Why I've decided not to buy, or own, SH5 (and I hope Ubi reads this)

[Feuer Frei!]

I thought he was being sarcastic
Maybe not...

[ddrgn]

Originally Posted by Rockin Robbins

Glad to see this thread near the top again. The casual visitor looking for information on whether or not they should buy SH5 needs to know that SH5 is fatally flawed and this is not the time to buy.

Another reason the game is lacking in support, even the site Brass has been knocking the game, even before release. Personally I see a divide between fleet boat and u-boat here. Maybe its just me but the old crowd out of SH4 overall seems to bash the game.

I have logged over a 100 hours of MP time in this "fatally flawed" game...

Sorry RR, I get the feeling you don't even have SH5....... So why comment on on it?

[mookiemookie]

Originally Posted by Rockin Robbins

Glad to see this thread near the top again. The casual visitor looking for information on whether or not they should buy SH5 needs to know that SH5 is fatally flawed and this is not the time to buy.

As usual, you're offering your own (uninformed) personal opinion and passing it off as fact.

[CapnScurvy]

I've had the June PCGamer issue sitting on my nightstand for a week now, unopened, until I noticed today the front cover states a "Silent Hunter 5 review" enclosed. I tore into the cellophane and turned to page 68, dropping my eyes down to the game rating area labeled "Verdict" and found (not surprisingly) a 55 out of 100 for the overall score for the game!! A 55!! That's on par with such block buster games as "Who wants to be a Millionaire, 3rd Edition" at 55, or "Beavis and Butt-Head: Bunghole in One" a 53. PCGamer's rating system states a game rating between 50-59% is "Merely Okay", "Very ordinary games. They're not completely worthless, but you can definitely find numerous better choices".

The specific review starts "No point in sugarcoating it: SH5, Ubisoft Romania's third crack at the Silent Hunter submarine sim franchise, is a dud"

A DUD !!

As in, "What the heck is wrong with these torpedos"? DUD!!

I've not bought SH5, nor do I plan to. I'll not pay for the right to become frustrated over the numerous problems this franchise has brought to the submarine simulation community. I remember looking back on SH4's first release and remember scratching my head over an American sub simulation using only the metric system for the games measurements!?! It's like, What kind of game company puts out a product that misses so badly a fundamental issue as to what kind of measurements did the American sailor use? And by the way, we don't call it, nor use, "the Imperial system". That's a "European thing", not ours!!!! Anyway, I digress!!

The point is this company has sold us a boat load of crap, again! The only folks that benefit are those counting the money. I paid for the U-Boat Missions Add-on, to put the "Nazi's in the Pacific" (sounds like the 1940's Tarzan movie I remember when the Nazi's showed up deep in the Congo looking for gold, putting Cheata and Jane in peril!!) but I won't do it again.
In my opinion, the only way to push the genre forward is to let this franchise dry up on the vine. Either Ubisoft realises it's folly and makes a new start or they fade away allowing a different company to take the submarine simulation genre down a different path. I really don't care which way the wind blows this ship, I just know the port of "Ubisoft' need not be entered again as it stands now.

[ddrgn]

Originally Posted by CapnScurvy

I've had the June PCGamer issue sitting on my nightstand for a week now, unopened, until I noticed today the front cover states a "Silent Hunter 5 review" enclosed. I tore into the cellophane and turned to page 68, dropping my eyes down to the game rating area labeled "Verdict" and found (not surprisingly) a 55 out of 100 for the overall score for the game!! A 55!! That's on par with such block buster games as "Who wants to be a Millionaire, 3rd Edition" at 55, or "Beavis and Butt-Head: Bunghole in One" a 53. PCGamer's rating system states a game rating between 50-59% is "Merely Okay", "Very ordinary games. They're not completely worthless, but you can definitely find numerous better choices".

The specific review starts "No point in sugarcoating it: SH5, Ubisoft Romania's third crack at the Silent Hunter submarine sim franchise, is a dud"

A DUD !!

As in, "What the heck is wrong with these torpedos"? DUD!!

I've not bought SH5, nor do I plan to. I'll not pay for the right to become frustrated over the numerous problems this franchise has brought to the submarine simulation community. I remember looking back on SH4's first release and remember scratching my head over an American sub simulation using only the metric system for the games measurements!?! It's like, What kind of game company puts out a product that misses so badly a fundamental issue as to what kind of measurements did the American sailor use? And by the way, we don't call it, nor use, "the Imperial system". That's a "European thing", not ours!!!! Anyway, I digress!!

