Guide's Do they really ruin the gaming experience?

Do you guys think that guide's do ruin the experience.
I honestly do not agree with this, i think guide's actually enhance it.
There is nothing like going through a game with a good guide and finding every item and getting it all right. You know that you're character or whatever is done to the max. With games like Metroid Prime and Final Fantasy i love using a guide. I may not use it first time through, but the game i play through with the guide i will always enjoy more, it is a way to literally get EVERYTHING out of the game.
Maybe it's not as rewarding, maybe, but i wouldn't for a second say it was a bad way to play a game.

So do you agree that guide playing is a good thing? Or do you look down on all the mo-fo's who use them.

Well, I don't look down on people who use them, I mean i've had to use a fair few in my time, especially recently with Final Fantasy 3, I keep getting lost. In games which are all about the exploration. I feel like it ruins the experience if I know where everything is as i'm going through. I like to explore the areas my self and find it cool how I never noticed I could shoot out that wall to find a certain extra item.

Unless you're stuck, I don't bother. You spend more time "looking down there" than "up there".

A guide really improved The Getaway for me though. Made the stealth sections pretty much a walk in the park.

I play all my games without a guide to completion but then there comes the games like FF and GTA where it's nigh on impossible to find out some of the stuff yourself. In this case guides are good for enhancing the experience.

For example, how the hell is anyone supposed to know that tripping a chest at the VERY start of FFXII stops you getting the Lance Spear!!? - The most powerful weopan in the game. It's just ridiculous.

The only game i've ever used a guide for was Oblivion. It was just strawberry floating massive...

I remember the day I got it through the post I didn't know what it was as it was so heavy! :lol:

I found the guide for Oblivion was really good as it helped me to find stuff that I would never have seen on my own. I think thats the only guide I have ever bought.

The rest of the time I only resort to Gamefaqs or something if I get totally stuck to the point of frustration.

I always buy them with and RPGs I buy, lovely artwork in a lot of them and the games are so huge you need them to find everything.

Final Fantasy XII is the only game I've ever bought a guide for. I was following the Walkthrough to the word, as I don't really have the time anymore to find everything in such a huge game, so I wanted it all on a single playthrough.

I was really breezing through it. Shame I got bored of the story halfway through and quit.

I only used a guide for Pokemon to get all the 'mon and train them up the way I wanted. I would use one for any big RPG if I wanted to find anything but using a walkthrough for something like an FPS seems like it would take away from the experience.

The Oblivion guide enhanced the game. It was like an A-Z when you're in London.

I don't like using guides to get through the main sections of a game, but for other things (like the flags in Assassin's Creed) I think it's ok.

It'd take months to track down every single flag in Assassin's creed on your own, it took about 2-3 hours with a guide. I'll probably use a guide for the Hidden Orbs in Crackdown too, as that would take an age.

I bought the Final Fantasy XII LE guide, I'm not entirely sure why as the game seemed pretty straight forward... Until it told me that there were 12 chests/locations that you shouldn't interact with - I had to restart.

I've got the Kingdom Hearts II guide, which I use for item locations more than anything else. I've also got the Pokemon Diamond/Pearl guide somewhere, I thought it was a Pokedex type guide, but it wasn't, so I don't really need or use it.

Like KKLEIN I only really use a guide if I'm stuck or need to know the location of something I need.

Huw Jazz wrote:Do you guys think that guide's do ruin the experience.

I don't know, but what I can tell you is that apostrophes in plurals ruin the forum experience.

I only tend to use guides if I get stuck or if I want to look for certain things I know I couldn't find on my own.

I don't buy guides though since there are usually plenty available on the internet.

I think I used guides for Broken Sword 1 and 2. :oops:

I was young you see. Didnt cripple my enjoyment at all. Without the guides I might have never finished them, and Broken Sword wouldnt have become one of my favourite series.

Rik wrote:I always buy them with and RPGs I buy, lovely artwork in a lot of them and the games are so huge you need them to find everything.

All of this and if I find a game absolutely love I damn well want the official game guide to go with it. It's like an add-on and, like Rik, I enjoy having all the extra artwork and info the game. Some game guides, speaking from a graphic design point of view, are just beautiful 'things' to own. I may not even use them - they're just great bits of art in their own right. The Final Fantasy hardback editions are just amazing. One of my favourites is my LotR:The Third Age guide, which came with pull-out playing cards bound into the book, detailing each game character and their stats - brilliant. I've never unpacked them. Just having them is enough...

Not really sure of the point of themselves, and if you buy the official ones I think there bloody expensive. If I get stuck ever Gamefaqs is good enough, but on the whole I like to work it out for myself.

I use guides if I get stuck or can't be arsed. Better using a guide than not playing the game.

TravelJug wrote:
For example, how the hell is anyone supposed to know that tripping a chest at the VERY start of FFXII stops you getting the Lance Spear!!? - The most powerful weopan in the game. It's just ridiculous.

Tell me about it - I did that and I had the bloody guide FFS - I'd just bought it to find the hard to find gooseberry fool and didn't realise there'd be such ridiculousness contained in the game.

Website

I never read guides.

I imagine they would ruin the experience a bit. Playing a game, I like to discover things for myself.

I do however, think that a guide could enhance the enjoyment of a game if read after finishing with the game. That way you'd see all the little details you missed.

I only ever use internet FAQs if I get really stuck. I would never buy a guide.

Guide's Do they really ruin the gaming experience?

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