I'm interested in how often (or not) everyone turns to a walkthrough to help them through a game.

Do you print out a full walkthrough before you even start, and refer to it regularly? Or might you save a walkthrough to your hard drive and only check it as a last resort if you are really stuck, or post here at Hints for help? Or, are you brave enough to refuse all help and plough through the game alone, no matter how long it may take you to complete?

Personally, I try to make it as far as I can in the game without help, and then, if I'm impossibly stuck, I will save a walkthrough to my hard drive and take a furtive peep every now and then just to get me moving again. (I often find that I need to peep more frequently towards the end of a game. Impatience, or panic? Probably both! )

Well, I am a "printer" and also download additional walkthroughs for the "if I get stuck" situations.

I really enjoy playing these games but seem to lack the ability to figure things out on my own. I use the w/t like I would use a roadmap on a trip.

I appreciate the people that take the time to write walkthroughs for people that are game challenged like me.

Linda

I do the same thing, Rushes- I find that if I actually print it out, I refer to it constantly. I try NOT to look at one unless I am impossibly frustrated!

I do the best I can without a walkthrough but even though I've been playing games for about six years now I still have a great deal of problems on some games. When I played Riven I had to use the walkthrough constantly. Sometimes all I need is a push in the right direction - literally, as in go to the house or go to the museum. Just that little bit might help. But I'm the same way as Sassafrass - if I print it out I'm much more likely to cheat more often.

tuesday next

I like to play on my own--though there are very few games that I can get all the way through without a peek at a walkthrough.

I do use a WT when I have been stuck for long enough that I am totally frustrated---though I don't print them or save them--I just come back here to GB before I toss the puter out the window, and search for that one spot.

Sometimes, rather than use a walkthrough, I go search hints or ask in there.

I am sooooo glad the walk throughs and the hint section is here--

I used to print off a walkthrough before I started playing a game - but found that if I got tired would refer to it instead of just leaving the game until another time when I might have been able to work things out. Now, the first time I am stuck I just go online and have a peek at the walkthrough - if I think it looks like I am going to get stuck again I save the game and only if I need to constantly refer to it do I print it off! - but then I wonder why I am bothering to play the game!

I try not to use a walkthrought at all, even to the point of stopping for the night if I am stuck. I usually find that when I approach the game fresh, I find what I need to continue. Depending on my mood (or the length of time I have been playing in one sitting), I go to UHS hints as it allows me to just get a little help without reading answers I don't want to see. For me, I find that I enjoy the game much more if I solve most of it on my own.

I'm a printer too and have 8 notebooks filled with the walkthroughs I have for the games I've bought. I try to get as far as I can but hate to get out of the game just for a little push especially with games like 80 Days where it takes so long to load and I might have to replay a lot of things I've done just to get a hint.

If I'm not enjoying the game I'm playing and just want to get it over with, I'll print off the walkthru so I can finish.

If I'm totally immersed in a game and am thoroughly enjoying it, and I get stuck on a difficult puzzle, I'll post a cry for help here and just ask for a hint. I have no self-control so, if I took a peek at the walkthru, I'd probably keep reading and spoil everything.

Susan

I prefer to play without a walkthrough, as when I first started playing adventure games many moons ago...we didn't have access to the internet...I didn't even know walkthroughs existed, my daughter and I used to puzzle things out together...and we got a great deal of satisfaction out of completing a game without help...now I guess I am just plain stubborn...and will only resort to a walkthrough when I have been stuck for weeks in a game and have tried literally everything I can think of.

Sue

mine depends on what I am stuck on. Sometimes I print out a walkthrough as a last resort and sometimes I do what Susie does and cry out for help here when I am stuck. It just depends on how long I have been stuck, my patience level at the time, and where I am at in the game.

Kem

I have tried more than once to start to play an adventure game without a walkthrough but I am like Raylin (Linda) in that I do not get very far and cannot think on my own about what I might try next or what else to look for and get hopelessly stuck - that is one of the many reasons I am sticking with my friends here at GB and holler for help whenever and as soon as I need it, which is almost immediately and often....but my friends here love me enough to help me when they can...so I guess you could put me on that list of "those who almost NEVER play without a w/t printed out and available - plus come here for help on top of that"......I do so appreciate those of you who don't need a w/t or much if any help, cause you are the ones I look to for all the help I can get :kiss:
Love, Betty Lou

Some games the puzzles are so hard that i use one only if i have to.Lets be honest,we all have looked at cheats and said NO WAY COULD I COULD HAVE FIGURE that out.And then theres the [HOW STUPID AM I] it was right in front of me. I don't print them i keep them in a folder on my desktop

To me, walkthroughs are a love/hate relationship. I hate them because they reduce any game to a step by step series of movements that push the game along so quickly it doesn't allow you the time to absorb the game's atmosphere.

