Why bother playing at all, then?
I buy strategy guides and all, but it seems like such a waste when people precisely follow a walk-through for the entire game :(
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The thing that makes video games different from other forms of entertainment is the interaction, putting yourself in the game. The moment you take yourself out of the game you might as well be watching tv, or saving money on the game and just buy the book. There are uses for game guides, I just think that removing the interaction is kinda a waste of a game.
Guides are OK to a certain degree. Fully revealing everything in the game is something you would want to leave for a second/third play trough. Especially for large games such as FF7, FF10 where you assume a role and play with it. It is an adventure :)
Especially in games with free movment (Skyrim, GTA, Knytt Underground,…) i like to play without a guide at first, but after a while compare my map with the guides map. That way i won’t miss out on funny/cool stuff, but have the joy of discovery first.
tl;dr use a guide when the time/discovery probability is to low.
I leave the walkthroughs until bits that give me trouble, and even then tend to treat them as more guidelines for what the AI will do, not what I’ll do.
Indeed. I’d only use a guide if I was stuck for too long.
terralord43
speaking of which, anyone know where i can get a strategy guide for portal 2? i’ve been stuck on the first white gel level for about five days, and i still have absolutely no idea what to do.
using the guidance eliminates the thrill of the game unless you’re stuck for a long time, but thing apart, just look at the face of terror Real Player ….
If you can follow a walk through and it takes “all of the challenge” out of the game, the game wasn’t actually challenging to begin with. “Real Gamers(tm)” know this. Any detractors, please stop using that title.
Hmmm you are saying monkey island wasn’t a game for real gamers? You want to say that the goblin trilogy wasn’t a game for real gamers? There are plenty games for “Real Gamers” who are really easy with a walkthrough, because they are not some kind of action games where you need to have good reactions to win.
If you’re going to reply to someone, at least bother to read what they wrote. There’s many posts above me claiming “real gamers” don’t use walkthroughs, as they take “all of the challenge” out of the game.
If a walk through can take “all of the challenge” out of a game, it was not challenging to begin with.
If they’re “really easy” with a walkthrough, then they’re just really easy.
Why? Some people, believe it or not, are not completely dumbfounded by games. If logic is all it requires, it’s not even remotely hard to some.
If it requires obscure “puzzle logic” of bad game design(like, “Hugo’s House of Horrors”, where you have to guess the EXACT syntax to “solve” a puzzle) that the walkthrough unveils, then, again, it was never challenging, it was just built poorly.
I don’t care how many “real gamers” “real games” there are, “a game that’s easy with a walk through” is just “a game that’s easy”.
There are plenty of games where “good reactions” play no part whatsoever, and they’re still challenging.
Fuchsbaron
I don’t know hot to tell this to you, but…
If you use a walkthrough, every game gets easy, beacause a walkthrough gives you a solution, and in maximum you will need good reaction because they tell you:
1. How to solve a puzzle
or
2. Which strategy to use or what to do
and you just have to use the given information.
And there are just two reasons for not beating the game after reading a walkthrough:
A.)One is he is far too stupid to use them
and
B.)The other is he hasn’t got the reactions
But I am not referring to the bought walkthroughs but to the internet walkthroughs, which are made from the gamers, describing how they won.
For example, I resorted to using a walkthrough for Shin Megami Tensei IV after I was lost in Tokyo for three days (couldn’t for the life of me find out where I was suppose to go), so I had to turn to a walkthrough for guidance.
But just because it told me where I needed to go didn’t make it any easier.
Oh so far from easy….
One thing I tried to make popular a few years back is RPG checklists. Instead of spoiling the plot or telling you exactly what to do to get everything, they just list what items (and other collectibles of course) are in each area as you progress. It’s up to the player to figure out where the goods are and how to obtain them.
I used to do guide/game writing. This was the instructions from the company: Use the cheat codes provided. Use the BETA version of the game shipped to you. Load the game and run it ONCE, writing down exactly how to ‘win’. (even though without the cheat codes you could not possibly do it that way). DO NOT add anything extra, like how each time you start the game it might have a different setup that the setup you got the first time you ran it.
If we did any differently, forget being paid.
Now you know why I NEVER buy those things.
Well when it comes to JRPG and there 100 of endings and 1 true ending and 99 bad ones or not complet ones I like to use walkthrough because im not replaying a 80-140 hour game just to get the great ending.
If I buy a guide, it’s for the art related to the game that I might otherwise miss or to find out about some obscure bit that sometimes programmers put in just for the fun of it but otherwise don’t hint at. Once I find out about those, I put the guide down and go a hunting.
Surprises are good, and sometimes those guides are horribly unreliable. So as a general outline, fine, but when it gets to the crunch, the details, I do it on my own.
