What happened to game manuals!?

[Braedan]

Amazing, but looking back I can think of specific game manuals as if they were their own media. I loved them. Starlancer was a "Flight Manual" with notes written in from previous pilots, and don't mention Diablo (1), or Guildwars. Those books had bestiaries, as well as dozens of pages of lore, and so much information that wasn't necessary. I think I've read Diablo's manual 4 times.

It's a damn shame that the manual has died off. I mean, not every game needs a detailed manual, but the fact that none come with one anymore is a travesty.

Edit: People saying that manuals are obsolete are missing the point. Of course they are. That doesn't stop them from being a great addition to opening the box.

 

[Guardian of Nekops]

As others have already noted, more space on the media has resulted in the much better tutorial to teach you how to play, but that's only part of it.

In the old days, the stuff in the manual was the only story you were going to get. The manual had to be there, to replace the cut scenes and setup sections of the game... they just didn't have the bits to make any more of the game than (in extreme cases) that one level that got progressively harder the longer you played it. And a couple of recolors.

All you're seeing now is the result of all that good stuff being absorbed into the game itself. They don't need to spend thirty pages teaching you the magic system... they managed to stramline it so that it's intuitive, or to teach you how to think about it in a tutorial. They don't need to write an impassioned short story to make you care about the girl you're supposed to save, because they have the space to show her to you now, let you get to know her before they snatch her away from you. They don't need to tell you how evil the Empire is because they have the diskspace for a cutscene in which they curbstomp widows and orphans, etc.

 

[MaxwellEdison]

Perhaps I missed some amazing manuals, but what could they add? Any game that requires a manual for you to understand the gameplay has clearly failed at some fairly important steps in the design.

 

[Vault101]

shame..they are a really nice touch

like the one for fallout 3 GOTY edition had a really nice little intro...reading that made me feel like this was somthing special and got me totally pumped for the game

 

[Solid Reece]

They got rid of them to save money and cost.

You don't have to pay to make individual ones, and you don't have to pay anyone to write one.

It would, however, be nice if they would release the manual in digital form on the disc. Or, if this pisses the community off so much, why doesn't the community design their own manuals? If Morrowind can be overhauled so well, surely a fan-made manual can be created?

Having a fan make a manual?
They will likely never because they can't publish it like, if it wore to come with the game.
They would be missing color, pictures, with others. All manuals by fans in a walk-though aren't as great as the Morrowind or Final Fantasy manuals.

Last game I got which had a great manual was FF IV Collection for the psp.

 

[Hal10k]

Games just got piss easy .

This. Is there even a need for them anymore in 90 something % of games these days ?

I wouldn't say that it's necessarily because games have become easier; it has more to do with them becoming less obtuse. There's a difference between being challenged in a game and simply not knowing what you're doing.

Easier (difficulty wise), less complex (easier to understand) ... I think games these days are both actually.

Lets face it, it's the age of the "AWESOME BUTTON" and trying to appeal to the "COD crowd".

Call of Duty appeals to mainstream audiences. As far as I know, having your game repeatedly curb-stomp you while defiling the corpses of your ancestors is kind of a niche genre. Even taking that into account, we still have games like Dark Souls that can still enjoy widespread critical and moderate commercial success despite said ancestor defilement. Hell, even Call of Duty can become almost comically difficult on its highest difficulty setting.

 

[Darth_MAM]

Because making tutorials is better and, let´s face it, no one reads manuals. To quote MGP: ¨Reading is for girls¨.

 

[Neonit]

internet i guess? you have manuals online? saving money?
ahhh.... but i remember when i got my baldurs gate 2, with a manual you could kill cows with..... those were fun times, i could play games during the day, and read manual just before sleeping. now you get pieces of paper that are not even good enough to kill flies.....

