Bugs, Lawsuits, Fanbois, Outcries and other nostalgia, but why did this classic die?

[Nisgeis]

There is a somewhat cyclical nature of a release of a Silent Hunter game.

We all know that when there is a new release of a Silent Hunter game, there will be the pre-release frothing of people imagining ludicrous scenarios - "Wouldn't it be cool if you could be DCed and go down to 300m and have to tighten a bolt to stop a leak, but if you over tightened it then it would snap off and then you'd all die'.

Then there's the release and the bug threads which all say "Why didn't the bug testers pick up the fact that the deck of cards would have a 1940s font? This is unacceptable!".

Then the fanbois appear (this may also occur at the pre-release stage) and defend Ubisoft to the hilt, not matter how ludicrous their assertions are (having a half finished buggy game is Mmm-Kay).

Then the outcries from the general user base who had no part in the pre-release stages who have actually played the game and have noticed that the manual does not describe the game and are therefore confused as to how to play the game.

But the classic response, which I have not yet seen on the SH5 forums, used to be a response that many would wait for, but it seems to have fallen by the wayside. Perhaps too much weight has been given to the complainers.

The phrase that I miss, which used to raise a wry smile on my face was:

"Would you like cheese with your whine?".

Why amongst all the other stuff that has been resurrected and re-used is this phrase not amongst them? I don't believe that I have seen this even once on the Silent Hunter 5 forums. It's time that phrase came back! It was simple, yet effective.

[Kresge]

Never cry over spilled milk; just w(h)ine.

[Ducimus]

Damn i used to say that. Either I'm slacking, or just don't care anymore. Dunno which.

[Sailor Steve]

Actually somebody said that in a thread just a couple of days ago. I'll have to find it.

[OakGroove]

"Would you like cheese with your whine?".

That is ™ Oleg's Ready Room. It was often used by allied vPilots to reasonably debunk any Luftwaffe claims re. porked performance.

[OrangeYoshi]

eh, you guys want a little cheese with that whine? :O:

Would you like some cheese with that wine?

Here are just two quick examples.

[Ducimus]

Here are just two quick examples.

Nisgeis, i think your Troll Fu just took a hit in the gnads. :DL

http://www.ducimus.net/blee.gif

Unless of course you were try to tell the entire forum something on the sly, in which case it worked. :haha:

[Madox58]

I actually don't understand why people are sobbing.
:06:
Everyone of us knows we will be let down from day one!

That's the Nature of the Game!
:nope:

But given what Dan and all the other Dev's have put together,
dispite what the Upper Management screamed for?

You should be happy.
No one made you buy the Game.
I bought it.
And not a single Ubi person showed up at my door and forced me.
Heck!
They didn't even offer me a discounted game let alone a free copy!

The crying seems to be going on much to long.
Most of us are Adults.
Take your lumps,
carry on,
and trust it will get better.

If $50 bucks is going to break you?
You shouldn't be buying Games anyway!

[textide]

Why amongst all the other stuff that has been resurrected and re-used is this phrase not amongst them?

"Hackneyed" is the word I believe. It's a phrase you'd use once in the company of strangers and only once. Repetitive usage is unoriginal and thereby undesirable on a frequently visited forum; at least by most folks without some sort of agenda.

[Piggy]

Oh this is fun...

Like this old classic... "worlds saddest song, played on the worlds smallest violin"


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVFBK9GhS5Q&feature=related

Though personally I think this song would fit better.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EQ6eHeBrhM&feature=related

[JScones]

The phrase that I miss, which used to raise a wry smile on my face was:

"Would you like cheese with your whine?".

Why amongst all the other stuff that has been resurrected and re-used is this phrase not amongst them? I don't believe that I have seen this even once on the Silent Hunter 5 forums. It's time that phrase came back! It was simple, yet effective.
It's out there. Of course, you may be forgiven for not noticing it when it's quoted as "Would you like some cheese with that wine[sic]?". Kinda loses the impact when not used correctly. :haha:

FWIW, I like chilli cheese with my (cab sauv) wine. Usually on Jatz. Mmm, tasty.

[Skyhawk]

You should be happy.
No one made you buy the Game.


