Do you use game guides to help you get through games?

[Zaladane]

Generally no. I'll look up the game mechanics or learn the math sometimes behind certain games but I won't follow any sort of walkthrough unless I've already beaten the game on my own, to find anything I've missed. That is if the game warrants a replay. The only time I've looked up a guide was either if I had left a game for several months and have become lost or if I'm so shit out of luck that I'm close to growing 10 feet, turning green and causing millions in property damage.. I personally consider it cheating. I have a former friend who follows guides right from the beginning, with just about every game he plays even if it's relatively easy, and will follow the guide as he's playing. What the fuck is the point then? He even argues that it's not cheating, that it's merely playing the game properly and drives me nuts. He's a Douche bag anyways.

Also Deja Vu once again.

[Kool Aid Man]

I always use guides for RPG's from start to finish and sometimes I buy the strategy book before purchasing the game. I feel no shame

[Sheik]

I personally only use guides to complete 100% on games I want the recognition for.
Other than that, no. I'll muster my will through the game and finish with a sense of actual accomplishment.

No game guides aren't cheating unless you're that 1% that would use the guide at the start of a game. (Why would someone do this?!?)
I like em(game guides, not the 1%), they help me when I'm too lazy to help myself.

[SpuzzHardwick]

Depends on the game. For a super expansive game where I've already done tons of exploring without a guide but have reached a point where I want to find every little last thing without having to wander around looking anymore (i.e. Skyrim) I will use one.

[pmballer2387]

Depends on what is at hand. Example: Puzzles, complex routes to completion, altered endings, and hidden achievements. These are some reasons I would use a guide.

[jmurjeff]

I generally use game guides on rpgs. Mainly cause many of them require a lot of hours and do not feel playing them over again because I missed stuff. I don't always use them but I feel that on some games I don't want to play again.

[Cresset]

I've been using them less and less as I grow up and it becomes easier to deduce what to do next or remember important stuff (ex: finding an amulet in Resident Evil. Younger me would have likely forgotten wwhere the corresponding statue was)

Nowadays, generally only when it's one of those "lololo guess what the developer wanted you to do in order to progress" games. Yeah, you know the ones.

[soysauce2rice]

I use guides after I'm about 50% through the game. Unless they're rpg types that make you think where to go next, and yet there's a lot of possible places, I tend to give in and look up a guide. I got lost in Chrono Cross a few times, and then I found out later in that guide up on gamefaqs about what monsters to trap certain summons from, and of course I went and got at least 1 of each element.

I look up some games either youtube gameplay or guides to see if there's any tricks to it. Even though I made it through the game about 50% through, I feel like I could play the game more efficiently, or like a pro. I just finished God Hand on the PS2 and I didn't know till after I youtubed that I could juggle enemies in the air with an uppercut or high side kick them repetitively near the wall. Makes me want to replay the game like a pro and win =P

I look up guides as well when there's more than 1 decision, just to see the results. Some are short, like side quests, and some decisions affect the results of the end of the game. But hands down, in puzzles I look up a guide. Some are pretty complex and I gotta admit that I'm not great at puzzles.

[shin kai]

In RPGs and adventure games generally yes since I'm a completionist and want to get everything.

Come to think of it, I believe the necessity of game guides is not as crucial as before. I am thinking of times like in Simon's Quest with the kneeling at the particular spot or in Milon's Castle would drive people nuts if they didn't know from someone who most likely had Nintendo Power or called the hotline. Of course, times have changed now that we have the Internet too.

[Sheras]

On my first run through of games i rarely ever look up anything, when I go back and run through a second time (like collecting all the skulls in a halo game or terminals in odst) i almost always use a guide because I do not want to take the time to find them all by myself. Also i will look for any side quests, items or characters that i missed the first time around.

[Warrior]

only if im stuck or just plain curious if i missed anything important in the last area i was in.

[Sheras]

Got to correct this. Just used a guide to check what item I didnt get when a bandit destroyed a village in fire emblem. Tailsman. Now i got to redo the chapter.

[JKDarkside]

I enjoy finding things out for myself...unless a game is frustrating me to no end. I'll look up a FAQ at that point to see what I'm doing wrong but then that's about the only time I do unless we're talking multiple endings, then I look for a chart.

[SharinganLust]

When I was a kid and never knew how to use the internet, I would always go into the toy stores and look up information I needed and hope I retained said information when I got home. Lol. But now that we have the information superhighway, it seems almost pointless besides for being an avid collector.

[rabidmedia]

I don't like to if I don't have to. generally, I'll play for a while until I'm stuck, then play around, completing side quests and whatnot, and eventually, if I REAAAALLLLYYY have to, I'll youtube a quick playthrough to see how it's done. I don't like to cheat, but I don't like to purchase a game and not beat it, it's a waste!