How often do you guys consult things like faqs or walkthroughs

I sometimes search up the web looking for hints to a specific part if I've been stuck on it for a real long time, don't have anyone available to ask, and also don't feel like I'm going to get anywhere anytime soon continually bashing my head against the problem.

It's cheating, plain and simple, so I really prefer figuring things out on my own whenever I can.

I only do it to save time; like what are the exact unstated requirements to do X (like get the Excalibur II in FF9), what single thing did I miss 8 hours ago on my 99% file, what arbitrary npc flag do I need to find now after having just talked to every NPC in order to advance the plot, etc.

Sometimes it's just stuff that I remember incorrectly and got confused about and have to double check because I don't take notes on videogames that often.

Often as a replacement for spreadsheets that I'm too lazy to make myself or any number of things really.

There's a bunch of times where it's stuff like "If I don't do this thing now will I be able to do it later", "If I do this thing will it change everything 8 hours from now", like shit I can't be bothered to play the entire game over again just to find out.


I pretty much abhor the practice of using guides to solve puzzles and shit though, the most often time I do do it for that reason it's because I have no idea where to go after seemingly having explored everywhere.

>>3364036
I almost dont use them at all.
A week ago I had to because I was stuck in a part of a MoH Pacific Assault game while playing on Hard(that was the key mistake) and didnt helped me one bit.
I know its not retro but the game suffers from serious bugs that come apparent when difficulty is increased.
Sniper grenades,and 3 machine gun nests on a corridor shooter is no fun.

I shamefully do with most /vr/ shit now. I've been playing RPGs recently so i'm sure you understand.

>>3364116
oh yeah I hate missing shit

it's fun finding secrets on my own though

>>3364036
Depends on the game's complexity.

>>3364118
>I hate missing shit
This. I cannot fucking stand missable shit, especially when it's those cases of "cannot ever get again" and all because you went out the identically normal-looking exit.
Only other time is when I am flat out stuck and have no clue what to do and have tried everything I can think of.
A bonus shameful example is starting a game from a save and having no idea what you were doing or what anything means anymore (Megaman X Command Mission did that for me, since I totally forgot what any of the stats meant)

I use FAQs if I'm playing a game with lots of unlockables or secrets and I want to be completionist. If a game is so poorly designed that I can't figure out what to do in order to progress, then I'll probably just say fuck it and play a better game.

If Im at the point where Im going to stop playing over something, then Ill look it up.

I prefer not to look shit up, but if Im on the verge of quitting the game over it, no reason not to, since I wont come back to it if I quit.

I just stop playing the game if I get stuck for more than a day.

>>3364036
>Do you try to avoid it?
As much as I can but when I'm stumped I do. Ultimately
>not give a fuck

I give it 10 minutes. If I can't figure it out I just look it up. I got 300 games on my backlog, I don't have time to dick around anymore. This isn't 1989.

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>>3364121
>This. I cannot fucking stand missable shit,

I just hate it when a game is purposely obtuse with this shit in order to sell guide.

I can deal with me missing a chest because I wasn't thorough, but me missing out on a quest or something because I didn't talk to someone in a two second window is bullshit.

Not a retro example but Tales of the Abyss did this bad. You could miss out on a quest forever if you didn't talk to a guy on the far end of the town if you in the time it takes you to pass through a checkpoint. The game is encouraging you to just dart through to get to an important plot thing. You can't go back because the quest trigger is gone forever when you leave and there's not so much as a hint to the merchant not just being his regular dialogue self