The importance of Manuals?

[PacDwell]

For a while now, I've found myself struggling to 'connect' with games. I've bought many games (how can one not when the games are so cheap in sales), yet I find myself playing for 10 minutes and then hardly ever playing them again.

I didn't have that problem in the past, so I've often believed that I'm simply 'moving on' and becoming disinterested in gaming. It's weird because games look fantastic these days compared to the games I loved playing when I was younger.

I was thinking about this relative lack of interest, to discover which games I still enjoy and what makes them different. It struck me that the games I've played extensively have all been 'boxed games'. That couldn't be it though, a boxed game I'll play - but a downloaded one I won't? Nah, there's gotta be more to it than that.

I discovered that with boxed games I'll spend time reading the manual before I actually play the game - sometimes spending a few days reading the manual. In doing so, I believe I 'ready' my state of mind to become part of the game and thus properly connect with it.

In order to test my theory, I read the pdf manual of Titan Quest (pdf vs paper manual on test). The manual was pretty much aimed at 'how to play the game' as opposed to containing some lore (or even a monster manual), but it did set me in the right frame of mind to begin playing. The good news is, it seemed to work. I've played a number of hours of Titan Quest, and I'm enjoying it.

So, for me at least, RTFM!

 

[Savagezion]

This is only semi-related to manuals but I absolutely hate starting new games because I know I have to go through the tutorial part of the game nowadays even if I have beaten it on a save file. I have to have them put me in front of a ledge so it can tell me to use triangle to jump. I have to have it make me walk through a pipe so it can tell me that R2 is crouch. I have to do this for every button on the controller. God help you if there is a menu system.

Not to sound old, but in my day you either read the manual or figured that shit out on your own by pushing shit and seeing what it did. Both were feasible but the manual was the sure fire bet. The other route could have you drink a potion or some other mistake. Personally, I did love manuals but I honestly would like to see them come back so that every time I start a game I don't have to fear having a tutorial thrown in my face. I don't like it when a game I have never played does it and I LOATHE it when a game I have beat does it. Especially, multiple times.

I wouldn't mind it if it was more like Metal Gear Solid where the tutorial is separate from the game. Rather than "New Game" you go to "Tutorial" or "Training". When it is ALWAYs at the start of the game it can piss me off. They did away with manuals because apparently "no one read them anyways" and shifted it all to a 30 minute sequence in the game where they hold your hand and patronize you. In some cases, like RDR, it's like an hour long. I would prefer they just have a list of the controls on that crappy slip of paper that comes in the case where the manual used to be.

 

[PacDwell]

Some good points regarding the in-game Tutorials. As a completionist with restartitis, I 'have' to play the tutorial levels each and every time I restart. Probably little wonder that I get bored with them quickly.

The strategy games (of which I've tried and always failed to get into) are major culprits. They often start off where you can't do a damn thing. Often my decision is: Do I play the tutorial, or do I read the manual? Far too often I'm opting for playing the 'gimped' tutorial at the expense of reading the manual and playing the game properly.

 

[SoreWristed]

I miss manuals, not for the learning the controls bit, but for the side info. Like what kind of guns and equipment you might encounter and their explanation. Or a short explanation of the main characters, so you already know at least one trait of their character. Opening a gameboy game's box back in the day without care would mostly lead to a sore foot after the 'booklet' fell out.

Now, i start up a game and have to spend the first five minutes being confused as to who i am and why i'm so angry with these guys i have to kill as part of the tutorial.

Tutorials only bug me if they are of the pitstop variety. What i mean by those is the kind where you are running through an environment, and you lose all control and have to watch as someone explains to me, with the slowest possible cursor speed and scrolling text, how to junction magic or how to double jump.
That being said, most shooters do their tutorial well, because a military theme makes them get away with an obstacle course/shooting gallery as 'training'.

Best tutorial : CoD MW1 (hate me for it if you wish, they have a great tutorial)
Worst tutorial : Sly3 : Band of thieves


Edit : I would pay extra for a 'special edition' if it had a nice bookletin it. Like the art book that came with the bioshock 2 rapture edition.

 

[Zydrate]

I have the internet. Physical manuals became a bit moot and sometimes have less information than what I'm looking for.

 

[PacDwell]

Just to be clear, I'm not advocating a return to physical manuals. I think most people will agree that the extra cost associated with printed manuals (media and boxing) was crippling for distributors. I'll take the super-low prices any day.

However, I believe manuals have a part to play (in pdf form) - and I'd forgotten that importance. Now that I've realised that, I'd hate for them to fall by the wayside with developers relying on 'The Internet' to cover the shortfall - not that I think they will.

Out of interest, how many people read the pdf manuals these days? How many people read the physical manuals (back in the day)? Do you think it made a difference to have a nice thick printed manual? Personally I love my Baldur's Gate 2 manual - I still read it from time to time.

 

[Hairless Mammoth]

I, too, hate how they replaced the lore rich manuals with single slips of paper[footnote]Although, they are sure to put tons of marketing materials for other games, hardware and services in with that slip of paper, just to make up for being environmentally friendly.[/footnote] with covering-our-asses style safety information and maybe basic button mappings and instead put mandatory tutorials at the start of every game. I know how to swing a sword in Zelda, how to level up stats in various RPGs, how to play dumb minigames like blitzball (regrettably), and what button throws grenades (potatoes in one tutorial). When you have to make a permanent save file slightly past all of that just to start playing with the freedom the game is supposed to have, the game designers screwed up somewhere. If I forget what to do or how to do it, there should be a big menu option for that stuff, or a shady guy in a corner somewhere who breaks the fourth wall to tell me I can jam the magic macguffins up my nose to boost my intelligence stat.

