Maybe we’ll get an announcement video today?
My concern is that there’s so much that needs tuning that the next patch won’t be able to improve the game that much. Guess we’ll see.
Civ is in a very frustrating place. Standing back, the game really is in great shape. GS really pushes the game forward. Lots of great mechanics. Increasingly those mechanics fit together really well. Lots of good balance decisions.
But there’s also so much that’s still out of whack, sometimes only by a little, that it feels increasingly frustrating as you play it.
There’s big stuff like voting and resolutions in the WC (basically, the WC is well implemented, but the resolutions are a bit dry; the voting doesn’t quite work; emergencies are not quite there yet; and (just like Governors and Gov Plaza), the implementation lacks some “colour” (eg something triggering the WC like a Wonder or meeting every Civ)), but also really small stuff like Railways just not having any real impact so why build them (there really needs to be some hammers from connecting your cities). It just feels like lots of the game doesn’t matter, and that often that’s just because of a few yield points here or there or the implementation being a little too conservative (WotW is a good example of the later).
And then there’s pacing which is just off (although mods can help with that).
And then moreover there’s just the general passivity of the AI and lack of real challenge.
I’ve ended up uninstalling Civ, because I just got fed up with the cycle of really wanting to play, really enjoying a few turns, and then having my enjoyment fall off a cliff. I’m still keen to play, but want to try again after the game is patched (and if patches don’t get there, maybe after some lite modding). But waiting for patches, it could easily be a year before the game really hits its straps.
Sigh.
I can understand why people prefer playing Civ V and IV or other established games. There’s something to be said for playing a game with maybe less interesting or developed mechanics, but where those mechanics are all thoroughly well tuned because of how long the game has been around.
I really can’t see myself ever bothering with these incredibly long development cycles again if there was ever a Civ 7 etc. I’ve been really interested in picking up BattleTech, but I think it’d just be the same palaver again given how recently that came out.
Indeed, I think part of what’s going on is that FXS might be deliberately stretching out the development cycle for this game, i.e. they seem to have been and are continuing to hold off introducing certain mechanics and Civs etc. I can’t really fault this. I’m sure there’s a financial element to that approach, but it also means mechanics are more mature and there is more opportunity for FXS to tune the game. I’m happy with that approach - a better game is a better game. But the downside is that the game still feels like a work in progress even though it was released in 2016. Sheesh!
I’m really happy with Civ’s direction. I’m just impatient. Honestly, I feel like I’m constantly just waiting for the next patch. Even with GS, for all its new mechanics, the most important things for me were just changes to the base game.