Great gaming experiences you've ruined via cheats/spoilers

[OCNewbie]

Fairly recently I picked up Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines. Without doing too much research into the game, other than downloading some of the unofficial community patches (I believe I got the TRU? patch or something), I started playing.

I got totally engrossed into the game, and was very much enjoying the storyline. I believe I made it to the Hollywood portion of the game, and at some point I think I got kinda stuck. I went online to search for some tips on how to get past this portion, and I started reading into stuff I probably shouldn't have. I started reading more about powers other races had that mine did not (I had chosen a Gangrel) such as Celerity, etc. I learned about items or things I had missed along the way, better ways to spend stat points, etc., and kind of lost focus. I ended up reading some stat points hoarders guide and it totally took the fun/discovery aspect away from the game.

Now, I still haven't seen past Hollywood, and I haven't really read about too much past that point either, so I suppose I can still play the game again and have things be new to me from the point I left off. But I still won't be able to play with the same unawareness that I had when going through the game the first time. Can't really get that back, so I feel like a great gaming experience has been tarnished somewhat for me.

I'd like to hear other similar stories where a great/good game you got into was tarnished/ruined because of cheats/hacks/spoilers, etc.

 

[Barfo]

I never use cheats or read any guides unless I become very frustrated with a game but this doesn't happen often. And sometimes when a game is too boring and I know I won't finish it otherwise, I enable god mode and run through it to watch the ending.

 

[brblx]

i havn't used cheats since, like, doom. if the game needs cheats to beat a certain part or something i don't want to buy it, and i try not to.

only exception that i can think of is using cheats to screw around in gta. thought i've never finished any of those games, so that's pretty telling.

 

[zerocool84]

I used cheats in GTA3. Made the game super fun.

 

[OCNewbie]

I think in my case with VTMB I looked for some hints online (was a spoiler) because I thought the game had bugged out on me. It was a notoriously buggy game.

 

[OCNewbie]

Oh, Diablo 1 also fit the bill for me too. I played the game completely offline in single player mode till game level 13 or so (I believe level 16 was the level you fought Diablo). At that point I decided to check out what battle.net was all about. After logging into battle.net I was soon given all the best items in the game (duped), and was taught how to dupe, etc. Those items made the game way too easy, and not much fun anymore, so it totally lost it's appeal. I did have some brief fun downloading a trainer that allowed me to 1-punch-kill Diablo. That was slightly amusing, heh.

 

[ArchAngel777]

I have ruined, or rather, enjoyed many games with cheating. Some games are only fun when you cheat IMO. Especially games that tend to cheat, as in the AI does things you can't, which was common many years ago.

 

[pontifex]

i try not to use them but i usually do end up using them at some point. usually when it gets especially hard. it does kind of ruin the game sometimes. just depends on the game.
there are some games that I wouldn't have finished without cheating, not becuase they were difficult, but because they sucked

 

[brblx]

see, but that lets you know that a developer is not worthy of your cash. i mean, half-life had good AI in 1998. don't pay for lazyness in a core area. ;P

 

[ArchAngel777]

Originally posted by: pontifex
i try not to use them but i usually do end up using them at some point. usually when it gets especially hard. it does kind of ruin the game sometimes. just depends on the game.
there are some games that I wouldn't have finished without cheating, not becuase they were difficult, but because they sucked

I can always count on you for some laughs dude. I have to agree...

 

[Sam25]

I use cheats for the GTA games, just makes them more fun. Other than that, I might use a save game pack if I'm replaying a game and want to play through certain levels only but don't use cheats or guides, unless ofcourse I'm stuck in a game real bad and figure out nothing.

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: ArchAngel777

Originally posted by: pontifex
i try not to use them but i usually do end up using them at some point. usually when it gets especially hard. it does kind of ruin the game sometimes. just depends on the game.
there are some games that I wouldn't have finished without cheating, not becuase they were difficult, but because they sucked

I can always count on you for some laughs dude. I have to agree...

not sure if that's good or bad, lol

 

[skace]

I love when you go to gamefaqs for a simple answer and the 2nd post on the forum is basically the entire plot somehow smashed into a post subject header. Aaaah gamefaqs.

