Rise of Flight - To buy or not to buy?

[Blackdog_kt]

On its initial release i wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole. Iron cross edition is significantly better but i still haven't bought it. For the record, i have tried the demo on three separate occasions several months apart, so that i could get an accurate feel of the progress it's making. Since the demo is actually an unregistered copy of the full game only with limited playability, the latest patches are applied to it and you can judge what has changed. One thing that's missing is the ability to deny installation of a patch or roll back to a previous version in case a new update breaks more than it fixes, but generally nothing has been terribly broken thus far and the updates on important issues that get discovered are being worked on constantly.

If there's another version down the line with true offline gameplay (not everybody's internet is that reliable, intermittent disconnects are a minor nuisance when browsing forums but a serious hindrance when the game tries to upload the mission stats/download the next mission in the campaign and you're stuck with pressing "retry" for half an hour) and properly fleshed out campaigns i would seriously consider it.

It's not the pay-per-plane scheme they are using that's putting me off (after all, 5.5 Euros a piece is not a terrible price), but the fact that this business model makes the devs focus on flyables exclusively.
I would prefer less flyables and more AI aircraft so that the computer doesn't, for example, spawn late war Sopwith Snipes against my early war Albatros D.II because it lacks the aircraft types to do a proper, historically accurate representation.
Also, this model greatly diversifies everyone's available planeset, so each server must make sure to run missions that use at least one of the stock aircraft per side that are provided with the base install package and these are only late war aircraft.
If the early war theaters open up down the line, there would be a need to have a few of the respective aircraft types as freeware add-ons, otherwise people would find themselves having to sit out an entire mission every now and then due to a lack of appropriate flyables on their accounts to fly it.

In the end, the decision depends on how you want to fly it.

As a purely online pass time i'd say it would be pretty solid at this stage. If what you mostly care about is flying online and you find a few servers that cater to your preferred gameplay, the always online DRM and the lack of an in-depth single player campaign won't bother you at all and this will let the rest of its advantages shine on their own merit: graphics, sounds, flight model physics, versatile mission builder and its very true to life sense of altitude and speed. I would include the damage model too but some things appear a bit artificial and dodgy sometimes in regards to it, nothing that the devs aren't made aware of or are unable to fix however.
Spend an extra 20-30 Euros on a few add-on flyables for some variety and you would be good to go.

If you mostly care about flying in-depth single player scenarios, then you would be better of waiting a few more months until they flesh it out a bit more in this department.

[lbuchele]

Originally Posted by MD_Titus

i've got a dual core oc'd to 3.2ghz, a 280gtx and 4gig ram, running xp sp3 32bit though, so only got 3gig usable.

it runs fine, i have some landscape settings lowered to improve performance mind.

and yes, i would recommend getting it. it is a bit of a pain to get all set up, which can put people off, but if you persevere with that then you're sorted. good fun all round.

I have a E 8400 overclocked to 3.6 Ghz with a GTX 260 and 4 GB RAM running in Win 7 professional.
It doesn´t run very well , only with reduced settings, it has a lot of hiccups.
I have read in the ROF forum that there are an issue with dual cores, the game is optimized to run in quad cores , it scalate very well in fps running in quads, what I think it´s great actually.
Botton line, it´s a great product, made for a team of passionates and it continues to grow and improve along time.
I pretend to return playing it when I finally do my upgrade to SOW.

[bf-110]

The game looks awesome,like an WWI Storm of War.
Will see if I can find this one.

Heard it came from a ***ing IL2 team that decided to split from the game.

[Coen020]

thanks for all replies, you guys convinced me thats for sure.
still having some hassle with a voucher for a amazone-like website
so i can get it for more then half the price

i can play the demo with everything on maximum on a decent fps (1920 x 1080) but then again there are no missions in the demo with 20+ planes, so still keeping my fingers crossed.

Do i correctly understand that the iron cross edition has a lot of planes included that weren't in the initial release however there are still planes that can/must be bought as dlc?

thanks, and hope to see you online in rof (see you in my gunsights that is)

[Robert]

Eight FLYABLE planes verses the original FOUR that came in the original RoF. I'd check the RoF website store for clarification though.

I'm sure there will be a sale again where extra planes can be purchased for half price. ALL the planes are available as AI. So flying the Handley bomber is out unless you buy it, but you can fly against it no matter if you own it or not.

If you already have the demo installed (which appears you do) ......

http://riseofflight.com/en/store/demoupgrades

[Ctrl E]

definately buy it. the aircraft are works of art. and the damage model is amazing. i find il2 very hard to play after RoF. it really shows its age.

[smink1701]

I would pass. I would agree with many of the positive comments I've seen here but I never find myself wanting to play the game. FM is still very twitchy and it is very hard to shoot someone down. You spend most of your time chasing someone in circles. Might be realistic but also a bit tedious. Now...for some real fun and something totally different, I would suggest MS Flight Sim X Gold Edition. I find the missions quite addictive.

[Baron]

Originally Posted by Ctrl E

definately buy it. the aircraft are works of art. and the damage model is amazing. i find il2 very hard to play after RoF. it really shows its age.

Without going into why, my thoughts are the exactly the other way arround.

Very nice ac moddels but the rest?


It cracks me up thinking about that threadh over at HQ about the Handly Page with 75(ish)% of its wingarea shot of and RoF more or less proved it would actually would fly irl since it did so in the game (or some nonsens to that effect) A user actually had to prove there was a fault in the model that needed correction before they did anything about it.

Anyways, im sure the OP knows if he would like it or not, since he allredy tried the demo (i think) and its not like the annual budget would go down the crapper if he didnt after bying it (unless he wants to buy ALL the planes that is, hihi....just kidding...maby)

[TUSA/TX-Gunslinger]

Buy it now.

I was an original beta tester, and spent 18 months on the test team with Rise of Flight - spending countless hours flying these aircraft.

It takes quite a bit of time to master this sim, as the FM and atmosphere is significantly more complex than previous prop sims.

ROF is probably one of the most mis-understood titles in the genre. Many opinions have and are posted about it, with the usual embellishments (pro and con) added to the point that the only real way to understand it, is to experience it.

I believe three improvments will be released this year:

1) Single player career
2) A single significant addition to the FM which will "right" many of the percieved FM deviations from pilot accounts for all aircraft
3) more twin seaters and missing singles

Updates have been constant at the 2 to 3 month mark - with significant content and enhancements. Go to the ROF forums and web pages and see for yourself.

If you wait until it's perfect, you'll be a long way down on the proficiency index.

I believe that ROF is a better prepartory experience for SOW than Il2, actually. Of course, that's just my opinion.

Buy it now, play it now. It's an awesome achievement in it's own right.

S!

Gunny

[Bearcat]

I'd say that depends.. if you like WWI action buy it... I have come to the conclusion that I prefer WWII flying over anything else... Jets.Helos or Bi Planes.. The Warbirds are my niche so to speak.. but just as a sim.. it is a decent product.. it is a good product...