Civ 4 still worth it ?

I own Civ 5 Complete Edition and really liked it, and i used to think that Civ 4 has way too much micro-management (it's because of this review : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ibz2NAhrL5I), but after seeing the Epics from Realms Beyond Civilization, i got interested in Civ 4. So, is Civ 4 (with BTS of course) still worth a buy from Steam ?

PS : Should i buy the Complete Edition or should i just buy Vanilla + BTS ? (I'm not interested in Colonization).

 

It's still without a doubt one of the best 4x games currently on the market.

It goes frequently on sale. It should be easy to pick it up the complete version for ~$5 on steam summer sale (or some other sale).

Vanilla+BTS or Complete really doesn't matter.

 

^
I had to watch it.

A four year old comment from the uploader :
'Civ5 comes out in September (and it looks exactly the same as Civ4 but with better visuals).'

 

Civ 4 is so far ahead of Civ 5 by any conceivable measure, that comparing them is kind of ridiculous. That said, if you like simple games where you don't have to think at all, Civ 4 may not be for you. If, on the other hand, you care for quality, realism, and complex empire management, you will become addicted to Civ 4, and lose your job and your girl friend as a result. So no, better don't get it.

 

Civ IV definitely is one of the best empire builders / strategy games out there. And the Complete version is a bargain that will - if only you have the slightest interest in that sort of games - keep you entertained for years to come.
However I would recommend to not buy it from STEAM but to go for one of those disk based packages:

http://www.amazon.com/Sid-Meiers-Ci...id=1402744523&sr=8-2&keywords=civ+iv+complete

http://www.amazon.com/Civilization-...id=1402744523&sr=8-3&keywords=civ+iv+complete

The prices are supperiour to anything STEAM has to offer. Also Civ IV in both packages is free of any DRM or copy protection. Install once, never need the CD again to play, so you can put it away in a safe place. I don't see any good reason or advantage to buy a DRM infested STEAM version instead...

P.S.: I just watched the Youtube review - and I have to say you really should no take this one too serious. Actually a lot of what he said about Civ IV (too confusing, dumbed down and mainstreamed, step away from the original Civ concept, buggy and slow) is negative stuff that I don't like about and that keeps me from playing Civ V, while I really love to play Civ IV - and also all the great Civ games that came before. Each of them has a rather special place in my heart, but Civ IV is my clear favourite (closely followed at the moment by Civ II which I played quite a handfull of games in the last few weeks and which kind of had a real renaisance for me). Civ V for me really is the "black sheep" in the family I never really got warm with for various reasons.

 

I tried Civ5 and didn't care for it. From what I've read, the patches and upgrades didn't fix the things I didn't like about Civ5. For instance, I hated the "mysterious" diplomacy, the AI couldn't fight in a reasonable fashion, road maintenance punished the player for connecting cities and resources but it was necessary to build a road network, having only one worker work a square meant that improvements couldn't be rushed, etc., etc., etc.

I've been playing Civ4 since it came out. Right now I'm playing a deity level Realism Invictus mod Civ4 game and, when that's done, I'm considering a Fall From Heaven game. I am not considering playing any Civ5 game.

 

It is worth it as much (or as little) as breathing is worth it. That is to say, it doesn't cost much in terms of investment, and I personally would not want to miss out on the returns it provides.

 

"This game was meant for the masses rather than fans of the game"
"This game was clearly made for multiplayer rather than single player"
*headdesk*

 

I play other 4X games, but my pattern generally is Civ4, Civ4, something else (most recently Space Empires 5), Civ4, some variant of Civ 4 like Colonization or a mod, Civ 4, something else (maybe a TW game), Civ 4, maybe a Civ 3...and the beat goes on. No matter what else I play I always come back to Civ IV BTS with BAT.

 

I play Civ 3, Civ 4 and Civ5 (now anyway, as I picked up the Complete edition when it was on sale for a few hours this week). I still find myself going back to my custom mod for Civ 3 more than any other version of the game, all other mods I've tried included, simply because it offers the least repetitive gameplay out of all other versions of Civ I've ever played.

However, to answer your question, yes, Civ 4 (I'd go for the complete edition) is certainly still worth playing. It's fun to play variations on the theme of Civilization and not get stuck in a rut, playing the same game over and over. Where's the fun in going through the exact same motions every time you fire up a game?

 

Clearly he played Civ V, not Civ IV, and just accidentally placed the wrong video feed over the review.

 

Civ 4 is much better with a good graphics mod, it adds a much needed layer of paint to the game.

Personally my favorite Civ 4 mod is Realism Invictus.

 

The video is uploaded in 2008.

 

Is Civ 4 still worth it? Certainly. Many long-term fans of the series regard it as the best of the series. And a good case can certainly be made for it - depth of strategy, lots of modding possibilities, few restrictions as to what can be done with the game. IMO, it's a better game than Civ5. I'm definitely a strategy gamer, though. If you're mostly not a strategy gamer, you might not be as into it. The micro-management is not bad, and it's certainly not necessary to micromanage to do well (it probably is to win on the highest difficulty, but few people aim to do that). In at least one way there's less micromanagement than Civ5 - you can move move than one unit at a time because there's no limit of one military unit per tile.

Vanilla + BTS vs Complete doesn't really matter, but if they're the same price, there's no reason not to go Complete. Then you'll have Colonization if you ever decide to try it (which I've never actually done myself), as well as Warlords if you find the odd mod that works on it but not BTS, or want to join a multiplayer Warlords game. Although I'd recommend playing Beyond the Sword above Warlords and Vanilla.

 

The reviewer says "And yes, Age of Empires is far better than Civ 4."

OMG...

Reviewer is biased by his Civ3 experience.
Civ3 was a great game, no doubt, but, trying to play Civ4 same way as Civ3 can be painful experience. There is nice article about this on forum.

And do yourself favor, get it on CD, not from Steam. You will avoid many troubles.

 

Seconded.

 

It really kills me, this dumb review got 63K views and last let's plays from AbsoluteZero have less then 1K

 

Just science - there are more dumb people in the world than smart

 

Is it still worth it?

It's a better value than ever!
You can get Civ IV Complete, the greatest version of the greatest game of all time, and support this very website at the same time.
http://www.civfanatics.com/store

Adjusting for inflation, it's more affordable now.


Okay. We here are biased, but you should have expected that on the Civ IV forum of the Civ Fanatics Center. Just because we spend thousands of hours/year playing and talking about it doesn't mean it's the best ideal game for everyone.

You don't have to micro-manage if you don't want to. Find your sweet spot. Did you know that Civ IV complete is awesome?