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

Oni. I absolutely loved the game, but I had to see what the weapons were like later on. Applied a cheat to see them all, and it just killed the drive of the game as I had all the weapons. Eventually I'll load it up in the console and play it with a controller...

 

[TridenT]

None. If I cheat in the game it's because the game is fucking pissing me off or is boring. The cheats only make me complete/play the game... So really it's like this: Cheats actually make the experience for me when the experience is lacking without cheats.

I think walkthroughs are not cheats.. Seriously, I don't want to spend hours trying to figure out some stupid fucking puzzle in FF9. Sucks that I didn't follow the walkthrough from the beginning in FF9... Otherwise I would have chosen the right characters and bought the right shit.. Sadly, I didn't and... 40 hours down the drain...... I couldn't progress in the game because all the enemies were too strong and I couldn't heal/level anywhere and I had no money and I picked the wrong characters. :'(

 

[ArchAngel777]

Originally posted by: pontifex

Originally posted by: ArchAngel777

Originally posted by: pontifex
i try not to use them but i usually do end up using them at some point. usually when it gets especially hard. it does kind of ruin the game sometimes. just depends on the game.
there are some games that I wouldn't have finished without cheating, not becuase they were difficult, but because they sucked

I can always count on you for some laughs dude. I have to agree...

not sure if that's good or bad, lol

Naw its good most of the time.

 

[shortylickens]

Ruined?
I have never ruined an experience with cheating. If the game is awesome I wont need to cheat. If its really awesome and I replay it a bunch of times I may eventually cheat just for fun. Especially in shooters. Having infinite ammo of mega-guns on the first level is often fun.

In RPG's I try not to cheat unless the game is outright broken. I used super-encumberance mods in Elder Scrolls 3 and 4 and Fallout 3, not because it breaks game balance but because it keeps me from making hundreds of trips just to clear out one dungeon. Have beaten Baldurs Gate 2 so many times its fun to mess around with classes and class abilities. Also, I like mods that fix game issues. I have one that lets me stack an unlimited number of arrows, potions, gems or scrolls in one slot. That isnt really cheating since you still need a proper strength score to hold all that crap, but it makes inventory management much easier.
Speaking of which, I far prefer the inventory system in KOTOR. It may not be realistic, but it keeps my time focused on the gameplay instead of managing my junk collection. Speaking of KOTOR, thats another one I've finished so many times that its fun to cheat. I like giving myself ridiculous powers and equipment right at the start of the game.

As for games like Crysis I dont feel guilty about cheating because I hate the gameplay and just wanna zip through it without hassle. Gave myself the ability to carry any number of guns and infinite suit power. Not quite the same as god mode or infinite ammo (I still need to be careful and use good FPS skills) but it makes gameplay a lot more fun.

As for the best video game ever created, Deus Ex, I dont need to cheat because I have just about every obstacle and enemy memorized, but its fun to give yourself goodies and skills at the beginning just to see how the gameplay changes.

 

[evident]

Originally posted by: TridenT
None. If I cheat in the game it's because the game is fucking pissing me off or is boring. The cheats only make me complete/play the game... So really it's like this: Cheats actually make the experience for me when the experience is lacking without cheats.

I think walkthroughs are not cheats.. Seriously, I don't want to spend hours trying to figure out some stupid fucking puzzle in FF9. Sucks that I didn't follow the walkthrough from the beginning in FF9... Otherwise I would have chosen the right characters and bought the right shit.. Sadly, I didn't and... 40 hours down the drain...... I couldn't progress in the game because all the enemies were too strong and I couldn't heal/level anywhere and I had no money and I picked the wrong characters. :'(

the only thing you need to know in FF9 is to grind in those lower islands, you'll fight some random dragon monster that does like 9000 dmg but the chef (quina i think) does a one hit eat move that takes him out before he gets to attack. massiv XP for everyone

 

[ViviTheMage]

Originally posted by: evident

Originally posted by: TridenT
None. If I cheat in the game it's because the game is fucking pissing me off or is boring. The cheats only make me complete/play the game... So really it's like this: Cheats actually make the experience for me when the experience is lacking without cheats.

