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I Want My Paper Manuals Back

Don't see the point. I don't find controller information all that interesting. Lore can be told in the game, unlike in the past when games were limited by tech and you needed that supplement and art can viewed online.

Totally pointless and only good for the old folks nostalgia of them.
 
I used to want manuals, but now I just see them as a crutch of old game design. Old games did nothing to explain controls to you or how systems worked so you always had to refer to the manual. Exploring a game's mechanics can be great if this is what the dev intended, but it seems like most devs in the ps1/n64 era were thinking "screw it, just explain it in the manual".

Regardless of how much people 'hate' tutorials, they really are necessary just to explain the controls. Going back to some earlier game recently its just kind of frustrating having to find a manual to understand how even the most basic controls work, or what certain menu items mean.
 
Watch_Dogs could have used a manual. I played for a bit and felt that reading a few things beforehand would have been extremely beneficial in terms of how to play the game.
 
I want more manuals like the Falcon 3.0 manual. It's come in handy over the years as a doorstop, monitor stand, makeshift weapon, etc.

I'm also pretty sure I could fly an actual F-16 after reading it.
 
Sod the trees, it's not is if hardwood from a Rainforest is used to make the paper, rather it's fast growing and dirt cheap softwoods like Pinewood. Sure most AAA's don't need a manual as half the game is a tutorial anyway, but there are plenty of different types of games which do

Imo a manual was the main thing missing from Darksouls, inside could have been basic mechanics explanations like humanity and PVP rather than forcing ppl to rely on the wiki which are overkill for ppl who just want the basics and make their own way from there.

Also just think of how FROM could have brought the world of DS alive if they included short stories like Frontier: Elite 2 and other PC games in the 80s and 90s did.
 
Phantom Flapjack said:
Instead of coming in a wasteful plastic case, games should come in a paper or cardboard sleeve. Also, axe disc art and just write the name of the game in sharpie
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This. Screw the plastic case. Just put the discs in sleeves. Getting rid of the plastic cases and the associated artwork cut costs. It's not like people save the cases these days, anyway.

I'd much rather get my game in a sleeve than open a case and see nothing but a lonely little disc in there. It smacks of being cheap, kind of like buying used games, since there's nothing in there but a disc.

Manuals aren't coming back with any kind of regularity. The days of cool manuals and other goodies when you open that case or box are long since dead. It's sad to me that they're gone, but nobody wants them. Save the planet and all that. Games no longer need manuals. Paper waste.

I'm happy to still have my manuals from yesteryear to read whenever I want, no Internet or powered screen required, and I'm happy to be able to use them during live games as opposed to having to search the web for them, wait for them to load, and hold a secondary electronic device on my lap just to figure out what this move does or what that character's move set is.
 
I miss paper manuals a lot. Especially when they were written "in-character" or as part of the world, like Fallout or how Wario game manuals would all be written by Wario.

Nintendo's electronic manuals are surprisingly nice and visually appealing, but I miss the appeal and character of their manuals from the N64 days. We're never going to get any silly in-character Cranky Kong explanations on how video games work ever again, are we? That's what I miss most, the fun writing of manuals, and I'd be okay with electronic manuals if it felt like that was carrying on.
 
I agree with you 100%, OP. It's a shame that we get so few paper manuals these days. I think something is lost in the gaming experience by not having them, something "tactile" if you want to call it that.

You made me nostalgic. The smell of the manual from a brand new SNES game as you flip the pages... Man, I miss that smell.
 
I don't mind video games with no manuals or any paper of any sort at all. The physical paper strategy hardcover guide is the only thing I want when it comes to reading. Everything else to me is secondary. I find the actual game box and instructions manual more important than the actual game disc, as anyone can come across a loose game cart or disc nowadays. Finding an intact, good condition box and manual is another thing...
 
I really miss manuals a lot. Since I was young, it was a way to read into the lore, characters, or even just the game itself outside of playing the game. It made games feel like something more than a toy, like an experience to prepare for.
pANwvaM.jpg

I'll go out of my way to find games with juicy reading material or lots of art. It's unfortunate that it's pretty much down to limited editions and Japanese imports now. Even Japan's been skimping on manuals lately. Hopefully they never phase out completely.
 
The first thing I do when I open a new game is sniff the manual. It's hereditary.. The new games with their sheaf of paper don't quite cut it.
 
