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[Chastten]

Don't think I've ever done it for the entire game, but I played plenty of games where I used it a lot.

In Tales of Symphonia, once you got to the other world, I had no clue where to go or whatever (missed some NPC clues I guess?) and just opened the walkthrough and finished the rest of the game with it.

Most recent example was Darksiders. First part of the game is easy with puzzles but in the final dungeon there's a pretty big difficulty spike so I just finished it by following a video walkthrough, even though I could've finished it by only looking up 1 or 2 puzzles probably.

 

[The Mango Sentinel]

I rarely ever use guides unless I'm getting bored of a game and I want to know how close I am to completing it and how to beat it as quickly as possible. This usually happens to me in open world games like Infamous or Assassin's Creed.

 

[thebisonxrc]

There's nothing wrong with using a walkthrough if that's how you're able to get the most enjoyment out of certain games. The older I get, the more I try to avoid using walkthroughs just so that I can further test my slowly aging brain. The odd time that I do have to use one, I take no shame in it.

 

[Phocks]

If a game has a best ending I look up the conditions so I don't have to NG+. Some games like 999 I get lazy and don't care about the puzzles, walkthrough ahoy!

 

[-MD-]

I haven't used a strategy guide since I was about 10 or 11, never used one all the way through back then but I did have one handy for stuff like OOT or MM.

 

[Demmi]

I'm prioritizing getting the full experience of the story over discovering the 108 stars. I don't really put a lot of weight into figuring things out myself, I don't find the gratification I get out of that even close to worth the amount of time it would take.

Fair enough. I guess I've never been invested in a story enough to want to do that, but more power to you if that's what you enjoy.

 

[RionaaM]

I resort to using a guide if I'm completely lost at some puzzle, boss or where to go next. Lately I've been trying to cut down my use of them (also I haven't been playing many games that required one), but there were times in the past when most of the playthrough was done with a guide at hand (Little Big Adventure and its sequel, Twinsen's Odyssey -funny stuff: on my replay of the latter I also had to check a guide once because I forgot how to proceed).

To this day, my biggest shame about this was using a guide twice in Portal, because it didn't occur to me to look down or up (respectively). The sequel I did it all by myself.

Oh, and if it's a point and click adventure chances are I'll get stuck eventually. It's still surprising to me that I only had to use a guide once in the whole first season of Telltale's Sam & Max (episode 5; I'd never have solved that puzzle myself).

 

[Caronte]

Can't live without 'em

Spoiler

I take no credit for this image

Insane. This reminds me why I play less and less on consoles.

I used a guide for FFXII and ended up leaving the game because I was bored. Played a second time without it and I enjoyed it a lot more. The only game where I've used a guide through the entire game is Final Fantasy XI, for obvious reasons.

 

[Sakujou]

i know so many people playing games with walkthroughs or youtube videos.

whats the point of playing games if you already just do it step by step?

 

[NeoFaff]

The only way to play point and click games

 

[mclem]

If it's a game which I want to make a point of seeing all of, and don't intend for multiple playthroughs, then I'll try to seek out a spoiler-free walkthrough. All I want is broad hints of "Don't go here until you've gone here" and/or "Make sure you have <x> before moving on". Unfortunately, spoiler-free walkthroughs aren't as common as the more detailed ones, which is unfortunate; I think I've had a spoiler-free walkthrough for one of the Yakuza games but not the other one I've played? All I really want is adequate warning about missables, and I'm content.

Some games do still get around that with me. I've just played Dishonored, and I felt that I had enough control over my own progression that I could afford to play at my own pace and explore as much as I wished without needing outside assistance and still feel sufficiently fulfilled - in part because I knew the criteria that could lead to the best ending and understood that that was entirely within my control.

 

[Dr. Buni]

So do I. The last game I used a walkthrough was Virtue's Last Reward.

I am not smart enough to solve those puzzles, they scaled the difficulty far too much, because I could solve the ones in 999 just fine.

 

[ReBirFh]

I usually look for a missables guide before starting a RPG

 

[AtomskEater]

I use them somewhat less than a few years ago, but I still bring up a walkthrough every now and again. RPGs are too damn long, sometimes have branching paths (not all of which I'm interested in seeing) and often filled with too much "go out of your way at this specific time to get this bonus thing/sidequest/cutscene/whatever" stuff. If it makes the experience better for you, go and do you.

