Regular Edition Manual?

[ZanThrax]

Is the regular edition of the game supposed to come with a manual? I finally found a store in Edmonton that had a copy of the game today and went and grabbed the last copy on my lunch break. (EB screwed me out of my collector's edition with the nice spiral bound manual last Tuesday)

I found a tech tree inside (2 actually, 1 english, 1 french) which is nice, since I thought that only came with the CE. But, there's no actual manual! Just a little quick start pamphlet. Lists menu options & gives installation instructions. That's it.

How exactly am I supposed to figure out how all the various systems in the game work & where to find all the buttons & controls without a manual? The way the emphasis was on the spiral binding of the CE manual, I thought that the difference between the editions was the good binding, not the actual presence of a manual.

6 days past the supposed release date before the game can actually be found in my city and all I get for waiting to buy it despite ready access since release day is a 16 (aprrox) page pamphlet of a manual? That was $60 well spent...

[kimmygibler]

I was also screwed out of the SE by EB in Edmonton. But I did get a manual with the normal edition. You should go back and complain or something.

[notyoueither]

I got a third CD with manual and docs. Haven't looked at it though.

[ZanThrax]

I didn't count discs & I don't have the box in front of me, but that doesn't count as a manual imo. The collector's edition ad is that the spiral bound manual is an upgrade from the perfect bound manual the regular edition has. I'm not much into publishing terms, but I think that perfect bound means a book with a square spine. Not a CD with with a big ass pdf file.

If there's supposed to be a manual in the box, then I'll call the store see if it's there; since I called ahead and they said they'd set it aside for me, they may have put the contents back in the box & sealed it while I was driving over. (EB stores the box contents outside of the boxes for some reason around here.)

If there's not supposed to be a manual in there, I'm going to be of the opinion that I was ripped off by Take Two or 2K or whatever they're going to call themselves next week. No wonder the publishers keep changing their names; they're trying to outsmart the customers they've pissed off with previous bad releases.

[notyoueither]

Strange. I sent a guy all the way across the city on Friday to get a copy from EB in Sherwood Forest (Park).

I thought it was strange there was no manual, but then I spotted the label on the third CD.

kimmygibler, says he got a manual. Did he/she get a third CD? Did anyone else with the normal box get manuals (other than the quick start pamphlet)?

[kimmygibler]

No, I didn't get a third CD. Just the manual. And no quick start guide either if I remember correctly.

[Proteus_MST]

Hm,
here in germany the normal (DVD-) Version comes with printed manual and a two sided fold out which has the tech tree and lots of other useful informations on it.

[ZanThrax]

Take 2's canadian support number says the box is supposed to contain an actual manual; says that anyone who doesn't get one should go to the point of sale for an exchange.

Now, I don't know where that's going to put me since I bought the only copy the store had, but I figured anyone else who didn't get the book would like to know as well.

[Googlie]

I got the boxed regular version with the 2 CD's, the double sided poster, and the 224 page square-spined manual

Best Buy here in California - original unopened box (only 2 copies had been sent to BB, and had just arrived via UPS that same morning))

[Nailfoot]

Originally posted by ZanThrax
Is the regular edition of the game supposed to come with a manual? I finally found a store in Edmonton that had a copy of the game today and went and grabbed the last copy on my lunch break. (EB screwed me out of my collector's edition with the nice spiral bound manual last Tuesday)

I found a tech tree inside (2 actually, 1 english, 1 french) which is nice, since I thought that only came with the CE. But, there's no actual manual! Just a little quick start pamphlet. Lists menu options & gives installation instructions. That's it.

How exactly am I supposed to figure out how all the various systems in the game work & where to find all the buttons & controls without a manual? The way the emphasis was on the spiral binding of the CE manual, I thought that the difference between the editions was the good binding, not the actual presence of a manual.

6 days past the supposed release date before the game can actually be found in my city and all I get for waiting to buy it despite ready access since release day is a 16 (aprrox) page pamphlet of a manual? That was $60 well spent...

I wonder if your game was the victim of a packaging mistake: You got TWO tech trees, and no manual. Whoever was packing your box may have been smoking wacky weed.