U DON’T KNOW WHATS WRONG POKEFANE hear let me tell you a story one day when i was young i got skyrim and the game guide so i returned the guide but they said it came in a pack so i had to return the game to by the way skyrim is my favorite game EVER so in conclusion whats the point if u cant even think about it instead u have a guide
I use guides to avoid missing out on secrets.
Because, darn it, I just don’t feel like I should be penalized for failing to talk to Old Man Withers five times in rabid succession, doubling back to the first town, getting the Mystic Spoon of Jabberslaying, showing it to the Queen of Spetznaz, and… oh, what’s that? You didn’t get the spoon? Well then you missed out on the best equipment in the game and you can never get it back! ENJOY YOUR 98.7% COMPLETION.
But, then again, I like to tackle bosses and the like on my own. Although I frequently skim ahead to see if the plot will cut me off from an area after I finish one.
Freaking games.
If I have a strategy guide for a game, I have it by my side prepared for any hard parts. Like in WWHD, I braved most dungeons with no help at all from my guide but the guide helped me get 100%.
Pfft, if only he knew how walkthroughs can get wrong or misleading… If I ever need to consult something about a game, it’s:
A) the missables
B) the statistics for each character
Aaaaaand I’ll play my own adventure, thank you very much.
Funny, ‘cos I used a walkthrough to play through FFX. I’d played similar games before and I got really obsessive about missing pickups that were off the beaten track or not immediately visible. It was really upsetting to think that I missed that stuff so I used a walkthrough. :I Not great, and I don’t do it nowadays unless I’m properly stuck, but eh..
The only time I use a walk-through is when I’m stuck, and even then that’s only when I can’t take the puzzle any more. I like to at least make an ATTEMPT to find a solution before getting a guide for it…
I only use walkthroughs if I get really stuck on a section of a game, but only for that one section to get me unstuck. And that’s after I’ve tried multiple times to figure it out for myself.
I admit that sometimes I need a bit of help for a moment in game where I have exhausted all ideas I had (and only then, after trying).
Walkthrough however… I call it heresy and it will burn like a witch…
The only exception I can think of (and still it would have to be more like step-step-helper not overall “what happened”) is when playing japanese game without understanding. Yeah call me crazy “why play at all”. Welp some games can be played without understanding text but still training your thumbs, training skill(s).
Oh well…
I do as much of the game as I can without the walkthrough (and usually can’t afford the strategy guide!), but for some of the side quest and completionist stuff, it’s nice to have help…
88 thoughts on “Blasphemy”
Carlosfer2201
Poor kids nowadays don’t get hard work. Great strip!
ZeldaFan4Life
this strip is so true on my reaction
anonymous
i actually don’t use walkthroughs because i cant find any so i just wing it with the ocasional rage or 400 while i try to win
fdshfudh
i am disappointed in you glitch!
NecroFerret
Gliiiich . . .
POP POP!
I’m dissapointed in the current day in how people have to use guides to beat the game. Us kids back then had to figure everything out ourselves.
Zubbe120
Little did he know that he was stuck on Chaos with all black belts.
ronin1337
Maybe one thinks the gameplay is boring and repetitive, but likes the story? I think that would be a prety legit reason for following a guide.
Rabitto29
well I finish the game first then I’ll do the walk through thing after
Scruffy
i just hack my game when i finish it, using a walthrough is too boring
Kieroni
NUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!! *puts Glitch in corner*
Treb Meister
BAD GLITCH! True gamers don’t need a stinking guide. (Unless they have been so totally stuck at the same part for days)
fdshfudh
even i don’t EVER use walkthroughs!
Teh Josh
The thing that makes video games different from other forms of entertainment is the interaction, putting yourself in the game. The moment you take yourself out of the game you might as well be watching tv, or saving money on the game and just buy the book. There are uses for game guides, I just think that removing the interaction is kinda a waste of a game.
LunarArrow
Wise words, Teh Josh.
❤️🧡💛💚💙💜🖤
idk how tho! plz help meh, ever since l started reading I’ve been wonerin’ how ta’
Sky Render
To be fair, if he was playing FF9, it’s not like the strategy guide would help him in the least.
Aurael
Huh? I used guides for Final Fantasy..
Piggyback guides. They were more really beautiful maps that showed secrets and directions more than anything, so… yeah, i don’t see the problem.
Final Fantasy games have traditionally had too many secrets to ignore without a guide. Especially 10 and 12
CelesseAdministrator
There’s a difference between a guide and a walkthrough.
j99450
I tend to agree, though I make an exception for Seymore in FFX…and I still never got past him.
