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Assassin’s Creed III Collector’s Edition Strategy Guide – Why Should I Buy?

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Chances are, if you’ve bought any of the Assassin’s Creed III Collector’s Edition strategy guides in the past, you’ll be buying this one as well. Piggyback Interactive‘s Collector’s Editions are often worth the extra bucks, even though they often don’t contain much more than the paperback guide outside of the gorgeous hardcovers. This time though, there are a few extras that make the Collector’s Edition well worth the additional $10.

The Collector’s Edition contains an extra 16 pages of “History vs. Story,”which covers the history of the American Revolution and how it was woven into the story of Assassin’s Creed III. This includes commentary from the game’s scriptwriter, Corey May. Even if you aren’t a history buff, it may intrigue you to learn how the game writers used actual history to tell Connor’s story.

Of course, this isn’t the only bonus. Each Collector’s Edition includes a limited edition print of a painting–watercolor, perhaps?–of Connor swooping in to attack a few redcoats (so in the European editions of the guide, does the print depict Connor attacking colonists?).

Print in Assassin's Creed III Collector's Edition strategy guide

Each strategy guide includes a large map poster of the region Connor explores, complete with all collectibles marked, but the map for the Collector’s Edition is larger than the one found in the paperback guide, and it’s printed on vintage-looking paper.

Vintage Map in Assassin's Creed III Collector's Edition strategy guide

Is enough to entice you as a collector? It’s enough for me. But to be serious, I think we all know that the gorgeous hard cover artwork is always enough to make it worth it to me.

Assassin's Creed III Collector's Edition strategy guide cover Assassin's Creed III Collector's Edition strategy guide back cover

Assassin’s Creed III Strategy Guide Initial Impressions

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Piggyback Interactive has really stepped up their game since I was first introduced to their strategy guides, and upon first glance, their strategy guide for Assassin’s Creed IIIlooks to be on par with their Assassin’s Creed BrotherhoodandFinal Fantasy XIII-2strategy guides.

Assassin's Creed III strategy guide table of contentsThe strategy guide is organized much like itsAssassin’s Creedpredecessors, and that includes one of my favorite traditions of Piggyback Interactive: their table of contents in the sidebar. It is so easy to quickly look up anything with the ToC laid out neatly on the outside of the right page. Since Piggyback usually separates the side quests from the main campaign–and in anAssassin’s Creedgame, this is most wise–the table of contents in this manner makes it incredibly easy to flip back and forth between the main storyline and the side missions without losing your place.

The next thing I searched for were the maps for the collectibles.Assassin’s Creedgames have always had a ridiculous number of collectibles, and I’ve never been able to find half of them without the help of the maps. Oh sure, I could spent countless hours running around the dungeons and overworld hunting each collectible down, but I have zero patience and I’m lazy, remember? Thankfully, the strategy guide includes detailed maps of each region Connor explores, complete with screenshots depicting each location for the wayward collectible. I can already feel the Trophies unlocking.

Assassin's Creed III strategy guide map

Assassin's Creed III strategy guide walkthroughEach mission in the main walkthrough is set up similarly to how it’s been done in the past. Each DNA sequence (or present day sequence) begins with an overview, includes a map of the mission (if necessary), and is broken up into paragraphs of walkthrough text accompanied by screenshots to help the player know where to go, hide, or what to look for. The side quests are set up similarly as well. The screenshots appear to be very clear and just large enough to fully depict what the player should be doing.

I can only hope that the content is as helpful as it appears, and the screenshots are both clear and useful. Obviously, I won’t know until I play, but at the outset, the prognosis is cheery.

All this guide is doing is making me want to play, both just to do so and to see how great this strategy guide really is. The UPS man needs to hurry up and get here, and then I need to find a way to blow off work for the rest of the day.

Assassin’s Creed III Strategy Guide Cover Revealed

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I can’t lie. I honestly don’t think I’ve seen a more beautiful cover for a strategy guide come across my email ALL YEAR. Piggyback Interactive has really done themselves proud with this artwork. Normally, the hardcovers are very subtle, with raised Assassin’s insignias on white. Those were always gorgeous, but it’s going to be hard to top this one.

Assassin's Creed III strategy guide cover

I may be reviewing this strategy guide with gloves on so I don’t ruin it with fingerprints! Let’s hope that we can judge this book by its cover, and that the strategy content inside will be just as fantastic as the cover itself.

Final Fantasy XIII Strategy Guide review

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Strategy Guide Review Policy:

My goal for these strategy guide reviews is not to discuss whether one needs the guide to complete the game. Every gamer has different strengths and skills, and one may need every bit of a guide, another may need to look up information for quick assistance once, and another may laugh at the idea of ever using a guide, even the online freebies. My goal is to determine whether the guide is 1) helpful in the first place, 2) does it encompass gamers who need hand-holding as well as those who need a quick reference and 3) how much information does it really have.

Review:

I can’t lie. This guide was really, really, REALLY hard for me to review. It does so many things well, and yet, when one would need it most, it utterly fails.

I mentioned a few weeks ago that the guide wasn’t fully informative when it came to the Chapter 9 boss, and that I’m certain (with verification from other friends) that defeating the boss with this strategy is downright impossible. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the only time the guide delivered a seemingly impossible strategy for fighting a boss. On the flipside, the other strategies worked flawlessly. Hence the quandary.

The other major issue I had was the guide’s party recommendations. With the Mark Missions, the guide simply suggests what roles are needed to successfully complete the mission. So in many ways, players can pick and choose which characters work best for them, not unlike they would in Final Fantasy III. The guide should have taken the same approach throughout the main quest. For the first 30 hours or so, players have no choice when it comes to their party as the characters are all divvied up. But when everyone is together, the guide strongly urges players to use a party consisting of Lightning, Fang, and Hope, and well, Hope just does not work very well. He’s not a great healer, his HP is incredibly low, and he moves so darn slowly. The guide suggests this party formation so that players have access to all different roles, and that’s all very good in theory but it doesn’t work well. The times one needs a Synergist role is so rare that it’s unnecessary to keep Hope in at all times. Not only that, but players could also simply apply a Fortisol or Aegisol before battle and it will do the same trick (and much faster as well).  Maybe some players like working with Hope, and that’s fine, but the guide should have kept the same formula with the Mark Missions and not have “forced” a party selection on the player. This is also part of the problem I had with some of the boss fights I mentioned above. Once I changed out my characters to better suit my style of play, the guide hasn’t been all that useful to me for boss fights, and sadly enough, I’m doing much better and killing off bosses in one go.

Despite these setbacks, the guide does several other things really, really well. For instance, the maps are FLAWLESS. All treasure spheres are accounted for, all hidden doorways are marked, and all cut scenes are neatly designated. These maps are quite possibly some of the best maps I have ever come across in my guide-using days. In addition, the tips it provides for fattening up your Gil wallet, upgrading and dismantling weapons, and—everyone’s favorite RPG topic—level grinding, somewhat balances out the guide’s shortcomings. And as mentioned above, the strategies for enemies and most of the strategies for bosses were spot on.

It’s just unfortunate that the bosses it misses are the biggest, most important bosses in the game. It’s equally as unfortunate than none of the strategies provided will guarantee the player to earn a 5-star rating in battles and missions. The guide opted to make sure the player stays safe over annihilating the enemy as quickly and stylishly as possible, so for the most part, if you want those 5-stars, you’re on your own.

Perhaps now you see why I struggled with the final rating of 3.5/5 for PrimaGames and Piggyback Interactive’s Final Fantasy XIII Strategy Guide. It’s definitely above average, but it doesn’t wholly excel either.

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