Even if they all were (for sake of argument) the question was the MOST... meaning one above all others. It's odd someone that thinks EVERYTHING in TSW is bad would keep hanging around the forum dedicated to the game. =-)
Any of the commuter routes with their toy trains and bus stop gameplay. I thought the Goblin Line was perhaps the most overhyped.
Not drasticly overrated, but in my opinion Ruhr Sieg Nord isnt what others say. Yes its the first german dlc route if i remember correct and i played it on my Ps4 back in Tsw 1 times. I now rebought it as i switched to PC and its not bad, but i wouldnt say its good either. I get the vibe of it being mostly a cargo line with many curves and industries etc. and i heard its a fan favourite which for me just doesnt add up. Its age is clearly visible with many 2d trees being not even 100 meters away from the track, or the timetable still lack a major amount of rolling stock which isnt even in the game yet. For me i understand why some want a remaster for it, but in my opinion other routes deserve it way more. Maybe a LIRR Commuter stile remake of it with an Stadler Flirt going the full line from Hagen to Siegen. Then i would also give the route a high ranking.
I’d probably go with BML. People love it. Personally, I think it’s the third best rush hour route, and Dresden - Riesa absolutely mogs it. I get that it ticks boxes (terminus to terminus, it’s very busy) but I just don’t find driving Electrostars fun. I don’t dislike all EMUs but for some reason, Electrostars just put me to sleep. I think the modded timetable with the class 700 improves the experience quite a bit as I find the 700 fun to drive. If we were to talk about underrated routes, I think Boston Sprinter would be up there. I understand why it’s underrated; this forum is predominantly UK based. Route lacks freight but good variety of passenger services. You’ve got terminus to terminus as well as the stoughton branch. Turning around the Amtrak stock is a good time. I could go on but we’ll be here a while.
How much of this is just different opinions on what is "fun" though to different people? If someone is having fun doing something I don't personally think is fun...they're not being fake. It's not "overrated" in their mind. It's correctly rated.... to them." Over-rated" is a nonsense term like "cash grab. " It's entirely personal opinion and emotion. You can judge things based on an objective reality. Does this route have the correct timetables for real life? Does this route have foliage and structures that resemble the real thing? Does this route have the correct traffic? Does this route reflect the right era? Are the physics correct? etc. There is something to compare it to that transcends the individual. Asking if it's "over-rated" or a "cash grab" is the same as asking "is it fun?" And that just depends on the person. Worse, it's not just about the person, but about saying ONE opinion overrules those of everyone else. That's how "over-rated" works. It's saying that other people rate it higher than you do so it's "over" rated because they rate higher than you... whose opinion matters while other people don't. Everyone else is just "the average rating"... but YOUR rating makes it "over" or "under" the average because YOUR opinion is TRUTH. Even a terrible looking route could be "fun" to another person. Even things that make some others cringe could be "fun" to another person. There are some routes like West Somerset that are among the best in the game, but get low marks by some people because they don't like "older" stuff or they don't like the "slow speeds." They can claim by their standards they "don't know why it's rated so high" but others disagree. It's a well done route visually, has few bugs, nice rolling stock, lots of layers, decent animations, great lighting and well developed timetable and scenarios. But if that's not your "thing".... then it SEEMS (to you) "overrated." Which makes the whole concept pointless. If all you're doing is saying what you like.... ok so what? It's like rating favorite colors. "What is the most over-rated color?" "What is the most over-rated number?" Silly. Now there are many routes I don't "get" the appeal of personally, but what does just listing them do? If I say "I don't get why people like the MML".... so what? It's like saying "I don't get why so many people like the color red." You can just look at it, shrug and say.... "okay..... that's nice."
For me, it's definitely Niddertalbahn. The Route looks beautiful, no Question, but it'll quickly get boring with just one Train (and one shunter). The only reason I haven't uninstalled it yet is that the BR628 is now layered on some other Routes that I find more fun. Maybe there will be an Update/new DLC someday that allows us to use the BR218 on the Route in Timetable mode.
I think that's spot on. I think it would have benefited immensely from a little bit of freight movement. But I could say the same for LIRR and NYT. The original NEC route from TSW 2020 is a good example of that.
GWE for me, it has two timetables and is waiting for remaster, but it's too straight and too short. I like the 166 however.
GWE. Never understood the hype. I’m sure I’ll appreciate it more once the remaster is out, as it’ll effectively be a new route for me. ECML is also way too overrated
Most overrated? IMO Goblin. Sure, it's well made, but I suspect a lot of the raves it gets are from London homers. Because really, it's just a short EMU bus-stop route with one train and no traffic.
One of the strangest aspects of Goblin was the scenario " highlighting" all the London soccer stadiums, none of which, if I recall correctly, appeared in the route. I'm reminded of the absence of Yankee Stadium on the Harlem Line, despite a number of services to the eponymous station. DTG can be amusing at times.
ECML, it's fine if you fancy a relaxing night drive in a cosy cab. But daytime runs highlight the lack of variety and I just don't get why the dullest section of the line was picked. It felt like, "okay we've got the Class 800, what section of the ECML will be quickest to make? Ah yes, York to Peterborough. Actually, I've got a better idea, don't bother with York, it's a bit too interesting. " That's probably harsh on those who spent months building the route but that was my immediate reaction and I've only been for a couple of timetable drives since it released.
