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Forums - Gaming Discussion - Does anyone miss the color booklets with character bios and story info from the 90s?

 

Do you miss the high quality instruction booklets from the 90s?

Yes, greatly. 29 82.86%
 
No, you are reaching here. 0 0%
 
Who cares? 1 2.86%
 
Nostalgia got the best of... 5 14.29%
 
Total:35
SammyGiireal on 24 November 2018

I know I do. I have a collection of 90s and early 00s JRPGs in which  all  titles included a well put together manual. I used to read those with great enjoyment on my way home from the mall while my anticipation at playing the games grew with each passing page. It seems companies have neglected fan service in order to cut costs even though they still charge a hefty amount of money for the product. Example BotW standard edition...box and card no booklet...59.99.....



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SammyGiireal on 24 November 2018
Ka-pi96 said:
Yes! They were great. I loved the FF ones with little write-ups about all the characters.

Yeah I just found my FFVII one today it had age, height, bloodtype and a little bio for each character...all in glorious color! 



S.Peelman on 24 November 2018

Yes.

I bought Diablo III Switch yesterday and the box was... completely empty, and the inside was white. Just nothing, absolutely nothing going on in that box. It's boring.



SammyGiireal on 24 November 2018
S.Peelman said:
Yes.

I bought Diablo III Switch yesterday and the box was... completely empty, and the inside was white. Just nothing, absolutely nothing going on in that box. It's boring.

Yes this seems to be more prevalent on the Switch. The Skyrim remaster on PS4 included a Map I wonder if the Switch physical copy does? I thinking in buying it too since I can't get enough of Skyrim lol.



SammyGiireal on 24 November 2018
shikamaru317 said:

Yes, yes I do. It's sad that publishers won't pay an extra 50 cents or a dollar to print out instruction booklets anymore. 

Yeah this is very cheap on their part. I remember even greatest hits PS1 RPGs has quality booklets. Working Designs was on another level altogether though.



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SammyGiireal on 24 November 2018
Ka-pi96 said:
SammyGiireal said:

Yeah I just found my FFVII one today it had age, height, bloodtype and a little bio for each character...all in glorious color! 

I like seeing info like that for characters. The bloodtype means nothing to me. But I like to know the characters age/height in relation to my own. Makes them more relatable.

Indeed.



SammyGiireal on 24 November 2018
Shadow1980 said:
The vanishing of instruction manuals this decade has been something I've truly lamented. I still remember the last few 360 games I got circa 2012-13 lacking an instruction manual. The first time I thought to myself "Well, maybe they just forgot." But this generation made it abundantly clear that manuals were going extinct. And it wasn't a gradual extinction. It was abrupt, as if the industry as a whole dropped a comet on the concept of printed game manuals.

From childhood to my early 30s, the first things I ever did with every new game was read through the manual. I just always expected them to be there. And then one day they weren't there. Another tragic casualty of the internet age.

I couldn't agree more.



SammyGiireal on 24 November 2018
Mar1217 said:

I remember one of the reasons I actually got Cave Story on Switch was because they included an instruction booklet inside it. First thing I did was devouring it's inside.

Sadly, big compagnies and publishers don't care about this aspect anymore ... so I'm hunting for art books from various JRPG's I'm playing instead :P

I remember Ocarina's booklet, it had a color map, character descriptions, artwork.  Collector's value on games were higher too because if this. Today we are paying more for less. Then internet shouldn't be an excuse for the companies. 59.99 even if it is a standard edition should net you some fan sercice you are still a paying premium fee.



TheBird on 24 November 2018

Now you gotta pay extra for the goodies. Red Dead Redemption 2 costed $100 just for the map (Well, the bigger more detailed map). And an extra $40 for the book. It was all worth in the end, the big map helped me throughout the game and made it feel more personal.



SammyGiireal on 24 November 2018
TheBird said:
Now you gotta pay extra for the goodies. Red Dead Redemption 2 costed $100 just for the map (Well, the bigger more detailed map). And an extra $40 for the book. It was all worth in the end, the big map helped me throughout the game and made it feel more personal.

I don't mind special editions as long as Standard editions still have a booklet with artworks and usual story details. I used to pay a little more for Working Designs packages, but they really out did themselves in those days.