I used to play the first time with no guide, but as I grew up and started having less and less free time, I realized I didn't want the disappointment of getting the bad ending after hours of playing xd especially when I started playing at night, just for a few hours when I started Uni. Mornings were for homework and studying while I spent evenings til night at Uni and I always arrived home late at night. That on top of getting a bad ending because of my bad choices? No thanks xd Now I play mostly alongside a guide.
Really depends on the game. I do prefer to play blindly at first and then use a guide, but games with like 20+ endings I do use guides cuz I don't have time for all that lol
I almost always play blind on my first playthrough unless I see a LI that gets me thinking "I HAVE to see what his route is like". I use guides after my first playthrough though because if I like a game, I have to be a completionist and finish it as soon as I can manage or else I get distracted by other things and simply forget to play for months or years lmao
i usually use a guide, but if it's fairly new with no guide then i enjoy the blind play through as much as possible or go look for hints if anyone has posted them
It depends, but definetly blind on first play. If I like their systems I'll challenge myself, if not, guides. I'm often surprised by how fast some bloggers post all the routes. I'm not passionate in full game completion, and I admire people who do it for whatever reasons to save others' time.