I am a Navy field 1 vet, maybe not as vet as some others but I consider myself one. I played NF1 for thosands of hours over a good 5 years of my life. I played casual at first, then I got into fleets and port control/ownership and got a bit competative. Rolling with some of the best and fighting agenst the rest. I put a good 300 dollars into the game and it never could do any wrong. When I saw NF2 on greenlight I Died and was in heaven.
To say I am happy... would be exagerating. I am honestly disapointed. SDE I though you could do better, I had high hopes, maybe too high now that iv played NF2.....
The graphics are good, Ship models are amazing, Weather is beautifuly done. Your artists/department deserve every dime their getting in their pay checks if not more. Are they the best out there? No. Should they be? No. Could they be better? Always.
My disapointment comes from almost everything else....
Shells although representative to NF1, Look like fireballs. Their brightness needs to be toned DOWN and made white or a very dull red to look like bullet streaks not spells.
40,000 ton+ Naval fortresses should not look like they are turning like a Jetski or speed/racing boat. Im sorry but I am severaly disapointed seeing this expecially in carriers and battleships.... heavy cruisers meh.... maybe depending on the cruiser. Destroyers, light cruisers definantly can now and then but still its over done and exagerated compaired to real life.
Ship acceleration/deceleration is way to high for larger vessels. I feel like im dropping an ancor when I stop, which in a 40,000 ton+ naval warship is unforgivably bad. Even destroyers do not stop that quickly, and Battleships, carriers and heavy cruisers should never accelerate like one either.
UI is a mess... it feels late alpha/early beta. There is so much wasted space, or to much open space, to many pop ups, too little information. Iv seen powerpoint slides with better presentation then NF2 is presenting for its interface. It took me an hour to figure out how to slot sailors, and I still dont know how to roll/add new ones with out buying premium ones from the store. The Captains are meh... I feel their greatly unneeded and serve no purpose really other then to be a rankable crew member like any other.
Battle Lobbies..... Where do I begin.... I dont care if you think im old fashioned but I loved the NF1 lobbies. DO NOT confuse this with the match making and the whole map/room thing. NF2 would be in my opinion, better, if I hit battle, it found me a lobby with open slots and threw me in a NF1 like staging area where you can see the other players. For any one who is even going to think of the argument "Oh well that takes the fun out of playing." No.... no it doesnt. I loved getting into a lobby and planning around who was there... My H39 couldnt outgun H44's or anything of compairable size, I knew if they where an enemy i should keep my distance, if they where an ally I could stay close to them and their range would allow me to get closer then I would if I was alone with out being extremely high risk. It had in my opinion no effect on gameplay itself other then hypothetical strategies for whos gonna be where and doing what, which 75% of the time youd be completely wrong if you only looked at it from one side.
Finally Customization. Im not gonna beat the dead horse here by talking about player skins and yada yada. Look, your competion does it, you should consider offical support, end of story. No Im focusing mainly here on the ships themselfs. I do not, at all, approve of having zero customization in armor or armorments. I dont care if I have 5 or 10 weapons to choose from. I want to be able to take my AA guns off and put torpedo launchers on, or take my torpedo launchers off and put hedgehog depth charges on, or in smaller vessels like destroyers make EVERYTHING AA to support and protect my fleet from both scout and attack aircraft. If you have a problem with the meta builts such as the japanese 10 torpedo "bomber" that was oh so popular in NF1, Heres a few ideas. Limit the number of powerful weapons (torpedos, depth charges, mines, and so on) that can be fit on any 1 ship, instead of letting them fit 10, cap them at 4. Guns should be the only thing that is unlimited in my opinion. As far as armor goes, your ruining game play here on this one.... Armor customization allows you to play to your strengths, and protect yourself (a bit) from your weaknesses. You suck at long range? youll wanna invest in deck armor so your protected while you close in. You suck at dodging torpedos, buldge/torpedo bulkheads are your thing. Love getting up close or have problems with people getting right into your face, belt armors for you. Having 4 ships with differnt armor load outs made gameplay challanging.... if you went agenst a vessel with alot of deck armor it forced you to try and get close to make use of their weaker belt. you went agenst a vessel with weak deck, your gonna want to keep your distance as they try and get close. Why cant I lower my engine, make myself slower to draw out a bit more of armor, or risk it all and lower my armor to give myself some speed. What about fire control, planes? These things made NF1 interesting, challanging, fun, and indepth. was it historically accurate. Not entirely. Does that matter? Not in my opinion.
Honestly.... First impressions of Navy field 2 is making me want to step back, saying "uh.... what have you done?". Id give this game a 6 out of 10 and I feel im being very generious here. NF2 is a good recreation of NF1, but if I had to choose between the two games, id be going back to NF1. You will not surpass NF1 at the rate you are going with the choices youve made and the product you currently have on the table. SDE, I am disapointed, I though youd deliver a better product given your expernce with NF1. If your doing it to appeal to a larger audiance.... please please please stop. You need your nitch fans, the people who will stick by you and throw money at you even if your circling the drain. Dont do what so so so many other games did and sell yourself out to get the gaming "whores" who will leave you after a month or two to chase the new shiney game on the block.... your better then that.