First Game Impressions

[Ornen]

Knowing that Enter is the hotkey for moving to the next action has greatly improved my enjoyment of the game.

is that the one listed as end turn? and it actually does next action??? wild

 

[Noble Zarkon]

It is beautiful and it feels like Civ.

I'm clearly in the minority but although I love the gameplay I find the map really ugly and hard to decipher, maybe because I'm in my 60s and my eyesight isn't great. Seems like a step backwards towards Civ V which is a shame.

 

[JonAce]

Logging into my CF account in I don't know how long to give my 2 cents:

1) My initial first impression is positive. I'm about 60 turns into my first game. That one-more-turn feel is there and I'm having a good time. One big thing that stuck out for me: I do like that pivoting between legacy paths seems viable. I started my first playthrough as Ben Franklyn as Rome; started off militaristic, but switched over to scientific as constant slap fights (the AI seems pretty okay—I'm not a Deity-level player though!) with nearby IPs were slowing me down. If I tried pivoting in Civ 6, I'd be playing catch-up the whole time. We'll see if that holds up in the later Ages.

2) Joining the chorus that the UI is bad. I'm optimistic improvements will be made.

 

[Eramas]

I'm only 60 turns in, but the one more turn syndrome is absolutely still there, and it makes me very sad that it's getting late here and I had to stop playing the game.

 

[HelloIAmW]

I presume I am very much in the minority as primarily a console player. Anyone tried it on console yet? Curious to know how it looks and performs and won't be playing until next week.

Your mileage may vary, but using game-pad to control was difficult as there was no pointer as such, and i had to use the joystick to move a tile/box at a time. It made unit movement and policy selection very tedious. I did like the radial menu though, especially as I was playing on such a small res (Using the Deck's FSR to upscale so it wasn't blurry on my monitor). Performance wise I've been running on a Steam Deck on medium settings and never crashed, only stuttering on the wonder movies. Turn times have been near instant, with the only noticeable loading times being on age transitions, so I'm sure whatever console you'll be on will run fine. I will end by saying, however, that I only just made it to the modern era on my first game, so it could all go to pot yet. Hope this scratches some of your curiosity.

 

[Sekou]

I am quite enjoying it so far. Quite different but also familiar.

Really like the diplomacy system although I detest the third person view of the vignettes.

Potato was correct - the UI is um, not great. Poor communication of information. Civlopedia does not have an entry for War Support. Wut? Scrolling over the city tags on the map should inform me what those numbers mean. 10, 32, 48??? I have a vague idea but uh.....?

Still trying to get a handle on a world without builders and nailing down towns vs settlements ratio. Right now if my happiness is good I assume it's fine.

Really dig the age transitions but it really should be the leader that is swapped - not the Civ. I think this is a mistake. Hopefully it can become an either/or option at least in future updates. Swapping leaders just makes so much more sense, thematically, when paired with the Crisis system.

Need more Ages, frankly. Yes, obviously an Information Age (or whatever u call it) is clearly going to arrive with dlc, but feel like the Medieval age should standalone as well.

Combat units feel a little dull so far, but might just be who I've picked. Commanders are excellent addition tho.

The map is GORGEOUS and the music phenomenal.

I could go on, but back to playing. Treasure fleets need to get home safe

 

[StargazingDog]

Need more Ages

At the rate I am going, my one game will take 18 hours. No thanks.

 

[Pistol90]

Changing civs, but remaining leaders is confusing. And for me more problematic than changing civs.

I constanly need to check who is leading which civ ... in previous civs it was easy, as soon i see Abraham Lincoln i know, now i need to find somewhere in terrible UI civ name.

They could at least introduce something like Benamin Franklin emperor of Russia, or Napolen King of Egypt ....

Something like that in their names, so i dont need searching 3 times in one game who leads what civ.

 

[StargazingDog]

Changing civs, but remaining leaders is confusing. And for me more problematic than changing civs.

I constanly need to check who is leading which civ ... in previous civs it was easy, as soon i see Abraham Lincoln i know, now i need to find somewhere in terrible UI civ name.

They could at least introduce something like Benamin Franklin emperor of Russia, or Napolen King of Egypt ....

Something like that in their names, so i dont need searching 3 times in one game who leads what civ.

Genuinely curious why we need to know what Civ a player is controlling?

I'm still in my first game, and I couldn't even guess who the other players are controlling. It's the leader that I am competing against, not the Civ.

I do agree that some sort of title would at least be thematic.

