One Simple Request...

[AdmiralNelson]

The preference for a paper manual versus a tutorial could be personality-related, i.e. hands-on learning versus book learning.

 

[unmerged(8915)]

I'm with Maxpublic on this one. I really enjoy the manual! It makes the game more dimensional. Something the page through when I don't want to play the game but still immerce myself in the atmosphere. I too will gladly pay extra for a game in a box that comes with a manual (or even a map! ) its just little goodies like that which make a difference. maybe a quick reference chart.

i hate buying games for 5 dollars and inside the box is a CD with just the title printed across it and maybe a jewel box. probably just a paper CD cover and a few crappy paper leaflet promotions for other games from the published. the type you find in crappy local newspapers at the local grocery store

I;m willing to spend some extra cash and get some bling with the game! those who don't have gamersgate!

 

[AdmiralNelson]

I'm with Maxpublic on this one. I really enjoy the manual! It makes the game more dimensional. Something the page through when I don't want to play the game but still immerce myself in the atmosphere. I too will gladly pay extra for a game in a box that comes with a manual (or even a map! ) its just little goodies like that which make a difference. maybe a quick reference chart.

i hate buying games for 5 dollars and inside the box is a CD with just the title printed across it and maybe a jewel box. probably just a paper CD cover and a few crappy paper leaflet promotions for other games from the published. the type you find in crappy local newspapers at the local grocery store

I;m willing to spend some extra cash and get some bling with the game! those who don't have gamersgate!

I'm with you on this one.

Was it the EU I manual that came with the histories of the Great Powers in the back? That was good stuff, even if every history did end with "But that's a story for a different era..."

And a map sounds great. I'd like to be able to mark the provinces I want to take in a peace treaty instead of hunting down a notepad to write them down. A full world map, plus maps for each continent. (Probably going a little overboard. )

 

[Hunter Wesley]

I want a large paper manual in colour with nice historical information, game overview...you know...even if statistics are rendered obsolete by patches, you can easily use and enjoy a manual. Looking in some word file is not enjoyable at all, and PDFs are just an excuse for printing the manual. I don't have colour ink, it is expensive and I don't have a high resolution printer so it will not look bad.

Then I'll get a loose leaf 8x11 inch manual which I have no way to store, identify, file...seriously, in the rare cases I print manuals I tend to return them to the trash after I am done.

I keep boxes, I keep inserts, and I keep manuals. I keep them and I like it. It used to be that the things with which a computer game was sold were a significant part of the fun. Map inserts, toys, posters, manuals, advertisements, order catalogs, hints, other fun stuff...so much more than "game.exe" on a disk. Those days are gone, but I know what I like.

And if you don't want a manual, download the game. I will go out of my way to buy the box.

I just hope it doesn't contain more than a little piece of cheap paper with a key and a disc in a plastic sleeve. I will pay for quality.

 

[knul]

You seem to think that the production of a manual is mutually exclusive with other aspects of the game, which is incorrect. If Paradox runs like 99% of the other companies out there, the people who make the manual don't do anything else but that. They're writers, not programmers or artists. Writing a manual doesn't have any effect whatsoever on any other part of the development process.

I never said that the production of a manual is mutual exclusive, only that it requires resources to make, to which you can hardly object. There's something like printing costs, you know. What I was saying is that I rather have Paradox spending that money on something else.

Of course, I wouldn't object if Paradox released a collector's edition, with paper manual, action figures and the like. But all such things cost money. I just don't want to pay for such things if all I want is the game.

I also have the manuals of old game I liked. I agree that it's nice to have something substantial, as a file on a disc doesn't give a feeling of nostalgia. But I know I hardly looked at them and I don't particulary missed them if a game didn't have a nice manual.

Regardless, in the end it's all opinion

 

[unmerged(8915)]

I'm with you on this one.

Was it the EU I manual that came with the histories of the Great Powers in the back? That was good stuff, even if every history did end with "But that's a story for a different era..."

o those were the days, weren't they? even the wording was awkward and you could sense that this manual was a rough translation from swedish! it had soul

And a map sounds great. I'd like to be able to mark the provinces I want to take in a peace treaty instead of hunting down a notepad to write them down. A full world map, plus maps for each continent. (Probably going a little overboard. )

Strategy First, who were the publishers for EU2 included a map of the entire world with province names in the box, with all coats of arms around. that was a great move! a map would be really cool

 

[unmerged(8915)]

I also have the manuals of old game I liked. I agree that it's nice to have something substantial, as a file on a disc doesn't give a feeling of nostalgia. But I know I hardly looked at them and I don't particulary missed them if a game didn't have a nice manual.

