Silent Hunter IV

mabad · 04-17-06, 01:06 PM

Hi everyone,

I don't know whether this section of the forum is the right one to post, but as there is no section for Silent Hunter IV I think this should be the correct one.

I am not a hard core submariner though I am interested in sub sims. The first sub sim I played was called "Gato" and run in an IBM PC with no hard disk: yep, it started with a floppy disk. For the ones that know it, you will understand the patience needed to play such a game (1985) and the graphics that you could spect from a CGA video card with 16 colors.

I have also played a couple of other sub sims: the old Win95 "688" and also own Silent Hunter II and its companion Destroyer Command (which I enjoyed up to a certain degree as locating a sub with a destroyer was not whet I was expecting, but for the price I payed the price / quality relationship was very acceptable).

When I saw the trailers and started following the forums for Silent Hunter III, I was enthusiastic. The expectations set by the development team were very high and the trailers convinced me they were going to deliver a triple A game. So I think this is one of the few games I bought as it came out right out of the press. (I usually buy two years after the release to have all the patches at once and also cheaper). I don't want to say I was totally disappointed as luckily I did not experience any problems with the Star Force software or other serious problems (the only thing that brought me to laugh was the crew using binoculars under water when restoring a saved game: original version withouth patches). I have to admit I did not get to invest a lot of time in the game, as reading the forums I found out the, in my opinion, serious gaming problems that the game had: better subs loosing enhancements, some subs crashing against the dock when they still had not moved, loosing the star synchonisation or date after saving a game and starting it later. I could manage the crew though a more automated system would have been appreciated.

I appreciate that some modders have sorted out many of the problems that I have mentioned above and other problems, which I consider I could live with. But these solutions came some months after I bought the product. I was daily, which is the first time I do this for any game I have bought, reading the Ubisoft forums to see if there was a new patch, which would cover the game defects found by the forum users until the patch production was discontinued.

My feelings with the new Silent Hunter installment, as good as the software might look, is that I will wait at least 1 year after it is released (going back to my usage) to buy it. Then I will have been able to read all the tid bits and issues it might have and know exactly what I am buying. I don't want to start any flame against Silent Hunter III as it is one of the few games I have installed on my PC, but the expectations were set so high that when I heard about the problems it caused me not to invest much time with the game.

Back to the started topic. I hope that the new sub sim from Ubi will not create such high expectations that the users will complain about what they were expecting. I hope a well proven product is delivered on the first release with only patches to correct minor simulation behaviour errors. And finally I hope that the game will be successful enough so that I can find it on the shelves 1 year after its release without having to search for it (as it is very probable that I will buy it, but with the mentioned delay).

I whish all the best to the development team and to the avid submariners waiting for the release of this new sub sim.

04-17-06, 01:06 PM	#1
mabad Swabbie Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 8 Downloads: 14 Uploads: 0	Silent Hunter IV Hi everyone, I don't know whether this section of the forum is the right one to post, but as there is no section for Silent Hunter IV I think this should be the correct one. I am not a hard core submariner though I am interested in sub sims. The first sub sim I played was called "Gato" and run in an IBM PC with no hard disk: yep, it started with a floppy disk. For the ones that know it, you will understand the patience needed to play such a game (1985) and the graphics that you could spect from a CGA video card with 16 colors. I have also played a couple of other sub sims: the old Win95 "688" and also own Silent Hunter II and its companion Destroyer Command (which I enjoyed up to a certain degree as locating a sub with a destroyer was not whet I was expecting, but for the price I payed the price / quality relationship was very acceptable). When I saw the trailers and started following the forums for Silent Hunter III, I was enthusiastic. The expectations set by the development team were very high and the trailers convinced me they were going to deliver a triple A game. So I think this is one of the few games I bought as it came out right out of the press. (I usually buy two years after the release to have all the patches at once and also cheaper). I don't want to say I was totally disappointed as luckily I did not experience any problems with the Star Force software or other serious problems (the only thing that brought me to laugh was the crew using binoculars under water when restoring a saved game: original version withouth patches). I have to admit I did not get to invest a lot of time in the game, as reading the forums I found out the, in my opinion, serious gaming problems that the game had: better subs loosing enhancements, some subs crashing against the dock when they still had not moved, loosing the star synchonisation or date after saving a game and starting it later. I could manage the crew though a more automated system would have been appreciated. I appreciate that some modders have sorted out many of the problems that I have mentioned above and other problems, which I consider I could live with. But these solutions came some months after I bought the product. I was daily, which is the first time I do this for any game I have bought, reading the Ubisoft forums to see if there was a new patch, which would cover the game defects found by the forum users until the patch production was discontinued. My feelings with the new Silent Hunter installment, as good as the software might look, is that I will wait at least 1 year after it is released (going back to my usage) to buy it. Then I will have been able to read all the tid bits and issues it might have and know exactly what I am buying. I don't want to start any flame against Silent Hunter III as it is one of the few games I have installed on my PC, but the expectations were set so high that when I heard about the problems it caused me not to invest much time with the game. Back to the started topic. I hope that the new sub sim from Ubi will not create such high expectations that the users will complain about what they were expecting. I hope a well proven product is delivered on the first release with only patches to correct minor simulation behaviour errors. And finally I hope that the game will be successful enough so that I can find it on the shelves 1 year after its release without having to search for it (as it is very probable that I will buy it, but with the mentioned delay). I whish all the best to the development team and to the avid submariners waiting for the release of this new sub sim.