Poll: Do you read game manuals?

[Smertnik]

Manuals don't really have a purpose anymore since tutorials have become a standard and there's enough context given to stories in-game to not require a printed exposition, not to mention that wikis and walkthroughs are always just one click away.
I did like to read the manuals of newly bought games as a kid but nowadays they're just a waste of paper (or would be if anyone still made them).

 

[Goofguy]

It depends on the type of game manual. If it's a typical Blizzard manual with lore and background in it then absolutely. If it's your standard game manual that describes the HUD and controls, then I flip through it quickly.

 

[Bostur]

Manuals don't really have a purpose anymore since tutorials have become a standard and there's enough context given to stories in-game to not require a printed exposition, not to mention that wikis and walkthroughs are always just one click away.
I did like to read the manuals of newly bought games as a kid but nowadays they're just a waste of paper (or would be if anyone still made them).

Thats a common argument that I disagree with. Personally I often look through wiki's and manuals to find specific instructions that are lacking. Sometimes I find what I am looking for on obscure message boards, sometimes not. I think manuals would serve a purpose if they were better at doing what they were meant to do, explain how the game works.

Also tutorials don't work well as references. Sometimes I don't want to learn everything at once, I may want to learn the basics through a tutorial and then learn more advanced concepts later. Manuals are perfect for this. I don't need to Alt-Tab to read a printed manual, and I don't need to save the game to start a tutorial.
A few games have good in-game documentation that can serve as a replacement for a manual, but those are rare. Games that have good in-game documentation usually have good manuals as well.


Captcha: '; drop table users;
(I hope I won't be accused for SQL injection ;-)

 

[Phasmal]

Only when I am stuck because the game decided to play sillybuggers with the controls.
Or if it's a computer game taking an age to install and I reeeeeally wanna play it.

 

[KoudelkaMorgan]

I read them every time without fail. Sadly some online purchased games from PSN for example don't have one. Wii is pretty good about it tho.

The thickest manuals I think I own came with FF6 on SNES and Earthbound. Seriously if you have never read the manual/guide for Earthbound you missed out on like half the game. The scratch and sniff cards alone are priceless, but all the fake news stories for the towns, the enemy models, every single page is filled with awesome.

And it came packaged in every copy...it still amazes me how much people used to care about their products. Ubisoft lately thinks I would like to scroll slowly through menu after menu to read their manuals in game. I know that if I had rented it and not gotten a manual then its good. But since companies are rather against the rental and second hand scene, why make it easier for them? I thought these days its all about punishing anyone that didn't preorder a game months in advance directly from the monopoly that is gamestop if you actually want 100% of the game you purchased.

*Only buys from Amazon*

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

Yes but I don't get very many anymore because I mostly buy digital. I bought a big guide book for ff13-2 which was nice because most games these days don't come with much.

I think GOW3 came with a bit of card. I guess that should have told me how complex the gameplay was going to be....

 

[ComradeJim270]

There's generally not much to read anymore. PC game manuals just have installation instructions and such, and console game manuals usually just explain the controls, which the games themselves usually do anyway. While this may be more cost-effective and environmentally friendly, I do miss the days when manuals were more substantial, particularly for more complex games. I'll usually still read a good .pdf manual for those kinds of games if one is available and I'll usually read paper manuals in detail if the tutorial in the game isn't very good or isn't present at all.

I also do sometimes use maps when they're provided. I used the one that came with Red Dead Redemption until I had a good feel for the geography of the game world. The ones that came with the last two Elder Scrolls games sucked though and seemed superfluous, especially in comparison to the (IMO) indispensable one that came with their predecessor

 

[SoranMBane]

I give it a skim when I first get the game to get an early handle on the controls, and I might consult it later if I forget how to do something, but not much more than that. I'll occasionally give the manual a thorough read if it has any extra lore in it or does anything else interesting, like the manuals for Fallout 3, Skyrim, and Assassin's Creed 1, but those kinds of manuals are quite rare.

 

[OpticalJunction]

I skim through them when I first get them, but other than that, no. Most of what I need from a manual, I can find easily enough online.

 

[Razentsu]

Only when I'm bored or when I encounter a problem with the controls or game mechanics.

