It’s taken a year (year and a half if you include the beta) but I think I’m at a place where I can finally start to enjoy MSFS in the same way I do other sims, and did with the old FS series’. In fact it’s now starting to surpass X-Plane as my sim of choice (along with DCS of course).
The PMDG DC-6 did it, and recently the Aerosoft CRJ which is actually really good. After my first MSFS purchases in almost a decade I find myself asking: why is it that X-Plane addons are so rough around the edges? I don’t mind paying for great planes like Felis’ recent 747-200, but when compared with the DC-6 (which costs less), the CRJ, the polish isn’t there. The same can be said for nearly all X-Plane devs. And yet, I am okay with that as X-Plane gave us so much.
But with all these great devs about to push out more high end polished addons, I don’t see myself going back quite so often.
MSFS wins and likely will stay the winner in sheer out of the window beauty, the clouds, the lighting… it’s just shockingly beautiful and sometimes the comparison to reality is uncanny.
MSFS has a long way to go yet, and that is also a great strength. It’s such early days in this sim as devs continue to add more and more incredible and much needed features.
Anyway, just thought I’d share too! We are so lucky to have this amazing sim/game/xbox thing!
I am holding out. Why? Can’t explain it. There are anti-vaxxers and there’s me, a lonely anti-MSFSer. It is stupid, anti-social, self-defeating and pointless. But at least I won’t kill anyone.
In the future it’ll be possible to install two flight simulators on the same computer. It sounds completely stupid today, but one day it will come - mark my words.
Do it the traditional internet way: Buy it and then just say you just really really hate it because it’s not the same as something else. Bonus points for pointing that out every time it’s mentioned, regardless of context, to provide valuable counter-balance.
I’m not a big paid aircraft/scenery DLC purchaser. I haven’t purchased anything for MSFS. I have the Premium Deluxe version, so I have a decent amount of planes to try (albeit different versions of the same plane). I like how I can just start up my basic MSFS and have a beautiful experience. If I fired up Prepar3d (I don’t have X-Plane), I’d have to do a lot.
I wish the scenery creation tools were friendlier. I have a bunch of airports that I would like to upgrade, but currently lack the skills to do it.
Perfect is the enemy of good. Besides, flight sim fans more than anyone enjoy actively not playing something more than actually playing it. The fun comes in telling other people.
That’s true. And better always beat good.
What MSFS does well, it does really well. In fact, it’s darn near incredible.
It’s just that I keep going to DCS and IL-2 for my flightsim fix. Those two sims are really good at what they do, too.
As with most things it’s about personal preference.
In my recent history of building a new PC and reinstalling my toys, and then reinstalling everything again because of problems, MSFS hasn’t been the first sim I’ve installed.
But I haven’t installed X-Plane at all, since getting a new PC… So, for me it’s also about the need for a civilian flightsim, as simulating my job probably isn’t the first thing on my mind, when I get some available spare time.
But I do come back to MSFS, every time. That’s something, I guess…?
If I want to shoot something I use DCS. If want to shoot something in VR with a better framerate and a propeller I use IL-2. If I want to fly a 737 or use VATSIM in 2D then I’d use X-Plane, and for anything else recently MSFS. I don’t miss the XP11 ortho setting up and all that jazz. MSFS runs better on my expensive stuff, but that doesn’t mean I think it’s a good fit for everything.
It seems that often MSFS and XP11 get compared where XP11 will have payware and lots of expensive add-ons, as that’s the bar people think stock MSFS vanilla needs to beat - some of the payware MSFS’s is getting quite good and that’s probably what should be compared like for like. Do you have much MSFS payware yet? I can’t remember the last time I flew a stock XP11 aircraft…
No, just two.
X-Plane never really liked my overclocked 8700K. But at or about the same time they went over to the Vulkan API, it started to work again.
I’m not bashing any sim. They all have their strengths and weaknesses.
