First of all I want to say that I really think MSFS is a beautiful game, absolutely stunning.
But I want to address something that I think is overlooked, and maybe hear some opinions about it.
Second, I am aware that there are many bugs and other issues regarding MSFS that people (including me) wants to see addressed before anything else. So this will not be a “I want this, instead of fix nr# on the list”. So thats the disclaimer out of the way.
This beautiful stunning 3D representation of the real world is amazing, in every way. From the scenery to the oceans and clouds. Yet somehow It feels so empty, dead if you like. I have said it before, but to me what makes a game a simulator is all in the details. Details of the visuals (which we definately have), and in the systems and physics (we are slowly getting there) and so on.
What seems to be missing is the vibrant feeling of a living world. Yes, there are cars moving around and aircrafts and vehicles at airports as well as in the skies, but those are just that - vehicles moving from point a to b. In the same sense that there are ground personal at the airports I wish there was more focus on that aspect out in the world as well, and in the skies.
I realize that a major focus for the dev team is optimization, so whatever is done needs to have little to no performance impact. But I still think there are ways to get the world more “alive”.
The Fauna option and slider is great, but unless you are doing VFR safari flights or looking in very spesific locations you will never see any of this.
What about birds in the skies? Regarding performance impact, why not just make them extremely simple 2d sprites moving around. What about the same for people here and there?
What about having moving or blinking lights in the scenery, smoke from chimneys, things moving or just anything to make the world seem more alive. Of course made in such a way to keep performance impact close to 0.
There is no built in crew or passenger system, no passengers in airliners, no “mission” mode. I realize that has never been implemented before either, but point remains - its simple things that would just add to the realism, the simulation part of this… game.
For a game that pride itself with photorealistic graphics and scenery, it would be great if that same focus and attention to details was given to other aspects as well. Theres no ground roll or smoke from the tires on landing, no ground effect or updrafts. Yet It seems that there is so much focus on fixing bugs and adding more realistic scenery.
To me, it is like playing a freediving/submarine simulator with no marinebiology, no fish in the sea or algae or plants swaying or sand whirling in the currents with bubbles, you get the idea.
The fact that it took this long to get client side only-my-aircraft contrails into the game is somewhat alarming. Its like a boat simulator with no wake trail.
There is no wakes in the sea behind ships, no moving trains or active oilrigs (I think), no wing wake/turbulence, no visual air slipping over the wings, no particle system, no carrier landings, no helicopters. The cars and trailers could need a upgrade with some added lights as well.
I am not even talking about the realism of flight models, dynamics or flight systems (which is at best mediocre). I am more talking about that it seems to me that all of the focus is spent on realistic detailed scenery, and not much on what makes a world actually appear realistic as you move around in it.
As of now all of it is left up to 3rd party content creators, and they can only do so much. You need a 3rd party mod to have somewhat realistic ship traffic, people added to the world, jet fighters, supersonic flight, pilots/copilots in the cockpit, light modifications, passengers simulation/systems and so on, Vatsim for somewhat realistic air traffic, the list goes on. And thats on top of of course the more in depth flight systems that creators like WT and FBW delivers. Even the built in multiplayer system seems to not be very good at displaying correct aircraft models and liveries. Imagine that. A flight simulator that doesnt really bother representing aircrafts around you correctly. Why not have it so that it loads the correct model, but if you dont have the livery it uses a default livery?
I just get a feeling that this game is meant to be played alone, in external view and taking screenshots of the scenery. “Here I am flying next to Big Ben” , “Here is the empire state building” , “Here is mount everest”. It simply can not be a coincidence that the most popular topics on this forum is the screenshot ones, and you get forum titles as “photographer”.
I mean, its all great, I love it - but maybe not at the cost of making the world and flying feel realistic… alive.
Me personally would love to see more focus on the details that makes the world feel like more alive and less like just a backdrop for pretty pictures. And to people saying msfs is new, give it time, remember fsx at launch, well I agree. But it is 2021 now, this game has been in development for a long time, beta for a year, and released for over half a year. Older sims was developed in a time where they could only dream about the tech and dev-tools that exists today. And its not even about the quality, tech or bugs, we know how amazing it can be, just look at the scenery and the pretty visuals. But no contrails for everyone, no people in the aircrafts, no wakes in the ocean behind ships or no birds flying in the skies is just a little disappointing in 2021 for a simulator.
There is so much attention that could be given to some of the details that makes the world feel more alive, yet it is nowhere to be seen. Bug fixes and scenery addons seems to be the only focus.
I really wish this simulator would knock the socks off older and alternative simulators. Yet sadly some of them seems to still be preferred for reasons usually tied to realism. And that, to me, is just sad. While the developers seems to be pumping out more and more pretty scenery.
This is not meant to be a negative complaint thread about msfs, as I still love it and play it. I will as most others just wait however long it takes before it gets most of the puzzle pieces into place. Its more a plea to please focus on the details as well, because in my opinion - thats what makes it a simulator.
I wonder if anyone has good ideas of ways to make improvements keeping performance in mind.
*edit: I want to specify that I dont mean that the devs should try to prioritize making the world 1:1 realistic down to every human moving around realtime while eating a cheeseburger.
Im more talking about what I think is the very basics of small addidions that can make a difference, like wakes behind ships, contrails behind aircrafts, correct aircraft models displayed, passengers in your airliner, birds in the sky, some blinking lights/lights on vehicles and so on.
Also I realize that there is many mods out there that fills the gap for now, as I have most of them by now Im sure. Im mostly talking about the very scenery orientated focus from Asobo/MS, as we already know they havent really much interest in the study level systems in aircrafts, so that is fine.
