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No manuals. Are you ok with this?

Honestly I don't ever use manuals. I think everyone should have digital manuals though, like the PS1 downloads from PSN. XBLA does "How To Play" and that's OK but generally clunky in most games.

Use all that paper for better/cheaper art books!
 
SamBishop said:
Hearing some of you express affection even now for the way manuals look warms the cockles of my tired, burned-out heart. As someone who still WRITES some of those manuals, despite seeing what they've become, it still makes me glad to know the work is appreciated when time and effort are put in.
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:) I for one hope that manuals won't vanish completely. They're part of the product and part of what makes me happy as a collector. And for the part of me that still is young and remembers how awesome it was and still sometimes is to read a manual for hyping yourself for the next gaming session. (oh and I actually enjoy booklets for AudioCDs and movies as well).
 
I prefer no manuals to the Wii manuals that look weighty but are actually about 10 pages repeated multiple times in different languages. =/
 
I used to love reading through manuals, but gradually stopped because more and more contained game spoilers.


Sim Ant's manual = best ever.
 
No. I'm not okay with it, and I'll never be okay with it. I'm kind of a materialist. If I buy a physical copy of a game, I want a manual.
 
Stumpokapow said:
They should eliminate paper-based strategy guides altogether (heresy! I like my physical objects! I only listen to Edison wax cylinder music!) and move to DRM free rich content HTML guides, PDFs, and smartphone/tablet apps.
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No thank you.

bayonetta-guide-00.jpg
 
Full color manuals are glorious. They always have been. It's an essential part of any classy game package. I consider it a slap in the face from the publisher, when I open a new game and it's a 4 page black and white fine print piece of crap.
 
better to have them but if it means something else has to be cut manuals should be the one to go.

but aksys games and bungie should get mad props since they have ALWAYS done color manuals.
 
Considering that I can't even remember the last time I read a manual, I guess I'm fine with it. All of those trees should be cut down for something more important, like preorder DLC vouchers.
 
Nobody wants a bare bone manual. I noticed that what *would* have been nice in the manual (backstory, original copy, interviews, artwork, screenshots) is now only appearing in box set editions or completely separate products.

& I just had a flashback of bringing the FF3 manuals to school and showing my friend right before she came over and we played the games. They were simpler times...
 
at first it bothered me, but then I tried to remember the last time I even opened a manual. Honestly can't even recall a time when it was needed.
 
At this point in my life I don't give a damn about manuals for games. I never used them ever. Yea fuck amazon trade in shady fucks.
 
RedSwirl said:
Everybody: What's the most recently released game you've played that had a really serious manual?

Fortunately, the Metal Gear Solid games still keep up their tradition of manuals, as MGS4's is just as colorful as the ones for the previous games, with not one but two comics in it. If you haven't read the manual for the original God of War, I suggest you do because it actually contains a lot of story and character exposition that isn't in the game.
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Catherine, as was noted earlier, has a nice color one. I was surprised because it had a lot of heft until I realized that it was tri-lingual and only a couple of pages were in English. Still, it was nice compared to most you get.

Thats the most recent one for me.
 
For some odd reason, I'm real OCD about having a manual with my games regardless of the condition it is in, even though I'll never read it.

To me, not having a manual included just means one less thing to worry about not finding in the box when I buy pre-owned.

Most games have mandatory tutorials or aren't innovative enough for it to matter nowadays anyway.
 
I like when they try to be inventive at least, like in Ocarina of Time 3D. The game's manual is just a mini-poster.

UK9U5.jpg


For a handheld game is no biggie, plus nearly everything is explained in-game.

Capcom though, didn't get the memo (as always)...
And put a 63 pages long/full color manual (one languge only) in Super Street Fighter IV 3D.

j3EWq.jpg


Fuck you Capcom for not following others!!! :p
 
Never use them. No interest in them.

Save the paper or give me something of real value or interest, like a poster or something.
 
I like the smell, plus I have a look at them if they are artistically pleasing.

If it's naff and just tells me how to play the game - then a big 'meh'.
 
Back in the day, manuals were awesome.

Now, they're black and white, 10 pages long, size 6 font and have 6 languages crammed into them. No thanks.
 
I love manuals for lore or tech-heavy game worlds if they act as a proper introduction and continual resource for the game experience, but since most games don't bother and instead rely upon the in-game cinematics or texts to do this, I just don't care about 'em. Taking the old manual away still makes me wonder if anyone is bothering to roll all of that info into the game itself in a convenient way, like having a nicely integrated rich text viewer in the pause menu and not just the top menu screen.
 
*Picks up Baldur's Gate 2's manual*

*looks at new environmentally friendly DVD-Cases*

Whatever. I want my manuals. ESPECIALLY for RPGs. I also have the hardcover Fallout 3/NV strategy guides and they are ballin', wouldn't be the same on PDF.

If those fugly DVD-cases are the future, at least give us some good alternate cover art on a sheet of paper to cover it up, like Sin And Punishment did recently.
 
I love manuals (especially the massive tomes that came with PC games) but unless they're done right I'd rather publishers go digital or ignore them completely.
 
Gala said:
I prefer a well made tutorial
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Same here. That's not to say that I don't appreciate a well made manual, though (like Nintendo's have traditionally been). If you're going to give me a b&w pamphlet, I'd rather you just not give me one... put the manual on the disc. A full-color digital one w/ a decent viewer would actually be preferable.
 
I'd fine without manuals. Never read them, it's a waste of paper.

StevePharma brought up those environmentally friendly DVD cases, those suck. The entire point if the case is to protect the disc, and when it can't do that you've messed up.

My Monster Hunter 3 case got destroyed in the mail, thankfully it was not one of those thin, holey cases or the disc probably would have too.

My copy of VC2 for PSP also dent in the back of the case, cutting through the plastic and the paper cover. You know, right where the holes would be in those new cases.

Not on topic, but cutting manuals to save money is fine IMO. Just make sure my games are protected from the evil mail system and don't skimp there :(
 
Fine with me. I haven't looked at a manual in years, and they convey nothing the game can't tell you itself. And even though it's a relatively small environmental cost compared to piles of junk mail we receive every week, it's still something and I still care.
 
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