Opinion: About Videogame Walkthroughs

I have played videogames since the Atari was invented. I don’t consider myself a gamer, although several people have called me that. Back in the day I played Mario Bros., Megaman, Contra, Master Blaster, Metroid, and many others; and of course… Zelda.

Even when I have played The Legend of Zelda a little, I became a fan of the title with Link to the Past. I still play Zelda titles now.

Apart from Zelda, the other title I have played often is Final Fantasy. I started with Final Fantasy II (which is really VI), and III (which is really VI), and VII and VII. That is as far as my Final Fantasy experience goes. I did start the first Final Fantasy on the iPad a while back (over a year ago), but I haven’t played it in months. To me, Final Fantasy is Rydia, Cecil and Rosa, or Cloud, Aeris and Tifa. And don’t get me started on the music!

When I played videogames on the Atari, NES, Super NES or Playstation, I did not use walkthroughs. If they existed, I was ignorant of their existence. I bought my first walkthrough book after I got really stuck with Final Fantasy VIII… and still I couldn’t win the game. When I was in college and I could access the internet, I realized that there was something I had to do at a certain point in Final Fantasy VII to obtain something I needed to defeat the game. I had, of course, not done any of that and now I was at the final battle with an unbeatable boss. Bummer.

That was the beginning of walkthroughs for me.

Now, whenever I play Zelda or Final Fantasy, I do it with a walkthrough. I use them to find every single obtainable item in these games. I use it to play parts you can only play if by divine grace you think about playing at a certain magical moment or else you miss out forever.

At first I thought it was cheating. Then my brother said I was cheating.

I don’t care. I enjoy the games and have FUN and all of this is because of walkthroughs. I love walkthroughs. I am a working mom with many hobbies and in the time I allocate to videogames… I USE A WALKTHROUGH. I’m a proud walkthrough user.

I am playing Final Fantasy X now. I know, it’s an old game on the Playstation 2, but I haven’t played it and its there…

I have FF X-2 and Kingdom Hearts and I want to play them. And I plan to play them in the Playstation 2 before I get rid of it. And guess what, I will use a walkthrough!!!

How about you? Do you use walkthroughs?