 

[Another]

My favorite manual was for Neverwinter Nights. It had so much detail! Down to the damage rolls for all the spells! (Based on D&D 3ed)

I remember one time where me and some friends were hanging out and were kinda bored, so we decided to play D&D, but my friend had lost his books, so we were able to improvise a whole campaign using just that game manual and the dice we had on hand.

It was the most satisfying campaign ever.

 

[loudestmute]

I think it's mostly an issue of technical redundancy. Back when space was limited on a cartridge, you didn't really have the room to fit in character exposition or reminders of basic mechanics. And with the state of the graphics at that time, you had to add in some illustrations of the characters alongside the screen grabs so you could tell which was the good thing to jump on and which was the bad. Nowadays, there's less and less need for a physical booklet providing a second copy of everything the game has already shown and told you at that point.

The real reason we don't see too many "good" game manuals is that "good" requires extra effort on the part of the publisher. You're essentially making a small magazine with all the layout and design work that goes into those, even if most of the visuals are concept art or game assets you already had lying around to begin with. In-game manuals, on the other hand, can simply be a large self-hyperlinking text file with the occasional screen grab to clarify (see AC: Brotherhood for a proof of concept). More importantly, game companies see this as extra costs without extra revenue. Name one time you've heard an argument over a game's quality use the manual as evidence in the debate. Name one pre-owned store that will charge less for, if not flat out refuse to sell, a game without a manual. It's easy for the players to notice the incredible shrinking documentation, but at the same time, teams like Ubisoft and THQ have a hard time noticing the effects of a well-made manual on their game sales.

 

[Zhukov]

Developers learned how to make decent tutorials.

Manuals are now redundant.

 

[The Pinray]

You know a thread's gonna be be good when it's first three words are "They suck ass".

It's more than likely a money-saver. Also, they're redundant when the in-game tutorial gives you all you need. But I do miss the days of buying a game and taking the time to read through the entire manual before even putting the game in.

Good times, good times.

 

[KaiRai]

Hmmm i will miss them, like the witcher one that made the bible look like a light read. And when you buy a new game and you get home you just smell the game manual, no only me ok.

Noooo. I still remember opening Medievil yeeeears ago, and just sniffing the game manual like it was crack.

Don't know what they put in those game manuals, but it'd a weirdly addicting smell, no? Like the 'new car smell' for games x)

 

[Sonic Doctor]

shame..they are a really nice touch

like the one for fallout 3 GOTY edition had a really nice little intro...reading that made me feel like this was somthing special and got me totally pumped for the game

I have a feeling you were joking with the Fallout 3 statement.

I just got the GOTY edition of Fallout 3 for my 360, and it is one folded page. It's laughable because it says Vault Dweller's Survival Guide on the front, but all there is inside is two pages, the first has the health warnings and an explanation of the ESRB rating system, and the second page has the gameplay controls and explanation of Xbox Live. The back has the warranty info and technical and customer support info.

Yes, on the second page, it has a heading at the top, "Full manual available at Bethsoft.com/manuals".

But online manuals don't count in my book, because a game should come with a nice manual that is at least 12 pages with some pictures. And I'm being lenient with that minimum.

Game manuals need to have substance, what else are we suppose to do in the bathroom before we play the game. I'm serious, it always seems like with ever purchase, right before a play a new game, I all of a sudden have to go to the bathroom.

It really seems rather dumb with the Fallout 3 GOTY manual, because in the same purchase, I got the fifth anniversary edition of TES4: Oblivion and it's manual is 16 pages, not including the cover, inside page, back inside page and back.

 

[TehCookie]

Perhaps I missed some amazing manuals, but what could they add? Any game that requires a manual for you to understand the gameplay has clearly failed at some fairly important steps in the design.

If you try to force too much information in the game it won't flow right. Things like character/enemy bios, lore of the world or random tidbits about objects and hints/tips should be in the manual. You don't have to read it to enjoy the game, but people who did enjoy may want to see more about it.

Sure some may include end game bonuses that include that, but you can't read those on the crapper.