What does elenaiba say...

[Faamecanic]

Originally Posted by elanaiba

Well, I cannot post everything that I could say, indeed. But still:

Negative Feedback received about Silent Hunter generally fits into the following categories:

A - wrong expectations (some thing are just not in the scope of sh5)
B - legitimate concerns about bugs and unfinished features - Most are NOT news to me, since I have a list bigger than the forum. Trust me, you cannot match my expectations - but then again, the same could be said by most of the serious, passionate game developers out there.
C - legitimate concerns about some design choices - like for example the interface. Part of these I can understand, but I am not that concerned since most can be fixed easily by modding. Getting a SH4 style interface back in the game is very easy.

As I was saying in another thread, I have no reservations that WITH TIME (equal patches + mods) this will be THE ONLY SUBSIM TO PLAY. Calling this game arcade is wrong, its no more arcade than SH3 or 4. Calling this an RPG is partly wrong, is simply as simulation as the games before but with an extra layer of RPG like crew development.

I am not at all happy with the current state of the RPG parts (long story) but:
a) nobody is forcing people to use them
b) they can be modded into something more realistic

I will stand by the concept of the RPG parts any day, because I have read enough books to understand that some things that happen in war are simply not justified by technical specifications and field manuals. At some point the man is the one that matters the most.

Before I close this down, I have two more things to say:

1) Ubisoft is a company, of which Ubisoft Romania is a part. Please stop separating the two. Not everything that is good is our merit, not everything that is bad is "the suits" fault. I, of all people, have my parts in the failures of SH5. The people "high up" could have simply decided not to do another SH, just as you guys can choose not to buy.

2) Please stop trying to create a war / antagonism between modders and devs, we need each other.

So, for my final statement of the day, NO, I am not happy with the state of SH5. Of course, except for SH3 - which was not perfect either - I have never been happy with the release of any of my projects.

I have much trust in the potential of SH5, but I am not a fortune teller. Did I quit my job after the launch? No. Am I not a man? I wonder.

People might not buy the game, miss on fun, and not suffer any problems that the game has at the moment. But for the guys that did invest their trust in us, I'd say they need us here.

Yes, Gunnodayak, it took me time to write this long answer, and I waited for the lunchbreak in order not to disturb my current work assignments.

I will have to say.... Im floored by the HONEST response here by elanaiba and I RESPECT the fact He had the courage to say he is NOT satisfied by what was released.

I actually sat at my PC all weekend (3 day weekend) and spent about 25 hours playing SH5. And overall I think I have been too harsh on the devs in the past... your creation was a MASTERPIECE!! Very engaging and fun.

With that said its a crying shame things were left so unfinished. The struggle you had to create the most immersive Uboat environment was brought down several levels by bad design choices (devs mostly to blame, and if I read elanaiba's response correctly he takes the blame willingly! Way to MAN UP bud! ), as well as the compressed timeline and demands from "the suits".

But what ticks me off (and probably the devs as well) is 1) how bugs from previous SH's made it in the game, 2) how many NEW bugs were in the final release (after 2 patches) and last and worst IMHO is how UBI blames this "niche" market for being to small and not buying thier game.

Again its a vicious cycle. Starting with SH3... game released with bugs, customers talk, not as many people buy. So SH 4 given less budget and/or design time (but more demands placed on devs), released with more bugs than SH3. Customers talk, less people buy (at least at full price), Ubi blames shrinking "niche market". So Sh5 is given less budget/design time (but even MORE demands for NEW stuff on devs).

You see the cycle.

Now again I retract some of my harsh comments over the last few months since release. I see the diamond in the rough..... and it has the potential to be a VERY nice diamond. Its just a shame something so pretty has to be so marred and need MODs to make it what is should have been. How many new sub-simmers have been turned off and lost forever by buying SH5 and being totally turned off by the state sH5 was in at release (pre-patch).