Why We Choose to Play SH3 Instead of SH4 and/or SH5

[Karl Doenitz]

This thread is a pictured abstract on

• Our Way of 'Game-Immersion'
• Why We Choose to Play SH3 Instead of SH4 and/or SH5

It might appear a bit odd that we still enjoy this old dinosaur 'Silent Hunter III'. Since so many players are returning from SH5 to SH3, this thread is an attempt to introduce them to what has happened in the 15+ years of SH3. This is how it can be explained what we all like about playing SH3... we call it immersive gameplay!

Sure, SH4 and SH5 are newer, with better graphics, and perhaps sound files, but do not have the level of playability as does SH3.  They also do not have the quantity and quality of Super Mods and Mods available, as SH3.  SH3 Modders are still hard at work developing new or updated Mods: GWX Reworked Russian, WAC5.0 and CCOM12.0, to name a few.

Browse through the S3A (SH3 Archives) or susi file downloads section and you will see a massive amount of files available. There have been so many wonderful and immersive Mods, it sometimes makes it difficult to decide which ones to incorporate.

Playability (gameplay), to me, is the most important aspect of a WWII submarine simulation.  In this respect, SH3 is far above SH4 and SH5.  I don't know why the developers messed with the controls overlay when they created SH4.  To me, it is far better in SH3 than the others.  In this regard, "if its not broken, don't fix it", seems to be something overlooked when they took SH3 and upgraded it into SH4 and then SH5. I guess they wanted to draw the masses and younger generation(s) of players, which is why they went more towards arcade game play.

SH3 has held its own against SH4 and SH5, and does not look like it is going to lose the race any time soon. Having been around since 2005, it has withstood the test of time, and is still going strong! Now, lets go sink some merchants....

This is not an attempt to talk other games down, but to show and explain the decision made by the only truely active WW2-U-Boot-Flottille: |DEF|.


...written and compiled by BL!TZKR!EG, GATORDAD & GREY EMINENCE

[REV_Grey Eminence]

Looking aft from Control Room


Looking aft from Galley into Engine Room


Diesel Room looking forward


Diesel Room looking aft


Galley looking forward


Stern Quarters looking forward


Control Room looking aft


Control Room


Control Room looking foward


Radio/Sonar looking aft


Bow Quarters looking forward


A little night action with decks awash


DF sweeps for new target

[REV_BL!TZKR!EG]

"SH 5 allows you to move freely around the submarine, has much better graphics" - but it is too arcady for any simulator fans...

Those who still think SH5 is so much better because they can walk through the U-Boot
(Who does this more than once anyway? I got better things to do in battle!)
should take a look at:

ROWI's Bug- und Heckraum_SH3

Also worth noting:

AOD out of the box functions that SH3 didn't have.
Features in SH1 and Aces That Have Since "Disappeared"

[REV_BL!TZKR!EG]

With all of the very verbose posts, I figured the answer would be obvious. To make a long story short, The objection to the MMO format is because that MMOs are casual by nature. Subsimmers, excluding those who do admit to preferring a more casual experience, want as real and historically accurate experience as possible. Ideally, a sub sum should be so real that the only thing a player needs to provide is the stink of the engines and crew. The MMO format cannot supply that experience because of one core incompatibility; death is cheap in MMOs. In a true sub sim,when you are dead, you are dead (I know that one can save scum in even the best subsim, but the grognards do not.).

Without going off on a tirade, Ubisoft has consistently proven that its only care is trying to become another EA Games. It has consistently shown that, at the executive level, they do not care about the gamers that purchase their products. Silent Hunter 5, for many was the last straw. SH5 is barely 2 years old, the last official patch came out after two months of release and support officially cancelled in a year. Dan Dimitrescu stated in a recent post that he tried to convince the suits at Ubi to exclude its stupid, intrusive, broken DRM and they would not listen to him. Ubisoft has proven repeatedly and consistently that they do not care about anything except developing a "cash camel" franchise to compete with Call of Duty or World of Warcraft. They want zero-effort profits.

That means screwing the grognards of the subsim community, who demand high quality, historically accurate products.


CONCLUSIO:

Let me put it this way: When the ocean calls, there really is only one sim. More simply put, SH3 is the golden egg among submarine simulations. It has been around for 15+ years, has so much to offer, and is still going strong!

The way we serious Kommandanten here at |DEF| set it up with mods and patches, it is definitely more of a simulation and far less of a game! I believe this is what keeps it alive and doing well.

Good hunting!