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Flight Sim '21 (Xbox) Review Thread

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CliffyB's Cock Holster
Death Stranding still became the game of the year though, so I don’t think you have to worry that salty tears will affect Flight Simulator much either, will probably just help keeping it in the spotlight so more try playing it since it’s just sitting there on Gamepass waiting to be installed 🙂

I couldn't give a toss really! I'm standing by my assertion that unless you are a proper fan of flight simulations (and more power to you if you are), once the novelty of the graphics wears off its appeal to most players will be gone.

I kinda regret bringing up Death Stranding because although my intent was simply to pick a good example of a high-profile game criticized as being a "walking simulator" to show the double-standard at work here, it came across way more platform warrior-ish than intended on my part.

The bottom line is that people slagged off DS because its core gameplay was about navigating point-to-point across a hostile post apocalyptic landscape, something apparently not sexy and interesting enough to base a AAA title around. Here we have a title where if you don't go hard in the paint in the simulation aspect (which I'm not noticing people being especially excited by), and simply play it in its most accessible form, what you have is even less and yet its being hailed as somehow essential and truly revelatory!

If I thought people were genuinely into the Simulation I wouldn't comment, but it seems to me that isn't the case. At best its enthusiasm about the visuals, at worst its "look how powerful my box is" preening.
 

Fredrik

Member
I couldn't give a toss really! I'm standing by my assertion that unless you are a proper fan of flight simulations (and more power to you if you are), once the novelty of the graphics wears off its appeal to most players will be gone.

I kinda regret bringing up Death Stranding because although my intent was simply to pick a good example of a high-profile game criticized as being a "walking simulator" to show the double-standard at work here, it came across way more platform warrior-ish than intended on my part.

The bottom line is that people slagged off DS because its core gameplay was about navigating point-to-point across a hostile post apocalyptic landscape, something apparently not sexy and interesting enough to base a AAA title around. Here we have a title where if you don't go hard in the paint in the simulation aspect (which I'm not noticing people being especially excited by), and simply play it in its most accessible form, what you have is even less and yet its being hailed as somehow essential and truly revelatory!

If I thought people were genuinely into the Simulation I wouldn't comment, but it seems to me that isn't the case. At best its enthusiasm about the visuals, at worst its "look how powerful my box is" preening.
I assume people are excited for a number of reasons: graphics, word of mouth from PC gamers, absolute critical acclaim, traversing safely from point A to B gameplay, flying over your own house or any other place you know well, escapism, chilling, social aspect, interest in airplanes, interest in simulators, and because it’s just sitting there on Gamepass ready to be played.
Why even think about this? All games are enjoyed for a number or reasons. It’s okay.
 

HeisenbergFX4

Gold Member
I couldn't give a toss really! I'm standing by my assertion that unless you are a proper fan of flight simulations (and more power to you if you are), once the novelty of the graphics wears off its appeal to most players will be gone.

I kinda regret bringing up Death Stranding because although my intent was simply to pick a good example of a high-profile game criticized as being a "walking simulator" to show the double-standard at work here, it came across way more platform warrior-ish than intended on my part.

The bottom line is that people slagged off DS because its core gameplay was about navigating point-to-point across a hostile post apocalyptic landscape, something apparently not sexy and interesting enough to base a AAA title around. Here we have a title where if you don't go hard in the paint in the simulation aspect (which I'm not noticing people being especially excited by), and simply play it in its most accessible form, what you have is even less and yet its being hailed as somehow essential and truly revelatory!

If I thought people were genuinely into the Simulation I wouldn't comment, but it seems to me that isn't the case. At best its enthusiasm about the visuals, at worst its "look how powerful my box is" preening.

I have never been into true hardcore flight sims but FS2020 has been dumbed down enough to make this accessible to a lot more people because as a true flight sim its simply not that.

And come on by now everyone knows every single thing is nothing but platform warring

Someone doesnt like FS2020 dont play it.

Dont like Death Stranding dont play it.

Also dont have to tell others what games to enjoy.

Side note cant wait for this to unlock on Xbox
 
As much as I'm really looking forward to this myself I can see a lot of people trying it without really spending the sort of time with it that people who are heavily invested in these things will. This experience be new for me but having paid attention to a lot of the bigger flight sim people it does seem that according to many of the experts it's not the most accurate of flight sims and I can't remember who it was but one of them compared it to the Forza series in that it's not a fully accurate simulation but it is a really good entry people for people to start with and seeing whether it's going to be worth them spending money on a full sim.
It sounds perfect for me and the fact that it has Microsoft's money behind it does mean that it can do things that the more hardcore sims such as X-Plane and DCS just aren't able to do on this sort of scale. I'm sure there are other more hardcore style flight sims out there are the two names that I can remember having spent some very amateurish time looking into this stuff.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
I have never been into true hardcore flight sims but FS2020 has been dumbed down enough to make this accessible to a lot more people because as a true flight sim its simply not that.

And come on by now everyone knows every single thing is nothing but platform warring

Someone doesnt like FS2020 dont play it.

Dont like Death Stranding dont play it.

Also dont have to tell others what games to enjoy.

Side note cant wait for this to unlock on Xbox
Yup. Everyone knows what a sim is. This game has had tons of videos too.

People upset at Death Stranding just had to wait a day or two for reviews and videos. If they felt they got burned buying a Fedex game because the preview videos were few and vague, then shouldnt have pre-ordered it blind.
 

Stuart360

Member
Se we have got to the 'People are going to play this for 30mins then bet bored and never play it again, lolz Xbox' stage have we.
How about let people play what they want, and how they want. There will be millions of people playing this because of Gamepass, and many will love the chill vibe of flying around exploring the world, and many wont. I dont think Microsoft are expecting this to be a 10mil seller on Xbox.
Just give people a little more credit than just 'people only like this because its an exclusive', or 'unlless you are into learning how to fly a plane, there is nothing here for you' schpeel, as both quotes are totally wrong, as my 80 hours in the game shows (no interest in learning to fly a plane, and just used thegame to explore this beautiful world).
 

