Hey you, yeah you. You're a cheater!

weiland79

Or are you?

Do you ever get stuck on a level and refer to a guide/walkthrough.

I'll admit that sometimes i do. It's usually if i can't find a piece of treasure or if a boss is breaking my heart.
I will always play my games on the most difficult setting and sometimes it can be quite frustrating, so a quick look at a guide can be good for my mental well being.
Most recently was the final boss in Resi 5.
And the most recent treasure was in MW2. I spent days trying to find the laptop in the snow mobile level. And when i did finally check it, it is in the most ridiculous place.I actually don't think i ever would have found it otherwise.

What about you guy's?

RolandIRL

no, don't cheat until i've finished the game.
i end up frustrated on a puzzle in games but i get more satisfaction out of it, when i figure it out eventually.

the only time i cheat is to enter codes but i do that when i've finished the game and just want to blow stuff up and have fun

Otacon

My general rule of thumb is play the game once, on my own, no cheats or guides. If it honestly interests me, then I go back and use guides and crap to find all the different treasures and secrets.

I played through Uncharted 2 and Mass Effect 2 mulitple times for example.

K.O.Kiki

My time is limited, and if I can't figure out where to go, maybe the level designer should've signposted it a bit better.

Counter-example: Donkey Kong Country 2.
You can see the signposting, but ignore it JUST enough. And then it occasionally changes the "rules".

Retr0gamer

Have too many games and not enough time to be stuck on levels for weeks. I remember the horrors of wandering jedi knight maps for hours because I couldn't find a switch that blended into the wall textures or Shining Force 2 that required me to go back tonear the start of the game and place a wooden plate into a tree without any signposting. I don't have time for that. If I can't see the solution it'susually something obvious I overlooked or just bad game design so it's off to gamefaqs for me.

Polar101

Yeah I do refer to guides if I'm stuck for a long time. For example, the last time was on Fallout3 The Pitt when I couldn't find someone I needed for a quest. After looking up the problem, I found it was actually a bug - so I'm glad I "cheated".

Usually if it's something that takes away the enjoyment of a game, then it's off to the guides for me (I want to have fun, not wander around aimlessly for hours hoping I'll eventually click on the right spot).

Mr E

^^ Same.

Why should I have to suffer through bad game design? If a solution isn't obvious, I can drop it and play something else, or look at gamefaqs and continue on.

djkeogh

I'm like most people here. I'll give it my best shot on my own but if it irritates me at all then I'm looking up a solution. I've found it recently in Assassins Creed 2 with those horrible rotate the puzzle pieces bits. I can't stand that stuff so I don't waste my time on them and just follow the turns on youtube to get me past it.

No shame in skipping a part of a game that doesn't appeal to you.

Willbbz

Grand Theft Auto San Andreas
If you didn't use cheats you missed out

quarryman

I've used FAQs and walkthroughs so many times I often wonder how I managed to complete games before the Internet provided me with all the answers....

wes

I will use guides if I get stuck for ages. I try to avoid using them when ever possible, but tbh I rather have fun playing my games, then be frustrated due to being stuck.

Shiminay

Yea, I'd probably be the same as most people here - I'll plug away at it for a while and if I'm just completely stuck, it's either get really mad or ask the tubes what's gone wrong. If it's because of some really dumb niggly thing that I would consider poor design, then I may just give up on the game knowing that there may be more stupid things like that ahead.

dreamers75

What are these stupit things people are blaming the game on? Any examples?

Seems to be a lot of them

calex71

quarryman wrote: »

I've used FAQs and walkthroughs so many times I often wonder how I managed to complete games before the Internet provided me with all the answers....

Ha, was going to say the same.

Is it a fair point to say games seem to be more ''disposable'' these days. 9/10 I'd play through once and move on to the next one. Maybe it's because now I spend my own money on them and don't have to wait on my birthday or Santy for new ones.

It really depends on the game. Played Limbo over the last week and had to 'cheat' twice after being enraged to do so It was the kind of game were you don't want it to best you.

I generally won't use a guide for gameplay though I will use guides for collectibles, my time is too precious to go spending hours looking for orbs in Crackdown 2 or Thermos Flasks in Alan Wake.

Jazzy

yeah, if something is dumb or irritating i have no qualms about using guides nowadays. the eidolons in final fantasy 13 were the most recent and i didnt care 1 iota because the game was nonsense in the first place.if im enjoying the challenge ill stay off guides and that sorta thing, if its just irritating for no good reason then i couldnt give a sh1t.
the quality of the game also helps

DOC09UNAM

calex71 wrote: »

my time is too precious to go spending hours

lol - "Calex dEUS has won a total of 3,498 achievements in 146 games"


I bet that took more than a few hours.

calex71

DOC09UNAM wrote: »

lol - "Calex dEUS has won a total of 3,498 achievements in 146 games"


I bet that took more than a few hours.

I'd say 70% of those came since not having a job

Thats still only 61% completion, I have people on my friends list with 80% + :eek:

DOC09UNAM

calex71 wrote: »

I'd say 70% of those came since not having a job

Thats still only 61% completion, I have people on my friends list with 80% + :eek:

That's crazy, 80%+ , fúúúúúúúúúúúúúúúúúúúúúúck.

johnny_ultimate

Never 'cheat', although there are times I'll check online to make sure I'm on the right track. If I'm looking for a particular item in an RPG or something, checking online to make sure I'm on the right track (or what track I should be on) can save sometimes hours of play and frustration. I try not to, but there are moments when checking online to find out the easiest or simplest way through something is worthwhile.

