CIV 4: Major disappointment

[hthb]

I have just spent 3 hours trying out the new CIV 4 and my biggest impression is a great disappointment. It seems everybody is raving about how intuitive and a great game this is and most worries are related to bugs, not the actual content of the games, so I have to say I feel strange.

True, I didn't read through the manual, but I did play the tutorial to check what's changed... but really, for an intuitive game, you should not have to, right?

Handling of numerous soldiers, attacking a city etc.... totally frustrated. I just could not get it going...

The game is graphically ....ugly. The donald duck style character animations simply look bad and out of place for me. What's even worse is the actual UI; resources are are hard to look for in the map -- and I don't want to use the pop up hints. Also why has the right click menu been deleted.... and generally the color scheme hurts my eyes after a few hours... yikes.

And then finally there's the general disorientation of the UI -- there simply is too much going on, with tiny tiny fonts, and the fully saturated rainbox colors. The AD for the game should have a serious talking to.

I was so much looking forward to this but my initial impression is really bad.

What's good is I can finally recover from my civ addiction. So I so suppose this is thank you for Firaxis.... I hope I can gather enough strength to try again tomorrow...

 

[Stuie]

...resources are are hard to look for in the map -- and I don't want to use the pop up hints.

Sorry to ignore the rest of your rant, but this jumped out at me. You're kidding, right? They give you the solution for your complaint, but you don't want to use it?!

It's not like you have to leave the resource bubbles on all the time; just CTRL-R to toggle them on and off when you need to know where something it.

 

[Volstag]

True, I didn't read through the manual, but I did play the tutorial to check what's changed... but really, for an intuitive game, you should not have to, right?

I didn't read it. Ocassionally reference it.

Handling of numerous soldiers, attacking a city etc.... totally frustrated. I just could not get it going...

Care to elaborate? There's as many, if not more, tools for managing stacks, units, etc, than there was in Civ III.

The donald duck style character animations simply look bad and out of place for me.

Turn off the animations.

What's even worse is the actual UI; resources are are hard to look for in the map -- and I don't want to use the pop up hints.

What's so difficult about toggling ctrl+r?

Also why has the right click menu been deleted

Enable it from the options.

And then finally there's the general disorientation of the UI -- there simply is too much going on, with tiny tiny fonts, and the fully saturated rainbox colors.

Play with the minimized UI (ctrl+i). Note that there is a bug that resets the UI when exiting the city screen.

Personally, I was overwhelmed and a little frustrated during my first Civ IV game. With additional games, I've been warming up to it. I currently find it as good as Civ III (which is all I was really hoping for).

 

[NCC81701]

Also why has the right click menu been deleted....

The option for R-click menu is default in the off position, go to the option menu and turn it back on.

While I'm at it, maybe, just maybe you might want to do a bit more poking around at the game and finished a game or two before you pass judgement on it.

 

[Efexeye]

True, I didn't read through the manual

I'd recommend reading it.

 

[elderotter]

yet another trash the game thread - why not just join one of the original trash the game threads. My question is this: Is another trash the game thread necessary? Or is it yet another person exercising their addiction to whining. Just curious.

 

[MrSevoe]

I have just spent 3 hours trying out the new CIV 4 and my biggest impression is a great disappointment. It seems everybody is raving about how intuitive and a great game this is and most worries are related to bugs, not the actual content of the games, so I have to say I feel strange.

True, I didn't read through the manual, but I did play the tutorial to check what's changed... but really, for an intuitive game, you should not have to, right?

Handling of numerous soldiers, attacking a city etc.... totally frustrated. I just could not get it going...

The game is graphically ....ugly. The donald duck style character animations simply look bad and out of place for me. What's even worse is the actual UI; resources are are hard to look for in the map -- and I don't want to use the pop up hints. Also why has the right click menu been deleted.... and generally the color scheme hurts my eyes after a few hours... yikes.

And then finally there's the general disorientation of the UI -- there simply is too much going on, with tiny tiny fonts, and the fully saturated rainbox colors. The AD for the game should have a serious talking to.

I was so much looking forward to this but my initial impression is really bad.

What's good is I can finally recover from my civ addiction. So I so suppose this is thank you for Firaxis.... I hope I can gather enough strength to try again tomorrow...

So the game obviously isn't for you. There have been 15 billion "trash the game" threads. Unfortunately they've all desensitized me from your post and I can feel no sympathy for you at ALL.

An intuitive game shouldn't have a tutorial. What game nowadays DOESN'T have a tutorial? And aren't 90% of all the games released nowadays called "intuitive"?

