If I spend $49.99 on this game....

[Kuroth1]

Please tell me I will get printed manuals??? If the manuals are PDF's I wont buy this game...


Thanks for the info...

p.s. How many manuals come with the game by the way?

[Johan K]

You will get a (one) printed manual. It is 134 pages long and includes all spells and items.

[SurvivalistMerc]

There are a lot of things the manual does not have. It does not give a detailed list of military units by nation. It doesn't have an index for the spells, so you can't decide, for instance, "I'd like to look up blade wind" without knowing what school it's in. For blade wind, the school is obvious, but for some spells the school is far less intuitive.

The magic items are listed by the power of the item, not by name or what magic picks you need to make the item.

If you played the demo, you probably figured out how important the magic sites you find are to the game. These are not listed by their difficulty of location anywhere in the manual.

The information in the manual, except for the first 20 or so pages, is for the most part duplicated from the in-game help you get playing the demo.

If you are like me, you will find yourself using this site and sites like Sunraybe's a lot more often than you use the manual. Just remember that it is where your CD key is.

[Karacan]

The manual serves to introduce you to the game mechanics quite well.

Also, you'll find yourself sitting in the subway, studying spells and items.

[Kuroth1]

Just ordered it... Thanks all for your info...

[SurvivalistMerc]

I do remember staying up late at night reading about spells and items.

One thing I like about the manual: It is written in such a way that it hints at certain powers of items and does not give full details of the spells. This can be quite frustrating to some players, but it makes discovering what things do quite enjoyable.

I actually somewhat agree with Karacan that the first pages of the manual are essential reading. It covers province defense quite well. And it discusses certain attributes of fortress defenses by race.

I know my first post was relatively negative about the manual. It really could be much better, but the first 20 pages do provide as good an introduction to the game as could be provided in that much space. Things just aren't that easy to find.