CIV 4: Major disappointment

[sturmtrupp]

Lots of things I would have liked to seen, or have added, but there is plenty time for that. I love game. I jumped to premature conclusions simply because it was different. My advice to anyone is- take a day's break from it, think about it a while, and play again. If you trash it early, you might end up having to buy it again. That would be terrible.

While I hate the thought of this, I honestly believe developers leave stuff out just to add in one to two expansion packs down the road. I think its a dirty way to make money, but I think it has become common practice. Hence I think a lot of the things we want that were left out, or want to see tweaked will come out in the expansion packs.

My first couple of games were pretty weak too, I had to turn it up to Noble, for my first inense matchup, and that might have been to intense. Could hardly sleep... OK maybe I should not have mentioned it. I also advice using the custom setup that way you can customize the game to your liking. I like playing with as many Civ's as possible, so I can't play anything but a custom game.

 

[weasel77066]

Im not too sure its a dirty practice, or even an unfair one, to leave things out in order to "provide" an expansion (and this is aimed at people griping about wasting their money) First off, I think of what I make in the fabrication/construction business and compare it to the software industry. Well, theyve hired a staff for what?? a Year or so?? And payed these fellas the whole time even before they released anything. The game is 50$. My goodness, thats cheap by my standards.
Second off, I consider software games to be an entertainment industry, much like the theatre. If you go to the cinema and see a show, then hate it, do you get your money back? For a couple on a date, with drinks and such, we,re talking 30 to 40 dollars? For about two hours.
Well, Ive got a hundred hours into the game (easy) and all for 50$ I have no problem paying extra for an expansion. Even if I end up paying 150$ in the long run, to keep updating and adding new things to the game, it doesnt matter. Im gonna be playing this for a long long time. It'll work out to be a dime a campaign.
I wish they WOULD realease everything all at once, but reality is such, and games nowadays take time.
I have a killer game going right now... I could sneeze and start a war. This is too cool. Trying to figure out in whose direction to sneez in. lol

 

[tomdory]

Do you know how refreshing it is to be on SETTLER difficulty, and yet still only maintaining a slim points/tech lead over your AI opponents, it just goes to show how truly DIFFERENT this iteration of Civ4 is compared to previous versions-Civ hasn't felt this new to me since Civ1, and I mean that quite honestly.

Yours,
Aussie_Lurker.

Trust me Aussie_Lurker soon you'll be eclipising the AI on that level. I've found that on anything up to Noble you can possibly get all religions and double/triple player#2's score.

 

[dh_epic]

I ravaged the AI at settler, but I started to experience some challenges at the Noble difficulty. I'm already at Monarch, and I feel like this provides me the right balance between challenge and fun. I think I could win at emperor, but it wouldn't let me fool around as much.

 

[minimus]

After my first couple of games, I had the same opinion. I was disappointed for a good variety of reasons. Well, it was so different than what I expected, and left out so much that I wanted, that I discarded any idea of keeping it. I was upset. I was disappointed. I even posted on a thread like this cause I wanted people to know.
Well I went to reading on here how much fun people were having, and how much I was missing and decided to give it another go. I re-installed, and approached the game with a different attitude. This game has turned out to be great. Its well thought out. The strategy hasgotten a little more elaborate, a little more intense, and the consequences of just a subtle action can be drastic if not devastating.
Lots of things I would have liked to seen, or have added, but there is plenty time for that. I love game. I jumped to premature conclusions simply because it was different. My advice to anyone is- take a day's break from it, think about it a while, and play again. If you trash it early, you might end up having to buy it again. That would be terrible.

This is a good point it describes my situation very well although I do have a problems running the game properly which I shouldn’t but that’s another issue. There are lots of interesting changes in the game that perhaps I didn’t fully appreciate. I intend to take a break, wait for the patch and come back and approach the game again. I still think the units however are slightly to large I would have preferred to be able to zoom out a little further and still keep the side few of the units if that makes sense.

 

[Cironir]

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?

No. "Intuitive" doesn't mean that you should perfectly understand a complex computer game without having to do any learning or studying. It just means that you can start playing around without being completely stumped, and that the interface is not overly difficult. "Intuitive" is also a subjective thing. Some people have an easier time with text, others are more visually oriented and find iconified buttons easier to work with. The latter seem to be in a majority, which is why we use XP and OSX these days.

Anyway, sorry that the game doesn't appeal to you. I had that problem with Civ3, but enjoy Civ4 a great deal.

 

[knupp715]

I think what this proves is that there is definately a silent majority, with most people having fun, and the same could have been probably said about Civ3. However, its really unfortunate when you are trying to find valuable post and they are continually being pushed down the stack by the same whining. Its not like its constructive anymore, but just whining that the game just does not satisfy them like it should.

