Poll: Strategy Guides

[LornMind]

I'm talkin' real, paper in your hands, compiled by a staff strategy guide here. I bought one today (RE5) because I love looking at all the art contained and reading the bestiary (it made me sad that the Umbrella Archives is out of print and fetching over 200 dollars; should've bought it while I had the chance). However, while I walked back to my car, eager to start reading through my purchase it dawned on me. Book-form strategy guides seem to be...on the way out, I would say, though obviously not based on any research data, this is just an opinion. I'm not sure about the sales figures for strategy guides but with free walkthroughs that reveal every bloody secret available online, ready to print at the drop of a hat it would seem that the strategy guide is a dying medium. Do people still buy these in sufficient numbers? Are they bought for the strategy itself, or like me, is the strategy a side show to the artwork and detail? Am I just totally wrong about this whole thing?

Your thoughts?

 

[Radeonx]

I don't like strategy guides. They basically tell me how to beat the game, leaving no challenge.
I never used them anyways, that's what Gamefaqs is for.

 

[Sassafrass]

I only use them if I am really stuck as in "What the hell do I do now"? kind of stuck.

And then I use the internet ones.

Which are free.

 

[azncutthroat]

I buy them mainly for concept art, such as the Soul Calibur and Final Fantasy franchises.

 

[badgersprite]

I miss games of old where, in places, you felt like you actually needed a strategy guide, particularly to beat the hardest secrets in the game. They're too easy now. Besides, there are so many guides done for free on the internet that if there's one area that troubles anyone in a game, or you want to get an achievement, you can just go to youtube and see how someone else did it.

Personally, I prefer to play without strategy guides, because they ruin surprises in missions and remove the challenge.

 

[I Stomp on Kittens]

I've only boughten one strategy guide and that was for Fallout 3 so I didn't have to run to my computer all the time.

 

[Awexsome]

I haven't bought a physical strategy guide in forever. A good reason is that games are getting more complex over time. It's hard for a strategy guide to cover every possible thing without getting like a dictionary like Fallout 3's.

There was nothing wrong with it being like that but it can't be like that for every game. For example my friend bought the Halo Wars one and it was pretty much useless. All it told you was everything you should pick up on by playing the game yourself. The fine details often get left out which is what you often actually want to look up. For example the details of each unit was given in like a short paragraph and things like, "Don't put a Hornet up against ant-air units!".