2K Greg's recent posts on the 2K forums

[Aristos]

adjusting a little:

Consolization: Involution.

 

[Oneluv]

Too bad the game itself didn't get that "rigorous QA cycle of testing and fixing" before it was released!

dV

That was the low hanging fruit I had hoped would be picked. I was wondering when it was going to fall.

"A day late and a dollar short" is what my grandma would have said about 2k's bromides.

Imho 2kgreg is full of malarky and runnin' scared. Buck up and come to this forumn and answer some questions from the fanatics is what I say. Why not?

With the devisivness this game has brought to the community I honestly find 2k's radio silence a bit questionable.

 

[Louis XXIV]

Yes, they're hiding. It's not like they're busy or anything You can't simultaneously say bugs need to be fixed right away and say that they should take the time to respond to every comment posted to them in every civ forum.

 

[dexters]

Yes, they're hiding. It's not like they're busy or anything You can't simultaneously say bugs need to be fixed right away and say that they should take the time to respond to every comment posted to them in every civ forum.

That's not what I meant, even to pop in to discuss what they are doing etc would be nice.

Soren had to patch a buggy Civ3 at release too. He still found time to post. I'm not trying to criticize Jon and his team, just weird that the community managers are doing the PR. It adds another gatekeeper layer. How do we know they pass on the stuff we post.

Heck, hardly any community managers even post here. I see dshirk (programmer?) post on the tech help side. That's about it.

 

[YoHo]

I'm a firmware/SW qa guy by trade and I've been a civ player since 1993. I've seen my share of civ crashes in multiple versions, and I've signed off on code with known issues. I've even seen coders and qa guys laid off in the middle of projects.


I've never seen sw release bug free.

I'm not saying this is an excuse or that the current state is acceptable. And the sad fact is that sometimes crashes and obvious errors get missed by qa and extensive beta. Especially with a game as complex as this.

As for the ai. I have a theory based on personal experience. I suspect that they have been working on the ai, but they probably couldn't get it stable. Release dates are sometimes immovable and so they went with stable.


Hopfully the base could is extensible enough that its just a fix or extension, not a rewrite.

 

[Venereus]

If they understand why we skip the videos, why did they add the fullscreen leader screens? It's the same useless eye candy you watch once and then gets annoying.

 

[Guardian_PL]

If they understand why we skip the videos, why did they add the fullscreen leader screens? It's the same useless eye candy you watch once and then gets annoying.

Oh yes, qft.

On top of that same ugly (sorry, these leaderheads are ugly, not one bit good looking except for perhaps Monty and Nebuchadnezzar) mugs we have the same lines spoken only to different texts. That Bismarcks "auf intressen" said over and over and over again made me mute the bloody thing completely and listen to my own music. Sadly I can't switch my screen off everytime trade screen ('cause you can't call it a diplo screen) comes on - I wouldn't know what to click.

So yes, following the logic that wonder movies were boring and still images are so awesome why can't we have the same for the leaderheads?

 

[drachasor]

I've gotting over 60 hrs in over multiple games, saves and re-loads. I have never gotten a CTD. Technically speaking, this has been a very stable game for me, better than a few other releases I've played over the past year.

I've had fun with the game and I continue to have that desire for "one more turn". I feel the AI could be improved but I have had some good battles with the AI, and I think some UI tweaks and improvements could be made.

I never had a problem with Civ IV's memory leak. That doesn't mean the problem didn't exist.

 

[Abegweit]

You really don't remember the run to capital bug? When Civ4 first came out (prior to first patch), when war was declared, the AI would immediately run all their units to their capital city and fortify them there, giving away the rest of their empire. It had to be patched. Civfanatics forumers screamed to high heaven about it.

No I don't. I could add that Civ5 has the opposite problem. It is far too easy to steal workers, even at war.

But such things are off the topic. Bugs can be fixed. Civ5 has far more fundamental problems than poor protection of workers.

 

[jpinard]

There is a very easy way for Greg & Firaxis to handle this. A simple developer note stating what features THEY KNOW will be re-implemented (since tohers have done it for them, no excuse to not add the end-of-game replay in via patch) and other bare necessities that will get attention. It doesn't take a rocket-scientist to figure out what they can say... whch won't get them into trouble for promises they can't keep. And if they're so stupid they can't make those distinctions then they don't deserve to be in business.

