I bought the “Halo Essential Guide” and I start to wonder when I look through it, is it really essential? Can all you halo fans help me?
I collect and read all the Halo books, so I’d say so.
No, it’s not “essential” per say, but that is just a generic word used in the title of most art books. How else are you going to sell a book with nothing but some pictures and concept art?
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> No, it’s not “essential” per say, but that is just a generic word used in the title of most art books. How else are you going to sell a book with nothing but some pictures and concept art?
You are aware that the Essential Visual Guide actually has individual pages dedicated to planets, characters, weapons, enemies and so on with actual information, right? Example.
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> > No, it’s not “essential” per say, but that is just a generic word used in the title of most art books. How else are you going to sell a book with nothing but some pictures and concept art?
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> You are aware that the Essential Visual Guide actually has individual pages dedicated to planets, characters, weapons, enemies and so on with actual information, right? Example.
So does the wiki, and that’s free.
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> > > 2533274973030620;3:
> > > No, it’s not “essential” per say, but that is just a generic word used in the title of most art books. How else are you going to sell a book with nothing but some pictures and concept art?
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> > You are aware that the Essential Visual Guide actually has individual pages dedicated to planets, characters, weapons, enemies and so on with actual information, right? Example.
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> So does the wiki, and that’s free.
It’s also fan made.
The Essential Visual Guide is for Canon fans and collectors mostly. For people that like to read up on the depth of characters and other items. It’s a nice neat and tidy look into the Halo Universe.
Essential is (I think) Mostly a reference to the Halo Encyclopedia which contains at the time of release EVERY (yes there is debate about it’s quality) piece of the Halo universe without actually putting the complete collection of Halo books in it.
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> > > No, it’s not “essential” per say, but that is just a generic word used in the title of most art books. How else are you going to sell a book with nothing but some pictures and concept art?
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> > You are aware that the Essential Visual Guide actually has individual pages dedicated to planets, characters, weapons, enemies and so on with actual information, right? Example.
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> So does the wiki, and that’s free.
Well by that logic, why buy any of the books since they get summarized on the wiki as well.
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> > > > No, it’s not “essential” per say, but that is just a generic word used in the title of most art books. How else are you going to sell a book with nothing but some pictures and concept art?
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> > > You are aware that the Essential Visual Guide actually has individual pages dedicated to planets, characters, weapons, enemies and so on with actual information, right? Example.
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> > So does the wiki, and that’s free.
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> Well by that logic, why buy any of the books since they get summarized on the wiki as well.
Good point.
Welp. I’m never reading a book again. 
But in all seriousness, if a book is well crafted and writ in a way you enjoy, then it has an edge over a synopsis. That’s why people hate spoilers. Arguably, the same is true for the Essential Visual Guide, if you like the…layout…of the book, and the fact that it’s a collector’s item. Then it has an edge over the wiki. The difference between the book and the guide in question is that the entire purpose of an actual book is to engage the reader and tell them what’s going on, but the entire purpose of the summary is simply to tell the reader what happened in the book - no narrative tools employed. Synopsis and first hand readings are very different. For the Essential Visual Guide, it’s to look at nice pictures and read about the lore surrounding it - which is the exact same purpose of the wiki.
A synopsis of a book gives you a handful of information and nothing else. A book gives you a handful of information, but goes through a crapton of narrative hoops to make it interesting. The Visual Guide gives you a handful of information and nothing else. The free wiki page gives you the exact same information as the Visual Guide and nothing else.
But even still, it’s a cool way to show your dedication to the franchise. I’d be lying if I said I haven’t bought similar books.
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> I bought the “Halo Essential Guide” and I start to wonder when I look through it, is it really essential? Can all you halo fans help me?
It’s “essential” if you’re engaged in every aspect of the Halo Universe: games, books, comics, etc.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t several details in the Essential Visual Guide outdated and/or inaccurate?
Not detracting from the book as a whole, of course.
Where do you think we got the information on halopedia from…
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> Where do you think we got the information on halopedia from…
LOL, I laughed a little too hard at this.
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> > Where do you think we got the information on halopedia from…
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> LOL, I laughed a little too hard at this.
And Halopedia doesn’t have every single detail on it either. It has a lot of the main important stuff. Even a lot of the minor stuff. But not everything. Still makes getting stuff not useless ^^