Just Bought Tsw2 Today But...

Discussion in 'TSW General Discussion' started by alfredo.mungo, Nov 21, 2020.

  1. alfredo.mungo

    alfredo.mungo New Member

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    It's kind of sad there is basically no gameplay apart from the predefined sceneries.. I mean, the only reason I "upgraded" from TSW (of which I got bored pretty quickly anyway) to TSW2 was the editor but I can't do round trips, can't finish a service and jump on another, not even park and shutdown the train after completing the timetable, add some wagons with the editor unless they're already attached to a running service, no cold & dark startup.. I love the way the various trains are represented but the whole experience is just bare-bones, flat and after all these years this has become unacceptable. I speak as a developer myself: this game has a great potential but no passion seems to have been put into it. After a while it feels pointless as the only thing you can do is going from one location to the other and then back to the main menu. Every feature is just a super basic implementation.

    If half the time invested in all those DLCs was instead reinvested into developing core features, this game could be the soul of train simulators, attract many more loyal customers and provide much more profit with half the work; yet I feel kind of cheated as I basically just bought another copy of TSW.

    One thing is for sure: of all those DLCs I won't be buying any because of the above and unless things change (they haven't changed in all these years, so why should they change in the future?) you just earned 20 GBP, another thumb down on Steam and lost another customer.

    All the best.
     
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  2. KyleL

    KyleL Well-Known Member

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    Oh I'll get the popcorn ready.This thread is going to get bumby :D
     
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  3. Mattty May

    Mattty May Guest

    Being a member of the forum, you should have been aware of what TSW 2 was about before buying, surely?
     
  4. alfredo.mungo

    alfredo.mungo New Member

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    It won't - not on my behalf at least - as this post is not intended to flame anyone.

    Just joined.
     
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  5. stujoy

    stujoy Well-Known Member

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    How much of the included gameplay have you actually tried in the five minutes you’ve had the game? There are plenty of things to do included in the game. You are complaining that the gameplay isn’t varied enough but you can’t have even tried 1% of it if you’ve also taken the time to check out the scenario planner.

    Going from one place to another is exactly what trains do most of the time but there is variety if you look for it. You can finish one service and jump on to another to your heart’s content in timetable mode. It may not have all the things you want to do in it but you can’t honestly say you’ve given it much of a chance.

    Train Simulator might be a better sim to get if you want full freedom to make your own gameplay though.
     
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  6. ht-57

    ht-57 Member

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    alfredo.mungo
    I very much agree with your post, I have pondered the very same thing.
    But understanding what TSW is and does as I have had it from the very beginning,
    I still enjoy the "get in and Go" or rather the simplicity of just picking a ride so to speak
    and having a short run every now and again. Now that it seems as tho TSW2 has evolved abit in the physics dept
    it has rekindled a bit of interest for myself once again.
    -So my question is for those of you who have been running TSW2, Have the physics and visual upgrades
    added to the sim, Does it feel/look /play any better then the original TSW?
    Its really hard to judge from video's for myself anyhow.
     
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  7. OldVern

    OldVern Well-Known Member

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    Try getting your loco's MU'ed up on Sandpatch. I guarantee that will give more than five minutes of value.

    The physics are generally much better as are most of the sound, albeit track noise is a bit of an issue on some routes and reverb through bridges and tunnels has gone AWOL. But, overall, TSW2 is a far more satisfying experience than TSW1. It's even knocked the new MSFS off the top of my current most played list.
     
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  8. Quentin

    Quentin Well-Known Member

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    I'd definitely say the new physics are a significant improvement - e.g. it's now possible to get wheel slip quite easily, whereas it was much more difficult in TSW1. Most of the 'preserved' TSW1 locos don't benefit from this, though.

    Realism is tricky - DSG have to bear in mind their market, which has now expanded to include consoles. I'm sure it would be possible to make a rail simulator that was very close indeed to the real thing, with every loco accompanied by a 100 page instruction manual (as in real life :)), but that would make it significantly more complex to develop (read: expensive), while reducing the pool of potential buyers, by all those who simply want to 'get in and drive'. I'm quite happily geeky about trains, but I haven't got to grips with Sandpatch and all the complexities of DPUs yet.

