Purchasing Plans for Civ VI

With Civ V I was somehow able to distract myself from its initial release long enough to hold out until G&K before purchasing the game.

I'd say the experience worked out well overall. Saved a few coins. Came in at a good time as G&K added quite a bit to the vanilla experience. Didn't have to go through the initial stages of "its garbage, why would anyone buy this over IV" and probably extended the life of the game due to not suffering through the ups and downs of the initial release.

Even though I suffer from SMAC delusion, I didn't bite on BE. I'm sticking to my "wait until the first expansion" guns.

With that being said, I'm not sure I'll be able to resist "new release" fever with VI.

There is a certain level of enjoyment in trying out the first release. You lose some of the freshness buying a year or so later, especially once you hit the forums. I missed the swordsmen rush and the knight rush. I actually enjoy finding an imbalanced aspect of play. Its like finding a rapid in a river. Moves you along very quickly and quite exhilarating. Maybe after the 10th ride it gets boring, and sure it should probably be patched or something, (so that ranged will be the next OP thing!) but the initial discovery and the process of trying to perfect the strategy is enjoyable.

What about you ? Those of you who were able to skip the initial release, how did that work out ? Are you sticking to the same wait and see approach or did you miss the early cycle of "discovery" ?

You're missing a fourth option; waiting until enough post-release material is out there (reviews, livestreams, general forum banter, etc.) to form an opinion.

Unlike other games, there's really nothing that can be provided as an exclusive perk for pre-orders. Maybe a map script, but they can't lock a civ behind it. If they were to, it would be an awful precedent.

There's a fifth option - don't even think about it until the game is actually announced.

Civ BE was a bit of a let down, but I have gotten so much value out of the 'core' Civ games I will order it no matter what. I just fear Civ VI is a long way off.

Nares said:

You're missing a fourth option; waiting until enough post-release material is out there (reviews, livestreams, general forum banter, etc.) to form an opinion.

Unlike other games, there's really nothing that can be provided as an exclusive perk for pre-orders. Maybe a map script, but they can't lock a civ behind it. If they were to, it would be an awful precedent.

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I fumbled it into the 2nd option. If you are in the pragmatic "wait and see" group, I'm assuming CiV didn't change your approach.

Browd said:

There's a fifth option - don't even think about it until the game is actually announced.

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Don't forget options 7-20. But only 20.

wayneb64 said:

Civ BE was a bit of a let down, but I have gotten so much value out of the 'core' Civ games I will order it no matter what. I just fear Civ VI is a long way off.

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We are in similar camps:

1) Its pretty much an auto buy for me as well, just a matter of when, not if.

2) I was initially hoping for a 2015 fall release, but BE and Xcom2 has me thinking summer of 2016 may be too optimistic.

Civ players should continue to enjoy current CiV...

Lachlan said:

Civ players should continue to enjoy current CiV...

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Of course, please do!

The question is how has Civ 5 changed your perspective (if at all) on buying games at release.

I'm especially interested to hear from those who waited to purchase, do they too feel that they missed out on the early discovery phase of the "vanilla" experience ?

It is not my intent to ruin enjoyment of current CiV...

whyidie said:

Of course, please do!

The question is how has Civ 5 changed your perspective (if at all) on buying games at release.

I'm especially interested to hear from those who waited to purchase, do they too feel that they missed out on the early discovery phase of the "vanilla" experience ?

It is not my intent to ruin enjoyment of current CiV...

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What was the situation with Civ 4 and 3? I mean, from what I heard although Civ 4 was great, it had it's let downs until, once again ,expansion packs came to the rescue.

I mean even look at Rising Tides, BE is baad, a flop I would even say, but RT might actually improve it enough to become a contender again.

For a game that had REALLY bad release with Civ 5, it's still played with 30K or so people for a 5year old game with 2 expansion packs (with one that was released now 2 years ago) is not a bad statistic.

TheMarshmallowBear said:

What was the situation with Civ 4 and 3? I mean, from what I heard although Civ 4 was great, it had it's let downs until, once again ,expansion packs came to the rescue.

I mean even look at Rising Tides, BE is baad, a flop I would even say, but RT might actually improve it enough to become a contender again.

For a game that had REALLY bad release with Civ 5, it's still played with 30K or so people for a 5year old game with 2 expansion packs (with one that was released now 2 years ago) is not a bad statistic.

