What's so great?

[maillemaker]

I don't see why people love SHIII soooooo much.


The bad graphics and simplicity make it seem pretty boring.

Well, I have purposefully not moved on to SH4 or SH5 because I have not yet mastered SHIII. It is not an easy game. It is a highly compelling game, as you work hard and invest time in growing your crew and racking up tonnage, while trying to avoid the ever-better escorts.

I have never made it through the war with Dead is Dead, and that is my goal.

I'm personally highly impressed with the SH3 graphics. When you play 100% realism you lose the external camera anyway so frankly your views of the outside world become somewhat limited.

I would like to see more of the interior of my sub, but it's really just eye candy.

I will never play SH5 so long as it contains phone-home DRM in order to play.

[KL-alfman]

even SH3-stock (I played more than a year without any mods - right after its release) is a very immersive and accurate simulation.
only after I installed it again and encountered the "save-game bug" I came here to SubSim and learned how to add even more realism and immersion to the game.
graphics I never considered "ugly" or out-dated, because I prefer the strategical and tactical aspects of the game.

regarding immersion: some convoy-attacks (especially after mid-1943) were so "frightening" (because of the bright and ever-alert escorts) that I had to pause, smoke a cigarette and cool down my nerves to continue playing.

regarding replayability: especially like to open and dynamic campaigning. no patrol is like the former one. you can do whatever you like to achieve your goals, after visiting your patrol-grid you are free to sail whatever hunting ground you estimate to be juicy. e.g., in Operation Drumbeat I travelled to the assigned PG but guessed there might be better grounds with more depth under keel. so I hung out around the SE of Halifax to hit poorly defended gathering convoys there.

as for comparison with SH5:
first I must say that my only impressions are from the SH5-board and some trailer-vids.
I think I'm not wrong when I claim that the majority of the members of SubSim would have been content with a polished and graphically enhanced version of SH3. but SH5 turned out to be completely different.
I really am disappointed how the publisher treated this sequel to the series. not only they established the most rigid copy-protection which has you to allow UBI free access to your PC-data, they also force you to set up a personal account at U-play, which I never will do (just want to play a game, after all). the only "relation" I like to have with UBI is that of a provider-costumer one, nothing more.

also there are some issues in game-play that will bring me to - probably - never buy it (even if DRM is patched out):
- no compass
- no depth under keel
- RPG-elements
- broken AI
- patrols end after achieving the mission-target, even if you are amidst an attack (you will be teleported out of the game)
- and many minor bugs (amongst others the old save-game bug)

sure some of them might be fixed by patches or the modders but I doubt that I ever can make friends with SH5 (pls think about the 3/4 of players who don't know about modding or do searches in the netz about them!, they have to deal what UBI presents them!!).

finally, pls be aware that some more SH5-postings will occur here in the board of SH3. mainly because of provoking and showing how "superior" SH5 is, some others would like us to change the "sides" of our beloved sim. we might have to cope with being adressed as "boring old-farts" because we haven't changed to SH5.
but I can live with that


edit: but I do look forward to SH4 with the UBM add-on (Ducimus pictured it in shiny colours, so I surely will give it a try)

[krashkart]

Originally Posted by YukonJack_AK

To the gentleman complaining about the lack of graphics in SH3 comapred to the over the top "theatrics" in SH5... I'd like to point out how much fun games from the early 90's like Aces over Europe, 688I, etc were - THEY WERE GREAT! Yes, in comparison to todays 1080p blah blah b.s. they pale in comparison but what made them great was the fact that you still HAD to use a little imagination. So they had pixels the size of thumb-prints, big deal. They were fun and engaging and you could get lost for days. Personally, I'd rather the game dev's spend more time on game play that graphics whoredom - the games would be SO much better SH3 may not be the prettiest girl on the block... but she's got the best "personality"

Originally Posted by KL-alfman

also there are some issues in game-play that will bring me to - probably - never buy it (even if DRM is patched out):
- no compass
- no depth under keel
- RPG-elements
- broken AI
- patrols end after achieving the mission-target, even if you are amidst an attack (you will be teleported out of the game)
- and many minor bugs (amongst others the old save-game bug)

No compass?

No DUK??? How can there...

Patrols end after achieving mission target? %$#@ that.

[Hook]

Originally Posted by KL-alfman

- patrols end after achieving the mission-target, even if you are amidst an attack (you will be teleported out of the game)

Well, that's one way to eliminate all those "boring" depth charge attacks. No wonder there's no Depth Under Keel, you'll never need it.

I gotta say I like the idea of the RPG elements, although I'll bet it's pretty annoying after a short time in the stock game. I'm guessing the modders will find a way to make it better.

---

I was never interested in submarine simulations until someone showed me the original Silent Hunter and explained how everything worked: how to track an target, set up an intercept, do a torpedo run, and I was hooked. Silent Hunter 2 (and Destroyer Command) was a considerable improvement in graphics (the original SH was sprites, for gosh sake!), and SH3 even better. The eye candy improved, but the mind candy was always there from the beginning. The mind candy is what makes SH3 and the earlier versions great, and it sounds like a lot of the mind candy is missing from SH5.

I was using a slide rule as early as SH2 to figure torpedo solutions, find target ranges, do time/distance calculations, plot intercepts and the like. I've been using the Flash version of the Wiz Wheel lately, which is much better (it came out since the last time I played SH3). I even assembled my own paper version tonight, feeling like a Jedi building his own light saber. Would I even have a use for it in SH5?

It's not even the mods that make SH3 great. The game was great before we had them, but they made a good game even better.

Perhaps one day SH5 will be better than SH3. I'll find out in a few years after the modders have had a chance to work their magic and the DRM is removed. I bought SH3 (with StarForce) when I got a new computer and I've never quite forgiven Ubi for making XP crash more than ME ever did, not to mention ending up with a dead DVD drive.

Hook

[KL-alfman]

fine post, hook!

especially liked the expression: "mind candy"!!