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Do You Consider Using Walkthroughs Cheating?

Kirino

Tatakae
Joined
Jun 19, 2010
Location
USA
To me it's only cheating if you use it constantly.It's fine if you use it only when youre stuck.And by stuck,I mean that you've been trying like,half an hour to figure it out,and not just looking at a walkthrough every time you come across a hard puzzle.What about you?
 

athenian200

Circumspect
Joined
Jan 31, 2010
Location
a place of settlement, activity, or residence.
No, not unless it's a two-player game, and only one person has read the walkthrough.

Otherwise, it's not cheating, because no one gets an unfair advantage over anyone else. That would be like saying that looking at the cards in Solitaire is cheating. It's not, because you're not playing with anyone else. If you're playing Poker, though, it certainly is.

I usually don't consider using walkthroughs to be cheating, for three reasons:

1. I'm so bad at some parts of video games that I often struggle with areas for days even with a walkthrough. Without one, it might take me a week or a month. There's one game with an area so tough that no walkthrough has helped, and it's been almost a year.

2. On the parts I can get past without a walkthrough, it usually takes me seconds or minutes to find the solution. On the parts I need one for, it ends up being something that would have taken me quite a while to find on my own, or something that will be difficult even with the walkthrough.

3. In certain kinds of games, even if you get past an area, you may end up missing a lot of important items forever that you would have gotten if you'd used the walkthrough.

Zelda can be challenging enough that it stumps you even if you use a walkthrough. I guarantee it.
 

TheGreen

is climbin' in yo windows
Joined
Jul 12, 2010
Location
San Antonio
I think that it is not cheating.
Cause seriously. In TP who can honestly say they 100% that game with no help.
I use walkthroughs pretty regularly (partly just because it's fun to read about a game I like) even though I've beaten the game. It's fun (imo) to take advantage of all the work someone put into that walkthrough and see how they play the game.
 
Joined
Dec 11, 2009
Location
Florida
I don't consider it cheating, I consider it as using resources. Walkthroughs are conveniently available on the internet or in a strategy guide, and not within the actual game itself, so I don't consider using them as cheating. However, I still try not to use walkthroughs.
 

DuckNoises

Gone (Wind) Fishin'
Joined
Jul 16, 2010
Location
Montreal, QC, Canada
I think that it is not cheating.
Cause seriously. In TP who can honestly say they 100% that game with no help.
I use walkthroughs pretty regularly (partly just because it's fun to read about a game I like) even though I've beaten the game. It's fun (imo) to take advantage of all the work someone put into that walkthrough and see how they play the game.
I played almost all of TP with no help. Unfortunately, most of what I couldn't figure out was the windmill puzzle to get the boss key in the first temple.:embarrassed: The above statement automatically relinquishes my bragging rights. :P
I consider the extensive use of a guide to lessen the experience, so I rarely use a guide unless I'm absolutely stuck for hours and hours (see above :embarrassed:).
 

Valexi

Hylian Thief
Joined
Jul 16, 2010
Location
It's a secret to everybody
I don't think it's cheating if you're aiming to get 100% because, really, it's impossible to get 100% without some sort of guide.
Personally if I'm playing a game for the first time, I like to get through it with the least amount outside help as possible, but after I beat it the first time I'll use a guide to get 100%.
:)
But, hey, that's just me.
It's about the sense of satisfaction knowing you can do it on your own first, but everyone's different.
 

AwesomeTingle

Pure Awesomeness
Joined
Aug 3, 2010
Location
Somewhere over the Rainbow
It really depends on the game. If the game is well designed, then I think it's cheating.
(well designed meaning solutions are visible, but hard to find. Like Zelda) When you get stuck and can't find the answer right away, then look up the walkthrough, That's cheating (If the game is well designed). I think hints would be better. But sometimes the puzzles are so hard, that you take hours and hours, and still can't find the answer, then I think it's okay to take a peek at the cheat sheet (walkthrough).

