Horizons: Empires of Istaria Official Strategy Guide

Rating:
Summary: Very Useful Reference
Review: I have been playing Horizons for over a year, since the beginning of open beta. As I progressed, the book became increasingly important as a reference guide, particularly for which capabilities I would receive at what levels, and from what classes.

Not especially useful, or intended as, a beginners' handholder, but a large mass of information that becomes more helpful for medium to advanced players.

Rating:
Summary: Avoid this at all costs
Review: If I could give this a negative rating I would, but I need to give it at least one star and it does not deserve that at all. Much of the information in this book is outdated. Now I understand it came out prior to the release of the game but only a very short time before. When I got the game and the book within the first two weeks of release the information in the book was already outdated. That's not the worst part of the book though. The worst part is the lack of "strategy guide" feel to it. I do not want a book to tell me how to play a game, but I would at least like some basic newbie information to help me get started. This book does nothing more than list spell, weapon, formula, and other crafting information but does so very poorly. There is no information to guide you through how to craft effectively. Take a scholar/spell-crafter for example: it would be nice to know what formulas to look for and when to get them for the lower levels to maximize the effectiveness of leveling the craft. Instead I was left to figure all this out on my own and spent more coin than I should have for formulas that did not help me gain experience. This goes for adventuring as well. This game can be complicated with all the choices for classes/multi-classes and the book does nothing to explain any of the nuances that go with obtaining the desired outcome.

Per the book description:

"BradyGames' Horizons: Empires of Istaria Official Strategy Guide provides expert strategies for the game." - Expert? Has the writer even played the game? Strategies? They do not exist, plain and simple.

"Fundamental information for the nine playable races is included in an easy-to-understand format." - Easy-to-understand? Easy for the writer maybe; but not for the reader if you expect to gain anything out of this book.

"Complete coverage of the open-ended school-based skill system is also provided." - Whoever wrote the description obviously did not read the book. The most basic questions a new player has are not even vaguely addressed.

"Advanced community building tools, and more!" - No, that's pretty much it. Unless you can get something out of reading uninformative lists.

In short, if you want to learn about the game and how to play it effectively, check out www.tazoon.com or visit the official message boards on www.ign.com . Save yourself the $14 bucks and you will also save your disappointment. Brady Games should be ashamed of releasing such a poor quality book.

Rating:
Summary: Decent information, but not well organized
Review: It took me a couple days to get into this game. When I settled in, I ended up with several questions. My machine with 512MB of ram and a 64MB video card is not good enough to play well in windowed mode, so I depend on the guide for all my information (as opposed to the web).

The overall impression I got from the guide was that it was hastily thrown together. It has a little bit of information on most topics, but it is not very accessible, well written, or well organized. There is a great deal of information in the book, but there isn't much on HOW to go about starting. More than half of the pages in the book are taken up by massive tables that detail formulas, equipment, and skills. Basic questions like the following are NOT answered in a useful way:

* How do you go about getting new formulas? Where are formulas sold?
* What multi class combinations are effective?
* What, if any, are the downsides to multi classing a lot?
* Can base classes such as outfitters make everything that a more specialized class like an armorer can?
* When should players venture out into the real world beyond the n00b islands?

I found answers to these on the web and from other people of course, but the guide wasn't particularly helpful in these areas.

I would have found a quick one page description of this game compared to other similar games useful. All MMORPG's have massive similarities.

The maps are terrible compared to Dark Age of Camelot or Star Wars: Galaxies. They are hand drawn, and don't have coordinates. Finding stuff is tough. I will be looking for maps on the web, and printing them out if I find any good ones.

The class information is decent. There are short blurbs on all the classes, but there is no chart that shows the progression from base classes to elite ones. The base classes are mixed in with the elite class descriptions.

Rating:
Summary: Decent information, but not well organized
Review: It took me a couple days to get into this game. When I settled in, I ended up with several questions. My machine with 512MB of ram and a 64MB video card is not good enough to play well in windowed mode, so I depend on the guide for all my information (as opposed to the web).

The overall impression I got from the guide was that it was hastily thrown together. It has a little bit of information on most topics, but it is not very accessible, well written, or well organized. There is a great deal of information in the book, but there isn't much on HOW to go about starting. More than half of the pages in the book are taken up by massive tables that detail formulas, equipment, and skills. Basic questions like the following are NOT answered in a useful way:

* How do you go about getting new formulas? Where are formulas sold?
* What multi class combinations are effective?
* What, if any, are the downsides to multi classing a lot?
* Can base classes such as outfitters make everything that a more specialized class like an armorer can?
* When should players venture out into the real world beyond the n00b islands?

I found answers to these on the web and from other people of course, but the guide wasn't particularly helpful in these areas.

I would have found a quick one page description of this game compared to other similar games useful. All MMORPG's have massive similarities.

The maps are terrible compared to Dark Age of Camelot or Star Wars: Galaxies. They are hand drawn, and don't have coordinates. Finding stuff is tough. I will be looking for maps on the web, and printing them out if I find any good ones.

The class information is decent. There are short blurbs on all the classes, but there is no chart that shows the progression from base classes to elite ones. The base classes are mixed in with the elite class descriptions.

Rating:
Summary: Weak guide
Review: Very little useful information in this guide. Much of the book is page after page of what stat effect something has on an item even though each tier is always the same. They could have put Tier I adds +2, Tier II +5, Tier III +10 to all mining, reaping, etc. It would have taken a paragraph to provide the same information they choose to pack the book with.

Looking at each class such as a mage they provide the name of the spell they receive at each level but no explanation of what effect it has.