For those that have gotten past the glorious VFR experience, I have a question:
Consider the published timelines from Asobo:
Multi-Monitor Support: 2021-22 Status: “Started”
Replays: 2021, Status: Prototype
Question: Would you have bought the game in August (or shortly thereafter) knowing up front the Flight Sim would not include the above two items?
Personally, I would have skipped the Deluxe version ($118) had I known the game would ship as a “VFR game with bugs”. Specifically, the aircraft gained in the Deluxe Versions have many missing functionality and IFR remains… well… a work in progress. However, the timelines given for the BASIC tools of a flight sim like robust Replay system and reasonably functional IFR makes me have buyers remorse.
That is not to say I don’t think the VFR is leaps above all other versions, if not SPECTACULAR, but that is where the advantage ends. DEPTH and functional immersion remains months away and “a work in progress”.
Welcome to the new model: “reverse funding via beta”
Yes I would. I bought the Premium Deluxe even though I was probably satisfied with the Gamepass provided standard edition. Just to make sure I did my part to helpt this endeavor to live up to it’s “promise” to be the platform for the coming decade (at least).
Right now I’m not having a great time (wanting to fly the Longitude IFR, search the forum and you’ll see why lol)… but it’s an investment for me.
Good question. For me, yes.
As you imply, it has much to do with the kind of flying you enjoy, and I like GA/bush. Past that though, a project that is this much more potentially comprehensive in scope than any other flightsim that I know of (been doing it since 1984), I just knew that there would be a huge development curve, especially given the expectations that were being planted in our community’s minds with the previews. I believe we’ll get there…eventually. Until then we just have to manage our expectations, be a part of the work in progress, and fly for as much fun as we can.
Yes. I see it as an investment in the next generation of sim. FSX was exactly like this in the beginning. People either didn’t live through it, or they don’t remember. I do. The dry season between four Service Packs over a ten year period, and people are up in arms because we’ve moved to a 30 day update cycle makes me laugh.
This product is also a reflection of the software development landscape that created it. FSX barely qualifies as a Waterfall development project. MSFS is a child of Agile Development - Minimum Viable Product. You can argue if you’d like about “Early Access” labelling, but that’s a business marketing phenomenon, not a true software operating model.
I would not have bought it, they blatantly lied when they sold this game as a finished product, this is an early access with most airliners in a pre-alpha state.
Right now I am only waiting for a payware 737 or a320 to come, once they do I will not play any other game for a year.
Those particular issues no.
But if would have known autopilot would be barely working until Feb 2021
AI would be patch worked together with a TBD as to when it will be improved upon
MFD’s that barely work especially when trying to add approaches in flight
Airliners that sway back and forth at high altitude
Airliners that have trouble reaching 10k ft below their service ceiling
You areb totally right! But Asobo did not sell anything! Microsoft soldus a license… That is all. We should request an statement (oficial) from Microsoft! It is the least they should do!
I would have still bought it. I’m not big on replays or multi monitor anyways, and I’m able to work around bugs.
Besides, having an FSX crash after 4 gigs of ram are used up (and P3D after 8 gigs of vram) all the while looking at terrible scenery makes you really want to try something new.
And I like to think that my money is going towards continued development of a revolutionary software engine; I’d say it’s a good investment for a good cause.
Now, that’s a bad excuse. Already during the Seattle presentation back in 2019, MS/Asobo clearly stated that it would NOT be a study level simulator, but that they had decided to do a more mainstream sim that would suit everyone and they would leave the study level up to other developers.
Yes for me too. I bought into the vision, not the release day product, and to date I am not disappointed (bugs and all).
What I’m getting for my $120 is a bargain when compared to the cost to get competing products to a similar level of immersion with add-ons (if that’s even possible).
A product like this would never have been feasible without the backing of someone like Microsoft - the initial investment in the needed tech would have been just too large. It will take years for MS to re-coupe their investment, which is also why I’m confident that the best is yet to come.
I’m just grateful that a product like this, that appeals to such a niche market, has seen the light of day - that investment couldve just as easily gone to the next CoD which would have yielded much quicker a returns for someone like MS, but fortunately for us all someone’s vision has prevailed.
How much sim IFR time do you have in FS2020? How much do you have IRL?
I ask because I am a real world instrument rated pilot, who uses the sim almost exclusively for IFR point-A to point-B flying, and except for the “Crazy Ivans” that happen when activating an approach, I haven’t really run into any “IFR problems”, so I’m curious what you’ve seen that I haven’t.
Default airliners have always been a joke in MSFS products, probably even back to ver 1.0 which was even before my old butt started sim-flying. At first it was almost certainly out of necessity, as the hardware and software required to run realistic airliner sims just didn’t exist, and wouldn’t for decades, but after awhile it became on purpose in order to keep the pre-teen and teenager demographics happy.
Those folks jump straight into the big iron, and would get ■■■■■ if realism made them impossible to fly, so the devs dumb them down to keep them happy, and to continue spending mommy and daddy’s money on the products.
But when the day came that the tech actually allowed for it to be possible, along came PMDG and others to fill that niche with proper airliners, although you pay for that heavily. And in my case, I’ll lineup (and wait) and happily give them my money for their products when they’re released.
I may also give the business jets a go at some point, too, and perhaps even a piston twin as well.
But, I have realistic expectations about what the default airliners will (and won’t) do and avoid them like the plague. I’ll enjoy my TBM, Cessnas, and Mooney (if Carenado ever gets around to fixing it) until some real big iron comes online. The only thing the default ones have in common with real airliners is that they look the same from the outside.
And at the risk of being repetitive, that’s done on purpose. And it’s a smart move from a business perspective to do so if you ask me. I just wish the 3rd parties could get their stuff done faster, but it is what it is.