[R&F] Governors are kind of immersion breaking.

[Krajzen]

I mean, they are cool mechanic and all but...

...I am slightly upset at the fact that even if I play bronze age Kongo, isolated from the entire world by sea, deep in the jungle, I employ some white and Asian ladies and gentlemen. With names like Viktor. Just how the hell did they get here? Or to medieval Japan, or Inca, or really any civ because they are so ethnically diverse?

I am not sure what is worse: this or the fact they are going to return to guide every civilization we play, as some sort of time-travelling party. Civ shouldn't have returning characters apart from civ-specific leaders. So not only I will assign white conquistador-looking guy to oversee my Mbanza Kongo, I will have a deja vu of appointing the same exact guy to Tenochtitlan in my earlier Aztec game.

On top of that all, I almost never before complained on cartoon art style... But here it is so over the top it seriously lookes like taken straight from mobile game or Pixar movie.

Oh and they are not some sort of background aestethic. No, you are going to see those faces constantly. Hello, Chinese emperor, here we get some random barbarians from far west to guide Middle Kingdom.

Personally I would honestly prefer if they had only titles (Castellan, Educator etc), color code and symbol for everyone of them, and name generated from particular civ's list. Well there are mods but...

What do you think?

 

[Magil]

It's a popular opinion. It doesn't matter to me because the Kongo can build the Pyramids and we have Teddy Roosevelt leading the American Empire in 4000 B.C..

 

[Ivan Hunger]

Remember when Elvis Presley was your entertainment advisor in Civ 2?

I consider these guys to be the spiritual successor to stuff like that. Very over-the-top, but in a fun way.

 

[Depravo]

I'll give 'em a turn and if it isn't working for me will change to a generic silhouette mod that will no doubt exist by then.

 

[Duuk]

I'll give 'em a turn and if it isn't working for me will change to a generic silhouette mod that will no doubt exist by then.

Silhouette and civ-specific naming mod. I give it 24 hours post-release. Less, if a member of the beta team leaks the files to the right modders.

 

[Eric Guimarães]

w/e,my main concern is game mechanics,although it would be nice to have them designed to fit each civ's culture

 

[UncivilizedGuy]

I mean, they are cool mechanic and all but...

...I am slightly upset at the fact that even if I play bronze age Kongo, isolated from the entire world by sea, deep in the jungle, I employ some white and Asian ladies and gentlemen. With names like Viktor. Just how the hell did they get here? Or to medieval Japan, or Inca, or really any civ because they are so ethnically diverse?

I am not sure what is worse: this or the fact they are going to return to guide every civilization we play, as some sort of time-travelling party. Civ shouldn't have returning characters apart from civ-specific leaders. So not only I will assign white conquistador-looking guy to oversee my Mbanza Kongo, I will have a deja vu of appointing the same exact guy to Tenochtitlan in my earlier Aztec game.

On top of that all, I almost never before complained on cartoon art style... But here it is so over the top it seriously lookes like taken straight from mobile game or Pixar movie.

Oh and they are not some sort of background aestethic. No, you are going to see those faces constantly. Hello, Chinese emperor, here we get some random barbarians from far west to guide Middle Kingdom.

Personally I would honestly prefer if they had only titles (Castellan, Educator etc), color code and symbol for everyone of them, and name generated from particular civ's list. Well there are mods but...

What do you think?

I agree. Looking forward to a mod that will resolve this.

 

[bite]

Seriously, this is a Game where colonial Australia exists in 4000BC can war with Kongo over tea plantations, while building Stonehenge. Who then can have John Curtain enter a 3000 year war with Gandhi that leads to nuclear apocalypse and the destruction of the Roman people who worship Confucianism and follow Communism and who was lead into war by Boudicca... but an ethical diverse range of governors is where the 'Immersion' breaks down for people.

 

[Depravo]

Silhouette and civ-specific naming mod. I give it 24 hours post-release. Less, if a member of the beta team leaks the files to the right modders.

Maybe we could get the 'civ specific naming' ball rolling ITT?

EDIT: France
Steward - Lazare
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lazare_Carnot
Surveyor - Samuel
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_de_Champlain
Educator - Nicolas
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marquis_de_Condorcet
Castellan - Sebastien
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sébastien_Le_Prestre_de_Vauban
Diplomat - Charles Maurice
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Maurice_de_Talleyrand-Périgord
Cardinal - Armand
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardinal_Richelieu (duh)
Financier - Jean-Baptiste
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Baptiste_Colbert

Germany
Steward - Friedrich
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Alfred_Krupp
Surveyor - Adolf... uh... Franz
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Lüderitz
Educator - Friedrich Wilhelm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_von_Humboldt
Castellan - ?Siegfried (skipping the centuries a bit)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siegfried_von_Feuchtwangen
Diplomat - Otto
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_von_Bismarck
Cardinal - Ansgar
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ansgar
Financier - Ludwig
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_Erhard

 

[Cagarustus]

I wonder if it’s possible to mod governors to specific civilizations? They may be hard coded to apply to all civilizations??

