Am I the only one insulted with 8 page instruction manuals?

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Pixel_Outlaw
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Re: Am I the only one insulted with 8 page instruction manuals?

Post by Pixel_Outlaw »

louisg wrote:(so, is the new Goldeneye good?)
I've only put about an hour into it so far.

The local multiplayer seemed a bit thin but I've just had a round or two.
Tiny areas, no gun pickups kind of kills it for me.

The single player is pretty good but I have some issues with the gun accuracy every once in a while.
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rapoon
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Re: Am I the only one insulted with 8 page instruction manuals?

Post by rapoon »

I had some DOS jet fighter plane game as a kid (judging by my awesome description, you can see
I have no idea what the name was). manual was larger than my textbooks.

Working Designs had great manuals (good call there dunpeal2064)
I've always been pretty happy with manuals for Atlus games.
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Re: Am I the only one insulted with 8 page instruction manuals?

Post by neorichieb1971 »

Some manuals are OTT and some are barren.

I do miss the early PS1 games from Japan though. They used to have graphic covered discs, insanely colorful manuals and smelt like the printing machine. I couldn't read them, but I can tell you I spent more time looking at them then I did any of the UK/US manuals.
This industry has become 2 dimensional as it transcended into a 3D world.
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Pixel_Outlaw
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Re: Am I the only one insulted with 8 page instruction manuals?

Post by Pixel_Outlaw »

neorichieb1971 wrote:Some manuals are OTT and some are barren.

I do miss the early PS1 games from Japan though. They used to have graphic covered discs, insanely colorful manuals and smelt like the printing machine. I couldn't read them, but I can tell you I spent more time looking at them then I did any of the UK/US manuals.
I know exactly what you mean!
Some of the best shmups don't actually end in a vowel.
No, this game is not Space Invaders.
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RNGmaster
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Re: Am I the only one insulted with 8 page instruction manuals?

Post by RNGmaster »

I remember when I got SMT Strange Journey I became convinced of its quality immediately when I opened the box and discovered that the manual was 100 pages. Then, I opened it and saw that the second half was in French. Still, 50 pages is pretty impressive.
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psy
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Re: Am I the only one insulted with 8 page instruction manuals?

Post by psy »

I feel you on this, but I guess it just owes to the tradition of getting video games for me. Whenever I bought a game as a kid while I was out with my mum or dad shopping, I'd then have the manual to read through while we walked through the shop and on the ride home.

Thin manual = read multiple times and then get pissed off at the fact that I'd have to wait to get home to play it, get home excited and play it and enjoy it.

Thick manual = read once and be content with reading it, get home excited, play game, enjoy it.

Win win either way, then, but thick ones are still better :>
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BPzeBanshee
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Re: Am I the only one insulted with 8 page instruction manuals?

Post by BPzeBanshee »

Pixel_Outlaw wrote:
louisg wrote:(so, is the new Goldeneye good?)
I've only put about an hour into it so far.

The local multiplayer seemed a bit thin but I've just had a round or two.
Tiny areas, no gun pickups kind of kills it for me.

The single player is pretty good but I have some issues with the gun accuracy every once in a while.
Yeah, I did testing of GoldenEye Wii multiplayer with a mate. They basically just put in all of the old combination options of GoldenEye 64, and made the multiplayer try to be like Call of Duty (notice how you can't use grenades in the Campaign but you can all the time in Multiplayer?).

The single player I thought was good too but some of the stages aren't well balanced for difficulty. Level 3 should be harder than Level 2 but on the one-under-hardest mode Level 2 was such a bitch for me. Controls are definitely winning here though, if The Conduit had the kind of control support that GoldenEye Wii has it would've been more popular IMO.

On topic, the manuals are a little bit annoying in how they are now but I don't read them often. I think the only time I really seriously bothered with a manual was for WarTech (learning the button combos, and even then the manual actually GOT IT WRONG several times), and when I got Deathsmiles for PAL - the booklet that came with that was excellent quality.
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Damocles
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Re: Am I the only one insulted with 8 page instruction manuals?

Post by Damocles »

Fuck. This. Shit.

Earth Defense Force doesn't even come with a goddamn manual. There is, quite literally, just a sign on the box directing you to a website to download it. Buy the PS3 version, as at least that one comes with a manual.
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xbl0x180
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Re: Am I the only one insulted with 8 page instruction manuals?

Post by xbl0x180 »

I read somewhere that ea is planning to eliminate manuals altogether... I can't imagine what ea game I've played, but I figure that can't be good. I agree with you all, it's a bad trend along with "download-only" crap. I might buy into a download-only scheme if I can burn the game, print a glossy cover, and print the manual for it 8)
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Sumez
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Re: Am I the only one insulted with 8 page instruction manuals?

Post by Sumez »

I remember spending a good part of my vacation digging through the Warcraft 2 manual back in the days. That crap is filled with stories about the Warcraft universe (you know, long before it was fucked up by WoW :))
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rapoon
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Re: Am I the only one insulted with 8 page instruction manuals?

Post by rapoon »

Damocles wrote:Fuck. This. Shit.

Earth Defense Force doesn't even come with a goddamn manual. There is, quite literally, just a sign on the box directing you to a website to download it. Buy the PS3 version, as at least that one comes with a manual.
No shit! I picked the game up today, nothing inside other than a disc.
This has gotta be a first. No manual, no advertisement, no registration card, nada.
Anyone else know of a console game that shipped with nothing other than disc/cartridge?
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xbl0x180
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Re: Am I the only one insulted with 8 page instruction manuals?

Post by xbl0x180 »

Yeah... bootlegged/pirated video games, software, and videos. The industry standard now is to push out the bootleggers, so that they can push the same low-quality product (AT A HIGHER PRICE!) 8)
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Despatche
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Re: Am I the only one insulted with 8 page instruction manuals?

Post by Despatche »

What? They've always been doing that.
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