OT: recent video posts

[Hellshade 110]

I'm not sure about everyone else, but I tend to go through gaming "phases". I have a few games I love and I jump between them throwing my heart and soul into one particular game at a time, usually for a few weeks or so at a time. Then one of my other favorite games will suddenly appeal to me for whatever reason and I jump to focusing on that one for the next several weeks. Some games (or sims) I love right away, like OFF. I became addicted to it back in Phase II and once Phase 3 came out my fate was sealed. For historical accuracy, sheer scope of the Dynamic Campaign, number of different types of planes and many other reasons, in my opinion, it just can't be beat. The first time I fired it up, I was hooked!

 

Other games, like Oblivion, literally take me years to learn to enjoy. When I first got Oblivion, I hated it and promptly uninstalled it. I couldn't see what all the excitement was about. Every now and then I'd re-install it, patch it up to date and give it another go. Didn't like it and off the hard drive it went, until one day I tried it and suddenly it was a lot of fun. Bethesda made enough changes to the game that now, finally, it was really enjoyable...especially with a boatload of player made mods! It certainly wasn't perfect, but it was entertaining and that's pretty much all I ask out of a game. Come to think of it, the same thing happened with Wings of Prey. I hated it when it came out but now, with the changes they made, it's a lot of fun for what it can do.

 

To that end, I recently re-installed another flight sim that I purchased awhile ago. Patched it up and spent a few hours configuring everything the way I wanted it. Long story short, like anything else, it still isn't perfect but I'm having a lot of fun with it. I've spent most of this weekend challenging myself with it's different features and generally enjoying what it offers. I finally don't feel like the money I originally spent on it was wasted anymore, which is a good thing. As everyone probably knows, when I really enjoy a game or flight sim, I like to post videos. I've done several over this weekend as I tried out various features or scenerios. Which brings me to the two main purposes of my post.

 

1st - For those of you who have subscribed to my www.youtube.com/hellshade68 page, you might have been a little suprised to see non-OFF WWI videos posted there. Trust me, I am still 100% addicted to OFF and everything it has to offer. I'm just having fun with something else too. I love blondes. Now I appreciate brunetts too. I still can't wait for Phase 4 to come out and you can be sure I will be posting mad videos showing off all the awesome new features OBD has cooked up for us! I'm sure there will be new Phase 3 videos made too in addition to the 100+ I've already made.

 

2nd - I'm consolidating all new video posts into one new thread over at SimHQ. It doesn't matter what the video is about, I'm just dumping it into the new thread because it's getting to be a major pain in my arse to keep track of all the different locations for OFF, WoP, Oblivion and whatever. There are two reasons for this. 1st is because the video/screenshot thread here is specifically for OFF. I'm not going to dilute it with non-OFF videos. 2nd, the SimHQ OFF thread was where 80% of my views came from. Since that's where most of my views came from, I might as well make the new consolidated video thread there. I posted a link to the new thread in each of the OFF and WoP video threads I had and noted that any new posts would go there. It's kind of a bummer because CombatAce/OFF forum is definately where all of my friends are, but hopefully you can see my 2 reasons why it makes sense to do it that way.

 

Anyways, that's whats going on. I'll still be trolling CombatAce every day because this is home to me, I'm just posting my stuff elsewhere. SimHQ forum is nice, but spending a short amount of time there made me appreciate the people here an awful lot. I hope you stop by and let me know what you think of some of my new work.

 

Sincerely,

Hellshade

Edited February 7, 2011 by Hellshade

[Wodin 0]

Thanks mate...I too boot up the other sim...and enjoy it in short bursts...though for me it doesn't match up to OFF for pure immersive fun...at first it seems wonderful but very soon you realise it's SP is only good in quick flights here and there.

 

What shocked me was the militant views of some and how they will jump from a great height on those who disagree or find fault in said sim. Sadly this then put me on the defensive and has really coloured my opinions of said sim and some of it's community. Militancy can breed militancy. I went from being neutral to getting a feeling of abandonment when Hellshade started posting the Vids of said sim as I could picture these fanatic simmers thinking "Aha we win for Hellshade has turned to ###".. It was especially annoying when your made a critisism about the tripe FM and it was ignored and then when you made a positive comment you where hailed as "Hellshade speaker of the truth" if anyone else had made the FM comment like myself I'm sure it would have been jumped on instantly.....still it's good to know OFF is till in your heart....

 

 

So thanks for posting your views to us...

Edited February 7, 2011 by Wodin

[Hellshade 110]

I am definately sensitive to the "militancy" aspect of certain communities. In regards to that, I'll paraphrase a statement I made over there about why some forums seem to be more aggressive than others.

 

I have a theory that any game / sim that has player vs player as an aspect to it is more likely to attract aggressive people to it and that aggression rarely stops with the game. It almost always carries over to the forums. In other words, I'll take two games from a completely different type of gaming - Fantasy type games.