They're only cool for sniffing before you put your new game in your console, otherwise they're useless. And less paper waste is a good thing, so good riddance.
 
With pretty much every game having an in game tutorial manuals have become pretty useless.

There are a few exceptions where it's nice to have a manual, but for the most part it's become unneccessary
 
Interesting timing on this thread. I literally purchased an OG copy of Gran Turismo (complete) from eBay like an hour ago.

The sole reason was to get the two long-gone instruction manuals back in my hands. I was thinking earlier about how then second Reference Guide booklet was essentially Race Driving 101, a Driver's Ed class that taught real-world skills based on principles like weight shift, momentum & tire grip. Lessons that I absorbed and still use one the road today in my humble little CR-V.

I'm super stoked to get my GT delivery so I can nostalgically go back through that drivers manual from all those years ago.
 
Homeworld 1 manual. It had so much backstory and even the game mechanic parts still felt like they fit.

I still have too.
 
The more I think about it, the more I feel like a great manual is akin to a great album cover. It's not technically necessary and some folks won't care either way, but it sure adds character and life to the overall package.
 
Aaron D. said:
Interesting timing on this thread. I literally purchased an OG copy of Gran Turismo (complete) from eBay like an hour ago.

The sole reason was to get the two long-gone instruction manuals back in my hands. I was thinking earlier about how then second Reference Guide booklet was essentially Race Driving 101, a Driver's Ed class that taught real-world skills based on principles like weight shift, momentum & tire grip. Lessons that I absorbed and still use one the road today in my humble little CR-V.

I'm super stoked to get my GT delivery so I can nostalgically go back through that drivers manual from all those years ago.
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Hell yeah. I loved reading that and applying the concepts in-game and in real life. I need to get another copy of that at some point myself.
 
All of you noble folks weeping bitter tears over the slash pines used to make the paper in manuals, what are you doing playing video games on machines that suck hundreds of kilowatts of fossil fuel-derived electricity per hour? Why are you here on a similarly-polluting computer posting inane chatter on a video game board instead of tilling your own vegetable garden with hand tools and fertilizing it with your own night soil? Do you have any idea what kind of resources go into the utterly disposable mobile devices you tout as the ecological saviors to the paper manual menace? Where they get those essential minerals, how they get them, how they get the devices built so cheaply that you can toss them off and buy a new one every other year?

Listen, if you don't care about manuals, that's one thing. But quit trying to wrap being a philistine in this laughable false piety.
 
i flipped through the Lunar full color manual a few months ago. there was so much stuff in there. game info obviously + interviews with the staff + art and more.

it was fun to revisit after so many years. i need to give it another playthrough.
 
Me too man. Me too.

SeventhSon said:
What publishers are telling you with lack of manuals is that what you are buying is not a premium product.
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Yeah! What he said!

AniHawk said:
i think smaller companies still do it. atlus had full color manuals for catherine and dragon's crown. nisa still makes manuals for all of their games (except the vita ones).
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The only NISA games I have bought :( Well that and
Time & Eternity.
Dont judge me I want to see how bad it is.
 
I miss them, but it's largely just nostalgia. I adored game manuals as a kid and would read and re-read every one I had. But as an adult I just don't have the time or interest in that, and I don't think kids today have the interest in that either. I do think some companies (really just Nintendo, but maybe someone else too) are doing good work with digital manuals, and I hope they keep at it and put the same sort of care and production into them that we used to get with paper manuals.
 
Its made the collectible or appreciation value a simple disc inside a plastic case (that's also recyclable). I was a tad shocked when I opened up a full priced game and found a simple disc with nothing else attached. It's just made a digital future look fairly obvious. 360 games were notorious for this. They probably want to make manuals preorder items or something you want to purchase. We're really dealing with someone who hates a traditional pattern here. It's going to be 100% pro-this or nothing at all.

I think it's enjoyable when you get extra content with your game. You've been reading up on it for months. You might as well have something to enjoy before and after you play.
 
I barely read the manuals so I couldn't care less. All important info should be readily available at any given time in-game at this point anyway.
 
Kids these days will never understand the joy of reading the manual on the way home from the game store; or in school and on the bus where you couldn't play it; or on the toilet when nature asked you to stop playing it; or several years later when you dust off the case, open it and see the manual - battered and beaten, a page rip to and fro and its edges worn-down and torn, but ultimately still intact - grab a seat and start reading through it again. The memories of your childhood sweep on back and you smile to yourself when you discover something you had never seen before, despite the fact that you read that shit front to back a hundred times.

