Recently, I have started gaming after a years-long hiatus (since the N64 days!) with Hitman IV: Blood Money. I am currently stuck on the level "A Murder of Crows", am I am considering using a walkthrough to help me complete it. My question is: Do you use walkthroughs o help you complete a game?

Only if I'm irretrievably stuck without becoming peeved at the game in general... the last time I used a walkthrough was *shudder* for Psychonaut's "Meat Circus" level. (Man, I'd never have worked out that timed puzzle myself; what were they thinking putting that in?) But yes, I do use walkthroughs occasionally.

-- Steve

I try to avoid them unless I'm totally stuck on the first play through of a game, although if I do return to a game I'll use them to get most of the secrets.

I use them only when I'm stuck beyond belief at a game or to find little side objectives or how to unlock rewards and stuff. Fair play to anyone that actually finds all the hidden packages in GTA but I'll take the walkthrough any day!

I think this thread was here some time ago, but i only use it (as everyone else stated) when i'm stuck on a level or something.

Other times, i use it to find where all of the objects of item X are to get unlockable Y to keep on playing game Z(ed)

Very rarely for a first play-through, but always for subsequent ones. They're pretty much mandatory for JRPG's.

Yes, always. I hate having to play a game more than once to get everything, or making permanent choices that are good in the early game, but mess you up in the late game.

sometimes... i try not to though, and it's very rare when i need to. i'm at a point at "half-lfe 2" where i'm right before "nova prospekt" and i have the aantlions at my disposal. everything seems okay, right? but i have two gunships after me right now. which you think would be... not... that bad? but no, very hard. one i could handle no problem, but two's a little much. i've been playing this one part for a full day and no dice. i almost had it actually on my first or second attempt. i took one down and the second one killed me as my rocket blew him out of the sky. very frustrating shit. i haven't been able to even take one down since. i did check a walkthrough to see if maybe the guy's tactics were different or something, but... noot really. guess i just have to hang in there

Typically, if its an FPS with some odd puzzle, yes.

Yeh, I'll have to go with maybe. When I really need one, because I'm stuck, I'll go and check it out. Especially that epilogue mission, 'Mile High Club', on Veteran. That's really hard.

- A procrastinator

If I get stuck I'll look up a walk-through or even a G-d code to get me past the sticky part after it becomes no longer fun. I'm playing for fun, after all, and when it ceases to be fun I either find a way to make it fun again or I stop playing. The same thing happens with boss fights - I hate boss fights! I'm good for about the first five minutes of shooting the same thing, but after that I get bored and I'm looking for a way to play through.

Sometimes the walkthrough doesn't help the problem, though. Too many times the player making the walk-through plays on the easiest difficulty setting, and the thing that's holding me up isn't even mentioned.

after years of adventure gaming, the only time i really need a walk through is when i get lost in the gameworld and can't find out what to do next. this happens a lot with some games

I try not to, especially if it is the first time i'm playing the game. If i really need the help, then i check a walkthrough. I usually do use them to unlock or get to all the secrets/playable content.

OR, if the game has an Oblivion-like leveling system, where not-excellent choices at the beginning of the game end up screwing you over in the late stages

I'll only use a walkthrough if the games has become an adventure into frustration and annoyance. Much like Max Payne did in the restaurant level. Otherwise I generally play games without walkthroughs, it just ruins the fun.

P.M.

I'll use walkthroughs for RPGs, mostly the FF series... Less about the walkthrough itself, more for the monster guides and equipment lists.

I think that the reason why I keep failing the level is due to an Artificial Intelligence glitch, so I don't know what to do.

I try really hard not to on the first run through. With Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass, I already had a site bookmarked because I knew eventually a puzzle, or boss, or something would trip me up because every Zelda game has to date. But I always make sure I limit my exposure to a Guide so I don't ruin any of the surprises or fun after I get past the tricky part.

If the game involves a second run through, then yeah, I'll go ballistic with a guide and do everything the game lets me do that I enjoy. After that, if the game can hold my attention for further runs through it, I'll do it all without a guide, but refer to it more relaxedly then the first run through. "oh, there was an ammo cache around here somewhere... where is that guide"

i only use them if im stuck on a side quest or playing some free game on the net because if i cant get through the main part of the game on my own im probably A new to that type of game B a retard or C my mother

I remember printing out 100 some page FAQs for various RPG's when I was younger. Things like Super Mario RPG and Chrono Trigger come to mind. I didn't really need them, I just liked having them around in case I got stuck.

However, I haven't used a guide since... Mario RPG.

I remember when I was 7 or 8 or something I used to play an old tomb raider game on the PC (cant remember which one). I don't think there was a single puzzle on that game where I didn't shut down, check the internet for walkthoughs, turn back on. I did the same thing with myst to (though I don't think you can play that game without it).