 

Oblivion is a single player only fantasy type RPG game. There is no on-line, player vs player aspect aspect to the game and so there is no competitive nature to the game at all other than players beating the single player content. World of Warcraft on the other hand is an on-line fantasy MMORPG game that has a large player vs player (PvP) aspect to it. If you go onto any forum dealing with Oblivion, there is virtually no heated debate about anything. Hop onto the WoW forum and people are constantly arguing about which class is overpowered, how feature "x" of WoW is broken, the latest patch is unfair, etc. Pick any game with a PvP component to it, head to the forums and do some reading. The lack of tolerance for a different view generally shoots through the roof the moment you mention a competing product, too. Go to a World of Warcraft forum and make a post about Everquest II, Rift: Planes of Telara or Age of Conan (all 3 are MMORPG games that attempt to compete with WoW) and watch the fangs come out! You'd think you walked into church X and started preaching about religion Y. Everyone goes ballistic. Heated debate just seems to be inherent because, naturally, more aggressive personality types are attracted to games that pit players against one another. The other sim obviously has a PvP aspect to it and I think the same phenomenom has simply replicated itself here. Naturally, the more passionate people are about a game, the more intense the need for aggressive personalities to defend what they believe to be right, as well. Obviously this is all just a pet theory of mine and I haven't been to every single PvP and non-PvP game forum and read every single thread. However, if Windows Spider Solitaire had a forum dedicated to it, I doubt very seriously you'd see much friction or militancy there except for the occassional troll who's sole purpose is to cause problems wherever they go.

 

At any rate, in the interests of peace I will likely refrain from making constructive criticisms over there. They would be unlikely to have any beneficial outcome considering that you and I are both known to be regular participants of the OFF CombatAce forum. Therefore anyone of a more, shall we say "competitive", nature might leap to the conclusion that our purpose there was to sell OFF and undercut their preferred sim. That last thing I'm sure either of us want is to stoke any kind of a sim or forum war. I know I have absolutely no interest in that what-so-ever, however the concept of enjoying more than 1 game of a similar nature simply doesn't sit well with some people. I will say that after a brief time in the forums there I find the tone and content of discussion here at CA to be far more to my personal tastes.

 

Hellshade

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

Each to their own I say.

 

My personal interest lies in FPS and Military Strategy games, such as the Total War series.

Now some people are bored to death by the Total War series..but I love 'em

 

And the game that draws me back time and again is Company of Heroes

[Wodin 0]

Forget CoH and get a real mans tactical wargame when it arrives Combat Mission Beyond Normandy...;)

 

 

@Hellshade...I agree "no" to forum or sim war....damn silly when we all obviously share the same interest in WW1....though sadly I feel CA as a forum has been unjustly tarnished recently..I enjoy both Sims...one is where you fly a WW1 plane the other is where you fly a plane in WW1....someone said this on a forum once and I couldn't agree more.

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

I'm afraid I never much liked the Combat Mission series

[Wodin 0]

Totally different to the old WW2 Combat Mission games. The same engine as the CMBN is the modern one Shock Force...had a bad start and I didn't buy it until about a year or so ago...so good I bought the Marines and british module infantry is 1:1 scale...I have no interest in modern warfare nor the fictional setting in CMSF however I love the game. So a WW2 version is like heaven for me. It does infantry combat better than anything else...also a WEGO option and replay which is what I love. RTS drives me mad...way to fast and to many clicks...

[Hellshade 110]

 

And the game that draws me back time and again is Company of Heroes

 

That always looked awesome to me, and yet I have never been able to bring myself to buy it. They were trying a free CoH on-line but I think they pulled the plug on it.

 

Hellshade

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

That always looked awesome to me, and yet I have never been able to bring myself to buy it. They were trying a free CoH on-line but I think they pulled the plug on it.

 

Hellshade

 

You really should treat yourself Hellshade...It's a Bargain Bin now too...well worth it!

[CaptSopwith 23]

I am definately sensitive to the "militancy" aspect of certain communities. In regards to that, I'll paraphrase a statement I made over there about why some forums seem to be more aggressive than others.

 

I have a theory that any game / sim that has player vs player as an aspect to it is more likely to attract aggressive people to it and that aggression rarely stops with the game. It almost always carries over to the forums. In other words, I'll take two games from a completely different type of gaming - Fantasy type games.

