I long for the era when people made their games intentionally obtuse to force children to buy non-used so they'd get the manual, and also the strategy guide or official Nintendo Power™issue dedicated to this game.
Seriously, though, I only bought the Pokemon or Castlevania ones because autism. Manuals were and still are fascinating to look at for me, except I got them after I'd near-100% a game.
I like DLC when its like Dark Souls or Fallout 3/New Vegas which is the expansion pack thing of "Here is a brand new area with its own self-contained story and enemies and bosses".
I think it's less good when it's "Hey here are all these costumes and weapons we already made, but are going to make you pay a dollar each for because we want more money than the money you spent buying this game".
i always read the manual, but iirc a lot of people preferred to just figure stuff out for themselves.
TBH i kinda miss when you had long manuals that explained stuff in detail, i liked those. Though i suppose these days there's Wikia and GameFAQs.
I have some of the aforementioned manuals kept around for that very reason. Like cartridge version of video games, if I cared about them like Central or LGR.
And I'm with Odra on DLC, so I have little to add otherwise.
See, what I liked about manuals is that in addition to telling you how to play, you could open them on Christmas Day before your parents would let you start playing games, and learn more about the game you were about to play and get excited about seeing the things in the manual.
See, what I liked about manuals is that in addition to telling you how to play, you could open them on Christmas Day before your parents would let you start playing games, and learn more about the game you were about to play and get excited about seeing the things in the manual.
I think this sort of vicarious enjoyment is the same reason why I obsessed over player's guides.
i always read the manual, but iirc a lot of people preferred to just figure stuff out for themselves.
TBH i kinda miss when you had long manuals that explained stuff in detail, i liked those. Though i suppose these days there's Wikia and GameFAQs.
I have some of the aforementioned manuals kept around for that very reason. Like cartridge version of video games, if I cared about them like Central or LGR.
And I'm with Odra on DLC, so I have little to add otherwise.
I have a bunch of old snes manuals around the house for this very reason. Sadly, my Mega Man X one is kinda falling apart.
I always liked strategy guides that had maps and stuff because who doesn't like seeing maps of all the levels and stuff? Might actually be more fun than playing the game, in some cases.
I loved the game guide they made for Ocarina of Time. They wrote it in third person like it was a book. It was cool, and I enjoyed just plain reading it as a child.
Also, I adore games that come with poster-sized maps. I have the maps of Morrowind and Cyrodiil from the Elder Scrolls series hanging on my wall.
Comments
dlc: ideally this should be the same as expansion packs, but in practice i think some of it is overpriced
i see your point, regardless
I think it's less good when it's "Hey here are all these costumes and weapons we already made, but are going to make you pay a dollar each for because we want more money than the money you spent buying this game".
TBH i kinda miss when you had long manuals that explained stuff in detail, i liked those. Though i suppose these days there's Wikia and GameFAQs.
The last really good one I remember was the Fallout 3 manual, which was presented as an in-universe wasteland survival guide for Vault Dwellers.