A burst of Square Enix news has preceded their otherwise quiet Spring schedule and, along with that, have come a few unexpected surprises. For the most dedicated fans of the Final Fantasy series, Square Enix and strategy guide partner Prima have teamed up to release a special box set of guides for Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VIII, and Final Fantasy IX.

This isn’t the first time that we’ve heard rumblings about this set. Prima originally announced the set last summer, even going so far as to show it off at several trade shows, before gradually pushing back the release date from fall, to winter, to a surprise March 17th date that coincides with the release of Type-0 HD.

For those of us who were unlucky enough to own the strategy guide for IX (with it's unforgivable reliance on Square Enix's virtually extinct PlayOnline service), the entire set of guides has been completely rewritten from scratch with new screen captures to accompany the new text. Each guide comes with a lithograph print of a scene from each game. It is available for preorder from Amazon for $85.