[seebs]

I have a paper manual, but no third CD. I would honestly probably prefer a CD with a PDF of the manual, because the manual has no index, so I'd rather be able to search it.

[ZanThrax]

wanna trade seebs?
I expect I have two tech trees because it's Canada. I still want my proper manual though. I want to read it away from the computer, and I want it handy to flip through while playing (which is why I wanted the CE actually).

The store said they'll call me when they get more in & I can go exchange it then. I'll be opening the box instore. Although I would think the 200+ page manual would create a noticable weight difference.

[notyoueither]

Originally posted by ZanThrax
Take 2's canadian support number says the box is supposed to contain an actual manual; says that anyone who doesn't get one should go to the point of sale for an exchange.

Now, I don't know where that's going to put me since I bought the only copy the store had, but I figured anyone else who didn't get the book would like to know as well.

That's good news. Don't know if I'll bother though. It is an aweful long way from WEM to Sherwood Forest.

[Robert Plomp]

Originally posted by notyoueither
I got a third CD with manual and docs. Haven't looked at it though.

Can you please post that manual! I got the manual in the special spiral bound edition, though there's no digital version
I prefer to read digital.

[ZanThrax]

I suspect that posting that pdf would get me banned from the forum. Otherwise I would.

[ZanThrax]

notyoueither, I think you should, just so that Take 2 gets enough returned boxes to demonstrate that their customers are not impressed with the horrible job of distribution they've done.

[notyoueither]

You are right, but I also think EB is pulling some stuff here.

The people at BestBuy told me Thursday night that the game was delayed due to 'vendor delay.' Neither they nor Walmart could, or would, offer the game for sale.

I had a good idea I was going to get something fishy, especially after reading here about wrong tech charts and what-not, when I sent the guy all that way to get the thing. All I really wanted was the cd's anyway.

So I am not sure if I am blaming 2K for my addiction, and EB's willingness to sell whatever they could get, or blaming myself for finding the only pusher in town with the fix.

[notyoueither]

Curiously, I've been playing the game for over a year now. Still, there was a new version out there, and everyone was talking about it. I obsessed over it. I went out of my way Tues, and Wed, and then Thurs to find it. No joy.

I was in EB, the one half way to Jasper, Thurs evening and the guy told me he had sold out. I went to the Walmart. No joy. Went by BestBuy. That's where I was told about vendor delay. Went home. On a lark, I went out of my way again on Friday morning to the half-way to Jasper EB. He had got some more, and sold them all!

I thought about complaints here for a moment, and then asked if he had any returns from the previous days. 'I'll take one', I said confidently. 'Nope, no returns.' Damn!

I then went to the office. It just so happened that on that Friday I had a two choices. I had something I had to do (payroll) and something I wanted to do (find civ). I made a deal with the guys. They find me civ, I do payroll.

They found civ, I got civ, they got paid. Everyone was happy.

No, I'm not too fussed about the manual. I'm a junkie. I have my crack. I am happy. There is joy in the world.

[Koyaanisqatsi]

Originally posted by CyberShy
Can you please post that manual! I got the manual in the special spiral bound edition, though there's no digital version
I prefer to read digital.

Me too. You'd think the special edition would have it digital if the normal edition does (well, sometimes...)

I want a searchable PDF, dammit!

[Koyaanisqatsi]

That being said, whoever 2K hired to do the physical packaging did a truly horrible job. Software problems I can understand and sympathize with, even if I don't like them...but who screws up something as simple as packaging this badly?

- French/English tech tree mixup
- Mislabeled CDs
- Missing manuals
- Bad CDs

...it's really pretty bizarre.

[notyoueither]

Move North. You get two tech trees, English and French, but no manual.

It's all people in Quebec, I am sure.

'heh heh, screw you Yankee, and a double dose for you anglo, eh!'

[Koyaanisqatsi]

Well, I'll be in Montreal later this month, but I don't think I'm spending another 50 bucks just for a PDF.

[notyoueither]

You have no sense of collection.

[Koyaanisqatsi]

If somebody gave it to me, I'd keep it. That's collecting, right?

[notyoueither]

In a Lurker sort of way, yes.