3387df No.15539487
The main reason I ask this because there doesn't seem to be any place online that gives any "hints" or suggestions on how to complete a troubling area in a game. They just give away the answer, ruin all the mystique around it, and remove the player's chance to think differently about the task at hand. And, yes, with some titles, there still lies the difficulty of actually managing to complete the task, but that doesn't add any bit to the fun. The solution was explained, and you don't get a true feeling of satisfaction from overcoming a challenge.
To point to a few games where this happened with, there's Ecco the Dolphin, Tomb Raider Legend, and Wild Arms 2.
b2008d No.15539540
That's not a bad idea. I vaguely recall some game guide online having a setup like that where they'd give a vague few hints before outright revealing the answer. Maybe it was for some Zachtronics game or something else puzzle heavy.
33181b No.15539546
http://github.com/Vhati/OpenUHS
This system's been around for a long time, though it's never gotten huge support. Some faggot is trying to make money off a reader, but the link above is to a free one. You can find files by looking for UHS or "Universal Hint System".
dd0a33 No.15539556
Anyone who has ever used a walkthrough should be rounded up, shot and turned into fertilizer like the goy animals they are.
5d00e8 No.15539558
I do it whenever I really don't want to put up with a games shit any more. If I feel like the game just does some dumb bullshit that keeps me from progressing I'm going to give up after some hours but if I like the game I'm not going to do it. This may be a weird example but I had to look up a walkthrough because I couldn't find the Ice Crystal in Sonic Adventure after 1 hour of looking for it but I didn't use a guide while playing through the entirety of Legend of Grimrock.
1f21c8 No.15539599
Breath of fire had hide and seek with these fucking children. That was guide worthy bull shit.
6fdd0d No.15539608
I myself play games more for the gameplay than to figure things out or find hidden things. I just never found that sort of “exploration” aspect fun which is why I can’t stand open world games and would rather just be reading enemies or pulling off some stunt that’s hard to do, so yeah, I’ll often use a guide for anything that isn’t enemy related or platform in related, and once I complete that myself I like to see how others did it to see if there was a better or more difficult but flashy way to do it.
7e0291 No.15539614
>>15539487
I don't have the time to try and figure things out or look every single secret out there. I work Mondays to Saturday and Sunday is family day, and I have to keep practicing my arts, so whatever down time I have left, I'd rather play the game and leave all the avoidable mistakes and errors to those that had played before.
5d00e8 No.15539616
>>15539614
Being a wageslave sucks dick.
acc15e No.15539620
>>15539487
That is why you
DONT WATCH OR READ THE ENTIRE FUCKING WALKTHROUGH IN ONE GOD DAMNED SITTING. YOU INCH YOUR WAY THROUGH UNTIL YOU GET THE GENERAL IDEA SO YOU DONT HAVE TO POST MEANINGLESS FUCKALL ON MY FAVORITE DYING IMAGE BOARD FUCK
9ff7aa No.15539648
>>15539487
Nothing wrong with walkthroughs. I used them a bunch when I was a kid. Some secrets back then were too secret to find unless you spent months trying everything. Also, sometimes the game design is just fucked and you need some help.
48891b No.15539694
>>15539648
This is the reason people think the bad old Nintendo games are "classics". They just used a walkthrough because the game was too cryptic or tedious.
f33bfa No.15539695
You'll need a friend to help you with this, but I have the perfect solution to your problem, OP. The issue with walkthroughs is that, in order to be as concise and clear as possible, they'll give away everything right away. As you said, it ruins any possibility for the player to enjoy things, turning the game into just a matter of following directions exactly as given.
So what you do is get a friend to look at the walkthrough, see the "solution" and then help you along. Drop hints, say you if you're close or way off, guide you instead of tell you. That way you'll still be able to have fun, still be able to figure it out on your own, but won't spend fruitless hours banging your head on the wrong wall, so to speak. It takes a certain kind of person to be able to do this, not the kind that is wont to just rip the controller out of your hands and scream "let me do it, retard!", and they'll have to know you pretty well to determine how far to push the hints without making it completely obvious. Done right, it becomes a fun "game" for both parties.
