This for me is a disappointing hardcover guide. I don't believe you really need a guide to get the best out of DS2 - it's a straightforward game - but as a fan I was hoping that the limited edition guide would be a companion piece worthy of the game itself: beautiful and atmospheric. Apart from the exclusive gallery at the end, though, it isn't.
The layout of the book is very lazy: there's no variety, and it's graphically very bland, which just doesn't do the game justice. For me, the whole point of these guides, particularly the limited edition publications, is that they fetishize the content of the game: close ups of the weapons, concept art, stat lists, detailed map layouts, item placements, secrets... From this generation, the Resi 5, MGS4, Bayonetta, and Vanquish guides have been some of the best in this respect. They flesh out the game world, and satisfy your curiosity about all the details you may have missed in the game itself, doing so in a way that makes you want to play the game all over again. The DS2 guide doesn't do that for me. The whole thing is very functional, which is not how I remember the game.
If you're on the fence, it's worth it for that nice heavy book feeling - all the materials are fantastic - but it doesn't rank as a necessary companion piece.