Games that NEED a manual - or at least had AWESOME ones.

Post by **weemadando** » 2005-03-23 10:24pm

So - in response to them being useless, lets have the counterpoint...

darthdavid · Post by **darthdavid** » 2005-03-23 10:34pm

Homeworld had an awesome one, Homeworld 2 needed an awesome one.

Grand Admiral Thrawn · Post by **Grand Admiral Thrawn** » 2005-03-23 10:34pm

LOMAC did (hell the goddamn PDF version that it said was on the CD wasn't I got it off the internet) and the Il-2 series needed big ass mofo ones. Pretty much all flight sims in general need manuals.

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2005-03-24 01:55am

Mechwarrior 2, by far
Independence War
Klingon Academy

Ace Pace · Post by **Ace Pace** » 2005-03-24 02:03am

Lords of Magic SE, Swat 2 for some reason had a good one, Pharoh, Homeworld, Moo2, Ground Control(loved it).

Post by **Dalton** » 2005-03-24 05:21am

Toejam & Earl had a hilarious manual with the creature listings.

wautd · Post by **wautd** » 2005-03-24 05:28am

Not a manual per se but I always love when they add a map like they did with Baldurs Gate or Rome Total War. Was very handy indeed

Dead_Ghost · Post by **Dead_Ghost** » 2005-03-24 05:38am

Fallout 1 and 2. Pretty funny and helpful. Civ 3 too. Woe of me to understand faster the mechanics of the game without the almost 200 pages (or more, can't remember now). Simple and straight to the point.

Warspite · Post by **Warspite** » 2005-03-24 05:39am

Microprose always made great (and extremely detailed) manuals, Dynamix for its flight simulators (I still have Aces of the Pacific and Aces Over Eurrope because of those).

InnocentBystander · Post by **InnocentBystander** » 2005-03-24 06:42am

Battlecruiser Millenium/gold - That game needed a manual, what it had was longwinded and not helpful at ALL. I've always disliked Derek Smart, cudos to his programming and 3dgfx abilities, but I've felt, from reading his forums, he's not a nice guy. I'll wager he has a rtfm t-shirt, for every day of the week. Shame his manual was crap...

Post by **Edi** » 2005-03-24 08:03am

The Age of Wonders series had pretty spectacular manuals, as does Dominions II: The Ascension Wars. And iirc Space Empires IV also had a big, fat manual with lots of neat stuff in it (never seen that game, but it's what I've heard).

Edi

Post by **Ghost Rider** » 2005-03-24 08:10am

Like Dead Ghost said Fallouts. I would like to add most of Blizzard's older stuff does as well. While WC3 expansion had a shit manual at least WoW tried....though could've been ten times bigger.

For the Fallouts? It needed them for a bunch of things, and the history they added was great.

For Blizzards? Pure history and fluff. It actually made things that in the game make sense beyond "I'm evil goober A...me ughum no likey likey youz!!"

HemlockGrey · Post by **HemlockGrey** » 2005-03-24 08:32am

Blizzard has had good manuals, although Reign of Chaos was a little lacking the manual department.

R:TW could have had such a kickass manual, but it sucked. Bah.

Post by **Dalton** » 2005-03-24 11:10am

Huh, what game was it that was recently released that had Penny Arcade cartoons in the manual?

White Haven · Post by **White Haven** » 2005-03-24 11:17am

X-COM: Terror From The Deep and Apocalypse had freakin awesome fluff-stuff packaged along with the games....Microprose even had someone write up some official fics and such to detail the time between the first two games. That's above and beyond the call, right there.

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2005-03-24 11:44am

i liked the manuals Square included in the final fantasy games before FF7 came out. nice and big size, and often times included a foldout map in the box as well.

White Haven · Post by **White Haven** » 2005-03-24 11:51am

Mmm...I recall Starflight having an awesome manual, but I'd have to go find it to be sure. I've got it packed away somewhere.

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2005-03-24 12:20pm

Sid Miers original "Pirartes!" included enough actual pirate tactics that it let you beat your opponet like a real pirate of the age would, (now if they had only given you options for chain shot, and throwing grenades before boarding.....), but the manual and the maps, and the history was great.

The fallout manuals

X-wing a tie fighter

Dooey Jo · Post by **Dooey Jo** » 2005-03-24 12:34pm

I liked Zelda: Ocarina of Time's manual. You didn't really need it to play the game, but it had great pictures, and plenty of them too. SimCity 3000's manual was great too. And huge

As was the original the Sims one. I don't think the EA, DVD-case, version of the game had that one. It just wouldn't fit.

Graeme Dice · Post by **Graeme Dice** » 2005-03-24 12:49pm

InnocentBystander wrote:I've always disliked Derek Smart, cudos to his programming and 3dgfx abilities, but I've felt, from reading his forums, he's not a nice guy.

He's also a lying SOB, who claims to have a PhD when it's nothing more than a piece of paper from a degree mill.

Graeme Dice · Post by **Graeme Dice** » 2005-03-24 12:50pm

Star Control II had an awesome manual. Aces of the Pacific was great as well.

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2005-03-24 12:55pm

The Dragon Warrior I & II cart for GBC had a nice, detailed manual and came with a seperate world map.

Slartibartfast · Post by **Slartibartfast** » 2005-03-24 01:07pm

F-19 Stealth Fighter. I don't know what I would have done without all those cool tactics, and how to avoid specific types of radar, etc. Also Gunship, with the auto-rotation thing. Very cool, very necessary.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2005-03-24 01:07pm

Dalton wrote:Huh, what game was it that was recently released that had Penny Arcade cartoons in the manual?

World of Warcraft, but that was actually the Prima strategy guide, which was bundled with the LE Collector's Edition of the game.

Isn't another of Derek Smart's problems is that he's also crazy?

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2005-03-24 01:19pm

The Eurofighter 2000 Version 2.0 manual; it's 300~ pages long, and it's
a very fun read; very fun, because it describes the Eurofighter itself
as well as the game mechanics...