Cheating to save time

[Mad World]

I can understand it in some cases. For example: in Breath of the Wild, may as well use it in order to make the weapons have infinite durability. Durability doesn't really seem to add much to the game; just acts as a time waster.

 

[Avnger]

Singleplayer? Cheat to your heart's content. Personally, I'm much more of a fan of using save editors and editing config files myself rather than downloading trainers; it's for two reasons: I'm not a big fan of downloading random things from the internet and I actually kind of enjoy learning to screw around with the inner workings of the games and seeing what I can mess with.

Multiplayer? I hope the devs throw at you every possible punishment they can come up with and then some.

 

[Avnger]

I do it now pretty much every new game I make in Mount and Blade: Warband. The early game grind is just so fucking repetitive after you've done it a thousand times. Kill bandits, make sure you use a blunt weapon to knock them out, and grab all their shit to sell, hire villagers, once they are high enough level join a faction as a mercenary, lord snipe your way to high renown and money, become a lord, etc.

I now just cheat my way up to a decent amount or renown, money, and troops to usually start in as a mercenary. Though if I'm playing a mod for the first time I do like to start from the beginning.

Double post, but I wanted to make sure you got a notification.

I've taken to using this config editor for mount and blade. It lets me edit things like personal and companion stats and even my starting army so that they take effect every time a game is started. It's rather easy to use too. Warning: It does change the actual mod/vanilla files though, so you should back them up first (the editor does make allow you to make a backup at config save time though).

Oh and from personal experience, editing your own stats is something you should do by exporting your char, editing the self-explanatory text file, then importing said file. Config editing can lead to things like not being able to progress beyond the New Character stats screen if you set things too high for your character.

http://mountandblade.mircon.de/wp/morghs-mb-wbwfas-editor/

edit: Dunno if you use it, but this save editor is nice for changing things once you already have a campaign running, but its a bit less user-friendly than the config editor.

http://www.moddb.com/games/mount-blade-warband/downloads/mount-blade-savegame-editor-converter

 

[sanquin]

I've done that in Subnautica before. I hate it when I'm far out there in the water to search for something or gather specific resources. And then I realise I don't have any food/water with me when I get hungry/thirsty. So then I have 2 choices. Go all the way back to where I can catch and cook fish and go to where I was again, wasting 20~30 minutes. Or just cheat some in so I can keep going with what I want to do. Easy choice really.

I've cheated and still do in Binding of Isaac as well. Sometimes I don't want to struggle through a few runs just to get one I might get to the end with. Sometimes I just want to try out a bunch of items and have fun destroying all the enemies. (though it's debatable if mods are cheating, since it's official.)

So yea, I do cheat from time to time. Though I only do it in single player stuff.

 

[demoman_chaos]

I do it to avoid grinds, particularly in cases with ABSURD RNG. For example in Dragonball Xenoverse 1 you not only had to fulfill specific conditions to unlock the special ending to a Time Patrol, but it wouldn't trigger unless RNGesus decided to make it so. If you wanted to get Super Sayain, you had to do a somewhat difficult condition (Beat Krillin before beating Goku while making sure Frieza doesn't die) which would only occasionally trigger the special event you needed (Goku going Super Saiyan), you needed to complete the event (Beat SSJ Goku while keeping Frieza alive despite Goku being able to spam ultimates limitlessly), and then finally get the game to bless you with the very rare drop. You'd have say a 20% chance of triggering the event you need to have a 5% chance of getting the move you want. At least in Xenoverse 2 the special endings trigger every time you meet the conditions (Drop rates are still garbage).

 

[Avnger]

Except none of those things are necessary. Like at all. You just WANT them. Thus removing any challenge from the game.

You dont need to grind magic at the beginning of FF8 it just makes the game easier.

You dont need to do the timed mission in DA:I, you just get bonuses for doing them (IIRC). It just makes you getting through the content faster while reaping the rewards.

