Poll: How do you feel about using walkthroughs and guides?

[MiracleOfSound]

I hate having to resort to walkthroughs but sometimes I get so damn stuck that my patience runs out and I stop having fun. Collecting things can be long and tedious without walkthroughs, such as hunting all the skill books in Fallout 3 or the pigeons in GTA4.

I feel like I've cheated if i use a walkthrough so I will usually only use them for stuff like finding that copy of tumbler's today that has blended perfectly with the floor...

The one time recently I got utterly stuck was a room in Mirror's Edge where you had to run up a wall and jump off it to grab a red ledge to your left. don't know why but my brain just failed me and i got so mad after about 40 minutes falling down that room and climbing all the way back up over and over I just said 'fuck this I'm looking it up on the web'.

How do you feel about walkthroughs and guides and do you use them?

 

[D_987]

I only refer to them for achievments... so very rarely - and I've played Infinite Undiscovery!

They are usually a last resort, but if I need to use a walkthrough the developer has not done their job properly.

 

[LINKXIII]

I use them as an alternate look at a game meaning I use this to make a self-generated review also If i need help in huge games like fallout 3 or some stupidly hard puzzle in zelda

 

[-Seraph-]

By far a last resort for me to figure out what the hell I am supposed to do. If I am just dumbfound and can;t figure out what the hell I am supposed to do or go, I do a quick search. There are a few games that I played in full japanese so yea...walkthrough came in handy in finding out what I gotta do. Hell I have not made full use of a walkthrough since I played the original FF2 and 3 on my NES emulator (yea the ORIGINAL 2 and 3). That was when I was like 12 though..so yea 8 years without any real use of a guide.

 

[Altorin]

my mom won't play a game without them.. I find they cheapen the experience, so I like to play through at least once before using them, and then using them to get all of the secrets..

Solving the game's puzzles yourself sometimes results in Eureka moments, like recently when I was playing oblivion's main quest through for the first time and I deciphered the Mystic Dawn's Commentary book.. I was like "Yeah, I'm smart." felt good

 

[Littaly]

When I get stuck enough for the game to stop being fun. And I don't have much patience, so I tend to consult GameFAQs quite a bit.

 

[Glerken]

I use them as a last resort if I have absolutely no idea what I am supposed to do.

 

[Clirck]

I use them as a last resort if I have absolutely no idea what I am supposed to do.

Same here.

 

[Grayjack]

I use them for JRPG's like Persona and Final Fantasy.

 

[The Brian J]

For certain RPG puzzles, I use them, but other than that, I use them pretty sparingly.

 

[dmase]

Dragon Warrior 7 for the ps1 it gave me a fucking riddle a riddle that i hadn't been able to solve for like 3 years and was required to keep going I finally found a Dragon Warrior guide for free in a shop because it had been sitting there for so long. The only time i've used one for something besides extra content. I don't do riddles!!!

 

[MiracleOfSound]

Dragon Warrior 7 for the ps1 it gave me a fucking riddle a riddle that i hadn't been able to solve for like 3 years and was required to keep going I finally found a Dragon Warrior guide for free in a shop because it had been sitting there for so long. The only time i've used one for something besides extra content. I don't do riddles!!!

what was the riddle? see if we can get it!

 

[WeirdNeville]

I use them as a reference. I don't have loads of time to devote to completely cracking games any more, so a glance at a guide to give me a leg up is sometimes needed.

I always ensure that I'm not "reading ahead" in linear guides though, as it ruins the plot and any twists or reveals.

I honestly can't imagine the pain and boredom involved in say finding all 200 pigeons in GTAIV or all the bobbleheads in Fallout 3 without having a guide. I simply don't have time for that, so I use a guide.

 

[painfull2006]

You gave a perfect example there

The last and probably only guide i have used is getting the accursed bobble heads in fallout 3

lets face it i was never ever EVER going to find them without it, even with someone pointing me in the vague direction they are in or even telling me the name of the map

 

[ZeroMachine]

I use them if either I'm stuck and desperate, feeling VERY impatient, or if it's some useless trinket I just want for a 100% thing.

Other than that, I try not to use them for games I really enjoy.

 

[Stryc9]

Depends on the situation, if I get stuck in certain part of a game because I can't figure out where I'm supposed to go or what it is that I'm missing then I'll go and look it up. However people that use a walkthrough to get through a game from start to finish then talk about how awesome they are at the game lose my respect. The same goes for people who use cheats to play a game through because they lack the willingness to get better at a game and just want to take the easy way through.

 

[Lucia di Lammermore]

Sometimes, such as when I'm stuck on some stupidly hard puzzle, or have no idea where I'm supposed to go.

 

[Zac_Dai]

Ever since I completed FF7 as kid, without acquiring Yuffie or Vincent as party members, never getting everyones awesome limit breaks and missing out on awesome materia like knights of the round, I always use walkthroughs in RPGs so I can find all the shit I would of missed otherwise.

I'm one of those gamers that once I've finished a game I can never play it again.