    OldVern, I shared your (and others) views on the lack of reverb, but last night I noticed it was there (to a degree, at least) on the Cologne route - try sounding the horn inside and outside tunnels, quite noticeably different.
     
    Last edited: Nov 21, 2020
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  9. Rudolf

    Rudolf Well-Known Member

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    I agree with your disappointment with the scenario planner. We knew its capabilities would be very limited, but it is even less than that and it has many bugs. In general I disagree. You get a lot of gameplay, but you need to spend some time to find out what you like and which DLC you really need.
     
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  10. tallboy7648

    tallboy7648 Well-Known Member

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    I do agree with your post and I do think more things could've been added to the core of the game. It doesn't really feel like a upgrade from tsw2020
     
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  11. breblimator

    breblimator Guest

    For me - a noticeable difference. Worth buying for the remastered SPG and SKA. Bakerloo is also interesting. Good price for the routes alone :)
     
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  12. alfredo.mungo

    alfredo.mungo New Member

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    First of all, thanks for the replies. I may have little experience on TSW2 but I've played TSW for a good while and am more than accustomed to the different parts of the game (and gameplay). Let me underline I'm not saying the developers haven't done any good work on TSW2. What I'm talking about is the gameplay, nothing else. This game looks like a beautiful Ferrari but it also looks like I can only use it to go buy groceries. Too many possibilities to allow more freedom to the user in the game have just not been developed beyond a very basic implementation. This is something I would understand from a team new to simulation but Dovetail Games has been working on this subject for years and I see more DLCs being shipped than new features. There is basically no real innovation going on in terms of gameplay. Nothing wrong with releasing lots of DLCs but this shouldn't be in contrast with development of the base game. If you look at the open source train sims, they provide much more freedom despite the fact that graphics are not as stunning as in TSW.

    And human beings work most of the time but what makes our lives interesting are those moments, those details when we do something outside of the main routine. I play a lot of Euro Truck Simulator and for instance, I'm not forced to the main menu when I finish a job, I can go around, buy stuff, spawn my own trailers and so on. There are events involving the community, it's not just what truck drivers do most of the time. Same happens with flight simulators. I honestly can't believe everyone else can go and do all that but DTG can't. We're not in 1980 where you could have a 2D monochrome visual of a cockpit and expect people to praise you for developing a game where you're able to accelerate and brake. It is indeed also a dangerous business model because as soon as another company decides to get involved into train simulation and become a competitor, how long would you think it'd take for them to catch up with DTG and provide features above and beyond what they've developed so far? No amount of DLC will be able to compensate for the gap at that point as most of the core technology in use by TSW is provided by third parties and available to any other business.

    Not trying to change anyone's mind here, not the players' let alone the developers'. Just providing feedback as a customer on the reasons I'm not happy with the evolution of the game.
     
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  13. tallboy7648

    tallboy7648 Well-Known Member

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    I agree with this. The potential this game has is so large but dtg are not maximizing that potential. They are so focused on releasing dlc after dlc that they don't really work on improving the core features of tsw2
     
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  14. Crosstie

    Crosstie Well-Known Member

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    If they didn't release new routes and locos on a regular basis there would be a lot of moaning and groaning. So they have to do all three things simultaneously
    1.Make new products
    2.Fix bugs
    3 Improvements
    Not an easy roadmap.
     
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  15. geloxo

    geloxo Well-Known Member

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    I think the new version should start well. It's better if they fix the old errors on the preserved content first because we have some really old ones there, then the own TSW2 errors, then they improve the TSW2 core (like sounds quality, weather/sky and lights) and at that point we could be perfectly ready for the DLC party (I include myself in the buyers list). But we need a clean and well debugged basis to start to grow. And yes TSW2 has a lot of potential to achieve incredible targets if they want.

    Cheers
     
    Last edited: Nov 23, 2020
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  16. tallboy7648

    tallboy7648 Well-Known Member

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    It would ,make more sense to fix the core of the game instead of releasing buggy products
     

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