All Quiet on the Civ Front

[SammyKhalifa]

I never mentioned preferences though, it's just a matter of time/effort invested and results. And don't tell me you don't insta hit ESC when you have already seen the same thing +1000 times because I won't believe you. CiV animations were much more simpler in general, but backgrounds and leaders realist graphic design added that extra thing. Same or better result and less time/effort invested.

About the aesthetics... I honestly don't know if you are trolling me or what. Just read steam reviews. Even positive ones mention the graphic design as bad feature. And also

View attachment 503538 View attachment 503539 View attachment 503540
Just a quick search on google, do it for yourself if you don't belive me. It's not like I'm trying to make up this lol.

PD: Someone please tell me how to hide images on spoiler.

When Civ 5 (ugh, ciV abbreviation just annoys me) came out, people hated that too. People hated the cartoony look of III compared to II (!!!). Generally people don't like the "new."

When Civ 7 comes out, people will complain that it doesn't look like civ 6. People who think this will find plenty of people online saying the same thing to back up their thoughts.

I'm fine with the new look. My only issue is that that newer leaders look a slightly different style than the original ones, I'm assuming due to reaction to the original ones. I'd just prefer they all be consistent.

 

[SammyKhalifa]

Most of the fault of some leader's comical appearances is the HORRIBLE graphic design.

Gengis Khan seems like some kind of chubby manchild with mental problems, in contrast with that determined conqueror on horseback we were accustomed to see on V.

I guess.

 

[N_M_L_C]

I personnally very much like their take on graphic art for this episode.

I feel like I 'm watching a pixar film sometimes.

 

[Trav'ling Canuck]

And don't tell me you don't insta hit ESC when you have already seen the same thing +1000 times because I won't believe you.

If Zaarin tells me he watches them, I'll believe him, because it's consistent with everything he's ever posted about how he plays the game. And yes, I do often watch how the leader's reject my trade offers. They're funny. They're still funny to watch even after I've seen them lots of time.

Anyway, even if you can click through some of the animations, doesn't mean you don't see some of it, too. It's like saying "the map wasn't worth making look pretty because after you've seen the map a few times you don't stop and admire it while playing your game, you just scroll through to the next unit". It still forms part of your impression of playing the game.

Your point about the amount of resources that go into the animation versus what go into the rest of the game is a valid question. My assumption is that Firaxis believes that animated leaders sells more copies of the game. Maybe they're right, maybe they're wrong. But if they dropped the animated leaders, they wouldn't necessarily put more resources into something else. If they thought a better AI could sell more games, they'd have an incentive to put money into that, regardless of whether they also invested in animated leaders or not. It's only the overlapping part of the circle (people who would buy the game if it had either a better AI or it had animated leaders) that would cause them to invest in one or the other. Not sure how big that overlap is.

About the aesthetics... I honestly don't know if you are trolling me or what. Just read steam reviews. Even positive ones mention the graphic design as bad feature. And also

Just a quick search on google, do it for yourself if you don't belive me. It's not like I'm trying to make up this lol.

I'm not trolling you. I just don't believe from the sources you've pointed to that the general opinion is the Civ 6 aesthetics don't fit the game. There was a loud outcry prior to the game was released, when nobody had played the game, but even then, I'm not sure that the loudest voices reflected the majority. People who liked the Civ 5 artstyle the most are the ones most likely to complain about the change in artstyle in Civ 6.

Yes, some people would still prefer Civ 5's artstyle, but a lot of people's opinion softened, or even flipped, after they'd actually played Civ 6 for a while. And a lot of people didn't have any particular opinion, and are happy playing the game using the existing aesthetics. And of course, there are some people like me, who think Civ 6 is a total failure as a game experience (not for everyone, just for me: I understand why some people enjoy Civ 6), but believe the art design team hit the ball out of the park on this one. The game is gorgeous. Boring to play, but gorgeous (your mileage might vary).

I expect the general opinion falls in the middle, neither opposed to nor in love with Civ 6's artstyle, and happy to play the game with the current aesthetics. ​

 

[MrRadar]

Unpopular opinion: I like the UI. Both design and functionality.

Just out of interest: how do you go about your lux and other deals with the AI, then? Can you make/renew a lux deal with the AI without leaving the deal dialogue screen? You must have sort of absolute memory if you can do that. What about trade route duration when considering whether to pick Reform Coinage dedication for Normal Age, or after picking it, how helpful is stock UI to see which destination will still score an era point? Just a couple of things.
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@Bitterman: above the text box there's a button in the toolbar "Insert..." and then second option "Spoilers"

For the record, I keep leader animations on, Victoria, Philip, Pedro, John an many others still amuse me, I like hearing them speak their lines and listening to the tone and mood of their voice in languages I understand, half understand or do not understand at all (aerr du RATRRR? - Oh, Harald, I would be RATRRR, if only you knew what to do with those longships of yours...)

