Cheating in games

Retr0gamer

idkfa
idclev(1-32)

Dooom

Impulse 255.

Ah the times.

eyerer

"fly mode" lol
you can't blame gameshark, you chose to enable the cheat

anonymous_joe

I think some games require a walkthrough, plain and simple. I'd rarely cheat per se, but while stuck, a walkthrough can be a real lifesaver. Especially when you consider the sometimes unnecessarily bizarre actions required to advance games.

Wickla in Blaa

yawnstretch wrote:

I resorted to one for the first time EVER last week for Prince of Persia 2 (on psp) because it just got so damned confusing with all the time travel and revisiting the same sections of a castle over and over. Eventually, I had to go through it piece by piece again with a guide to see what I'd done wrong.

This is BAD people. Bad, Bad!

At first I felt ok about my use of a guide as it instantly got me on to more interesting bits in the game, but thinking about it - its quite unlikely I would have been able to find my way out of this particular game design loop without a guide or at least returning to a much earlier point in the game so I could play through the stage in one sitting.

What we'll end up with is pre-requisite reading for games and scripted, shallow, single-solution narratives.:mad:

Prince of Persia 2 was also the only game I've ever cheated on!! and for the exact same reason. once you've put the thing down for 5 seconds you forget or it isn't anyway clear where you are going/have been. I needed a walkthrough to remind me where i was from time to time. before i used the walkthrough i also found that i had to go back to previous saves so i knew what i was doing again. (this isn't good for you health when you haven't saved in awhile)

I hate this 'I've the new GTA lets go on the net and get the cheats, grab a tank' kinda childish attitude!!, Why spend 60 euros on the thing if you aren't really going to play it!

Play the game first!!!!

BlitzKrieg

Bubba wrote:

anyone who can say they honestly cleared Resident Evil zero, one, two or three without using a walkthrough is pretty impressive!

first time i played through code veronica i dint use a walkthrough...and oh was i angry...

There's a part early in the game where you use a fire extingisher to get pass a fire. After i used it a left it in this metal detection box cause i needed room for some herbs.....MUCH MUCH MUCH later in the game when in antartica with a *DIFFERENT* character...it tells you that you need the fire exthingisher again.......OOPS...its all the way back in the first world and i cannot reach it from here...****! had to start over.

Borat_Sagdiyev

I rarely cheat. Can't put my finger on why exactly.

I'm addicted to GTA. My usual way of doing things is to go through the game first unaided. Then, start the game again with a walkthrough and get 100%. I've done this for GTA3, VC, and SA.

As for that final mission in GTA3, there is just enough ammo available to you so that you can eliminate everyone in your way without having to go collecting ammo or cheating.

The special packages are a good feature in the game - they are actually more rewarding that using cheats. If you input the ammo cheat in GTA3, you get something like 5 rockets for the rocket launcher. If you collect the 100 packages (with a faq obviously) you have all the weapons bar the flamethrower constantly outside your hideout. When you pick up the rocket launcher, it gives you 20 rockets. As for getting more, collect the icon, go across the street, come back, and the icon will have regenerated, 20 more easily.

Just on a side note, I've recently started playing GTA3 again for the first time in years because I found a FAQ that tells you how to fly the dodo properly. It has brought a whole new dimension to the game which I would have never investigated because the dodo is infuriatingly difficult to fly without that FAQ.

thelordofcheese

BlitzKrieg wrote:

first time i played through code veronica i dint use a walkthrough...and oh was i angry...

There's a part early in the game where you use a fire extingisher to get pass a fire. After i used it a left it in this metal detection box cause i needed room for some herbs.....MUCH MUCH MUCH later in the game when in antartica with a *DIFFERENT* character...it tells you that you need the fire exthingisher again.......OOPS...its all the way back in the first world and i cannot reach it from here...****! had to start over.

