The Legend of Zelda Box Set: Prima Official Game Guide Author: Visit Amazon's David Hodgson Page | Language: English | ISBN:
0804161380 | Format: PDF
The Legend of Zelda Box Set: Prima Official Game Guide Description
- Hardcover: 2128 pages
- Publisher: Prima Games (November 26, 2013)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0804161380
- ISBN-13: 978-0804161381
- Product Dimensions: 16.5 x 11.5 x 13.5 inches
- Shipping Weight: 22.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
I have been looking forward to receiving this set since I learned about and pre-ordered it back in August. I am a huge Zelda fan and always wanted to get my hands on the strategy guides, but never seemed to get around to buying them when they first released and, over time, they became very expensive. This works out great because we can get all of the Collector's Edition guides, plus one never released and only available in this set (Ocarina of Time) for a great price - each guide ends up being less than $20 each not including the packaging.
As other have said, the packaging is wonderful. The treasure chest box is better quality than I had anticipated and the gold, metal etched bookmark is gorgeous! The actual shipping packaging was great, as well - very well protected with lots of foam so it arrived in pristine shape.
The guides themselves are gorgeous! Great detail and amazing artwork. I also love how the paper edges are golden - it gives it a very classy look. I have yet to actually read through them, let alone use them, so I can't say how accurate and useful they are, but I am sure the do their job and then some. I was very concerned about the Skyward Sword guide because the reviews for the original version were absolutely terrible. Fortunately, however, I read that it has been updated to meet the quality of all of the other guides, so that was a huge sigh of relief.
I do have a few gripes for this set, though. They are quite minor in the grand scheme of things, so it didn't kill it for me too much - they are just things I wish they would have included.
First, I am very disappointed that no guides were made for the older Zelda games, i.e. Zelda I and II for NES, Link to the Past for SNES, LInk's Awakening for Gameboy, etc.
This collection is OUTSTANDING in terms of quality and appearance. Over the years, I have purchased most of these guides and got the additional materials that were included with them (though these were not replicated for the guides in this collection unfortunately). If ever you were looking for a nice collection of books concerning The Legend of Zelda or to aid in completing the games, this set is DEFINITELY for you.
PROS:
1) Quality: The outer box resembles a treasure chest, the likes of which Link finds all across Hyrule (and many other worlds connected to it). It is a sturdy cardboard coated with a gloss-like finish, and it seems to have a magnetic clasp built in to keep the top closed. On the roof of the top, when opened, is a slot containing a metallic (yes, metallic, not vinyl or cardboard) bookmark that has been beautifully etched by what appears to be laser. It contains the logo of the series on one side and the crest of the Royal Family of Hyrule on the other, making for a very attractive (and unexpectedly greater quality) bookmark. The books themselves all appear to be of slightly better quality than their original prints (which had binding problems and easily tore in some instances).
2) Additional Goodies: The most obvious additional item (and most sought after in time I am sure) would be the guide for Ocarina of Time 3D, which is only available through this set (of which only 50,000 exist). I have examined it, and it is a VERY nice guide for the game, and as beautifully put together as its companion guides. Another obvious extra is the metallic bookmark, which is really one of the nicest bookmarks I have seen honestly.
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