[quote name='Cornfedwb']The more you rely on a strategy guide, the less fun the game really is. Getting the ultimate weapons, or finding all of the magic beans your first time through are only truly invigorating when you do it by yourself, without the help of a guide walking you through step by step.[/quote]I totally agree with that. I have an unhealthy obsession with avoiding any type of spoiler... lol if someone who's beaten a game that I'm playing starts to talk to me about it, I'll freak out and start trying to steer the conversation in some other direction.
I'll buy guides for some fighting games though. That's a totally different type of thing. Man, I'd be lost in Tekken if couldn't look up some of those moves on the fly. Sometimes a plaintext faq will do, but for games with a LOT of moves, a guide can be handy. Basically my "no-guide" rule applies to story-driven games. Although I gotta say, I see little points in Wrestling Game guides. You can change the moves for everyone, so what's the point?
An exception is the Shenmue guide. After beating Shemnue I checked out the guide and it was hilarious... it kind of parodies the game along the way and makes fun of the characters. I saw it for a few bucks and picked it up. Again, I had already beaten the game so it didn't violate my OCD gamer's conscience.