Too much information?

[Xander]

Don't you think it's too easy to get help with games these days? You can look up almost anything you want to know about most games on GameFAQs. Wasn't it better in the days before the net, when you just had to figure things out on your own? Then again there seems to be so much in games now that you wouldn't be able to figure out without reading up on it anyway (the Celestial weapons in FFX for example).

I bought Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town the other day, and started off just playing it any old way thinking, this is fun, I can do what I want. Then I started talking to Lindsey about it, and he was like, "You should do this", "You should buy this", and "You should give these things to these people because they like it". Then I ended up looking at websites about the game and going on forums and finding what you have to give to people to make them marry you. Now it just seems like I'm trying to do everything right rather than just playing like I was at first.

Are you tempted to look up things on a game now as soon as you buy it, even just little things? Do you worry about playing it the "right" way? Are you less likely to find things out on your own than you used to be? And do you think all this available information takes the fun out of playing games?

[Mr. Graves]

I only look at FAQs if I'm stuck.

Yeah, too much info out there, but it's generally up to the game to figure stuff out rather than looking up a walkthrough. It's easy to cheat, but I'm a lazy person so I only do it if I absolutely need to complete that certain puzzle.

[Vermachtnis]

Yup, only when I'm really stuck or looking for some extra stuff. Like inventing stuff in Dark Cloud 2 or getting Beelze in Digimon World 3. You know stuff you'd have to be really good to find out on your own.

[SpiritWolf]

I also only look stuff up when I am stuck.

[BatChao]

Well, it depends. Usually I'll look at a FAQ when either I'm hopelessly stuck in one place for hours, or I just want to get the game over with and want to speed through. I'll also look at FAQs after I beat a game to see what I missed and sometimes I'll follow a FAQ through the second time to get all the secrets. For a game like Harvest Moon: AWL, there are just so many things to do, I find that it'll take much too long to do without a FAQ, or worse, I won't be able to do everthing before the game ends. I try to ration myself... I only look at what people like and how to get secret items. For these simulation type games, I usually don't feel as bad when I look at a FAQ because they usually last a really long time and I probably won't get a second playthrough, so I want to do everything I can my first go.

[Kirobaito]

I generally beat the game once without consulting any other information, then when I play the game again I'll check an FAQ to see if I did everything.

[nik0tine]

i always look at faqs or walkthroughs and stuff when im playing a game for the first time. i like to be able to prepare ahead of time so i dont die. i hate dying. like in FF1, i check unnes walkthrough while im still on one chapter, and i check the next chapter to see what level i should be at for all of the bosses and i get to that level before i proceed. kinda takes away the challenge but its still fun.

[Shoyku]

I think those old days of not knowing everything about a game were hell. When I was younger, and into games such as Mortal Kombat, I always thought Shang Tseung and Goro were unlockable and playable characters. DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY YEARS I PONDERED ON HOW TO PLAY AS THEM?!

Christ... Just to find out they weren't even playable.

[m4tt]

I really try not to get help unless i'm stuck. The first time I played FFIX I didn't use any guides at all. I got all the way up to Oeilvert on my own, but then couldn't figure out what I was supposed to do there. I think I ran back and forth in that place for 2 hours trying to find a switch. All of my characters gained 4-5 levels.

I finally gave in and asked people in the chat room for some help, and found out I had walked right by the switch 20,000 times.

Yeah, so anyway... I've been weak ever since then. I don't like to take my time with games anymore, I rush through. And sometimes to rush through I have to use a guide.

[SeeDRankLou]

It depends on the game. Usually, if the game has a story to it (i.e. RPGs) I will not look up help for it, because often times the help with also involve some spoiler to the story, unless I'm just stuck. But if it's something like a fighting game, I will usually look up aid for it. Mortal Kombat for example, I really don't have the energy to try the seemingly infinite button combinations for Fatalities. I'd rather look them up, and I like watching them and having those moves. Smash Bros. and Super Smash Bros. Melee I also look up help for. I wanted to unlock the characters so I could play them. Finding out how to do it myself wouldn't have given me much gratification, I would get much more by simply getting them and being able to play them.

[Rainecloud]

Guides totally ruin games, in my ever-so-humble opinion. I haven't used a guide to finish a game in quite a few years. Having said that, I haven't actually played that many games in the last few years.

Everyone has their own unique way of playing a game, and that should be respected. Listening to people who tell you to 'do this' and then 'do that' isn't always the best thing to do. The idea of a game is for you to make your own decisions and then act on them. That's what makes games so much fun.

[Nait]

I just printed out some 22 pages of lists of gifts to give people in Onimusha 2. Cause it annoyed me. >:o Fear not, I will play the game without other assistance. I happen to like puzzles.

[Del Murder]

I love that everything is readily available. I print out a whole bunch of extra stuff about games, usually things that are too stupid to actually do, like finding those last Chocobo treasures in FFIX, or Pokemon stats guides. I rarely look at the actual game stuff. It just takes a little willpower.

[Lindy]

I only use FAQs if I'm stuck, or if it's a second time playing, like using a checklist for percentage on FFX-2 because of the many obscure things you have to do.

Generally, I'm fine without them, I beat the entirity of Wild ARMs without one, and I mean everything, I even found Ragu Ragula by total accident, which was very fun.

And I figured out most of Harvest Moon : FoMT on my own, because it's pretty obvious once you work it out, or the books in the library give you hints (like on digging down to deeper floors).

But then, I get Move List FAQs for fighting games, just because some games don't have in-built move lists, so it's rather hard to beat a difficult game like KoF '99 without knowing all a character's moves.

[cactuar_12]

Play Pokemon. Sure, there are place like dungeon mazes where you need help, but when it comes to battling, there is no right way top train your little obedient minions, you can bend them to your every psychotic wim. >:)