Otherwise this will end up like another Sid Meier's "Trains" - which was an abysmal bomb for long-term playability. You could mod it easier than the old games, but the design and post-game support sucked.

 

[nokmirt]

I can't speak directly to any particular developer or Greg, but Firaxis / 2K had a lot of time, fired some devs and QA folks a while ago, and chose to release Civ V in a very messy state. I don't blame anyone for being concerned / short on patience considering the current state of the game.

I am too, and expressed my feelings on another thread. Civ 5 right now is similiar to a pile of dog turds that got stepped in.

 

[Venereus]

To those comparing crashes. I feel my duty to remind you of the problem the last patch fixed. I experienced the Spanish XP crash myself, it was simple, the game just didn't launch. What's noteworthy, is that it was created by the .17 patch. I tell you, it's not our hardware at fault here.

 

[Louis XXIV]

That's not what I meant, even to pop in to discuss what they are doing etc would be nice.

Soren had to patch a buggy Civ3 at release too. He still found time to post. I'm not trying to criticize Jon and his team, just weird that the community managers are doing the PR. It adds another gatekeeper layer. How do we know they pass on the stuff we post.

Heck, hardly any community managers even post here. I see dshirk (programmer?) post on the tech help side. That's about it.

Personally, I'd like them to stop in too. It would be a nice public relations move.

But when other posters start saying "they're running scared" or they're hiding, I call crap. Oddly enough, Shafer doesn't have as much interaction as head compared to Soren Johnson or Jesse Smith did. It's a shame and I think it's bad PR, but he didn't post here before the game was released either. It's not related to negative feedback. And I do believe 2KGreg isn't posting here because he's busy with other duties (part of which is the 2K forum, but I think he has forum-based duties as well).

 

[Earthling]

Yes, they're hiding. It's not like they're busy or anything You can't simultaneously say bugs need to be fixed right away and say that they should take the time to respond to every comment posted to them in every civ forum.

Yeah, you can (in a general sense). Because that's the job of a community representative - they're not actually the ones doing the bug-fixing/software coding.

Although, I am not 100% sure this is true in 2kGreg's case - so again in the general sense with various game companies, yes, this should be true, but for some specific people it might not be. And I thought it was the case that 2k's Greg and Elizabeth are not major programmers/don't do any of that work, in which case there is no conflict here as you suggested Louis, but maybe not.

 

[Guardian_PL]

And I do believe 2KGreg isn't posting here because he's busy with other duties (part of which is the 2K forum, but I think he has forum-based duties as well).

Yeah, like deleting/closing all the "inapropriate" threads that are popping out there like mushrooms after the rain

 

[Venereus]

Yeah, like deleting/closing all the "inapropriate" threads that are popping out there like mushrooms after the rain

Mmh, "mushrooms after the rain", nice expression. Hadn't heard it before, sounds like an euro think. Is it?

 

[Thormodr]

Mmh, "mushrooms after the rain", nice expression. Hadn't heard it before, sounds like an euro think. Is it?

It seems to be 2K Games credo I guess. Treating their customers like mushrooms.

You know like, keeping them in the dark and feeding them full of crap.

 

[Guardian_PL]

Mmh, "mushrooms after the rain", nice expression. Hadn't heard it before, sounds like an euro think. Is it?

Yup In my country mushrooms (and we find it hilarious that in other countries there is only one type of mushroom, it's called A Mushroom and is to be found in supermarkets) are a large part of the cuisine, so it stems a lot of phrases, including that very amusing one given by Thormodr

I think it describes our situation very well - that supersecret unit that was GDR in the end, and many, many other things. There was even this thread some time ago that "Civ5 is growing on me" - crap need to be cultivated to make is usable I guess...

 

[The_J]

Despite a lot of crap threads/posts here at CFC, there is a lot of good information, bugs and ideas being brought up. Is 2K checking CFC as well?

You can sometimes spot even some posts of them here .

 

[V. Soma]

I did some update to the OP of Greg's recent posts...