I know exactly what you mean. Ever since a few weeks before the release of Civ4, this forum has been flooded with complaining, flaming, arguing, and sometimes, complete nonsense. I don't know if it's just becuase of all the new members or what, but I find the forum isn't as enjoyable as it used to be. But hey that's just me.

Anyways, back to the point. Not everybody is going to be happy with a game, no matter how great it is, no matter how legendary it is, no matter how many awesome reviews it gets, or how famous it is. That's just the way things are. This is precisely why mods are available to the community. And that is why I see that most of the complaining lately, has not been justified. Either way, I think Civ4 is a great game. Even though I have a few technical difficulties and sound glitches (ATI Graphics Card), this game is definitely one of the greatest I have ever experienced. Although above I said I'm not on the forum much anymore because of flaming and complaining. It's also because I can't take my eyes of the game, and come back to CFC. It's always "I have to wait one more turn because I get Monotheism and then I have to wait another turn to switch to organized religion. Then I need to play a few more turns to build a missionary and spread my religion." or "Only eight more turns until stonehenge, then I'll get off. Oh wait 22 more turns for the parthenon." This game is extremely addicting and exiting and truely the best Civ game ever (in my opinion of course).

 

[Aussie_Lurker]

I hear you on that one Knupp. If I didn't work, I doubt I would ever post at this forum !

Yours,
Aussie_Lurker.

 

[Thrag]

Why on earth would anyone write up an opinion after playing three hours and admittedly not even attempting to read the manual? It's like getting a car review from someone without a drivers license who just sat in the car for fifteen minutes. At least take the time to form an informed opinion instead of jumping the gun. Your rant comes off as "I haven't the slightest idea what I'm talking about and I've made no effort to correct that, so here are my conclusions". That's not exactly a strong way to present an opinion.

 

[Efexeye]

Why on earth would anyone write up an opinion after playing three hours and admittedly not even attempting to read the manual? It's like getting a car review from someone without a drivers license who just sat in the car for fifteen minutes. At least take the time to form an informed opinion instead of jumping the gun. Your rant comes off as "I haven't the slightest idea what I'm talking about and I've made no effort to correct that, so here are my conclusions". That's not exactly a strong way to present an opinion.

Welcome to the Internet. Ever heard that opinions are like asses, in that everyone has one? Well, thanks to free forums and cheap computers, now, they (everyone) get to share said stupid opinions with everyone, no matter how stupid, ill-conceived, or just plain wrong they are.

 

[Thrag]

"well, ol civ3 was really addictive- and remained that way for a couple years- not a bad run. Civ4? Been a week or so and the same appeal is missing."

I have the opposite view. For me, civ 3 rated a "meh" and I think I might have played two games through (and a smattering of started and never finished games) before it got completely abandoned. There was no character, fun or magic to it. It was Civ2 with more exploits, and more exploits wasn't exactly the step up I was expecting from civ2. Civ4 is a major advance in game play in my opinion. It is first game in the civ series that I think has really lived up to it's potential (and with the modability, it seems anyone can change just about any part of the system they aren't thrilled with). I guess it's good in a way that I didn't take a shine to civ3, since civ3 was not involved in my expectations for this game. Almost every complaint I've read so far seems to amount to "it doesn't work like it did for me in civ3 and I refuse to adapt". Can't just create one giant stack of death and run it all over the map because the AI can't cope, well war must be broken! The AI doesn't start wars it has no hope of winning just so the human player can stomp him, well, the AI isn't aggressive enough, etc.

I was on the testing team for SMAC so I played that game for many months(and I've got my name in the credits and the tee shirt to prove it, well, golf shirt really), perhaps that's why Civ3 was such a letdown. After the magnificance of SMAC, civ3 seemed like a giant step backwards. Civ4 at least seems like a step forward.

 

[Thrag]

"Welcome to the Internet. Ever heard that opinions are like asses, in that everyone has one? Well, thanks to free forums and cheap computers, now, they (everyone) get to share said stupid opinions with everyone, no matter how stupid, ill-conceived, or just plain wrong they are."

Believe me I know. I've been arguing on the internet since 1989. Still I can't stop myself from pointing out how silly it is when someone essentially posts "I'm ignorant, but here's my opinion".

 

[KingKHAN]

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.

Obviously your not going to get more positive than negative feedback when you trash the game (which might I add is better then civ 3 obviously with the 3-D world and additional addons such as Religions, new Civs, etc). Did you really expect anybody would take kindly to this thread? Especially on a FAN FORUMS such as this. People like you are pure $|-|!'|' disturbers. Kudos!

 

[Legionary37]

IMO Civ 4 is a big im,provement over the other games. My only beef is the graphical style, which I don't care much for.