Poll: Would you use a guide to achieve 100%?

[Gralian]

Just a curious question i thought i'd make into a poll; do or would you use a walkthrough to achieve 100% in a game? This extends only to games that have an extensive amount of collectibles. If not, would you use the guide to achieve 100% if it meant you would get bonus content or a secret ending?

I'm asking this as i'm playing Metroid Prime Trilogy on my wii at the moment (love these games) and having just played through Prime 1 blind i managed to scoop up nearly everything, but missed a scan from a boss that's now gone forever. Now that left me real frustrated. I decided to play it blind since i had already played it on gamecube and figured i'd remember most of the stuff, and i wanted the secret ending / bonus stuff unlocked, hence why i started with Prime 1 first - but i digress.

In order to prevent the "locked out from 100%" thing in Prime 2 and later Prime 3, i'm planning on following a guide so i don't miss anything / any collectibles in my lofty goal to achieve 100%. However i still feel slightly bothered by it, that i'm cheating or detracting from the experience. It should be noted i haven't actually played Prime 2 or 3 yet prior to buying the trilogy.

TL;DR Version: Would you use a guide to achieve 100%? If not, would you do it for bonus content? If you wouldn't do it at all, why not?

 

[Cogwheel]

Yes, no and sorta.

Yes because I use guides anyway, to get some essentials, but mostly when I get lost. And yes, I use wikis for roguelikes (generally).

No because I don't care about 100% copletion.

Maybe because if it's, say, characters in a fighting game, I'll do it. Bonus ending? Nah, youtube.

 

[CheesusCrust]

I don't usually. Really the only time I have done it was with "Star Ocean: A New Hope" because there was an achievement that required you to open all chests in the game and there were many to be permanently missed. If I was really sucked into the story and it was necessary for bonus content such as levels, cutscenes and dialogue then I absolutely would. However I would try to only use location guides and work out things like customization and combat myself.

 

[Something Amyss]

I usually don't bother unless I'm horribly stuck. I like exploring and such.

 

[Wutaiflea]

I usually like to discover things for myself. My experience of using guides has also been pretty negative (ie. they're missing things, or misleading) so I care to use them even less.

I really only turn to guides if I'm at the suicide point of trying to solve a puzzle. The only time I've really relied on a guide was for Final Fantasy 6. I found some of the additional content to be so obscure that I couldn't figure it out alone (largely unlocking Gogo), and I was keen to see it all.

 

[iFail69]

yes if it's final fantasy or any other long game (but only after a blind run first so as to have no spoilers)

no for anything else

 

[drbarno]

Only if I was at my wits end trying to find it.

 

[blood77]

Yeah I have used guides before, I usually only use them when I'm really confounded about one particular part in a game, or if I feel that I sort of "cheated" my way through a part and just wanted to see how it is "normally" done. But I have never once used a guide to get 100%, even for the ones where you get something if you do.

 

[Akihiko]

On RPGs I've used them to watch missable secret scenes and endings etc, which require really obscure objectives which I question how anyone figured out how to unlock in the first place. Tales of games usually contain a tonne of missable side stuff, which is reallly annoying. The only way to get it is either use a guide, or quite literelly go to every previously been area, after every tiny bit of story, in hopes that a scene occurs.

 

[Cabamacadaf]

I do it if it's not too much boring stuff to do and if you get something for doing it (even if it's just an achievement).

 

[Hoopybees]

I use guides sometimes when I get really stuck and my brothers kind of look down on me for it but the way I see it the point of a game is to have fun and if you're screaming at the TV becuase you know what you have to do but there's no indication of how the fuck you're supposed to do it then something has gone horribly wrong. Once you've purchased a game surely it's up to you how you enjoy it and for some people that means figuring the whole thing out for yourself and that's fine for them. For me, if I need a little push so I can get back to the game part of the game then there's no shame in googling one. That being said, if it's my first play through of the game I'm far more likely to try everything like ten times before even thinking of checking a guide. It does feel a little like defeat.

 

[The Eupho Guy_v1legacy]

That depends, really . Games that I find really enjoyable I'll try to 100% without help. Reason being I'm not worried about spending an extra few hours stomping around the place looking for the items I missed because its another few hours in a game I find interesting. Games that become a drag I'll often not even bother to 100% at all. I'll do all that I'm required to do to get a half decent ending and move on. However, if an enjoyable game has a massive amount of things to find in really obscure places, I might look at a guide, but only after a blind run or in the post-game content, depending on how the game manages the end of the plot.

 

[JLML]

Only if I really want to get the bonus stuff/secret ending and then only after already completed it once.

 

[tharglet]

Yes, I do use online guides to 100% complete things from time to time.

First playthrough in a game I usually unlock as much as I can, then if I fall short, then I get a guide out. Usually it's pretty obscure stuff I miss, which I wouldn't get otherwise.

I also have a habit of reading walkthroughs of bits of a game I've just done, to see what someone else did, or found. I don't go back to follow what they did, but I find it interesting all the same.

 

[crudus]

If it is just collectibles then no I don't. I get 100% to get secret endings and things like that. For some reason I can't just youtube the damn endings.