8bac44 No.15539775
>>15539487
>games needing walkthroughs
I miss when this was a thing. The last game I remember that even had an official strategy guide was Mass Effect 2.
f46265 No.15539875
There should be enough clues in the game for you to figure stuff out. Otherwise it's your own fault and sure go ahead and use the walkthrough but it's like admitting defeat.
I look up walkthroughs if i feel there's going to be scary shit i can't handle. Just certain monsters and animals that freaks me out so if i feel they are about to appear i look it up to brace myself for it.
3387df No.15540573
>>15539875
>There should be enough clues in the game for you to figure stuff out.
With Tomb Raider Legend, that was the case, I was just too focussed on a machine that was used later. With Wild Arms 2, the actual hint in the game doesn't help at all because the translation screwed it up. And, for the level Ecco the Dolphin, load up level "Dark Water" and see what I'm talking about.
30e667 No.15540662
>play Stronghold as a kid
>always get stuck in the mission where you're supposed to siege Pig's castle, it just seems plain impossible
>years later, decide to replay it and this time beat it
>run into the same problem, the mission is fucking bonkers
>look online
>"Haha, the mission IS literally impossible! Devs must have been smoking something! The recommended way to beat it is using these AI exploits…"
I don't feel guilty at all.
0cc462 No.15540666
54c1b0 No.15540688
I only do it after beating the game, if I know I won't be coming back to it, but want to see all the stuff I missed.
3387df No.15541034
>>15539695
>So what you do is get a friend to look at the walkthrough, see the "solution" and then help you along. Drop hints, say you if you're close or way off, guide you instead of tell you. That way you'll still be able to have fun, still be able to figure it out on your own, but won't spend fruitless hours banging your head on the wrong wall, so to speak.
Wait, why not make that the basis of an entire thread? A "Hints and Suggestions" thread?
>>15539620
I don't read the entire thing. I go specifically to the part I'm stuck at, but it still feels like a cheat.
eedd2d No.15541455
>>15540666
The devil's in the details, Satan. Does look pretty gay, though.
>>15540688
Sounds breddy gud.
I tend to avoid walkthroughs unless I've finished a game. Sometimes there's some 100% stuff that might get you an interesting novelty, with collectibles and the likes.
Also, point and click games can have obtuse puzzles that just don't make any goddamned sense or come down to pure busywork. For example, Toonstruck had a mandatory phone quiz where you had to answer several questions along the lines of "What color is so-and-so's shirt?", and the questions were randomized and selected from a pool. I'm not going to write down every question, go find the things, write down what the answers are just to progress. Fuck that shit.
There was also another puzzle that gives you a red herring, incentivizing you getting the rarest item in a prize game. You need one of the inferior prizes with a two word description for the MacGuffin Machine, and you can only hold one of said prizes. Use everything on everything, except you're not entirely sure there's even another item to try everywhere, unless you immediately caught onto what you were supposed to do.
9a0177 No.15541499
>>15539558
this. i don't mind sitting down and thinking for a few minutes about a puzzle, and i genuinely like writing hints in a notebook for use later etc, but some games do some fucking retarded bullshit that simply cannot be solved without investing weeks of thought. in the original FFXII, to get the best weapon in the game there was a tremendous list of bullshit you had to do, including not opening certain treasure chests that you found during play. that's some horseshit right there
b9f744 No.15541599
>>15540573
>With Wild Arms 2, the actual hint in the game doesn't help at all because the translation screwed it up.
A dungeon in Lunar ended up getting fucked over due to translation issues, too. I haven't played it in ages, but if I remember right, Working Designs didn't implement a certain text message that gave the clue to the puzzle. I suppose that was one of the lesser crimes Ireland committed against gaming.
d3d99e No.15541638
Someone explain to me why I can't play MY game the way I want?
280c64 No.15541717
>>15541638
Of course you can, nobody will stop you from being a casual faggot.
68329f No.15541768
I might open one for a second walkthrough if i really like the game and i wasn't able o 100% alone. Either that or if a game has problems or is full of bullshit. Like Alundra. I still like it, but fuck all that bullshit and the confusing tile placement.
