Heh, yeah, that's pretty much it, though "we blame piracy" has become so commonplace an excuse for poor game sales that if nothing else they'd blame pirates out of habit.

I'm genuinely starting to wonder if the DRM is a deliberate attempt not to thwart piracy so much but to drive PC gamers away and provide an excuse to close PC operations.

But that's just the tinfoil hatter in me.

Yeah, if I had a pound for every time I've heard a developer/publisher blame piracy for their mistakes, then I'd be a very rich man indeed! Never mind the fact that they don't give a damn about their customers, the very people keeping their company afloat, the war against piracy takes precedence over releasing a quality product. Brilliant!

I am gonna ignore the last set of stupid posts and jump to one that popped my eyes open.

"I only hope no one has thrown out their sh3 and sh4 disks"

Let me say, I very rarely throw out disks. I still have my FS 98 disk, as well as my Sh2 disk. Heck I think somewhere there is my Silent Service floppy disk :)

I don't think some of you have the game yet. I would like you to post some screen shots (not ones from the net, but in fact from your machine). Otherwise I and I hope others here will take your posts and throw them in the bin.

all I have seen from some of you is you saying how you hate the game, how it is a complete failure, not even a simulator, and so on. You were doing this BEFORE the game came out legally.

I understand the frustrations with incomplete games and crummy copy protection schemes. But just ripping into a game with statements that clearly show you do not posses the game, does nothing for the community.

Golden Rivet has done the first of what I hope will be a bunch of fair and critical reviews that Ubi devs will look at and apply to the next set of patches.

Erm, were you around when SH2/3/4 were released? Really, it was just like this.

nah, it was was not. I have been around when SH 3 and 4 were released, I also have been lurking here during these times, and at UBI.

I would have agreed to you up until around 2 days ago, there was the usual stuff about the game beeing broken (which it is not, in many parts thanks to the already released mods) and some voices of reason.

But what happens right now with all that DRM stuff is a novelty. There are only very, very few people here able to stick with their positive outlook, Neal beeing a prime example. There have been columns in german news mags enteirely dedicated to this issue by UBIsoft, it really is a big deal this time around, not anymore the usual heat. I personally try hard to see the good sides, but this time around even I get emotional, which means something, as my patience for bugs and glitches usually is quite high as long its not about potential game killers.

I am also losing hope this game gets the same quality mod attention SH III and SH IV got. Maybe I am spoiled...well scratch that, I AM spoiled. But getting back to basics is hard and I am not sure a mere stock Silent Hunter with a couple visual and control mods is worth all that fuss and frustration connected to the DRM now.

Though I fear the publishers will try to see it the way you do.

I'll make a couple of predictions, and in time, we'll see what happens.

i) The series will be patched. DRM will be stabilised, and it is here to stay.

ii) The community will continue their open source efforts to improve the game.

There is absolutely no evidence that this release qualititively is poorer than previous versions, likewise there is no evidence that it does not have as promising a future as previous versions. It is far, far to early to tell.

I know you've seen the Independent article so I suspect it is unlikely that the collectivist teeth-grinding on Subsim will make much difference.

I'm cross about DRM, but as I've written elsewhere it is a difficult response to a difficult problem, and I fear - like piracy - it is here to stay.


J

I am not saying Silent Hunter V is worse, I actually consider it more fun then SHIV stock when it came out, I even love the new GUI and all the ideas coming with it; no, I am saying that the "mood" and "perception" is worse.
Much worse, actually. DRM got a first impression that can be rightfully called as as bad as it can get. You just can't ignore this anymore. The innocense is gone. This DRM issue now hangs over each gamer like a damokles sword, never giving the same feeling of safety and "my game" as before. You come home to fire up your machine and blast enemy convoys, but now you have to make sure your internet is active, runs stable, and even if that is the case there always may be a cut out which is not even your fault. This may be a non issue for folks who grow up with this kind of software, but to those that actually stuck with the development of games since pre home computer times, this new development is hardly a pleasant expirience.
This DRM, I said this before, simply adds a new stress layer and insecureness to an expirience that's mostly there to forget about stress, for having a good time of fun and achievement in a serious environment. This is not a given anymore. The whole outlook of the franchise is simply too unpredictable and I doubt UBI spends the money in hard- und software capable enough to negate any threat to connection stability. They certainly did not yet.

And when you live in an area with a wobbly internet connection anyways, which usually only causes occasional lags in games but here stops it completly, then SH V does not offer lots of perspective. What makes it even worse is that UBI a) completlely ignored their customers in their obsession to fight piracy and b) ignores much more successful methods already employed by other companies based on reward, not punishment.

Sorry, I simpy can't afford the symphathy to UBI here, despite my understanding for their situation. And their unwillingness to communicate during these times also lets me doubt their commitment to customer satisfaction and calming the waves.

Still have SH III and SH IV so no problem if UBI doesn't make any more sub sims. Sooner or later someone else will anyway.

I was around, and no, it wasn't at this level.

I certainly hope so! :yeah:
I bought and enjoyed SH3, I bought and edured SH4, I will not keep propping up this series with my cash. Too little simulation, too many bugs and far too much reliance on the players to fix this broken ****.

Give it a decade of no Silent Hunter and somebody else will spot the gap in the market and step in with their own subsim.
I can wait a decade.

UBI isn't the only company that has to make sub sims, one day someone will make a Cold-War era subsim (maybe start out as indies), or a modern era subsim with US vs Russia (that kind of stuff, we don't want to get too sci-fi) typhoons vs virginia class (etc.) ;)

If the franchise ends it won't be because of the consumers.

To many preordered or bought before release to show good faith.

If there's any money in WWII SubSims somebody else will give it a shot.

I remember posts here "Why isn't there a good WWI Flight sim ?" Then a small group did RoF !!! And even they wised up. :yep:

While I doubt Ubisoft will go under anytime soon. In this case THEY are the Losers. Not Me !!! :nope:

I have enough Sims to keep me happy. :yep:

:salute: You've expressed everything I've been feeling for the last 4 days.