Why is walktrhough mod the standard these days?

[desmosome]

I think normal walkthrough like Zoey Raven's stuff is much better than a walkthrough mod, but the pdf walktrhoughs seem to be a thing of the past these days. The mods that try to tell you the "best" choices for games that don't have a specific best route are the worst. A walkthrough should just let players know the variables and triggers involved. Plus, these mods almost always require upkeep and devs have to go through the hassle of error reports that stem from the mod.

 

[watdapakisdis]

Most people don't want to bother with trial and error anymore---either use a walkthrough mod or a console cheat. I personally don't use them.

 

[Niv-Mizzet the Firemind]

I think pdf walkthroughs are cumbersome. If there is a choice between a mod and a pdf, I'll choose the mod every time, assuming they are equally good.
Both types require upkeep, if the game is still in development. Blackpanther, who writes the walkthrough for Big Brother:Another Story, goes through hell with every major release to find all the triggers for all the paths.
Lastly, and that's completely personal, if I were to release a walkthrough, I'd rather code it than just type a few pages and call it a day.

The bigger issue imho is that walkthroughs are actually needed for most of the games in here.

 

[DanThaMan]

I honestly don't know why so many people use them, i typically use my brain to make choices in these games.

 

[jamdan]

I also like the standard PDF walkthroughs. I use them to check things I missed, or If I'm struggling I consult it to help me out. The Being a DIK guide is very useful, as an example. Other complex branching games the guides are useful to have to as well as certain sandbox games.

I do not agree that most games need them though. 9/10 games on here (I'm just talking about the VN's and somewhat about the sandboxes) are pretty straight forward. Not that much branching, and the branching choices that do exist are pretty obvious for the most part.

I dislike the mods though. Why? They usually end up breaking the saves. I don't want to have to download something to make my saves work, even if I don't want to use the mod anymore. Mods can also be abandoned, you have to wait for them to be updated (they typically take longer than the PDF's to update). Not to mention you usually don't need to download the PDF's, just click the magnifying glass on MEGA and look at it on the download page itself. Bookmark it and it's right there whenever you need it. Mods also typically follow one or two routes, PDF's show it all.

So yeah, PDF >>> Mod.

 

[Deleted member 3145675]

Hi,
as was almost stated in previous posts (see above)
we have two different situations to include in our answer to your question:
-completed games
-in-progress games

Regarding in-progress games unless they're close to the completed stage - WT are useless or even worse: counter productive.
(broken saves - story or stats changes by Dev for 1 version to another...)

Regarding Completed games - well depending on the complexity of the final game - some require an in-game WT Mod (due to the extreme complexity of the branching or the too many different stats implemented or the too many different outcomes) - others are fine with a "simple" .pdf WT.

(some are so utterly badly written or implemented that nothing can save them - i.e. those games even modders forget about after a few releases...)

Last: some people want to see every possible outcome in the game (and have zero patience) so...

 

[InCompleteController]

Mods are likely popular because of how easy the code is to access.
I've made mods to games where all I did was search the code for reputation changes and then write them into the description of the choices above. There was no need for me to actually complete the game myself beforehand and I could even get a relatively blind playthrough myself, without having to worry about getting into dead ends.

But I do agree that there's an issue with the upkeep. If I feel the need to mod a game to be enjoyable then there's a very high chance that I'm going to abandon that game afterwards.

 

[God3333]

I think some games you have to use a walkthrough especially if you want all scenes in games where relationship points can prevent you being able to see everything. Some games like RPGMs you really really want a walkthrough as sometimes it's really not obvious, stated or clear what you need to do where you need to go.

As for cheats, some games are very very very grindy like rpgms and it's not really worth the time to grind so people use cheats.

I'd actually disagree, I'd say there's more "Pdf walkthroughs" as there are actual walkthrough mods, to date the only game I think I've played with walkthrough mods are BeingADik (I use the pdf tho)

 

[Untolddead]

PDF walkthroughs are good for games with multiple paths you can check what kind of ending you want. However most games don't have split paths most games only have Choice that leads to sex and choice that doesn't. In those situations I think the in game mod is better. Since one choice wastes your time there really isn't any reason to have an arching pdf.

