I'm a completest when it comes to games so for games like zelda I'll stumble through the main play on my own but if I want to do every side quest or collect every..whatever your collecting in that particular game I go to a guide or walkthrough.

Same thing with Harvest Moon, I would never figure out which gifts to give to my particular suitors to get them to fall in lurv with me on my own, so I look for guides or tips. Animal Crossing I went to tips to get special items or make pretty flowers grow.

But when it comes to puzzle games like Phoenix Wright or Hotel Dusk I don't. I like the feeling of accomplishment of doing those on my own, I'm a puzzle nut. :)

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I have a tendency to not only use the guide, but print off the online guide and anything else about the game. I've piled up quite a bit over the years. I showed it off in Show and Tell. Number 35 or something I think.

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I never used to bother with guides or online faqs/forums/whatevers. The past couple years though I've actually bought a few. For WoW, which I played for a short time, and for EQ2, which I'm a fanatic with, I need the guides at times. Since I'm eyeball deep into EQ2 and have been for a few years, I have all the printed guides. When I got into Elder Scrolls: Oblivion I bought the guide the same time I bought the game for the same reasons I use one for EQ2. I also have a nice guide I bought for Half Life 2 but honestly, that one I haven't found that useful myself. I bought one for AC:WW for my DS simply so I could have lists of all the items. Same reason I got the one for Zelda:Phantom Hourglass, I wanted lists of the ship parts and all that stuff in the back. Even though I got real stuck in TOK4 a couple weeks ago I didn't turn to the guide, or online, but pushed through it. What I have done with this one though is after I've gone through a bunch of stuff I pick up the guide and read up to near where I currently am....I guess I'm doing this just to see how I did things compared to the guide...which can be interesting at times.

But overall I'm one who will only resort to guides or online whatevers if I'm so stuck that after weeks I've not moved and feel like never playing the game again. In my MMO, EQ2, that doesn't happen usually because I've always got guildies and friends who are always talking about this or that or ask this or that, in game and in the guild's forums. The printed guides are nice when they're new and all is up to date, after that they become less useful but certainly not useless to the point of trashing them.

Interesting question though. I remember when I had friends who spent huge amounts of time on BBSs devoted to gaming and they printed out massive amounts of complete walkthroughs. I was very derisive of them and I still feel there's no reason to follow a walkthrough. Not for someone who actually wants to PLAY the game anway.

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I use them, but not on new games. First I play all trough the game without it, and when I finish it go and read the guide to see what I missed, just to see what else was there.

The only exception has been Animal Crossing (how would you know how to get the Golden Can or the Golden Shovel?) and Pokémon (about Pokés stats). I don't like to use a guide to spoil the game, that's useless, but as game mechanics and stats is helpful.

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