Monday 22 September 2014

Walkthroughs versus Let's Play versus What I Really Want

A long time ago I purchased a copy of Settlers 6 by Ubisoft to run under my old XP system. It's a real-time strategy game, with city-building and only a little combat (in most scenarios), so it easily fits into the category of game I usually enjoy (which I wrote about back in April last year). I ran through the first nine scenarios OK, but ran into a lot of trouble on the tenth, Juahar.  I stopped playing the game out of frustration and shifted back to others like Pharaoh/Cleopatra that I liked better.

When I recently updated to a new machine with Windows 8, I installed it again but decided I'd consult a walkthrough to avoid the kinds of frustrations I ran into the first time around. This led me to think about what kind of advice I really wanted. Basically, the walkthrough, though excellent, often gave me too much information for optimal enjoyment. Don't get me wrong -- the walkthrough was well written, and I'm delighted to have had it to look at. It turned the scenario from something frustrating to something enjoyable. But I'd have enjoyed the game more if I knew a little less.