Do Guides and Walkthrough take the Purity out of the game???

[Deleted User 1]

Well my personal oppinion about Guides and Walkthroughs are that there stupid i mean games are meant to be passed on your own....I mean if you cant pass video games on your own why even play....Don't get me wrong i've used a walkthrough once or twice....But it rarely ever happens....So what are guys oppinion's on this?...Do You Agree/Disagree and why

[Schala-Kid]

i hate cheating! it's "Wrong"!!! i ask people for help when i need it, so that's different. i wouldn't pay for a guide or d/l an FAQ to get through it on my first play. but once i'm done, i might take a look to see if i missed out on things or not.

in other words, i like "Cheating" with the human touch - it's called advice, and imo, is not cheating!

except, i'm isolated a little, but it's no excuse! i won't cheat!!

[Elc]

No, I don't think guides take the purity out of a game. It's up to the individual gamer to decide whether or not he/she wants to use a guide or walkthrough. There are some fighting games where you need to use a guide because of the insane combinations required for pulling off attacks.

Games should also be fun, otherwise there's no point in playing them, and if a guide helps enhance the enjoyment, then so be it. If a game becomes frustrating (such as some mini-games in Final Fantasy X) then it loses it's appeal. I remember being stuck for the longest time in Lufia II because a clue was so vague that it wasn't entirely obvious what to do. (at the time, I didn't have internet access, so I didn't have access to any walkthroughs) One sign would say "Fight the blue guardian x-amount of times" and another would say "Fight the red guardian x-amount of times" then you would come a cross two statues, one red and one blue. Okay, so you hit each statue the amount of times as stated on the signs... but nothing happens, it turns out I was then supposed to stand on this particular tile, though it's not obvious to do so.

It makes you feel like an idiot when you finally discover what you had to do, but if you are stuck in a game a guide or walkthrough can really reduce the frustration of being stuck on what turns out to be a really simple puzzle.
_________________


"You make me smash the clock and feel, I'd rather die behind the wheel.
Time was never on my side, So on I wait my whole lifetime."

[Aurelien]

I personally don't think that guides/walkthroughs take the purity out of the game at all. They are there as a guide for those who needed them. Now the problem is who and why use them and not why they exist. They never forced anybody to use them at all. It's totally up to the players.

To say "why play the game if you have to look at guides" is not really fair because we have to realize that some people do play and finish the game once, and that's it, no more replay ever again (may it be becuase they have other games to play or no more free time or whatever). From those people, some of them want to know everything possible. For this case, guides/walkthroughs are okay to be used IMO and it wouldn't take the purity of the game at all because it's the way that person played the game.

On the other hand, most people use guides/walkthroughs once in a while just to help them out when they are stuck. This isn't taking out the purity of the game either IMO. People deserve to know what to do in the game. And games are meant to be fun, and being stuck is definitely not fun at all. So it's a legit reason as well.

Another different case is when you're on your second play through the game and just wanted to look what you've missed on the first play (like the first time I played S2, I missed around 30 SoDs, didn't even know Forest Village existed, etc). So they are very helpful to help with those things because most people who don't use guides at all first time playing the game would definitely miss some things.

Now the case when I do think it take away the purity of the game is when you play while following play by play from the walkthrough (as in to turn left or right at a certain junction in a dungeon to avoid dead ends, or to open or not a treasure chest just in case it contains traps, etc) while you have free time to actually try them out for yourself. And I admit I've done it before when I play on my computer. But to my defense, I definitely had no time to spend to go through all the junctions (LOTS of them, and only 1 of each was the right path).
_________________



~City-States of Jowston and Tinto Republic~
06.06.2004 - 20.01.2008

[adrich]

Personally I think guides can do a lot to enhance the game. I want to get all the items and see all the scenes and that's usually only possible if I use a guide. As soon as games stop including permanently missable portions I'll stop using guides, but I don't see that coming any time soon.

And, bottom line, games are not meant to "be passed on your own", they are meant to be enjoyed.

[Jebus]

I used to use FAQs all the time. If I ever needed help passing some troublesome area, or looking for certain treasures, then they're all good.