 

[fitgirlbestgirl]

A walkthrough should just let players know the variables and triggers involved.

I mean, that's literally what most of these mods do. They tell you what a choice actually does, which often times isn't intuitive, especially in games with relationship points and hidden variables, where it's like "to get to scene 37b you would have had to have picked dialogue choice #3 in a conversation that happened an hour ago." And given the choice between a walkthrough telling you the information or a mod, why not pick the mod and save yourself from tabbing back and forth?

 

[desmosome]

I mean, that's literally what most of these mods do. They tell you what a choice actually does, which often times isn't intuitive, especially in games with relationship points and hidden variables, where it's like "to get to scene 37b you would have had to have picked dialogue choice #3 in a conversation that happened an hour ago." And given the choice between a walkthrough telling you the information or a mod, why not pick the mod and save yourself from tabbing back and forth?

A good walkthrough like Zoey Raven's gives you the big picture. It tells you the requirements for scene/route variations. It tells you the flags that are set, and you can control F to see what that flag will do. You can also just take a look at the variables involved and then play on your own until you need clarification on something.

Walkthrough mods can be ok in certain games, but some mods are like "pick this for the best results" when the best results are subjective. Plus, these mods create unnecessary hassle for the devs because it will often break saves in a new update until the mod is updated. We have lots of bright individuals that will spam the game thread with these error reports.

I guess it's easier to make a mod than a pdf walkthrough though. Probably why we have more of them.

 

[fitgirlbestgirl]

A good walkthrough like Zoey Raven's gives you the big picture. It tells you the requirements for scene/route variations. It tells you the flags that are set, and you can control F to see what that flag will do. You can also just take a look at the variables involved and then play on your own until you need clarification on something.

I hate playing games with a walkthrough open and constantly having to go back and forth. Funnily enough, I'm literally just playing a game with a Zoey Raven walkthrough (because the game has no mod) and it's a fucking slog.

Plus, these mods create unnecessary hassle for the devs because it will often break saves in a new update until the mod is updated. We have lots of bright individuals that will spam the game thread with these error reports.

So we shouldn't have mods because some retards will spam game threads about broken saves?

 

[Rezi7272]

Because there are a lot of games (especially in sandbox tag), where you have no fucking idea how to progress plot or character development, and thanks for people, who use their free time to make this kind of games enjoyable.

 

[hakarlman]

Because most adult game devs don't do the following:

- They don't create a system that teaches the player basic game mechanics.
- They don't have a quest log system, or if their game does, it offers vague information that isn't helpful.
- They create dialogue choices that don't accurately reflect the players desired result.
- They inadvertently create hidden objectives. "Quest: Go to Tonya's house." Player: "Where the fuck is Tonya's house?"

 

[Deleted member 1536527]

Because most adult game devs don't do the following:

- They don't create a system that teaches the player basic game mechanics.
- They don't have a quest log system, or if their game does, it offers vague information that isn't helpful.
- They create dialogue choices that don't accurately reflect the players desired result.
- They inadvertently create hidden objectives. "Quest: Go to Tonya's house." Player: "Where the fuck is Tonya's house?"

Yup I agree. The fact that mods like these are even needed in the first place is indicative of a problem with the games themselves.

Vague choices, certain choices having an effect hours later down the line rather than immediately, and especially "logging" choices into variables or accumulating them only for them to come into play towards the end makes it extremely hard for the player to understand what the fuck is going on.

 

[fitgirlbestgirl]

Vague choices, certain choices having an effect hours later down the line rather than immediately, and especially "logging" choices into variables or accumulating them only for them to come into play towards the end makes it extremely hard for the player to understand what the fuck is going on.

Another issue are games that cut off rollback after every choice, I have no idea why this is a thing because lots of Ren'py games allow you to rollback through choices, but some don't. So you actually would have to save before every fucking dialogue choice if you wanted to go back.