posted 11-28- 08:08 PM               

this game sucks.. I'm getting sick of new games coming out that say they have great phyics and when you touch the grow you blow up.. when will they learn..

posted 11-29- 12:23 AM               

Saw it at work, brought the disk home, tried it, hated it, deleted it.

SDOE STILL RULES!!

posted 11-29- 01:29 PM               

quote:

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Try it, you may hate it too.

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LOL!!! Pete...

posted 11-29- 05:13 PM               

I had read somewhere that there are only 20 missions. And, no mission editor! Personally, I don't see how you can have a single-player sim with no mission editor. If multiplayer had to be pulled, they should have made up for that loss by extending single-player features. A mission editor would have been the best way to do that.

posted 11-29- 05:39 PM               

They don't have a mission editor per se...but they do have the options of your changing loadouts, targets, waypoints, etc--- seems to me that that is pretty close to a mission editor as you can get without actually being one. I wonder how the GP bombs work as opposed to the incendieries, and the like. Anyone know?

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Brought to you by the campaign for a better Dauntless!

posted 11-29- 06:01 PM            

the problem with some of you guys is FS has become your point of comparsion, just like halflife is compared to every new fps saying "oh its nothing like halflife, screw it" this tottaly gets on my nerves that people become so narrowed minding and diss games because its too different.

posted 11-29- 06:17 PM               

You're probably right about that, but I've come to the conclusion that there are certain foundational elements that all sims should have. Multiplayer and mission editors are two things that I think all sims should have in some form at this point. I can't even think of one recent combat flight sim that doesn't have some form of multiplayer.

I guess my argument isn't that it's different, but that it's lacking in what I consider key features.

I am really curious to try B-17 II, though. I love bombers and those crew animations look really top-notch. The fighter cockpits are also amazing.

I despise the fact that they went with a 2d interior on the bomber, though :-( That's a personal preference, though. :-)

posted 11-29- 07:01 PM               

I have B172 on it's way right now (hopefully). I'm anxious to try it out as a B17 sim, and I'm specifically intriqued by the crew management aspects of the game. This is unique to any flight sim that I'm aware of. I am concerned by the accounts by some of the games problems with stability and play, but I have not dismissed the game out of hand...yet.

I'm alittle surprised that some people would dismiss the game after only a few hours, or even minutes of play. Imagine if everyone had judged SDOE so quickly. Oh yeah, they did! Of course they were roundly critisized (and rightfully) so by some of the same guys pouncing on B172. Weird, guess it's easy we forget sometimes.

I'm giving this game a real shakedown when I get it.
I'm going to give the developers awhile to address it's problems.
I'm going to hope that if it has any merit at all the B172 community will figure a way to add things to it, much like the EAW community has.

I was disapointed during it's development that a mission editor was not to be included. I hate it that it doesn't have multiplayer. I'm unhappy that the fighters have no campaign at all. I can't believe they didn't put in a free flight mode. It sucks that the user community is unable (at least for now) to add skins and their own nose art.
But, I have a list at least that long of things I wish SDOE had, or I don't like. I learned to look past those things I didn't like in SDOE, because of all the great things I loved about it. I'm hopefull B172 in the end will have enough things to love to make me happy about my purchase.

But, will it replace SDOE for me? Oh please!!! Not a freakin chance! SDOE as time goes on proves it's brillance more and more. God I love this game! But, B172 might have aspects that make it a damn fine game (I'm betting on the crew management part). Don't discount it before you have a chance to read more info, or play it yourself.

Thats what I'm planning to do, maybe this week.

posted 11-29- 07:23 PM               

Heres a quick summary:

Using the turrets and flexible guns is now possible, unlike SDOE where only the AI can really use them. Some may say thats reality for ya but I think its harder to control a turret with a joystick and no training.

Sound isn't so bad. You can adjust everything.

There is 5 Training Missions and 6 Quickies, I'm not sure about the rest. There isn't a Mission Editor so what you see is what you get.

I see no room for mods, and I really don't like that silver scheme, I would love a green one.

