Do you guys use walkthroughs or not?

[Cyrillej1]

I sometimes use walkthrough just because it'll quicken my play through. If it's a straight forward game where the choices are pretty obvious on how to get onto a characters route, I'd just play blindly to see which girl I'd be interested, and then (save & load) until I get to the girl I've decided on.  There are times though, that I'll want to use a walkthrough just because I already know who I want to go for only, and don't intend to play any of the other routes.

 

If the game is a bit more complicated, like w/gameplay elements (Ex: Hotel Dusk, Kara no Shoujo) it can take too long to figure out what to do, so I just use a *no spoilers* walkthrough.  I want to enjoy the game/story, not get totally frustrated with it spending hours on something I could have done within minutes.  It's to prevent me from dropping the game.

 

So I'll use walkthroughs when something becomes too frustrating/difficult for me, or I am aiming for only one character ending.

[GLM4475]

Hmm, this is a troubling question. My answer is both yes and no. I am quite a perfectionist several years ago. My gamers pride is about 9,8 out of 10. But, after facing the harsh reality I have to discard my pride to continue playing. Another reason why I avoid walkthrough/guide is because it usually contains spoilers.

VN is easier though. I only use walkthrough for less than 5 VNs I've played so far. Almost all VN has skip and save/load function. With the two combined, usually you could get all routes/omake available by choosing every possible combination choices. But for tricky one like Steins;Gate and Kagetsu Tohya, yeah, I use the walkthrough.

[Shikomizue]

I use walkthroughs but only after my first playthrough, I like to experience the VN for myself first then use a walkthrough to get all the CGs and such.

[LinovaA]

I have to be completely stuck in order to use a walkthrough, as I feel like I lose some of the surprise if I am looking at a walkthrough.

That, and I might get spoiled for what is coming, and I REALLY don't wanna do that.

[Soulless Watcher]

I usually try and play a vn once or twice as "myself", chosing the choice I would make in such situation. Afterwards though I hit the walkthroughs hard, life is short and I want to use my time as efficiently as possible to get through as many vns as possible.

[B0X0R]

Like the majority, I only use them after the first play through.

[Beato]

Pretty much always. Mostly because a lot of VNs have semi-intended route orders (Kotori's route should obviously be read first in rewrite for example), or some routes are simply better than others and then I want to save them for last.

[sub-zer0]

100% ,since I have been using them since my first VN , I see no reason in not using them

[Tesla]

Usually I'll glance through a walkthrough to see what type of choices there are. If it's the simple choose who you want to spend time with then I won't bother. If it's the vague, go to A or go to B then I'll probably use it. I also tend to want to avoid bad endings so when the choice comes up and it's not immediately obvious which choice leads to the good end I'll look that up.

[Ariurotl]

Yep. My rule of thumb used to be, "one unassisted playthrough, then use walkthrough for the rest", but over the last few years I've stopped doing that first unassisted run.

 

There were fun times in the beginning of 00s when I didn't have internet and tried to complete Snow Drop unassisted. It scarred me for life, I tell ya.

[Fred the Barber]

I hate having even the smallest emotion spoiled for me, so I generally avoid walkthroughs. However, I also hate bad endings. So, typically my approach is to play a game completely without any walkthrough, and only go to a walkthrough if I find myself hitting a bad ending (or repeatedly hitting bad endings) and unable to rationalize why. Katawa Shoujo is the only VN I've played where I got frustrated enough to grab a walkthrough and follow it slavishly for the whole game, and to a lesser extent I did this to get the alternate ending for Fate/Stay Night's UBW route (which I ended up disliking anyway...), but then again, most of the VNs I've played have very simple choices to begin with, so this hasn't been an issue. If I played something with really complex choices and inscrutable conditions, I'd probably go looking for a guide just like I did with Katawa Shoujo.

[kooolm]

I was just wondering if many people use walkthroughs to beat a VN like me or do you prefer to try to go through the choices yourselves trying to figure out flags and all that stuff.

Sorry if this topic was already discussed before. 

