Poll: Reading the strategy guide before playing the game

[MikeTheMugger]

-How to ruin your gaming experience before you even open the CD case-

Admit it, you've done this before. A brand new game just got released and you buy the matching official strategy guide to go with it. Maybe you lie to yourself at first and think: I'll only look at it if I get stuck bad . Sure this facade might even hold through your first couple gaming sessions, but then you hit that first major obstacle you cannot beat your second try, or can't get the item you want, and the temptation is too great. You crack open the pages to the magic book of answers and moments later you are coasting along through something that would have been a real challenge otherwise.

Now stop and think for a moment "What did I just do?". Well my friend I'll tell you, you ruined the experience and by extension you robbed yourself of the satisfaction of figuring it out on your own. This type of instant-gratification is only a tissue away from turning any engaging game into another mediocre wank. And the degree with which it is effecting the gaming industry is rather disturbing.

I can recall when there wasn't a strategy guide for every game out, even AAA games. Although guides were beginning to become more prevalent online. The first real use of a strategy guide I ever made was for Final Fantasy 8. The sight I used back then was Game Sage (now known as IGN). I'll submit that there are games out there that almost require a strategy guide to get through. Indeed many of the side-quests for FF8 I would not have been able to even find without the guides help. This is less a player problem than a developer one. Another good example is Dark Souls, an utterly unforgiving game, but the worst of it is the trial-an-error of forging special weapons without a guide. And since the game auto-saves, and you only get one soul from each boss, there is no room for error. Again this is more of a marketing ploy to get consumers to buy the damn strategy guides that they make in tandem with the games.

My original point stands even still: I think we are letting ourselves down when we give in and hit the easy button, that is strategy guides. Video games are supposed to be experienced. They are built on failure and success. That mountain of error is what we learn from, and how pro's are made or noob's are broken. Because when we all start cheating our way through challenge it is no longer about fun, it's about winning. We might as well be working.

 

[IBlackKiteI]

If there's something like a bunch of recommendations on how to use a certain item, class or whatever throughout the game then I tend to check it out. Stuff dealing with specific levels I don't really look at unless I'm stuck.

 

[scorptatious]

You know, when I was little, I would always get a strategy guide along with every game I bought if I could. Wasn't because I wasn't confident in my skills. (Although they certainly helped) I just really enjoyed reading them. And even if I knew who the final boss was going to be, or what the solution is to a certain puzzle, I didn't really feel like my experience was ruined.

In fact, I sort of felt like the guides enhanced the experience for me. I was a little kid with autism and you would rarely see me out in public without a strategy guide to read. Hell, I remember carrying one guide of Pokemon Red/Blue so much, that the pages fell out of the book. I guess you could say that it was a way for me to experience the game when I'm unable to play it.

Of course, that was something I kinda grew out of. Once I ended up having to buy my own stuff, I stopped buying guides because they're both expensive and redundant considering I could find a guide online via gamefaqs or some other site.

Now-a-days, I only use a guide if I get stuck someplace. And ONLY if the guide is free of story spoilers. There was this one guide for Xenoblade Chronicles that spelled the names of certain bosses backwards because they were all characters that were very important to the game's plot. And I was very appreciative of that.

...Now that I'm thinking about it, I don't really know when I realized knowing what happens during a game via a guide may in fact damper the experience a bit. But I guess when I did, that became another reason why I try not to use guides as much anymore.

 

[MikeTheMugger]

You know, when I was little, I would always get a strategy guide along with every game I bought if I could. Wasn't because I wasn't confident in my skills. (Although they certainly helped) I just really enjoyed reading them. And even if I knew who the final boss was going to be, or what the solution is to a certain puzzle, I didn't really feel like my experience was ruined.

In fact, I sort of felt like the guides enhanced the experience for me. I was a little kid with autism and you would rarely see me out in public without a strategy guide to read. Hell, I remember carrying one guide of Pokemon Red/Blue so much, that the pages fell out of the book. I guess you could say that it was a way for me to experience the game when I'm unable to play it.

Of course, that was something I kinda grew out of. Once I ended up having to buy my own stuff, I stopped buying guides because they're both expensive and redundant considering I could find a guide online via gamefaqs or some other site.

Now-a-days, I only use a guide if I get stuck someplace. And ONLY if the guide is free of story spoilers. There was this one guide for Xenoblade Chronicles that spelled the names of certain bosses backwards because they were all characters that were very important to the game's plot. And I was very appreciative of that.

...Now that I'm thinking about it, I don't really know when I realized knowing what happens during a game via a guide may in fact damper the experience a bit. But I guess when I did, that became another reason why I try not to use guides as much anymore.

I definitely understand the guides actually making you derive more enjoyment from a game too. The Mass Effect 3 and Dark Souls strategy guides both contained some eye-popping concept art. If they made murals of the black knights from Dark Souls I'd have one in my living room! And on my work desk: a hand painted metal Sovereign statuette. Also, as I mentioned before, some games require a guide in order to get the most out of. Sadly it can difficult to determine which games. Is this a Turok or an Assassin's Creed? hmm...

Oh, and my poll does include the use of online strategy guides and walk-throughs too