CHEATERS!!!

[Maya]

I´m just curious to know :D

[Shlup]

I don't hesitate to use a guide just 'cause I'm usually more interested in furthering the story than challenging gameplay.

[Roogle]

I don't want to miss anything, so I always use a walkthrough. If it's a fun game and I think that I can stand playing it again right afterwards, I'll probably wait until the next game to get everything. If it's a Suikoden game, I'll always use a walkthrough.

[-*-Rikku-*-]

Yeh i use a walkthrough all the time, i'm really someone who don't wants to miss some things that are important.

[Ultima Shadow]

NEVER! :)

Oh, well... I check a bit in walktroughs sometimes so that I don't miss anything but ONLY on my second plays.
NEVER on my first play trough a game.

[PearlRose]

Walkthroughs have saved me from lots of headaches when playing. ^^

[Captain Maxx Power]

First time through I wing it and don't use a guide unless I have absolutely no clue what I'm doing. Cheats if I've say forgotten to save it at a certain point and would haveta backtrack a long way. Tips I can't avoid picking up from different people.

[m4tt]

I almost always use a guide. It's just the way I play. I want to get everything I can with as little effort as possible. Maybe when I was younger I'd play through it on my own first, then use a guide the second time. But now I don't really feel like playing games a second time most of the time.

[ShunNakamura]

In FF games I really find no reason to cheat... they are generally easily enough as is.

As for walkthroughs... I tend to try and wing it at first. V, VI and VIII I did a good job on, got just about the whole way through. V I wanted to find out how to kill mr. omega cause he annoyed me(I don't like leaving anything alive in my trail). VI well.... I couldn't find locke(my fav) so I used a guide to find him... although getting through Pheonix cave annoyed the crap out of me.... but I refused to get a guide. VIII got to a certian point.... couldn't find out why i was missing so many GF's or why I was so weak.... basically I needed to find a guide on drawing... then I kicked myself... so simple.... I must not have paid attention during the tutorials.

IV and VII I used guides fairly early on. For IV I couldn't get passed the Dark elf thing(wait is that fairly early on??? whatever) and VII I got to Rocket town(or near it) and was wondering why I didn't have Yuffie yet(I knew she was a playable character from all the hype surronding the game). So I looked that up... got ticked, restarted and played through with her.... very glad I did... she is my fav character in the FF series.

So basically yes I use guides but I try to play through spoiler free first... it is only when I miss something I really want and know it is in game(Yuffie) or run into some problems I don't think I should have that I use them.

Games I have NOT used walkthroughs on untill I wanted to see if I got everything are Chrono Cross, Chrono Trigger, Parasite Eve(this one was a pain, but it was one of the first console games I played... before I even knew they had guides online :eek: yes taht was at least 5 years ago if not more(I was 12 in other words), And I am currently playing Xenogears(the non-demo) without a FAQ or guide. The Xenogears demo was fun... so I just have to play hte real one.

[ShivaBlizzard8]

Ii always use a guide when playing because I don't want to miss anything - its nearly impossible to find all the hidden things in an FF game, since a lot of the time you don't even know what you're looking for. I don't really consider it cheating - I still have to do everything myself. Having others beat bosses for you or using game hacks or codes - now that's cheating. :)

[Samuraid]

Hardly ever...but sometimes. :D

[Sepho]

I own guides for FF's 7, 8, 9, and Origins (and I used to own one for Chronicles), but received the majority of them as gifts, and almost always after I had played through the game several times. I mostly use them for reference when helping others, though, and I used to run an FF site for which they were very helpful.

I have nothing against the use of walkthroughs if it makes the game more enjoyable. Back when I had limitless amounts of time to play games, I'd just search, and search, and search to figure out where I needed to go before I would resort to looking at a walkthrough. Now, I don't care. I really only have time to enjoy the story these days, so if I get stuck, I'm looking it up, rather than aimlessly wandering around, and trying to figure it out on my own. I remember referring to the Wind Waker guide many times.

[Flamethrower]

I always use walkthroughs. I'm hopeless without them.

[Luc]

The first time through an RPG, I try to not use a strategy guide. If I'm really stuck, and just about ready to give up, I'll just use a guide. Most FF's are really easy though, so I guess this is mainly for the other RPG's that are hard.