Your last point was hypothetical so I'm not commenting on that.

If it's single player, go nuts, cheat, you do you, but in your shoes I'd be embarrassed to admit to cheating, and worst trying to justify it.

Hmmmm... you say all of this bashing people who dare to edit their own singleplayer games and even include "I'd be embarrassed to admit to cheating, and worst (sic) trying to justify it." And yet, you immediately follow it up with

OT: Personally i don't cheat, ever. Not because of any moral highground, like i said, you do you,

Then finish said sentence with

but i personally get absolutely no satisfaction from knowing i cheesed through something. If i start doing that I'd stop gaming, because i won't see the point.

"You're a piece of scum who isn't a real gamer and are pathetic for not willing to be challenged like a real man would. I mean that with all the respect in the world; I would rather kill myself than be you though."

If you're going to insult people, at least be willing to admit it. You immediately tried to claim to moral high ground like some gaming gatekeeper then claimed you weren't doing that (to further your own esteemed opinion of yourself as better than us mortals), then finished by saying that you would feel worthless if you were to dare act like the rest of us.

You don't get to have your cake and eat it too.

As a kid I never really did it, but as an adult I almost have to.

I MISS the days of the GameShark.
That 10 Times EXP saved SO MUCH TIME...while not really 'cheating' anyways because I was just leveling up faster.

I wish MORE games would just toss that in there as an options.
It's not like I'm asking for infinite HP/MP.
I'd just like devs to remember not everyone has 100+ hours to GRIND just to beat the final fucking boss!

The new pokemon games kinda did this with EXP share, having it active pretty much makes it super easy to level an entire party through the story instead of just the zone appropriate type pokemon in every battle, and you can turn it on and off when the whole group catches up to the level they're meant to be.

And it got absolutely slammed as "ezmode xDDDDDD only shitters use this" on this website.

Sometimes peeps don't realise that some of us need to save some time and can't do a grind sesh whenever we load up a game.

I actually almost never turn on the EXP Share. Pokemon grinding has become my wind-down tool when going to bed. Random battles like that are second nature, so I can turn my mind off. It's an amazing feature to have added though. The EXP Share from Red/Blue/Yellow actually worked the same way as the newest version, but the exp actually shared was a much smaller percentage.

In Mount & Blade and it's mods I tend to give myself a bunch of money at the start so I can have decent gear from the get go. In mods like A Clash Of Kings getting even basic crap takes costs far too much money, and I find the start of the game very boring as a result.

Check out the links for some tools I use with M&B. They make tweaking starting cash/companions/gear really easy.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.948202-Cheating-to-save-time?page=2#23931774

 

[Ironman126]

snip

In-game cheats are pretty rare and getting rarer I think, but some people still create trainers and other tools that can change values from outside the game by altering values in memory and save data and those kind of things. It's been years since I've used one but i'm pretty sure they haven't gone anywhere. At least on PC.

I had honestly forgotten about the existence of trainers. I've never actually used one, but those definitely fit the bill of a cheat used to save time/sanity.

 

[CaitSeith]

I don't cheat (mod or codes. in-game efficiency tricks I do). If the grind makes the game way too boring I prefer to stop playing.

 

[ensouls]

There are a few game "features" that I don't mind turning off with mods or console commands. Weapons degradation and painful inventory limits are usually it, because they feel more like a timesink than a challenge.

Most of the time if a game is just tedious I'm going to stop playing it, although if it's hilariously bad I might cheat blatantly just to see how it ends.

 

[JohnnyDelRay]

To save time, yes I've done it in 2 games (Fallout 4 and Witcher 3, most recently) only to save me from carting stuff back and forth. I find the balance of the game pretty good, but weight limits to be a real pain.

I'm generally good at hoarding money, so I rarely outright cheat for credits. Another cheat I've used to save time (mostly reloading) is MGSV - silencers. I just found that the stupidest mechanic out there, and a very "cheap" way of penalizing your stealth tactics and accuracy. I can appreciate they want you to use more equipment/alternatives, but a silencer breaking after 10 shots is a bit stupid.

