Would using a Strategy Guide be cheating if it was included?

[VACRMH]

Such as Phantasy Star 2 and Sword of Vermillion.

[Cmosfm]

Yep!

IMO at least

[it290]

I dunno. Some of the dungeons in PSII are very difficult without a guide. Of course, I don't think the included guide covers all of them. I don't really consider it cheating in that particular game -- after all, wouldn't Rolf have map data for the dams and such available to him? ;)

[Snapple]

I kinda think so. Earthbound came with its own strategy guide too, I remember.

[S_W_Prof]

i dont think it would be cheating as long as u dont use it for the hole game just for like a place that u were stuck on or something

[VACRMH]

I think i'll try and use the guide as little as possible then.

I was starting PSII again and just looking at those mazes made me go @_@

But if I used the guide for the entire game, it would just be Rank up, follow map, fight enemy.

Thanks.

[JJNova]

Look, if using a stretaegy guide is the only way you are going to get over a frustrating situation that you have no clue how to csolve, then use the book. There is no reason for an individual to "keep their pride" as a gamer and miss out on the rest of the game. Sometimes game game designers get too wrapped up in creating a puzzle that causes you to think and decypher, that they forget that I might pause the game for a while or save in that spot and come back a day later. GRRRR! WHERE WAS THAT ITEM!?

In short, enjoy your games. Besides, it's not like St. John's going to reject you because you used a strat guide.

"Oh hey, Mr. Nova. Yeah, we've been waiting for you. It seems that you would have just sneaked by, except you didn't know that that Ice Arrows made steeping stone in the water while playing Majora's Mask."
Once again, Brady Games takes another soul!

[ScottK]

Yes. I remember when Zelda 3 came out for SNES. It came with a little white hint book that contained secrets to the game. It had a warning on the cover that said it contained spoilers and to only use it if you must have to. Guess what? Pretty much everyone ignored the message and beat the game in only a few days. Then everyone got pissed at Nintendo for including it. I thought it was a brilliant idea to include it, but people take things so seriously and get mad when they don't get their money's worth.
It's their own stupidity for opening the damn thing and reading it all.

[Jorpho]

From a certain perspective, it rather smacks of poor game design if the developers think including a player's guide with the game will improve the experience. The only such game I ever purchased was Starship Titanic, which I have yet to play.

[Nz17]

It's not cheating if it is E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial for the VCS. :D

[FurinkanianFrood]

I wouldn't worry about it. No one is gonna come after anybody.

Phantasy Star II isn't a good game to use guides with though. When I run into mazes where I get lost like that I just leave and then spend a loooong time leveling up so that I can wander aimlessly as long as necessary. And leveling up in PStar2 takes a while (much longer than say, PS4).

Kind of like when I would spend hours at a time wandering in circles in just about every Dragon Quest game to level, or in DQ or FF games with class ability points, to get abilities also.

Some people don't like spending 8 out of ten hours walking in circles though.

It's not as peculiar as what some people do in a some Falcom games though, for instance, late in the game in Ys 1 someone stood in a particular place and left the controlller held down in a direction while the enemies kept bumping Adol for 1 exp each. Left it and came back.

A similar thing can be done using the autobattle in Dragon Slayer: Legend of Heroes because of how it handles random encounters on the world map.

Circle of the Moon may also have something like this.....

So in perspective, just looking at a guide isn't too bad.

You also have to consider cases where there are so many stats and statistics and whatnot that one could lose their sanity.

Shin Megaten games and some of the spinoffs can be insane with that sort of thing. So I wouldn't blame someone for using charts and such. Not to mention the 3D mazes in some RPG's can be maddening to some people.

[drummy]

I don't think it does, I mean, it came with it. X_x I'm tired.

Anyways, the French and German versions of Terranigma came with a guide. Just FYI. -_-

[shoes23]

I don't consider using a guide cheating IF you make an effort to try pass a part on your own accord. I know a few friends that will get stuck at a part on any game and 5 mins later they will be logging onto the net to find the solution. I say its ok to use a guide after an hour of trying to figure it out yourself.

[JJNova]

I don't consider using a guide cheating IF you make an effort to try pass a part on your own accord. I know a few friends that will get stuck at a part on any game and 5 mins later they will be logging onto the net to find the solution. I say its ok to use a guide after an hour of trying to figure it out yourself.

What if you were flying through a Dungeon in Majora's Mask, but then got stuck, and you're wandering around, trying to look for anything out of the ordinary. You can't find anything,. It's pissing you off, you're gritting your teeth. You only have an hour or you have to go back in time and lose all your progress. GRRRR!!!!!

So anyway, I had to use an internet walkthrough to pass the Zora dungeon in Majora's Mask.

[James]

It sucks that publishers are too cheap too include cool stuff with most new games now and the ones that do come with stuff cost more. Games just come with cheaply printed Manuals now well the Xbox ones anyway which are now entirely Black and White except of the covers. The Gamecube and PS2 ones are still good though.

Remember back when every game came with a nice full colour poster and a really nice manual. Dragon Warrior I -IV on the NES came with a small regular sized manual, 2-3 dungeon maps/tip cards etc. and a full size Strategy Guide all in the same regular sized package. All of Squaresoft's RPG's for the SNES came with 70 pages plus instruction manuals with brilliant colour and artwork and double sided maps of the entire game you were playing. The same was true for many Sega games and some of the TG16/PCE ones. As soon as the Playstation hit the top sales all of these sorts of things stopped, oh well at least I have my memories of the good old days before Sony came along and killed Sega and Nintendo somewhat.

To answer your topic, it's not cheating if you use any strategy guide. It's only cheating if you’re using a Game Genie etc.

[jdc]

I'll use a guide all the way through a game if it turns out to be one of those games where if you make an oversight early on it affects progress.

You were supposed to enter a room within the first hour of gameplay to get an item but you didn't see it. Now you're 8 hours into it and you need the item and there's no way to backtrack and get it.

Using a guide isn't an evil thing. If you're stuck, use it. It's better than abandoning a game.

[vultar]

I normally try not to look at guides until I'm on my second time through the game. Sometimes I get stuck, sometimes I don't, but as long as the guide isn't spoiling the story left and right, I don't think there's anything evil about checking when you're in trouble. As far as PSII goes, about the only place that I think anyone should really have to use the hint book on is that terrible pit dungeon just because it's so hard to keep track of where you are. I can't remember Sword of Vermillion all that well, but I don't think I had to use the book for that one.