Greetings, I usually read this forum and never felt the need of posting, however, this topic kinda catch my attention and feel like answering it. So I created an account just to answer it.
First of all, I will admit that I'm fairly "new" to the Civ franchise. I started at Civ5, because I never took the time to understand the game before, even if I tried a game on older versions. Since Civ5, I really learned how the game works even if I'm not that good, I'm not doing badly. Before moving to Civ6, I was still learning how to handle King difficulty, so yeah, still a long way to go. I play Civ6 since its release, but not as hardcore as some people. I barely have 70 hours of gameplay so far.
Right now, I do like both Civ5:BNW and Civ6, but will I play Civ5? I doubt it. Why? Because Civ6 has new features that I actually enjoy pretty much. So here's why I enjoy Civ6:
- First of all, the district system is one of them. Just the fact that your cities actually look like a city, instead of a huge bunker, it feels more immersive and realistic to how a city actually looks like. It needs some improvement, yes, but right now, I really like that direction and I was very skeptical at first, until I tried it.
- The visual display. Strangly, at first, I wasn't sure about the cartoony look, but after a while, it feels better. The leader's models are really nice looking and feels way easier to create mods for custom leaders and give them an animation.
- The way to create Wonders. Finally, you can see easily who has what Wonders, because they are on the field. It was something that I found stupid in the previous versions, a city could have every Wonders and still be able to fit more... Then, when a Wonder was built by someone else and I'm like: "I want that Wonder badly!" I usually geared up to fight the leader that has it, but it's pretty hard to know where it is. Yes, most of the time it's the capital, but it's not always the case. So the fact that you can no longer create "Wonders City" is a great thing.
- Eureka/Inspiration moment. It creates some strategy to the table. Some are pretty random, some are pretty easy to achieve, but it gives a feeling of improving your civilization based on your actions or, sometime, the others actions. I'll take the example of the Eureka for archery which is to kill a unit with a Slinger unit. While it brings a bonus on the tech tree, it also brings some kind of tutorial to new players, because that player will look at them and will feels to try it.
- Support units. Finally, some units other than a Great General or Great Admiral that brings something to units. Pretty fun to have 1 or 2 balloons to help your artillery to stay out of reach. It removes the feeling of simply having a unit being gamebreaking. In Civ5, getting artillery was very game changing. In Civ6, while it's still good, to have the same strength, you need those units and the more you bring, the stronger they are.
- Religion wars. Finally, religion means something and needs to notice. In Civ5, I mostly skip religion because it was a waste of ressources. Sure, it has some nice bonus, but that's all. In Civ6, it brings a new "pacifist" way to win. I quote it, because there's some great conflit but these feels very strategic because losing a religion war inside the border of someone is a costly lost.
- City-State no longer being based on money. In Civ5, the only way to keep City-State was to have a great economy or being Greece. In Civ6, it's constantly changing due to the envoy system and that system encourage the player to not being forced to have the "Greatest economy" or playing as Greece to keep them. With the World Congress system of Civ5, it was a point to keep in great consideration. In Civ6, I know that I can play without having to sovern a City-State, for now, because it will only bring a bonus instead of a win Condition. And I know that it's pretty hard to keep the control over half of the City-State.
I think I've said mostly why I really like Civ6. It's not perfect, as some people are saying, yes, it's easier, I did see it since I have no difficulty with King difficulties and I'm trying Emperor. I also cheesed out a Diety Victory (less easy than Civ5, but still) by playing a duel game versus the Kongo and rushed the Religion victory. In Civ5, the cheesy way is to create a game with 10 AI in the same team as you vs a single AI and play a Score victory with a limit of 1 turn... Like I've said, I will not deny the fact that the AI is weaker and based on bonus gained through difficulties, I wished the AI would be more than bonus at higher difficulties but I do know how difficult it is to do.
Now, for the Vox Populi mod, nope I never tried it. Why? Because why would I play another game within a game that I already like? I did like the BNW expansion right off the bat so, like others have said, I never felt the need to reduce my game stability to "play someone else game". Because that's what is Vox Populi, it's "someone else game". I'm saying this because everyone playing the game may have a different opinion on the game. So if everyone creates a mod for it, it will be endless. So I don't feel the need to add a mod in Civ5.
Civ6 is still young in it's lifespan. Unlike CivBE, which I was interested but feels very boring due to lack of "faction identity", I quickly like the game. It has soo many potential. It's not perfect because there's some flaws, one being the mid/end game colonisation being very hard due to the District production cost and the lack of city improvements to compensate. However, when I compare Civ5: BNW and vanilla Civ6, while there's some differences, I feel like Civ6 has more potential once he'll have the same number of expansions.
TLDR: Just read the post and don't be lazy!