74edfd No.15542144
I try to limit my usage of guides and help, but sometimes I'm just an idiot and overlook obvious things or get tunnel vision and focus on only piece of the puzzle.
9cd286 No.15542169
>>15539694
Hate to break it to you anon, but unless you ponied up more shekels for the strategy guide you weren't getting shit. Many games offered a hint hotline you could call by telephone, which did exactly what the OP is describing but they had to pay a human to do it. Usually people would talk to each other about the game, which encouraged friends to buy the same game so they could figure it out. Games were designed like this on purpose because the logistics (memory space) was not there to make games that truly lasted more than a few hours without being cryptic as fuck.
fb9b59 No.15542182
>How guilty of a practice is it to look up walkthroughs?
Are you playing a Sierra adventure game? Then not at all because the devs of those games were cunts that wanted you to pay them money over the phone to tell you about the items that aren't on the screen and don't show up with the "look" command.
Other adventure games? it kind of depends on what game it is because other devs followed suit with Sierra's bullshit.
Any other kind of game? You are a goddamn casual.
b75369 No.15542242
>>15539487
It depends on the type of game.
If it is a puzzle game it is to me a cardinal god damn sin.
You are robbing yourself of any enjoyment you would get from solving the puzzle, effectively destroying the whole reason the puzzle exists.
That isn't to say shit puzzles don't exist.
There are some infamious ones in Monkey Island and King's Quest games.
I feel the last time I did look up a walkthough was for Star Ocean 3.
In it there is a mine that is dark and you light Torches.
There is a tablet that you can skip by easily since it is a dark mine where you have to keep lighting torches that says pic related.
What that translates to is
>light 2 torches in a completely different part of the mine where you found the tablet and stand between the 2 torches so that your shadows overlap both torches in a way that is logistically retarded as light is not supposed to be able to do that, then a door will open.
A puzzle made more absurd by the fact nearly every room has multiple torches so it has to be these exact 2 torches.
24994d No.15543099
>>15539487
If you're looking up guides to fucking septerra core you may as well just stop playing videogames
f33bfa No.15543607
>>15541034
>Wait, why not make that the basis of an entire thread? A "Hints and Suggestions" thread?
It only really works in real-time. Otherwise most general-purpose "hints" end up being either useless or giving it away completely, or not even related to the problem you're having.
3387df No.15543626
>>15543099
I just needed a picture for the OP. First semi-relevant one to come to mind.
a9d9a5 No.15545008
>>15539620
>"huh, I wonder what these stupid marks on the wall mean"
>"I see these three different rock formations across the map but don't understand them"
>"Some dude in some town mentioned that there are three legendary pokemon, one of rock, one of ice, one of steel, and that they were locked up, but he doesn't say anything else"
>come back 4 months later because internet is a crapshoot with rumors and shit
>"oh, hey, the answer to find those pokemon"
>do a bunch of inane shit and use a move you never use with pokemon you never use
>what
>how the fuck was I supposed to know how to do that?
IT WAS 6 YEARS LATER I LEARNED THAT THE FUCKING CLUES WERE IN GODDAMN BRAILLE BUT NO GOD DAMN WALKTHROUGH OR GUIDE WOULD FUCKING TELL ME THAT, THEY ONLY GAVE ME THE GODDAMN ANSWER OUTRIGHT
f33bfa No.15547083
>>15545008
Man are those guys dumb. Don't you know the first thing about fire? If you head's on fire, lift up your shirt and wrap it around your head. Extinguish it by starving it of oxygen in a fraction of a second.
Or, you can go out of the car and run around screaming for ten seconds and hope the wind blows it out.
f3541d No.15547521
>>15541499
This kind of shit is why I look up "missables" in some cases. Usually JRPGs. Not full walkthroughs but a list of things that you can permanently miss.
999198 No.15548273
Older games FAQs can make sense if you get stuck or forgot how to get something. Newer games are basically designed for idiots so you don't need a guide.
96773d No.15548298
>>15539487
I really hate that feeling when I look up something in a hint book and the solution is something that had crossed my mind but I didn't bother trying it because I deemed it too unlikely.
2fdf94 No.15548858
Yes it's pathetic if you can't even get past a part of a game and look it up you haven't even beaten it you cheated and are a loser.