Although I look forward to infixo making a ‘Real Governors’ mod.

 

[Stringer1313]

I would much rather they prioritize creating female versions of the great people appearing on screen!!!! Really immersion breaking after reading about cool-female-historical-great-person only to look at "her" on the map and see some random bald dude

 

[Cerilis]

I would much rather they prioritize creating female versions of the great people appearing on screen!!!! Really immersion breaking after reading about cool-female-historical-great-person only to look at "her" on the map and see some random bald dude

I thought that was already a thing.

 

[Stringer1313]

I thought that was already a thing.

Already planned for the expansion, or already a thing now? It's definitely not a thing now I don't think - i still see bald dude icon on lower right hand corner.

Sorry, back on topic. I hear ya on the Governors thing -- i think for me it's less immersion breaking that they are of different races, but more immersion breaking the fact that all civs on the map have the same governors. So you see multiple Imanis on the city state screen - that to me is more of the immersion breaking part.

 

[Arianrhod]

Strongly strongly strongly agree, it was my first thought and it's probably the first thing I'd want to change if I could change anything about the game design right now. It's an odd day when I wish the art team was lazier, but silhouettes or icons with country-unique name pools like spies in V would genuinely have done the job better.

Remember when Elvis Presley was your entertainment advisor in Civ 2?

I consider these guys to be the spiritual successor to stuff like that. Very over-the-top, but in a fun way.

The thing about advisors is that you can pretend that you're the only leader who has that exact set. It's still a little disorienting if you think about it, but it's not really something you have much reason to pay attention to, so it doesn't matter a whole lot. Governors are not only a major gameplay mechanic, but they're something you know every other country has the exact same set of, which makes it exponentially more immersion-breaking.

Seriously, this is a Game where colonial Australia exists in 4000BC can war with Kongo over tea plantations, while building Stonehenge. Who then can have John Curtain enter a 3000 year war with Gandhi that leads to nuclear apocalypse and the destruction of the Roman people who worship Confucianism and follow Communism and who was lead into war by Boudicca... but an ethical diverse range of governors is where the 'Immersion' breaks down for people.

Oh, stop blowing smoke to sound nice. It's not just an "ethical diverse range of governors". It's an "ethical diverse range of governors" that has a clone serving every known world leader with exactly the same name, personality, and appearance every single game every single time without fail, working behind the scenes to manipulate every world government against each other, even against the countries that they might or might not have at one point originated from, for no obvious reason but perhaps to achieve dominance over their other failed clones.

It's stupid, don't try to hide it behind diversity.

 

[The Kingmaker]

Remember when Elvis Presley was your entertainment advisor in Civ 2?

I consider these guys to be the spiritual successor to stuff like that. Very over-the-top, but in a fun way.

I think I honestly would have preferred that. Einstein for science, Elvis for entertainment, maybe Da Vinci in there for kicks. Give it more personality while still feeling civ appropriate.

 

[criZp]

Well there are mods but...

What do you think?

There are mods indeed, and I'm gonna be quick to use them.

 

[Meluhhan]

This line of thought has been prevalent on the forum ever since the governors were revealed, but honestly, how are they any different at breaking immersion than the various great people that one can employ?
This is the very game where playing as Philip 2 of Spain you can recruit Francis Drake as an admiral for you!

And for the sake of immersion, one can always pretend to be leading an egalitarian empire of a metropolitan nature attracting greatest minds from all corners of the world to guide and serve a great patron like you. Some intense role playing.

And that would not be exactly historically inaccurate; atleast some empires in history have been known to employ people from different parts of the known world in services ranging from mercenaries to administrators. The Mughal empire and the Deccan Sultanates often did this.

 

[spfun]

I agree with the OP but I'm more interested in game balance rather than looks, and most of the abilities are really meh or downright terrible while some are useful.

 

[Inhalaattori]

I agree that they should rather use symbols (like we have for great people in great people screen) and only general names like "Educator". Why give them names when all Civs have the same governors. Its just weird and doesnt make any sense.

 

[seancolorado]

I personally like the governors and their personalities. Not immersion breaking for me, nothing stupid about it