Regardless, in the end it's all opinion

Goign through the thumbed, weather beaten and worn manual of Colonization after so many years brings back memories when i was 14 and computer games gave me all i needed to be happy. just a small gaming session between homeworks...

...then i discovered women o

 

[unmerged(9145)]

There's something like printing costs, you know. What I was saying is that I rather have Paradox spending that money on something else.

Paradox won't be spending any money so long as EU III doesn't bomb. YOU will be spending the money. Unless EU III is a total flop then fiscally the question is the extent of the profits, i.e., will Paradox accept slightly lower profits in order to produce a paper version of the manual, or is Johan really jonesing for that new Jag?

The odds of the game itself being more expensive than upper bound X are practically zero, as Paradox doesn't set the retail price unless they sell directly to the customer. That's up to the distributor or the chains, depending on the contracts in question.

But all such things cost money. I just don't want to pay for such things if all I want is the game.

It's more a question of profit margins on Paradox's side than arbitrary price increases on ours. But even if a paper manual did increase the price of the box $5 (an outrageous amount in the mass production units we're talking about) I wouldn't mind - it's just $5. Chump change. I'm not going to get worked up about a sum that's on par with a Happy Meal at McDonald's.

Max

 

[Rex Francorum]

A. If you pay 100 bucks for a printer it had better be a damn good one.
B. It's a computer game, what's the point of writing the manual on paper?
C. If one can spend hours in front of the monitor playing a game, one can spend (a lot fewer) hours in front of the monitor, reading a collection of texts.

I hate to read long text in front of the monitor. I'm a bit of the old school. Nothing is better than a piece of paper.

 

[diskoerekto]

even in the case of using laptops, nothing succeeds entertaining me like reading the manual in the wc dreaming of what to do next time I will be playing the game.

It would be great to have old-school paper manual which automatically updates itself as the new patches come. on second thought, this is a pdf manual which is updated every patch and using the laser printer of the company I work for in the lunch-break when nobody is around that is how I now have all the D&D series on paper

 

[unmerged(12303)]

IIRC Mr T will be working on the manual?? Didnt he say so in one of the threads (correct me if I am wrong - no search function )..

Always I cant see why it shouldnt come out with EU3. All games have them as they have to have the fine print somewhere + its essential to newbies? None the less it will probably be small to fit in the ala DVD box the games come out in..

 

[CatKnight]

I'm torn. I REALLY like having a paper manual.... I always feel just a tad - not cheated - disappointed - when I open a game box and there's nothing in there but the CD. It's just more natural for me to wander through the book then open up a PDF. I almost never bother with the PDFs unless I'm really, really lost.

Now, that said.... I learned to play EU2 by the tutorial and reading the boards here. It took awhile to pull it off, and EU2's a fairly simple game - but it worked just fine, no manual.

CK I think I did read the manual...and it helped with the basic interface, but it was already out of date. The ingame tips and again, boards, helped a lot there.

CK and Vicky, incidentally, suffer terribly IMHO for not having a decent tutorial... especially Vicky because of the micromanaging. I gave up on her, though I know many people do well with the Vicky wiki site. Does HOI2 have a tutorial?


If we're going a non-paper route, EU3's tutorial becomes VITAL and it needs to be updated with the patches.

 

[cwhomer]

Does HOI2 have a tutorial?

Several. I think Paradox learned that they need tutorials if they hope to increase their fanbase.

Generally I like a paper manual, but with Paradox's record of post-release support it doesn't make any sense. If I whipped out any of my manuals from Paradox games of yore I'd probably find about two things that haven't been changed by patches.

 

[vertinox]

I just want a nice EU3 fold out map like the first EU2.

 

[unmerged(7537)]

I'm with Maxpublic on this one. I really enjoy the manual! It makes the game more dimensional. Something the page through when I don't want to play the game but still immerce myself in the atmosphere. I too will gladly pay extra for a game in a box that comes with a manual (or even a map! ) its just little goodies like that which make a difference. maybe a quick reference chart.

I agree wholeheartedly. *clutches his Civ fold-out tech trees*

 

[knul]

I want the manual inscribed in marble, else i wont buy it.

Post of the week

 

[unmerged(12921)]

PLEASE print the "manual" in a decent sized type-face on white non-gloss paper. Even if you have to charge a couple bucks more for the game due to it's increased size and weight, it's still cheaper than another new pair of glasses......

This was my original request. I ASSUMED a manual because they have always provided one before. What I asked for was that they make the manual more "eyeball friendly", which has not been the case in the past.

I think the main reason folks like the printed manual is that is IS correct at the time players need it the most..., when they are just starting to learn the game (tutorial or none). By the time the "patches" start to pile up, I've generally memorized all the basics of play, so checking out a .pdf file for the newest "improvements" is not as much of a hassle.