How do you like to use strategy guides/walkthroughs?

R

Ruahrc

CAGiversary!
Feedback
1 (100%)
Just curious, how do you play through games to which you have a guide or walkthrough? Do you read it through one section at a time, and then play that part, or do you read through it room-by-room and just do a lot of standing around or pausing the game while you read the pertinent section? Or perhaps you play through a sectino before looking at the guide, then read it over and backtrack to any parts or bonuses you may have missed?

I can see where if you read a section at a time, the plot twists would be ruined because you would read about them before you got to them. But, if you read it through room-by-room, then the flow of the play is too disjointed because you're constantly removing yourself from the game world to read the guide.

For RPGs I usually use a hybrid of reading a section at a time (say everything I need to do in a town) and reading through after-the-fact to make sure I haven't missed things (mainly in areas like dungeons). But for an FPS...?

Ruahrc
 
I just play through games and try to avoid looking at walk throughs as much as possible. If I'm stuck somewhere for 30 minutes or more and can't figure out where to go, or how to beat a boss or something I'll look something up.

I may look at achievement guides, mission lists etc. to make sure I don't miss anything I want to do on a playthrough--i.e. look at the list of assignments in Mass Effect 2 before hitting the point of no return so I could be sure to finish all the N7 missions etc.

After beating a game I may look through more carefully and see if I missed anything. Especially a decision oriented game like ME2, I'll look and see what the options were and maybe reload a save if I want to change anything. Though for ME2 I was 100% happy with my main playthrough so I had no need to do that.
 
[quote name='dmaul1114']I just play through games and try to avoid looking at walk throughs as much as possible. If I'm stuck somewhere for 30 minutes or more and can't figure out where to go, or how to beat a boss or something I'll look something up.

I may look at achievement guides, mission lists etc. to make sure I don't miss anything I want to do on a playthrough--i.e. look at the list of assignments in Mass Effect 2 before hitting the point of no return so I could be sure to finish all the N7 missions etc.

After beating a game I may look through more carefully and see if I missed anything. Especially a decision oriented game like ME2, I'll look and see what the options were and maybe reload a save if I want to change anything. Though for ME2 I was 100% happy with my main playthrough so I had no need to do that.[/QUOTE]

+1. All of it.
 
dmaul1114 summed it up pretty nicely as far as what I do. Guides are a last resort on my first playthrough, with the only exception possibly being if I want a certain character that can only be acquired through very specific actions.
 
Same as dmaul and most others, cept I usually don't bother going back afterwards and looking at stuff. Most guides I have I have never even opened, and thus only buy cheaply for collection purposes.

I do, however, do use guides such as the leveling maps in FFX and FFXII, or table of item stats. Or if I missed something on my first playthrough (I missed Odettes and Kuldresha [sp] in Bayonetta, for example, and looked up where the pieces were).
 
If I get stuck to the point of breaking a controller I go online. The only guidebook I currently own is the Mass Effect one and it's still sealed(picked up for 3 bucks from CC). One of my friends would buy like every ps1 rpg plus guide on release and play-through with the guide in front of him. :roll:
 
[quote name='Malik112099']Why does anyone buy a guide anymore? Everything is on the internet these days.

and +1 on what dmaul said[/QUOTE]

I buy tons of Japanese guides for 2D games because I love to check out the sprite work in the bestiary and item glossaries.

Other than that I only use guides when I'm truly stuck OR to look up platinum lists after I finish a game.
 
I don't use a lot of strategy guides, but I do read trophy guides occassionally prior to starting a game. That way, I can know what to keep an eye out for so that I don't accidentally skip some missable trophies and cause myself grief.

Most of the time, I buy games for collectible heavy games (Animal Crossing, Pokemon), or a game where I don't feel like the games manually described the general functions of the game well enough (LBP, Borderlands).
 
I guess Im still one of the few who buys guides, although in my defense almost all my guides are for RPG's. I do it mostly for collection's sake, but I do use a the guide when I get stuck, or to just get a quick overview of what I have to accomplish during that certain mission. For example: I bought WKC and the guide, and the game is easy enough where using a guide is just sort of useless, but I got to a part where I was completely lost and had no idea what the hell to do, so I just referred to my guide. Plus, I noticed that buying a guide when it releases can sometimes benefit you price-wise, not always but in the case of limited editions such as Dragon Age's, Im VERY glad I bought it for $18 when it released.
 
I agree that most of the time just going online is enough. Usually for action type games I don't use guides at all, and if I get stuck or need help I will go online. However for RPGs that I want to play to completion, a guide is useful to have and follow so that you can pick up/do everything you want to on the first run through. I typically never re-play RPGs so getting everything I want on the first pass is usually what I need to do. For older games like Zelta LTTP (which I just started) I'm playing more for going through the story and experiencing the game as either a unique gaming experience, or a piece of gaming history, and not really to overcome the challenge of it. That is when I will just go all out and play through with a guide next to me.