The lore at least can easily be found everywhere online. Different wikis and TVtropes have gotten me more interested in different works I was only mildly curious about before. If you are putting down the controller, I see no difference between picking up a manual or guide or going online to read more about a game.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Yeah I still prefered having a manual over to a tutorial anytime anywhere. I looking are YOU Skullgirl! How am I suppose to do the tutorial when you didn't fully give us a clear image of a diagram of the control pad and the location of the attacks buttons! Ok sure it may had been explain in the first part of the tutorial but I still need to look it up!

 

[Glongpre]

Yeah they should bring manuals back. Except I don't know if every game necessarily needs one. I think for sure rpgs need a manual, just so you can check racial stuff and skills and spells etc.

I remember reading the Oblivion manual for every character I made, so that I had an idea of what I was going to do, and because it was much easier to compare things. Twas a great and handy manual, indeed.

 

[aozgolo]

For me Wikis seem to have replaced manuals, I have grown largely disinterested in games that require you to spend an hour learning how to use it's interface. I prefer the difficulty being figuring out in-game strategy and tactics. I've gravitated largely towards rogue-like games for this reason as they often have very easy pick-up-and-play gameplay but are difficult to master. I often resort to wikis to help me through them and figure out things.

 

[MysticSlayer]

Sometimes I get nostalgic for the days of the manual, but for the most part, no, I don't particularly miss them. If I want to know the controls of a game, I can just bring up the control menu. If I want to understand the classes and stats in the game, then I should be able to get a good in-game explanation when creating my character. If that isn't provided, then I can just look up the Wiki. After that, a good tutorial (and by good, I mean the type that doesn't feel like a tutorial), will get me used to the basic mechanics.

Basically, I think the Internet and improved game design really do away with the need for the manual. At best, they're just a nice little extra.

 

[Towowo]

My issues with lacking a manual had more to do with the cool stuff they could do with it, like illustrations and perhaps containing interesting lore than anything.

 

[visiblenoise]

I miss manuals too, but hey, small price to pay for Steam-discounted games (literally!).

 

[FPLOON]

Out of interest, how many people read the pdf manuals these days? How many people read the physical manuals (back in the day)? Do you think it made a difference to have a nice thick printed manual? Personally I love my Baldur's Gate 2 manual - I still read it from time to time.

I read both pdf/digital manuals as well as physical manuals, if at all possible, for the video games that I play... I always do that right before I even put the disk into the drive, the cartridge into in the handheld, or click the shortcut on my desktop... With that said, as long as they have enough info to make the "tutorial level" only worth it if you didn't have that manual on standby, for example, then there should be no reason why any video game release (outside of certain exceptions like indie games, I think) shouldn't come with some kind of manual included in the long run...

On a related unrelated note, I just found out where the digital manual to Kingdom Hearts 2.5 went after the game's release... Either it did take about a month for it to be officially available online or Google/Bing were withholding search information this whole time...

 

[SD-Fiend]

I do miss physical manuals or at least the ones with effort put into them. I got Fur Fighters a while and the "advice" section told me to get out of my pajamas and not spend all day in bed.

I just skip over E-Manuals for some reason.

 

[Recusant]

When they announced that Civilization 5 would be digital only, they held a poll for the pre-orderers (cut me some slack; it was the first- and last- time I did; and what series could be safer than Civilization?) as to which charity would get the money saved by them not having to print a physical manual. I was deeply disappointed that there was no "keep the cost reduction and give us a discount" option; I even made a post in the forums saying as much (if I want to give to charity, I will give to charity; if I give money to Firaxis, it's because I want a game). I was criticized and essentially shouted down. The loss of physical manuals I find to be a blow, but not a tremendous one. The dearth of manuals at all, however...
Part of it is an age thing; I read the manual of any game I get before I play it. If it doesn't have one readily apparent, I spend quite a while looking for it or confirming it doesn't come with one; in either case, that dampens my enthusiasm a fair bit. Tutorials can make up for it sometimes, but only sometimes. Also, in any game with a decent level of complexity, you run the risk of things being made obsolete.

When I bought Crusader Kings 2, the game was already a year and a couple of expansion packs in; much of the manual was out of date, and the tutorial (which I'm told stunk anyway) enormously so. Everyone suggested just watching Let's Plays, so I checked out the top-rated one, and, rather than being shown how to play the game, watched a guy spend twenty minutes complaining about how he didn't understand extended family relationships. Updating a written document is always going to be much less intensive than changing programmed code; relying solely on tutorials is asking for trouble.

And unskippable tutorials... Well, they're like unskippable brand advertisements in a game's startup sequence: they should've been abandoned long before they even existed.

 

[Scow2]

Just to be clear, I'm not advocating a return to physical manuals. I think most people will agree that the extra cost associated with printed manuals (media and boxing) was crippling for distributors. I'll take the super-low prices any day.

However, I believe manuals have a part to play (in pdf form) - and I'd forgotten that importance. Now that I've realised that, I'd hate for them to fall by the wayside with developers relying on 'The Internet' to cover the shortfall - not that I think they will.

Out of interest, how many people read the pdf manuals these days? How many people read the physical manuals (back in the day)? Do you think it made a difference to have a nice thick printed manual? Personally I love my Baldur's Gate 2 manual - I still read it from time to time.

I still read physical manuals when I can get them. I'm kinda sad they're not made like they used to. Reading manuals while riding home from the store/waiting for the game to install/when I'm not in the game kept me 'engaged' in the game even when I wasn't playing.