Well I see most of you are caught up on graphics, which you really shouldn't be as most of you still play RO. What I find disappointing is that this game is even less realistic than RO:OST. Ok, first off why are there floating icons on the HUD? Did soldiers wear plastic shields to reflect real time combat info to their eyes? It can be turned off yes, but the fact that it was even included is worrying. Weapon ammo amount indicator? Its not heavy or light anymore? What is up with this? And I was really hoping that TWI would get rid of the awkwardly standing man in the bottom left. If I am injured, I don't have a "lets look at a generic picture of a Western European caucasian man to see where I was hit" button. If a run of the mill soldier is shot, he looks down to see where, this would have been a neat implementation, and a fun game of "where is the bullet hole", this is what RO:HOS should have used. The radar I won't cover much, it shouldn't be there. I see RO:HOS has taken a page from Resistance and Liberation's book that once you are looking down the iron sights, your eye magically magnifies the image. They also copied the page of RnL's book about climbing over walls and what not (believe they call it mantling). This I like very much, and is arguably the best feature in RnL.
(I step away from the mic to breathe)
Now about the squad command system, now matter how in depth or how detailed it is, this is never a replacement for a good (or bad) microphone. Reliance should not be placed on this command system, but rather on another of RnL's features of sound dissipation over distance. The GPS map is also in RO:OST, and I feel should just be a map without a magical cursor of your location (as the mod had if I remember correctly). The floating text is again veering from realism, if you want to know if a point is capped or not, go visit it yourself or send a teammate to check. Kind of hard to flank an opposing force when they have invisible sentries at every point. Also I am a bit worried about the "Hero" status, enabling a player to receive rarer weapons. I presume a white list will appear for maps and mods for RO:HOS since it has a KF style leveling system. Will this hurt mods for RO:HOS? One superb thing about RO:OST are the awesome mods, vehicle/weapon packs, mutators, and maps availabe. If people had to wait for an update to get their custom content white listed, this could discourage the community from adding custom content. Sure it doesn't matter for consolers (who the game seems purpose built for), but with custom content being somewhat inhibited, what advantages do us die hard PC users have over the kid who picked it up at Gamestop because it got rave reviews?
The "ideal" RO:HOS for me would be ultra realism. I like RO:OST's method of determining ammunition amounts, mantling and cover using in RO:HOS looks and appears to work great, that is a very nice improvement. I feel that the Communication could be needed, I suppose the highly detailed squad command system is necessary for those who are microphone shy, but making it as well as voice communications distance based would be a nice gem of realism tossed into the mix. Perhaps give overhead maps identifiable objects to help orient themselves with relation to the map, but I feel a GPS system for the player and teammates is a bit over the top and plushy. Weapons have always been very nicely done by TWI and I can only wait in suspense to see what will be included. Undecided about the bandage system yet, even if you were shot in an non-vital area, you would still have damage and loss of some function. Vital area death shots are nice though.
This view is mine and my own, and I will likely still purchase the game when the time rolls around (Yoshiro turned down a chocolate chip cookie cake for some slivers of RO:HOS
). I am not trying to be mean or unjust or unfair to TWI for I have been a loyal fan for years, I just fear that they may be going the way of larger studios of making easy pretty console titles. Please respond to this post only if you are willing to swap constructive critcism (even if nobody upstairs is listening). But lets all remember, the game isn't out yet so nobody (but TWI) knows fo shizzle.