Maybe DTG need to add another level to the monthly roadmaps which sits in front of 0-3 months which is 'In Testing'. This advises that the 3P has concluded the development of the route and it's under review internally and with ambassadors prior to date announcement. Doesn't mean it can't be sent back if not to standard, but it may stop a lot of queries, or that could be another hurdle. I find Tadami and interesting route, not on my to buy list, even if it's world changing, as it's not my bag. I look at how the game has developed since it was announced near the beginning of TSW4, and it's fair to say with the 3P input the routes are now a lot more polished with a lot more detail. I wonder if it's been like a moving goal post for them due to the duration. I'd think most route expectations now exceed what we had when it was announced. Not sure if that's a risk for this one, I hope the dev team have been looking at the dev of other routes, or it could be another hurdle.
not sure how helpful an "in-testing" section would be, for instance MAC went through testing 3 times before it was released putting a couple of months between when first submitted and then getting out to players. Cargo Line packs have notoriously been submitted to DTG several months before seeing release, would they sit in "testing" and how long do you keep something in "testing" for before players get annoyed. Given the time difference and language barriers Tadami might have been in "testing" for several months now. The current roadmap needs an overhaul, the whole 0-3months section has become somewhat of a joke. Maybe we should have a "coming in the next 6 weeks" section and a "on the way" section for NOTHING EXPECTED LONGER THAN 6 MONTHS.
It's worth pointing out that Union Workshop's TS routes aren't known to have the best looking scenery to begin with. The TS version of the Tadami Line from 2020 wasn't great looking. Somehow they thought this was a good screenshot to advertise the route with. The sounds of the unit, however, are worse than the scenery. Considering TSW trains tend to sound worse than their equivalents in TS anyway, I don't have a good feeling about the sounds in their new route. And, forgive me, but I've got a bad feeling about the route entirely...
To be honest, what situation are you trying to create here? This is just stirring things up, based on a 15‑year‑old game with major limitations that’s what TSC is. And we’ve actually seen very little so far, but if I’m being completely honest… what I’ve seen so far it looks very impressive, with beautiful landscapes. So just wait and see instead of spreading all kinds of doom scenarios that don’t really add much. I find this way of communicating a bit low. Thanks!
If you think TS' age is correlated with scenery density then you clearly haven't seen much of TS. Do I need to bring out the comparison screenshots of Marseille to Avignon in both games to prove my point? I'm just pointing out that Union Workshop has a lot of prove when it comes to scenery. They're good with urban scenery, but their countryside detail has traditionally been lacking. I'd like to be proved wrong with this new route, but we'll have to wait and see.
Yes the TSC version big on scenery but driving the train was less than fulfilling. Having reignited TSC I fired it up the other evening and was less than impressed. Sounds still awful, sampled from an old tractor possibly and while in fairness few of us have ever been on a Kiha, physics didn’t seem that great. Add to the fact on a signalled route you had to keep changing the points at stations manually to proceed and without knowing whether or not a train is approaching in the opposite direction… more than a little odd.
The dogpile on UW is getting a little gross at this point IMO. They're not here to defend themselves (speculating perhaps a language barrier) and DTG certainly aren't stepping up to take the flak even though they made a premature launch date announcement; quite obviously without even giving UW or the player base the courtesy of having play tested it first. Can you imagine putting so much work into a project, having a release date announced (even the manual is available) and then having your publisher yank it a couple hours before its debut with a "yeah, so we actually just now took a look and it's a bit bad"? That had to have been crushing. Btw not really sure how anything from TSC is relevant to TSW as they're quite different platforms to develop for, not to mention that quite a few 3P devs have made the jump to TSW now, and i think it's fair to say there are some who shone on TSC and have struggled on TSW, and vice versa.
I know some people might call me dramatic or whatever, but today is a sad day for me after years of waiting, patiently waiting we were supposed to all be enjoying the tadami line, but thanks to DTG's disorganization (which I consider the norm at this point), we’ll have to wait who knows how much longer, if it is ever released at all at this point, I’m honestly starting to think it’s going to end up becoming the japanese version of the DB BR 420
Agree it's very disappointing, but hopefully it's not quite so bad as that. Beta testers have at least had it in their hands, which is more than we can say for a lot of these long-simmering projects.
I'm going to wait and see what happens. No point getting upset over what we haven't even seen a preview of yet. Bit early to start "rating" a route based on nothing.
Speaking from experience, signalling and track is quite different. The scenery workflow is very close, if not a little easier in TSW because of the beautiful, gorgeous brush tools.