Well said! :yeah:

I AM happy because I DIDN'T buy it!:sunny:

Thank you UBI! I got exactly what I paid for, nothing! Seems like a fair deal to me.:salute:

My son got the same deal too. You see, he was looking forward to AC2 for the PC but that has the same great online requirement as SH5. From where we're sitting this DRM stuff is working out just fine! :up:

:know:

[JU_88]

I actually don't understand why people are sobbing.
:06:
Everyone of us knows we will be let down from day one!

That's the Nature of the Game!
:nope:

But given what Dan and all the other Dev's have put together,
dispite what the Upper Management screamed for?

You should be happy.
No one made you buy the Game.
I bought it.
And not a single Ubi person showed up at my door and forced me.
Heck!
They didn't even offer me a discounted game let alone a free copy!

The crying seems to be going on much to long.
Most of us are Adults.
Take your lumps,
carry on,
and trust it will get better.

If $50 bucks is going to break you?
You shouldn't be buying Games anyway!

+1
SHV is a bit of a mess, but its an enjoyable mess with huge potential.
Everyones entitled to whine... (although its getting pretty boring Imo)
SHV is what it is - I say, stop dwelling on what might have been and lets move forward with what we have. To be be fair to this seems to be what most people here are doing now anyway.

[janh]

Everyones entitled to whine... (although its getting pretty boring Imo)


Yeah, unfortunately, and a huge waste of time as it probably won't be heard anyways. Especially those lawsuit trallala is a bit too much, everyone knew what he was buying into -- though the EULA only shows up after unpacking and starting the install.

SHV could have been awesome, the Happy Times of Subsimming. Well, future will tell.

[Iron Budokan]

While I have no intention of buying this game under present circumstances, even I am loathe to admit the game has "failed." Leastways, not yet, and not until more sales results and quarter profit statements are made public. And then we will see.

But, assuming the game does "die" I think it can be said without question it was "word of mouth" that did this game in. There's still a firestorm raging on gaming forums regarding this game, and they're not all focused on DRM. There are a lot of aspects that are causing the game to be shredded, and they're all being passed on by word of mouth from gamer to gamer. After a while that meme takes root and no matter what happens next it will always be perceived as the truth.

Word of mouth can either make or break a game. I think the latter is more likely with /5, but it is still kinda early.

But, yeah. It's also getting late real fast for this game as well. It's taken a very heavy PR hit of late. It's very hard to overcome that, don't you think?

Anyway, my two yen.

[Fantasm]

The best way for Ubisoft to save face would be to throw in the towel, admit they blew it and release the source code.... put the game in the hands of the people who actually care about it....

[jwilliams]

The best way for Ubisoft to save face would be to throw in the towel, admit they blew it and release the source code.... put the game in the hands of the people who actually care about it....


And lepricons and unicorns will sprinkle fairy dust on my PC, turning it into a super computer....:o

Face it.... it's not gonna happen.

[Madox58]

There is not such thing as lepricons or unicorns.
And fairy dust is only found in a certain part of California.
And I doubt it will improve your computer Specs.
:har:

[Buddahaid]

It's only dying to the old seadogs who don't want to learn new tricks. To date, the only log-in problem I've had is the save-game synch issue, solved by changing a setting in the game loader. Yes, I could have used a walkthrough for the intro/tutorial, but the manual did help keep the ball rolling, and Subsim community more so. Ubi should buy Niel a new car. :rock:

[looney]

It's only dying to the old seadogs who don't want to learn new tricks. To date, the only log-in problem I've had is the save-game synch issue, solved by changing a setting in the game loader. Yes, I could have used a walkthrough for the intro/tutorial, but the manual did help keep the ball rolling, and Subsim community more so. Ubi should buy Niel a new car. :rock:


That's the whole point... You need subsim to be able to play the game! However great this community is, it is still a very small portion of potential buyers. Yet again they have sold an incomplete game... THAT combined with the DRM is stopping me from buying, maybe after patch 4 I will think of buying the game..

[thyro]

That's the whole point... You need subsim to be able to play the game! However great this community is, it is still a very small portion of potential buyers. Yet again they have sold an incomplete game... THAT combined with the DRM is stopping me from buying, maybe after patch 4 I will think of buying the game..

