245: Bad MotherFAQers
- Thread starter Robert Janelle
- Start date
The article has truth, no one real does want to purchase an official guide book for $20. I am like that especially after reading the Final Fantasy VII official guide book by Bradygames. The guide was actually inaccurate and had horrible spelling errors at places. And trying to find an official guide book to games where without it you will be aimless wondering, a perfect example of that is "Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne". A used guide for this game is always usually over $50 (and even in a condition where the guide has bends and tears). Upon playing and beating this game by using an FAQ I sent a praising email to the FAQ author. The best thing about FAQs is that you can't lose them, unless you do not have internet access, while a book is losable. So a salute to the FAQ writers for helping the gaming community save money and beating the game.
Thousands of years ago I was going to write a guide about boss battles in Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem, because I hung out in the board and that was what most people asked. Usually because they were using Gameshark cheats that gave you infinite health but due to a glitchy also gave infinite health to some of the enemies, including ones you had to defeat to continue. Even more amusing is that the first of these monsters was in a level in which, for plot reasons, the character was invinicible anyway.
But then, I didn't. The end.
I haven't been to the GameFAQs board in year but it's still the place to go for FAQs. Every once in a while I find one that's so delightfully written I'll use it rather than a more complete but duller one.
But then, I didn't. The end.
I haven't been to the GameFAQs board in year but it's still the place to go for FAQs. Every once in a while I find one that's so delightfully written I'll use it rather than a more complete but duller one.
Game guides and FAQs are very useful and all, but I find myself turning more and more to the various gaming wikis available, rather than GameFAQs. For the linear single-player games like Painkiller, a guide is still a must for most people to find every secret available, but for branching or open-world games like Dragon Age or Fallout, using (and contributing to, while you're at it) one of the gaming wikis is much more practical. When you look at a site like gaming.wikia.com, the guides for individual games made by one person can pale in comparison when you see the masses of information these wikis contain. You can't really do it any other way, when you look at a game like Dragon Age: It's near impossible for one person to cover every aspect of the game. How many people would it take? One person for each combination of sex, race, class and specialization? Not gonna happen.
So you could say that gaming wikis are an evolution of the game guide, much like wikipedia can be considered an evolution of the encyclopedia. They both have their strong and weak points regarding quality and quantity of information, and both are suited to different types of games. You're probably going to turn to GameFAQs in order to find every landmark collectible in Prototype, and you might do the same for every bobblehead in Fallout 3. But where do you go to find the best possible weapon in STALKER? Or the most powerful build in Mass Effect?
GameFAQs are old, Escapist. Can we get more on gaming wikis? You'd be amazed at how many of them exist, they already do for every game I mentioned.
So you could say that gaming wikis are an evolution of the game guide, much like wikipedia can be considered an evolution of the encyclopedia. They both have their strong and weak points regarding quality and quantity of information, and both are suited to different types of games. You're probably going to turn to GameFAQs in order to find every landmark collectible in Prototype, and you might do the same for every bobblehead in Fallout 3. But where do you go to find the best possible weapon in STALKER? Or the most powerful build in Mass Effect?
GameFAQs are old, Escapist. Can we get more on gaming wikis? You'd be amazed at how many of them exist, they already do for every game I mentioned.
There are good ones and bad ones out there, recently I found a gameguide and in order to complete said game, it required you to use known cheats\exploits to do it. To me this was worse than lazy writing.
I think everyone who likes free guides that are higher quality than official guides are forgetting about the poor corporate giants who want all of our money. How is this fair to them?
On a more serious note, excellent article. Not what I was expecting based on the title.
On a more serious note, excellent article. Not what I was expecting based on the title.
And I won't write unless there's a paycheck waiting for me. It's interesting that a writer would turn down pay; I have never ever heard of that. These FAQ writers are a strange breed indeed.
Also, I'd like to say that not all Official FAQs are bad. I loved the one for Final Fantasy Tactics.
The best official guides I have ever used were the ones for Pokemon Crystal and Onimusha 2.
Though some guides I've read have been pretty horrendous! XD
Though some guides I've read have been pretty horrendous! XD
You'd be surprised how often I was called that. Mostly because I really was. Here's a link to one of them (there were far more than I want to admit to): http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Walkthrough:Final_Fantasy_XII/BlueHighwindOnyx Oblivion said:
I've purchased official guides before, but only if there is some incentive to do so beyond that of the guide itself. Several include extras like game artwork, design sketches, background history on characters, and more. I find that stuff to be fascinating, and have bought those kind of guides if the game was interesting enough.
Otherwise, it's GameFAQs all the way for me. I've even contributed to a few guides myself, by writing in tips or pointing out problems. I also designed a really awesome ASCII heading for a Diablo 2 guide, way back in the day. I tried to find it, but couldn't. It looked a bit like this one, only it was on fire, like the official logo.
http://www.asciiartfarts.com/20040116.html
Otherwise, it's GameFAQs all the way for me. I've even contributed to a few guides myself, by writing in tips or pointing out problems. I also designed a really awesome ASCII heading for a Diablo 2 guide, way back in the day. I tried to find it, but couldn't. It looked a bit like this one, only it was on fire, like the official logo.
http://www.asciiartfarts.com/20040116.html
I remember when the internet first started becoming a big deal, and gaming started to take off. I constantly hit up these FAQ's for little secrets, bits I missed, or the occasional challenge I just couldn't surpass. It truly amazed me how in depth a lot of these were, how massively large they were, and all contained within a notepad document. Of course, there were a ton of garbage walkthroughs and the such, but the good ones were truly impressive.
