I have seen a lot of negative feedback for Microsoft. If you followed all the discovery series episodes and expected everything to be there on day one I can understand your frustration. I was initially upset that the game felt like a watered down better looking FSX will more bugs. I wasn’t a fan of the interface, control setup and toolbars which lacked the same functionality FSX has. I was borderline refunding the game until I tried out the landing challenges and bush trips. I started to realize I wasn’t playing the game correctly.
I wanted to use the game as a fly from point a to point b IFR airliner simulator. Even when flying locally my house looked like a grey pyramid when I pulled into the driveway furthering my disappointment. But then, I started flying to locations I haven’t been to before with GA aircraft and I realized this game is more detailed than I thought.
Bugalaga airstrip really shows off what the depth the developers have put into this simulation. Try flying there in any other flight simulator and tell me MSFS2020 doesn’t do it the best. There are airports you can’t even find with google maps included in this game.
If you dropped $120 USD and are upset that the B787 isn’t working to your expectations I understand. Before you write this game off try out some of the things it has to offer. I’m not a fanboy or trying to convince you Microsoft is perfect. I just don’t want people to miss out the awesome parts of this game because it doesn’t hit you in the face in the main menu. It takes time to learn to new control layouts and set everything up. Give this game a chance and you will see it’s got a lot more in the world than your realize. It’s also possible that you were told this game was going to be something it isn’t and it might just not be for you. Don’t waste your time complaining on the forums, find a game that is worth your time.
A lot of people only do IFR simming with realistic SOPs and they are not interested in VFR, bush flying and sight seeing. But you are not wrong in the sense that the sim is currently only good for those said activities.
I’m loving every minute of it to be honest, but if others aren’t they aren’t pretty much it was always likely to be like that you bring people together from all kinds of gaming and not everyone is going to like it, doesn’t mean that the are “doing” anything wrong, it just isn’t working for them.
IFR is not the strongest point in this sim right now but VFR is amazing, i mainly fly VFR tried IFR a few times and didn’t like it, i understand why ppl like but it’s not my cup of tea.
BTW a guy worked on the A320 and got some improved functions to the ECAM get a look at it, am pointing it out cuz we may have a study level cessna from the stander one and that is amazing
Microsoft is likely going to take the time to appeal to those people. If this simulator was tailored to that audience first, then it would likely miss out on a large portion of the people who are playing a flight simulator for the first time.
Well imo it’s about time for the ole Salty Tube Pilots to come on back down to VFR bushvile for a bit , just long enough for IFR things to get ironed out.
I am totally in agreement that it’s exactly what they’ve done ( i.e. gone after the lucrative casual market first) but that’s also the exact opposite of what they initially claimed they were after.
An existing large market of addon scenery across multiple platforms would indicate that there is in fact a large audience of VFR pilots. Just like in the real world, if you’re attracking new pilots, you’re not dropping them into an Airbus. You are dropping them into a small single and you’re telling them to keep their eyes outside.
Every sim is created for those who fly Cessnas. Simply because C152/C172 and others like this, are many times easier to develop than b787 or a320. But most of people still want IFR and airliners. I have never liked to fly small plains because I hate to fly over a blurry mess of pixels which they usually call “terrain”. But this sim is different. They introduced some new technologies, so made it possible to feel vfr flights much more realistic. Thank you Microsoft for this! I will fly vfr with pleasure… but until the first day when normal airliners will come to this game. Because when a kid dreams to be a pilot, he think about airliners not c172! Even if this kid 40-60 years old!!
Well not everyone starts flying in a 747 , most start out in small planes.
and I totally agree IFR stuff needs a lot of work and should be on the top of the list all the AP issues. But things will come maybe not as fast I would like but they will get it.
This is like a house, We have a house now , We just need the furniture moved in and all the things that make a house living and breathing to get moved in. It will come!!! Dang furniture movers just slow sometimes
It’s not a matter of “playing the game wrong,” or even “using the sim incorrectly.”
It’s a matter that certain features are supposed to be working at launch, in order to make the experience more fulfilling.
