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.