Do you figure games out yourself?

People have forgot what gaming is....a fun pastime.

Due to gaming being all about levels, gear, XP points, achievements etc most people are now totally focused on that. A guy at my work split up with his missus and managed to achieve 7,000 gamer points on Xbox live in 2 weeks. Nearly as many as iv'e done in 1-2 years. He thought everyone should be impressed by it, we weren't.
 
I only ever used Thottbott or wowhead when I got stuck really. Skim reading quest text is quicker and tells you what you need to know. It's a shame though as you soon realise you don't know why you're doing said quest and you miss out on the story, so on alts I made an effort to learn the stories.
 
Yea i call them rank whores. More focused on getting to the top of the ranks or to being on top of the ladder than enjoying the game. They use the biggest guns or just stand there with a grenade launcher and get loads of frags. I prefer to have a good game and get off some good shots, of course i do like to win and be on top of the ladder as that is the point of the game. But if the teams are realy unbalanced i will join the loosing team and not just want frags as i don't care about ranks.
 
Depends on the game

If it's a game of pure strategy I will figure it out myself, otherwise what is the point of playing?

If it's a puzzle game like Sam n Max then I will check the internet if I absolutely have to, because cheating on one puzzle won't ruin the whole game

If it's a game like WoW then I will go half n half. I will do most of the strategy myself, but if there are certain things that you can't possibly know without the help of others, such as if certain talents are gimped, then I will check the net

I play Pangya/albatross18 and it's quite clear who goes to the internet for help. There's a site which tells you exactly how much wind will affect the flight of your ball, which in my books is cheating as it is information that would not typically be available to anyone, so I don't use it. I also don't play against anyone else who appears to use it, I just let the elitist "pros" play amongst themselves, because I still have honor. It's amazing how many people enjoy just winning, even if they are just acting as a conduit for a page of answers.
 
One game I really wish I'd read the manual for was Xcom/Ufo : Enemy Unknown

Took me about a week to fully figure it out :D
 
I think it depends on the game and the situation. Single players I like to work out myself if i do get completely stuck i may resort to a guide, my tolerance level is high, for example was stuck on one starcraft 2 level on brutal for about 4 hours and finally decided to use forums etc to find a way to do it. I used to love old school adventure games like indianna jones fate of atlantis, alone in the dark, the myst series etc. Occasionally (rarely) I would stump up on a puzzle i could not work out and again would resort to a guide. I much prefer to work it out myself as the satisfaction is much much higher.

However I am different in muliplayer play. I played WoW for 5 years in an end game raiding guild and have used thottbot and more recent iterations and also boss guides etc etc. In SC2 after i have done the single player game (when i can bloody log in) i plan to play online but I will be checking forums, strats, guides, videos etc before i do that.
 
abes odyssey was the only game where i bought a guide although i got a little online help with Oblivion as well but thats about it
 
Don't play BC2, but if they joined a decent BF2 server, they'd get wiped round the floor a few times :)
Reading a guide and having the 'best' weapon means diddly when you've got peeps on the server who've been playing for hundreds of hours over many years!

Same will be true for Starcraft too- All it needs is an unexpected strategy from someone who actually knows whats going on, and they'll get wiped.

-Leezer-
 
I'll only use a guide if i'm totally 100% stuck for like..a week. For example, this happened once with Tomb Raider. Feels pointless to play the game if i just use a guide every time i hit a wall.

Certainly i'd never use a guide for multiplayer :confused:..
 
I've had to use a guide retardedly on LoZ before and parasite eve 2 because there is a part in parasite eve 2 that is IMPOSSIBLE without a guide. Seriously.
 
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GuideDangIt

To be honest.

I play WoW with questhelper, though I do read through the quests, as people say its timesaving. I'm also playing through Sam and Max games, and I have had to use gamefaqs a couple of times, because otherwise the fun goes as you spent hours trying to find the right combination of items to use, but I certainly don't cheat.
 
Good thread.

Personally I tend to check walkthroughs or google to a forum where someone else has had the same problem quite a bit these days when I'm stuck.

As a general rule I do try to figure stuff out but it depends a bit on what type of situation it is. If it's just a case of, I'm fighting a really tough boss and keep dying, I will likely persist for a long time before seeking advice. If it's something along the lines of not knowing where to go then I am much more likely to check a guide sooner rather than later as often there is no 'skill' involved in that. In particular visual/video walkthroughs can help here, often it will be something stupid like not realising there was a doorway somewhere, or that you can move through a grate.

Things like secret areas or collectibles I never look up.


edit: One thing I really, REALLY hate is when games have a misleading puzzle. You know, where there's more than one potential solution but only one of them actually works. Case in point would be in HL2:Ep2 where you have to put grenades under a ramp to catapault you up to a ledge. There was a box of grenades nearby, and a little space underneath the ramp. OK, so I'm not a total retard, I can figure that out. Chuck grenade in the space, it will explode, and move the ramp. It does. Problem being, the ramp is now acting like, well.... a ramp. It's pointing up at the ledge and almost reaches. So it gives the impression that you are supposed to actually use the ramp as y'know, a ramp. Queue endless attempts at doing sprints up the ramp followed by crouch-jumps etc that really felt like they should be getting me to the ledge if it wasn't for some kind of ****ING INVISIBLE WALL.

Sigh. Actually pretty out of character for the HL2 games as normally the puzzles don't need to to execute your moves exactly as the develop intended, you get a bit of leeway.
 
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I never read or use guides, first time around. Multiple playthroughs - E.g Alts in WoW - I will.

If I want to be competitive in a situation which demands it - Tournaments, raids etc if I have not done the theory myself I will read someone else's work who has spent the time and resources working it out. No point replicating work when you just need to be competitive and hone your skills.
 
I tend to read guides for games I've already finished. Sometimes it's a real eye-opener and encourages you to play through again.

I remember first reading a guide on BG2 after I'd already played through it a few times, and there was STILL a load of stuff I'd missed :)
 
I never used to use guides but now with modern games and bugs i feel you have no choice.

Started playing fallout 3 yesterday and the goat test just would not work so i had to find a guide to use the alternative.
 
These days I'm an RPG/Strategy freak so guides tend to be useful once I've got well in to a game. I avoid walk-through's until I've finished one play through, or I'm really, really stuck. ;) Though I'm pretty sure more modern games like Dragon Age and Mass Effect tinker with the difficulty level behind the scenes in those cases...

bledd. said:
One game I really wish I'd read the manual for was Xcom/Ufo : Enemy Unknown

Took me about a week to fully figure it out :D
Click to expand...

Back in those days I used to read manuals, like X-Com's, from back to front. They were usually worth the read too. :D

These days I just blunder in and take it from there. Most manuals now are an utter waste of paper.
 
I will generally try to complete (or play) games by myself but at the same time I am not adverse to looking at a guide if it aids my enjoyment. Oblivion is a good example expecially when you are stuck on a quest and/or trying to avoid a game killing bug....
 
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