Guides...Do you use them or not?

[TheGrandMom]

Re: Guides...Do you use them or not?

One of my biggest reason is Maps. GameFaqs guides don't do maps well. LOL

I usually go to the used game stores and get guides for a fraction of the cost in a regular store. Since I rarely play games straight out when I buy them, there isn't an issue. One store I go to has guides that are pristine when I buy them and I get them for $5 instead of $20. The problem is now I have amassed a SHIT TON of guides and the damn things are bulky and heavy! I really wish US guide makers would get their crap together and make guides the size of JP ones. There have been a few releases in the states of smaller guides like JP ones but most are still huge. If you haven't seen a JP guide, many are slightly bigger than a paperback novel.

[Evion]

Re: Guides...Do you use them or not?

I love this discussion. I didn't know if it was just me and my friends. We would always haze the crap out of anyone that used a guide for RPGs. Our rule was always that you had to beat the game first then you could "guide" yourself to mastering the game. Its sucks when you miss that item that you could only get on the way through. For FFXI, it was a whole new experience. You can't do anything in the game without pouring over online guides/walkthroughs/etc. I'm still against using a walkthrough for off-line RPGs.

[Takelli]

Re: Guides...Do you use them or not?

I love this discussion. I didn't know if it was just me and my friends. We would always haze the crap out of anyone that used a guide for RPGs. Our rule was always that you had to beat the game first then you could "guide" yourself to mastering the game. Its sucks when you miss that item that you could only get on the way through. For FFXI, it was a whole new experience. You can't do anything in the game without pouring over online guides/walkthroughs/etc. I'm still against using a walkthrough for off-line RPGs.

Yea. I usually try to stay away form off line RPG guides, but some times I cant. I have issues with a certain part, and I look it up.

Also... I guess I am not normal... I can read your sig lol

[Karinya]

Re: Guides...Do you use them or not?

Prima didn't always suck. The two best printed strategy guides ever were for the PC strategy games Master of Orion (the first one) and Master of Magic. They were the size of actual books, and full of useful information, some of which you couldn't easily get from the game. Both published by Prima.

These days I use GameFAQs for most games, and mostly FFXIclopedia for this one (ordinary guides don't keep up with updates very well, but most PC games aren't updated as much as FFXI, and console games generally aren't updated at all). Aside from MMOs where going into a fight ignorant hurts other people as well as yourself, and strategy games where guides are a useful reference but usually can't really tell you how to play, I tend to use them mainly to check for easter eggs, and only occasionally for plot points/trick fights where there aren't enough clues to how to get through it.

(It's also worth noting that the *manual* for Dominions 3 - that you get for free with the game - has more information in it than most printed strategy guides. But that's a very rare exception - and, of course, some of it is out of date now that 9 more nations have been added since release.)