PolyCast Episode 260: "Not Just a Lame Clip Show XIX"

It's been brought. The two-hundred-and-sixtieth episode of Civilization strategy podcast PolyCast, "Not Just a Lame Clip Show XIX", features regular co-hosts Daniel "DanQ" Quick, "Makahlua", Philip "TheMeInTeam" Bellew and "MadDjinn" with three guest co-hosts in the eighteenth compilation of segments archived from previous episode recordings and not released previously. With a 59m59s runtime, the summary of topics is as follows:

- 00m37s | Forum Talk
An exhaustive fan review of Civilization: Beyond Earth expansion pack Rising Tide is given its own such treatment (recorded for Episode 246) while a study of Civilization V multiplay leads to quanitative and qualitative questions as well as answers (26m36s; recorded for Episode 251).
- 43m20s | Forum Talk
Merge onto development memory lane for the original Civilization (recorded for Episode 242); then, turn onto accolade boulevard for CivV topping a chart for turn-based strategy games (56m37s; recorded for Episode 249).

PolyCast is a bi-weekly audio production recording live every other Saturday throughout the year, in an ongoing effort to give the Civ community an interactive voice; sibling show ModCast focuses on Civ modding, TurnCast on Civ multiplay. PolyCast Episode 261 is to be released on July 30th, one week after its recording.

Nice BE discussion. Made me start a game.

legalizefreedom said:

Nice BE discussion.

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Thank you kindly -- glad you enjoyed it.

Made me start a game.

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Finally got around to listening to this episode. Had skipped it because I was more interested in the Civ VI stuff. I really appreciate the criticism and feedback regarding the scoring system. It was harsh, but it was very honest and accurate.

The scoring system was something that I was never really happy with, and I had been thinking for a long time about other ways to present the "In a nutshell" section. As a bit of background, the scoring system was a hold-over from a time when I did some reviews for a start-up gaming review aggregate site. The operator of the site had read some of my user reviews on Gamespot (of all places) and recruited me to write reviews for his site, and that site used a similar scoring system. During that time, I also started my own blog and simultaneously published those reviews on the blog as well. The reviewing site eventually went defunct, so I switched to publishing the reviews on the blog instead. The wild card category was something that I added in order to make the final score more representative of my own opinion of the game (a way to weight the score one way or another), and to rate the game based on something that it does uniquely. It was intended to allow for lower-budget indie games to be able to compete, score-wise, with more polished and technically-proficient triple-A games. It didn't quite work out so well.

I have since switched to a different system in which I provide a series of Pros and Cons, along with a final grade (A, B, C, etc) and an overall opinion of the game. I know you're all busy, but I wouldn't mind hearing your opinions on the new format as well. Is it better? Somehow worse? I started the new format with Five Nights at Freddy's (http://www.megabearsfan.net/post/2016/06/21/Five-Nights-at-Freddys-game-review.aspx), and the most recent review is Madden 17 (http://www.megabearsfan.net/post/2016/09/26/Madden-17-game-review.aspx). There will certainly be a review of Civ VI at some point as well.

Thanks again! And keep up the great work. Can't wait to hear all the discussion about Civ VI once the game releases.

megabearsfan said:

Finally got around to listening to this episode. Had skipped it because I was more interested in the Civ VI stuff. I really appreciate the criticism and feedback regarding the scoring system. It was harsh, but it was very honest and accurate.

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Regardless of the criticism regarding this review, it's not hard to see you and your work are well respected on Polycast and in the civ community at large.

legalizefreedom said:

Regardless of the criticism regarding this review, it's not hard to see you and your work are well respected on Polycast and in the civ community at large.

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I definitely don't take it personally. I always welcome constructive criticism - which makes sense, because I always like to give constructive criticism