I’ve been reading guidebooks for games as far as I remember it. They are normally featured in the sections of a game magazine or a standalone book with in-depth guides. This later translates to my fascination with gamefaqs and wikia sites of games or shows I’m following, as they are packed with information contributed by people who are very passionate about them too, e.g.
- Bulbapedia has amazing detailed records of all pokemon-related entries
- Gamepress is a hub of guides for recent mobile games
- Reddit's /r/anime subreddit have extensive discussion threads for each episode of an anime
But this sort of fascination are coupled with the dependency of relying too much on it. In the time when the guide is not available or it's protected behind privatized groups (like some discord channels), it was very easy to feel helpless or confused instead. So when I picked up ragnarok tactics recently, I tried playing it purely without a guide. It was a constant trial and error process but it definitely restored the fun.