civ 5, cheap?

[Worgen]

so I just got civ V and is it just me or does the physical game feel really cheap? like the box quality feels crummy and the booklet is like 4 pages telling you to look up everything on steam, the tech poster is nice but thats really it.

its so annoying that publishers have being going with cheaper and cheaper packaging, I mean of any game nowadays I would expect to have a nice big manual its civ but no, its shoddy packaging, and they wonder why ppl trade games in

 

[Irridium]

Its funny. They say they're doing this to "save resource" or something, but what about the top and bottom quarters of the box? They don't need that. They could make them the size of old PS1 cases, and save plenty of resources that way.

I miss huge manuals, gave games a sort of weight, and made you think about it. "Holy shit this game's manual is huge, this game must have a lot of stuff in it".

Today's tiny "manuals" barely pass pamphlet size.

 

[ProfessorLayton]

If you buy the game for the packaging, you're doing it wrong.

Its funny. They say they're doing this to "save resource" or something, but what about the top and bottom quarters of the box? They don't need that. They could make them the size of old PS1 cases, and save plenty of resources that way.

I miss huge manuals, gave games a sort of weight, and made you think about it. "Holy shit this game's manual is huge, this game must have a lot of stuff in it".

Today's tiny "manuals" barely pass pamphlet size.

The Diablo II Battle Chest came with a manual that was enormous and a strategy guide. Now that's how you package a game.

 

[T-Bone24]

If you buy the game for the packaging, you're doing it wrong.

Hey, I appreciate nice packaging, mostly because I'm a collector-to-be. I love having physical media, it's why I buy special editions.

 

[Worgen]

If you buy the game for the packaging, you're doing it wrong.

Its funny. They say they're doing this to "save resource" or something, but what about the top and bottom quarters of the box? They don't need that. They could make them the size of old PS1 cases, and save plenty of resources that way.

I miss huge manuals, gave games a sort of weight, and made you think about it. "Holy shit this game's manual is huge, this game must have a lot of stuff in it".

Today's tiny "manuals" barely pass pamphlet size.

The Diablo II Battle Chest came with a manual that was enormous and a strategy guide. Now that's how you package a game.

oh if you want to see a real manual, look up lunar, it was a very high quality full color hardback manual
damn, cant find any pics of it on google, but it was awesome, working designs always did fantastic game packaging

 

[Worgen]

If you buy the game for the packaging, you're doing it wrong.

Hey, I appreciate nice packaging, mostly because I'm a collector-to-be. I love having physical media, it's why I buy special editions.

I would have gotten it in special edition but being out of work sucks so I didnt feel right spending 100 bucks

 

[2fish]

I know what you are saying, it did feel a little empty in the box, but you are not supposed to buy the box. All the cool kids are buying it on steam, we all know how nerds/geeks are like the cool kids, but yeah I agree with you.

I am not sure cheap would be the word I would choose as much as lazy. it is all online, there is no need to send the intern to kinkos to make 1,000,000,000 copies of this manual.

I was hoping for a poster on the back of my tech tree fold out, but NOOOOO. I now need to find a foldout of Catherine somewhere else.

 

[Irridium]

Even more proof that Steam has made having the disc version of Civ 5 worthless. You don't even get a paper manual you can read?

You do, but its for pages of the bare essentials, and saying "to look at the huge juicy manual, do it online!".

 

[migo]

That's really annoying. I trust Steam for Valve games, but nothing else. I'm not at all interested in requiring steam for anything else. Thank god for crackers!

 

[Worgen]

Even more proof that Steam has made having the disc version of Civ 5 worthless. You don't even get a paper manual you can read?

its more a pamphlet then a book, makes me wish I just waited till it was on steam sale, the main reason I got the physical game aside from being able to trade in games at gamestop to help with the price was because I was sure I would get a nice book and the physical presentation would be really cool, too bad I was wrong

 

[Sacman]

Its funny. They say they're doing this to "save resource" or something, but what about the top and bottom quarters of the box? They don't need that. They could make them the size of old PS1 cases, and save plenty of resources that way.