The point is this company has sold us a boat load of crap, again! The only folks that benefit are those counting the money. I paid for the U-Boat Missions Add-on, to put the "Nazi's in the Pacific" (sounds like the 1940's Tarzan movie I remember when the Nazi's showed up deep in the Congo looking for gold, putting Cheata and Jane in peril!!) but I won't do it again.
In my opinion, the only way to push the genre forward is to let this franchise dry up on the vine. Either Ubisoft realises it's folly and makes a new start or they fade away allowing a different company to take the submarine simulation genre down a different path. I really don't care which way the wind blows this ship, I just know the port of "Ubisoft' need not be entered again as it stands now.

Out of the box I give SH3 a 6/10 and SH4 a 5/10.... Pretty much garbage.

I would have used the DVD's for throwing at concrete walls if all that was, was what SH3 and SH4 were ever going to be out of the box.

SH4 reviews back in the day were bought by Ubisoft, Ubisoft didn't buy any reviews for SH5 this time around.....

SH5 out of the box I give a 5/10, but we are all so much smarter than this right? We know the game needs the modding touch, this is nothing new. 9/10!

[Bilge_Rat]

Originally Posted by ddrgn

Sorry RR, I get the feeling you don't even have SH5....... So why comment on on it?

He does not, he just has an axe to grind. At least he did not launch into another speech about SH5 being an affront to the U.S. Constitution...

...

Rant mode on:

All of us subsimmers who have played SH3, SH4 and gave SH5 an objective chance realize SH5 is a significant improvement in the franchise. Yes, it has bugs and some unfinished aspects, but modders have already provided workarounds for the worst bugs and SH5 is perfectly playable. In MP and single player missions, it is a blast.

Everyone here now conveniently forgets all the bugs that plagued SH3 upon release: escorts firing on each other, ships capsizing or sinking for no reason, entire convoys being frozen in the Atlantic beacause you saved to close to them, DDs sinking after ramming your boat, your officers being exhausted mid-patrol because there were no enough slots in the crew management page to properly rest them, etc., etc.,

The difference of course, was that back then, everyone was willing to give SH3 a chance because it was a significant advancement in subsims. Most posters were interested in seeing how you could improve the sim, not destroy it.

Now on the SH5 forum, you have a group of posters who do not own the game, do not play it and want to destroy it to further their own anti-DRM agenda, irrespective of any objective facts you may present regarding the improvements and qualities of the game.

I spent some time recently on the Ubi AC2 forum to see what the atmosphere was like there and imagine my surprise when I saw that most threads were about the game and not about DRM... These kids have a very mature attitude and show quite clearly that most of the rabid anti-DRM crowd here are just a collection of cranky old codgers.

Rant mode off.

[robbo180265]

Personally it's really starting to tick me off.

They have no interest in the game - they only come into this forum to inflate their already over inflated egos (and I'm not talking about the OP here either) stir up trouble and leave.

They have nothing constructive to say about the game - just the usual "DRM sux" and "SH5 sux" mantra over and over again.

You can see how interested they are - they don't even reply to us because they are already on another forum talking about their favourite version of SH.

Trolling in the truest sense of the word..

[ddrgn]

Well said my friends. New players should read between the lines here, base their decisions on whether to purchase the game on posts by people actually playing it.

[John Channing]

Originally Posted by Bilge_Rat

These kids have a very mature attitude and show quite clearly that most of the rabid anti-DRM crowd here are just a collection of cranky old codgers.

Rant mode off.

Hey! I resent that. Not all cranky old codgers are anti-DRM.

Some of us just don't give a crap.




and get offa my lawn


JCC

[robbo180265]

Originally Posted by John Channing

Hey! I resent that. Not all cranky old codgers are anti-DRM.

Some of us just don't give a crap.




and get offa my lawn


JCC

I can never stay angry for long when you post

[krashkart]

Originally Posted by robbo180265

You can see how interested they are - they don't even reply to us because they are already on another forum talking about their favourite version of SH.

Trolling in the truest sense of the word..

*crawls out from under his bridge*


My favorite SH was probably SH3. The hospital level was downright creepy with all those zombie nurses clumsily firing at me with their magnums.


*swipes a sheep from robbo, bites a leg off and trudges back under the bridge*






Dang! Channing's was better.