 

[RionaaM]

i know so many people playing games with walkthroughs or youtube videos.

whats the point of playing games if you already just do it step by step?

That you still get to do the stuff for yourself and experience the game? Nobody said games had to be hard.

 

[jesu]

I wouldn't do this.
The true ending to me is the ending I get because of how I played the game.
If there was a canonical ending leading to a sequel I could always watch that on youtube.

 

[zackmorris]

Certain games I just wouldn't be able to do with a guide. I used a guide for a good chunk of Grimm Fandango. There were a bunch of spots where I just had no idea where to go, or what to do. But the dialogue and charm of the game made me want to play, even though I was pretty lost. So in that case the guide was perfect.

 

[AHA-Lambda]

I do it too. No harm in it. We play games for fun, and if using a walkthrough will provide the most enjoyment for you, who cares!

This, I use them all the time for point and click adventure games; I hate the puzzles but enjoy the stories.

 

[slavesnyder]

only for adventures.
i would never have finished 999 to my personal satisfaction otherwise.

 

[Basileus777]

only for adventures.
i would never have finished 999 to my personal satisfaction otherwise.

Visual Novels are almost always better with a guide.

 

[Forkball]

I think most of my time playing Machinarium was watching YouTube guides.

 

[magnetic]

I'm nearing the end of clearing out my backlog of 16-bit games, and I do this a lot.

As an adult, I just don't have time to wander around for 3 hours lost in a dungeon.

Using a guide is fine.

I mean, would you buy something at IKEA and be like "Ugh, I'm not using a guide for this! I want to experience this chair all on my own!"

Then you find yourself 30 minutes later looking at a wiki for chairs or something.

Except you have to put the chair together because you want something to sit on. You want a chair, not the challenge of building it.

The analogy would work if you said "I'm not reading the instructions for this game! Y can't Metroid crawl?"

 

[JMizzlin]

I don't normally because I hate becoming dependent on them but currently my first ever play through of Ocarina of Time requires a few references to it.

There's a reason I couldn't do it as a kid on 64.

 

[King_Moc]

No problems with the situation outlined in the op at all. I think the impact of decision making in games with branching stories needs to made clearer now that gamers are, on average, older and have less free time.

 

[faridmon]

I did that for the last 3rd of Baten Kaitos. increased my enjoyment tenfolds.

Such a a great game!

 

[Ladekabel]

I did this with Metal Gear Solid 2: HD. Probably saved me a lot of frustration. I plan to do this again with MGS 3: HD at least after the first hour or so. Same goes for my NG+ walkthrough of Persona 4: Golden in the far future.

Don't do this with every game but I'm currently working on my backlog and it makes that far more convenient. Sometimes I check themout to see how many chapters I still have to do in a game.

 

[Char Aznable]

I only use walktroughs for some japanese RPG since i don't know the lenguage

 

[TheOnlyOneHeEverFeared]

Play through on easy
Play through on hard with walkthrough.

 

[Rafroel]

How soon until this becomes a Grim Fandango thread?

 

[Shanlei91]

When does a game stop being a game and become a job? Or rather an unpaid internship.

 

[Captain Tuttle]

I have no patience anymore, so I use guides all the time. Any time I get stuck for more than five minutes or so it's off to GameFAQs.

Life's too short to be wandering around not accomplishing anything in a game.

This is me, if I can't get through a section in 3 or 4 tries I go to a guide. I just don't have the time anymore.

 

[CassidyIzABeast]

last walkthrough I used for a whole game was the one in Gamepro for MGS2

 

[Acosta]

I hate with a passion getting stuck in a game. I can only struggle to a certain point. No shame on it.

 

[Thrakier]

Tell me about it. Without gamefaqs in the 90s, I wouldn't have finished a lot of games. Maybe I would've been frustrated enough to stop playing at all.

 

[gaiages]

It's been a while since I used a walkthrough for a whole game; I used to do it all the time as a kid, because I didn't want to miss anything... and my mom bought me the walkthroughs anyway

But I won't be afraid of using a walkthrough if I get stuck in a game. This happens to me a lot in point and click adventures, because I'll miss a clickable in the background or can't wrap my head around an obtuse puzzle. Also when during the subsequent playthroughs of 999, I'd look up the answers to the puzzles I already did, because sometimes I'd forget the solutions and couldn't be arsed with doing the whole puzzle again. I'm glad Virtue's Last Reward did far better in that aspect.

