I give up.

Steeltrap · 03-04-10, 08:35 PM

The thing I cannot understand is why developers have difficulty recreating what is such a well documented period of history.

Want to know how a submarine was run or commanded? How it performed in technical terms? What was possible and what was not? Read about it in the thousands of documents, including those written by the military organisations that owned and operated the subs. If that's not good enough for you, read about it in the published memoirs of those who were there and did the jobs. As an example, there's enough material in Dick O'Kane's books, Clear the Bridge and Wahoo, to simulate a WWII USA Fleet Boat to any level of detail you like.

How they can come up with what I'm reading about SH5 beggars belief.

People can discuss the interface all they like, but the central point remains: if you are pretending to simulate the experiences of a commander of a submarine in WWII then it should be representative of the collective records available. It seems to me it is anything but.

CCIP · 03-04-10, 08:45 PM

As I mentioned elsewhere though, is that what the game was really trying to do? I really don't think so. I don't think this game is trying to be Clay Blair's U-boat War, it's trying to be Das Boot (and more the movie than the book). This doesn't mean it has to be inaccurate, nor does it excuse the errors, but I think it's not necessarily accurate to see the game's goal as presenting an absolute, as-it-happened, statistically-accurate reality. Why that is the case is a much longer discussion.

Iron Budokan · 03-04-10, 08:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steeltrap

People can discuss the interface all they like, but the central point remains: if you are pretending to simulate the experiences of a commander of a submarine in WWII then it should be representative of the collective records available. It seems to me it is anything but.

But, see, I think that's the point.

Ubi made a corporate decision to move this game from "simulation" to something resembling arcade and RPG, even including unlockable content which is pure console. Therefore, they didn't have to concentrate on simulating the experiences of a U-boat commander to the degree we had become accustomed to, or many of us wanted, because the game they were developing didn't need those hard core simulation elements in it.

In other words, they knew they were dumbing it down. So why bother to include content that would clash with the arcade profile they had decided upon?

Else, how can you possibly explain the missing compass? In a naval war game, of all games....?

03-04-10, 08:45 PM	#2
CCIP Navy Seal Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Waterloo, Canada Posts: 8,700 Downloads: 29 Uploads: 2	As I mentioned elsewhere though, is that what the game was really trying to do? I really don't think so. I don't think this game is trying to be Clay Blair's U-boat War, it's trying to be Das Boot (and more the movie than the book). This doesn't mean it has to be inaccurate, nor does it excuse the errors, but I think it's not necessarily accurate to see the game's goal as presenting an absolute, as-it-happened, statistically-accurate reality. Why that is the case is a much longer discussion. __________________ There are only forty people in the world and five of them are hamburgers. -Don Van Vliet (aka Captain Beefheart)

03-04-10, 08:35 PM	#1
Steeltrap Grey Wolf Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 818 Downloads: 3 Uploads: 0	The thing I cannot understand is why developers have difficulty recreating what is such a well documented period of history. Want to know how a submarine was run or commanded? How it performed in technical terms? What was possible and what was not? Read about it in the thousands of documents, including those written by the military organisations that owned and operated the subs. If that's not good enough for you, read about it in the published memoirs of those who were there and did the jobs. As an example, there's enough material in Dick O'Kane's books, Clear the Bridge and Wahoo, to simulate a WWII USA Fleet Boat to any level of detail you like. How they can come up with what I'm reading about SH5 beggars belief. People can discuss the interface all they like, but the central point remains: if you are pretending to simulate the experiences of a commander of a submarine in WWII then it should be representative of the collective records available. It seems to me it is anything but.