And I find the art style of the game just beautiful, I only fail to go on a number of platforms to write a dozen positive reviews about it. My bad.

 

[Arent11]

Just out of interest: how do you go about your lux and other deals with the AI, then? Can you make/renew a lux deal with the AI without leaving the deal dialogue screen? You must have sort of absolute memory if you can do that. What about trade route duration when considering whether to pick Reform Coinage dedication for Normal Age, or after picking it, how helpful is stock UI to see which destination will still score an era point? Just a couple of things.

That's the major problem with civ 6. I ignore whole parts of the game because I simply am to lazy to divert attention to them. I mean, honestly, I'm running a grand empire here. And the game bothers me with trading citrus? Can't I delegate that to my trade advisor? I have wars to fight & cities to build!

 

[Leyrann]

Just out of interest: how do you go about your lux and other deals with the AI, then? Can you make/renew a lux deal with the AI without leaving the deal dialogue screen? You must have sort of absolute memory if you can do that. What about trade route duration when considering whether to pick Reform Coinage dedication for Normal Age, or after picking it, how helpful is stock UI to see which destination will still score an era point? Just a couple of things.

With luxery resources I take the lazy route; AIs only offer deals if you currently don't have a luxery, so I know I'll get 4 amenities from it. The only catch is that if a deal runs out several AIs might offer it in the same turn.

With things like picking a dedication I just think "what's probably the best?" and then pick one on my estimation of what will earn me most points, rather than calculating everything. I'm the kind of player that will always pick the best known option, but doesn't consciously focus on finding the best option.

 

[Zaarin]

Be honest and tell me how many times have you stopped your game just to see an animation, besides (maybe) the first one you played with a certain civ.

Never. I don't "stop my game for it"--but I also don't generally skip the animations, except Alexander's perennial whining. Actually, I just wish there were more to do with the leaders and that they had more to say. I enjoyed going into the diplomacy screens in Civ5 just to listen to the various languages (especially Pacal's Yucatec Maya). So if I have one complaint about the presentation of Civ6's leaders (not talking about their lack of in-game personality via AI), it is that they have too little to say. But the models and animations themselves are, for the most part, gorgeous and well worth the investment IMO. I'd go so far as to call the leader screens (and general aesthetic) and the music the highlights of a charming but deeply flawed game that doesn't really know what it wants to be.

About aesthetics, well, it's a matter of opinion. But as far as I know general opinion is they don't fit at all with the game.

People whining on Facebook because bright colors offend their manliness does not constitute "general opinion." I think the people who dislike the aesthetic are more vocal (people are rarely vocal about what they like), but I haven't seen anything to suggest they're more numerous.

When Civ 5 (ugh, ciV abbreviation just annoys me) came out, people hated that too.

Yep. Personally I think Civ5, aside from it's beautiful leader screens, is extremely ugly. The "photorealistic" style was trendy when Civ5 came out, but it's aged poorly and never really suited the tone of the game. I've been happy to see stylization become popular again in the past few years.

I'm fine with the new look. My only issue is that that newer leaders look a slightly different style than the original ones, I'm assuming due to reaction to the original ones. I'd just prefer they all be consistent.

I agree with this. On the one hand you have extreme caricatures like Wilhelmina, Gilgabro, and Gandhi, on the other you have very realistic models like Teddy, Poundmaker, and Cyrus, with most of the leaders falling somewhere in between. They could have made their style more unified.

 

[MrRadar]

That's the major problem with civ 6. I ignore whole parts of the game because I simply am to lazy to divert attention to them. I mean, honestly, I'm running a grand empire here. And the game bothers me with trading citrus? Can't I delegate that to my trade advisor? I have wars to fight & cities to build!

On the whole, in between wars and city planning, I have nothing against healthy haggling over a citrus or two , but I'd very much like my in-game clerks (UI) do their paperwork in preparation – give me a note, from which I could tell at a glance, who's game for the said citrus. Or, when a deal ends, I'd prefer to hear a gentle whisper in the ear: Sire, your deal with such and such for this and that just ended. Like EUI in Civ V does this in the form of a notification on the right (I can't remember if it was part of the standard UI). Of course, an option to rely on Reyna to handle the file would also be very welcome, especially when, for example, you're trying to convert the world into your religion and have your hands full of apostles.

AIs only offer deals if you currently don't have a luxery.

Do they? I'd swear that they came to me trying to sell a duplicate more than once and not necessarily it was next AI on the same turn, but maybe I'm already imagining things. I'll pay more attention to this from now on.
Anyway, I like to actively trade for luxuries and such, to the point I do not need much entertainment districts until later and even forgo the Coliseum. The side effect is I have to renew a deal every few turns. And then I find that the UI is very far from functional.

