[General Discussion] Playing with a walkthrough

I used to be a person who would never dare look at a guide unless I was completely stumped about how to proceed in the story.

Nowadays, however, I find myself depending a lot on guides and, if applicable, wikis. Generally I gravitate towards wikis, but it depends on the game and the dedication of its fandom. The World Ends with You has a phenomenal wiki, with all badge evolutions well documented and displayed in a variety of ways to make searches so much easier. Beyond that, there's extensive discussion on locations, fashion brands, characters, post-game bonuses, and so forth.

However, I'm not looking simply for an abundance of information. An example of what not to do would be the Last Remnant's wiki, where there's information, but it's full of holes, poorly organized, unverified, or extremely difficult to find. In this case, I go to guides.

But yes, I now general use guides to make sure I don't miss out on nice things.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I only use guides for two purposes:

1. After I beat the game with no help (new game); and
2. When I'm stuck in a rut and need a way out fast.

However I find myself looking at a guide every now and then when there is some cool shit that I need to have, stat. The World Ends With You game is an example of that; I find myself looking at the guide for pin evolutions, accessory locations and game music hidden in the world before actually beating the final boss.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by Omnislash124

For the most part, unless I am truly stuck, I don't use a walkthrough. On the first playthrough anyways. If I ever wanted to do a Master Game, I'd have a GameFAQs page right next to me and read it through. But Master games only come after the first playthrough anyway (at least for me) so there aren't any surprises, so to speak.

Good god, this thread makes me feel old.

In any case, even 3 years later, my position really hasn't changed, unlike some others. I still prefer to slug it through a game figuring out things myself. The thing is I usually play RPG (usually JRPGs) which are already pretty linear. Getting from the beginning to the end is usually relatively straightforward and therefore, wouldn't really require the use of a walkthrough whilst playing.

When I go through a game the second time, however, I'm very likely to be following a guide just to get the most out of the game. The only reason this isn't the first time through is because I don't like reading about spoilers, and there's a sense of achievement that I get when I figure something out on my own.

But really, RPGs are the only types of games this applies to. I'm not into fighting games really, so I wouldn't need to look up movelists, not to mention most of the new ones give you the moveslist in the game. Every other genre, I can't imagine why anyone would need a guide.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Terminus

1. After I beat the game with no help (new game).

This. I never use guides my first time through a game, no matter how frustrating it can be without one. I'm looking at you, The Last Remnant.

I often miss tons of secret things or achievements as a result, but I'm stubborn about the first time playing a game being my play through the game, efficiency, items, and secret bosses be damned.

I'm not opposed to asking others for tips on this or that though, like "X enemy is giving me hell, how'd you beat it?"

This doesn't apply to fighting games or other things with no important story modes, though. Or MMORPGs.

How ya doing, buddy?

I may use walkthrough IF I have a book... but I am not gonna go on gamefaq and search it up... it just gets too annoying to go on PC when ever I am stuck =(

And yes, I try to stay away from walkthroughs when I play through first time...

FELIPE NO

i never play with a walkthrough.....though i played with a walkthrough for 2 games...MAFIA and POP2.... warrior within was so tough as it was confusing...keep posting...

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by Peter Benders

i never play with a walkthrough.....though i played with a walkthrough for 2 games...MAFIA and POP2.... warrior within was so tough as it was confusing...keep posting...

so then... saying you never... play with a walkthrough was.... in fact... a fucking lie.... stop posting...

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Unfortunately, since I only have time to play each game once, unless the game is one of my top 3 or 4 titles of all time, I usually am forced to reference a walkthrough on my first playthrough. Otherwise, trial and error, searching for hours on end for something I *might* stumble upon based on some useless clue that isn't even correct because the devs couldn't be bothered to use logic in their design, grinding, and loading saves to replay the same area would turn me off to video games completely. The whole industry is moving away from this sort of thing as games get shorter with bigger production values, fortunately...

How ya doing, buddy?

I've played a few adventure games in my life, but I don't think I've ever beaten one without resorting to a walkthrough at least once. Sure, there are times when I felt justified ( "That's what I was trying to do and it wouldn't work!"), but I almost always felt bad about it.

Over the past week, I decided to change this statistic by posing a little challenge for myself. I bought and played through Riven, absolutely refusing to look at any kind of hint. As a result, it was one of the most satisfying games I've ever played. However, I wouldn't have stuck with it if I didn't have confidence in the design--I knew from reviews that the game was free from glitches, pixel-hunts, or ways to lock yourself into an unwinnable situation. If I was stuck on a puzzle, it was because I had missed something or hadn't understood the clues.

A lot of games don't instill that sense of confidence. So, the use of walkthroughs can come down a design issue. Although it's hard to precisely peg what's "unreasonable" (or just plain tedious) in terms of design, most people can think of examples that definitely fall into "practically an Easter Egg" territory. Also:

Originally Posted by Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg

...for big enough games, I'll spend the second playthrough with my laptop on my knee, looking up items, characters and places of interest in a dedicated wiki. Fallout's is excellent.

This. Although I like to stay spoiler-free the first time around (I can't really "explore" and enjoy stumbling upon new things if I know what's coming, can I?), I think it's clear that games like Fallout 3 or Grand Theft Auto aren't expected to be 100% completed by any individual player. I usually don't replay them, though--I just like reading about some of the neat stuff there is to see.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.