But if the game is poorly designed, then it's not cheating at all. I've played many games where I can't find the answer, look up the walkthrough, and STILL can't find the answer.
 

ZeldaMaster

Lightning Farron
Joined
Aug 15, 2010
Location
Milford center
Gender
Male
Well in my opinon if you constantly have to use 24/7 for a zelda game it should be counted as cheating. But if your new to zelda games it should be used constantly
 
Joined
Jun 24, 2010
Location
Las Vegas, NV
I don't consider using a walkthrough ever to be cheating in a single player game like Zelda, except for Four Swords: if it's multiplayer and not everyone has seen it, then it's cheating. Even if you use it 24/7, technically it's not cheating, but it CERTAINLY takes away the experience of the game. That's why I only use walkthroughs when I desperately need help, like if I've been searching for hours for that last stray fairy in Stone Tower Temple and can't for the life of me find it... for example. Also, I pretty much never use one on my first play through of a Zelda game; I'll get everything I can find the first time around, then use one on a separate profile to 100% the game.
 
Joined
Sep 16, 2009
Location
Cali For Nuh
I dont consider walkthroughs cheating, mainly because you still have to pull off the techniques yourself even though someone may be telling you where to go, and what to do. I've used walthroughs, yeah they take away from the experience, and I really try to use them as a last resort, but I do know that they are out there, and I have no shame in using them if I'm stuck.

Water Temple in OoT, and TP are two places where I used them because there were areas I probably could have found on my own had I searched a little harder. But I don't regret using the walkthrough to help get me through it.
 
Joined
Oct 26, 2008
Location
Brexit
It depends on what you classification of cheating is. You may be someone that only believes you are cheating if you use anything that causes the mechanics of the game weigh heavily in your favour, such as a cheat for infinate health. If you are that kind of person, then you probably wouldn't see using a walkthrough as cheating, as you aren't actually doing anything to the game itself to make sure you complete the game.

However, if you a person that sees gaining any form of help from outside the game as you first start to play it as cheating, e.g. using hacks, using a chear for things such as weapons, or getting help from outside of the game, then you will most likely see using a walkthrough as cheating.

I personally lean towards the latter kind of person for most of the time. The only time when I use walkthrough is when I am absolutely stuck and have no idea where I am going, such as the original Legend of Zelda. The main reason for why I don't use guides as someone else said, is that they take away from the experience of the game.
 

Cel-Shaded Deku

Ha ha, charade you are!
Joined
Jul 24, 2010
Location
Rapin' your churches, burnin' your women!
Walkthroughs are like junk food, using them too often is not good for you. I can get through a game almost 100% with minimal help from ZD. If I was looking at my computer half the time then I wouldn't have any fun. Once I beat the game I might watch a video guide on YouTube for fun.
 

Phlegm

Bake me a pie!
Joined
Apr 13, 2010
Location
Bottom of the Well
Walkthroughs are like junk food, using them too often is not good for you. I can get through a game almost 100% with minimal help from ZD. If I was looking at my computer half the time then I wouldn't have any fun. Once I beat the game I might watch a video guide on YouTube for fun.

I think and do the same thing. I usually play through the story of a game, forcing my self to not use a walkthrough (the Water Temple took me a week the first time through), try doing as many sidequests as I possibly could, then use a walkthrough for what I missed. OoT wasn't very hard to 100% for me without a walkthrough. MM was a whole different story. 52 heart pieces, 20 normal masks and 60 stray faries in the four dungeons. I used a walkthrough for most of the sidequests...
 
H

Hyper-Red

Guest
I don't think it's cheating. I mean, it is if you're just reading the answers, but otherwise I think it's fine. When I'm stuck, I usually try and figure it out for three days and if I can't find it, I go on gameFaQs.

But if it's like one of those harvest moon games and you want to find out what seeds make hybrids, and you go to a walkthrough to find the answer, that's not really cheating.
 

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