Having done some research in the weeks since my initial post, I have come to believe with some confidence that SHV is going to be in a much healthier state when it's released than either SHIII or SHIV was.
With Ubisoft making the statement last year that the company accepted that it needed to improve the quality control of its games so that they were less buggy at release, I believe that internal changes were made in order to deliver on that promise.
I think we have to understand though that the game can't be all things to all people. It will undoubtedly pander to the casual gamer to a greater degree than many here would like, but at the same time it's also very obvious that the Devs have really taken the observations and criticism of SHIV to heart, and I believe that SHV will be the most impressive subsim to date.
I guess the overall point of my initial post was for us to keep the glass half full rather than half empty and invest in what the game will ultimately become. I'm now more hopeful that Ubisoft will surprise us with a game that will really impress us at release.
So with many thanks to Dan, Mihai and the other team members of SHV, I wait with confidence for the release of SHV.