Yeah i fell victim to that too. Drove me mental trying to solve it, then when it dawned on me what i'd done, i just calmly powered down my dreamcast, walked outside and thumped the nearest small child.
i felt kinda better. but not much.
Havn't played it since, but since clearing RE 4 over the weekend, i feel the urge to go back and clear it.

Borat_Sagdiyev

That is shocking that a game would let you get to a situation that you can't get out of. Pathetic level management IMO. Whats the point of letting a user get a good bit through the game only to find that they need something insignificant early on, which they can't get to now??

thelordofcheese

yeah it's pretty shocking. To be fair to the game it did bellow "please remove your items from the safe deposit box" whenever you passed by the thing, but it didn't stop you from just abandoning said things there.
And because the points are so far apart [you get the extinguisher at the start of the game, and need it again pretty near the end] you can easilly forget about it.

Sand

Provides good replay potential though, doesnt it?

I use walkthroughs for CRPGs and stuff - generally I blather in first, get in a few hours, then go back and restart the game and do it "right", taking the advice thats there. My first characters in any game are based on the advice given by manuals which is usually woeful. A lot of the walkthroughs give good advice on what characters offer the most potential for exploring the game/interacting with other characters or plain out getting medieval on people. I cant be arsed spending 200 hours playing a game when 80% of it is wandering about wondering what I need to do next, or getting my ass handed to me because I specialised in a crappy line of weapons/spells. Im replaying Baldurs Gate 1 (so I can replay BG2 with the same character, as my old games are gone). Its been years since I played BG so I could treat it as the first time through, but Im using a walkthrough to tick off against so I know Ive done everything important without wasting time. The guide has saved me time already by warning me Ill need a particular ring to progress in the game, so Ive kept one I looted instead of selling it as I would have done otherwise.

The walkthrough also offered other challenges I wouldnt have considered without it explaining opportunities to min/max. Soon as I got past the tutorial section I was off to take on a 5th-7th level area with my 1st level character so I could maximise my character later. Challenging as hell to beat that area, but it was done. Id never have attempted it without it being explained why I should.

Ive also cheated in BG - maxed my characters attributes to the max you could *roll* for them - not the max you could ever have, but the max you could start with. My walkthrough sensei talked how he spent two hours rolling decent stats for the character he used....thats two hours of his life hell never get back. Theoretically I could have spent two years until I rolled "perfect" stats but I preferred not to and pretend I had. It was cheating, but it didnt make the impossible possible.

I dont see why the use of walkthroughs or cheats is frowned upon in terms of single player games. Its not like doping at the olympics. If it makes the game more enjoyable then fire away in my opinion. Wildly unbalancing cheats like God Mode in FPS arent fun to me, but who knows maybe someone else likes it. Whose to tell them how to enjoy their 50 odd euro game when theyre not hurting anyone else? Who cares whether person x,y,or z completed a game using cheats/walkthroughs or did it completely unassisted?

ShiverinEskimo

Thats a coincidence - I acquired BG1 and BG2 SoA today. Started playing BG1 and picked mage and got murdered and kept losing companions left right and centre. I retried it as an out and out warrior so I could wear armour and use swords from the off but then still found I was doing something wrong as I lost a companion is nearly every fight.

I then decided to try BG2 given its better graphics and (dodgy) support for higher resolutions. And I'm enjoying it much more that I was BG1 but am on the lines of thinking now that its because I've given thought to the magic side of being a mage and realised that hack and slash is the wrong option for mages. Also got down with the whole memorise spells thing now too.

So now i'm wondering whether to go back and play BG1 or carry on enjoying BG2. (Even though the start of BG2 completely spoils the story of BG1 - how pissed off was I when I realised the opening scene spills the beans. :rolleyes:)

But on topic - I used to cheat alot when I was younger right up until I played half-life. Half-Life taught me the true meaning of gaming in so far as its the sense of accomplishment when you finish a game. I've not cheated since and maybe referenced a walkthrough 3 times overall in total. Much better off without - makes the 40 odd quid you paid go alot further.