Oddly enough, I really can't remember the last time I've had to look up such a document. It truly does say something for the state of gaming when I can't remember looking up a single clue to a game in at least the past 3-4 years. I certainly can't be getting any smarter, hell if anything age is taking its toll.
But yes, these people truly do deserve some sort of recognition, and at the very least, quite a bit of appreciation. Their hard work has saved me many a headache in the past.
Oddly enough, I really can't remember the last time I've had to look up such a document. It truly does say something for the state of gaming when I can't remember looking up a single clue to a game in at least the past 3-4 years. I certainly can't be getting any smarter, hell if anything age is taking its toll.
But yes, these people truly do deserve some sort of recognition, and at the very least, quite a bit of appreciation. Their hard work has saved me many a headache in the past.
Without FAQs, I'd never know that Enemy Ace 067 was an SR-71 and callsigned "Rabe" and in mission 9 in Ace Combat Zero.
I never really thought about the fact that people would actually beat games to 150% for the benefit of others for free...
I never really thought about the fact that people would actually beat games to 150% for the benefit of others for free...
Though I?m not a FAQ writer, I think Game Guide writers and old world explorers have a lot in common. How is the motivation for a guy who explores every inch of the world of Final Fantasy VII that much different from, say, Lewis & Clark? Of course, exploring virtual worlds created by people is a bit different than exploring actual locales. In one, you have from the risk of death from wildlife, unfriendly natives, veneral diseases (overly friendly natives), running out of supplies, etc. In the other, you risk death only if you believe you might succumb to the occasional marathon gaming-related death you hear about on the internet. I?d venture a guess that these intrepid guide writers harbor a need for exploration that, in today?s age of Google Earth, is difficult to meet. And so these adventurers turn their eyes to virtual worlds that don?t exist, that they explore and document everything they see in a mad rush so that they can see (and prove they saw) what others have not. Perhaps they share a need for glory, and a place marker in history. Where are the explorers of today? Out carving a niche for themselves on GameFAQs? Games give everyone a chance to live as an explorer, and FAQs seem to be a natural extension.
On a different track, I have noted a sorted jaded, world-weary attitude permeating the occasional game guide that seems to suck a lot of the fun away from playing a game. I recently had a peek at the Gamespot?s official guide for Mass Effect (the original), and found it written with a slight air contempt for the branching story line mechanic. It felt like the author could not believe he had to be bothered to try to find the ?correct? choices in order to get the guide out before some publication deadline. The guide was extremely helpful, but it really stripped away the illusion of a grand universe with ?infinite? possibilities.
On a different track, I have noted a sorted jaded, world-weary attitude permeating the occasional game guide that seems to suck a lot of the fun away from playing a game. I recently had a peek at the Gamespot?s official guide for Mass Effect (the original), and found it written with a slight air contempt for the branching story line mechanic. It felt like the author could not believe he had to be bothered to try to find the ?correct? choices in order to get the guide out before some publication deadline. The guide was extremely helpful, but it really stripped away the illusion of a grand universe with ?infinite? possibilities.
In my experience the most useful walkthroughs are component guides. Like breaking down accessories in FFXIII, or alchemy in Oblivon, etc.
The amount of effort required to write down every item drop from every enemy in a game and every way those items can be combined shows a devotion to a game worthy of an accountant.
The amount of effort required to write down every item drop from every enemy in a game and every way those items can be combined shows a devotion to a game worthy of an accountant.
I actually liked buying the official guides. The new book smell, the artwork, the peeking ahead and feeling the shame of doing so yet feeling glad that the guides really didn't spoil anything, the right layout. I think my favorite was the Final Fantasy X guide which I got for around $10. Now days though, I either go without or use FAQs since not only are several guides useless but they're too expensive.
I actually remember the first time I really needed an FAQ, Legend of the Dragoon. I got the game after the guide had stopped and when I hit a certain point, it was like running into a brick wall. An FAQ helped me out of there and let me finish that glorious 4 disc game (another one let me get to the end of FF IX). More recently, I've been getting small bits of info online about bosses in FF XIII as well as how to get all endings in Heavy Rain. Thank you FAQ writers.
Now, I do have to say here that there are a few FAQs that need to learn how to not create large walls of uninteresting looking text that span an entire page, but the masters who know how to space it out as well as put those quick jump messages through out it, I salute you. Thank you for all you help!
I actually remember the first time I really needed an FAQ, Legend of the Dragoon. I got the game after the guide had stopped and when I hit a certain point, it was like running into a brick wall. An FAQ helped me out of there and let me finish that glorious 4 disc game (another one let me get to the end of FF IX). More recently, I've been getting small bits of info online about bosses in FF XIII as well as how to get all endings in Heavy Rain. Thank you FAQ writers.
Now, I do have to say here that there are a few FAQs that need to learn how to not create large walls of uninteresting looking text that span an entire page, but the masters who know how to space it out as well as put those quick jump messages through out it, I salute you. Thank you for all you help!