Stojke
Guides are OK to a certain degree. Fully revealing everything in the game is something you would want to leave for a second/third play trough. Especially for large games such as FF7, FF10 where you assume a role and play with it. It is an adventure :)
c3p
Especially in games with free movment (Skyrim, GTA, Knytt Underground,…) i like to play without a guide at first, but after a while compare my map with the guides map. That way i won’t miss out on funny/cool stuff, but have the joy of discovery first.
tl;dr use a guide when the time/discovery probability is to low.
ifics
I leave the walkthroughs until bits that give me trouble, and even then tend to treat them as more guidelines for what the AI will do, not what I’ll do.
Luke
If I was to ever play a Final Fantasy game, I’d do the exact same thing as Glitch – follow a perfect walkthrough step-by-step.
Scruffy
then you go in the corner too
LunarArrow
Indeed. I’d only use a guide if I was stuck for too long.
terralord43
speaking of which, anyone know where i can get a strategy guide for portal 2? i’ve been stuck on the first white gel level for about five days, and i still have absolutely no idea what to do.
terralord43
very very much stuck. like, level level ten five alarm stuck.
Marscaleb
He needs a squirt bottle; you’re supposed to squirt kitties with water when they are being bad.
jorge u
using the guidance eliminates the thrill of the game unless you’re stuck for a long time, but thing apart, just look at the face of terror Real Player ….
TheSuperFox63
I use those walkthrough books all the time…
I would’ve been in the corner all those times.
Curious
If you can follow a walk through and it takes “all of the challenge” out of the game, the game wasn’t actually challenging to begin with. “Real Gamers(tm)” know this. Any detractors, please stop using that title.
Fuchsbaron
Hmmm you are saying monkey island wasn’t a game for real gamers? You want to say that the goblin trilogy wasn’t a game for real gamers? There are plenty games for “Real Gamers” who are really easy with a walkthrough, because they are not some kind of action games where you need to have good reactions to win.
Curious
If you’re going to reply to someone, at least bother to read what they wrote. There’s many posts above me claiming “real gamers” don’t use walkthroughs, as they take “all of the challenge” out of the game.
If a walk through can take “all of the challenge” out of a game, it was not challenging to begin with.
If they’re “really easy” with a walkthrough, then they’re just really easy.
Why? Some people, believe it or not, are not completely dumbfounded by games. If logic is all it requires, it’s not even remotely hard to some.
If it requires obscure “puzzle logic” of bad game design(like, “Hugo’s House of Horrors”, where you have to guess the EXACT syntax to “solve” a puzzle) that the walkthrough unveils, then, again, it was never challenging, it was just built poorly.
I don’t care how many “real gamers” “real games” there are, “a game that’s easy with a walk through” is just “a game that’s easy”.
There are plenty of games where “good reactions” play no part whatsoever, and they’re still challenging.
Fuchsbaron
I don’t know hot to tell this to you, but…
If you use a walkthrough, every game gets easy, beacause a walkthrough gives you a solution, and in maximum you will need good reaction because they tell you:
1. How to solve a puzzle
or
2. Which strategy to use or what to do
and you just have to use the given information.
And there are just two reasons for not beating the game after reading a walkthrough:
A.)One is he is far too stupid to use them
and
B.)The other is he hasn’t got the reactions
But I am not referring to the bought walkthroughs but to the internet walkthroughs, which are made from the gamers, describing how they won.
Holonboy
I think I see what you’re trying to say.
For example, I resorted to using a walkthrough for Shin Megami Tensei IV after I was lost in Tokyo for three days (couldn’t for the life of me find out where I was suppose to go), so I had to turn to a walkthrough for guidance.
But just because it told me where I needed to go didn’t make it any easier.
Oh so far from easy….
Aidan E.
i use strategy guides for tips and tricks. and to know what awaits me next.
Treb Meister
But….the suprises can be fun…. or potentially deadly.
dafoxonator3000
i compleply argree with treb miester
SlothMann
classic “patrick face”
DamionMauville
Hey I was wondering if you could make a 150 x 150 version of the”Reaction Intensifies” gif for avatar use like your other goodies. Love the comic!
Grover
As they say, “Why pay for a guide to tell you how bad you’re playing when I’m willing to do it for free?”
Candi
I remember FFXII you had to use a guide to avoid EXACTLY the right treasures to get the Ultima weapon for Van.
Impossible without a guide.
Other than that, I use guides as a last resort – why use it if I don’t need it, right?
Sky Render
One thing I tried to make popular a few years back is RPG checklists. Instead of spoiling the plot or telling you exactly what to do to get everything, they just list what items (and other collectibles of course) are in each area as you progress. It’s up to the player to figure out where the goods are and how to obtain them.
Grim
I used to do guide/game writing. This was the instructions from the company: Use the cheat codes provided. Use the BETA version of the game shipped to you. Load the game and run it ONCE, writing down exactly how to ‘win’. (even though without the cheat codes you could not possibly do it that way). DO NOT add anything extra, like how each time you start the game it might have a different setup that the setup you got the first time you ran it.
