Is the Prima guide any good?

[Kriber22]

I was thinking about buying the Prima guide (the digital version) for my second playthrough so I can find all the secrets, explore alternative quest resolutions and generally metagame a little now that I've seen the story unspoiled, so to speak. I was hoping someone here could tell me if it's worth the purchase. I realize there are always some differences between the final version of the game and what goes into the guide, but how major are they? I'm thinking about quest resolutions that don't reflect the actual game and other similar inconsistencies. Does anyone have any input?

[jackjack]

The digital one has linked chapters in the table of contents, and you can bookmark pages, so it's easy to navigate, which is good, as it clocks in at over 500 pages. It's a huge file (hundreds of megabytes). It's well-designed and makes it easy to avoid spoilers.

As far as the usefulness of the guide itself, I've found it indispensable for the abilities/spell lists alone. I highly recommend it.

[AndreaColombo]

I use the physical copy all the time. It's very good imho.

[gkathellar]

It's ... okay. Clearly the writers weren't super-thorough, because there are a lot of things they missed.

 

There's also no list of non-random item locations, which is just like wat

Edited May 1, 2015 by gkathellar

[Hiro Protagonist II]

I have the prima guide but I'm finding I'm using online guides more.

[derbyherb]

Like a poster above me said, it's not very thorough. It feels rushed, I notice quite often they will describe the options for a quest, and I'll notice those options don't exist, like the Prima people only played an earlier version.

 

I find it "unwieldy"... Alt-Tabing out of the game to zoom in to a colorful illustrated PDF is not the most convenient way to figure out what's what. Like a previous poster said I find myself just using online guides more often than not.

Edited May 1, 2015 by derbyherb

[MReed]

The prima guide has tons and tons of errors -- especially when talking about resolution paths for side quests.  If you are planning to use it as a walkthrough, stay far away.  If all you want is a handy list of loot locations (realizing that the details of the loot will be incorrect in a fairly large percentage of the cases), class summaries, and a high-level list of quests that you can perform, then it will probably work out fairly well for you.

 

None of the above limitations are Prima's fault, of course -- the game didn't "go gold" until a week before the physical release, and I'm sure that Prima had to lock-in the content of their guide at least a month before that, if not several months.  Thus, the authors were playing a game that was still very much a work in progress, and could only document the game as they saw it.

[Kriber22]

I was afraid something like that might be the case. Thanks for the replies, people.

[Bugged Wolf Companion]

It's ... okay. Clearly the writers weren't super-thorough, because there are a lot of things they missed.

 

There's also no list of non-random item locations, which is just like wat

^this

 

i bought the written guide and was tremendeously disappointed as i m used to high quality guides in written form (example baldursgate 2 book)

 

as mentioned:

- no item location summary

- lots of missing information

- partly outdated if you look at some stats (espcially shields)

- (edit) oh yeah i totally forgot about the error of sidequest resolutions and quest rewards

 

i found a guide online for free while i have played PoE which i liked more because the navigation is a lot better and its not overpacked with useless information

: http://guides.gamepressure.com/pillarsofeternity/

Edited May 1, 2015 by Bugged Wolf Companion

[zombo]

I was thinking about buying the Prima guide (the digital version) for my second playthrough so I can find all the secrets, explore alternative quest resolutions and generally metagame a little now that I've seen the story unspoiled, so to speak. I was hoping someone here could tell me if it's worth the purchase. I realize there are always some differences between the final version of the game and what goes into the guide, but how major are they? I'm thinking about quest resolutions that don't reflect the actual game and other similar inconsistencies. Does anyone have any input?

I like it. It has its own walkthrough, but there's a lot more information in there besides just the walkthrough. I suggest buying it. You can also get it on discount from BN.com. You can also search for online coupon codes and save a bit more on it too. The hardcover cost me around $20.

[Hiro Protagonist II]

i found a guide online for free while i have played PoE which i liked more because the navigation is a lot better and its not overpacked with useless information

: http://guides.gamepressure.com/pillarsofeternity/

 

 

Yep, that's the one I've been using too. It's quite thorough too.