Game Guides: A Necessary Evil?

by Temple Priestess

When I first started gaming, I was playing games like Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy. They were games that you could pretty much get through without any additional help. All the information you needed to complete the in-game quests were found in the game itself. Even when I got the Final Fantasy game guide from Nintendo Power magazine, it didn't reveal anything I hadn't known before. The maps included were great if I wanted to get through a part quicker, but I could do so even without consulting them.

That was a simpler time. Now, games are much more complicated and harder to get through. I'm not saying I don't enjoy a challenge, or that I don't like the complexity, but I've noticed that there are many games out there that you cannot play well without buying a game guide that usually is published at the same time a game is released. I wonder if the game companies add in all those extra secrets and impossible to figure out directions just so the game guides will have material to publish.

For example, the game Valkyrie Profile has several endings. In order to get the best ending, you have to do several things which one would not think of to do unless she read the guide. There is nothing in the game to hint towards a course of action or suggest that you do these things. Likewise, in many games there are items that you cannot get or quests you cannot complete without using a guide because they are not mentioned in-game or the path to them is so obscure that you miss it entirely.

I do not feel that you should have to buy a game guide in order to complete a game. It ruins the experience of being able to accomplish the goals on your own without being told what to do. Of course, when a game does not include enough information to help you complete parts or find secrets, there is little left to do but turn to outside help. I wonder if there is some kind of deal between the game developers and the guide publishers so that there are things in the game that can only be discovered through the use of a guide, thus increasing the profits of the guide companies.

I'm not saying that guides aren't nice--they have extra information like character profiles, maps and hints. However, they do charge upwards of $12 for this information. If there was enough information in the games themselves to point you towards all the extra surprises and necessary quests, then you probably wouldn't be compelled to shell out money for the guides. (Thank goodness for sites like gamefaqs.com!)

I feel that a game is much more enjoyable if you don't have to buy a game guide in order to complete it, and complete it the best that can be done. If more information was included in the games, this would be possible. Then, if one wanted to buy a game guide for fun or to help them out in a spot that is giving her trouble, it wouldn't be a "necessary" purchase. Of course, that would put a severe dent in the game guides' publishers' pockets.