 

[Hep Roc Heretic]

Pachacuti + Mississipians + Tutorial. More questions than opinions so far, but the game looks like a keeper.

 

[Krikkit1]

Genuinely curious why we need to know what Civ a player is controlling?

I'm still in my first game, and I couldn't even guess who the other players are controlling. It's the leader that I am competing against, not the Civ.

I do agree that some sort of title would at least be thematic.

The civs have certain bonuses. Ben Franklin of the Mongols needs to be dealt with differently than Ben Franklin of the Abbasids.

 

[StargazingDog]

Pachacuti + Mississipians + Tutorial. More questions than opinions so far, but the game looks like a keeper.

I did the super standard Hatshepsut Egyptian first game. I agree that this is a good iteration on the series. I am so happy to be rid of workers and citizen/specialist juggling.

 

[Siptah]

Changing civs, but remaining leaders is confusing. And for me more problematic than changing civs.

I constanly need to check who is leading which civ ... in previous civs it was easy, as soon i see Abraham Lincoln i know, now i need to find somewhere in terrible UI civ name.

They could at least introduce something like Benamin Franklin emperor of Russia, or Napolen King of Egypt ....

Something like that in their names, so i dont need searching 3 times in one game who leads what civ.

You see the icon of the civ under the leader‘s face in the upper right all the time.

 

[SammyKhalifa]

i know people are complaining about the map generation but this is pretty neat:

Aesthetically speaking, city on the one tile big river or down on the bottom?

 

[Taefin]

One big thing that stuck out for me: I do like that pivoting between legacy paths seems viable.

This I am very optimistic will keep me coming back. The three ages, crises and legacies make things possible that could never be otherwise (e.g., being able to build a large ancient empire, without rendering the game over, that can collapse without crushing the player’s spirits).

I found myself wishing the next turn button was as butter smooth as HK, but getting right back into the action with just a short stutter feels much better than VI.

I found that I was not packing most of my units into commanders when warring with immediate neighbors, having twice as many units as slots, and it not being necessary for 4-6 space movements. The new terrain system, while interesting, is tedious to micro large groups of units through. Given that commanders take as long to build as a wonder (I guess they are military wonders), and units take comparably little time, I suspect I’ll always have this imbalance, and perhaps the goal of a military era is as much about having so few wonder/building options unlocked to compete with training commanders, which you keep into the next ages. I’ll echo what someone said earlier too, having a large number of three-movement units in the army really helps save the packing for slower/siege units.

 

[UWHabs]

I got through the antiquity with Catherine of China.

The game has a lot of potential. The UI is frustrating, for sure. And honestly, there's so many game systems at play that it actually feels like it's going to be a real struggle. I completely didn't have to worry about military since I was friendly/allied with everyone, and had space to just peacefully grab my spots. Ended up getting like 12 codices, easily completed the resource quests. Although only one other civ on the continent actually got a 2nd city, so there's definitely some AI weirdness going on. I saw Rizal with a settler in his capital, but I guess he never moved it out.

But I only got 2 wonders, only built like half the buildings, and that's despite not spending anything on military. Lots of narrative events added some intrigue, some of them seemed like pretty big bonuses.

And yeah, I chose a fractal map, and honestly it was pretty good. Some mountain ranges, lots of lakes like that connected to the oceans. I even have like some inland sea areas that maybe I should have settled differently to maybe try to get some canal cities going. Maybe I got lucky, but I didn't mind it at all. Curious to see how the rest will go.

 

[MrRadar]

Still in Antiquity on two platforms, having a blast so far from the new game, but I see that rival AIs are still much easier to handle diplomatically even first time playing on Deity than Independent powers, or former barbs, aka Barb clans in witness protection.

If somebody complains about the UI, please, go play CivRev on console, then Civ7 on console, then come back with a refreshed perspective.

 

[Ornen]

If somebody complains about the UI, please, go play CivRev on console, then Civ7 on console, then come back with a refreshed perspective.

"better than the interface in a 2008 xbox 360 game" is not exactly high praise

 

[queenpea]

In general, there is a lot of fighting in my games. I’m mostly a peaceful player in Civ and tend to focus on wonders and city building.

Between all of the leaders who want me dead and the IP’s who also want me dead, I’m having a hard time enjoying the aspects of the game that I usually enjoy.

The one friend I have, Augustus, keeps pulling me into his wars (or gets pissed at me when I say no) — and with the clock ticking down on the age and a long list of wonders to build—I’m finding it kind of anxiety inducing?

 

[Stomper66]

I'm still playing Civ 5 until this hot mess is sorted out