Official guide & Sinjin guide comparison, also: what build?

[Hilwo]

This is a topic to both discuss similarities between the official guide and Sinjin's, as well as which build they might have used.

Tatu and I were talking about the Trespasser official strategy guide, and Sinjin's guide, which can be found here. I can't remember if I ever noticed before, and I'm sorry if this has been discussed before - but were these written by the same person? It seems to me there are too many similarities in the style and structure of the guide (most nostably the objectives and mini-maps) and the build of the game used. We'll go into the build later, but Tatu and I agree that it had to have been one between 103 and 116 (retail).

Sinjin's guide was written by Mark Smith. I read here that on October 11th, 1998, he was halfway done and expected to finish that week. If I'm correct, the official guide was released on October 23rd, 1998 and written by Greg Kramer. Has this ever been discussed before? Also, Tatu figured developers might have been in on the guide, as there appear to be a lot of insights that only people who played it loads would have.

Some things that are in both guides, still exist in build 103, but were removed for 116 (retail):
- Beach: Giant rock near the beach
- Jungle Road: Dino tooth and jawbone
- InGen Lab: Purple keycard (one of them) is still on the 1st floor of the lab

Possible proof of another build:
The guides mention a giant rock at the beginning of the Beach level, which is still in 103, but not in 116 retail. They also mention the shooting range, which is not in 103, but does exist in 116 retail. This confirms it matches neither version. Tatu also found an interesting one confirming it, I'm sure he'll post it later.

Oddities:
In the guides, Ascent 2 has a weapon locker at the start. The official guide has an image that is a match with build 103. I wonder why they would add something going from build 99 to 103, but then take it back out again for 106 retail?
Same goes for the hunter remains and their accompanying voiceovers. I don't think they are in 103 or 116, but both mention them. In particular the one with two Bennelli shotguns. Both guides mention the "Maharajah", but I think we only have a trigger in 116 retail that's connected to picking up a Bennelli that isn't there? I can't imagine they added some hunter remains and voiceovers and then soon after that, cut them back out?

[tatu]

I am gonna do a more extensive comparison and analyst of the Strategy Guide and Sinjin's guide this weekend. I think there are some very interesting things here.

[Draconisaurus]

A bloody locker at the start of AS2 would have been helpful lol.

[Hilwo]

A bloody locker at the start of AS2 would have been helpful lol.

Well it's there in 103 (Calico), official guide ("pistol") and Sinjin's guide (Redhawk) - but some sadist removed it for retail

[scallenger]

I know this is random , especially me to be the one posting here about it haha: but does this mean Mark Smith was given the same version of the game to "walkthrough/review" as the one used for the official strategy guide? If so... maybe he has it? Or, there are two versions of the retail game floating around we never knew about? Otherwise, what else could it be?

[tatu]

I know this is random , especially me to be the one posting here about it haha: but does this mean Mark Smith was given the same version of the game to "walkthrough/review" as the one used for the official strategy guide? If so... maybe he has it? Or, there are two versions of the retail game floating around we never knew about? Otherwise, what else could it be?

Haha I forgot to ever do the analyse I said I was. I could see there was a version between 103 and 116 that was sent out to reviewers. If anyone wanna try to contact Mark Smith about it, go for it.