[m4tt]

I own guides for VII, VIII, IX, X, X-2, FFOrigins, FFAnthologies, FFChronicals and FFTactics. Mostly because when you buy them WITH the game you get a discount. :D

[black orb]

>>> Never, I just use faqs and guides after beating the game on my own..

[Cless]

I'm honestly surprised at the amount of walkthrough users. I didn't expect there to be as many! I thought most people just dived into the game and done everything themselves like I do. I guess I was wrong in assuming that!

For me personally, I just don't derive the same satisfaction from a game if I use a walkthrough. I would only ever resort to one if I was literally pulling my hair out in frustration! I wouldn't enjoy myself as much if I felt that I wasn't progressing of my own accord, but of some guide's instead.

Though in saying that, I do miss miss a lot of stuff first time round in a game like an RPG. I can definatly see the advantage of people using them to see everything there is in the first playthrough. And it's probably the wise thing to do if you don't have time for multiple playthroughs.

[*Dark~Chaos*]

I dun reali use guides, i just buy dem for da pics lol:) and deres more satisfaction if you complete the game or a part of it. :elk:

[turnitup5000db]

My general rule of thumb is if I absolutely can not figure out what to do in under an hour and a half (Give or take, depending on the difficulty level of the game and story depth...) I take a look at the guide. The story still advances at a reasonable pace then, but I still get to have the fun of solving a few of the puzzles myself. Of course, the irritating part is that usually the first or second thing I tried was the right thing, but I just somehow managed to do it wrong. God I hate it when that happens...

[Flashback007]

I have a rule. I search for cheats, tips and walktroughs. I print them and then I leave them laying. Only when I really really need a tip or something like that I use it. Or when I need to beat a boss and I cannot figure out how.

[black]

i never use a guide unless i have to but i do try and find different hints and tips if i can but only as a last resort.

[Chris]

I always try to make it on my own at first, but when common sense prevail when for games we know it never will :p

[Old Manus]

Generally dont use them first time through unless I am completely lost. I usually buy the official guide second time through to do all the secret stuff.

[feioncastor]

Every FF game that I've ever played pretty much spells out for you what do. There are very few that actually required that much thinking, thus I've never actually been lost in an FF game, except on side quests and secret stuff in which case I may a strategy guide the second time.

It ruins the game to know what is happening the first time through. It bugs me that people play these games for all the wrong reasons and ignore the things that make the game cool.

Feion

[Del Murder]

I play through once on my own and then use a guide to get all the stuff I missed.

[rubah]

Sometimes even with walkthroughs I have enough trouble trying to figure out just what stupid mistake I'm making to make the game go on.

I thought about making a 'Stupid Things You Should Know How to Do in Games But Can't Quite Figure Out' guide, actually. but I forgot most of them. (like how to climb ladders. that was a big one for me in ff8.)

but, usually I'll go a ways into the game sans walkthrough until I'm sure that I'm missing enough stuff or if I don't have anything to save it with (this makes a good combination, you can play through a few hours to get a hang of it and you can't save anyways, so it's all cool:D) With FFX, I got to Kilika to the Ochu before I got one, I think I went through chapter 2 in ffx-2 (enough to be able to miss the scene in luca in chapter one-_-), through dollet in ff8, and there's no telling for ff5. 7 and 9 and probably 4 and 2 I started off with walkthroughs.

But, even after using them so often, I've found I can spot stuff more easily. 'Okay, I'll run into stuff pushing X constantly, see if anything happens!', 'Huh, I wonder if there's a chest over here, !! THERE IS!!', 'Hmm, I better say. . .this. . .and not that.'

the only time I've used an actual cheat code though is ff5. the first time I played it and got up to neoexdeath, I was all freaking out, so my friend suggested an infinite hp/mp code.

then I went back the next morning and beat it without the code:)

[kalaspappa]

I do not need walkthrough's.. When I play a Final Fantasy for the first time I discover most of the sidequests and stuff..

[ljkkjlcm9]

If I have a guide, I buy the real ones, and I use them mainly for that charts of weapon/armor/magic/monster info more than anything else. Those are extremely useful in any RPG. Non-RPG games, I never use a guide, namely Zelda I can always do everything myself... and for the most part, I do all the Final Fantasy games myself the first time through... for example, the only thing I missed my first time through FFVII was Cait Sith's Ulti Weapon or whatever, but I didn't care cause I never used him...

THE JACKEL