Manual Annoyance

[SnakePlisskin]

Not a bug but I am disappointed that there was not a complete manual in the game. I thought I read online somewhere that one of the big differences between the pre-order version and the regular version was a coil-bound manual versus a regular one but after opening the box all I found was a basic introductory manual and a CD with a PDF on it. Disappointing after the nice printed Civ III manual that was in the box.

 

[dwarrior]

i got the SE version(didn't pre order but gamestop had SE's on the first day of sale) and it came with a spiral manual.. something around 220+ pages

 

[robwr]

i got the SE version(didn't pre order but gamestop had SE's on the first day of sale) and it came with a spiral manual.. something around 220+ pages

Lucky dog... I only the got the (relatively lame) 'quick guide' too, and I hate reading PDF manuals.

Guess I've been spoiled by the manuals for other strategy games, but I didn't expect a premium price title ($49 instead of the common $39 US price) to skimp on the printed docs.

Though I did get the tech tree in both English and French, which was weird.

 

[tegilbor]

I got the 200 page manual but found it to be strangely useless. Many concepts are not really explained too well (e.g. after reading the section on religion, I still didn't understand what religion actually does in the game, I learned that from these boards), the "keyboard shortcuts" section is amazingly incomplete (in fact, many of the most important shortcuts are missing), there are some (albeit small) mistakes, etc. I think I'm going to buy the strategy guide.

 

[Stilgar08]

This is all US, right?? Because I bought my copy the day of the release and had an "almost" perfect manual (a few typos, but nothing serious...)

I agree that this would be a bit lame to just get a pdf-manual!

 

[LogicSequence]

i got a beautiful spiral bound 220 page manual that's over half an inch thick. Seems to cover just about everything in the game. Glad i got the SE

 

[SnakePlisskin]

I am in Edmonton, Canada. I didn't see any of the SE editions anywhere and I also didn't see where I could pre-order at the local shops. I couldn't even find the game here until three days after it was released. The Future Shop webpage would list the game as coming in on October 26th but on the 26th it would say th 27th and then on the 27th it would say the 28th. I finally found it the Friday after it was released.

I also got an English and a French tech tree but that doesn't surprise me because I am in Canada. Is the actual game playable in French other languages? I didn't see an option but it probably goes with your Windows settings.

 

[Shadarr]

I am in Edmonton, Canada. I didn't see any of the SE editions anywhere and I also didn't see where I could pre-order at the local shops. I couldn't even find the game here until three days after it was released. The Future Shop webpage would list the game as coming in on October 26th but on the 26th it would say th 27th and then on the 27th it would say the 28th. I finally found it the Friday after it was released.

Same thing here in Victoria, nobody had it on release day and Future Shop only had the regular, manual-less version yesterday. What a rip off! I expect a PDF when I get a bargain-bin game for $20, but when I pay full price I expect the real thing. And the paper envelopes are pretty wanky too.

Plus, the quick-start guide is completely useless. I don't need someone to explain to me how to start a new game or what an Options screen looks like. I want to know what the hotkeys are and how religion works in the game.

 

[robwr]

What a rip off! I expect a PDF when I get a bargain-bin game for $20, but when I pay full price I expect the real thing. And the paper envelopes are pretty wanky too.

I agree that it's rather lame that the non-SE version doesn't come with a print manual - I notice the reviews I read didn't even mention this tidbit (maybe some did, not the ones I read). As an example, Supreme Ruler 2010, a $39 retail game (versus $49 retail for Civ4) comes with it's 160 page manual. Sure, it's not spiral bound on fancy paper, but I just want something a bit better than a PDF thank you!

 

[Venger]

I got the spiral bound manual and found it useful only as an emergency potty paper supply. Truly not very good.

Venger

 

[BeefontheBone]

As noted in the Manual thread in the proper forum (how is your lack of manual a bug?) the Canadian version ships with 2 tech trees and pdf manuals in order to provide documentation in both languages, apparently. The printed manual's pretty naff anyway - hard to find anything you actually want to know, spelling errors and only the appendix with the raw values is any use. The ingame tooltips and so on are far more useful.