Sometimes I feel it is more convenient and nice to have a paper guide. Especially for big RPG type games where the amount of information is huge. It is for this reason I bought the Fallout 3 GOTY CE guide, even though I don't have the game yet (well I wanted the CE edition and I think it will be hard to find/too expensive by the time I actually get the game). I find it a lot easier to page through a guidebook for a game like that rather than ctrl+fing through a text walkthrough on gamefaqs.

I posted this up because I was curious to see how people used guides/walkthroughs for games other than RPGs. I've been thinking about picking up the Bioshock 2 guide but have never gotten a guide for an FPS before, wanted to see what others thought.

Ruahrc
 
[quote name='dmaul1114']I just play through games and try to avoid looking at walk throughs as much as possible. If I'm stuck somewhere for 30 minutes or more and can't figure out where to go, or how to beat a boss or something I'll look something up.

I may look at achievement guides, mission lists etc. to make sure I don't miss anything I want to do on a playthrough--i.e. look at the list of assignments in Mass Effect 2 before hitting the point of no return so I could be sure to finish all the N7 missions etc.

After beating a game I may look through more carefully and see if I missed anything. Especially a decision oriented game like ME2, I'll look and see what the options were and maybe reload a save if I want to change anything. Though for ME2 I was 100% happy with my main playthrough so I had no need to do that.[/QUOTE]

Like everyone else said. +1 here too

If I get stuck and the guide for that game hasn't pennied(and/or I haven't acquired a copy of it), then I'll just look up the info on Gamefaqs.

That's what I've been doing when I've been stuck playing Darksiders.

As for paying full price for a guide, the last one I did that for was GTA IV and I haven't even used it enough to justify the purchase as of yet.:cry:
 
I went through a short phase where I would play games by sticking strictly to a walkthrough on gamefaqs so I could complete everything. It made games incredibly boring and tedious.

Now I just play through on my own and only consult guides if I really get stuck, or often if I come back to a game and forget what I am supposed to do next. Sometimes I'll use them at the end to find some stuff I missed too if it's worth it.
 
As others have said, dmaul summed it up quite well. I avoid guides at all costs until I get to a point where I just can't figure out what to do.

I owned a few guides in the PS1 era (mostly RPGs), but I realized they had too many spoilers. That was back in the day when information wasn't quite as easy to find online. Now, with sites like gamefaqs, there's really no need for a guide, unless you're a collector.
 
+1 dmaul, and use the internets. I also use walkthroughs in more complicated rpgs to see how the original stats I choose will affect the game (didn't do it for fallout 3, but I did just do it for the original fallout).
 
I also try to shy away from guides - it is significantly more satisfying to find things out on your own. I used to only refer to guides after I had beaten a game (i.e. only look at one on subsequent playthroughs) but as of late I haven't gotten to many extra playthroughs. The last guide I bought was for Final Fantasy X (I played through the game 3 times in total) as if you REALLY need to figure something out since it impedes your progress, it is always online. I feel sheepish looking things up for my first playthrough, though admittedly I have done it from time to time.

After I had beaten FFX, I enjoyed taking the guide with me and just reading some of the extra things (not story related, but stuff like armor combinations/blitzball/anything else) to force the nostalgic juices to flow. If I knew were the guide was now, I'd go look at it weep tears of joy. (The same can't really be said for online guides, though functionally they are the same).
 
I usually read the tips on how to get the trophies/achievements efficiently and effectively... If you're playing the game just for the story/fun of it, there's no need for guides really. If you're stuck, just google the part you need to pass, hence minimize spoilers.

I don't see the point of guides other than collectible/artworks. If you're a completionist, then you'll need the guide to get everything in the game (it's more anal than trophies/achievements). You can beat most games w/o guides, not that hard at all... But if you want to unlock stuff, that's a whole different objective.
 
I'll only use a guide if I'm not that into a game and I just want to get through it. But, if I'm loving the game and world/universe, then I wont look up anything no matter what. Like in Assassins Creed 2, I was stuck on one of the puzzles for 40 minutes or so, but I did not want to look it up because I loved the whole story and the idea of solving a mystery. At most I'll look up details about certain objects on Wikipedia, like some of the paintings .
 
If the game is a "big" game I'm hyped for I'll go through it without a guide first time around, then maybe go back using GameFaqs/360achievements/Ps3trophies. Throw away games, like Viking or CoD:MW2(more of a 1 time story mode game), I just use an achievement guide first time through.

After I bought the RE5 CE Guide on a whim I've been buying more guides, but only hardcover/CE ones. The just feel nice and have cool are work and pictures/stats.

I honestly can't stand having my laptop open next to me or my iPod (since the scrolling is slow and it loads slowly).
 
Depends. Most games I don't use a guide unless I get stuck (will sometimes look at achievements though), but for rpgs (not so much for open world ones like Fallout, but for more linear ones), I sometimes refer to a guide while playing.
 
I hate using a guide because it feels like a chore but i end up using them for a lot of games when I get stuck. I usually read it part by part.
 
I like some visual help because I can't bother myself to reading if I get stuck in a game, you could say I'm impatient then. So what I find most effective for me is to search for Walkthroughs on Youtube :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
bread's done
Back
Top