Although I used to, stupidly, use walkthroughs on my first playthrough. I've since stopped doing this ever since a guide ruined a certain event that happens in Matilda late in the game. :/

So I try never to use guides unless I've already beat the game and I'm just looking for treasure.
_________________

[Elc]

I, myself, generally use a guide when I've got no clue how to proceed with the game. In my Lufia example above, I didn't have access to the net at the time, so I managed to find out what I was doing wrong simply by mentioning the game at a local game store and one of the employees knew the game quite well.

One game which I used a walkthrough, but not for very much, was Conker's Bad Fur Day on the Nintendo 64. I think I only used it for a couple areas, but it really helps out if you're stuck on a particularly difficult boss battle and nothing you're doing gets the job done.

I even looked at a walkthrough well before I got Suikoden II, but I only used it to see which characters from the first game returned, and when I saw that some of my favourite characters were back, I had to hunt the game down. So, in the case of Suikoden II, looking over a walkthrough did anything but take the purity our of the game, and lit the fire under me to buy the game.

Jebus, I can understand what you mean about the event in Matilda, since had I known what was going to happen it would have completely altered my reaction to the event. Then again, I'm not one who disliked Nanami, though I reset and replayed through the event thinking I had done something wrong.
_________________


"You make me smash the clock and feel, I'd rather die behind the wheel.
Time was never on my side, So on I wait my whole lifetime."

[Watari]

I think that guides and things of that sort do not take out the purity of games for some people it makes them want to play the game even more. I sometimes read some of the guide before playing to see if I will like the game.
_________________
Sti?rth?ir le Machaire B?iteach

[Gwendal]

I have no problem with using them. For me, it`s normally more fun to complete things without them, but some tasks are so boring and/or hard to figure out that it just isn`t worth the trouble. And I think of it like this: I probably would`ve figured it out eventually if I`d tried long enough. But sometimes I want to progress in the game right away, instead of spending all that time.
_________________

[Glen Cott]

I agree with Gwendal, when a game comes to a point when the problem makes it no longer fun, I think that it is perfectly acceptable to look up a guide to get past it, and on to a more fun part of the game.

But I have played games using a walkthrough from start to finish, notably Lufia II, and it probably totally ruined it for me. (It's a hard game, and I wasn't in a very relaxed mood at the time, I just wanted to advance the story. But don't get me wrong, it's an excellent game)

Anyway, so using selective parts of a walkthrough doesn't take away its purity, but using the whole thing does. In my opinion of course.

[TheAngelicSin]

Personally I don't care for strategy guides since you have to buy them. Every so often I'll check an online walkthrough if I get really stuck in a game; but I don't have a printed out version to look at through my entire journey through the game. Usually I'll use a guide the second time through a game to get whatever I missed the first time through.

What strategy guides, especially, are good for is that feeling of nostalgia you get when you see and read about certain parts of your favorite game. :) Or at least that's how it works for me.
_________________

[kuwaizair]

I had to go to some walkthous, for the mose mornic reasons. Like in final fantasy 6, I had to go through a door I though i came from (same thing happend In KH with a platform)

but they do make me feel cheap, a long time ago in HS I was stuck tryng to find the lunar harp in FF7, a classmate suggested i talk to his friend (i think it turned out I knew the guy in 7th grade) so I had my own living walkthrough, I got Bahamut 0 and stoped the train.

after that I looked at myself and realized "i got to do things on my own, untill I feel like stabbing the TV"
_________________
few runes short of a set of 27

[Gwendal]

Just to elaborate...I do occasionally like to use a guide from start to finish. For example, to ensure I get the 108 stars in Suikoden, or getting 100% in Final Fantasy X-2. Basically, for things where one small mistake messes it all up and forces you to start over.
_________________

[Edge Riou]

I do not think that a guide takes too much out of a game. What I do is I beat the game a few times then I use a guide to see what I have missed. Or if I am stuck, I will use a guide. Like Gwendal said some games there are so many little things you can miss. Especially with Final Fantasy X-2 where you can mess up by not talking to everyone.
_________________

[Maken]

I use Walkthrough Guides but not all the time , I think the Guides and Walkthroughs are made for those who face some difficulties in the game ... that's what I think .
_________________
"I'm the wizard maken proud miner of the golden land of Tinto"