Banjo64

cumsessed
Se we have got to the 'People are going to play this for 30mins then bet bored and never play it again, lolz Xbox' stage have we.
How about let people play what they want, and how they want. There will be millions of people playing this because of Gamepass, and many will love the chill vibe of flying around exploring the world, and many wont. I dont think Microsoft are expecting this to be a 10mil seller on Xbox.
Just give people a little more credit than just 'people only like this because its an exclusive', or 'unlless you are into learning how to fly a plane, there is nothing here for you' schpeel, as both quotes are totally wrong, as my 80 hours in the game shows (no interest in learning to fly a plane, and just used thegame to explore this beautiful world).
Nah man Ori isn’t a game because it’s 2D, Flight Sim isn’t a game because there’s no animation, Forza Horizon isn’t a game because it’s just cars and Halo isn’t a game because it’s just a shooter.
 

SirTerry-T

Member
I talked about it here multiple times. It's prohibitively expensive here in Brazil. I can't afford it.

I'll play it once xCloud comes to Brazil.
Thats a pisser, pal. I think this is one of those rare titles that everyone, regardless of their preferred platform should, at the very least, spend some time with, if only to see how far we have come in regards to what modern day computing and networks can do for entertainment. Its a special title ..flaws and all.
 

SirTerry-T

Member
I was really on the fence about an XSX or a PS5, but this has pushed me over to XSX.

I just hope I can find one.
Getting in on one of those Discord/Stock alert message boards did the trick for me, here in the UK. Just a question of keeping your eyes and ears open. Best of luck. :)
 
You mean the one that is the start and end of all the other time zones start from lol

Amanda Seyfried Whatever GIF
 

nemiroff

Gold Member
MFS uses one of the most advanced cloud, fog and wind simulations no? I don't remember the limitations of the storms - I recall they don't affect the planes or something - but I don't believe that the new Forza or Forbidden West will come close to the same level of simulation. They will probably look nice due to various tricks, but it won't be on the same level.

Yes it is. Which is why I had to read that other posters post three times before I understood what was going on. The video posted also confused the hell out of me since MSFS2020's weather system is ten fold better in every way. Microsoft hasn't opened up their MSFS2020 API for third party plugins yet.

Anyway, games like Driveclub are using third-party weather systems, many sharing the same ones.
 

sainraja

Member
Not soon enough! lol Can't wait for it to release on the Xbox as playing the game on my PC has been somewhat of a pain (too slow to load).
 
the real-time weather is amazing. specifically, in the county i live in, we get large banks of fog early in the morning that dissipate by mid-morning, and seeing this accurately shown in the sim is very cool.
 

AJUMP23

Member
The reviews seem to indicate needing a good internet connection for the best graphical fidelity. I don't have good internet at home yet so I will most likely wait until I do.
 

elliot5

Member
The reviews seem to indicate needing a good internet connection for the best graphical fidelity. I don't have good internet at home yet so I will most likely wait until I do.
You should only need like 10-50 Mbps, which may be under your definition of a good internet connection. Might as well try it out if you can stomach the large download with the offline map data.
 

AJUMP23

Member
You should only need like 10-50 Mbps, which may be under your definition of a good internet connection. Might as well try it out if you can stomach the large download with the offline map data.
I have an avg of 20mbs because I have to use cell towers for home internet. ATT is laying the fiber for a late summer time frame but my new home has slow interwebs.
 
Exactly. Its a title that were it to have come out a different time, and on a different platform would not be getting a fraction of the attention is currently attracting.
You're completely missing the point; in an industry where gamers seem to be demanding for more and more realism, flight sims have traditionally been one of the most realistic genres out there in replicating real-world conditions, physics, weather dynamics and so on and so forth. And now with this latest entry, they also just happen to have some of (if not the most) realistic graphics to date.

It's one of the PC-centric genres that didn't immediately transition to console when the PC/console convergence started happening in the early-mid '00s, so for console gamers it feels like a new experience compared to JRPG #4292, FPS #19348 or Single-Player Story Game #125.

You don't have to feel the same way about it, but there is a genuine element of curiosity and exoticism for a lot of non-PC (and even a lot of modern PC) gamers for something like this, and this particular game just also happens to have very good-looking graphics to boot, and getting an optimized port to a console platform still in its lifetime infancy.
 
I couldn't give a toss really! I'm standing by my assertion that unless you are a proper fan of flight simulations (and more power to you if you are), once the novelty of the graphics wears off its appeal to most players will be gone.

I kinda regret bringing up Death Stranding because although my intent was simply to pick a good example of a high-profile game criticized as being a "walking simulator" to show the double-standard at work here, it came across way more platform warrior-ish than intended on my part.

The bottom line is that people slagged off DS because its core gameplay was about navigating point-to-point across a hostile post apocalyptic landscape, something apparently not sexy and interesting enough to base a AAA title around. Here we have a title where if you don't go hard in the paint in the simulation aspect (which I'm not noticing people being especially excited by), and simply play it in its most accessible form, what you have is even less and yet its being hailed as somehow essential and truly revelatory!

If I thought people were genuinely into the Simulation I wouldn't comment, but it seems to me that isn't the case. At best its enthusiasm about the visuals, at worst its "look how powerful my box is" preening.
I think you’re right - I tried to play it when it came out on pc - ran like shit, but obviously beautiful. As far as a “game” it really is more simulator than game, I’ll play it for free but it’s not something I’mma spend much time with. I didn’t play or like the concept of death stranding either
 
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