Gameplay or Realism? Which do you prefer?

[oRGy]

I prefer realism that is interesting and teaches me something. Realism that is laborious and wastes my time I do not like.

For example, the endlos waiting around in real life as you watch your sub icon crawl along the screen is 'realistic' in the sense that indeed this is what it was like for sub crews, i.e. mostly long patrols of boredom.

However, Das Boot depicts this same process but in a more interesting way - you are engrossed in the atmosphere, the character development, and so forth, whereas in SH3 you are simply bored.

If I was designing SH3, that whole sequence would be cut and you'd either be managing/interacting with your crew actively (think black and white 2 rather than current SH3), looking around your boat etc, reading something interesting, or you'd be skipped to the next important event - which could be either a destroyer 200m off the port bow, an engine failure, a crew problem, etc... None of this waiting around pointlessly anyway.