Obviously with the Internet and video walkthroughs you don't NEED paper guides anymore. But I still find myself buying them. Although I like to get the CE versions. I generally buy them because I simply find it interesting reading material, but also because it's sometimes nice to just have a book you can read in front of you instead of having to hop online. It's more convenient and you can take it to the bathroom and read up on where you may be stuck or just general info while doing your business.
Do you still buy paper strategy guides? (Gaming Q of the Day 10-6-10)
Wow. I think they are kinda cool collectables. I love the Zelda Collector's Edition guides for Wind Waker, Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks, for example.
" Wow. I think they are kinda cool collectables. I love the Zelda Collector's Edition guides for Wind Waker, Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks, for example. "I think they are pretty neat to have too, as a way of adding to the game experience. I haven't bought one since the first God of War I think...but sometimes people will still pick it up and thumb through it.
I guess you may be a bit game obsessed if your coffee table books are strategy guides...lol
£12.99 for a well written, nicely presented guide doesn't seem like a massive amount to me. I have about 10 different ones on my shelf, and I like having them there. Even if I'm never gonna do all the mark missions in FFXIII, I like having all the stats and strategies in a convenient place. I only tend to get them for RPG's though.
No. I bought one for GTA IV when it first came out because I didn't have a computer in the same room as my 360 (I wanted to get 100%) and it was easier than printing out shit from the internet and wasting all that paper.
Heck yes, I enjoy reading them. Even the Modern Warfare 2 one, despite the fact that the guide encourages camping and the author advertises his clan all over it.
Yeah, but rarely. I bought a large Fallout 3 guide to have right there when I'm playing the game, and I'll occasionally buy one for games I really enjoy, like Fable 2. Otherwise, nah.
I stopped buying guides long time ago because it kind of ruins the experience of the game. Instead of playing and enjoying the game I realized that instead I would sit there reading the guide. Occasionally I would looks stuff up after I went trough the game to see if there is any cool stuff to do for example Fallout 3 had bunch of hidden gems that were cool but at times not even listed in the official guide.
No way. The only guides worth buying are the Bethesda guides really anyways. Oblivion was the last one I bought, and Fallout 3 was the last one that tempted me at all. It is a dead trend in my book. I have the interet. Spending $20 (or ten for that matter) is not worth it.
i hadnt bought guides for years, but this year i got 2! On day 1 when ff13 came out i got the guide, but never finished that game and then a after a few weeks after playing starcraft 2 i got the guide as it was a good read while my bf was on the computer and its a good guide to flip though when your getting achievements or trying to play the storyline on hard or expert, i noe there are guides online but the sc2 was good looking and well written.
they are pretty awesome to flick through but even if i had cash to throw away, it's a bit of a stretch since I can get a less-pretty-but-can-still-do-the-job guide online
I stopped buying physical strategy guides back when I was in my early teens, nowadays I get all my strategy guides for free online. I still do have some very fond memories of my old strategy guides though, Prima Games did some good stuff. Most of my strategy guides were for Sims and Pokemon games, the way that those games worked really fascinated me.
I used to get them for free with my subscription to nintendo power whenever I would renew. I was around ten at that time, but I have fond memories of reading them on the toilet and just for fun.
Definitely not as much as when I was younger, though I still like them since they make some good reading material. I used to have a shit ton of strategy guides when I was younger, and kinda wish I hadn't gotten rid of them.
More and more as I can spend less and less time on games nowadays. It's great that a game has multiple hidden secrets, but I'm not going to go through it five times to find them all. Another good bonus is that since international release dates for games are getting closer and closer, find a good, day one FAQ that isn't riddled with typos, translation errors and / or crappy writing, on something like GameFAQs is getting less and less likely.
Also, I need something to read on the toilet.
Also, what the hell happened to GameFAQs? http://www.gamefaqs.com/psp/961429-valkyria-chronicles-ii/faqs/60951 What happened to fixed-width, ASCII art txt file?!
I'll still buy it if the game is very large, like a GTA with 200 pigeons or FFXII which had 80 rare game with special sawn conditions. They usually have a great maps section and lots of extra artwork. I never use the guides for helping me through the game though, just for going back through and doing everything I missed on my first pass.
My answer is "Yes, rarely". The point of having one is to have a quick, easy, physical reference. Often, I find that when I'm playing a game I don't want to get up and access my computer, or I'd rather not alt-tab out to read something (if that's even possible). I do find that online guides tend to be more thorough and of better quality, but a good book is great for the quick and dirty "For the love of all that is Holy, what the heck am I supposed to do?".
However, I rarely actually buy the guide. A walkthrough often defeats the point of the game in itself, especially if exploration or puzzle solving is a major component, since I usually just want a quick and dirty answer like you can look up online. I use guides more as a reference; an example of a guide I wish I could buy would be "What can I combine to make what in Monster Hunter", because even though the information is all in the game it's clunky to look up, and you can't always see where the product can then be used. "How to make weapons" was something I tended to reference often, but I disliked having to get out of game to go check it out.
The last one I actually got was a gift at Christmas, which was the guide for Spore: Galactic Adventures. I thought I wouldn't want or need it, but it had some handy stuff that I could look up both for the basic game, and for the new content. I was surprised by how useful it turned out to be, because I thought I wouldn't want it and never would have bought it for myself.
Nope i rarely bought them before now everything is so easy to find online and have way more info then a book has. I find most who still do just like the books more then really buying it for help.
I've never actively bought strategy guides. I only have a few, and I don't use them often. At least of them was purchased for a reason other than strategery. When I actually need help in a game, I find it's often more efficient and effective to look it up online.
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