At any rate, what I got from your post is that you're dissappointed in about 95% of the games features and gameplay. I agree with a poster above that says you should join one of the "slam Civ IV" threads. Atleast in those threads you'll find people who sympathize with your thoughts.

 

[hthb]

My post was the reaction of an utter disappointment at the game, from a person who was utterly in love with Civ 3... I think it accounts for something, at least for me, particularly reading the rave reviews the game seems to be getting.

Anyway thanks for those of you who took the time to give me hints about the few things that had bugged me.

A note for those who found my message just another of the trash threads. If you have seen millions of complaints already, why did you take the time to read mine? It seems your opinions were set already. And in any case, there were some real issues behind my comments, if not properly spelled out. I seriously believe the UI and graphics could be improved a major deal for Civ 4.

Like I said I will have another go at the game tomorrow - who knows, maybe it starts to work better after that. And don't worry, I won't be posting any more complaints about, seeing the reaction it caused.

 

[doronron]

Well...to be honest, three hours without taking the time to seriously familiarize yourself with the changes isn't really giving the game much of a chance. They enhanced the resources/terrain improvements a great deal, in addition to beefing up the AI and providing methods to improve your citizenry in meaningful ways. The same basic game mechanics from Civ I -> III are there, just overhauled.

One thing I've learned so far is simply meandering your way through history is a quick way to get your nation destroyed, or at the very least, the bottom rung of the score ladder. You need to know in your first turn what you intend to accomplish during that game session.

 

[sturmtrupp]

Holy Cow are you Bill Gates. He too, has the philosophy that a slobbering idiot should be able to know everything about an application, at birth. Nevermind my mom still has major problems with outlook.

 

[William Wilson]

My question is this: Is another trash the game thread necessary? Or is it yet another person exercising their addiction to whining. Just curious.

My question is this: Is a lot of replies about rational/mature behavior going to change the posters attitude? Are these replies not almost identical with the ones each rant receives? Is this just people trying to act mature and grownup so they can come to terms with their inferiority complexes? Just curious.

 

[hthb]

Sturmtrupp wrote:
Holy Cow are you Bill Gates. He too, has the philosophy that a slobbering idiot should be able to know everything about an application, at birth. Nevermind my mom still has major problems with outlook.

The reviews of the game I have seen rave about how intuitive the game is.

 

[Verastro]

The first few days that I played, I wasn't all that happy with it. But I'm getting to like it better and better, finding it generally subtler and more fun than III (which I loved).

I would stick with it until you get past getting used to the new interface, etc.

 

[Efexeye]

My question is this: Is another trash the game thread necessary? Or is it yet another person exercising their addiction to whining. Just curious.

My question is this: Is a lot of replies about rational/mature behavior going to change the posters attitude? Are these replies not almost identical with the ones each rant receives? Is this just people trying to act mature and grownup so they can come to terms with their inferiority complexes? Just curious.

No, no one is going to change anyone's attitude, but I, for one, am sick of hearing people talking bad about this game.

I work for a software development company as a trainer. After the product has been conceived, coded, and QA'd to death, I am the one that goes to teach people how to use it.

I can;t tell you how depressing it is, or how stupid I think the people are that say things like "how come it's not like this?" or "it should be this way" or "why didn't you go guys do this instead of what you did?"

It is incredibly frustrating when people who have ZERO idea about or input into the design process come up with their little "suggestions" about how the product should be. I'm sure Firaxis is feeling it too- every thing in the game is what it is because of a design decision that was made at some point in the process, and YOU WERE NOT PART OF THE PROCESS. Stop bringing your niggling little gripes in here- I don't want to hear that our software is crappy because of some little nit, and neither does Firaxis- especially when the griper in question won't even read the manual!

The fact of the matter is, no one piece of software is going to meet every single person's expectations. There are several dozen "gripe" threads on this forum already. Go post in one of those threads, and let the current page fill up with real threads about how to play the game, not just unstructured *****ing.

If all else fails, mod the game. Barring that, you pays your money and you takes your chances. If you should be pissed at anyone, it's the hackers/crackers/illegal downloaders that caused the game stores to retract their return policies.

 

[William Wilson]

No, no one is going to change anyone's attitude, but I, for one, am sick of hearing people talking bad about this game.

I work for a software development company as a trainer. After the product has been conceived, coded, and QA'd to death, I am the one that goes to teach people how to use it.

I can;t tell you how depressing it is, or how stupid I think the people are that say things like "how come it's not like this?" or "it should be this way" or "why didn't you go guys do this instead of what you did?"

