Dangerous Waters did have simplistic graphics but conversely, the simulation physics behind the game were incredible and based on Sonalyst's expertise in its work providing sonar alasysis for the US Navy.

Most sims today have the opposite stance, developers spend relatively little effort on accuracy and cutting-edge simulation AI & physics, spending most of their time on cutting-edge graphics.

The ideal situation would be a game that balances the qualities between accurate gameplay/physics with the graphics quality. Sadly I doubt we'll ever see this happen in today's game development climate :(

I agree with everything you are saying but I simply must ask to nobody in particular...why can't we have gameplay AND graphics?

Because publishers can sell millions with neither.

Nice anecdote :up:
Mmm... Silent Service III *daydreams*

Much as I'd like a Silent Service III I think this time I'd rather have a surface sim, perhaps "Task Force 1942 II"
though I'd think we are more likely to get something like that from Norm & Jim at Storm Eagle (Distant Guns/Jutland)

Perhaps we could ask/bribe/cajole them into giving us a first person sim layer add on for it too, I'm sure they'd have a lot of takers, although I'd liike to see some heavy revisions to their 2D UI plot/chart for this.


http://i786.photobucket.com/albums/y...109/tf1942.jpg

And have you seen how much that costs?:hmmm:

It's on sale for $25 less for a few months! :DL

Hehe - It's still the kind of price that makes my wallet (and girlfriend) scream lol:O:

Yes the price balks a lot of potential purchases of the Sim. To be honest I had to stop and think about in myself but once I had it in my hands I realized that I should of actually been charged more for what it was I was losing myself in.

Your choice gents. You won't be wasting your hard earned dollars and once you jump into it you will see why. I mite add that the multi player is the best aspect.

Oh no don't get me wrong - I'd probably pay the same for a subsim of that quality , as would most members here I would imagine.

I'm also aware of the quality of that sim too - just not too sure if I'd enjoy that genre enough to fork out the cash for it. I'd hate to pay all that money and have it gathering dust on the shelf.

The trouble with increasing the price for quality is that whilst the hardcore here might be willing to part with say $125 for a quality sim the average Joe who buys SH would not and they make up a much larger part of the audience than Subsim.com users do. Steel Beasts is mainly a military funded project which explains how they can do what they do, not many of today's military organisations are in the market for a World War II U-Boat simulator.

It maybe the vodka but that is one awesome sig!

<Raises hand> Add to that list Fleet Defender, F117a 2.0, SWOTL, Star Rangers, Front Page Sports Football 95, Civilization 1, Railroad Tycoon (original), Red Storm Rising...

I've been on a big retro kick lately with DOSbox, really having a blast coming back to these games, and yes, they all STILL play great and still hook me like they did when they were 'state of the art'.

Great graphics last only as long as the next game, great gameplay, that lasts forever...

And b/w movies? I'll take 'Captain Blood' in b/w any day of the week over the horrible colorized 'Captain Pink' version they came up with... :)

"Great graphics lasts only as long as the next game, great gameplay, that lasts forever..." Love that quote :yep:

For me graphics were important but only when I was much younger. I remember looking at Atari ST screenshots in magazines and being amazed at how much prettier it was than my Atari 800XL and wanting it soooo badly! But the more experienced I became with gaming, and the more I noticed that each successive game was better looking that the last anyways, the more I realised that graphics are not important in a game. Especially a sim.
The way the brain works, if there's a mountain a sim pilot must navigate around, it doesn't matter if the mountain graphics are detailed down to little birds in the trees or just 3D wireframe. The brain will process the mountain the same way with both, and the 3D wireframe mountain becomes just as 'real' as the highly detailed one.
I read an interesting article about that a long time ago and the conclusion was something like; The brain will automatically 'fill in' the 3D wireframe with the minds eye much like when you read a book. So the sim pilot flying in the wireframe simulator is stressed and sweats just as much as in the highly detailed graphics simulator. That's why Aces of the Deep is still highly playable. I'll try and track down that article.