 

[Fijiman]

I usually at least flip through the things at least once, but usually I only look for the controls if I don't know/remember them.

 

[ComradeJim270]

I give it a skim when I first get the game to get an early handle on the controls, and I might consult it later if I forget how to do something, but not much more than that. I'll occasionally give the manual a thorough read if it has any extra lore in it or does anything else interesting, like the manuals for Fallout 3, Skyrim, and Assassin's Creed 1, but those kinds of manuals are quite rare.

Fallout 3's manual would be more interesting if I didn't have the Fallout 1 "Vault Dweller's Survival Guide" which in addition to explaining how to play the game and offering useful tips in a fashion that makes it seem kind of like something right out of the game itself, also includes (to my knowledge) scientifically accurate information about the effects of a nuclear weapon, as well as two actual recipes in the back just for fun. They really don't make them like that anymore.

 

[AwkwardTurtle]

As for story? Well I wish there was more of that in instructions. Instructions these days are paper thin not explaining any sort of background or information on the character I am going to be playing or the situation or world that I am going to be interacting with. This honestly does help improve the experience because it stops being just about you the player and starts being about the world. That's a big difference knowing that while the game will be focused on me that I understand the world and events that have or currently transpiring that I might interact with.

Definitely agree with you there. (I've said this before, but whatever I feel like saying it again!) One modern game that I think would have definitely been helped by the old-school story/character introduction in the game manual...thing is Dragon's Dogma.

Seriously, at the start of the game they just throw characters and events in your face without the slightest bit of information in-game. I was so when confused when Quina came up to me and called my character cuz(cousin in some accent I'm assuming). I was confused thinking...is she my cousin? my sister? love interest? random girl I've never met before? No idea. However, the Dragon's Dogma wiki provided an introduction and backstory to her character that really cleared things up for me. The wiki does this with most of the main characters in the game. I found this to greatly enhance my experience with the story since I felt the game itself feels like it didn't do very much to flesh out the characters.

OT: Yeah, I used to read manuals all the time back when they had actual content. This is particularly because I bought a ton of RPGs back in the day, and on the car ride home after buying the game I loved to open up the manual and start reading about the world that I would soon be in.

As others have expressed before me, nowadays there's nothing to read.

 

[Gennadios]

I buy my games digital. I think they come with PDFs or something, but never really bothered.

Tutorials are mostly sufficient, and any games with substance tend to have built in references, like the civilopedia or the tooltips for the Total War games.

 

[Grimh]

Yeah, I've always been a fan of leaflets.

 

[Berserker119]

I read manuals for instructions for newer games, especially sports games. Older games had much better ones, though, my favourite being Jazz Jackrabbit 2's.

 

[NLS]

I used to, back in the days of retail. But then came digital distribution along, plus games started incorporating more of the manual in the game itself. Having a cut-scene explaining the back-story, maybe an interactive tutorial that teaches you the controls or even configuring the controls for you in the game. (like checking if you want inverted Y-axis in Portal 2 or Halo for instance by prompting you to look up and down at a target). Games are generally more streamlined and cinematic experiences nowadays, and when was the last time you had to read up a leaflet before watching a movie or reading a book?

I miss some of the better made game manuals, but I prefer to incorporate it in the game itself.

 

[Gitty101]

Manuals? I can't remember the last time I read one of those.

In-game tutorials have long since replaced them. Plus, it helps that most games these days have a VERY similar control scheme depending on genre.

 

[BathorysGraveland]

If a game has a manual that had some actual effort put into it (so, not a four-page long warranty shit) then yeah, I'll read through it once. However, I generally just skim through a manual and then pick it up in future if I need help with controls or whatever.

To be honest, I kind of miss the days where manuals would go in-depth with the backstory, and the enemies and equipment you would get, characters, all that other yummy stuff. I used to spend hours just reading game manuals.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

I clicked on the 'yes always' part but I should add in this: I did when games HAD manuals. The worst manual I've seen recently was the one for F.3.A.R. on the 360 which was just the DLC plackard and a little booklet telling you to input the DLC code so you can play the online multiplayer.

...

Remember when games came with a manual that seemed more like an art-book and a poster or, map in the standard edition? I miss that.