 

[Fractal]

I do it sometimes too, most notably in RPGs with plenty of side quests, so I can track them all down, or in adventure games when I get stuck too open.

 

[aravuus]

I usually use a guide with JRPGs, I always aim to 100% with them. Even on the first playthrough as I rarely replay games that aren't Final Fantasy or Kingdom Hearts lol. Also lots of JRPGs have horrible dungeons that, combined with a possibly boring battle system and/or high encounter rate, are something I just want to get through asap

Oh yeah, and VNs of course. Fuck those stupid bad endings. If I ever played a VN that was slice of life focused mainly on dating or whatever, I suppose I'd play it through once without a guide, but I really don't care for those

Wouldn't be easier to just watch a longplay video on youtube instead of the playing the game?

People who use guides still want to actually play the game too

 

[maquiladora]

Wouldn't be easier to just watch a longplay video on youtube instead of the playing the game?

 

[dickgumshoe]

I feel dirty just be reading this.

...

Sometimes I use spoilers too, but after trying myself and for singular points in the game.

 

[Bulbasaur]

I used one for a recent play-through of the Resident Evil remake. I have no shame, as I beat it before and didn't want to forget some dumb item and waste a ton of time back tracking.

If it doesn't diminish your enjoyment of a game, and it saves you from wasting a ton of time, I say go for it.

I think I'm going to do this too. Only I never played the original. I'm just terrified and want to know what's around the corner!

 

[Skyball Paint]

When Star Control 2 came out is the last I can recall using a guide to play a game. At the time it made me wonder how anyone could play it without one.

I have no shame about resorting to guides, but I only had to do so once for Star Control 2. The game does a very good job giving you information through dialog, but it expects you to take notes manually. Basically, you have to make your own quest log for that game.

 

[Weiss]

I mostly use them for RPGs. Plenty of them have easily missed sidequests, equipment, and superbosses, and I don't feel like prodding every single square inch of a game world to find them when I can just look up what to do.

 

[Choomp]

Yeah, I've done it. Don't really think there's anything wrong there.

 

[SAiLO]

Personally, I think it's more fun to follow the story and enjoy it without the guide. If you play for 100% then guide is a must.

 

[Ninja Kn1ght]

This bothers me particularly in Persona 3 because I want to see the best ending, but that's very difficult in a single playthrough and probably impossible without a guide. On the other hand, I don't have time to consider playing it twice.

 

[KojiKnight]

So many times I think "I could just use a walkthrough to plat this game..." but then when I go to start... I completely lose interest. If I'm desperate I might ask someone on a forum what to do... but I just can't bring myself to use a walkthrough and certainly not all the way through the game.

It's the same reason I don't follow recipes when I'm cooking. I might do a quick overview of a new recipe, but then I just twist things and add my own flair. Often times it's not as good and it's always less efficient... but dammit I feel so much better about what I accomplish that way.

 

[Raptomex]

I see no problem with it. I would probably do it for any game that focuses on puzzles. With the exception of Zelda I really don't enjoy having to think too much when I'm playing games.

I use guides all the time for the GTA series. You try finding all of the collectibles, stunt jumps, etc, without using a game. Fuck that. People would probably still be trying to complete GTA 3. In fact, I would love to meet someone who did find everything in an open world game like that without a guide.

 

[John Kowalski]

i ALMOST entered a Sheikah stone yesterday but i slapped some sense into me before i went through with it

phew!!

 

[Despera]

The problem starts with the idea that you somehow need to get the best ending or collect everything... You simply don't.

If you've been stuck for a while I can understand using the walkthrough for that particular section. If some things weren't explained properly, or you have accidentally skipped an item that would've explained that shit, I can understand taking a quick glance at a wiki or a guide.

But following a walkthrough the entire time defeats the purpose of going out on an adventure. What you're doing is nothing but signing up for a tour, effectively eliminating the element of surprise.

 

[Basileus777]

The problem starts with the idea that you somehow need to get the best ending or collect everything... You simply don't.

If you've been stuck for a while I can understand using the walkthrough for that particular section. If some things weren't explained properly, or you have accidentally skipped an item that would've explained that shit, I can understand taking a quick glance at a wiki or a guide.

But following a walkthrough the entire time defeats the purpose of going out on an adventure. What you're doing is nothing but signing up for a tour, effectively eliminating the element of surprise.

Most games aren't particularly dependent on the element of surprise. And people don't want to miss out on content.