Board 8 > It's happening. Manuals are leaving us.

(+) Yeah! (+)

Bought the Saints Row double pack. Inside, there's simply a slip that gives a website on where to download the manuals.

I feel old.

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SEP Nash, Smelling Like the Vault since 1996
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Yeah, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood is the same way.

Bah.

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but what if you don't have internet access!

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Eh, good for me. I never open them nowadays, but I still like to collect a "complete" game and maintain its condition. Without a manual, there's less for the grubby hands of youngsters or decay of time to ruin.

I'm sure there's a flaw in my logic somewhere (WOULD YOU PREFER ONLY DLC THERE'S NOTHING TO RUIN WITH ONLY DLC), but forget you guys, I can bench press more.

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Ugh. I hate to sound like a geezer, but gaming is getting to be waaaay too online-centric.

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PartOfYourWorld posted...
I'm sure there's a flaw in my logic somewhere (WOULD YOU PREFER ONLY DLC THERE'S NOTHING TO RUIN WITH ONLY DLC), but forget you guys, I can bench press more.


Hey. I played high school football. And while I didn't score four touchdowns in a single game for Polk High, I bet I can bench more.

Luckily for you, I will not argue your logic.

Yet.

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SEP Nash, Smelling Like the Vault since 1996
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A physical manual is much more convenient if you want to check something while playing.

Especially annoying that AC is doing it, because the first two games had brilliantly done in-character manuals, with scribbled notes from Vidic and Lucy. The bit about fixing the 'bug in the Animus' that prevented Altair swimming made me love AC2 before I even started playing it.

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I have been getting digital downloads for a few years now so I don't have I lot of manuals. The I haven't for a while actually!

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I always read the instruction manual before playing the game.

So this saddens me.

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LeonhartFour posted...
I always read the instruction manual before playing the game.

So this saddens me.


That's how I noticed. Frown face emoticon.

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SEP Nash, Smelling Like the Vault since 1996
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they should keep the manuels in with the games

I love instruction manuals. If they disappear, I'll be mad. I always have the instruction manual near me the first time I play a game in case I need to check on something. I almost never do, but that doesn't even matter, it's tradition to have the things.

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If I know a manual isn't coming with a game, I won't buy it. If I buy a game without a manual from a company, I won't be buying anymore games from that company. Manuals are a great way to see how much a company cares about their product. They put that extra special *touch* on what they've made. It makes me feel like they're proud of what they've done, and they want to share it.

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I have not opened an instruction manual in several years. Call it pride, call it arrogance, call it whatever you want; but most games have tutorial sections near the beginning to ease you into the controls, and I buy a game I'm used well-informed on the other things the instruction manual might mention.

So...eh. I always wondered though...what the f*** was the "Notes" at the back of the manual for? Are people actually writing back there!? /Seinfeld

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Assassins Creed: Brotherhood came with a 2 Page insert

Super Mario Galaxy 2 came with a 90 page book in 12 languages

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just another nail on gaming's coffin

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Super Mario Galaxy 2 came with a 90 page book in 12 languages

Which was still mostly low quality/effort.

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yeah I used to kinda like manuals now I dont care for them as much anymore

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Age of empires II gold Edition manual, hot damn that thing was sweeeeet.

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From: The Real Truth | #013
If I know a manual isn't coming with a game, I won't buy it. If I buy a game without a manual from a company, I won't be buying anymore games from that company. Manuals are a great way to see how much a company cares about their product. They put that extra special *touch* on what they've made. It makes me feel like they're proud of what they've done, and they want to share it.

So what are you going to do in 5 years or so? Never buy another game?

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What's the point of manuals when there are ingame manuals? The pictures? Buy the artbook. Or buy the guide.

From: SBell0105 | #015
Super Mario Galaxy 2 came with a 90 page book in 12 languages

What the hell...

*opens his copy*

Wow. Not quite 90, but at 66 pages, it's very hefty. Gotta be way bigger than the average. Just checked ME2, and that one is like 20 pages without color.

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Catherine has a beautiful manual.

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voltch posted...
Age of empires II gold Edition manual, hot damn that thing was sweeeeet.

That the Rise of Rome expansion? I used to bring that to school for light reading on the bus or during lulls.

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Printing manuals is just an unnecessary expense at this point.

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MK9 came with a three-page pamphlet thing. And a Katalog.

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I haven't read a manual in years, although I wish I'd have kept my N64 manuals.

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I like to read instruction manuals just to see what's in them. Sometimes they have some neat info and neat pictures. I know you can find those things elsewhere, but still, I like reading them.

Also, I'm not sure what the Wii's obsession is with printing their instruction manuals in French.

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manuals are awesome and i will seriously cry if they ever die out. it's the only real, physical interaction developers have with consumers and i like to enjoy the fact that they made something special with the game they created - that they know what they created, and are showing me that.

