I always played without a walkthrough for BG but for SI the only time it happened was when testing the zaurus port.
True, it's better to play like that but honestly, it took AGES to find out that you must talk to Hawk to know about the underground passage. That was NOT intuive at all.
Dino the Dark Dragon
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Lead Dialogue writer [url=http://www.exodusmachine.net/~ultima8]U8E[/url] and [url=http://www.e-prizm.com/blackthorn]Adventures of Blackthorn[/url]
I think it´s some kind of document that allows you to know what is to be done so you don´t need to use your brain at all to solve the mysteries of a great game like U7. And if you abuse of it your brain cells completely collapse so you won´t be able to play a game more difficult than "Golden Axe" or the original 70´s "Ping-Pong" nevermore... I try to not use these "walkthroughs" as they could be like the insane powers of Sauron´s Ring!! [;-))
Is SI possible without a walkthrough? I can still vividly remember the utter frustration of that game's "flag setting madness", such as when you wrongly talked to the ghost . Seemed to me at the time there was no way you would ever finish it if you DIDN'T use a walkthrough to at least tell you in general terms what you should be doing next.
I assume that sometimes they could be useful... I´m just saying: don´t abuse of them. It´s easy to use them to solve a single problem... but it´s better to think by yourself about possible solutions. Ok, sometimes they could be even NECESSARY!
And there is something else becoming clear when you have read some of the messages here!
Sometimes they can be wrong or forget to mention something important (like grabbing a certain item before confronting an NPC...). And if you just followed the walkthrough and not explored on your own you will be stranded...
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Well it all really depends on your patience level and the difficulty of the game whether or not you need a walkthrough. In addition it can help wtih thoes portions of the game you have no interest in.
I quite often look through the walkthroughs - after I've finished the game on my own steam. Can be helpful for those nagging little inconsistencies. Or just plain interesting - I picked up the Serpent official walkthrough for a few bucks just out of curiosity.
Yeah, Its much more fun playing it without the walkthrough.. I've played through it enough times now that I can sort of see the steps in my mind.. How very odd %)
I got through U7 without a walkthrough, except for just one little thing I cant remember, and then when I had beaten it I used it for a couple of interest things.
SI just got harder and harder. I could probably have done it now with no walk through, but some of the intricacies were a little much for a 16 year old tawords the end of the plot.
Good lord! A walkthrough? The things were unheard of when I first played BG. AFAICR there weren't any too sticky points, but it was years ago so I have probably forgotten. I pretty much had to muddle through as everyone I knew at the time was busy playing Streetfighter on their SNESes and anyone with a PC would NOT be playing a game as clever as BG. Oh, and the internet hadn't really taken off either...
I did enjoy having the Ultima 6 cluebook though, because of the gargish dictionary. Granted, you can get that online now, but this was before the internet was cool.
The first time through I didnt use a walkthrough. Heck, nobody even knew what one of those was back then. When I first bought U7, it had the most incredible graphics of any RPG out. Graphics have progressed a ton since then, but I have yet to see a game with a story even remotely close to U7.
Hmm, does anybody know what the exact date of U7BG's release?
I didn't get the game when it was released, my first Ultima was the FCI NES version of U3. But I got the internet in June of '97. Thats how I learned of BG as I remember... I wasn't into computer games until I got the internet, or until I played BG
Darke
(Who despite managing to acquire it soon after release in .au, doesn't
recall when he acquired it either. Waaaaaaay to long ago, he suspects. *grin*)