8306d5 No.15549127
I had to use a walkthrough to finish Sanitarium, but I usually don't care for finishing games.
223994 No.15549145
I use them for dialog options in newer CRPGs because writers are assholes and give easily misinterpreted choices that lock you out of content for not picking the right one.
d06ef3 No.15549154
>>15539487
Where's that screenshot from?
a9d9a5 No.15549237
>>15547521
>>15541499
Agreed, I'll look for "missables" or extremely limited use items but if I can't advance the story, that should be my own damn fault.
On another note, I've often been the co-pilot for my brother. He's good at games (I fucking made sure of that) but when he plays a game with an RNG or some obscure fuckwad directioning, I'll read up what he needs and will hint it towards him instead of blowing it open for him.
58ddc6 No.15549243
>>15539487
Plenty of PS2 era JRPG walkthroughs are vague about the plot and only say the right answers to give for the best outcome. That said,
>guilty
>implying
If I get stuck for an hour on a puzzle then I want out. That's it. I'm done. I spent an hour of my life and I want to just keep going with the game. Staying there and wasting time like that is STUPID.
You want to waste time? Waste time building up your body. You'll have the same loss of hour and a half but this time you'll actually gain something out of it aside from "Yeah but I already placed the cube there. Maybe I need to backtrack and find the item/thing I need to finish this…"
22d57a No.15549265
I have shit luck and have games fucking break on me easily, so when I'm completely shit out of luck and have spent hours trying to figure something out I just give up and use walkthroughs, it usually ends up with it being the game's fault.
>playing SR 2
>beat last mission
>no prompt
>no credits
>no new mission
>no nothing
>turns out you should've gotten a cutscene that would unlock the actual last mission
>google and don't find anyone suffering from the same bug
>playing GoW
>in a room in the labyrinth
>locked in a room
>clear it out
>go to a lever, but can't pull it
>complete the later half of the room
>try literally everything I could think of
>google it, but it's only people asking about the second part, which I had already done
>search for the part I'm in in a walkthrough playlist
>turns out the lever is bugged and you should be able to pull it
>again, google it and no one has the same bug fucking their shit up
26deba No.15549272
i only do it if i'm tired and in an area i have no enthusiasm about and want to get it over as quickly as possible
deb0bb No.15549300
When a game pulls the old "well, we won't tell you what to do now to progress the story or get this item, you have to EXPLORE" but the world design is utter shit. Usually, you waste 45 minutes checking every nook and cranny, check fucking anywhere and everywhere, only to find out that you were supposed to shoot a wall with a specific gun you hadn't used in the past six hours without any indication or prompt, to open a secret wall and reveal the path forward.
>>15549265
Or this shit. Pirated NuTombraider 2, game shit itself on a puzzle, spent 45 minutes trying to figure out if I was supposed to do something differently, then the game crashed and corrupted my saves when I tried to reload checkpoint to unfuck it.
Last game I actually used a walkthrough for was my 100% run of NieR Automata, since fuck figuring out where the enhanced 1/100 spawn chance machines show up, and you need to kill every single one for 100% enemy data completion. And fuck figuring out where some of those weapons are like figuring out you have to fish in a sewer until you fish up a lead pipe, or the Virtuous Grief being in a place that looks like it's not even part of the map.
9a1a02 No.15549403
>>15539487
It really depends on how the game is designed. If a problem doesn't have an intelligent solution, as in something you just stumble upon, then I wouldn't mind looking at a walkthrough of a game.
This is why I really like the Metal Gear series. If you're ever lost or don't know what to do, you can just consult your advisors.
9a1a02 No.15549417
>>15549265
The Saints Row glitch is very common. I think it's impossible to complete it on PC.
b6b1c0 No.15549740
If a game requires you to look up a walkthrough outside the rare chance you stumble upon the completely opaque and nonsensical way to progress then that game is shit. If the game requires you to beat a difficult puzzle or do something entirely logical that is even hinted at by characters in game ie: water prison in SH4, getting into Jabu Jabu in OoT and you need a walkthrough then you're just a dumbass.
