Vesus book makes some of the best guides because they don't give away the story like Brady and Prima do. Yeah, there books aren't as thick as some of the other ones, but they are the best. Versus is a new company and their style is good (but sometimes hard to read). They make some mistakes in their guide, but they tend to have the most hints. They are also not afraid to give away the cheats (even though they warn you ahead of time so that you don't have to check them out if you don't want to). They tell you how to beat each boss, and give you a list of key items to acquire in every area in the game. They give advice on all areas of the game (character creation, walkthrough of course, NPCs, spells, items, cheats, relationships, etc.) and have a touch of humor that makes reading through the guide fun. Unfortunately, their one down fall is that they will forget things, like forgetting a 0 in the value of an object, a couple spelling errors, and sometimes making the book confusing by trying not to give away the story (which they do a very good job of). All-in-all, I think this is a very good book to use throughout the game, so I think you should buy it. Later, man.

"Terrible! Should let Brady do the official guide instead."
I read a lot of strategy guides in the past and the one publisher that has hardly ever failed me is Brady. I don't like Prima because their guide are thin, simple, and cheap. Brady guides are thick, detailed, and tell you everything.

This book that I'm reviewing is from Versus Books is even worse than Prima. First of all it's hard to follow. For example, how come the numbers in walkthough don't match the numbers with the map. It's like, on the map on page 23, there are 16 numbers on the map and there is a chart below telling you what items are found at that location. However, the Critical Walkthrough is also numbered 1-4 on page 22 but none of those numbers show up on the map. It's like on page 22, 01 is Perusing the Town, 02 is The Circus Tent, 03 is The Brawl of Brawls. How come those numbers aren't on the map. It's like, the strategy guide is telling me to find this person or do this, but it won't tell you where on the map. Like it tells me to pull this switch or something, but where is it on the map? I though you were supposed to number the walkthough with the map, not with items!

Another big flaw with this strategy guide is that you have to go back and for through the guide. It's like, when you encounter a new monster, a Brady strategy guide would tell you at that very page what to do. A Brady strategy guide would also probably give you stats on that monster even if it's indexed in the back. However, this Versus book doesn't do that. All the monster information is in the back of the book, so you have to constantly look back and forth for monster strategies. There's hardly any monster strategies at all. It's just mainly stats. The guide really doesn't tell you in detail how to kill this particular monster efficiently.

Baldur's Gate II is a huge game, and a huge game deserves a huge strategy guide. What I see is a watered down pamphlet that barely tells you anything. And it's only 144 pages long. A good strategy guide would have been 200 or 300 pages long.

Unfortunately, since it's the only official guide out there, and there are no others, you really don't have a choice but to buy this piece of crap.

The only positive thing I can say about this guide is that the pictures and the map look pretty good. It's a pretty book. However, we all know that we can't judge a book by it's cover.

"I Guess This'll Have To Do . . ."
I am just not fond of this guide. There's a breakdown of the classes, list of joinable NPCs, item list, spell list, cheats section and a walkthrough. But the Versus Books' opinions are littered throughout here, ex. they rate Edwin as a less-desirable NPC based on his personality rather than the fact he's quite useful w/ his 18 Int - I thought this was a STRATEGY guide, not People magazine. There are a few inaccuracies in the item list. It does actually have some tips for all the romances, one of the more obscure features of BG2. Since this is really the only widely-published BG2 guide, there's not much of a choice whether or not you should buy it if you get stuck.

"One of the best PC Strategy Guides I've ever read......"
Normally, I despise strategy guides for PC games, mainly because I was once a Console-only player, before I got a computer, and found PC Strategy Guides too boring. I would hold something, normally the size of a phonebook in my hand, flip through it, and it was a chore to find what I wanted, not because they were disorganized(Well, most of them weren't), but because, frankly, I found them boring to read(The only exceptions to that were the three Strategy Guides for StarCraft and Brood War).

I truly enjoy the Versus Strategy Guide for BG2 for one main reason; it's fun to read it. It's not a bore, or a hassle, but actual fun. Plus, they include things most strategy guides don't, like cheats, which is useful if you don't have a netlink.

The main reason I didn't give it 5 stars is because I found it lacking in some info(Like all small quests, which I would've enjoyed having), and some minor errors.

I say you really can't go wrong with it.

"nice pictures"
First off, this guide does give you a lot of detail about character class, items, quests, and monsters(though combat stradegy is a bit amaturishly written). The author is a rude charlaton for lack of a better word(Just getting into charater with the game) who doesn't know how to play the game. For one thing, as I said in another reivew of ToB's 'Perfect' guide, he is saying play the game his way, or else. Well, there are many ways to play SoA. When I wrote this guy about stats for characters he wrote back saying that my paladin with CHR at 18 "was just plain stupid" to put it in his words. I think not. CHR was not even the stat I was asking about. In my opinion 18 for a paladin, if anything else gives you fringe bennifits not found at 17, like higher rewards for quests ect. Anyway(s) he was rude and I'm blaming it on Versus. I think players can make desisions for themselves thank you. Clean up your act people!