If I’m thinking of the same game I think the manual explains a lot of things. I tried it a couple years ago and had to read the manual because there were times I didn’t know what I was looking at and got completely stuck.
Personally, I think it's the wrong answer to hold the hands of players even more than they do nowadays. It just waters down the experience, when there's zero skill required to beat a given game.
I agree if the hobby you're talking about is "beating games that are intentionally hard to learn", or "solving interface puzzles".
However I think only a minority of players are into that hobby; possibly the same people who used to enjoy old adventure games (see http://www.oldmanmurray.com/features/77.html ).
I am convinced that most people are interested in playing games in general, and even if they seek challenge, it's not necessary the challenge in understanding what the game even wants.