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Mass Effect 2 PS3 was online only

I think bioware said they were phasing out manuals

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From: Wanglicious | #029
manuals are awesome and i will seriously cry if they ever die out. it's the only real, physical interaction developers have with consumers and i like to enjoy the fact that they made something special with the game they created - that they know what they created, and are showing me that.

Uh what? You're making it out to be something it's not. It's probably just one guy in an unrelated department that wasn't even part of the development team that makes the manuals >_>

GranzonEx posted...
Uh what? You're making it out to be something it's not. It's probably just one guy in an unrelated department that wasn't even part of the development team that makes the manuals >_>


Spoken like somebody who never witnessed manuals in the time of SNES/such.

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SEP Nash, Smelling Like the Vault since 1996
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Let's get one thing straight here: video game manuals are not a labor of love, some "special touch" or whatever strange happy notion some are associating with them. They are functional in nature, and most people in their right minds consider writing documentation to be about as much fun as swilling toilets. I assure you that game companies do not love you or their creation any less by saving a few trees.

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Spoken like somebody who never witnessed manuals in the time of SNES/such.

Manuals are great, and the people who make them are brave souls indeed for surviving such tedium. But whether they are online or in a box, what exactly is the difference, except that the online version won't end up as a coaster?

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There should be something included with every game that details the controls, even if it's just a quick insert. What if I forget how to do something, or if the tutorial misses something? I shouldn't have to fire up my computer to find something that has customarily been included with the game.

isn't even SNES games that do that. there's a large enough pool of stuff that's been on the DS and PSP that do show love into it. hell you don't need to look further than XSEED's work with Ys and Legend of Heroes.

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The future must protect the clone's past.
"Maybe it's a tentacle, molesting the planet itself. - Aschen Brodel.

I read game manuals when I poop, what the hell will I do ten years from now !

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I initially read the topicc title as Manuels >_>

Anyway, I understand the gradual elimination of user manuals, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.

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Uglyface2 posted...
There should be something included with every game that details the controls, even if it's just a quick insert. What if I forget how to do something, or if the tutorial misses something? I shouldn't have to fire up my computer to find something that has customarily been included with the game.

Is it really a hardship to print out the controls if you need them? I can't recall a single game where I've needed this except for Fable, which only required it because the controls were so awful. And maybe a handful of PC games with dozens of hotkeys to get accustomed to.

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From: Wanglicious | #036
isn't even SNES games that do that. there's a large enough pool of stuff that's been on the DS and PSP that do show love into it. hell you don't need to look further than XSEED's work with Ys and Legend of Heroes.

Those guys are practically just fans of the games like you. They just localize the games. It's like getting attached to a walkthrough writer on gamefaqs when that guy is just doing it for the bounty rewards.

Pretty much every game shows the controls in the pause menu. Much quicker than opening the box.

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GT: peril1337
I bet sakurai will beg final fantasy to put Cloud in the game. -CloudXSoldier talking about Brawl

*Opens up We <3 Katamari's manual*

smitelf posted...
Is it really a hardship to print out the controls if you need them? I can't recall a single game where I've needed this except for Fable, which only required it because the controls were so awful. And maybe a handful of PC games with dozens of hotkeys to get accustomed to.

Let me turn that around: is it really a hardship for the company to print out something for me, the paying customer, instead of expecting me to do it?

smitelf posted...
Spoken like somebody who never witnessed manuals in the time of SNES/such.

Manuals are great, and the people who make them are brave souls indeed for surviving such tedium. But whether they are online or in a box, what exactly is the difference, except that the online version won't end up as a coaster?


In your rush to mini-rant, you seem to have missed that, in my reply to Granzon, I didn't mention anything about them being online or not. I was speaking of the time and effort they used to actually put into them, regardless, and how it was clear in certain manuals that it was by somebody who clearly loved the game and the process, and not just some random guy getting something done.

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SEP Nash, Smelling Like the Vault since 1996
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I enjoy reading manuals while on the toilet

my pooping time will be very boring without them

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So...eh. I always wondered though...what the f*** was the "Notes" at the back of the manual for? Are people actually writing back there!? /Seinfeld

Codes. Tips and reminders for future play-throughs. that's what I used it for.

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Yes, manuals are nice, but there's no reason there needs to be physical copies of them with every game.

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From: Mega Mana | #024
voltch posted...
Age of empires II gold Edition manual, hot damn that thing was sweeeeet.

That the Rise of Rome expansion? I used to bring that to school for light reading on the bus or during lulls.

Conquerors expansion

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Let me turn that around: is it really a hardship for the company to print out something for me, the paying customer, instead of expecting me to do it?

Two points:
1. They do not "expect" you to print it out. You brought up a narrow situation in which a paper copy might be useful, and I replied that a small subsection of the manual could be printed out in that scenario.

2. Yes, it is a hardship for the company to print thousands of copies because a handful of people might want to refer to one or two pages of the manual. Paper copies of manuals are wasteful and expensive.

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