Remember a time when you bought a game the booklet that came with it was almost like a book itself. It gave you a good background story, weapons and items you're going to use and junk. Now---they're pamplets and these are not very informitive pamplets <_< ! All they tell you is the game's warrenty and to go online and download the actal game manuel....I like my games to come with a booklet that at least tells you the controls, story and what to expect and not tell me this is a game go this webpage here for the intructions and go {beep} yourself. So----is Skyrim going to have a decent instruction booklet with it-or will it be a lousy lazy put together pamplet?

According to the unboxing videos, Skyrim has a lovely manual.

That's good to know B). Actually it's not about Skyrim's game booklet that concerns me but alot of game nowa days seem to be doing this pamplet thing.

Yeah I remeber when the booklets in game boxes ACTUALLY told you about the game and some of the main charcters, unlike now all they do is tell you about they control step up which to almost every gamer is pretty obvious.

What happened? The internet (and, to a lesser extent, the PDF format.) You get more information from a site like GameFAQs or Stratics - which can be constantly updated - and so manuals just sort of died out.

Instead, they should have art booklets enclosed. Heck, the best thing about the collectors edition of Warcraft 3 was that massive art booklet that came with it.

Last pc game I bought that had a large manual was fallout 1&2 set

The last one I bought with a huge manual was Hearts of Iron III - you can download it http://www.gamersgate.com/manuals/hoi3_manual.pdf, it's 87 pages, and you need that info to not totally svck at this game.

Other strategy games I bought recently have manuals of similar scope (the combined manual of Europa Universalis III with all expansions is something like 500 pages).

Last game I bought was Battlefield 3...the booklet has 3 frickin' pages! I miss the old days where they had 20-30 pages MINIMUM

I got some old manuals like that.
The Mech Warrior 4 booklet. The Wither EE had a nice manual as well, so did NWN 2.

The only good part of Far Cry 2 was a good booklet, IIRC.

I think the in-game demo took over the role of the instruction book. Past that, they want you to shell out $20 for the strategy guide with pretty weapon pics

That's what I'd like to know. For example: every Harvest Moon/Rune Factory game I've bought in the past has a full color manual with character profiles, but the newest game has a black & white manual with hardly any info at all. <_<

I know exatly how you feel, I bought BF3 yesterday and saw that "pamplet" heck Batman: Arkham City & Asylum are guilty of it----it's the major reason why I started this thread. If they're going to do this pamplet thing at least for crying out loud put the control funtions on it.

Ni no Kuni DS had an http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkLkH99BQPs in Japan. I just hope they make a physical version available for the PS3 version in North America.

Games companies got cheap and started providing the minimum possible: it doesn't seem that long ago that yesterday's regular editions were like today's collector's editions. Or better.

Though I still maintain that the worst ever has to be Ubisoft's Morrowind GotY: no map, no manual, couldn't even be bothered to unwrap the CDs. I complained to Amazon who thought it looked like a pirated copy! Only a pirated copy would've been more impressive...

I still have every one of those game manual books.
But yeah...now they typically either consist of a few pages or give you a link to a .pdf version. Costs and weight + internet + cheapness overall. On the bright side, the 'net also means I can find much more minute gameplay info/quest help on a game much much easier than I ever could in the "old days."


Agreed.

The last game I bought was Europa Universalis III, which came out in 2007. It has a 150 page manual.

There was a game called Strife that started with you in some room being inexplicably attacked by a strange guy with a gun. Only by reading the introduction in the manual could you ever find out that your character was new in town and was arrested on arrival, and the start of the game was you escaping.

I miss them, though I see why they've become obsolete.

Pretty much every game has a wiki, not sure if this makes games better or just spoils every game out there.

Let's take oblivion for example, having a wiki for that game enabled me to enjoy that game much more. I guess that game had a nice booklet as well, at least for these times it did / does.

I just miss the artwork in the manuals.

Also I find some of the in-game manuals to be half-assed like BF3.

Homeworld and the original Diablo had some of the most extensive booklets I've ever seen for a video game. Ever.

Homeworld in particular was like reading a small novella or history of the entire planet.

I miss the old booklets as well, they used to actually be something. As opposed to now. :sadvaultboy:

Booklets are the primary thing I buy almost exclusively physical copies of games. They give the came some collective value, unlike the fact you "own" the game by having rights to legally download it.

Bringing back something of value in the physical packaging would probably be a great way to combat piracy. I'd wager much more successful than the alternative methods.