Hell they could just put it in a reusable slipcase with all the instructions hand written on a piece of binder paper...

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Even more proof that Steam has made having the disc version of Civ 5 worthless. You don't even get a paper manual you can read?

You do, but its for pages of the bare essentials, and saying "to look at the huge juicy manual, do it online!".

That's the future of Steams monopoly folks.

Hardly, manuals being PDFs or online has been around for the last 5/10 years at least. Blaming Steam for this is really straw-clutching, not when you can legitimately get them for support.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

It isn't that manuals have existed as PDF's for a long time. It's that BOXED games usually come with a paper manual, especially Civ games.

Looking around my boxed games...not since broadband was up and running.

Is Steam not to blame for being required to run Civ 5? Are you saying that this has nothing to do with the lack of a proper manual?

A little lawyer-ese in your statements, but Civ 5 was developed with Steamworks from the start. Whether it has anything to do with manual inclusion seems a very tangential leap when you could easily point to recycling, production costs, limited manual use, limited need for manual, rising print costs, overall change to nullify the need for a manual or other such things.

Saying "STEAM WILL BE TEH DEATH OF MANUALS!" from this does seem just a little...over-dramatic.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Is it really overly dramatic?

Honestly? Yes.

Sorry, I really don't follow what you're saying here. This has been happening for sometime now for a number of reasons, and simply linking it up to purely being Steamworks seems like hysteria unless you've got some proof you've not shared.

Honest injun, the ten closest box sets to me have no manuals, just a PDF on the CD. That includes a number of games you can't get on Steam or DD.

So we are now developing games with DRM in mind...scary.

You don't remember the Secret Decoder Wheel in Rocket Ranger? ('88)
Jet Set Willy's colour codes? Curse of the Azure Bonds Elvish symbols?

 

[TheOtherDaniel]

Ahh, Curse of the Azure Bonds. Those were the days....

I have no problem with the smaller amounts of packaging - I'm not a collector, and I like electronic manuals so that then I know where they are!

The fact that you need to have Steam installed upsets me more. I'm hoping the Australian version won't require it....

 

[Pielikey]

You should see the version from Steam! Now that's flimsy packaging....

 

[thenumberthirteen]

Yeah I was dissapointed by the tiny manual, but the massive tech tree was nice. I love games with posters or charts.

 

[Worgen]

Looking around my boxed games...not since broadband was up and running.

Oh yeah? My boxed games have manuals. Civ games have always come with a thick manual to my knowledge. Not this time, wonder why?

A little lawyer-ese in your statements, but Civ 5 was developed with Steamworks from the start. Whether it has anything to do with manual inclusion seems a very tangential leap when you could easily point to recycling, production costs, limited manual use, limited need for manual, rising print costs, overall change to nullify the need for a manual or other such things.

Saying "STEAM WILL BE TEH DEATH OF MANUALS!" from this does seem just a little...over-dramatic.

Is it really overly dramatic?

Do you think it is in Steams best interest to blur the line between retail copy and DD? Here's what has occurred:

- The game cannot be played until Steam approves even if you have the disc
- The manual is a PDF instead of a paper manual

Coincidence?

Since Civ 5 was developed with Steam in mind, then it seem that maybe the decisions about the manual were made with Steam in mind. So we are now developing games with DRM in mind...scary.

dawn of war 2 was designed with steam in mind also but it still has a nice instruction booklet, the only reason ppl dont do them anymore is to cut a minute amount of cost because they think players dont care about them

 

[Ashsaver]

so I just got civ V and is it just me or does the physical game feel really cheap? like the box quality feels crummy and the booklet is like 4 pages telling you to look up everything on steam, the tech poster is nice but thats really it.

its so annoying that publishers have being going with cheaper and cheaper packaging, I mean of any game nowadays I would expect to have a nice big manual its civ but no, its shoddy packaging, and they wonder why ppl trade games in

Man,you're lucky to get a physical copy at all,because i can't.

But still, you have my sympathy, i know what it's like to buy a game you're anticipating only to get a few dvds and a piece of cheap paper called "manual" I'm giving you a weird look,Valve.