Them shutting down makes them collectible. I have a bunch of Prima guides, some for games I haven't played. It's fun every now and then to pop them open and go in-depth with a game. A jewel in their collection is the Final Fantasy VII-IX hardcover box set, a must for any JRPG coffee table.
so what's gonna happen to all the e-guides I have from them? Are they gonna make them downloadable or am I sol?
I’m honestly surprised they lasted this long. XboxAchievements and similar sites I imagine fucked their business up. I haven’t bought a strategy guide since 2011.
My very first one was a massive (and very inaccurate) guide to Everquest ; my last one was the fantastic hardcover for Halo Wars 2 . For me, it was more about the lore & artwork that could be found inside them. Love reading through books like that.
End of an era but honestly I'm surprised they lasted this long. I'd add youtube to that list also. It became very easy at the turn of this decade to just search a game, with level or boss strategy, in youtube for a quick answer that is visually way better than words or images on a paper.
I've been saying for years that I don't understand how print guides were still a thing. A patch comes out day 1 and that thing is outdated.
Also, Prima staff should have adapted with the times. They could have easily made video strategies and monetized them from youtube and other sources. They could have been the defacto strategy source on youtube the same way digital foundry is the source for how games run on X console.
Dang, that's a bummer. I really enjoyed reading their guides back in the day. I haven't bought one in ages though, so i can't say I'm super surprised. The modern era has made them virtually obsolete. Here's hoping everyone lands on their feet okay.
Damn, that is sad to hear. I buy 1 or 2 guides a year for my favorite games, more for the sake of collecting than for needing the actual walkthrough. Though I did find print strategy guides very useful for many years, as GameFAQs's text and HTML guides usually aren't as clear or easy to browse. Nowadays, it's hard to beat Youtube videos, wikis, and online discussion when it comes to getting past a certain point you're stuck at, finding reference data, and figuring out strategies and builds.
I like text and picture guides because I can skim and get to what I need. I will never enjoy video guides as long as I have to skip intros and scrub to find what I need. Bonus hate points for bad voice and commentary over that draws out the video and takes ten minutes to show me what should have taken two.
I admit it has been a little bit since i picked one of those up but there's something about holding a physical guide that's unmatched with wikis/YT. It's not Prima but I really like owning the FFXIII-2 HC guide (not my photo).
I believe there are only some Japanese companies left and none of them are dedicated to guide making. Id like to say it's Famitsu and Corocoro but im not sure.
I was only mod for the sub board dedicated to Horizons the MMORPG. If it was a super power it would be like having one of Green Goblin's razor bats. Not even a new one, but one that bounced off rhino and all dented up and won't go straight
Not surprising, as strategy guides are a thing of the past now. Sad to see them go, but not as sad as I was to see Versus Books go out of business some time ago. Those guys made the GOAT strategy guides, at least for console games. Prima's earliest stuff for the PC is still their best. Their Secrets of the Games books and guide to Quest for Glory (which NOVELIZED the plot of each game) had a certain magic to them that's completely absent from any strategy guide today. I miss that era.
I used to read quite a few of these back in the mid '90s. After that, they generally contained worse information than what you could find for free on the internet. I'm surprised they've lasted this long, but there's still a nostalgic twinge seeing them close.
I hope Future Press can adapt to the changing climate. Now they've done some impressive guides from what I've seen. I would love if one of these guide publishing houses did a translation for Tokyo Mirage Sessions, Persona 5, Octopath Traveler, the Bravely games, etc. The Japanese ones look sexy. As someone who's never used an E-guide from Prima, I'd like to know this too. I've bought a few Prima guides but never used the codes for the online versions.
Wow, out of nowhere, but the internet eventually left them too far behind. Strategy guides were a decent part of my enjoyment of certain games, especially when they came with goodies like posters. The Mario Sunshine guide came with post cards! I didn't play a lot of RPGs growing up, but for the ones I did play, I always had a guide for them so I made sure I didn't miss anything. Rest in print, soldier.
Yeah. One of my favorite things about getting various guides, in addition to the info, was also seeing all that extra art and character info etc. Especially back then when artbooks didn't really make it over like more of them do now, and before the Japanese online import stores started making it more possible to import at least some of the bigger ones.