You are not alone my friend...

for me SH5 is a complete let down in many aspects and for sure it won't be my game as it stands right now (with that online crap).

If I wanted to play a game online I would rather chose a real online navy game, or Wow or even return to my two 6 year old accounts on EVE.

Edit:

Further more I think as community what we lack is an engine that provide moders a platform to create an excellent game.

Apart from all defects of SH4, it has potential to be modded and deliver better quality than what SH5 delivers atm.

Just look at environmental mods for SH4 and compair what has been the changes since SH4 release till today and then compair with SH5 deliverers... just interiors? well SH4 has enourmous potential which remains unexplored in my opinion.

[Nordmann]

The best way for Ubisoft to save face would be to throw in the towel, admit they blew it and release the source code.... put the game in the hands of the people who actually care about it....

Wait 10 or 15 years, and you may get your wish....though knowing Ubi, they'll probably try and sell you the source for several billion dollars!

[pythos]

I said that very thing to someone complaining about SH5 in a so called review. :)

[scrapser]

I think it would be great of Ubisoft made an attempt to explain why, in simple terms, each Silent Hunter release is delivered with so many issues and why they apparently cannot control it. We have and still are giving them an abundance of feedback and the only thing they give in return is punctuated new releases with a couple follow up patches inbetween. A dialog between Ubisoft and the community at large would go a long way towards building and repairing good will. If submarine simulations are to continue and flourish, I think at this point it's safe to say we (Ubisoft and the buying public) need each other. Why not sit down and talk it over?

[Jeevz]

Has the class action lawsuit thread made it's appearance yet?

Edit: I'll be damned, I post this and a 4 page lawsuit thread appears on the first page of the forum. Now the release feels complete. Guess I missed it when it when up.

[longam]

click click click , dang nothing on but reruns

[jason210]

It's only dying to the old seadogs who don't want to learn new tricks.

May be we are old seadogs. The DRM is one thing, but if they'd given us an outstanding simualtion may be would have put up with it. What I miss is all controls and functions tghat made it feel like a simulator, and the details like the functionality of all the gauges and so on. In SH4, they did that part quite well. Everything had the right look and feel, and now it's all been stripped away in favour off arcade type crap.

That's the whole point... You need subsim to be able to play the game! However great this community is, it is still a very small portion of potential buyers. Yet again they have sold an incomplete game... THAT combined with the DRM is stopping me from buying, maybe after patch 4 I will think of buying the game..

Incomplete & dumbed down. This role playing crap is not what simmers want. Where's the friggin GUI? I hear all these arguements in support of not havinf a GUI, like it's more like real life etc etc. That's crap! I want the main controls available all the time. Compass, rudder indicator, speed, depth. To be in full control you need this knowledge all the time, and you need to be able to control the sub as quickly as you can think. GUI is a good system for issuing commands.

Furthermore, I like old fashioned looking GUIs, like the old gauges mod for SH4. It just adds to the feeling that you're in a boat and not playing a computer game. And I like guages that work.

Don't get excited about SH6. If there is one, it will come out for consoles first and it'll be of the point and click kind.

I think the Russians need to come in. Dunno if anyone's into MS Flight Simulator, but the Russians made a great add-on for the Illushyin IL-64. They know what it's all about. Then friggin Microsoft put an end to the simulator and shelved all the code. It's turning into a world of morons who can't find their way to the supermarket without a GPS. .

To be honest I don't see anything in SH5 that makes it attractive to casual gamers.

[Buddahaid]

Furthermore, I like old fashioned looking GUIs, like the old gauges mod for SH4. It just adds to the feeling that you're in a boat and not playing a computer game. And I like guages that work.


I am one of those old seadogs and while I agree it is unfinished and lacks much, I feel like I'm in a boat to a greater extent than all previous releases. I do see your point as regards to a sub simulation-as in you are every crew member doing every job-but that never gave me as much of a feeling of living through the reality that was commanding a sub in action.

I feel confident that a fair compromise will evolve, but so far, I haven't missed too many things to hate it yet.