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Civ 4 was actually the tipping point for me. By the time they released BTS I was beyond the Civ 4 experience. I had Civ exhaustion. Played too much of the prior versions and too much of 4 by the time BTS came out, which is unfortunate as I felt BTS was released to address concerns I had with the game.

So I decided for 5 I would restrain myself and wait until at least the first expansion. Its played out pretty well. As you said I think they ended up with a solid game, I've gotten more out of this game than I get out any other game in my library in the past 10 years. Could it be even bettererer ? Like any game ever made, sure, but considering the amount of time I got and continue to get out of the game I feel like I've gotten a great deal.

And I've not given up on BE. Even if Rising Tide is the last expansion and it still misses the mark I may pick it up as a token gesture. I'd love for Firaxis to stay committed to a Civ experience in the future. If they can somehow re-create the magic they captured with SMAC I'd probably pay more than I'd care to admit.

Two other factors to consider ...

1. I'm cheap. I tend to wait about 6-12 months after release to buy a game, until the price goes down. I just can't stomach paying 60 USD for a game. If I wait to buy a "gold edition" or an expansion pack, I get DLC included as well.

2. Hardware updates. I bought a new system, specifically so it could run Civ 5. If I have to buy an improved system to run Civ 6, then it will need to wait a few months (see point 1 about cheap).

I don't remember ever being upset with the Civ V Vanilla release. I don't do MP and don't remember any crashing. What where the big issues?

You know, not to insult anybody but if ya'll gonna wait for the first expansion pack (and assuming mob mentality goes for it) there won't be one since there won't be enough money for the first expansion pack xD

But in all seriousness.

I'm already iffy about BERT, but I think I'd welcome Civ 6 with open arms.

I'm guessing CiVI will be announced next spring for a fall of 2016 release.

Will be very exciting, but until then....

Sherlock said:

I'm guessing CiVI will be announced next spring for a fall of 2016 release.

Will be very exciting, but until then....

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Won't that kind of coincide with the time that was spent between Civ4BTS and Civ 5? (approximately 2 years?)

Other: Wait 6 months to ensure rules are stable before buying. If it appears rules still in wild flux, additional delay.

Your poll doesn't represent all options. Also, the question itself is flawed. What do we know about Civ 6? That it would be called Civ. Nothing more. I don't have so much disposable cash that I can buy something knowing nothing about it except what it's called.

Dushku said:

Your poll doesn't represent all options.

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Indeed!

Dushku said:

Also, the question itself is flawed. What do we know about Civ 6? That it would be called Civ. Nothing more. I don't have so much disposable cash that I can buy something knowing nothing about it except what it's called.

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What is the purpose of the question ?

While I sympathize with your financial situation, I'm sure you are young enough that it has great potential to change. I'm one of the lucky/stupid ones who is able/willing to spend money on a franchise that has given me over a decade of enjoyment. I'm at the point with Civ where it will take me playing a terrible game before I'll write it off. Reviews/forum posts will help to set expectations, but in the end I'll have to try it for myself.

joncnunn said:

Other: Wait 6 months to ensure rules are stable before buying. If it appears rules still in wild flux, additional delay.

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Have you done that for prior releases ? Having done it for CiV, I'm starting to think I should just enjoy the changes as they happen since its not a game where I'll only have 5 saves with a narrative that would be largely impacted by rule changes.

whyidie said:

The question is how has Civ 5 changed your perspective (if at all) on buying games at release.

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For me, it only reinforced the wait-and-see approach.

Assuming an ongoing partnership with Steam, I'm likely to wait on a Steam sale.

TheMarshmallowBear said:

You know, not to insult anybody but if ya'll gonna wait for the first expansion pack (and assuming mob mentality goes for it) there won't be one since there won't be enough money for the first expansion pack

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What you're calling "mob mentality" is just a natural reaction to the ongoing trend of studios releasing rushed, incomplete, poorly tested and poorly balanced games.

Eventually, what you describe, a release which sells so poorly that the expansion to fix it is never produced, will happen. There just aren't enough die-hard EDIT: REALLY SWELL GUYS out there, and marketing campaigns, already transparent hype-trains, won't be sufficient to generate enough sales.

But I don't think that CiVI will be that game. Maybe CiVII, burdened by that many more years of the rest of the industry doing the exact same thing.

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