So in terms of Battlefield 1, it seems like you, me, and Dice all agree that realism was sacrificed for fun. And a great deal of realism, at that.
And it seems we agree that Battlefield 4 isn't trying to be realistic, either. No sniping enemy pilots isn't commonplace, but flying planes through buildings and canyons and shit like Will Smith in Independence Day is. It's a multiplayer that is 1) arcade-y first and 2) realistic second. It's a nice middle ground between cartoony MP games like Fortnite and actual immersive sim shooters that - as you said before - Battlefield doesn't try to emulate.
So the question becomes at what point is the balance of arcade and realism thrown way out of whack, enough to elicit pushback from the playerbase. And we're concluding that a reasonable line in a series where World War 1 was fought with machine guns is...face paint (that was actually used) and female soldiers and amputees fighting? Like, I get your point about there being few female soldiers and other points such as amputees being sent home instead of fighting. And I agree that the reason this is a thing is microtransactions (for hookhands, etc). But I don't feel like it's a reasonable hardline stance to take against the game, especially when such things as female soldiers were possible, however unlikely. Tanks shooting down jets is also possible, after all, however unlikely.
Thanks for a reasonable and well thought out response. I agree with you for the most part. I never took a hardline stance, and i will still buy the game. But it just pisses me off that people start to make up facts just to combat morons. We are better than that, or at least i thought we were. I guess I'm just disappointed in the level of discussion on this forum when it comes to this topic.
Just to give you an idea of where i (and i imagine many others) are coming from:
WW2 games holds a special place in my heart, growing up with the PS1 Medal of honor games, Allied Assault and later BF1942 and the early CoD. I was hoping this game would scratch that itch that those games did. Giving that Band of brothers feeling back, that has been missing for so long.
CoD WWII was absolute stinking garbage, so that didn't pan out. This was the last hope to get that feeling back, and it seems that they have gone in a completely different direction with this game, which is extremely disappointing. The female amputee soldier with facepaint is just part of that.
And no matter how many arguments could be made for why it should be included, female soldiers with bright facepaint ruins the WWII experience much more than any sniping from parachutes could ever do. Since you will see that all the time, in every game. It will be unavoidable. And to salt the wounds even more, they made the game much more "band of brothersy" in other ways by making other things much more realistic. So it will be like watching a WWII movie with Adam Sandler showing up in the middle of an intense scene.
And yes, in Medal of Honor Underground you play as a woman. That is very cool actually! Why? Because she is a French resistance fighter. And those actually existed, and did many of the things you do in that game.