 

[verdant monkai]

As long as its not an online game where I'm at risk of getting banned or unfairly affecting anyone else, I'll usually cheat wherever possible. Because I have but one life to live and I'd prefer to cram it with loads of games rather than fewer games done painstakingly correct.

- Save editing
- Cheat codes back before they were replaced with gamestop preorder crap
- Exploits in the game (not technically cheating imo)
- Looking things up on game faqs/youtube
- Changing the time/date on the consoles clock

No one cares if you beat a game without cheating or not. No one really cares if you beat a video game full stop. Very few people within gaming care if you complete a game in a bizarre way, unless you have a disability and it was a nintendo game, then GI and kotaku will do an article on you.

 

[iwinatlife]

For me I just wouldn't feel the same cheating to max level. I also have a job and a girlfriend so I don't game as much but if I am and decide to play a grind heavy RPG then I grind heavily. If i didn't want to play the game I would go do something else if I want istant satisfaction I build a quick obscenely unbalanced match in Medieval total war 2 (as nothing quite beats watching hordes of peasants flee before my army of War Elephants).
To me I just wouldn't feel the same accomplishment if I dint actually work my way up to be powerful and then crush my opposition.

On the other hand I understand that is not everyone's mindset and that is just fine because you playing the same game in a different way does not hurt me! so cheat away!
Unless you are a League of legends scripter or an of those other horrid online cheaters because that is just rude.

 

[sageoftruth]

I've got no qualms against it, but personally, the closest I've come to actually doing it is
A) Using the turbo button on my N64 Emulator to fast forward through Majora's Mask, and
B) Reading Wikis while playing From Software games.

 

[Synigma]

The only time I can think of off hand was in Baldur's Gate II, the starting area was fairly in-depth and meant to suck you into the world... but after playing through it half a dozen times it's time to find a mod that just removes it and starts you outside.

I think I remember doing something similar with another old game, or trying to rebuild a save game that was lost with an old computer...

Moral of the story: If you've beaten it before then go ahead and skip the parts that are boring 2nd+ time through.

 

[happyninja42]

I don't do that in games, never really seen the point in bypassing the content that I paid money for. In games like that, the leveling is a key part of the content of the game. The "journey" of your character's growth is the very point. Taking them from a lowly farmhand, to the savior of a kingdom. To just fastforward to the "badass" point, sort of robs the game of it's fun for me. I don't feel like I actually did anything of note or interest.

So no, I've never done that.

 

[iwinatlife]

I don't do that in games, never really seen the point in bypassing the content that I paid money for. In games like that, the leveling is a key part of the content of the game. The "journey" of your character's growth is the very point. Taking them from a lowly farmhand, to the savior of a kingdom. To just fastforward to the "badass" point, sort of robs the game of it's fun for me. I don't feel like I actually did anything of note or interest.

So no, I've never done that.

This all of this and this is also why i think the boost a character to max mechanic that MMO's are implementing left and right are really kinda dumb

 

[Ender910_v1legacy]

If it's tedious and unnecessary I either don't buy/play the game to begin with or mod/tweak it to be more reasonable.

The third recourse, of playing and cheating a tiny bit, is something I might employ in very select circumstances. Only recent-ish examples that come to mind are maybe using a save/character editor to fix or correct something (Dying Light, and another game I can't remember atm).

 

[Marik2]

Whatever Happened To Gamesharks And Cheating Peripherals Like It?

 

[Worgen]

I used to cheat back in the day in fps games, like Duke 3d and doom1/2. Mostly because I hated key hunting and just wanted to shoot things. Other than that, I don't really remember cheating much in games. I do recall using an all weapons cheat in Turok 2 but thats kinda it off hand. I think I beat the game without it before hand... although I might be full of it for that.