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[helloresolven]

No, but I think any moderately complicated game should have a developer supported wiki.

 

[Venom Fox]

Nah, it was sad at first until you realise we need the trees more...

Edit: I do miss that wierd smell though.

 

[Herbspiceguy]

Only the really awesome ones like

 

[Septimus Prime]

If anything Xenoblade is a prime example of why digital manuals are better. It's well laid out, has hot links to the term's it references, and has graphical overlays that make it incredibly easy to read.

It's a good manual, but it's hard to quickly reference, since you have to stop the game and then find your place again.

It'd be super sweet if they let us export these to our phones.

 

[Kamina]

I can't agree with you there. I hated the paper boxes games used to come in. I always tried so hard to keep them in good condition but eventually they'd always get crushed. I was overjoyed when games switched to plastic cases, especially handheld ones.

I do feel guilty about liking the plastic cases, though, when I think about their effects on the environment.

To each hier own. I just always liked to take care of my boxes and usually succeeded in doing so.
My Zelda Majoras Mask Box looks barely touched for example.

 

[khaaan]

Functionally speaking the e-Manuals we have are serviceable but in most cases they're not needed thanks to tutorials and the internet. I do miss manuals and think video game companies are not capitalizing on the fact that they're digital.

What I imagined us moving towards is a better translation of what made manuals so great but using all the advantages of a digital format. I thought the still images decorating the pages would be replaced with hand drawn or 3D animations. For example I thought that when I was looking at the controls "page" there would be a little video on the side with the background seamlessly blending into the page of the manual. The character would cycle through all the animations and if you moved the cursor over to the animation, the game would load an empty zone for you to immediately try out all the controls. I thought games would have their manuals skinned to reflect the game, manuals would look like old tomes, a futuristic OS, a command line terminal, etc.

As much as I like the idea, I don't ever see it happening at a common level. It would be too much work for something a tutorial already covers. There have been games that have elements of what I've described though.

 

[Substandard]

I definitely miss the days of useful manuals, but I feel like for the most part these went away well before manuals in general did. Things like the Heroes of Might and Magic 3 manual / poster with every unit w/ stats for every type of base, or RPG manuals with the stats for every item, etc.

In general I think that games have gotten much better about explaining mechanics, but manuals used to include a lot of information supplementary to solely what the controls were, etc.

You can still get this stuff, but you generally end up playing with a wiki or something open on another device.

 

[HyperBitHero]

Yes, I miss when opening up the manual was part of the fun of getting a new game. When I import japanese games, they always have great colorful manuals, so it's like a blast from the past.

 

[Moofers]

Every now and then I'll get a game that has one. I got Lost Dimension on PS3 and it has a nice full-color manual in there with character bios and stuff. I was impressed.

 

[Juke Joint Jezebel]

Past the Xbox/PS2/GCN generation manuals started getting less and less robust, so the eventual demise of them hasn't really affected me.

 

[Windforce]

No, I don't miss manuals or boxes.

It wasn't fun owning them anyway, considering how obsessively perfectionist I was, any fingerprints or small defects on manual or box would annoy me to no end.

I prefer the digital era.

 

[Solrac]

hell yes !

I remember well some snes manual being really cool with artworks, story tell, items, etc.

 

[NastyBook]

Yes, without a doubt. Fuck EA for starting that bullshit trend of no manuals.

 

[inner-G]

Yes.

I have kept a huge box of them from games that I've traded in through the years.

 

[Tohsaka]

Yes, it's nice how XSEED usually still includes manuals.

 

[CaviarMeths]

I've supplanted them with art books and strategy guides. I used to love those manuals mostly for the artwork and the character bios. Those are covered in what I buy now. And they look nice on a bookshelf.

The hardcover Prima guide for Xenoblade X is pretty nifty.

And then once in a while you get a total gem, a celebration of a series you love, like Hyrule Historia.

 

[Ranmo]

For games like Xenoblade Chronicles X a physical manual would be nice, but for the most part no I don't miss them.

 

[ugh_the_boot]

Although I never used the manuals I miss the polish physical games used to have, there was awesome cover art and full colour manuals - these sorts of features added more value to your physical game and made it more of a work of art. Now we are basically just getting a file on a disc, the rest is afterthought which is disappointing.

 

[K.N.W.]

I miss them really much!! There was a secret move in Spyro 2 that let you find gems really easily: you had just to press all the shoulder buttons and Sparx would point towards the nearest gem . It was never explained in the game, so that non-readers didn't know about it!!!

 

[Avari]

Not really. Everything in a manual is available online. Personally I no longer have room to save game manuals regardless.

 

[Hibiki Kurosawa]

I used to miss them, now I don't care.

 

[Zomba13]

Yes. It's just so much better for referencing compared to e-manuals. Like, they are ok on the Wii U because of the touch screen but there is still a lot off popping in and out and trying to find the right place. It's a lot easier to skim a paper manual and "bookmark" bits you might need plus you can just glance at it when needed instead of calling up the menu interface which sometimes can be slow.

 

[ViciousAnchovy]

no, I miss manuals with actual artwork.

These days you are luck if you find a generic cg render, let alone awesome drawings and other concepts that you easily found on early ps1 and before.

Ditto. I used to go back to my old instruction manuals and look through them for the illustrations. I haven't done so in a while, but I imagine I will at some point in the near future thanks to this thread.

 

[Sanctuary]

Yes, absolutely. Back in the day JRPGs had some of the best manuals. Nintendo made great manuals as well.

Was just looking at one of the few physical JRPG books of last gen last night (Lost Odyssey). Digital manuals are for schmucks, and exist mainly because of how few people read manuals anymore. Why print what won't be used?

Not really. Everything in a manual is available online. Personally I no longer have room to save game manuals regardless.

I don't understand. If you are all digital now, you wouldn't have a physical book anyway. If you still buy physical copies, the manual sits inside the case, so it's not like you're running out of space. Unless you trash the cases and store them elsewhere.

 

[Worldshaker]

I sure do.

Thankfully Shovel Knight had an awesome one. The SNES days will forever be remembered. I miss the premium ones made by Working Designs as well.

I have a lot of my favorite SNES/PS1 games CIB. I read the manuals at least once a year for nostalgia. Chrono Triggers and A Link To The Past are some of my favorites.

 

[CyclopsRock]

Not at all. Nor disks or boxes or anything. A waste of ink and space.

 

[joecanada]

Love that smell. Buying a new game then had that "new car smell". Good times.

You know that new car smell is all fire retardant chemical used to ship items and is like sniffing glue or inhaling like wd40

Also I used to miss manuals but at some point they got real bare bones and didn't have any good tips or anything