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View Full Version : Lawfull Good - No printed manual!


UncleRedz
03-11-2006, 21:40
I just received my Lawfull Good package and it did not contain what I had expected.

I noticed the same things as have been mentioned elsewhere, no cloth map, less art booklet pages etc. To me, this is no biggie.

However, I would like to stress the fact that the package contains no manual at all! It only contains a quick installation/start guide consisting of a few pages in a few different languages.

To be fair, the advertisements did not say that the game package would contain a manual, however I did expect one. NWN1 contained a very fine and usefull manual and according to Obsidians posts on the official boards NWN2 would also contain a similar manual, but with somewhat shorter descriptions on feats and spells etc.

What I do have is a PDF manual that was installed (without any shortcuts in the start menu) along with the game. This PDF manual matches Obsidians description of a manual and it also matches my expectations of a manual. Of what I understand, this is the printed manual in the US.

But for some reason, we in Europe won't get a printed manual, even though we pay full price for the "same" package as they do.

Only providing an electronic version of the manual makes no sense. How am I supposed to read the manual and look up things when I'm playing the game?

The manual is a vital part to the game and the game experience since it contains detaild information about what feats, skills, classes etc are available and what there requirements are. Information which is required in order to plan ahead in the character development process throughout the game. To me this is a big part of any D&D game, be it PnP or CRPG.

With this in mind I do feel like this is a rip off where Atari is trying to save a few bucks, I feel very much cheated by this. At first I though that the manual must be missing from my package, but apparently it's missing from everyones package, here in Europe.

Considering the LG package is the expensive version of the game one would think that if any version would include a manual, the expensive version would.

Oh, by the way. I'm from Sweden and purchased the game from CDON.COM, which is the same version of the game as the UK one.

tanita
04-11-2006, 00:42
ehm... at least my basic edition contains a printed manual, same format and usefullnes as the one from nwn1. maybe your lack is just an accident?

if you really need the manual (yes, some people actually read manuals - it's sort of a hobby in europe) you can download it as pdf-file from here (http://www.nwn2wiki.org/Manual).

UncleRedz
04-11-2006, 01:08
I sure hope it's an accident. However others have reported the same on the official NWN2 forums, so unless it's a whole batch that is messed up, it sure looks like they ditched the printed manual for a cheap 25 page multilingual quick start instead.

Hm, if anyone is reading this, what version did you get and did it contain a full printed manual, or just a quick start?

Dazlar
04-11-2006, 05:36
ehm... at least my basic edition contains a printed manual, same format and usefullnes as the one from nwn1.
Then you must've gotten a different version than me, mine only has 39 pages.

For example the NwN1 manual explained every playable race, while the NwN² one just states that there are a few new ones.

The 200 page NwN manual was useful in a way, it had descriptions and tables (and not 2 dutch pages at the end).

On the box it appears the first 37 pages are the manual, and the last 2 are the quickstart (never really heard of quickstart before, but likely cause I never need it).

If I ever get the LE I'll at least want a good printed lookup manual with it (like with the normal NwN).

Dxon15
04-11-2006, 13:02
everyone that bought the LE (LG at least in europe) sems to not have the following;

a proper sized artbook
a paper map instead of a cloth map
a tiny almost useless manual instead of a real one

in america as far as i know and friends have told me they recieved the full sized manual and extras.

Has anyone been able to get any responce about what "if anything" is to be done the misleading advertisements offered for the Limited editions in Europe.

Is this jsut the LG edition btw? or does the CE also suffer the same fate?

tanita
04-11-2006, 14:48
hmm, then maybe _you_ got other manuals with your nwn1 than me? i've never known more then about 30 to 40 pages of paper manual in my boxes, not even with my first nwn1 box a rather long while ago...

sorry if my post was misleading :-)

so should i complain as well? perhaps. actually i don't like these booklets anyway, i prefer the pdf ones found on the game dvd - but if it was advertised, it has to be in the box, that's clear.

silvara
04-11-2006, 16:19
I just received my Lawfull Good package and it did not contain what I had expected.

I noticed the same things as have been mentioned elsewhere, no cloth map, less art booklet pages etc. To me, this is no biggie.

However, I would like to stress the fact that the package contains no manual at all! It only contains a quick installation/start guide consisting of a few pages in a few different languages.

To be fair, the advertisements did not say that the game package would contain a manual, however I did expect one. NWN1 contained a very fine and usefull manual and according to Obsidians posts on the official boards NWN2 would also contain a similar manual, but with somewhat shorter descriptions on feats and spells etc.

What I do have is a PDF manual that was installed (without any shortcuts in the start menu) along with the game. This PDF manual matches Obsidians description of a manual and it also matches my expectations of a manual. Of what I understand, this is the printed manual in the US.

But for some reason, we in Europe won't get a printed manual, even though we pay full price for the "same" package as they do.

Only providing an electronic version of the manual makes no sense. How am I supposed to read the manual and look up things when I'm playing the game?

The manual is a vital part to the game and the game experience since it contains detaild information about what feats, skills, classes etc are available and what there requirements are. Information which is required in order to plan ahead in the character development process throughout the game. To me this is a big part of any D&D game, be it PnP or CRPG.

With this in mind I do feel like this is a rip off where Atari is trying to save a few bucks, I feel very much cheated by this. At first I though that the manual must be missing from my package, but apparently it's missing from everyones package, here in Europe.

Considering the LG package is the expensive version of the game one would think that if any version would include a manual, the expensive version would.


I totally agree - there is a large post on the offical NWN2 forum... http://nwn2forums.bioware.com/forums/myviewtopic.html?topic=507729&forum=109

A lot of people (me for one) are unhappy with paying extra for the Limited Edition version, and not recieving everything that was promised (eg cloth map, full book with the artwork, etc) & I know that the manual wasn't included in the list of items on play.com but as everyone agrees - its expected - if nothing else I like to be able to read about the various classes/feats/etc while playing in order to decide how I wish to advance - rather than having to either print out a copy of the manual (essentially paying even more for the game since I have to provide ink & paper to do this) or alternatively having the .pdf file running in the background, and hoping that the game doesn't crash when I alt-tab to it...

Next time think I will save my money and purchase the standard edition....