Controversial opinion: London Brighton. The timetable is a masterpiece with a massive amount of services... and it really showed what is possible when it comes to massive timetables... but at the end of the day its basically one extremely boring train to drive, in two paint jobs, going up and down in a mostly straight line.
Yep, I rarely do the whole line as I’d fall asleep. The best bit of ECML is taking the 158 between Grantham and Peterborough.
For the UK I would say BCC, though Goblin and Glossop come a close joint second. Apart from the shonky route building on the southern section I just hate 323’s with that weird pullaway sound and end to end it’s a nearly 90 minute electric bus stop. Germany, got to go with Vorarlberg. Essentially it’s a bus service through fairly bland scenery. DTG plucked the low hanging fruit rather than go and do the Arlberg line proper. North America - well most of the commuter routes mainly because by UK and German standards they are slow. If I had to single one out it would probably be SBO. After the crawl out of LAUPT it’s just a straight shot across rather thinly represented urbania with no stand out redeeming feature (at least AVL has the famous tunnel entrance under the I5 intersection and you know you are tracing the path of the old SP Oil Can trains along Soledad Canyon).
That isn't true. You might call it an opinion, but its factual that not all routes are bad. Saying that WCMLOS is good isn't an opinion, it's a fact, same for the Mittenwaldbahn and for WCMLS with mods.
Brighton Mainline is definitely a good shout by those above. If it were done in an earlier era with proper slam door stock, the hype for the route would be justified. Electrostars are just sooooo boring and soulless. I’d have to say ECML and the Azuma. I don’t understand the fascination with these 8XX trains, they’re bland. The ECML had more interesting eras going for it and DTG picked the boring one. Could’ve had a long HST route, a Deltic or best yet, a route set in the days of the real LNER with Gresley A4s as the starring piece. Meanwhile, people call for extensions to the existing modern route… then we’d have to sit in a silent cab in notch 4 for even longer. It boggles the mind!
GWE for me. Never really understood the appeal of a straight 4-track railway through a flat landscape. Not all that much traffic going on either. It's decent fun with the HST, although a tad short. Too boring scenery for anything slower IMO.
That just…isn’t true. Whilst I like all 3 of those routes, it’s not a ‘fact’ that they’re good. What determines the quality of a route is based on individual preferences, not your opinion. Some people love wcmlos, because of the scenery and rolling stock, but some would not say they like it; the time period, length of the route or performance are valid reasons why people might not like it. So no, it’s not a fact that a specific route is good. Everyone has their own preferences, and yours don’t reflect the whole community’s thoughts on what routes are good, not just the ones you like.
ECML at one time would have been my first shout but there is a sort of subliminal appeal to the long, long run with the Knotweed particularly in the Up direction so you can open the staff doors plus cab door to admit a tiny bit of traction sound. But I agree it could have been so much better in an earlier era, with Deltics, Valenta HST’s or even the oft requested Class 91’s and Mark 4’s.
Good points but this is what forums are for. Slinging all sorts of opinions around, good and bad, reasonable and unreasonable. Many times in life someone has given me new perspective on something I previously didn’t like… and then I sort of came around to it with that perspective in mind. A relevant example for me would be maintalbahn. A few people have really gotten me to come around on that one.
Out on a walk this afternoon, got to thinking and this may not be a popular view but, in the final analysis, got to say the Dutch route ended up a bit over-rated. Oh it's nice enough but once you've gone back and forth a few times it doesn't really tingle the juices to go back for more. I think if they had gone to Rotterdam or Amsterdam it would have offered a bit more wow value. And the Inter City unit is very quiet too, in terms of traction thrash.
The Dutch route was quite a hype because it was a Dutch route, something which seemed extremely unlikely to ever happen before DTGs announcement. But immediately after all the Dutchies (including myself) were overjoyed about finally seeing a Dutch route to TSW, several have made the comment that this particular section of rail network doesn't really have anything interesting at all. There's been several Dutch route suggestions over the years in the suggestions forum, but I can't recall anyone suggesting Zwolle - Groningen. Obviously the selling point of the route was the fact that it's a new country and two new trains (one of which possibly being the most iconic Dutch train). I admit the ICMm is pretty quiet from within the cab, but I assume that's realistic. The cab is quite far away from all the mechanical stuff, and I assume the manufacturer did take efforts to make the train pretty quiet for its passengers and driver. But yeah, I totally get you. Even as a Dutch guy who absolutely loves to see a Dutch route, Zwolle - Groningen is quite a boring stretch.
Sand Patch Grade for me. I prefer TOD4, the horns are underwhelming, the trains feel more like multiple units than big heavy freight trains, and the route is slow. I kept trying to like it after seeing multiple threads praising it but no dice... Sherman Hill is much better.
Sherman Hill gets a lot of flak (often for good reasons) but I loved the heck out of that route and played it nonstop for a while. Those long trains did feel heavy.
I really love the Brighton mainline route though I do have the 700 timetable and 377/387 different liveries mods which take the route right back to shortly after the 319 and 442s disappeared. The lack of 455s has become less relevant since their withdrawal, though they'd still be welcome. Brighton is my favourite place in the UK after where I live, so I still get excited when the South Downs come into view. It was a favourite on TSC too. It would be a very interesting route tonight if the game had an official live weather option, torrential rain, hail, gusty winds, thunder and lightning forecast to be moving up the line later.
Quietly agree. The main point of picking zwolle Groningen was absolutely to bring the Dutch trains and safety systems/signalling, hopefully it is a foundation for a more exciting Dutch route in the future
