I flipped open Skyrim's user manual today and discovered that something important is missing. There is no introduction, no welcoming words from the Skyrim team, no comment on what the team tried to do and why, no kind advice to help newcomers find and know their place in the game, to help players know what Skyrim is meant to be to them. The manual describes a bunch of things to do, but doesn't tie them together so they make sense.

I'm a bit sad over it, not hug-my-teddy-and-cry-myself-to-sleep sad, just sad the way you get when that friendly-looking cashier in the store ignores you when you say, "Hey, have a good weekend, okay?" The absence gives Skyrim, unlike its predecessors, a somewhat chilly, impersonal feel. You pop a dollar into the vending machine, and out pops your soda. No hello, no thank you. Just take it and go.

Sigh.

Lol. this is do you can fork over $30 for the guide. BF3 did the same thing.

I can completely understand where the OP is coming from and it makes me sad, too, to see this being the "norm" now with most games. Manuals, if you get one, are thin 8 to 10 page things with no character at all to them. Right now I'm looking at my original Baldur's Gate manual. The thing is over 80 pages long! It has details, stories, pictures, stats, keyboard commands, etc. Now THAT is a game manual. I guess in today's age of instant gratification and the "tl;dr" crowd, this was bound to happen.

Neverwinter Nights 2 despite being a poor game also had a massive manual.