Game Journal: Guiding My Way

I'm finding it harder and harder to play and enjoy games without a strategy guide these days. Whether this is a good thing or a bad thing, its happening. Why? First off, I use strategy guides in an attempt to get things right the first time, without spending countless "wasted" hours looking for stuff or perhaps figuring out where to go. Because I don't have the time (or patience, some might argue) to play a game multiple times like many people do (one time for the story and maybe a second time to find everything there is to find), I find myself almost glued to a strategy guide for many games. While I don't necessarily find them advisable for boss fights or basic exploration, in this day and age of achievement whoring it is nice to at least attempt to get as many things as I can on my one playthrough.

One game in recent memory that I played without a strategy guide is Persona 3, and in a way I didn't feel it needed one. Sure, most games don't need a strategy guide to follow the story straight through, its when you want to find all the nuances of the game that they really shine. Plus, it was a PS2 game with no achievements or trophies and few side quests.

Recently I've been playing Chrono Trigger on the DS…without a guide. I'm stuck. I can not figure out where I'm supposed to go next. Its driving me bonkers. And that's not the only thing. I keep thinking I'm missing things I could get or see by just following from point A to point B to point C in the story.

Some may argue that I can look up any info I want online. Sure, I could. That, however, is horribly inconvenient. I sit on my sofa to play my consoles, my PC is at a desk. If I'm using the TV, my wife is often on the PC doing her thing. Its not like I have all the information on the Interwebs at my fingertips 24/7. Its much more convenient to have a hardcopy of what I'm looking for, where I can find things quickly and easily.

In my playthrough of Star Ocean: The Last Hope, I used a strategy guide and had quite a bit more fun than I did, even with Persona 3 or Valkyria Chronicles (another game I didn't have a guide for). Perhaps having all that info at my fingertips in the form of a consolodated guide equates to my enjoyment of the game? I don't know for sure, but I do know it bugs me when I know I'm likely missing something that I could have experienced if I had a guide for the game.

I'm prepping to play Dragon Quest V and Tales of Vesperia (finally) before long, I will likely feel the need to pick up guides for them before I start playing. Maybe I'm strange.