I need the strategy guides. I always get stuck and spend days even weeks trying to figure out how to get passed a certain point in a game, then give in and buy the guide.
Myst, Silent Hill (loved this one), Resident Evil, Xanth, Zelda, Link to the Past, Parasite Eve-- I have the books for all of these.
Does anyone else have this mental deficiency? And does anyone else start a game and just have to finish it?
I love first person shooters, but when the puzzle parts are too difficult (by which I mean I can’t solve it in 5 or 10 minutes) then I find a walkthrough on the web to get me past that part.
I’m with you, I too need strategy guides to play video games. I’ve played quite a few games I’ve never completed. Mostly either because their boring or because there was something I didn’t like about the game itself (battle graphics, the way the battles were fought, etc.)
Don’t feel too bad I’ve played dozens of video games in which I’ve never been able to get past the third level.
I had the stategy guide for The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past And I still had trouble finding where to go next. The only reason I was able to defeat the final boss was pure luck. (They could tell you were to get the silver arrows from.)
I’m a huge gaming fan, and I’ll gladly buy the strategy guide for a game. I love to get 110% out of every game I buy, so I always want to do EVERYTHING in it that can be done.
I’m so bad at these kinds of games, I don’t play them any more. It’s not a challenge - it’s frustration. Stupid games anyway. 
A link to the past, I remember beating that in the third grade. My complaint is usually that the games are too easy.
Though occasionally on RPG type games I get stuck and eventually find out I should have walked forward 3 more feet or something silly.
Sterra go stand in the corner with my son. Show off!
I’m the exact opposite of you Revtim[sup]1[/sup]. I will work on the puzzle part forever, but when I’m faced with a boss I can’t kill I call in the reinforcements (the son standing in the corner with Sterra).
[sup]1[/sup] Totally off-topic, but I can’t see or type your name without thinking of stretched anuses (anii?). You have GreenBean to thank for that.
I’m the worst at games. I’ve never passed Super Mario Bros for Nintendo. The only game I’ve ever beaten is Mario Kart 64 and that took me at least a year and a half. But, the only reason for that is because the only games I’m good at are racing games. I’ll play any racing game, and I’m pretty good at 'em. I’m so bad at video games, that I’ve boughten myself a GameShark and cheat, because I’ll never be good enough to win the game the normal way. It’s sad, I know.
tsk tsk, I’m horrible at any and all video games but I’ve learned how to get around having to spend the money on the strategy guide. You all just need a guy friend that absolutely loves video games. My ex-boyfriend was such a sweetie, I used to call him distraught that I had spent the past half hour wandering about aimlessly in Zelda and I had no idea what to do. Through my babbling he’d figure out where I was and tell me what to do. I do so love him.
Kitty
Another way to save your cash (strategy guides are expensive!) is to bookmark GameFAQs.com. It’s totally comprehensive and also free.
-fh
In the absence of walkthroughs, I am what they call a frequent saver. I’m talking once every minute on some of the harder levels. I have completed many games this way: Tomb Raiders I and II were my first real epic in recent years, and Quake II and Deus Ex have fallen recently. The thing is, the Save command is really the biggest cheat of all… I have died thousands of times in all sorts of games, and still win. That was why I was driven so mental by RebelAct’s Severance: Blade of Darkness. Great game, gorgeous graphics, my first 3d card, etc. But the longest save and load times I’ve experienced, and random crashes don’t help either. Thank heavens for mods. You could try some of them too, Biggirl, if you want an easier but still challenging time. Some guy created a respawn mod for Severance and made my life a thousand timnes easier.
I just found a walkthrough for the Gameboy game Zelda: Link’s Awakening on the GameFAQs page. I have never found this anywhere before. Thank you, thank you, gentle hazel-rah.
Sometimes I need walkthroughs. I could(after much work) finish Zelda(Link to the Past) without the strategy guide, bud did not get all the hearts. At least in Zelda there is a map telling you were to go. BTW I could get the silver arrows without problem. But for Myst, OH MY!..I needed the strategy guide, and even with it, the damn piano/musical notes rocket part was damn DIFFICULT. Also, I finished the game once the first time…I mean, I was hopelessly lost in the island, and just put the handles up in all theplaces, went about doing that, and then found the white paper.
I fear I will need the strategy guide with Riven. Damn it.
PD. Ok, maybe this is just something a friend once told me to bug me, but is there really a way to get GOLDEN arrows in Zelda:A Link to the Past?
I don’t play a lot of games, but on the ones that I do play, usually I do the puzzles, or whatever logical thinking is involved, and my sister does the fighting. I couldn’t fight my way out of a wet paper bag, and she gets frustrated by the puzzles. If we’re both stuck, we buy the guide or look it up on the net. On Zelda games, we usually have to look up the location of the last heart piece or two.