I love them because on more than one occasion I've needed one or I would have otherwise given up on a great game.

The thing that bothers me the most about walkthroughs is when you KNOW the designers created a sequence or puzzle that REQUIRED a walkthrough (aka $15 official strategy guide). You can identify these scenes when, after you consult the walkthrough, you throw your hands in the air and say "how the heck was I supposed to figure THAT out?!"

Personally, I don't bother with a walkthrough unless I'm stuck, then I'll refer to it to get a hint about what to do next. It's the games I've been stuck on for years where I break down and print out a walkthrough just so I can finish it!

-Bryan

i also like trying to play on my own,using my own warped logic , and then if i'm stuck i call the family in and we try to figure it out. if i'm still stuck, i'll try hints here so there's no reading ahead by accident. i have had to check walkthroughs for maps ,or tough math ,and one or two games because the question would have taken so long to type it was easier to check a WT ! i usually need some sort of help once or twice a game - never done one without help yet.

Thanks for your comments, everyone!

There are some games that, without a doubt, test one's patience to the limit and the only way out is to either use a walkthrough, or chew the furniture to splinters from sheer frustration. (Yes, Journey to the Centre of the Earth, I'm talking about YOU! )

A game can be on such a different wavelength to your own way of thinking and logic that it can prove immensely difficult to play - whereas another gamer might breeze through it with no problems at all; it just "clicks" with them.

I'm getting better at playing games the whole way through without a walkthrough, but I'm so mighty glad and grateful that they are there if needed!

I try not to use a walkthrough, but there are some puzzles that are just impossible to figure out. I'm much rather have a hint rather then the solution. I like the WT's that give you hints and say "for solution click here". That way I can try and work them out myself.

Bets

If possible, I prefer to use U-Hints when I get stuck. Most WTs just tell you "go here, do this, push this button" without explaining the thinking behind puzzle solutions. I really don't like that. I also don't like the sense that you're playing someone else's game, not your own. And like many people here, if I have access to a WT (or hints) I'm likely to keep playing by getting the answer rather than backing off and finally coming up with it myself, as I can usually do if no WT or hints are available.

On the other hand, there have been many times when I've looked up the answer to a palce where I've been stuck and thought, "Well, I don't feel guilty about that at all because I NEVER would have come up with that!"

WW

That's me WW--When I have to look, and I see the answer and I know I would have found it if I had stuck it out, then I am disappointed in myself--But when I look and know, no matter how long I tried, I would never ever go there, then I am very

I agree with so many of the above comments. The more I game, the farther I can get in a game without peeking at the walkthrough. You DO actually try to think illogically to solve the puzzles or find the hidden object or something of that nature knowing full well that the game designers have designed it as such.

It does get to a point when you have to try every inventory item on everything to get through to the next part...that the game takes an "unfun" turn for me.

I don't print them out, though. That would make me peek all the more.

As one of those that are fast approaching that 'Great White Light', (and have a *yet to play* stack of about 150 game gathering dust) , I don't feel that using a walkthru after 15 minutes or so of frustration is in any way detrimental to my pleasure in the game.

After all , games are for having fun, and gnashing teeth & pulling hair really are NOT my idea of fun.

I agree Granny--at the point that the game is becoming work or frustrating versus fun or intriguing or absorbing, then it's time to get back to the fun by taking a look--

It's great to see how different folks play--My DS plays for the joy of overcoming a challenge so he will NOT look at a walkthrough! He will spend a month stuck on a spot and just play something else til he can figure it out. I like the satisfaction of figuring it out myself--but when I am head banging--it's time to yell Help--

exactly right,L4L - it is supposed to be fun, so why get stuck that badly that it isn't ? if i walk away,come back,and still can't get it i do whatever to get out of that real bad spot so it stays fun. i also have used MaG 's WT's in a couple in the beginning step by step because i had so much trouble with the interface (too new to this ) until i got the hang of it and could proceed without,so i guess it depends on the game itself sometimes...

I also agree with so many comments here. I never print a walkthrough but I always save one to my hard drive for an emergency. I much prefer to play without one and will work a puzzle until I am totally frustrated with it before resorting to posting on gameboomers. If I don't get an answere soon enough to comfortably move on, then I do a search on the walkthrough to find the spot I need help with trying to not peek at the rest of it.

I feel that walkthroughs take away some of my enjoyment when used too frequently but love the fact that they save me from abondoning a game of having the game lose its fun value when totally stuck or at a puzzle that I hate doing (like math puzzles). I really admire those who write them. It takes dedication, the willingness to replay several times to make sure its right, not to mention getting your thoughts in order and writing it in an understandable way. It's an art.

Melanie

yes,melanie1 - i agree with you about the WT's being an art ! i can only imagine the time it must take to do them ,and i've been grateful for them on more than one occcassion - like little "security blankets" - having places to go for helps also gives the confidence to try more complicated games ,i think