Do you cheat...?

[vovan]

Well, I used to cheat a bit... I remember a while back there was this game... I think it was called Deadlock? I cheated there.

But then I kinda stopped because a large part of the fun of gameplay, for me, comes from the discovery of what the game has to offer. With cheats, this discovery is far too easy and doesn't bring any satisfaction.

In fact, nowadays, I try to stay as far away as possible from cheats, because if I even learn what I have to do to use a cheat, then when I get into a tough spot, the temptation to just use a cheat to pass it is fat too great, and if I do it once or twice, it just goes downhill from there, and I cheat more and more often. The game is normally ruined after that...

[duke o' york]

It seems that everyone in the Baldur's Gate thread reloads from saves regularly. Who thinks that this is cheating? Is it worth more or less than actually entering codes so that you get advantages you wouldn't have normally had?

I like to use the cheat codes on PS2 GTA 3. You can just mess about with the game, and give yourself all the guns and start blowing the hell out of the city, putting in the police or health cheats if necessary, but the fun only lasts for a few minutes (well, until you've reduced an entire block to smouldering rubble) and to use them instead of playing the game just means that you've wasted your money and are cutting short the length of the game. So you've completed it 8 times, but you could feel satisfied if you'd only done it once without cheating.

[Adagio]

There's tons of times while playing GTA 3, were I used a 'cheat code', but only for having a little extra fun, not while playing actual missions... I wouldn't call this cheating... Try to make all pedestrians have a weapon, then make all of them go insane, then go from one end of town to another... it's not as easy as it sounds

[vovan]

Originally posted by duke o' york
Who thinks that this is cheating? Is it worth more or less than actually entering codes so that you get advantages you wouldn't have normally had?

Well, I have mixed feelings on loading the game from a save.

First, I think it certainly is "less" cheating than just bluntly opening the cheat panel, entering the codes, and getting the benefits. I mean, the latter is just an exercise in typing, whereas reloading from a save, you still have to actually play the game

That being said, I think it really depends on what game you are talking about. In some games, I think reloading from a save should be considered cheating. For instance, if we take a strategy game. The player has usually so many options, and paths to take, that there are few situations that are truly fatal. So, in Civ3, say, I would say that reloading from a save is a cheat. Not only is this so because you have so many choices, but also due to the nature of the game. I mean, what the hell is the point of thinking about the numerous decisions you have to make, when you could revert them with a couple clicks of the mouse.

On the other hand, some games are designed with reloading in mind. These normally include rather limited-options games, and some of the more badly-designed games. The reason for this is that you can pretty much check out every game path the thing has to offer by trial and error, rather than choosing the best solution through your best judgement. You could never do such a thing in a good strategy game. In Civ3, for instance, you couldn't try every single possible path of the game, and in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if no two people of those that have ever played Civ3 have ever had exactly identical games. On the other hand, if you take, let's say, an adventure game, here you can normally easily try out everything just by trial and error (the bane of modern find-the-pixel, try-every-crazy-combination-in-the-inventory adventure games). In fact, some of such games are designed with exactly that in mind.

One example of this, for instance, is Black Mirror, released late last year. In the first, about two thirds of the game, there is no way your character can die, whatever he does, even though you'd think he has lots of opportunities. Then, all of a sudden, there is puzzle, where if you don't act within a certain time limit, a madman kills you. I mean, what the hell? Before and after that, it's always a rather slow-paced horror-adventure game, where you cannot die. And then all of a sudden, without any warning, boom: you get smacked over the head with a shovel and killed. There is no way to know that in advance. That's a good example of a situation designed to be reloaded.

Another example from the same game. In the very end, you need to roam underground dungeons to find a certain door. Now, to actually open this door, you need a certain object. Also, every room in this dungeon has a hole in the wall. You could sorta bend over and look into that hole. That one object you really need is located in one of those holes. But here's the gotcha: some of the other holes contain a spike, which strikes out when you bend over to look in and goes right through your head. Also, there are no clues as to which holes are dangerous, and which aren't, and which one contains the item you need. So, the only way to find the item is by trial-and-error, and that would inevitably lead to reloading. This is another example of a horrible, horrible puzzle that is designed with reloading in mind.

