Barely, and only for some small details, like potion recipes for "The Witcher" - no major things, unless it is my last resort (like, "Horshoe and Oyster locations" for GTA).

if i get stuck on part of a game for a while,like in Final Fantasy or LoZ, i will usually glance at a walkthrough to just help me with that part

Like many of the other posters, I only use them when I'm totally stuck.

Yes, when stuck in puzzles or to find tactics when I find an endboss hard to beat.

I also sometimes use strategy guides for character building and stuff of that sort, but I think it doesn't exactly count as walkthrough.

For Half-Life 2. I only used the walkthrough when I got stumped.

i try my very best not to at all times however there are times where a game expects you to know that the stranger with the gun aimed at you is infact you freind and hes genuinly trying to help not bust a cap in your ass.

I used to use game guides all the time. I eventually stopped because it was making games too easy.

My current philosophy is every game has at least one obvious solution that everyone should be able to figure out given enough time. If the solution isn't obvious, very likely it's a symptom of a poorly designed game.

I normally only use it when I'm totally stuck in a game or its an adventure game.

My rule for using a walkthrough is quite simple. If you can't get whatever the problem is in 15 hours of gameplay or 3 days of puzzling this out, go use a guide for that part. Most recently, for instance, I used an online map for the hidden stage in Eternal Sonata. I was ***Spoilers*** in the secret level, and was missing two pieces of Claive's soul. So, after 2 days of wandering, which put me well over the 15 hour rule, I consulted a guide to get the last 2 peices of her soul. And a few items I missed.

Usually, only if I am REALLY stuck, or am looking for all of the special items.

The only exception to this is Hitman. I wanted to get a silent assasin on just one mission, or couldn't get past one spot because I couldn't find one of those required items. I only got stuck on Hitman twice, and only got silent assasin one other mission, but that is really all I use it for.

Only when I'm in a JRPG dungeon (and even then only sometimes).

If anyone could play through such point and click games as Sam and Max or Day of the Tentacle without needing a guide... well they obviosly have a more twisted sense of logic than I do..(what... you have to send the bottle of wine back in time so that you can bury it in a time capsule which you can unearth in the future when it's turned into vinegar, which you actually need?, etc.)

i have for two games: Half Life 2 and The Discworld Game

werepossum:

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.

Yeah, I miss the little lambda symbols, I miss the quest items, I miss all sorts of stuff. And you know what? I seriously don't give a shit.

Part of it is that I have zero interest in "competing" with the game--I just want to see what happens next, or what happens if I do this or that. Which is why I don't play anything without a plot, preferably one that varies a bit based on what I do. Fighting games: What happens next? More fighting. Racing games: What happens next? More racing. Etc. etc.

Sure I'm interested in gaining skills, to a degree. I'll replay levels I just barely squeaked through in order to do them better, but compete? With a game? Pbbth. It's a thing. It's just there. It will be there whether you beat it on Easy or Master-Blaster King of the World difficulty, and it doesn't care. It's not like I can brag to my real life friends about it, or most of my online friends, for that matter, since a 38 year-old woman playing video games is kind of Instant Social Fail to begin with. And having beat a game on the highest difficulty is admitting that I not only willingly indulge in Social Fail, I spend countless hours doing it.

I hardly ever use walkthroughs for a game... with that said I had to use one for Level 9 in Condemned the other day. Theres a bit where you have to follow 4 trails around an abandoned house to find clues in different rooms and photograph them, I found 3 but then spent ages looking for the 4th and decided to consult a walkthrough. In the end, the clue was in a freaking oven, of all places.

I only did that because I wanted to finish the game real quickly because I had other things to be getting on with though, or I would have stuck with it until I got it.

I use them if am stupidly stuck somewhere, and then after I finish the game I follow the walk through to get all the nice little secrets etc that I missed the first time.

i use them occasionally, for secrets/rewards and for when i'm totally buttfucking stuck for about 2 hours on the same bit.

i use them occasionally, for secrets/rewards and for when i'm totally buttfucking stuck for about 2 hours on the same bit.

Pretty much like everyone else, when i'm stuck on something like a boss or a ridiculously hard part of the game i'll use a walkthrough jiggum.
But i must admit i give up a bit too easily sometimes after 15 seconds or so of fiddling with a puzzle, i'm an eejit like that.

It varies a lot depending on the game. If it entices me enough, I'll rarely use a walkthrough, on the other hand, sometimes I just wanna get done with a game that wasn't as good as I expected and go play something else, but rather than abandoning it midway, I'd rather use a WT to speed things up.

Most often I'll just use a guide for missable items or quests, since my teenage years are over and I'm not really inclined/don't have THAT much free time to play every game more than once in order to get what I missed the first time.

Inquisitor94:
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?

I'm not sure why you'd need a walkthrough for it... just do what the game says to do, heh.

Then again, I guess I'm good at thinking outside the box, but when it comes to properly set-up puzzles; I simply cannot pass on my own skills alone. Honestly, advancement puzzles are the bane of my gaming existence.

Thank God I had the Prima guide for the ones in FFX. I mean, talk about 'Cloister of Trials'...

I generally try to avoid using them because I feel like I'm cheating. However, if something is making me want to snap my controller in half (like trying to find all the survivors in Dead Rising), I'll use a walkthrough.

Thank God I had the Prima guide for the ones in FFX. I mean, talk about 'Cloister of Trials'...

Oh, you aren't alone in that one, Melaisis. Not by far...

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ScrappyLevel

I got seriously pissed off when i found out i missed the best weapon in FFXII, not because i neglected a side quest or i rushed a key moment, but because i OPENED A COMPLETELY NORMAL TREASURE CHEST HALFWAY ACROSS THE WORLD, AND IF YOU OPEN IT THE ITEM IS LOST FOREVER

That just completely takes the fun out of finding the cool items. how was the player supposed to know? it was not hinted anywhere and no sane person is going to think that opening 1 out of the dozens of treasure chest scattered everywhere would punish you. and of course when you do miss out you have no clue why, its just stupid and i refuse to replay the game for it. fuck whoever thought that was a good idea

OPENED A COMPLETELY NORMAL TREASURE CHEST HALFWAY ACROSS THE WORLD, AND IF YOU OPEN IT THE ITEM IS LOST FOREVER

I know this feeling. I use walkthroughs when I have the feeling that something like this has happened, but I try to not read any other parts of the walkthrough than what is relevant to my problem.

I never use walkthroughs for fpses but I ususally look at the walkthrough for RPGs after I have finished the game once.

That's why I love "missable items/quests" faqs. But the very fact that sometimes a guide is the only way to know about these things is a problem in itself.