And if you don’t give a shit about any of that? There are user interface shots, people. Menus. Inventory screens. Heads-up displays. The good stuff.
I’ve put the most relevant/informative shots in the gallery above, but if you want to see the whole thing, you can check out every damn page of the manual here.
On the subject, we got our first look at Skyrim’s map yesterday. You can check it out here.
You can contact Luke Plunkett, the author of this post, at plunkett@kotaku.com. You can also find him on Twitter, Facebook, and lurking around our #tips page.
Trjn
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 4:32 PMSeems slightly more useful than the Gears of War 3 manual.
James Mac
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 4:45 PMChrist, what a joke that thing was.
Bryce
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 4:56 PMAnd only slightly less useful then the Space marine manual.
Dan
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 7:32 PMYou want a joke? The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D Manual.
Chuloopa
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 4:46 PMI miss old-scholl tome manuals :(
Thom
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 9:14 PMThen you want the Witcher 2 retail version.
James Mac
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 4:47 PMI just, I just want a menu option to turn encumberance off.
Is that so much to ask?
Powalen
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 5:18 PMNormally I would disagree, but then I remembered trying to move all my stuff in Oblivion from that pirate ship to my new house. That… took a while. I’m such a hoarder in RPGs. :/
McGarnical
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 5:36 PMMe too. I ended up with all those *important* items scattered through my several properties and no idea where they were. It’d be nice to pay an NPC to just move everything you own from within one property to another one.
nicky6
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 6:55 PMThis is why I prefer these games on PC.
I can adjust all the little annoyances with console commands
James Mac
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 8:49 PMI’ll agree that Mod support is about the best reason to buy a pc. But, I don’t have the room for one, or the patience to be honest.
McGarnical
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 4:55 PMBethesda, imma let you finish, but
Fallout 2 had the best manual ever. Just saying.
Mopster
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 5:00 PMAmen – Fallout 2 had one awesome manual
James Mac
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 5:17 PM*cough*AgeofEmpires2:AgeofKings*cough*
RUFiO
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 5:22 PM*cough* Baldurs Gate II: Shadows of Amn
Ben
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 5:55 PMI agree – I’ve got the collector’s edition on my shelf, and it’s a ring-bound thing of beauty.
Mythril
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 5:55 PMStill have the manual and map. May wear and tear never enter the lexicon.
anonymouse
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 5:23 PMFIFA 12 had the best manual ever……..
Lord Bob
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 5:33 PMCooking?
Fist fight to gain information. At last!
For all that time I’ve spent bribing people for info and wished I could just hold them down and beat them until they coughed up what I was after.
McGarnical
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 5:37 PMBrawl to get info is an awesome mechanic
Marathon
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 5:35 PMRelatively recent release – Combat Mission Shock Force manual = 220 pages.
Completly useless after a series of game patches were released that seriously changed gameplay but still. :P
McGarnical
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 5:39 PMI’m still curious about what exactly they’ve done to make daggers useful this time around.
AJ
Wednesday, October 12, 2011 at 2:32 AMI hear they made them do something like 10x more damage in sneak mode with a special attack, possibly a perk.
bapslap
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 5:40 PMfawlty towers had the best manuel ever
MrBS
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 5:51 PMWINNER!
Andrew
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 5:51 PMI just want to know what the joke is:
http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/9/2011/10/mghueh.jpg
“I’ve got a really good dumb blonde joke: What did [the] blonde … A.C.T.”
popcultured
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 7:08 PMAww, you beat me to it :p
Dan
Wednesday, October 12, 2011 at 5:31 AMhttp://www.gocomics.com/dinetteset/2011/10/09
Had to do some serious sleuthing instead of my very important job, so PRAISE ME!
Neo-Kaiser
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 6:20 PMI really hope it’s not so simple to level up your abilities. Once you discover that spamming level 1 magic spells with MP so low you recover the MP before you arm lowers back down really imbalanced everything. Or rubber banding the control stick into a rock to increase your running.
oggob
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 6:27 PMMan… where are the spoiler tags!
lol!
nicky6
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 6:53 PMI shouldn’t be so excited over some low quality pics of a manual!
Raf
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 7:07 PMLooks like it’s almost exactly the same as Oblivion with a couple of new options.
I thought Oblivion’s combat was laughably shallow, the levelling system and skill-learning systems awful, and the manual and the comments I’ve seen from hands-on aren’t persuading me that these things have changed at all. At least they’ve apparently fixed up the terrible face graphics.
Can’t see myself getting Skyrim. I’m sure it will get the same brilliant reviews Oblivion got, but I just didn’t see whatever it is people saw in Oblivion’s giant-but-shallow world, flimsy storyline, flimsy combat and terrible UI and levelling systems.
Good thing I’ll have Uncharted 3 and maybe Arkham City to keep busy!
tomaytto
Wednesday, October 12, 2011 at 12:30 AMI’m glad they’ve added the fallout 3 lock-picking, the oblivion one was just annoying.
AJ
Wednesday, October 12, 2011 at 2:35 AMIt’s not all about the story or combat effects. It’s about being able to define your character however you want in a world of untold possibility :p
eggberto
Wednesday, October 12, 2011 at 12:47 AMencumberance off? what u need is a non rpg game dude
M1557
Wednesday, October 12, 2011 at 8:37 AMI want to know how the dumb blonde joke ended. =(