RIP paper manuals.
 
I still have the 600 or 700 page falcon 4.0 manual and it will be buried with me. That manual is a historical treasure.
 
Zoba said:
Kids these days will never understand the joy of reading the manual on the way home from the game store; or in school and on the bus where you couldn't play it; or on the toilet when nature asked you to stop playing it; or several years later when you dust off the case, open it and see the manual - battered and beaten, a page rip to and fro and its edges worn-down and torn, but ultimately still intact - grab a seat and start reading through it again. The memories of your childhood sweep on back and you smile to yourself when you discover something you didn't see the first time, despite the fact that you read that shit front to back a hundred times.

RIP paper manuals.
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No offense to the creators, but now it's either journalist quotes or 2 short sentences describing the game. If you didn't read up on the game before you'd have no idea and even if you bought it you're subjected to a tutorial in game. I guess it is what it is.
 
I miss them too. It was a tradition of mine to open the game for the first time and take a look at the manual before playing.
Even if I didn't really need the info.

Joeki11a said:
IMO if they continue this trend

games better go down to 49.99

clearly they are saving money doing this

why ask for 59.99?.

Also why are digital game 59.99?
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A basic manual costs WAAAAY less than $10, specially if you are printing millions.

That being said, they do save a few cents with each manual they don't print. Which turns into a considerable amount of money if you consider they are selling millions of games.

And they even have the whole "it's for the planet" excuse.
 
Yeah I love getting manuals with character artwork and story and so forth.

If I don't get one I feel like something is missing in the case. Like they didn't pack it in the case at the factory for whatever reason or the shop forgot to put it in.
 
Joeki11a said:
IMO if they continue this trend

games better go down to 49.99

clearly they are saving money doing this

why ask for 59.99?.

Also why are digital game 59.99?
Click to expand...

1st, the paper they are saving is not worth 10.00... It's more like 0,10
2nd, the digital games cost 59.99, same as the retail ones, because MS/Sony/Nintendo do not want to destroy relationships with retailers. They just want to present another option to buy games. And the truth is they profit more from digital purchases as they cut the middle man.
You should check some Japanese (especially) games that are translated, but are not given a western retail release. Only digital. These games usually cost around 44.99. So, the fact that digital prices are still 59.99 is that there are still retail stores.
 
Digital Manuals to help maintain a more livable planet for humans seems like a good way to go.

If you absolutely want the art, then an art book or guide to go along with your purchase would be good.

I understand there are players who love the manuals but most simply discarded them. And ad flyers don't excuse that either. Those should stop too. Well, they are, slowly, anyway.
 
On Demand said:
So is this the end for paper manuals? Do any PS4 and XB1 game have a manual at all? It would really suck if Bethesda doesn't haved one for Fallout 4 or the next Elder Scrolls game.
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I like paper manuals too, especially as a collector. I will continue to do them for every physical game we release. In fact, I'm going over the proofs of the PS3 Class of Heroes 2G paper manual for the printer literally right now. We'll be going to print with it very soon (as soon as the game is through Sony Q/A), and I've upgraded the paper it will have from what was used for the Japanese version. Paper feel is a big deal, IMO. Ask Dave Halverson. :)

Even though the status quo on Vita and PS4 is digital manuals, I completely intend to offer paper manuals for the physical versions on those, too, unless there's some prohibition by Sony on PS4/Vita, which I doubt. I hateses those empty-looking cases.
 
sn00zer said:
I used to want manuals, but now I just see them as a crutch of old game design. Old games did nothing to explain controls to you or how systems worked so you always had to refer to the manual. Exploring a game's mechanics can be great if this is what the dev intended, but it seems like most devs in the ps1/n64 era were thinking "screw it, just explain it in the manual".

Regardless of how much people 'hate' tutorials, they really are necessary just to explain the controls. Going back to some earlier game recently its just kind of frustrating having to find a manual to understand how even the most basic controls work, or what certain menu items mean.
Click to expand...

Mmmm, maybe for the simplest of games, but for something like an RPG with race characteristics, classes, affinity tables and stats, etc, there are important things you just can't impart using a tutorial, and you certainly can't memorize enough of the detailed tables to be useful when you need it (i.e. creating a new character). Those kinds of games will always be better with a nice, detailed manual, preferably one you can hold in one hand while you actually use the information in the game.
 
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