You know how bad I am? Playing the 11th Hour and the Seventh Guest, I couldn’t even walk around the house without getting disoriented and dizzy. I could do the puzzles, but I couldn’t find the right rooms!
The piano rocket wasn’t too hard. Channelwood drove me nuts, even with the maps.
I also have to admit that I started Tomb Raider and never finished. I had the worst time getting Lara to move those bazooms the way I wanted her to. I have to say that the crappiest map I’ve ever seen in a game was Doom’s. Was it upgraded in the subsequent games? I hated the map so much I never got any of the other ones.
I’m really not a game fanatic. Well, maybe a little. I’d probably be worse if I didn’t need those darn walkthroughs all the time.
Biggirl - Stupid? Hey lady, as far as I’m concerned, anyone who can go anywhere in console or computer games these days without a Gameshark or similar help is a freaking wizard. (Even more so during the horrific 16-bit era.) Strategy guides…feh. Less than nothing. I use strategy guides to decide if I want to rent the game.
Yeah, I use a Gameshark. And my emulators have save states (though MAME’s isn’t 100% reliable). The reason I have them is because without them I’d be a screaming maniac. No kidding; one game I rented, WWF Attitude, made me a screaming maniac even WITH a code (“unlimited creation points”…hoo boy, that’s really shameless! :rolleyes: ).
So there’s no reason whatsoever to feel inadequate, and as far as I’m concerned anyone who equates not beating a game “honorably” to a freaking character failing (I’ve heard this ridiculous idea bandied around on a few message boards, believe it or not.) is a freaking moron. Good lord.
I’m not a wizard by any chance, i beat a few games, others i couldn’t figure out and gave up. Never even thought about using a strategy guide or walktrough, if you have the game all written up for you why even play? just read the guide and you pretty much saved yourself the trouble of playing, you already know everything that happens anyway. And don’t even get me started on stuff like game shark or cheats, i mean they are called cheats for a reason folks.
I was about to say something along the lines of “Why would you buy the guide when you can get a better one off of GameFAQs totally for free?”
I used to be a moderator there. Was known as darkangel76 for a while, until I quit and closed that account. Been hanging around there for over a year and a half, and I tell you, there is no better place to find guides for games. Where else can you find a “swordless questing FAQ” for the original Zelda? Yes…someone there beat Zelda without using a sword, and submitted a FAQ on how to do it.
Someone else is also attempting to beat Final Fantasy Tactics using only the main character, instead of using a whole battle party. Impossible? Tell that to the diehard game junkies. They’ll try anything for a challenge. Just look at all the stuff for that one game that’s been submitted…
Though most of the people on the message boards there drive me insane with their “fad” topics, flame wars, and whatnot, I still poke around there. I just haven’t found any easier and better way to get help on the games I own.
Myself? I normally have to have at least some help with most games. I have Riven, and it’s driving me up the wall, but rather than buy the guide I can search a text document at GameFAQs for a certain key word to find the section I’m stuck at, and I can read that section only, without going through a guide and ruining the game for myself. I’ve already ruined Soul Reaver: Legacy of Kain and Final Fantasy VII by reading the guides…now I don’t want to play them anymore, because I already know how it ends. Video games really aren’t any fun when you already know all the surprises.
Don’t look for a guide unless you’re really stuck, and when you do, only read the part relevant to your situation.
That’s exactly what I do Devin.
And theend, games are supposed to be fun, not fustrating and not a test of morals. My complaint is that I wish I had the puzzlepower to finish games without the walkthroughs.
But if you wish to just give up on a game you are enjoying because you are afraid of ruining your moral fiber, far be it from me to try to talk you out of it. Just don’t cast aspersions on those of us who are playing for the enjoyment.
I can’t fight. or shoot, or run, or jump, or anything that involves anything that remotely resembles eye-hand coordination.
at all.
So, I finally gave up and stopped playing those a few years ago. (This is good in a way, I’ve never had any desire to spend money on nintendo or playstation or whatever).
I’m generally good at puzzle games, once I figure out what I’m doing… but that can take a while (In myst, I spent a week in the one world based entirely on audio clues while the computer speakers were turned off. I tried again one day after listening to a CD and realized “Oh, there’s SOUND”) I still haven’t in riven (and i’ve owned it for 3 years now, otoh, I haven’t played it in 2.5) Theoretically, I’ve no problem with strategy guides, but I never seem to remember to buy them.
Oh this is not a morals thing, and im not trying to put you down or say that beating a game without a strategy guide is in any way superior. I’m just saying the only enjoyment i get from a game is the satisfaction of beating it and knowing what happens, and IMHO a strategy guide takes away both those things.