No FM to speak of, an FW-190 in a 90 climb justs falls over and dives, kinda like the early Spitfires in SDOE. Dogfighting isn't
as much fun as SDOE, theres is'nt afeeling of actually flying, the formations are stuck together like glue. But the gun ballistics fell so real. It actually is scary to try a tail pass on a formation, and your always wishing for bigger guns and more ammo. The smoke effects feel and look just like a WWII film. This part is just so cool. It is so real. You can ditch and lose body parts and all that stuff.

Graphics are just plain excellent. Everything in the cockpit is clickable, and does something.

On my P-500, 128RAM, 8MB Ati card with full graphics 1200x1600 its a slide show but at lowest detail and 800x600 16bps its not bad.
On my P-700, 256RAM, 32MD Card at full graphics its okay. It takes about a second or two to switch positions.

The cockpits are absolutely beautiful and most switches click. Starting the eninges is something to be learned and mastered.

Mirthain you can belly land your plane, its in one of the first training missions.

JT the 2D interior works well, the crew animations are SOOOO real. Once when the pilot said get ready for take off I saw the Radio Operator lean back, take his mike off, and yell something back at the waist gunners. It was like a joke or something!
I don't thinnk you can paint your planes either. It will stay interesting for about 2 weeks.

It will never replace SDOE, and thats not a cry out in desperation, its a simple fact.

One thing I don't like is that to fly the fighters they must be in your mission and then you can hop into them. I would really love to try the enigne startup sequence but to do that I have to land, shut off engines and start again.

Also the keys are assigned so strangely. Landing gear conrtols are on the cursors.
View controlas are 0, Del, 3 and 6 on the Numpad and to fly with keyboard you use (;(.)(z)(x)

Anymore questions?

Snake

posted 11-29- 09:07 PM               

B-17 II has ONE external view. Sure you can pan and zoom it, but personally thats a MAJOR letdown for me. In SDOE you get that PLUS a great follow view, tower view, and now with the patch a fly-by view. To leave out such things like this in a modern day sim is completely nuts and takes so much away from the fun IMHO.

Crash, and the plane breaks up a little bit and then BAM you are back in the menu's. Unlike SDOE where you can watch a cool crash, and if able, try to fly your damaged plane. Or you can slew the view around and explore EVERYTHING!

And probably most of all, my biggest gripe with B-17II. The color of the terrain, and it's flatness. It just doesn't look good at all. I've yet to see rolling hills and such. It's all flat flat flat and very boring. Yuck. No thanks. If some of you like it, really like it, I'm happy you do. For me it's just not my cup of tea. Stick with what you enjoy. That's all that matters.

posted 11-30- 12:13 AM               

I havent really played enough with b17-2 to say if its good or not but one thing I am really disappointed in is the FM of the fighters.. all the previews I saw said they had FMs that were better than most other games ( it makes me wonder who's paying off these reviewers. It may still be worth it if you are a bomber fanatic tho..

TS

posted 11-30- 09:22 AM            

My secound impression was " Hmmm, that was cool. Wonder what this does?"

My third impression was " This is really neat!"

I am still deciding if it is a great game. It has probs but it is large and very complex. It pushes the graphical and sound envelope and thus we have nothing that will run it perfectly. There could be some built in bugs, hard to tell yet. A flawed gem for sure.

B-17 looks ok, I know W. T. will get ours looking as good or better. The fighters are very similar to Jane's WWII in looks and FM. I have played a quick mission in a 109 that puts me coming at some B-17's and it is very realistic in speed and engagement. But this is a bomber sim and the bomber steals the show.

I like the gun posistions and the bombing the best. The bombing is as real as it gets with a fully functional Norden. The guns, on high sound, rattle and bang and the tracers are true to real. The crew is cool at first but seem repetitive after awhile. Instead of moving around in the bomber you get to change to several fixed camera areas, bummer. The detail is overwhelmning and this is a game you must give a chance and some time to.

Yes SDOE honey, I have strayed but not for long dear. This girl I have been seeing is a flashy blonde but you, my dear, are the one I will always come home to.

posted 11-30- 08:02 PM               

So much for cutting multiplayer to release it in time for christmas.