Civ2 like ambience

[Hygro]

One thing I much prefered civilization 2 of, compared to 3, was the lack of leaderheads, the lack of cartoon advisors that popped up at every opportunity, and instead had simple, 3rd person messages. What was interesting about those 3rd person messages to me was that they built a stronger sense of roleplaying and being in the game (for me at least).

The change from civ2 to civ3 was not unlike sim city 2000 vs 3000, in which the newspaper and real people for your cabinet was gone, and in their place was an increase of sim city franchise jokes, cartoony advisors, and otherwise annoying things that brought the game down.

 

[Trade-peror]

I agree. I very much prefer the "mood" of Civ2, which felt "historically authentic," over the jokey atmosphere of Civ3. In the overall scheme of changes that Civ4 should make, this is not a very significant one for sure, but these small details make or break the game for many casual gamers and even some hardcore gamers (like me), and is one reason why I play Civ2 as much as I play Civ3, if not even more.

 

[MummyMan]

True, the jokey atmosphere of Civ 3 is inferior to Civ 2, even though i never really got into the whole roleplaying aspect. For instance, in the diplomacy screens when i saw the 3D model i didn't try to think that i was talking to an actual ambassador, but it was still better than civ 3.

 

[Gogf]

Never played Civ2, but I like the way Civ3 is.

 

[Aussie_Lurker]

The 'jokey' atmosphere I can handle, I just want the Military Advisor to be able to judge a rival civs military on both numbers AND relative strength-instead of numbers alone!

Yours,
Aussie_Lurker.

 

[Ant509y]

Agreed on the military advisors.

 

[Hygro]

But a goofy looking advisor isn't necesary to gather information on your or other team's militaries. The information could be the same, but the essence presenting it ought to change.

 

[Ant509y]

Still... I rather liked Civ 3's presentation. And I DID play Civ 2 extensively.

 

[Colonel]

why the hell do the game makers think that a cartoon guy will better then a more realistic looking person it dont make sense but i didnt mind that so much as much as i didnt like the fat military advisor

 

[Evie]

Completely agreed with Hygro. The bunch of clowns with stupid faces (collectively identified hereafter as "advisors") and the Ugly People Club (collectively identified hereafter as "leaderheads") improved the overall atmosphere of the game in absolutely no way whatsoever, and did detract from the feel that I was leading a nation.

Please, no stupid leaderheads and cartoony advisors Firaxis. Flags, national symbols (coat of arms, etc), whatever you want along these line is fine. But no leaderheads, especially not pseudo-comical leaderheads that have nothing to do with the known representations of the people they are supposed to be about (see : Temujin of the Mongols)

 

[Jon Shafer]

The advisors are real people who work at Firaxis, so I wouldn't be too scathing in your comments about them. IIRC, Science advisor is Sid and the military advisor is Jeff. But I rarely look at the graphics, so I might be off there.

 

[Hygro]

I remember being told that Sid was the science advisor, and that they got or hired some random people to be the models for the other advisors.

Nevertheless, I'm not excited by 3D cartoon versions of such people.

 

[Evie]

Addendum : by stupid face, I meant the expression they were making.

I'm not refering to the way the people look, and would not be opposed to having these same advisors if the expression pictured on their faces in the course of the game fit within the normal range of human facial expressions instead of belonging to the hyper-exagerated comical range.

 

[Phoenix]

I loved the "feel" of CivII and thought that failing to capture it was a major downafall of CivIII - maybe it was the Sid touch? I also loved those animated advisors and was very upset to hear that they wouldn't be included in CivIV.

 

[thestonesfan]

Civ3 did it all better. I liked the Wonder Movies and animated advisors, but I quit watching them before too long.

 

[Hygro]

But ignoring the wonder movies, it was far more interesting to hear of the Thebes Pact as an alliance name, coming up to tell you in a neutral looking box, than seeing an angry military advisor.

Civ2 sounds for its' ambience was better too (like when you rushed a project or whatever), save a few of the civ3 noises.

To me civ3 is far better and a more fun game, but civ2 still had a better feel.