How many people actually buy and use player guides?

M

matthan

CAG Veteran
I try to beat my games without any help, but if I get stuck or have a clarifying question, I tend to use one of the many game walkthroughs or faqs on the internet. This begs to ask, how many gamers purchase $15 official game guides and use them?
 
I only buy guides for the GTA games because they are so freaking huge and it takes a long time for reputable info to be posted on free sites like GameFaqs.
 
I have bought every Final Fantay guide. They're more for collectoing's sake though. I sometimes use them after I beat the games once to overkill it.
 
I'll boldly admit that I'll buy one here and there if I need it (pictures are quite helpful in some insteances), but mostly for the clearanced or one cent ones. Most of the ones I do buy though I try to find used and new is only a last option.
 
I used to try to collect all the Nintendo brand ones and all the Squaresoft guides, but the nintendo ones have gone WAAAAAY down in quality and the last Squaresoft one I picked up was for FFX-2. I can't recall buying a guide since then.
 
How many times has this been asked...hmm?

Anyway, guides are stupid and a waste of money. All the info is available for FREE on the net.

I am not going to pay $20 for pretty pictures of a game I already have.
 
I pick them up for my fav games as collector items. I rarely uses them. Last time I really needed a guide it was for Zelda: OoT. It is nice to have them in case I get stuck. but with places like GameFAQs why bother actually buying them? At this point I only buy them so I can have them as part of my collection not for the actual guide.
 
Well I dont purchase many guides but I had to purchase the street fighter anniversary guide because it had a street fighter music soundtrack (awesome) and it had a $10 off if I purchased it with the game. Overall not bad considering game soundtracks are high in price. :D
 
The last guides I bought for full price ($12.95) were:

GTA: Vice City
Mortal Kombat Deadly Alliance

Most of the other information I can get from the web or friends.
I tend to buy guides for fighting games (MKDA) or really long games that I would like to complete to as close to hundred percent as possible.

I do like to pick up penny guides too :D
 
I rarerly buy guides. They are pretty good for fighting games though. Usually all the games I play are at least two years old or older because I am a True Cheap Ass. And all the information for those games is on the net.
 
[quote name='Scrubking']How many times has this been asked...hmm?[/quote]

Too many.

In any case, it's been years since I've bought a guide. I'll get them if they're cheap so I can have the pretty pictures, but I don't use them. I just enjoy working my way through a game on my own much, much more. Hell, the only guide that I've used lately was for Street Fighter Alpha 3, and that was because it's a glorified move list.

If I ever get frustrated to the point where I'm ready to destroy the game, then I'll turn to GameFAQs. Otherwise, I just do it on my own...
 
Final Fantasy 11 Online was the only guide i have ever purchased, i feel like im cheating myself when i have to use a guide book but i think its required for FF11 lol
 
ive only paid full price for final fantasy guides....there are secrets and sidequests that you can sometimes only access at certain points in the game....id hate to have to replay 30 hrs of a game just to snatch up a few sidequests/secrets that i missed the first time around
 
To say I have a huge collection of strategy guides would be an understatement (Once they "penny out" that is). Works out for me because by the time I wait for the game's price to drop a bit, the guide will be free. So at least I know I got one in case I get stuck somewhere.

I really only buy guides for RPG's. Simply because most of them are so massive I get overwhelmed sometimes. Last guide I paid full price for was SW: KOTOR. Some are nice to add to your collection though, like the limited edition FF X-2 guide.

For everything else, if I need help, I turn to GameFaqs.com
 
The last strategy guide I bought was for FF7 during a preorder special at Software etc. many years ago. I never seem to run into these 1 cent guides and any problem I encounter in a game is solvable through Gamefaqs. Once in a while I think about picking up a guide for a collector's item, but after a few minutes of debating wether to get it or not, I always talk myself out of it. In fact, I really wanted to get the Phantom Brave guide, but when I saw it was $20, I knew that wasn't going to happen. If it was $10, it would have broken my 7 year hiatus in game guide purchasing.

Edit: Come to think of it, the last guide I bought was for Final Fantasy Tactics. It's still wrapped and it's been sitting in the attic at my parent's house for a couple years now. I really loved the game and needed to have the guide. I think at that point in time I thought that Final Fantasy was going to be a rare game and that i'd be one of the few people able to cherish it. I'm pretty sure the guide is a little hard to come by, but I doubt it's worth it to sell it. So, I guess this means that my hiatus is more like 4 years.
 
I bought my best friend (and soon maybe more) the Sims 2 guide today for $20.. I didn't mind because her birthday is next weekend (big 2-0) and I had some extra money.. she loved it. She can't wait for Sims 2 next week.

$20 is VERY expensive for a guide.. BUT.. I did get the EB employee discount (I used to work there.. my bro still does) so it knocked a few dollars off.. but on top of that, the guide is almost like a freakin mini-Stephen King novel, topping out at over 300 pages..
 
only guide i ever payed full price for was for animal crossing... i just HAD to see all the furniture... hum... last time i played animal crossing... i think it's been a year.
 
Where do you go to buy your cheap guides?
Click to expand...

Some GameStop's sell used guides for around $2-3 a piece. Not bad because some times you could find some rare ones.

Also I remember seeing Best Buy and Circuit City discount some really old guides, anywhere from a penny to $2 dollars.

As for EB Games, when our guides penny out, we are supposed to destroy them, but I've seen some stores leave them in a "free, take one" pile. I usually save some of them in the back, and when a customer buys the game, I give them the guide for free.
 
Last guide I bought for full price was Shenmue for DC. I got metroid when it was penny'd, but never used it and gave it away.
 
I'll only buy the guide if I really like the game. Not neccessarily if I get stuck. The internet is more than useful for that.
 
I just use Gamefaqs, but I would consider buying guides for long RPGs, yes the info is out there on the net, but sometimes it's nice to see it in a guide form. I think they are way too expensive though, I would hate paying as much or more for the guide as I did for the game.
 
I think the guide I got today was the first guide I EVER bought, and I only got it because I know the Gameplay advisor for it. (Phantom Brave)
 
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