Topic: Do you use walkthroughs and/or game guides?

When you are stuck, having difficulties, or don't know what you are doing, do you consult walkthroughs online or buy strategy guides? Or do you tough it out until you figure it out?

I for one, admit I use game guides, but only for games im not really all that into, or if it is a game i am into completely, ill only use walkthroughs to find upgrades that i personally want but are not necessary to beat the game (example being checking where all the missile expansions were in corruption for 100% completion)

I use game guides for different reasons also. NPC Pikmin for example, I can only get stranded on a planet so many times. Then I went and got the guide to finally get through it. MadWorld I bought the guide after I had beat it, so I could find all the hidden items and different ways to kill my enemies. (There are some I never would have know were possible.) Then there's games like Punch-out Wii that i refuse to get any help on. But overall I think game guides are a good thing and can enhance the enjoyment I get from a game.

I refuse to buy guides. If I get stuck, I just go to gamefaqs.com and find what I need.

I will use walkthroughs and online guides if nessecary, but I will never buy a guide.

I have a huge strategy guide collection and I think I've used maybe two of them up. I like them for the artwork. And even though I spent almost a month writing the Densetsu no Stafi 2 FAQ for Gamefaqs bounty, I hardly ever use a FAQ.

Me too, i have a copy of the strategy guide for Pokemon Gold/Silver....

but i never owned the game!

Only if i´m really stuck or if i want a 100% percent completion rate like with the heart containers in zelda games or the energy and missile containers in metroid games.

I usually buy them after I have beaten the game.

I would never pay money for a guide, but I have used online walkthroughs to get through games. I think this topic also has two other threads!

I'll use GameFAQs if i'm terribly stuck or have a quick question. I've stopped for the most part getting strategy giudes, with the exception sometimes being for like RPGs or games with multiple items, weapons, spells, etc., and then it's really just for the charts and tables they'll have (like a "who can equip what" list, etc). I'll tend to avoid the walktrough section of those guides unless i'm really horribly stuck or lost.

Basically, i tend to use guides (purchased or printed out from a site) in the same way that i would use my own handwritten notes back in the NES days (we sometimes got nuts with this stuff as kids -- sketching out complete maps to games like Metroid and even the Atari 2600 Raiders of the Lost Ark). These days i'm too old and lazy to bother with that stuff.

I used a strategy guide once for OoT's water temple. I do own the collectors edition of TP's strategy guide though i never used it.

I have to look online for games, although right now the only one I really need to look up what to do is Toki Tori.

I won't buy a guide, but I'm not ashamed to look for an online walkthrough if I get stuck. I don't have the time to try and figure out some of the tougher puzzles. At most, though, I use a walkthrough once or twice per game.

I would have to say my favorite site for those would be cheatcc.com.

I'll usually try and tough it out, but if/when things get too frustrating, I turn to the internet and/or GameFAQs for help.

Once I have to start resorting to having to use a guide or FAQ, it's pointless...I just give up at that point.

If I find myself stuck, I'll try to work through it. I usually waste several minutes doing this. If I give up (which I almost always do), I'll just go on Gamefaqs and bookmark a walkthrough of the game if I ever get stuck again. I try my best to not use walkthroughs, as it sometimes ruins the fun of the game, especially if you have to resort to it more than once or twice.

Strategy guides are actually novelties to me. I collect guides of games I like. When Majora's Mask came out I got the strategy guide with it, and followed it the whole game. I regret that decision greatly, because I missed out on doing anything myself. Now, only if I'm having serious trouble, like, so much that I can't possibly figure it out, I'll go check online, but I only buy guides of games I really like (I have the collector's edition hardback and the soft cover guides to Twilight Princess). They're just too expensive to buy for a game that is only good enough to play through once.

Only if I get absolutely stuck and can't figure out how to do something.

I'm using guides if i'm stuck, i'm also using guides for completing games 100%

When I get stucked in a game, and have tried several things to get going, and I still can't, then yes, I use walkthroughs

I use to buy game guides back in the days before internet lol. I use to buy game guides as soon as I got the game but that was because usually you couldnt buy them later on if you needed them. I only really use them if I get stuck in a game but nowadays games seem much easier than they were in the 16 bit era.

In the rare cases that I do get stuck now in a game or I am looking for everything and not finding hidden tokens or whatever I use Gamefaqs.com or some other site. Now with the internet a person doesnt need to buy game guides.