 

[Trav'ling Canuck]

AIs only offer deals if you currently don't have a luxery

Do they? I'd swear that they came to me trying to sell a duplicate more than once and not necessarily it was next AI on the same turn, but maybe I'm already imagining things. I'll pay more attention to this from now on.

The AI leaders won't offer you a Luxury you produce, but they'll happily offer you one you're already getting through trade or a City State.

I'm not aware of any way to check from the trade screen to see if you're already getting the offered luxury.

 

[Bitterman]

I guess.

Well I'll admit you caught me there. I'd still prefer if he didn't smile like an idiot though.

About the graphics in general I would like to make something clear: it is only some leaders (well, most of them actually) I personally think that don't fit at all with the rest of the game. I really prefer this map's visual style to V's. The icons and the units too. The same goes for the visuals of the UI, even if it's impractical as hell. And some leaders, like Cyrus and Tomyris, look like real people and not a Pixar movie, like someone said before (that's what I hate).

Maybe it seemed like I hated everything about graphics in the game, and that's certainly not the case.

 

[Trav'ling Canuck]

About the graphics in general I would like to make something clear: it is only some leaders (well, most of them actually) I personally think that don't fit at all with the rest of the game.

I'm not a fan of the drab, flat background behind the leaders. I assume that was a conscious choice to focus attention on the leaders themselves, and maybe it was the right choice,. I do wonder, though, whether the leaders themselves would pop more if it looked like we were visiting them in their audience chamber, rather than being visited by their holographic image.

 

[pokiehl]

Assuming that using the 2D backgrounds (which I think are quite charming actually) allowed them to spend more money developing the actual game itself than creating 3D artwork for that, I am quite happy with the tradeoff.

In fact, I wouldn't care if leaders and leader backgrounds were unanimated and unvoiced as long as that meant more time and money for them to spend on the game itself.

 

[WorldWarIV]

I must ask, does the radio silence of Firaxis and what I interpret as a lack of interest for their game kill your desire to play the game just as much as me? Knowing a bit about what the future holds for the game would do wonders for my personal hype.

 

[Council 13]

I will say I'm pretty disappointed that patching and update release times appear to have slowed, especially since the game still suffers from some glaring issues that have been around since its initial release. There are more than a few notable graphics glitches, UI glitches and overall gameplay aspects that are down right broken (see AI unable to use sea or airpower) and require attention. Firaxis being radio silent for months on end now is discouraging to say the least.

 

[AvianBritish]

Frankly the only thing I want Firaxis to fix that bugs me so much is Australia's outback station (and pastures) graphic. Otherwise I'm just waiting and wondering what they hold in store for us for EXP2 and when they might finally show us it.
I can't wait! Love Civ6 so far; I just hope we reach the 50 Civs/leaders mark! (eventually)

 

[DWilson]

I've never agreed with the "mobile graphics" complaint (mainly because I've never seen any mobile OS produce graphics of this quality on even medium settings), but I can respect those who don't like the style (even though I have become fond of it).

What's unforgivable is that I have never successfully been able to get my PCs to render Catherine's wine >•<

 

[Zaarin]

I'm not a fan of the drab, flat background behind the leaders. I assume that was a conscious choice to focus attention on the leaders themselves, and maybe it was the right choice,. I do wonder, though, whether the leaders themselves would pop more if it looked like we were visiting them in their audience chamber, rather than being visited by their holographic image.

I think it's partly a stylistic choice to foreground the leader and partly a matter of time spent building a full scene as in Civ5 is time not spent doing other things (like, say, animating the leader). That being said, I think they could have gone with a 2D matte painting without having to resort to the "black background with a smudge of paint on it" look. Even making it look like a stage set would have been an improvement over what we have now.

What's unforgivable is that I have never successfully been able to get my PCs to render Catherine's wine >•<

They changed it to water before release, which is disappointing, since she just looked so sinister with that wine in the First Look. But yeah, apparently CdM is so snobby she drinks water from a champagne flute.

 

[pokiehl]

They changed it to water before release, which is disappointing, since she just looked so sinister with that wine in the First Look. But yeah, apparently CdM is so snobby she drinks water from a champagne flute.

It's definitely champagne man...The red wine looked nice and all but many people on here complained that she was drinking wine from a champagne flute.

 

[Trav'ling Canuck]

But yeah, apparently CdM is so snobby she drinks water from a champagne flute.

It's definitely champagne man...The red wine looked nice and all but many people on here complained that she was drinking wine from a champagne flute.

Water out of a champagne glass = snobbish good taste
Red wine out of a champagne glass = gauche

Don't think for a moment that Catherine doesn't know the difference.