The Completely Unauthorized Final Fantasy VII Ultimate Guide

[RogueIce]

Anyone remember that guide from back in the day? It was, in my opinion, the best FF7 guide out there. And I used to have it, too. But now that I've gotten in the mood again to play it...

I CAN'T FIND MY COPY!

Is there anywhere, anywhere that I can find this guide? Google, Amazon, even eBay* have failed me! Is there any hope for me? Any at all?

*Ok, so I can technically find it on eBay, but God DAMN those starting bids are way too expensive for me to even consider trying for it...

Except one for $0.99 apparently. Of course the problem with this is that I could easily lose, so I'd prefer something more reliable if possible.

EDIT: And it's missing three pages. So that's a no go. The others are far, far too expensive as noted above. *sigh*

[Vendetta]

You know, you will find a lot more accurate information from the FAQ pages at GameFAQs than in any published guide ever made. (some of which are full of complete lies, especially Prima ones)

Sure, they're less convenient, but that encourages you to only use them for reference or when you're really stuck.

[RogueIce]

You know, you will find a lot more accurate information from the FAQ pages at GameFAQs than in any published guide ever made. (some of which are full of complete lies, especially Prima ones)

Sure, they're less convenient, but that encourages you to only use them for reference or when you're really stuck.

This one was the best though. It got me all the way up to Disc 3 with no problems. And it had maps that were damn good. Something Game FAQs does not have (they don't have individual place maps, which I can understand).

Game FAQs is superior when looking up specific things (such as how to date a specific person) that the guide never had, but it was still damn good. And besides, this particular edition had pretty pictures of all the weapons! How can you beat that?

[Admiral Valdemar]

I got through the game using the first issue of PSM's cheat and walkthrough spin-off mag, way back in December, '97. Still have it somewhere, but damn useful without forking out for a Prima or printing a mass of badly typed text.

[Darth Quorthon]

I have the BradyGames Official Strategy Guide, but it's for the PC version. But it does say "The Ultimate Source for the Ultimate Game" on the cover.

PC games have the best cheats though. There's a trainer for FF7 out there that just lets you set everyone's level at 99 with their ultimate weapons and all the materia you could desire right from the get-go. Too bad I can't play my PC FF7 anymore (something to do with 32-bit code, I think).

If you want it, you can have it. Better than nothing I suppose.

[Jim3001]

Anyone remember that guide from back in the day? It was, in my opinion, the best FF7 guide out there. And I used to have it, too. But now that I've gotten in the mood again to play it...

I CAN'T FIND MY COPY!

Is there anywhere, anywhere that I can find this guide? Google, Amazon, even eBay* have failed me! Is there any hope for me? Any at all?

*Ok, so I can technically find it on eBay, but God DAMN those starting bids are way too expensive for me to even consider trying for it...

Except one for $0.99 apparently. Of course the problem with this is that I could easily lose, so I'd prefer something more reliable if possible.

EDIT: And it's missing three pages. So that's a no go. The others are far, far too expensive as noted above. *sigh*

You might get lucky at a GameStop or EBGames. But thats a long shot. Ebay is your best bet. My recommendation. Most of those books are out of print. My suggestion, don't palce your bid until 30sec before the auction closes. Bidding long before it ends only inflates the price.

[RogueIce]

I have the BradyGames Official Strategy Guide, but it's for the PC version. But it does say "The Ultimate Source for the Ultimate Game" on the cover.

PC games have the best cheats though. There's a trainer for FF7 out there that just lets you set everyone's level at 99 with their ultimate weapons and all the materia you could desire right from the get-go. Too bad I can't play my PC FF7 anymore (something to do with 32-bit code, I think).

If you want it, you can have it. Better than nothing I suppose.

I've got that guide for the PS version. It's ok, but the PS version isn't so hot. For some of the optional stuff (the Turtle's Paradise flyers for instance) you'd have to have looked it up in the back of the book for you to even know it existed in the first place (or find out the hard way at the place itself)! Wheres this version (which was unofficial BTW) would tell you up front, in advance. Same deal for the Enemy Skill materia.

It wasn't 100% right on everything (it was made using the American beta version IIRC) but the differences are almost neglible and it was laid out much better.

Which is why I want it so bad.

[Spanky The Dolphin]

Oh man, The Completely Unauthorized Final Fantasy VII Ultimate Guide from Versus Books. I recall gushing about that book in a thread sometime back.

Hands-down the best thing about that particular guide was that it covered everything without spoiling anything whatsoever about the story.

[BloodAngel]

Didn't it get the Emerald/Ruby weapon things wrong? It said the Emerald weapon dropped an...Emerald, and the Ruby weapon a...Ruby. And that they were used for absolutely nothing.