If we did any differently, forget being paid.
Now you know why I NEVER buy those things.
ZeroWalker
Well when it comes to JRPG and there 100 of endings and 1 true ending and 99 bad ones or not complet ones I like to use walkthrough because im not replaying a 80-140 hour game just to get the great ending.
1234567890
That’s how Star Fox Command is
OldmanGaming
If I buy a guide, it’s for the art related to the game that I might otherwise miss or to find out about some obscure bit that sometimes programmers put in just for the fun of it but otherwise don’t hint at. Once I find out about those, I put the guide down and go a hunting.
Surprises are good, and sometimes those guides are horribly unreliable. So as a general outline, fine, but when it gets to the crunch, the details, I do it on my own.
pokefane
I just don’t know what went wrong…
dafoxonator3000
U DON’T KNOW WHATS WRONG POKEFANE hear let me tell you a story one day when i was young i got skyrim and the game guide so i returned the guide but they said it came in a pack so i had to return the game to by the way skyrim is my favorite game EVER so in conclusion whats the point if u cant even think about it instead u have a guide
anonymusic
Who here HASN’T used a walkthrough at some point?
Anonymon
I use guides to avoid missing out on secrets.
Because, darn it, I just don’t feel like I should be penalized for failing to talk to Old Man Withers five times in rabid succession, doubling back to the first town, getting the Mystic Spoon of Jabberslaying, showing it to the Queen of Spetznaz, and… oh, what’s that? You didn’t get the spoon? Well then you missed out on the best equipment in the game and you can never get it back! ENJOY YOUR 98.7% COMPLETION.
But, then again, I like to tackle bosses and the like on my own. Although I frequently skim ahead to see if the plot will cut me off from an area after I finish one.
Freaking games.
Jackie
Funny… I was looking back at the first few comics and “Navi” told him to get a walkthrough for Zelda. So what’s the differance?
CelesseAdministrator
The annoying fairy only wanted him to get it because it meant spending more money.
GamerMagpie
THE HORROR!
TrainerJames
If I have a strategy guide for a game, I have it by my side prepared for any hard parts. Like in WWHD, I braved most dungeons with no help at all from my guide but the guide helped me get 100%.
Billy M.T
Pfft, if only he knew how walkthroughs can get wrong or misleading… If I ever need to consult something about a game, it’s:
A) the missables
B) the statistics for each character
Aaaaaand I’ll play my own adventure, thank you very much.
Dovekitty
Okay, I may suck at games, but I don’t use walkthroughs.. BAD GLITCH. (awesome strip! I always look forward to this…)
MattoMatteo
Challenging games? Ok.
Too much difficult games? No, tanks.
Hoss
I thought Glitch was watching MLP with a Ipod in the book.
I swear, I hate Bronies
Feenie
Funny, ‘cos I used a walkthrough to play through FFX. I’d played similar games before and I got really obsessive about missing pickups that were off the beaten track or not immediately visible. It was really upsetting to think that I missed that stuff so I used a walkthrough. :I Not great, and I don’t do it nowadays unless I’m properly stuck, but eh..
Knuxfan24
Confession time, I’ve being using a guide for Link to the Past, because I suck at the game.
Mow
I finished Chrono trigger 14 times before using the guide, didn’t know guides existed then
pinkbunny111
14 :o
Yugijak
The only time I use a walk-through is when I’m stuck, and even then that’s only when I can’t take the puzzle any more. I like to at least make an ATTEMPT to find a solution before getting a guide for it…
wyvern713
I only use walkthroughs if I get really stuck on a section of a game, but only for that one section to get me unstuck. And that’s after I’ve tried multiple times to figure it out for myself.
Geeky
Fifth panel = My reaction to when my little brother is using a walkthrough
Jetboy30
*GASP!* How dare Glitch reads a walkthrough!
iUser
I admit that sometimes I need a bit of help for a moment in game where I have exhausted all ideas I had (and only then, after trying).
Walkthrough however… I call it heresy and it will burn like a witch…
The only exception I can think of (and still it would have to be more like step-step-helper not overall “what happened”) is when playing japanese game without understanding. Yeah call me crazy “why play at all”. Welp some games can be played without understanding text but still training your thumbs, training skill(s).
Oh well…
TL;DR; – Burn the witch!
Hthartley
Not only a strategy guide, but on a Final Fantasy game at that! That defeats most of the purpose! For shame, Glitch! For shame!
Robert Payne
What’s a corner? #bada$$ #gamingftw #finalfantasy
Met
I do as much of the game as I can without the walkthrough (and usually can’t afford the strategy guide!), but for some of the side quest and completionist stuff, it’s nice to have help…
SotiCoto
I feel judged. -_-
Septimus Heap