LOL
I can't run it on my PC so my friend had to help me out.
he has a quad w/ 2.66 ghz pc.
I'm using my Microsoft 'new OS' approach.
1. wait and see the damage.
2. wait for a patchable or version that runs reliably.
3. wait and see the non MS support community behind it + extra apps.
4. buy, patch, and install (for this game, i'd be play).
I'm going to wait on ROF.
why?
short version:
DRM turns me off esp w/ better DRM methods out there.
ROF bugs are big. They forgot Rule #3 of game fight club. release beta = betamaxed. Don't release beta. (rule 1 n 2 talk about the game club to everyone). Still though pest control (patience + beating up a pillow / punching bag) will work. Somtimes.
ROF content is low. I feel like I just bought a box of my favorite ceral, opened the box, split the plastic bag's top and find it half full. And 5 crunch berries, when the picture has half of it berries and cereal.
However the modeling, physics and eye candy (graphics) is good so if they fix it, its worth it, so I will wait.
Support the flight sim devs, yes. This is why I will get a 2nd copy of IL-2 for backup (one DVD will travel). But support a product that was rushed through QA? This happens more than it should for the video game community. And lower expectations of intended audience is partly to blame.
long version:
first the good:
Gorgeous graphics, excellent physics, and realistic WW I flying. Yes you can crash (planes) just cuz. Wind blows too strong, smack. Squirrelly movements check.
then the bad:
1. the DRM thing. I buy my games. I don't want to be penalized because of some pirate paranoia. Look at Microsoft, they've been fighting pirates and ninjas and you can torrent a modded Vista that runs smoother than a trimmed Pony. Millions and months spent on DRM that the electronic army of hackers undoes in a day. I d/l games to test to see if I like and if I like I buy it. If I don't like it gets erased.
(I'm going to buy backup copy of IL-2 46 dvd). There are so many user friendly ways to implement DRM and they went the hardline. So I'll wait until a good patch / hack / mod / DRM method switch happens.
2. Bugs. I am tired of being punked by game dev companies. Like Age Of Conan ( more like age of crash on). First my friend said registering Rise was a challenge (waiting to time out, then retry etc), and he's tech savvy. On my ROF play, got CTD once, and locked up several times, looked for online connection.
And my friend has solid internet (he plays MMO's and FPS hard core.)
We tried selecting a plane and it says cant access it, then we back out to main menu and back in and NOW can select it.
I'm ok with the funky voice acting, but during a mission when the game quits and blacks out, then you're greeted by your desktop and flash of a window some error message that appears and disappears in the same instant . . .
The fight for good quality continues. I will not be betamaxed and waste $$ and time on something that should have been QA'd properly. And this is basic to any product.
3. loading like playstation. Ok his rig is powerful. It can run 3 instances of Left 4 Dead, two Lord of the Rings online's and run in desktop or in either games as if no thing else is being ran.
He can even render Lightwave style while playing Left 4 Dead (1 instance).
We had some laughs, were waiting for ROF to load, and he switched to Left 4, played a bit, went to check ROF, loading
4. Weak sauce content. 2 planes? Ok, they're trying the Valve angle / Blizzard Starcraft 2 model. Release a 3rd of the game, then more. Ok. But Valve and Blizz are industry heavy hitters and neoqb's the new kid on the block (does neoqb rhym with n00b? ). Valve and Blizzard can make this call given their position.
2 planes and some missions doesn't have the scope of the theater they're trying to represent.
5. buying new planes. I could support this, but being stingy with only 2 planes upon release means they're out for $$. I was laughing at the post on the ubi forums where someone said if this was IL-2, it would have only IL-2 and ME-109 to play lol.
And only 2 planes harkens to this japanese 8 bit ww2 sim where you could fly a cream yellow or green zero or something that looked like a mustang in USN hellcat colors. it was from arcade tail end 3rd person view perspective and you could bomb, torpedo, and shoot at incoming planes ships etc. But thats cuz memory was premium, 8 bit gaming was new frontier.
But this is 09, variety is the spice of life. And IL-2 has raised the standards.
Give something more than 5 planes each side. And more missions, heck maybe even one bomber biplane and missions like that. I don't care if its old school where a gunner uses a modified sextant to aim, picks up a bomb from the basket, and arms the bomb and holds it over the side.
I'm waiting for the 10 planes for $10 sale! It seems they know how rare WW I sims are so they're milking it.
6. The ubi forms post has lots of posts w/ a near fanatical fanboy ism of this game. I'd think lots of people would be wanting this game due to the starving nature of WW I sim and the rarity of good sims of that era.
I notice here, like ubi, flaws of the game and neoqb's shortcomings are overlooked because of the eye candy graphics, the 'ohhh and ahhhh' of a flight sim and the accurate flight model. But ROF has the bugs, the issues, the lack of content, lots of missing qualities from stellar games that should've been there from the start.
Ok, I can understand beggars can't be choosers right? A hungry man's gotta eat? And if your diet is only WW I sims . . . when anything edible shows up, bon appetit, even if its a rat burger (demolition man anyone?). But like Ash, I choose you IL-Two!
Support the sim community. Yes, if product is good. But I don't think so, if its not. I mean, if you buy a buggy product, you are telling the manufacturer you're willing to take something less than the top notch quality we all deserve.
Forget all the doomsaying Flight Sims are dying. IL-2 is just as popular. 7 years and you can still find a strong community going for that. Only games I know of with that longevity are a few MMO's (Asheron's Call) and classics like Nintendo's on its Wii.
Alot of the posts praising ROF seem to be skewed by the lack of good WW I flight sims, heck even WW I sims period (ya it hurts we can count them on our fingers since x86 days) so once one comes up, with graphics and decent flight model its "next best thing since sliced bread" despite the shortcomings.
Ahh, takes more than just eye candy to sell me.
But at least none of the issues are what I would call game breaking. Game hesitant to buy, yes.
So I'll wait for more content, patches to fix the bugs, and hacks / replacement of the DRM.
Plus I have to build a PC, and that takes time cuz I'm going CH for IL-2 first.
See . . . but what if BOB SOW comes out. And also I'm waiting on Starcraft 2, and Mass Effect 2. ROF could slip under the radar . . .
lol
07-14-2009, 08:53 AM
I'm enjoying it despite its flaws, particularly the Albatros which is my fave ride by far, and looks great (Fokker too twitchy for my liking ).
Hybrid Mode
