Often when developers have failed lol. And just online hints/guides.

I recall one particular moment in FFVII Rebirth where you had to clime a bunch of vines where prior to that the game never had any language to indicate that vines could be climbed.

Either that or just extremely tedious search tasks, like one of the tears from Tears of the Kingdom that was on the side of a cliff but extremely difficult to see and jarring to go back and forth up the wall.

Back in the day I would use a guide for FF or Zelda once I'd completed it once in order to get all the legendary weapons and anything interesting I missed. Now I tend not to have that kind of time/patience. I play through once and I just do whatever compells me. If I miss it through skipping a boring sidequest, oh well. I've got too many games to play through and very little attention span with the medium compared to when I was younger and could play 30hours a week. Now it's more like 4-7hours a week. 10 on a very good week.

I like the idea of buying official guide books as a keep sake. Maybe when I'm settled in a few years with my own place and feel like I'm ready to become a collector.

I used to ready player's guides back in middle and high school. I distinctly remember using the Ocarina one published by Nintendo Power with the forward by Miyamoto. I loved that. I still have it somewhere in storage :)

I don't think I've used an FAQ or guide since then though. As I got more serious about the hobby, became more fearful of spoilers, and got more obsessive, it became important for me to figure out everything without third-party assistance. There's nothing quite like deciphering a difficult puzzle or toppling an especially hard boss entirely on your own.

I used to shun them until I was finished with the main story of a game but I don't have the patience to search for hours anymore. Most recently, I've used a guide for a number of things in Silksong especially to know what the hell I had to do in order to get to Act 3 and I also experienced the same situation as Vodacixi, I looked for that key maybe 15-20 minutes until I got fed up and looked it up.

Almost never. If I’m really, really stuck for a long time I may try a very obtuse search on the internet and quickly skim over the results to avoid anything spoilery, but almost as a rule I refuse to look.

There’s a few reasons for this. As mentioned before, I hate spoilers. I’m also very hard on myself when it comes to puzzle solving and I hate not being able to figure out an answer.

Finally, and this might be the biggest reason, I don’t like to see under the hood of a game. I need it to feel like magic, especially on first play through. Discoveries should feel organic. There needs to be an aura of otherness about the game. Reading a guide reminds me that it’s all been done, it’s all laid out, you’re just following a predetermined path. Obviously those things are true, but when I’m playing a game I absolutely disregard those things as much as possible.

I also have this thing where it isn’t uncommon for me to restart a file after 10 hours of playing a game. It’s almost like a trial by fire tutorial and then I go back in and fix the mistakes I’ve made now that I understand more. I just wish more games had multiple save files so I didn’t have to go to another of my accounts to do that restart (I usually like leaving the original file, sometimes as a keepsake and sometimes because I realize I can fix some of the errors I’ve made and go back to it).

I like on RPGs to have deep understanding of game mechanics and the metagame. Looking for hidden weapons, gear, spells, etc

About 50-50.
The half of games that are easy, enjoyable or such genres that guide doesn't matter (racing, sports etc), I try to do 100% without help. Or games of special interest to me.

The other half varies from looking up the one thing where I'm hopelessly stuck to straight up following walkthrough. The latter is mostly really hard old games - like Sierra King's/Police/Space Quest I-III - that I (often having gotten them as part of collection) just want to look through,
Even if not otherwise needing help, I often check a FAQ to follow how far in the game I am and how long it is in the first place. I want to be able to plan how long games take, when do I need to pick next to play and to schedule stuff.
Generally I use FAQs depending on whether or not I would bother to finish the game. I want to finish everything one way or another, if not on fair play then with guide or cheats.
For (last century) JRPGs I often look up a world map while not using a guide otherwise, except sometimes the map would be connected to walkthrough and have important places numbered.

I used to use them religiously back in the day, when the contemporary game design of the time allowed for much more miss-able content, was less likely to have a good New Game+ system (or have one at all), or locked progression behind things that required help like obtuse puzzles, complicated dungeons and tough bosses/stages.

Modern game design is significantly more player friendly and less obtuse/frustrating. Items/scenes/characters are less likely to be permanently miss-able without at least hinting or flat out telling you first, most long story-driven games have a way to help you recap the events if you left for a while and an arrow telling you which way to go, and tough fights are often reserved for after the main story or walled off as optional content instead of being a giant gatekeeper that you have to overcome to continue.

Because of that, I rarely ever touch a guide until I get pretty deep into a game, unless there's some complex side content that requires more than a casual touch to master, like breeding Pokemon for ideal IVs, or farming the perfect chocobos in Final Fantasy VII, or finding that ultra rare drop from that rare monster needed to make the Infinity Sword in whatever RPG I'm playing. I enjoy discovering things organically moreso than having my hand held at every step along the way.

I've also had to take this path because I'm naturally obsessive/compulsive, and I'd find myself stressing over doing things "the right way". I have to tell myself to do well, but don't try to be perfect. Guides put me in danger of falling off of the wagon, lol.

I never use walkthroughs. I find the moment I do is the moment I lose interest in a game. I used one for Ocarina of Time, and then permanently lost interest in the game. The same thing happened with Metroid Prime a few years later. Then Twilight Princess years later.

I use guides for collection and use of resources in certain games with crafting systems… Stardew Valley, Witcher 3, Xenoblade Chronicles, Final Fantasy 8, Breath of the Wild. But this is sparingly, most of the time I have the common stuff encoded to memory.

After about five minutes of not knowing where to go. It seems the days of wondering around aimlessly for hours and enjoying it are over. I don't want to get lost anymore. I want to know what challenges need to be overcome and then overcome them. Anything short of that is intolerable. Completely.

I use them when there's need for them. Generally it's fairly rare, but for achievements etc. I tend to utilize guides more often. I like picking the low-hanging fruits and sometimes a bit more, but sometimes they also include achievements that are low-hanging fruits only if you have enough knowledge, so I might save a bit of time by looking things up from guides. For the most part though, I get by without guides, as I prefer learning by playing (within reason). Also, I pick whatever type of guide is the most helpful. Usually it means text, but occasionally it's video.