- The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Collector's Edition Game Guide

In the information age that we live in, we all know that we can find the same information on the internet...so why buy a strategy guide? Better yet, why buy the hardcover, more expensive strategy guide? Even the Best Buy personnel reminded me that i can find all the information i need on the internet when i went to purchase this guide. Well, I have been waiting for Skyrim for what seems like forever and i feel the Collector's Edition Hard Cover strategy guide is a souvenier that symbolizes how important this game is to me. Also, the replayability of Skyrim is huge, so i want a guide that is built to last. I imagine there is not a much difference between the regular strategy guide and the collector's edition - except the beautiful hard cover and i think an additional pull out map of Skyrim with all of the locations identified (i haven't looked at this b/c i want to find all the places on my own). I have purchased paperback guides in the past, but this is my first hard-cover guide and i am happy with the purchase. Since there are so many similarities between the hard cover and paperback guides, i will focus my review on the strategy guide in general, not one versus the other although i have only seen the hard-cover guide for Skyrim. This guide is well organized and it is relatively easy to find anything despite the overwhelming content in the game. A game like Skyrim can be an amazing and exhilarating journey with suprises and jaw dropping excitement around every corner. The Strategy Guide is set up so that the reader can find the assistance needed to move forward when stuck without ruining the future suprises or taking the fun out of the journey. When using the hardcover guide, it clearly alerts the reader that there is a game spoiler ahead and i feel i can trust the writers to not throw these spoilers into the ordinary text without this Bold, Red-inked Alert to catch my eye. Then, I can choose whether i want to stop there, or proceed and possibly ruin future suprises in my game. I believe the writers had the best interest of the game player in mind while providing the desired information. By utilizing the Index and the Table of Contents, I have been able to find just about everything i have needed additional information or help on - without any problems. I give this item a perfect score, minus one star for Accuracy as i have found a couple (1-2) errors regarding how i needed to complete certain tasks within a quest. The listed method did not work for me and i found a way that did work very easily and made the changes to the guide for future reference. Okay, but besides having the "Collector's Item" is it really any better than the internet? In my opinion - YES! I have gone onto internet sites many times for gaming information so i feel qualified to share my opinion here. We all know that you never know what you are going to find/ get with the internet. Random people are answering your questions and unlike the Strategy Guide writers, they likely don't have your best interest in mind. Often times, individuals posting online seem more keen on Showing Off how much progress they have made in a game by posting spoilers without the recommended "spoiler alerts" under an inconspicuous title that may get more readers. Although being very careful in selecting which posts to read, i have had many secrets revealed/ spoiled for me that i did NOT want to know yet. I don't get this "read at your own risk" feeling with the Stragegy Guide at all. There seems to be a lot of people online that are in a rush to get through the game as fast as possible and they want the answers to the game's secrets and major questlines before they come across them in the game. Personally, I don't understand this style of play - ruining the game experience before it takes place - so that there are no suprises, no interesting or wow moments of discovery, and no fear or excitement for what may happen. They are basically stripping the fun from the game of their own free will, then complaining that the game wasn't that good. My 2 cents. All of this craziness can be easily avoided with a strategy guide. Yes you can also avoid that craziness by staying away from the forums and message boards and only checking out the Walkthroughs available....you get what you pay for. The Walkthoughs most often are plain black text on a plain white background without many screenshots or any artwork. There would be no way to have a comprehensive walkthrough anything like the Skyrim strategy guide. In a huge, open world, expansive game like Skyrim, i fully believe that it is a good investment to purchase a strategy guide if you want to enhance your gaming experience in the best possible way.

To call this a strategy guide seems like a misnomer. This giant tome contains not only the dungeon and quest information that you might expect from such a purchase, but it also has information critical to the RPG experience. There is a section that explores suggestions for hero types, which helps the reader develop their character. There are tips for even the seemingly most mundane tasks, like smithing or enchanting, which, if mastered, will make you the most powerful hero to walk the lands of Tamriel. Additionally, puirchasing this book grants you access to an online interactive map, which allows you to pinpoint any location, quest type, or character. The hardcover classes up the whole package and makes a nice addition to other reference material on my bookshelf. Like an atlas to a fantasy world. If you plan on buying a guide at all, buy this one.

The Collector's Edition Guide is something die-hard Skyrim fans would love. Filled with over 500 pages of information on items, quests, and characters, this guide should easily answer almost any question you will have in the game. The hard cover is also a nice addition.

For a game as big as Skyrim with over 100 hours of gameplay, it is easy to get overwhelmed, especially for newcomers to the series. This guide offers 500+ pages of information to guide you through. Definantly worth it.

A nice guide for the game...had pleanty of info which makes it hard to find what you are looking for at times...but it does have two bookmarks that are ribbons that are attached to the book to make it a little easier to find what your looking for

This guide is helpful on every part of the game. I used it on more than a few occassions. It also makes for a good collectable considering it is a hard cover.

This game is so much fun we never want to put it down. Even though it does have glitches in many places, it's all worth the time! We just wish it was multiplayer from the same console!

I found it hard to track down quests in the guide, the book itself being hardbound is a beautifal piece of work and the quest accuracy is perfect. over all the guide is worth the money.