It was a normal day on the West Somerset Railway but they needed more locomotives. There was a shortage after the class 47 broke down near Wilton a few days ago, their class 101 couldn’t handle all the services so they decided to call one of their friends… On the Island Of Sodor. Thomas was sitting in his sheds wishing to go to a new route he was getting tired of the same route over and over, when suddenly the fat controller walked into his shed and said “Thomas your going with your coaches and diesel on the next ferry to the mainland.” (Small part of it) im posting the rest on my A03 page
If this is being done as fan fiction, then best ask a mod to put in Off Topic rather than the main discussion area. Please accept that while there is respect for those looking forward to Thomas in TSW, there is an equal if greater number of players who aren’t. We feel it is a complete waste of development resources especially when DTG have put the middle finger up at customers who want more (and better represented) proper steam loco simulation in the game. Putting the loco in its full toy guise on the WSR “as is”, is anachronistic at best. Should have come with its own route or model layout based on Sodor.
I love Thomas. He was my childhood. He filled my many hours and days with stories, so many toys, all that stuff. Even today, so many years later, I still have quite some level of appreciation for the nostalgia of those characters. He also does not belong in a very realistic game such as Train Sim World. He even less so belongs on a very realistic route such as WSR, while still using the 3D animation era model. Ironically I would have been much less upset had his model been made to resemble the original physical prop version (an era where the looks of the real routes would have fit just slightly better, and probably would have been more of a good nod towards Awdry and Alcroft), or even less so had he been framed as an actual DOWT tank engine dressed up as the character (an actually real thing). As stated above by Vern, fanfiction should be put in the off-topic section. This is the section for general discussion about the game itself, not the misplaced fictional characters of another franchise.
I also think the same way, tsw is a simulator (or at least it aims to do so) you don't see a toy plane in flight simulator and why? because it's a simulator and not a silly game for kids then some people might argue "but tsw never set out to be a simulator" and then I would answer: is it really? so why was the name chosen "train SIM world"? why not "train world" or "train game world" or something like that...? edit: and now that I remember, we have tsw tycoon (roblox) why not attract children there?
I personally look forward to the DLC and don't share as much hate for it as other people. It was a mistake to making it the grand reveal, yes, but apart of that it can be a nice addon for a lot of people and we're getting more people into TSW. I used to watch the series when I was a child with my grandad long time ago and probably will acquire it at some point. However what I don't understand is why DTG didn't decide to make Island of Sodor for it. WSR and its remaster is great, but why not create a short little fictional island and then put some assets on it to replicate Sodor as much as possible? It wouldn't even be necessary to model everything exactly as in one of the available maps for it and needed on real railway replications. Since its a fictional map, there is no 100% true reference and devs could just make what they like out of it. Except a few contrains, no boundaries really. I'm not going as far to say that the majority of people would have received the announcement differently if they had said they're going to make its appropriate fictional railway for it, but I think the illustration of providing fictional content maybe could have been better and more fitting when coming with its correct fictional counterpart and not WSR. There is also a problem for the target audience, as they will be required to purchase WSR separately. Because AFAIU, the Thomas & Friends DLC will be just a loco & gameplay pack for WSR and probably not to cheap. The new people coming into the franchise are then required to own the Thomas & Friends DLC and West Somerset Railway.
Perhaps DTG or at least the forum admin should consider setting up a Thomas specific sub forum where this type of thing would sit more comfortably, if not in Off Topic? dtg_jan and DTG Jamie who I presume are the lead forum CM's.
This content is not for me and I will definitely not buy it. I consider it inappropriate and did not accept it even if it was distributed for free. Personally, I am not sure that this DLC will be popular and will be able to compete in sales. Another thing is upsetting, so many shortcomings, a large number of errors are waiting to be corrected, a huge list of popular rolling stock and routes are waiting! And as the main event of the year, we are announced the appearance of Thomas! On the same Somerset, it was more useful to bring the existing rolling stock (class 09, 52, 33) to new standards, in 47 it would be possible to model the engine room. It would be possible to put class 03 or 14 on the rails instead of Thomas. That would be a weighty proposal. The appearance of new topics about Thomas is starting to irritate. Release him quickly and we will quickly forget about this misunderstanding.