[Funyarinpa]

I usually play once without a walkthrough and when I get an ending (or locked into one so deeply that I can't be assed to retrace my steps) I switch to a walkthrough.

[Overlord87]

It depends on the VN. Some are really hostile to the player (Cross Channel and Mindead Blood come to mind as examples). You have to make determinate choices with a determinate timing and usually not much to help you during the process. In these cases I usually don't have the patience to try everything out. But if possible I prefer to avoid using walkthroughs.

[Jade]

Depends on the VN itself really, if it's just VN about  selecting which heroine you'll end up with then generally no.

VN that required detail attention where one wrong choice immediately lead into a bad end on the other hand...

[Beato]

Nearly always. I also try to find out if there's a recommended route order and things like that.

[TheFantasm]

 If the choices are straightforward, then no, but if it's a VN that has multiple bad endings then yes. Other times I'm just too lazy to look for a walkthrough.

[Scorp]

In 95% I use walkthrough or check the script to understand the difference between different choice. I am reading them for the story, not for "you died, repeat from the start 26 hours ago", really. That's enough I had fun with Virtue's Last Reward, which DOES NOT have skip for unread events... 35 hours... Of wasted time...

Also I remember I played Divi-Dead in my early years, and always got a bad ending and what like "Wut? No one ever asked me anything!". And only this year I read that VN properly... So no, would always use walkthroughs, as time is limited and VNs are enormously long.

[Satsuki]

Unless it's an RPG-type of VN (which I need walkthrough to see how to unlock special equipments this and that), or else, never.

Having choices to choose from is what make a VN VN. Using walkthrough pretty much defeats that whole purpose of having choices.

[CeruleanGamer]

I am a perfectionist when it comes to CG/Scenes so YES! I have to have a walkthrough if I'm gonna 100% the game. If it's a VN with gameplay and it's untranslated, it's pretty much mandatory for me otherwise I wouldn't even play it. 

Edited November 10, 2015 by CeruleanGamer

[sub-zer0]

99% of the time yes, i guess it gives you more comfort knowing the direction your headed into, it would just plain suck if you died or reached a BE when your trying to play the game. There was this one Vn I played, had like 30 BEs, but luckily the BE reverts you back to the choice that caused your death, and its usually pretty short work from there using the control button.

[CeruleanGamer]

The first time that made me flip a table because of getting lost too many times and getting only the bad ends was Soul Link. Almost all the choices in that VN matter otherwise it ends up with you "splatting" or some unfortunate waifu getting killed.... mercilessly by

explosions, gunfire, getting crushed underneath by something, or getting raped by tentacles/the bad guys.

I don't think anyone can beat that game without a walkthrough without dying at least 5 times. 

Edited November 10, 2015 by CeruleanGamer

[Scorp]

Unless it's an RPG-type of VN (which I need walkthrough to see how to unlock special equipments this and that), or else, never.

Having choices to choose from is what make a VN VN. Using walkthrough pretty much defeats that whole purpose of having choices.

Yes, but issue is that you would not be able to see the whole plot unless you read all possible branches... That's the case here - as authors use choices as plot devices, and you would not be satisfied if after 35 hours in game you will get "you died" and will say "oh well then, that's my choice". Especially tons of VNs have such ridiculous choices like "if you did not speak with 3rd-class garbage collector at least 3 times - you will get bad end", there is plainly no other choice, unless you have monthes of free time to try all possible variations (and this way again defeating the whole purpose of having choices).

[Rainey]

I pretty much always use a guide. Simply because I don't want to waste time getting into the bad ends over and over again. Especially if it's a 50+hr long VN with tons of routes. Reading 100% of a story in the least amount of time is my goal.

[Darbury]

Only all the damn time.

I treat VNs same as I would any other game: first run is blind, remaining runs are done with a walkthrough for 100% content completion. OCD FTW.

"Solve the mystery" type games are the sole exception — e.g., Banshee's Last Cry, etc. I play blind until I "solve" it, then do remaining runs with the walkthrough.