That said, I felt bad checking the solution to a Limbo puzzle after staring at the screen for too long!

elekid

Same as most people, I will happily use a guide to get me through annoying parts (Professor Layton sliding tile puzzles, ridiculously complex dungeons, point n' click puzzles when I just want to get to the funny bits) but I will generally try to figure stuff out myself first.

I at least try to do the main story myself, then use a guide to hoover up any extras I missed towards the end. Some top tier games (Mario, Zelda, Metroid for me) I will make more effort with and hate having to look up a guide for even the smallest things.

Best example from before I had the internet was my brother and I playing Breath of Fire 3 and getting stuck at a shrine we couldn't leave. After trying everything we could think of we had to put the game on hold for months until we happened across the solution in a magazine. Turns out we were meant to

stand still in front of the shrine for 1 minute and not press anything

:rolleyes:

Overheal

If I'm taking an unreasonable amount of time finding something or it's ruining the pace of the game I will get a hint, definitely. It's not a "My Time is Valuable" ego thing, just I want to play a game, I want to get to the good bit and if I'm stuck in the first 3 rooms of the last dungeon in Majora's Mask and I've spent 3 hours (for a couple sessions) on a brain fart then HELL YES I'm going to the Googleweb.

Though that example exemplifies a Scale: How far into the game are you? How well have you been getting on? You're far more less likely to look for a hint if you've made it so far into a game.

RPGs are definitely their own story. You can still get 80+ hours out of FFIX even when you know where you're going. They just seed so much "endgame" content into those titles @_@ and you cannot tell me you have never googled something in WoW or checked a Loot Table.

Jazzy

Overheal wrote: »

It's not a "My Time is Valuable" ego thing

how is time being valueable to sum1 an ego thing ?

Overheal

my time is too valuable to answer your query :pac:

jaykhunter

Polar101 wrote: »

Yeah I do refer to guides if I'm stuck for a long time. For example, the last time was on Fallout3 The Pitt when I couldn't find someone I needed for a quest. After looking up the problem, I found it was actually a bug - so I'm glad I "cheated".

Usually if it's something that takes away the enjoyment of a game, then it's off to the guides for me (I want to have fun, not wander around aimlessly for hours hoping I'll eventually click on the right spot).

Agreed. I only use walkthroughs if i'm really stuck, and the only alternative is not playing the game. I bought it, so I want to see the game through. I hate grinding, and replaying the same part, so at that point of exasperation I look up how to do it.

I usually only play through games once, and if I like it I'll clear it 100%. It would have to be a very special game for me to clear it again.

Yep, games are a hobby so when the challenge is p1ssing me off instead of making me work harder to overcome I'll see how it's done. Leaving the game unfinished (especially if I'm halfway through) i really don't like doing it. Especially if I can get over the hump with a walkthrough.

With point and click games like Broken Sword, if i'm aimlessly adding every object to every other object on everything in the room, it's time to look up the walkthrough.

Jazzy

Overheal wrote: »

It's not a "My Time is Valuable" ego thing

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Have too many games and not enough time to be stuck on levels for weeks. I remember the horrors of wandering jedi knight maps for hours because I couldn't find a switch that blended into the wall textures or Shining Force 2 that required me to go back tonear the start of the game and place a wooden plate into a tree without any signposting. I don't have time for that. If I can't see the solution it'susually something obvious I overlooked or just bad game design so it's off to gamefaqs for me.

hmmmmmmm

Jako8

If I'm really stuck and I've spent ages trying to pass something and I still can't, I'd probably refer to a walkthrough.

I hate myself for doing it though.

Mr E

I finally finished Alan Wake last night, and got none of the collectable achievements (thermoses, radio shows, tv shows, points of interest, manuscripts). I'm going to play it through again on Nightmare mode with a collectables guide to hand.

I got full enjoyment out of playing it without a walkthrough (although I'll admit to getting a bit of help here on the xbox forum with a tricky bit at the end of episode 2)

super_furry

Do games even have cheat codes anymore? Seems they went the way of the dodo - especially when publishers started charging you to unlock levels/items.

The Freeman

its very rare that i have to,but i would have no shame in heading over to gamefaqs to check out a walkthrough if i was stuck..last being god of war 2, where i got stuck about ten times..
my backlog is far too long to get stuck for an hour on something that i simply should have solved during 5 mins of play.

calex71

super_furry wrote: »

Do games even have cheat codes anymore? Seems they went the way of the dodo - especially when publishers started charging you to unlock levels/items.

Some still do, but they disable achievements etc and rightly so so many don't use them even if they are there. The Orange Box was one example where cheats didn't disable achievements, which I found out after I had spent a fair bit of time plugging away at it lol

pablomakaveli

I often use FAQ's and walkthroughs if i'm badly stuck. I don't like having to use them but i don't want to spend ages stuck on a game and then lose interest.

For example when playing the phoenix wright series i would often get stuck on a questioning a witness or investigating. When i looked up the solutions i'd find it was something i probably would have never have figured out or at least taken a very long time to figure out so it was for the best in the end.