 

Oblivion is a single player only fantasy type RPG game. There is no on-line, player vs player aspect aspect to the game and so there is no competitive nature to the game at all other than players beating the single player content. World of Warcraft on the other hand is an on-line fantasy MMORPG game that has a large player vs player (PvP) aspect to it. If you go onto any forum dealing with Oblivion, there is virtually no heated debate about anything. Hop onto the WoW forum and people are constantly arguing about which class is overpowered, how feature "x" of WoW is broken, the latest patch is unfair, etc. Pick any game with a PvP component to it, head to the forums and do some reading. The lack of tolerance for a different view generally shoots through the roof the moment you mention a competing product, too. Go to a World of Warcraft forum and make a post about Everquest II, Rift: Planes of Telara or Age of Conan (all 3 are MMORPG games that attempt to compete with WoW) and watch the fangs come out! You'd think you walked into church X and started preaching about religion Y. Everyone goes ballistic. Heated debate just seems to be inherent because, naturally, more aggressive personality types are attracted to games that pit players against one another. The other sim obviously has a PvP aspect to it and I think the same phenomenom has simply replicated itself here. Naturally, the more passionate people are about a game, the more intense the need for aggressive personalities to defend what they believe to be right, as well. Obviously this is all just a pet theory of mine and I haven't been to every single PvP and non-PvP game forum and read every single thread. However, if Windows Spider Solitaire had a forum dedicated to it, I doubt very seriously you'd see much friction or militancy there except for the occassional troll who's sole purpose is to cause problems wherever they go.

 

At any rate, in the interests of peace I will likely refrain from making constructive criticisms over there. They would be unlikely to have any beneficial outcome considering that you and I are both known to be regular participants of the OFF CombatAce forum. Therefore anyone of a more, shall we say "competitive", nature might leap to the conclusion that our purpose there was to sell OFF and undercut their preferred sim. That last thing I'm sure either of us want is to stoke any kind of a sim or forum war. I know I have absolutely no interest in that what-so-ever, however the concept of enjoying more than 1 game of a similar nature simply doesn't sit well with some people. I will say that after a brief time in the forums there I find the tone and content of discussion here at CA to be far more to my personal tastes.

 

Hellshade

 

Hellshade, I really appreciate you putting your views to paper, as it were. I completely agree with your assessment of the types of personalities certain games attract. The best example I can think of to bolster this idea is Call of Duty. If I switch my privacy mode over on Xbox Live and listen to the radio chatter, there is more homophobic, profane, and aggressive language than any other environment I've ever been in - and I've been to several NHL games! If you take cover, your manhood is immediately questioned. If you stay in one place, you're labeled a camper, and so on. It's tiring. Which is why my settings have everyone except my friends muted. Every six months or so, I'll feel generous towards my fellow man, switch it back, and then change my mind about ten minutes later. It's just not worth it.

 

Likewise, if you look up a game like The Sims and visit the various boards out there, you'll find some of the nicest community members around. Now, granted, they're there to talk about the latest pair of pants someone made, or a new wall texture, so it's perhaps a bit slower than our usual gaming pace, but they're usually very polite. I should know, I do actually play the Sims. I got the Sims for Christmas about ten years ago, and played it for about a week before it was simply lost on me and I went back to my shoot-em-up games. Like you Hellshade, I felt like I wasted a perfectly good Christmas present (and the money my folks spent getting it) Today? I have the original Sims (still my favorite) and the Sims 2 on my HD right next to games like Il2, COD, and of course, OFF. I've lost hours of time just playing the Sims and enjoying it.

 

I joke with my friends on Xbox Live that online gaming would be great without the people. And some nights we have more fun playing through the Combat Trainer on Black Ops (which populates the map with AI bots) than we do playing competitively. Of course, the same isn't true about the OFF group - this really is a great community - and one I'm proud to be a part of, although admittedly I'm on the fringes these days at best.

 

Anyway, my long rambling point is that I think you're right and that I enjoy your videos immensely. And after all, what we choose to play is our choice. And I hope no one judges me from moving from my DH2 and into my little Sims house to watch them set fire to their oven for the third time this week because I haven't made them study cooking enough...

 

PS: You should pick up CoH - it's a great game and your rig would blaze through it. My advice though, get the original release, and Do Not Patch It! CoH went down a very strange road with updates and try as I might, I decided that playing online wasn't really a priority and installing enough updates to break the game just wasn't wroth it. As always, YMMV

Edited February 8, 2011 by _CaptSopwith

[Hellshade 110]

Anyway, my long rambling point is that I think you're right and that I enjoy your videos immensely. And after all, what we choose to play is our choice. And I hope no one judges me from moving from my DH2 and into my little Sims house to watch them set fire to their oven for the third time this week because I haven't made them study cooking enough...

 

PS: You should pick up CoH - it's a great game and your rig would blaze through it. My advice though, get the original release, and Do Not Patch It! CoH went down a very strange road with updates and try as I might, I decided that playing online wasn't really a priority and installing enough updates to break the game just wasn't wroth it. As always, YMMV

 

What we play is our right and I am the first to champion the name of a game or sim, such as OFF or Rift that I love. Just no point in bashing others simply because they enjoy something else. I think this forum, especially considering how passionate we all are about OFF, does a fine job of keeping the civility.

 

I will download the demo for CoH and give it a try. It certainly looks fun and the price won't get much better than it is right now.

 

Glad you enjoy the videos. Have you seen any of the new ones? There are many similiarities to the flight characteristics of the planes, but just enough differences that I have had to learn to fly and shoot all over again! I find the DR1 and the Pfalz DIIIa to be most enjoyable crates to take into battle. I need more practice on all of them though.

 

Hellshade