537683 No.15549804
>>15539546
THIS
UHS used to be an awesome system back some time ago that would hint at what exactly what you needed and wanted to know. It would give you a small hint at whatever game or puzzle, then increasingly larger hints until it just told you outright the answer. It took some self-restraint to just not jump right to the answer, but when you needed a nudge in just the right direction it was perfect.
I miss UHS. I don't know if anyone maintains UHS guides for modern games, I just remember it from my AOL days.
e2f780 No.15549982
Like others said, depending on the game it's not wrong at all.
To put things in perspective, just a few days ago I was playing Cayne, a freeware point-and-click adventure with a sci-fi horror theme. There's a point in the game where you must replace a broken fuse to open a door. I spent over an hour trying to find a replacement fuse and trying all sorts of items I thought could work as a makeshift fuse, without success.
Finally gave up and looked up a walkthrough. Turns out you have to create a makeshift fuse by combining an ID card + fucking whey protein powder, and then combine the powdered ID card with a multitool. I'd never think of that on my own, as it still didn't make sense even on hindsight - it's fucking classic Lucas Arts adventure logic, and the game gives absolutely no clues whatsoever that this could be a solution.
>>15549243
This anon gets it
bc4f8a No.15551259
The worst part is when you pretty much figured out the puzzle but you need to do one additional inane action to get it to work. Happened to me more than once when I went to look up the walkthrough.
510c49 No.15551457
In SMT 4 you will be stuck without a guide. The map in that game sucks and its dark so its hard to see and people tell you to go places you've never heard of with out telling you how to get there. You will get lost
d89715 No.15554230
>>15539487
considering how many games sit unplayed in people's libraries for years, there's nothin wrong with using a guide, and actually experiencing the game. even if it means eliminating a lot of the difficulty
3e3e96 No.15554949
If the puzzle isn't logical (like combining random crap to open a door) then I instantly look up the solution. That shit is just fucking retarded.
c74ec2 No.15555088
I never do. But I do check official boards from time to time whenever I'm stuck to see if I just stumbled onto a bug. I hate how I've been doing this shit since '98.
Anyone else remember that bug in Fallout where a kid can steal a quest item from you and subsequently deletes it from the game world instead of fencing it to the jew next door like he was supposed to do? I think that bit shaved a couple of years from my lifetime. Fun times.
c74ec2 No.15555092
>>15549265
Wait a sec. Is this that girl that has a bunch of baitin' vids?
81e616 No.15555187
cf0b79 No.15555233
>>15541717
Cool. I play games for entertainment only not "achievement" or "competition".
f34467 No.15555284
>People are legitimately angry at people looking up guides
>especially in the day where people would rather just watch a lp of game than do it themselves.
I don't understand why you're fretting over this.
If you rather every game to be piss easy that you never have to look up a guide, just play watch gone home. I would rather want to play a game that I may resort to a guide cheating some of your eyes than play a game that I could do in my sleep.
1cb3fb No.15555341
>>15541499
>>15547521
>>15549237
But anons, the Zodiac Spear isn't missible! Square Enix is just generous enough to give you a free spear with the purchase of a Brady Games™ Signature Series Guide! Really you can actually get as many Zodiac Spears as you want with a little effort! I'll just quote the wiki:
>A second Zodiac Spear can be obtained in an alternative site, the Henne Mines' Phase 2 Dig. Even if the aforementioned forbidden chests are opened, the spear is still obtainable here. To unlock the site, at least 10 Espers must be acquired, and the Mindflayer Hunt completed. The player must speak to Geomancer Yugelu in Jahara to unlock this site, reachable via the Ore Separation.
>The chest is hidden in a secluded area. The odds are heavily stacked against the player: chances for the chest to spawn is 10%, the chance the chest contains an item is 10%, and the item being the Zodiac Spear another 10%—meaning there is only a 1 in 1000 (0.1%) chance the spear will appear. In contrast to the original chest, the lead character must wear the Diamond Armlet to receive the spear.
See? Easy!:^)
14245c No.15555358
I look up collectible shit but when I cant move forward I sure as hell feel bad for looking up guide. Im not that good at games unfortunately
bab640 No.15555362
>>15539487
>The main reason I ask this because there doesn't seem to be any place online that gives any "hints"
Literally just type the name of the game, and then "hints" you fucking nigger.
