I really hate it when I have to figure things out for myself because whoever wrote the game's manual left important informatio out. Case in point: Evil Genius. I looked at replacementdocs.com and found the manual thinking all my questions would be answered. Sadly it contained very little information that the tutorial didn't provide. It took a jump over to Gamefaqs.com to get my questions answered and find out stuff that I didn't alrady know. Stuff like what "freak production" was (you can drop bodies in the biotanks to creat monsters), and that having extra computers makes plotting easier. Oh what the differance between the differant avatars are.
Why wasn't this information included in the manual and how the heck did these guys get this kind of inside information!?

Noone has any idea either huh? My guess is its the game manual's author's discretion of what he/she wants to put in the guide. Lazy SOBs.

In order of importance, IMHO:

1. Designers (for example, in Evil Genius), write the first few levels as a tutorial anyhow, because it's more effective at teaching people to play the game than a printed manual and cheaper.
2. Paper manuals are the most expensive aspect of the manufactured, boxed package to produce, and the easiest place to cut corners.
3. Companies like to sell strategy guides.
4. An increasing number of conventions have grown up around games, particularly when it comes to the controls, and game companies increasingly don't feel the need to spell out things that are familiar to any fan of a genre, especially since paper and ink cost money.

(At any rate: its probably not the writer's fault. It'll differ from company to company, but technical writers usually have pretty precise instructions about what information goes in and how many words/page they have to express it in. My wife is a writer, and she's had clients be downright Nazis about stuff like that. )

I totally agree with what you guys are saying. But the reverse is also true. Some manuals (PDFs) include too much info. Take for example, the manual for Falcon 4.0 Allied Forces. ALL 700+ FRAKIN PAGES OF IT!!

On the one hand, I applaud the designers in assuming that the average gamer is in fact, not an actual pilot and therefore including every possible detail anyone would ever need in order to effectively play this incredible sim (being an actual pilot myself, I was fortunately able to just skim through most of the basic aeronautical info).

On the other, was it really necessary to include the entire history of air combat from 1914 to the present (not to mention the entire developmental history of the F-16 from drawing board to final delivery)?

Don't get me wrong; this is fascinating stuff to be sure. But there are many sites (Wikipedia eg) you can visit to get this info should you ever need or want it. And in greater detail! Why pad an already bloated manual with it.

Imo, there is no better way to scare someone away from playing a game or sim than presenting a massive tome to wade through before ever hitting the play button! Some times, an abbreviated manual can be a boon indeed.

Besides, if you're truly an "Evil Genius", you should know all this stuff already.

All manuals should be like the original Wario Ware manual. I don't think it had any information on the game, but it had stickers you were supposed to place throughout the manual, and tips like "Don't throw the game out the window, or people might mistake it for a UFO and panic". It was awesome.

Rayven998 wrote: I totally agree with what you guys are saying. But the reverse is also true. Some manuals (PDFs) include too much info. Take for example, the manual for Falcon 4.0 Allied Forces. ALL 700+ FRAKIN PAGES OF IT!!

I loved my Falcon 4.0 manual. I took that thing camping with me once as reading material. It was awesome.

Of course I love flavor text in game manuals. That is information that has no gameplay value but adds to the gameplay experience. Information like backgroud on the characters, history, etc of the game world. Warcraft had a outstanding manual that detailed all the differrant units, clans, and had a complete history of Azguard (I think thats right). Of course there was little differance between the human and orc units beyond the cosmetic and absolutely no differance between the factions but it made for a fun read and really helped make the player feel like he was involved in the world and not just clicking a cursor around to make a sprite move form one location to another.

i dont remember if it was just troika games that did it or sierra but at the back of the manuals ex. ( arcanum of steamworks and magicka obscura) they had a recipe in the back of the manuals that you could actually cook

Quote: TrentonZero wrote: I loved my Falcon 4.0 manual. I took that thing camping with me once as reading material. It was awesome.

OMG! Where the frak did you get an actual printed manual for Falcon?? I thought it was only available as a PDF. Don't tell me you actially printed the whole thing out yourself? I thought about doing it at one point but, considering it would cost better than twice what I paid for the sim in ink cartridges, I quickly abandoned this idea.

Dude, please. If you have an actual printed Falcon manual, TELL ME WHERE THE FRAK YOU GOT IT! (please? )

Rayven998 wrote: Quote: TrentonZero wrote: I loved my Falcon 4.0 manual. I took that thing camping with me once as reading material. It was awesome. OMG! Where the frak did you get an actual printed manual for Falcon?? I thought it was only available as a PDF. Don't tell me you actially printed the whole thing out yourself? I thought about doing it at one point but, considering it would cost better than twice what I paid for the sim in ink cartridges, I quickly abandoned this idea. Dude, please. If you have an actual printed Falcon manual, TELL ME WHERE THE FRAK YOU GOT IT! (please? )

I just bought the original Falcon 4.0 game when it first came out. Was awesome. The manual was the box....cd was in the book's sleave (plastic wrapped of course). 400 (or so) page manual, with all the instructions for the game and a generous section on Air combat tactics. A 2x3' (give or take) map of Korea, etc etc.

Looks like you can get the original on ebay with manual and map and all that.

Not sure how much it applies to the expansion pack.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Falcon-4-0-Hasbro-1 ... m2e2c36f2d

Aahhhh, now I see. You have one of the very first versions of Falcon (published by Hasbro????).

This is the version that I have http://www.lead-pursuit.com/products.htm. I checked with the publisher (Lead Pursuit) and confirmed that there is in fact, no printed manual. Only a PDF (damn).

This is not an expansion pack! It is a complete top to bottom reworking of the original, improved in just about every possible way (well, except the manual of course). This is imo, the version the designers always meant to create!

Do yourself a favor: If you enjoy playing this amazing sim as much as I do, go out and pick up a copy of Allied Force IMMEDIATELY! I guarantee you'll never touch the original again.

Rayven998 wrote: published by Hasbro????

That takes me back. I had tons of fun playing H.E.D.Z. and Transformers: Beast Wars. Neither one of those are actually good games, but I tend to like games that aren't good. I guess I'm weird that way. I don't think Hasbro publishes games anymore. If they do, Its probably just ports of their board games.

I always remember Hasbro games having technical troubles on the computer I was playing them on.