I think walkthroughs are not cheats.. Seriously, I don't want to spend hours trying to figure out some stupid fucking puzzle in FF9. Sucks that I didn't follow the walkthrough from the beginning in FF9... Otherwise I would have chosen the right characters and bought the right shit.. Sadly, I didn't and... 40 hours down the drain...... I couldn't progress in the game because all the enemies were too strong and I couldn't heal/level anywhere and I had no money and I picked the wrong characters. :'(

the only thing you need to know in FF9 is to grind in those lower islands, you'll fight some random dragon monster that does like 9000 dmg but the chef (quina i think) does a one hit eat move that takes him out before he gets to attack. massiv XP for everyone

bingo!

Trial and error is fun, and more enjoyable imo.

I haven't used cheats in any game, except rosebud when I got really bored back in high school...

 

[rudder]

Diablo was horrible. You had to run so much crap... anti-nuke, anti-god kill, blah blah. You could never find someone to play a legit game.

 

[DannyLove]

I ruined my Oblivion experience the moment I enchanted an entire armor set with Invisible. I was 100% invisible and was able to do anything I wanted. After that, I lost interest and eventually stopped playing the game.

 

[Hacp]

Originally posted by: OCNewbie
Oh, Diablo 1 also fit the bill for me too. I played the game completely offline in single player mode till game level 13 or so (I believe level 16 was the level you fought Diablo). At that point I decided to check out what battle.net was all about. After logging into battle.net I was soon given all the best items in the game (duped), and was taught how to dupe, etc. Those items made the game way too easy, and not much fun anymore, so it totally lost it's appeal. I did have some brief fun downloading a trainer that allowed me to 1-punch-kill Diablo. That was slightly amusing, heh.

Even with all the duped shit, it was pretty difficult to win the game. If you went legit it was still pretty hard.

 

[TridenT]

Originally posted by: ViviTheMage

Originally posted by: evident

Originally posted by: TridenT
None. If I cheat in the game it's because the game is fucking pissing me off or is boring. The cheats only make me complete/play the game... So really it's like this: Cheats actually make the experience for me when the experience is lacking without cheats.

I think walkthroughs are not cheats.. Seriously, I don't want to spend hours trying to figure out some stupid fucking puzzle in FF9. Sucks that I didn't follow the walkthrough from the beginning in FF9... Otherwise I would have chosen the right characters and bought the right shit.. Sadly, I didn't and... 40 hours down the drain...... I couldn't progress in the game because all the enemies were too strong and I couldn't heal/level anywhere and I had no money and I picked the wrong characters. :'(

the only thing you need to know in FF9 is to grind in those lower islands, you'll fight some random dragon monster that does like 9000 dmg but the chef (quina i think) does a one hit eat move that takes him out before he gets to attack. massiv XP for everyone

bingo!

Trial and error is fun, and more enjoyable imo.

I haven't used cheats in any game, except rosebud when I got really bored back in high school...

Trial and error is fine, but I was stuck on a floating ship in the clouds... It's part of the thing where your team of 8 breaks up in to two teams of four. One goes and fights a black ship and the other goes onto a ship to fight some guy.... Unfortunately, I chose the wrong characters... I used the black magic guy on the sands place, where he is basically ineffective, and yeah.... Just, bad.. I didn't have two game saves at good points either. I had one other game save but it at the 19 hour mark and I was like at 40 now. I was like, I really don't want to replay the game... for 20 hours. It was great when I was just discovering cool things about the game... but to replay that, no...

Anyway, a lot of the time I was BARELY at the point where I could win battles. Sometimes I would actually lose.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

i'm cheating right now in fallout 3 by reassigning my stats because at first i screwed up assigning them. now i'm thinking about maxing everything out because it sucks having to use one set play style otherwise. also sucks reaching a locked box somewhere and having to forego it because your lockpick isn't high enough. i might also cheat to give me some better weapons. i like guns to hit where i aim. i don't have the patience to use guns that have random ridiculous spread, where you aim directly at something and the gun misses half the time or more. i remember this being one of the reasons i quit playing stalker - because the guns were so horribly inaccurate even if my character and fps skills were top notch.

 

[drum]

dnstuff
/thread