It is incredibly frustrating when people who have ZERO idea about or input into the design process come up with their little "suggestions" about how the product should be. I'm sure Firaxis is feeling it too- every thing in the game is what it is because of a design decision that was made at some point in the process, and YOU WERE NOT PART OF THE PROCESS. Stop bringing your niggling little gripes in here- I don't want to hear that our software is crappy because of some little nit, and neither does Firaxis- especially when the griper in question won't even read the manual!

The fact of the matter is, no one piece of software is going to meet every single person's expectations. There are several dozen "gripe" threads on this forum already. Go post in one of those threads, and let the current page fill up with real threads about how to play the game, not just unstructured *****ing.

If all else fails, mod the game. Barring that, you pays your money and you takes your chances. If you should be pissed at anyone, it's the hackers/crackers/illegal downloaders that caused the game stores to retract their return policies.

So who is the ranter now?

 

[Gogf]

and generally the color scheme hurts my eyes after a few hours... yikes.

That's not the color scheme, that's the computer screen. You shouldn't be starting a screen for more than two hours without a fifteen minute break.

 

[William Wilson]

It is not to harass you Efexeye, but I am very puzzled by this passage:
It is incredibly frustrating when people who have ZERO idea about or input into the design process come up with their little "suggestions" about how the product should be. I'm sure Firaxis is feeling it too- every thing in the game is what it is because of a design decision that was made at some point in the process, and YOU WERE NOT PART OF THE PROCESS.
If Firaxis did not want people, who lack a larger understanding of game design, playing the game, then they should not have made it so populistic/mainstreamed. But they did - Civilization for the people! Or do you just want the average gamer to consume and not to think?
I cherish my ability to voice myself when I see wasted potential whether it be towards the social process, political process or the design process of a game. And I hope I am not alone.

 

[Janos]

Speak for yourself, i'm loving the game. You can't judge a game on three HOURS - that is rash and ludicrous. It's a beautiful game, one which i am actually excited to play when i come home and one which i think about during the day and enjoy chatting to friends about. It's a really fabulous game, and if you don't appreciate all the micromanagement and thought that one needs to put into it (i love these aspects myself), then perhaps TBS games are not for you.

 

[minimus]

Well I’m with hthb I to was disappointed with the new look I was looking forward to number 4 and I just don’t like it I’ve tried and I’ll try again but unfortunately for me at present I haven’t come to grips with it. But good luck to everyone who is enjoying it and have a great time.

I fail to see what’s wrong with offering an opinion on something it seems reasonable that having bought the game that a person could have something to say about It.Its not beyond the realms of possibilities that on a Civ forum this would happen.

My observations on the graphics would include excessive and unnecessary clutter has been added to the game considering that most people would say that game play in Civ is the most attractive part why was this done, the units themselves are slightly to large adding to the congested feel of the game they also create a feeling not of a strategic campaign but of a tactical one. This is also added to by having three units instead of one which can of course be changed, which would imply that their function is purely aesthetic? I certainly don’t like moving my Knights and find that they were sitting on some other countries axe men (poor axe men) it all adds up to a squashed and compacted look and I just don’t like it unlucky me.

 

[Janos]

My post was the reaction of an utter disappointment at the game, from a person who was utterly in love with Civ 3... I think it accounts for something, at least for me, particularly reading the rave reviews the game seems to be getting.

Anyway thanks for those of you who took the time to give me hints about the few things that had bugged me.

A note for those who found my message just another of the trash threads. If you have seen millions of complaints already, why did you take the time to read mine? It seems your opinions were set already. And in any case, there were some real issues behind my comments, if not properly spelled out. I seriously believe the UI and graphics could be improved a major deal for Civ 4.

Like I said I will have another go at the game tomorrow - who knows, maybe it starts to work better after that. And don't worry, I won't be posting any more complaints about, seeing the reaction it caused.

My friend, i do sympathise and i have already expressed my views a couple of posts up, however i do really think you should give the game another go. The graphics are actually quite nice (to me anyway...). I don't know what you were expecting, but Half-life 2 graphics aren't going to happen for a turn based strategy game anytime soon, and regarding the game being intuitive... i didn't need to play the tutorial and only needed to brush a few things in the manual - and i haven't played a Civ game since Call to Power I!

Games like this require time and extra research if you want to play them properly. Please, you seem like a reasonable person who really wants to give this game a go - give this game a chance. I re-started about 5 games until i've stuck with my current Roman campaign, and i'm having a blast. Give it a go, ignore the people slating you on here and don't force the enjoyment on yourself - you'll soon find it coming to you naturally. In the meantime i really recommend Sullla's walkthrough - it helped me a bundle with CivIV and understanding this game is a key way to have fun with it. You can find it here, and it's a long read: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=132711

Enjoy, and good luck.