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=ace+attorney+hints
bab640 No.15555372
>>15555284
>If you rather every game to be piss easy that you never have to look up a guide
I'd rather somebody actually try to get past something for at least 5 min. instead of:
>OH FUCK NOBODY IS HOLDING MY HAND
>MAKE ZERO ATTEMPT TO EXPERIMENT OR TALK TO NPCS OR LOOK AROUND
>LOOK UP GUIDE
>Whew, that was close. Almost had to think.
Besides, by looking up a guide, you are basically taking a difficult game, and reducing it into one you could "do in your sleep" anyways, so your argument makes no sense.
f34467 No.15555401
>>15555372
>Besides, by looking up a guide, you are basically taking a difficult game, and reducing it into one you could "do in your sleep" anyways, so your argument makes no sense.
Only if it it's an puzzle game or adventure game (which is still the same thing really). Or are you honestly telling me with a straight face that you think ghosts n goblins is piss easy with a guide. That's complete and utter bullshit. The game is hard not be cause you don't know what to do, but rather the unusual jump mechanics, limited armor pickups, endless respawns, lack of warps/shortcuts, and to get the good ending you have to beat the game effectively twice. All a guide does is just give you the proper knowledge to do something, not the ability execute to it.
767f04 No.15564238
>>15539487
It depends entirely on the game.
aa6f7b No.15564250
The incredibly rare case where you might be playing something OLD AS FUCK that has a manual piracy check. Otherwise, don't do that shit.
0c646b No.15564433
fbbad7 No.15564471
Guilt is irrelevant. Games are made for enjoyment, if you're that much of a nigger you can't bear to look for the answer by yourself for more than 15 minutes then fine, use a walkthrough as much as you want.
I use walkthrough whenever I feel like I'm hopelessly stuck or when I think I'm doing everything right and it still doesn't work. Usually it's something dumb like doing things in a specific order when it doesn't really make sense. Sometimes it was me being a retard. I totally will use walkthrough several times if the game is full of cryptic bullshit. I don't have an exemple in mind for modern games, but the shit you have to do to kill the final boss in Lands of Lore is ridiculous.
c3cde1 No.15564505
>>15539614
>>15539616
I once got into a situation where I was working 90-100 hours a week, albeit for only a few weeks. It was a rough time. I still didn't use walkthroughs though. I made incremental progress in the 2-3 hours of play I got each week. I understand your rationale for using them, but why deprive myself of the experience of figuring things out?
In general, walkthroughs were a big part of video games for a long time. I used to buy the big, official published guidebooks for every game I could. I almost never used them as a guide. Instead, they were always neat to look through after a first playthrough. They usually featured art, secrets, trivia, and official solutions to things that you might have tackled differently. As a kid I loved reading them and I still have them in a big stack back at my parents' house.
But even just online walkthroughs are a tradition. Some games were even created with communal problem solving in mind. There's something about finally getting tired of whatever you're stuck on and digging up some Anon's lovingly crafted 300,000 word in depth FAQ, compete with an ASCII logo and dated humour.
204217 No.15564737
>>15539775
Remember back when games came with thick color booklets in the case? Nowadays there's stilly a place for the booklet, but often it just isn't there.
9ff7aa No.15564920
>>15564737
Those booklets were the only reason why I'd want to buy a legitimate copy instead of a pirate one as a kid. Back in the day, in my country piracy was the standard. There were markets full of pirate cd's.
e2f780 No.15565141
>>15555372
What if the game has an illogical / bullshit puzzle that you'd never have figured out on your own? Or a glitchy quest / puzzle with bugs that don't trigger items or events when they were supposed to and make it uncompletable (and of course, since you never look up guides, you'll never know)?
What do you do then, just waste days of your life trying to figure it out and finally just ragequit without ever finishing the game?
e2f780 No.15565157
>>15565141
Forgot to add, about 10 years ago I had an autistic af friend irl who refused to look up guides and that's exactly what he would to.
If he couldn't figure shit out on his own he'd just give up on the game, even if in the end when I looked it up myself, it turned out to be a quest bug or something like that.