Small soapbox here.
Immersion i define as suspension of disbelief. I feel a truly immersive game should appeal both visually, and technically, but i put more priority over "technically" then "visually". (insert: You can shine a turd, but it's still a turd metaphore here).
My last patch to TMO, was mostly with eyecandy. So i don't want anyone thinking im "anti-eye candy". But i had a moment in time where i drew the line.. actually, two moments in time. Both of which involve the kingpin of eyecandy.... the external camera. I have two beefs with it:
1.) Gameplay: It's a cheat when you consider you can gain a tactical picture that no WW2 sub skipper would have had. Want to know what that sonar contact is from 20KM away and never have to pop the scope to see? Go ahead, activate the camera.
2.) A modders point of view. If anyone remembers the sub on rails effect in Sh4, or the quiliting effect of seafoam? I was hashing away for a few days on this stuff when one night when i realized that all of the time i was devoting to visual asthetics, could have been spent fixing things more crucial to play. You could make the enviormental visuals look incredibly realistic from the bridge (where it most mattered IMO), but the instant the external camera came into play, it was all hosed, people would whine, and you'd have to spend MORE time on visual asthetics. And if you don't cater to the demand, then all your work is considered crap. After that, i never looked at enviormental stuff quite the same way again.
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