[Space05us]

if a game bores me I'll cheat to see what I can do with it. A good example is 'Gangsters 2' I never beat it, but it was sure as hell fun having 4 or 5 car caravans loaded with gangsters with machines guns do drive bys of other gang HQs and police stations. ( fun for a few minutes anyway )

or in Fallout, after I got bored of it ( its a great game but it gets boring ) I used the save game editor to increase all my stats to 10. I was going to play and see what happend but then I got KOTOR and got a little sidetracked.

[Spaced Cowboy]

Okay, I guess we need a better definition of cheating.

Is cheating:
1. Looking on a website cuz your stuck in your game and can't figure out the puzzle?
2. Reloading cuz you were wasted, do you need to start the whole game over?
3. ???

[General Ludd]

Originally posted by duke o' york
It seems that everyone in the Baldur's Gate thread reloads from saves regularly. Who thinks that this is cheating? Is it worth more or less than actually entering codes so that you get advantages you wouldn't have normally had?

It's cheating. I only ever do it when I die, or fudge up and miss dialouge, or choose the wrong thing to say.

In BG2, I lost Minsk permanently after he was turned to stone in the labrynth under spellhold, and I was never able to return there. I sure kicked myself for not having a stone to flesh scroll handy when I always seem to have tons of scrolls stuffed in my pack - probably sold it to the last merchant I'd been to.

In games liek Civ, where you don't die so easily, I like to play iron-man and except defeat if it comes my way. I usually surrender long before it gets to that point, however.

[Imran Siddiqui]

I get a vaguely sick-to-my-stomach feeling when I commit a "dark side" act in KOTOR.

Weak . Dark side is soooo much fun in KOTOR .

Nothing wrong with cheating... reloading, reading strategy guides, etc. Hell, I want the game to be fun, not ultra challenging (which I don't think is fun).

[MattH]

Oh god yes do I cheat.
Not in multiplayer, of course. But whenever I get a game that I don't want to sink a huge ammout of time in or there is a physical imposiblity preventing me from completing a goal, cheatcc comes into play. For instance, I got UT2k3 for the multiplayer and SP arenas, not for the "story" (ha-ha) so I just ran through on godmode. In games I love, like Morrowind and SC4, I don't go near the cheats.

[Guynemer]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui

I get a vaguely sick-to-my-stomach feeling when I commit a "dark side" act in KOTOR.

Weak . Dark side is soooo much fun in KOTOR .

Dude. I'm French. We're lovers, not fighters.

[Jethro83]

I used to cheat all the time playing Doom and Warcraft II when I was still just a kid. But these days I can only say no.

This is because I like to roleplay whenever playing a game. To try and immerse myself in the universe of the game. To see how I, with my own vices and virtues, and strengths and weaknesses could survive and thrive in the fictional universes of these games.

When I am given the ability to manipulate EVERYTHING about my character and the world surrounding him, it kills the experience for me. I lose interest in no more than two minutes.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by vovan
That being said, I think it really depends on what game you are talking about. In some games, I think reloading from a save should be considered cheating.

I agree with this.

Reloading to prevent the computer players from cheating is allowed as far as I am concerned.

[DrSpike]

I often cheat in SP for some genres, unless it's a comparison game, or a game I am playing to see how well I can do something.

[Zero]

Well I do these things:

-I'll exploit bugs/glitches (Bunny jump in CS, building stuff between gold mines in WC3.. etc.. all of those that are now fixed with patch btw)
-I'll camp, turtle, poke, and do all the undesirable things scrubs hate me for doing...

I wont do:

-Things that crash/freezes up control of my opponent permenantly, etc
-Infinites and other misc bug/exploits that are CLEARLY broken with no alternative solution.

In games like gta3 vice city and resident evil 2 etc, I probably wont play the game without cheating. I find playing thru them an extreme waste of time unless i make progress rapidly.

[Father Beast]

I Never PLAY MP games (except for a little Hot Seat now and then), so I can Honestly say I wouldn't cheat in an MP game.

I use game exploits (Mining your city square, airbase magic) all The Time, but I won't do the console type in the code thing.

Well, Sometimes I will, but only to try something weird, and then I'll restore to before the cheat.

I use Save/restore all the time, too. I'm a lousy player at almost everything, so I get clobbered regularly and restore and try something else.

Is it a cheat to edit the Civ2 txt files to play on difficulty levels harder than Deity?