I normally try it first without any guide. I want to discover the area on my own and try to solve quests etc. But I am not patient enough to do everything when it takes me hours and when I'm stuck at some point. So before I quit the game and never play it again, I take a look at youtube walktroughs or so to be able to go on. I don't use trophy guides really often, because I'm not a trophy hunter who wants to get all trophies. But sometimes when I try to get a special one and it doesn't work, that's when I check a trophy guide. Normally I only want to get an overview about the trophies which are available before I start the game and it's ok for me.
Generally speaking, I only look up things which I have no clue about, not things which I just find difficult. I think there are a lot of games that require the use of external sources. Like, Minecraft is extremely esoteric. The only hint at how to summon the Wither is a single painting that depicts the structure you need to make to summon it. If you never make a painting or keep placing the wrong ones you'll never even see it, and even if you do there's no indication for what it represents. Even then, I usually just look up specific things, rather than following guides. The only time I ever really use walkthroughs is in RPGs with stat points you can't reallocate, or other choices that can be potentially crippling down the line. I like experimentation, but blindly picking stats which will follow me for the rest of the game just isn't fun for me. I might also look up guides in online multiplayer games, but only because other people depend on me.
I'm too much of a hardass when it comes to bending rules on games. There are no actual rules, just inside my head. Unless I REALLY like the name of the achievement for some dumb reason (I.e. Pillar of AWESOME). Put it on my showcase. Give people a reason to laugh.
I always look to see if something is capable of being missed. I skipped over one Al-Bhed book in Final Fantasy X, and had to go back and do another file just to transfer it over. I didn't enjoy that so that's about all I'll use a guide for... with one exception... I always check for glitches. I'm not going to be screwed out of something, if I can avoid it. The Elder Scroll games, especially Skyrim, have taught me this well. Other than that, I do my own thing. If I really need assistance, fine, whatever.
I use walkthroughs when I get stuck. I'm playing through Kingdom Hearts 2 and I've had to look up a couple of boss battles. Once you hear "Dance water dance" for 6+ hours it's hard to justify not getting help. Edit: This. My Skyrim game glitched so bad I had to use a cheat to skip a mission in the main story because everything I needed to do next wouldn't happen.
Depends on the game. Some I use a lot, other games I never touch a guide. Ocarina if time I used one a few times and then used it a lot my next playthrough to find all the secrets.
I use them often for hard games. Never for easy games. Trophy guides for sure because I'm not creative enough to find them myself lol.
If I'm really enjoying a game and decide I want to beat it 100% I will absolutely use a guide to help me go back and get everything. I will however, try to play through a level once or twice before resorting to a guide. The reason being, my backlog is huge and with the holiday season coming up soon, it's only going to get bigger. I don't want to spend two hours trying to find one little collectible when I could be moving on to the next game.
For a game like monster hunter, Before I go on a hunt I'll always check the monster I'm hunting out before on the wiki and adjust my equpment accordingly. Aside from that I'll only ever look it up if I'm reaalllyy stuck (f*cking carry armour... Weapon is weaker than you...) .
I would rather suffer a thousand deaths! I voted "Yes, but first I try it on my own and I only use them when I'm stuck." Maybe I have this fear of becoming too dependent on looking up answers and being less able to figure things out myself. However, I don't keep trying to the point of insanity! Usually. Sometimes I buy strategy guides. If I'm playing some RPG such as Dragon's Dogma, then I want my character to be the best, so I plan my build. It took a while for the realisation to sink in that I was using (simple) math outside of things such as school or money :lol: After I've completed a game, then sometimes I enjoy watching YouTube videos of other people fighting bosses. It is interesting to see how different people play the same game. I spent a few years earning A LOT of trophies, and then (without warning) my dad reformatted the PS3. We had a big argument and I was feeling resentful for a week. Now it is "water under the bridge." Unfortunately, none of my work was saved, because I didn't have an online PSN account. However, that incident taught me to stop caring about trophies. I still care about my saved progress (sometimes almost "care bear" level concern), and that's the main reason why I'm happy to pay arguably extortionate fees for a backup service.