Which is of course, completely wrong. Looks like even he gave up.

[2000AD]

Man, am i the only guy that went through the game without a startegy guide? Why does it take a strategy guide to get through the game?

Oh yeah, i remember. When i got to Sephiroph my characters were only around level 60, i hadn't even attempted to breed chocobos and i didn't have a clue what this Knights of the Round thing that everyone was talking about was. If they're going to make a game where you have to do all the sidequests to be able to win they could make it a little more obvious, i was pissed when i thought i had beaten Sephiroth then he turns all angel like and supernovas my guys.

[General Zod]

It wasn't 100% right on everything (it was made using the American beta version IIRC) but the differences are almost neglible and it was laid out much better.

Which is why I want it so bad.

It also had superior maps. I never would have made it across that snow-zone-maze thing if it weren't for the maps in the unofficial guide. The ones in the official guide book simply weren't that helpful and were rather confusing in comparison.

[Vendetta]

Man, am i the only guy that went through the game without a startegy guide? Why does it take a strategy guide to get through the game?

They don't. You don't need a strategy guide for any of the Final Fantasy games, but they do help you find all the fiddly sidequests and secrets which there is utterly no clue as to the availability of without them.

Final Fantasy X and X-2 are particularly insane, having all sorts of seemingly trivial bits and pieces that are actually required for the game's best stuff.

[18-Till-I-Die]

Vendetta: What do you mean Primas books are full of lies, i'm curious as i bought some of those and i hope i didnt get ripped off over the years. You mean like the information is wrong or just made up? I thought they supposedly talked to the game makers for that stuff?

[Vendetta]

They do, and the basics are usually present, but since Prima publish so many guides and so soon after they come out, they are never fact checked, and they have a tendency to miss things.

One notable example is in Breath of Fire III, where Prima suggest that a certain fight is winnable, and list the rewards for it from the game code. The rewards are there in the code, but the fight is completely unwinnable due to the enemies regenerating 32,000 hitpoints a turn whilst you're dealing double-digit damage. There are still people trying to this day to win that fight.

[Ghost Rider]

Vendetta: What do you mean Primas books are full of lies, i'm curious as i bought some of those and i hope i didnt get ripped off over the years. You mean like the information is wrong or just made up? I thought they supposedly talked to the game makers for that stuff?

Check out their Ninja Gaiden books. Literally misplacement of scarabs, wrong information about bosses and even what the bosses are in story format.

And the less said about their Ninja Gaiden Black book, the better.

Honestly take ANY of their book with a grain of salt.

[18-Till-I-Die]

Well i feel totally ripped off.

I'm glad i found out about this, thank you, i know who NOT to buy from now for damn sure.

[RogueIce]

I don't think Prima is all bad. I have their WarCraft II, Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight, and X-Wing guides. Those ones are pretty decent. While I can't really talk for sure about the strategy portions of the WC2 and XW guides, they do make for some fun reading, just in the way they're laid out. I enjoy them more for the "story" aspect than any help I get from them in a strategic sense.

The JK book, in addition to being a fun read (one of my favorite lines: "Some people consider sniper tactics cowardly. Then again, some people like to march in straight line and wear bright red clothes while guys behind trees kill them. Who wins in the long run? Hint: Check your local government flagpole." ) was also pretty much spot-on (so far as I could tell) with their walkthroughs and maps. So I don't think Prima is a total waste.

By the way, the official FF7 guide I have is from BradyGames (much like the "infamous" GTA San Andreas guide...).

The information, as far as I can tell, is actually all there in this guide, but it's laid out like shit so you're likely to pass by half of what before you realize it was ever there.

It also had superior maps. I never would have made it across that snow-zone-maze thing if it weren't for the maps in the unofficial guide. The ones in the official guide book simply weren't that helpful and were rather confusing in comparison.

Indeed. There's no way I can ever hope to get Alexander (or most of the rest of the stuff there) without this guide's help. I looked in the official one, and it's maps did indeed suck verily.

Man, am i the only guy that went through the game without a startegy guide? Why does it take a strategy guide to get through the game?

Oh yeah, i remember. When i got to Sephiroph my characters were only around level 60, i hadn't even attempted to breed chocobos and i didn't have a clue what this Knights of the Round thing that everyone was talking about was. If they're going to make a game where you have to do all the sidequests to be able to win they could make it a little more obvious, i was pissed when i thought i had beaten Sephiroth then he turns all angel like and supernovas my guys.

Excuse the poor quality...I took all of 30 seconds to make this.