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Ah, the online FAQ. Ever so superior to any paper method of researching a game, at least in my experience. Once upon a time I had no internet and was forced to clip codes and questions answered from gaming magazines - the pile of clipped Gamepro material was junked several years ago after I unearthed it and realized how outdated that paper is now that the internet resolves the questions. The game guide is also an option, but one that's a trifle expensive to pursue if a player expects to need/want aid for every game s/he plays. Save for pretty pictures and the feel of a book in the hands (not to be underestimated for most other purposes involving reading) the game guide is rendered unnecessary by GameFAQs.
When a FAQ should be necessary is what I desire to discuss. Any game that requires the use of a FAQ to complete is deemed by me to be difficult. I'm not going to count Breath of Fire 2 though, since the translation is so horrible as to make figuring out what to do damn near impossible without a FAQ. I'm wavering over whether to include FFVI in this list since significant parts of the World of Ruin would be very hard to figure out unaided, but FFVI is not terribly hard to complete so I shall refrain.
Lufia 2 is a game I needed to consult an FAQ a few times in order to complete. The combat wasn't the problem, the puzzles that taxed my mind were. I'm not terribly good with puzzles wherever they be encountered, and Lufia 2 threw plenty of them in. I'm not proud of it, but I needed to consult GameFAQs often for those puzzles. Tales of Phantasia prompted my use of FAQs for the other usual reason: being lost. Maybe the translation is to blame, maybe the game's design, or maybe my poor sense of direction, but I needed an FAQ frequently with Tales of Phantasia. Listing all the RPG's I've had trouble with in that manner (sporadic or constant, it matters not) would take awhile and bring back memories I'd rather not relive.
In the above instances I would classify the games as 'hard' thanks to my needing an FAQ to complete them. But most titles do not require the use of an FAQ to complete, instead featuring copious quantities of material that is completely open to voluntary exploration. For instance; how was I to know that having Lamia move to the space Echidna retreated from in either episode 10 or 13, having her engage exactly twice with Axel in episode 19, and getting her to 55 kills before episode 23 would net me the Ash Saber in Super Robot Taisen: Original Generation 2? How was I to know, save through actually expending the hours, that leveling up to 99 makes Spekkio take on a new form in Chrono Trigger? Or precisely where Leo ran off to in Lunar: Eternal Blue's epilogue? I consider items such as this to be perfect FAQ ground, as they allow the trailblazing FAQ writers to expend dozens of hours discovering things via their selfless time sacrifices so that the rest of the audience need not replicate their selflessness.
TAnd there is one other category of title which more-or-less mandates a FAQ: Japan-only RPGs. For those few on RPGamer who play these as I do, the presence of good FAQs makes a world of difference in playing these. I never would have figured out how to perform the second class change in Seiken Densetsu 3 without an FAQ. I could go on ad infinitum regarding how useful FAQs are for Japan-only titles, but the point is rather obvious to anyone who has played one. I thus ignore my own self-imposed rule of trying not to use FAQs for simply getting through the game in cases with a language barrier. For any game in English though, being able to play through the whole game's main storyline without a FAQ is a goal I have always tried to attain without succeeding consistently.
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