Notably, not everyone has a broad-band connection that can support streaming the high-quality scenery, even though that’s one of the tentpoles of this program. I’ll even argue MOST people (not just in the US) don’t have that speed or low-latency.
Fixing the map cache would go a long way to improving the situation for a lot of VFR flyers. And it likely could improve FPS rates in-sim, allowing all of us to enjoy some measure of the Photorealism that’s been touted over and over pre-release.
It may take years, granted. FSX is a much more polished sim now than it was in release nearly fourteen years ago. But Asobo and MS need to step up and show they’re listening, and start fixing the immediate triage problems - such as installation and pulldown woes. That’s one segment that’s absolutely got to be fixed. Improving Bing Maps integration and Data Quality (i.e., Melbourne 212 floor Tower) is another, especially since it’s such a tentpole solution.
What’s also lacking is the depth and richness of reference and teaching information that was resident in FSX. It’s not enough to land the upgraders - most products survive because they also garner new owners - and for that, the eight lessons in 2020 pales in comparison to to what FSX even delivered in 1.0 in both interactive training and reference material. That’s a big dissonance that shows up every time I fire up the new version.
But Casual , Flight Simming has always been about the community. There are a ton , of videos , mods , forums, discords now that do nothing but help people. This community teaches ppl , for free in real time with coms and real world phraseology how to fly planes…
I get that there are some issues and the CTD’s / Downloading if reported am sure they will get looked at, as that is one of their top priorities.
The problem(s) are numerous - but arguably, it’s the “tentpoles” of the program - such as the ability to consistently stream the scenery in real-time (or alternately, appropriately map cache it in an easy and convenient way if one’s bandwidth wouldn’t support it), that’s part of the “disappointment.” These are the types of problems that should have been caught in QA and addressed before launch, or prepared workarounds in Zendesk FAQ. The disappointment may also trend towards “how” a customer is using the program and for what purpose, but it’s these underlying issues that are making this launch more painful than it had to be.
I will not pretend to be tech savvy all I know is for me personally I bought the Sim, clicked down load and in 3 hours I was off flying in a 172skyhawk with the G1000 around the world. I use the AP a lot it does have issues , there are some scenery issues I have seen, cough cough greenland. But for the 50+ hours I have in game and having many hours in FSX / x-plane , flying with Virtual Airlines on Vatsim. I can say that what they have produced on a Day 1 release just blows my mind. Yes there are issues but I have faith they will get it sorted out.
Your use of the word GAME is correct here, I assume most of us were expecting a SIMULATOR. Can’t really call it that in the current state. I’m afraid Microsoft has overstated the importance of having great graphics and details and forgot the simulator part of the product. Very basic functions are just missing, replay modes, flight analysis, can’t even control the meteorological visibility (but we can adjust the snow depth, very usefull indeed). For me this is a game and not a simulator, there isn’t a great offer of planes either, 2 airliners, the rest is all single engine piston with G1000, no helicopters, no gliders, no classics (of course I knew this before buying). Sure this might be added in the future, but this means that in the current state its fun to fly over your own house, fly some VFR and put it in hibernation mode until more functionality arrives.
Here is the deal though , you have options. No one is going to force anyone to play MSFS 2020. No one is keeping anyone from getting a refund. No one is stopping anyone from playing the game just the way it is.
It’s easy for us to show our criticism in a forum but there are some very hard working people trying and doing an amazing job to give this small community something we need very badly.
Bottom line is this, if you don’t like it stop playing. Go play what ever you enjoy. But this is a public forum on MSFS 2020 . No Dev is going to read your criticism, no one that is playing the game right now cares about any criticism. They are having fun. Now if I was not having fun I would go play something else. As far as being disappointed goes well I have gamed, being around since dial up I know anytime , Any Game , Sim or Anything computer related on Day 1 or even the first month of a release is going to have issues.
But for now I will keep on flying and keep on supporting and keep on reporting issues to Zen desk and keep on trying to be a positive. After all if I was not having fun I would go find my fun somewhere else till things get better.
, just long enough for IFR things to get ironed out.