Related: we used to get awesome game manuals full of fantastic artwork. It's pretty rare to get anything beyond a small quick-start and feature list in a little booklet with most modern games.

This is definitely true. Pretty much only collectors editions come with anything remotely similar now.

Pfft, Adventure.





I don't feel peripheral artwork is any worse today than it was 20 or 30 years ago in general. Surely it's got to be cheaper to ship most copies without all this, and some with it as "special editions". But, I do miss a good manual that's more than just a quick start.