I frequently find myself debating whether to google an item’s location or side quest steps. A lot of times, I try to avoid it as long as I can until I eventually give in after exploring an area for hours. But I always feel a little guilty after. But then I’m like, these games are so damn cryptic, I’d have to spend the rest of my life uncovering all the secrets without google.
Thoughts?
I try to avoid looking things up as I think finding where to go and figuring out what is needed for quests are the main challenges games offer. The developers have given me a specific set of ways to interact with the environment and achieve my in-game goals! Using external tools alters those carefully balanced game mechanics.
One exception is games that have intricate recipe structures that are not outlined in the game and would require a ridiculous amount of guesswork to land on organically. For those I’ll google recipes sometimes.
Games like Elden Ring where certain quests must be done in a certain order or else you can’t do them make me sad because they’re not very friendly to the more whimsical play style that I prefer.