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The History of a Recovering FAQ Addict

@SurielVazquez

This post has not been edited by the GamesBeat staff. Opinions by GamesBeat community writers do not necessarily reflect those of the staff.

Editor's note: I also have an "on again, off again" relationship with FAQs. Though I relish the challenge of solving puzzles on my own, sometimes the mood strikes me to complete every last thing in a given game in a single play through. I'd like to know how the rest of you weigh in on this issue. -Jay

The water temple in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time became the first time that the puzzle-solving trio of my two brothers and I hit a wall we could not climb. Normally, if one of us had a boss or puzzle we couldn't overcome, we could usually call the others for help and collectively figure out the solution to the problem. We looked at the problem of lowering and raising the water level to advance from every possible angle with little success, so we finally decided that we needed outside help. 

Since we neither knew about or had access to the wide array of online guides that were available, we ordered the "Perfect Guide" for the game over the phone. The guide arrived 10 to 14 business days later. We began a new game because we were afraid to tackle the water temple again for fear of mucking things up even worse than we had before. Using the guide, we got past the temple and, subsequently, the rest of the game. From then on, we religiously followed the word of guides, making them mandatory purchases whenever they were available. Of course, once we established a competent internet connection, this bled over to online FAQs, which were both more accessible and free.
 

This adhering to walkthroughs continued for the better part of a decade, and I consider it both a good and bad thing. For one, it allowed us to suck literally every ounce of entertainment from my games;  we could buy one game every three or four months and be satiated. Finding every single collectible or easter egg was extremely fun for us and added to our appreciation of almost every game we played. On the other hand, it rendered the challenge of almost every boss or puzzle null as long as there wasn't too much dexterity involved. We didn't use a FAQ for some games, but we used this help for just about everything that was complicated enough that someone wrote a guide for it.
 
Ironically, The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass was the first game that I decided I would absolutely refuse to use a FAQ on. The moments of frustration with not knowing how to get past a certain part of a game are more than made up for by the moment you solve a puzzle or beat a boss by yourself. In a way, I feel like I've just now entered the "legitimate" world of gaming, where I only use a FAQ when I'm actually stuck. I'm finally getting used to the language games use to convey the solutions to puzzle, so I feel like I'm starting out fresh in certain kinds of games. This is an oddly refreshing feeling; going back to games I've beaten before and learning that they're much harder than I thought they were is a unique and enjoyable experience.