But I havn't used a walkthough since I was 10, not since I got a dog to throw the controller at.

I do it whenever I get stuck, but since my definition of stuck also includes "irritated", "impatient", and "bored of this puzzle after poking at it for 45 seconds," I tend to use walkthroughs a lot.

Sometimes, I will walkthrough the first level or two of a game, just because I feel like I'm not really getting the internal logic of the game. Then, once the lightbulb goes on in my dim little head, I go all the way back to the beginning and start over, playing without reference to the walkthrough unless I get stuck, and by stuck, I mean really can't figure something out. Most often this is because I'm just flat missing some visual cue. My vision is probably no better or worse than most people with glasses, but I'm not very good at looking.

some games are hard and u just need a walkthrough but i have recently bought assassighns creed and u dont need a walkthrough because it explains it self like so go to a guy to give u a mission climb a TOWER and then u notice everything and then u just and stab the annoying person after a long chase and the run around from about 100 guards just because u walk past them and its as easy as tht really. put i have to say its a bloody good game to piss around on.

No.
Perhaps it's just the belief I've always been imprinted with, but i feel that cheating at any game; be it using a walk through, or cheat codes is basically cheating yourself out of the sense of achievement you'll feel when you finally crack it.
Cheating at games is like rigging the cards in solitaire. Sure you "win" but who cares.

Cheating's only O.K when it's to get ahead academically/financially.

Yes but only for 3 games I've ever played... For Metroid Prime you HAVE to have walkthroughs in order to know what's up.

The other game was The Darkness... And that was just to do all the side missions.

I use walkthroughs for adventure games when I start getting annoyed. I also use them for character creation in RPGs. I hate making I guy I think is strong and cool, then discovering he can't fight his way out of a wet paper bag.

Not unless I'm really really stuck and frustrated about it. Of course, if that happens, I'm equally likely to move on to another game.

It depends on the game. If it combines non-linear gameplay with a linear plot (so becomes unbelievably finicky about what I do, how I do it, and when), like Metal Gear Solid, I'll end up using a guide. If it's truly open-ended, I won't, and if it's linear, there's no need.

Yes I use walkthroughs, so that I can get all the side quests and for battle tactics when I run into a boss that is particularly annoying. (fought the thing five to ten times and am about to smash the controller/keyboard through the screen annoying)

I do when I get stuck (although I have a rather low threshold for how much looking/trial-and-error I'm willing to try before it becomes "stuck"), but I always feel guilty for doing that instead of figuring it out myself, especially - although not exclusively - on the first playthrough.

If ever you are up for some learning, read the research (yes, research) into the monster breeding in Monster Rancher. Techmo have implemented such an advanced and unprecedented method, that game is simply amazing. But, due to the detail, you really do need a walkthrough for some parts, and dont get me started on Final Fantasy.

There are some games where you basically require the walkthrough (See: Getting Knights of the Round), and I don't play those games, because that's bad game design.

That said, once I've beaten a game, I'll often consult a walkthrough to see what I didn't see, though it really depends on the game. With something like Mass Effect, I checked the walkthrough after two playthroughs, to see if there were any quests I'd missed.

With VtM:B, I was playing more of a "role" than a "game", and it took me several playthroughs just to get to the point where I'd had characters that had been willing to do all the different quests. After that though, I jumped on the walkthrough to figure out what that damn blurry nosferatu photo was for in that TV guy's room. Turns out it was just flavor. Figures.

- J

Sometimes, if I'm stuck or want to get the most out of it as I rarely play a game twice.

Yes I use them when I am stuck or attempting to do a sidequest or something. Every so often when I hit the 80+ hour mark I'll use a walkthrough (usually due to frustration and wanting to see the end of the game).

mshcherbatskaya:
I do it whenever I get stuck, but since my definition of stuck also includes "irritated", "impatient", and "bored of this puzzle after poking at it for 45 seconds," I tend to use walkthroughs a lot.

Sometimes, I will walkthrough the first level or two of a game, just because I feel like I'm not really getting the internal logic of the game. Then, once the lightbulb goes on in my dim little head, I go all the way back to the beginning and start over, playing without reference to the walkthrough unless I get stuck, and by stuck, I mean really can't figure something out. Most often this is because I'm just flat missing some visual cue. My vision is probably no better or worse than most people with glasses, but I'm not very good at looking.

I can identify with that. My wife plays those item hunt games and notices everything; I notice nothing. Our office manager was telling me what colors she had selected for a corridor at work and used the term "the mauve wall." I had to laugh and remind her I'm a straight male; I've walked that corridor for fifteen years and have no clue what color it is painted, or that the two walls are different colors (WTF?), or what color mauve is.

I use them when i get stuck on a game when messing around with the problem isn't fun and always when it boils down to Trial-and-error boss battles where if you don't do every part right you have to start all over again. and for Item lists and quest lists in most of them.