In what seems to be turning into a theme, LEGO has me once again scratching my head over yet another weird decision. LEGO Dimensions released last week, and I’ve been having a blast with it, as you know if you listened to our latest podcast, but the LEGO community at large has been asking, “Where oh where are the instructions?” The LEGO Dimensions starter pack came with the paper instructions to build the large portal build, but then, nothing other than a direction to return to the game and start playing. The starter pack also has the Batmobile, but they didn’t include the paper instructions for that. Nor do they include instructions with the smaller packs, you have to get them from the game. This unusual lack of included instructions has marred my gaming experience a bit and has led to a fairly large group of frustrated LEGO fans.
For me, the lack of instructions pulls me out of both the gaming and the building experience. When I first went to play the game, I wanted to experience it as intended by the developers: play the game and build when the game tells me to. So, I waited through the long update time and didn’t build. This turned out to be a mistake because when I finally got the game going (and was in the mood to play the game!) and set out to follow the in-game instructions to build, I quickly realized that wasn’t how I want to build. I usually build comfortably at my desk, with a TV show playing in the background. Instead, the game wanted me to stop everything and work from my gaming chair (just a cushy chair in my living room). But, cushy chairs aren’t really conducive to working with small LEGO pieces, so I paused the game and took the LEGO pieces and the paper manual into the office, so I could build it the way I wanted. Then, I went back to the game, only to find myself interrupted again to build the Batmobile. But, this time, the only instructions were in-game. Not ideal as it both pulls me out of the game, but also forces me to sit and build in a manner that takes a lot of the fun out of it for me.
I bought the LEGO Dimensions starter pack, of course, but many in the LEGO community are only interested in the mini-builds and minifigures that come in the special fun packs, team packs, and level packs. In each of those, you typically get one or more minifigures and one or more minibuilds that are exclusive to the LEGO Dimensions line. These fans just want the exclusive pieces and were not terribly happy to find out that the only instructions (at launch) were in the game. Knowing the fanbase LEGO has in both children and adults, I can’t help but wonder how LEGO didn’t anticipate this frustration. I guess it’s probably fair to say that (or at least wonder if) they did it on purpose to force the purchase of the game, but at the same time, LEGO has indicated that, as with most LEGO sets, LEGO will provide the instructions on their website. Instructions usually become available on LEGO’s site about a week after launch, and LEGO has suggested that will also happen in this case.
But, I’m still left wondering. As I mentioned in my post last week, these aren’t cheap sets, and it seems so out of character for LEGO to direct the end user to either the game or to upcoming PDF instructions. I don’t like to build with digital instructions, and I’m sure I’m not alone. It’s a weird experience for me for the game to try to force me to do it, and it often feels like the games stops at weird times, suddenly wanting me to build something. In general, I would prefer to build separately and play, which is something that could still work if I had paper instructions because you can skip the in-game instructions pretty quickly. But, LEGO didn’t give us that option because they left out the paper, so either I have to suffer through the in-game instructions or go online and find other ones. Neither option allows me to build the way I want to. This is only the first wave of LEGO Dimensions, so my fingers are crossed that they will change this before they release the second wave.
