift, but I could not resist to write a review right away because it is a brilliant book that I can recommend from the heart.

This hardcover Dark Souls II Collector's Edition guide is divided into 4 sections/chapters.

Chapter 1 is about starting the game. This section goes into detail about the basic mechanics of Dark Souls II, like how to identify a character's possible covenant and, probably most importantly, how things have changed from Dark Souls I. Pay close attention to all sections that have an 'ii' symbol next to them. This highlights a change that has been made from the first game. For example, next to the description of the estus flask, it mentions that now to improve the flask, you have to find estus shards and bring these back to the emerald herald in order to have more uses. You start the game with only one estus flask use upon receiving it, not 5 like you do in the original Dark Souls. From reading the first section, I've realized the way I played DS is not going to cut it in DSII. I will be required to carefully use healing items and human effigies and not waste them throughout the game. This section is well worth reading before you even start your game.

Chapter 2 is the basic walkthrough with maps, suggested route to take throughout the game, recommended level for the area that you are in (the game sections have a skull rating showing how difficult that section is), hidden routes and items, soul count for each enemy, and strategies on how to kill those annoying enemies. I like to play a game and discover it for myself, but I do like to refer to this kind of section when there is a key item that must be found, or when I'm just plain lost, or to find out whether I'm wandering into a real dangerous section and I want to avoid losing 30 mins of hard soul grinding and get back quickly to a safe area. So this section could end up being a nice welcome mat, and a way to get out of a sticky situation.

Chapter 3 is the nuts and bolts of the book. It gives you a list of all the weapons, armors, spells, items, etc. in the game. This is the section I'll probably use the most as I like to have an idea what are some of the best early weapons and armor to look out for and what is a good mid-range game weapon armor etc. that is worth investing the time in to upgrade fully. Nothing is more frustrating to me than upgrading an item with rare resources to later come along one which would have been better to pick for the long haul. I already have an idea by studying this section that (1) I need to be careful with how I use my human effigies, (2) healing items are going to play a far more important role in this game, and (3) I can even turn a section of a game into the equivalent of new game+ to grind some extra souls. Though before I even consider something so drastic, I would want to be very strong for sure, so I suggest taking time out before starting your play through to study this section as it will most likely save a lot of heartache later on down the line.
On a personal note, I would have preferred to be able to see how many of an item is in the game world. This guide doesn't do that, and it would have been nice to know if there are plenty of a certain item, so then it's not so bad if I have to burn through a number of an item as I can recoup some later on in the game.

Chapter 4 is more for the NG+, and if you're like me and usually looking for that elusive trophy, this will be a very helpful guide for getting that one trophy you missed. Good to use when looking for conditions for a hidden trophy and if you're a completionist and want to find everything that there is. I'll really use this section later in my play through. There is a new map for optional area, new bosses, a lore index and a general index, and a trophy/achievement guide.

Overall, this is a very good strategy guide and is sure to help you on your quest to beat the game of Dark Souls II. The maps are detailed, the stats are great, and it will make your play through of the game easier. I hope that in the future the designers might consider adding the total number of an item and maybe have a rank order for armor and weapons for different types of classes rather than having to really study the stats in detail. Personally, for instance, I would like to be told that for a knight class that x weapon is the best and y armor is the best for that class rather than me studying the stats and making an assumption for myself. Overall, 4 stars means I'm happy with this guide and will get good use out of it.

Perfect guide for someone who wants to explore in deep the game or have some problem with pass a level. Clear walkthrough, every level of the game is perfectly explained and illustrated. I was thinking if buy it or not due to the price but honestly, there is nothing to say, this is money well spent. 5 stars for this product...

An in depth guide containing detailed descriptions about most of everything within the game. It is far easier to have a guide book on hand then constantly be loading up a lot of webpages.

My only concern was within the guide, it didn't cover the various covenants well. In particular the rewards associated with each one. There was far too much information on boss encounters which weren't by any means important. When detailing many descriptions and screenshots of just how the person went through the levels within the guide. When there are so many ways any game can be played. This is not as important,. as keeping it simple. In detailing any levels when using only specific information associated on reaching items. Providing map points per item locations, via any screenshots, and providing description. Not of enemies which will always be engaged often via other solutions, in massive walls of text. From constantly reading through them, to find out just how to get to, the hard to reach item that required a key. Otherwise all those many pages look like alphabet soup.This guide is missing showing specific scaling increases per levels, into spells, weapons, armor. Rather then just those associated upgrades.

Worth having on hand, but with some missing information better acquired online, it is only okay.

i love this guide allot of stuff is probably out of date now but it still has alot of information set out nicely and alot of hours have been put into it also hardback FTW

Fab book well worth the money

As with all hardcover guides these days the data is swiftly out of date, but as a collector's piece it's nicely written and presented. The maps will always be useful to anyone playing, but it's nice to have along with an artbook.

just what i needed to get through this game.

I used this guide to help me through first and second play through of dark souls 2 and found it very usefull. The book is well put together and designed well.