IGN Preview of CiV

[aftrubeliever85]

IGN posted a short preview of CiV today. Nothing mind-blowing here but it does give details on the approach to modding Shafer is taking. The other new piece of info I found tasty was how "the game will help players focus on the information they need to see" by giving "[s]mall icons [that] appear along the edge of the screen to give players notifications of important events or opportunities, and you can instantly snap to any of the relevant locations to get your own appraisal of the situation."

Overall I say

[JECTX]

Not much of a preview but it sounds as if the game is getting shaken down to a first installment type production. Removing the "addon" complexities like espionage and religion.

[Mango Elephant]

'The advisers are making a comeback, for instance, but won't be pushing each other aside or shouting over each other. ' For shame :'( I hope they'll be like the Civ 3 and change with the times and the civilization. Thanks for the link.

[phungus420]

Best article I've seen yet, good stuff. Also love the modding information, calms many of my fears.

[Grit]

Eh I could stand religion not being in the game (though I still dont understand why.) But ESPIANOGE?!? Why is that getting stripped it dosn't make sence to me.

[cf_nz]

I reads more like the Civ IV 'espionage system' is gone, not necessarily all forms of espionage.

[cardgame]

I hated cIV's espionage system for the most part. The passive effects were nice, but overall possibly OP (if only for the human) and imo cIV is better without espionage. I wouldn't mind some new forms of espionage in ciV, though, if it's better/optional.

I'm kind of mixed about religion. It was a pretty big feature in cIV...

[Shiggs713]

Originally Posted by phungus420

Best article I've seen yet, good stuff. Also love the modding information, calms many of my fears.

very much so XML, visual C++ something for sure, and I will assume python. Sounds like civ5 mods are going to be coming out within weeks or months of civ5's release. Best article yet I agree, and it mentions another one, more about the gameplay next week...

though this is a little concerning;

Of course, not all of Civilization's PC fans had a positive view of the broad style or humor of Revolution, so they'll be happy to know that the designers are moving away from the silliness of the console game to create a more somber PC sequel. The game will still have the trademark Civilization personality, but it won't be as exaggerated as in previous installments.

while we're not gonna get something as lame as civRev, to me it sounds like its not going to be as epic as any of the other Civ's. They want a dumbed down version, no espionage, no complications, something that the average joe can come home and conquer the world in 3 hours. Kinda sounds lame, but since its all the same tools from civ4 it can be easily fixed.

[bonafide11]

The game has obviously also been influenced by Civilization Revolution for the consoles, particularly in terms of the overall interface.

This quote is going to freak out a lot of people. I personally don't mind since I think Civ Rev did a lot of good things. Obviously I want a more complicated and deep game than Civ Rev, but Civ Rev was smart to strip away some of the unnecessary elements of the game, and Civ V would be smart to follow that to an extent.

[Thormodr]

A positive article to be sure.

It will be interesting to see what they do with espionage now.

[mjs0]

Interesting...with a few new nuggets of information, but the best line of the entire article was:

We'll be talking a lot about the specific features of the game next week.

[chongli]

Originally Posted by Shiggs713

while we're not gonna get something as lame as civRev, to me it sounds like its not going to be as epic as any of the other Civ's. They want a dumbed down version, no espionage, no complications, something that the average joe can come home and conquer the world in 3 hours. Kinda sounds lame, but since its all the same tools from civ4 it can be easily fixed.

I disagree. They are dramatically expanding the combat system, so much so that something else had to give way. You simply cannot expand all areas of the game as that leads to bloatware. Religion and Espionage were very weak, exploitable and generally unfun systems that honestly deserved the axe.

Needless to say, I am very optimistic about Civ V. They are taking a hard look at the series and holding nothing sacred in the quest to make the game more fun. This, to me, is an extremely admirable pursuit and I think it'll payoff big time.

[Shiggs713]

I'll agree that religions and espionage were poorly implemented... sort of afterthoughts for civ4. I don't necessarily mind that they are gone.

Expanding the combat system... I'm not sure I would call it expanding quite yet. All we really know is its 1UPT and that they copied Dales ranged bombardment from a mod in civ4. The real factor of success I think could be easily measured by how good the AI is in combat. If they took the basic AI from civ4, slap it in a 1UPT environment, it would be a nightmare. Lets hope that the AI takes a giant leap forward in combat.

[Rexflex]

I think it's a pity that they are going for a more serious style on the advisor level. Their arguments in CII were fun and for the time of that game's release it was pretty clever.

I'm all for a generally serious "sombre" game, but would like some areas of mild silliness.

I do like the introduction of the "go to" event icons on the left of the screen - they work well in the Total War series. One thing that made management tedious sometimes in Civ is getting event notices (like warnings of enemy units near a certain city) and having to navigate your way to that city to address that event.

[Thorburne]

All the tools have been taken to a whole new level, so the more you know about XML and programmable DLL, the more you'll be able to achieve with the game.

I guess that means you have to have a Masters Degree in Programming to do simple changes...

I've got to say, the more I am hearing about Civ V, the more dissappointed I am becoming. It seems like Civ V is shaping up to be Civilization: Panzer General and taking away everything that makes it Civilization!

I really hope that I hear some mind blowing news next week... otherwise, I may just have to pass and hope that Firaxis comes to their senses with Civ IV (and that it is a fast turnaround).

This is all getting really depressing!

[Testiethree]

john shafer is HHHOOOOOOOOOOTTTTT!

[Shiggs713]

no Thorburne - XML is very simple, seriously if you give it a try, you will see. Probably about the same learning curve of writing an email or surfing the internet. The DLL is a different story, but you won't need that to make a decent little mod that adds a civ, techs, change some attributes or whatever.

It really should be that way too. To the experienced modders this is the best news about civ5 yet.

[Rexflex]

Originally Posted by Thorburne

I guess that means you have to have a Masters Degree in Programming to do simple changes...

I don't think that is what they are saying. They're providing access for mods to more advanced changes, but they've said nothing about making the access to currently simple changes any more difficult for people without advanced programming skills.

Not to mention that no XML editing is ever going to require a masters degree in programming.

[Aussie_Lurker]

removing the religion and espionage systems

. OK, am I the only one bothered by this? I never saw these two as

exploitation of more arbitrary game elements

, but as reasonably accurate depictions of what happened historically. You want to tell me that two nations wouldn't have a falling out if one nation discovered the other was engaged in sabotage/espionage against them? You want to tell me that-even today-religion doesn't play some role in international relations? I agree with Shiggs-removal of espionage & religion definitely sounds like a dumbing down of the franchise after the High Water Mark achieved with Civ4 & its expansions!

Aussie.

[Thorburne]

Originally Posted by Shiggs713

no Thorburne - XML is very simple, seriously if you give it a try, you will see. Probably about the same learning curve of writing an email or surfing the internet. The DLL is a different story, but you won't need that to make a decent little mod that adds a civ, techs, change some attributes or whatever.

It really should be that way too. To the experienced modders this is the best news about civ5 yet.

Sorry, I was being sarcastic with the degree comment. My point is that I don't want to dig through lines of somewhat confusing XML lines just to change a simple attribute. Yes, the basics of XML is easy to learn (relatively), but it is still a bunch of coded lines that is more complicated than email or surfing the internet. Not to mention very cumbersome. What is so hard about a GUI for at least the basics?