ORIGINAL: Nikademus
have you played the Japanese side?
Nik, I'm trying real hard not to pick a fight with you, as I respect your work.
To answer your question, I have in WitP, haven't in AE yet. Not sure I want to.
I'm guessing you are coming from the "Japan has no chance to win, so we made some changes to make it more playable" angle. If so, I profoundly disagree with that approach. It is a dead end that kills your credibility with some (read: the hard core crowd). Maybe you don't care about that, and that's cool...just be upfront about it. You can't have things both ways. Either the game is as realisitc as the engine will allow or it is not. If changes have been made in the name of "gameplay", then you are off the realistic trail.
I designed the Gulf War campaign for Jane's F-15. I took a lot of heat because I insisted the player start on the ground. In real life, the Strike Eagle were far behind the lines. Our map was full scale, so that meant a long flight out, hit the tanker (maybe more than once), hit the target, and get home. Yeah, we had time compression...but the engine could only speed up so much, as we had a LOT of AI running and of course this was 1996 - PC's were a pale shadow of today. "Gameplay" would have me either move the starting base, compress the map, or start in the air. I fought that battle and won. And I'm damn proud of that simulation. One small example.
Here's another, same game. On historical, the Iraqi AF is pretty much a pushover. Still, the depth of systems and the challenge of A/G made that acceptable to us. We added "harder" modes with much more aggressive A/A AI - but it was clear to the player they were departing reality. We gave them that choice. AE does not. We also created a much more balanced (in terms of A/A vs A/G) campaign, set in the future vs. Iran...clearly that was not historical, but it was a fun what if.
One of the reasons I play historical game is to learn as well as be entertained. The hard core games I designed were along those lines. You could learn a lot about the limitations of A/A radar in real life running F-15, F/A-18 or the Falcon series (the later I had nothing to do with, but I knew some of those folks and they did great work). We pushed the bar. We had no wish 'em dead weapons. Yeah, we had easier modes, but on realistic, you had to know your stuff to win. ANd to me, that was/is cool.
I play other games to escape reality. Different experience, different gameplay expectations.
So which is AE? Hard core historical simulation or a balanced strategic fantasy game based on history?
-CJ
