Book Review: Dragon Age II Collector's Edition: The Complete Official Guide

[Frutivalandil]

Book Review: Dragon Age II Collector's Edition: The Complete Official Guide
Hardcover: 288 pages
Publisher: Piggyback; Collectors edition (March 8, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0307890139
ISBN-13: 978-0307890139

You can buy it at Amazon (US | CA | UK | DE | FR | JP) and Bookdepository (US | UK)

When this guide was announced, I thought..."Oh man, I have to get this beauty", it was a blind buy for me.
And I have to say that it was a disappointment, just like the game itself, which I didn't like.
First of all, the details: As you can see, it's a hardcover book, a little heavy, it's a reproduction of a book which belongs to a character from the game (Cassandra, the seeker).
As the title says, it's an official guide to the game Dragon Age II, which includes maps (really detailed, with locations of items and other kind of treasures, as well as quests), a list of side quests, information about the companions you can recruit and the difficulty of certain parts of the games (ranging from 1 to 5 stars).
The walkthrough is written to guide you step-by-step, and carefully avoids spoilers, though it should be noted that there are (really little) spoilers about the possible results of the main quests or optional side quests.
There is also a trophy/achievement list which tells you exactly what to do in order to unlock everything. It could have been way more detailed...but it's not that bad.
You can find a chapter regarding the inventory and every possible item you can find in the game, such as weapons, gifts, runes, special items and so on...the locations and the effects they have on your character or items.
The guide also gives you advice and strategies, including combat, tactics, status effects, resistances, an analysis of the companions (so you know how to make them happy or upset and gain friendship or rivalry points) and also tips to play on Nightmare difficulty.
The bestiary shows you every enemy you can find in the game, including the bosses. There is information about the loot you can grab after killing them or the way they'll attack you, as well as their strengths and weaknesses.
Near the end of the book there is a Dragon Age Encyclopedia, which contains information about the different regions, races, factions, and so on, this part is richly detailed, but it's brief, and that's the main reason I feel there should be a stand-alone encyclopedia of the world of Dragon Age.
The Story Recap section tells you about past events which happened in the previous game, Dragon Age: Origins, and also about the main and supporting characters which took part on that story.

The last pages are reserved to some concept art, which is exclusive to the Collector's Edition. In my humble opinion...it's not really special, this section feels like a rushed job. I really find it kinda sad that the Mass Effect saga has two art books and the Dragon Age franchise doesn't have any.
There is, however, some concept art between the different sections of the book. It's good, not spectacular, but nice.

I would only recommend this book to die-hard fans of Dragon Age II, which I think are in the minority of the whole fan base. And also, to gamers who like to collect guides, or are in need of one. True, you can search in google and find the same (or better) information, but maybe this book will find its way to win someone's heart.
I know I said before that it was a disappointment for me, perhaps because I didn't like the game, so I lost nearly all interest in the guide, but I would say that it has a chance to shine between people who truly like Dragon Age II, or to fans (like me) who just want to have a book with concept art and the appearance of an in-game item. Really nerdy.

   
   
   
   
   
   
   

[Catchytint]

Cool cover for the book! Still no art books for Dragon Age? I had hoped there would be one after DA2 came out, but no luck yet. Is the art gallery a CG gallery or sketches?

I haven't played DA2 yet but I did pass an Alistair cutscene where the party meets him. I almost didn't recognize him because his facial structure was a sad callback to his previous one. I thought some of the NPCs in Origins had better facial expressions. His personality is there, though, so that's good.

[Frutivalandil]

(28-06-2011 07:16 AM)Catchytint Wrote:  Cool cover for the book! Still no art books for Dragon Age? I had hoped there would be one after DA2 came out, but no luck yet. Is the art gallery a CG gallery or sketches?

I haven't played DA2 yet but I did pass an Alistair cutscene where the party meets him. I almost didn't recognize him because his facial structure was a sad callback to his previous one. I thought some of the NPCs in Origins had better facial expressions. His personality is there, though, so that's good.

No sketches. Four pages of CG models (including the ones in the picture I posted), and a lot of concept art.
DA2 isn't a "horrible" game, but it was really disappointing, at least for me.