[gord96]

i purchased the game yesterday and was pleasantly surprised that most of the negative posts on this forum are exaggerations. i had a good time with the game last night. sure it has bugs and shame on UBI for not testing it more, but as always a few mods and it runs very nice! of course people can say they wont support UBI because of all the bugs and i can see their point. But I like sub sims, and really there is no other option. I have played SH3 w/GWX to death. Already I see way more potential in SHV. A few patches and some more mods and it will be awesome.

Anyways, back to the open seas...

[schlechter pfennig]

I understand why some of you are upset that someone who doesn't own the game and hasn't played it is rendering an opinion about the game. I would like to point out that if 18 out of 20 people whose opinions I respect have a negative opinion about something, be it a steak, car, or game, I don't see any reason to buy said steak just to prove that, yes indeed, it tastes and smells like liver.

I'd also like to point out the following, taken from reviews written by SimHQ . . . who have played the game.

SH3: The Heart and Soul of Silent Hunter III is the 'Dynamic Random Campaign'. To quote the manual, "The game uses a dynamic, random campaign engine based on historical reality. Every time you play, you can have a unique career"

The Silent Hunter III world is a replica of the one of 1939 to 1945. The shipping lanes and the volume and type of traffic will reflect that of the war and changes over the years. Countries will historically be neutral, your enemy or your ally or all the above as the war progresses.

I came to Silent Hunter III with hope and modest expectations. Silent Hunter III has exceeded my expectations in so many ways with the stunning graphics, a crew, a good sailing model, a Dynamic Random Campaign based upon real shipping lanes and convoy routes, AI that responds to your presence and changeable weather.

A finished Silent Hunter III will be a very strong contender for "Sim of the Year", if not "Game of the Year" and would be the undisputed king of U-Boat / submarine simulations.

SH5: The campaign structure is fairly simple. You start out as a young U-boat commander in 1939 and you work your way through to 1943, gradually upgrading your boat. Once you get done with the initial campaign around the British Isles, you can select different segments of the campaign based upon your peaked interest, and upon the success you have in the initial setup. It eventually culminates in the disaster that was 1943, when the Allies finally started getting the upper hand on the U-boat threat.

But tempered with these achievements are some serious problems that badly need to be resolved. The game is currently a buggy nightmare in some critical areas. Certainly there are bugs with all games, and some are forgivable, but some of the bugs in Silent Hunter 5 are near showstoppers. There are already some mods released that will correct some of the deficiencies in the game, but the fact that the second patch — the one that is supposed to correct many of these problems — is delayed once again means players that bought the game in good faith are still waiting for fixes that shouldn’t have been in the gold release.

Once players can get past these issues, there is a potential for a lot of fun with this game. There is a lot of good here and I honestly think that if Silent Hunter 5 follows the series history and is patched adequately, this will be a winner. Sadly, the fact is for right now, I cannot recommend Silent Hunter 5: Battle of the Atlantic in its current condition.

Now this is a professional reviewer. If I was indecicive about buying SH5 and decided not to do so based upon the review, would I be naive and gullible? Then why should I value my fellow subsimmers' opinions any less? In fact, I value theirs' more so.

I am tremendously impressed by the graphics examples I've seen. Heck, some of them appear to be almost photo quality! Makes me drool, in fact, and I'm greatly envious.

But one of the most, if not the most, recognized attraction of SHIII, was the random, dynamic campaign, and I can't help but feel that, somewhere along the line, Ubisoft missed the boat (no pun intended).

[Kapitanleutnant]

Originally Posted by Moeceefus

what the hell are you talking about?! way to cut out the other half of my post in an attempt to take it out of context. let me rephrase here, first hand expierience is the only way to formulate a valid opinion on a video game! better?

No, not better. I don't need to buy a copy of any Derek Smart game to know that it's going to be ****ing terrible. I can rely on many hundreds of professional and user-created reviews and previews, I can look it up on metacritic, I can ask my friends.
Similarly: I did not need to buy SH5 to know that it would be a bug-ridden pile of **** - SH3 and SH4 already set that standard, and lo - I was right.

You see, Humans have an ability to learn based on past experiences, and the unique ability to use their imagination to predict (with some accuracy) the outcome of future events based on this experience. It's a survival instinct that separates us from the Animals.

Well, it separates me from the animals. I'm not too sure about you, since you're only capable of learning through direct experience.

FIRE IS HOT!?

[Feuer Frei!]

@schlechter pfennig,
good post(s), i totally see where you are coming from...
glad that the "speed bumps" ( trolls) have subsided and we can continue what has so far been a good thread.