I never bought a strategy guide as well. Well, actually some games are overwhelming without any sort of guide, such as MMORPGs in general, but not only that game is not overwhelming, guides are freely available online and obviously updateable.

Anyhow to each his own, my main complaint is why do they keep combining art books with guides? Sure it might push one or two players to get the guide for the art bonus, but they're losing a lot on artbooks collectors.