Considering I just finally conquered Lufia 2 RotS at 4 a.m. this morning after slugging it through the game with about 4 glances at any walkthroughs total, this article interested me.

To be honest, I've just recently gotten myself into getting through games with as little help as possible, in order to improve myself in both performance and thinking skills. Way back in the day, though, if an RPG was hard enough, gamefaqs was pretty much my best friend. I'm rather ashamed to say that I pretty much glued myself to it to beat Xenosaga.

Nonetheless, I've managed to get through quite a few big SNES games lately without worrying about any guides, and I must say, it sure leaves me with a very satisfied feeling of knowing I did that good on it. Now I just gotta apply that to Sierra games(hoo boy). I do have the entire Space Quest collection, though....

As far as this thing goes, though, I most likely won't be using it, not unless I have absolutely no other choice. I doubt I'll have that problem, since Gamefaqs has always solved my problems. Still I can see how useful it can be as an optional thing. People can get a useful visual aid on getting through tough parts that are getting to them. Plus, according to the article, the game mode that gives you that will not allow you to do things like save or cheat, so at least the challenge is still there.

That being said, I can also see how it would dumb things down a little, seeing as how people could likely jump on the thing and rely on it a lot, possibly even before giving some things a try by themselves. It's easy to see how most gamers, especially casual ones, could look at something like this tutorial system and suddenly see how easy the whole thing is. All of a sudden, the challenge and excitement seem to almost disappear. It's only when the player does the stuff by him or herself that the fun factor remains, though I doubt doing it "by yourself" after relying on the walkthrough like crazy beforehand(if you're the kind of person to do that) will really make things better.

I guess the ultimate goal is to see the tutorial system as a useful tool of convenience, provided it's used in moderation, such as using it to get through some tough part that has you stumped and then jumping right back into the game itself. I dunno, it just seems to be one of those double-edge swords.

I do agree, the water temple is a real pile of shit to get through, though in all honesty, I almost miss the place every time I get to the Shadow Temple.