First playthrough: blind or walkthrough?

[Pumpkin]

So you get a new game, you've never played it and you don't know much about it. Do you go in blind your first time or do you use a walkthrough as to not miss things?

[Karifean]

Since the blind experience is one you cannot ever have again I try not to lose the opportunity. At times though I'll consult a guide to help me out.

[blackmage_nuke]

If one playthrough is around 30+ hours and there's multiple endings and a perfect ending requires me to meet certain conditions from the get go I'll play for a bit and unless I'm completely enthralled i'll use a walkthrough to get the perfect ending on the first run so I don't have to burn another 30+ hours playing through the whole game again. I try to keep things as spoiler free as I can though.

This doesn't apply if there's no "perfect" ending.

[Madame Adequate]

I don't go looking for help or guidance specifically, but I don't worry about it if I feel I want to look some up while playing, I've got too many games to play to beat my head off a wall. Except for games that I widely hear "Go in blind" regarding, like Undertale, where I try to adhere to that advice.

[Depression Moon]

Since the blind experience is one you cannot ever have again I try not to lose the opportunity. At times though I'll consult a guide to help me out.

Same. Playing Dragon Quest V right now, but I had to use a guide a couple times where I got stuck.

[escobert]

Blind the first time through!

[Galuf]

blind. this leads me to forget some games when i get stuck and not use a walkthrough.

though sometimes (like golden sun) i had llimited time so i said F it and used a walkthrough

[gau]

I enjoy playing a game blind and finding all the secrets myself. It may takes much longer to complete but I don't care, I'd rather play less game by my own than playing more games spoiled with walkthrough. That said I'm not totally against using walkthrough and when I got really stuck and it stops being fun I just google the solution for that particular puzzle, but after that I continue to go on blind.

Not to mention I'm a student and don't have much money to spend, so by taking my time to finish a game I get much more worth from my purchase. :lol:

[Vermachtnis]

I like going in blind, because like has been said, you can only really do it once. But I usually don't get around to playing games a second time anymore and don't like missing stuff. So I go case by case anymore. I'm playing Undertale now and I'm not about to ruin it by looking up a walkthrough. At the same time, playing something like Lightning Returns where they dump into it and give little information on what to do AND give you a time limit, I'll look up what to do then. And on that note, if there's a time limit I will use a guide, because time limits suck.

[Laddy]

I'll read up on the mechanics and such but using a walkthrough unless you're truly stuck or without direction harms the experience.

[Midgar Mist]

In an ideal world, I'd be a super smartass gamer but....I can only claim smartass with a handful of them. The game i struggled with the least is probably FF9. I consulted the odd person but, no serious walkthrough help needed at all. I was playing this game back in those days where the internet was basically two dudes in a Microsoft shack.

I didnt struggle with the main game Crash Bandicoot or Main game Spyro 2

The following games where Ive felt the need for hand holding are....

FF6
FF7 (Somewhat)
FF10 (For the Cloister of Trials part)
FF10-2 (To make sure I got Dark Knight)
Rayman: Attack of the Hoodlums (which is near impossible for me to play blind)
Shadow hearts 2 (needed help in those labyrinthine dungeons)

I complete as much of it by myself as possible, or take the walkthrough advice and tweak it creatively. But...I'm too inpatient to not use one at all.

Ive not needed too much help on RE2's easy mode so, ive done myself fairly proud (DEATH TO ALL LICKERS!)

[Pheesh]

Nothing takes me out of the experience of a game like pausing what I'm doing to look down at a walkthrough to see where to go next or if I've missed anything. I will use them on occasion, but never the first time through a game.

[Rez09]

I'll read up on the mechanics and such but using a walkthrough unless you're truly stuck or without direction harms the experience.

This is what I do. I don't (generally) use guides to direct me through games, but I do like reading up on mechanics and understanding what I should be trying to use and working towards, and what to avoid wasting my time on.

[Sephiroth]

Where I come from people use the term blind for a first playthrough anyway because you basically have no real idea where to go, no matter if you get tips or not.

And that said, sometimes I take tips, sometimes not. Depending on how long it took for me to look for something and not find it.

[Ayen]

I only use a walkthrough occasionally if it's something I need to finish for work, or it's bulltrout hard, but mostly I go in blind.

[Bubba]

Yeah, never use a guide on a first play through. If it's good enough to warrant a second play through then I'll consult a guide to see what I've missed. Probably a lot.

[Zanmato]

First time? Going blind, right into the action, of course! :D
I'd use a walkthrough only when I wouldn't know what to do (in most cases: being stuck) in the game.