Fraxis Vs. Fan

[Sildo]

I hear lots of different opionons on this and just randomly wanted to throw this out there, do you prefer Fan or Fraxis made content? This is assuming your looking at the best of both.

 

[Yoda Power]

It is Firaxis, not Fraxis

 

[silver 2039]

In my opnion the fans have made a just about better everything. Mods, graphics, units, terrian, leaderheads, the fan ones are definatley better.

Of course one must remember that would have not been possible without the game itself!!!!

 

[The Last Conformist]

The best fan-made terrain and units are better than the Firaxian originals. Few if any fan-made LHs reach the level of the Vanilla ones (some of the PTW and C3C ones are rather shabbier). The better fan-made scenarios absolutely own the C3C Conquests.

 

[zulu9812]

This isn't likely to be the most unbiased poll, since nearly all of the people who frequent this particular forum are modders

 

[Kinboat]

I think I still like the Firaxis units better than fan made units. I don't think we've been able to quite capture the look. I think Aaglo comes closest of any of us, especially with his boats. But there's still something missing... and I don't think I can tell you what... I've been trying to figure that out for a long time now.

 

[Hrafnkell]

I think there is definitely a difference between fan-made and Firaxis originals, so I agree with Kinboat there. But on the other hand, I don't think that this makes the fan-made units worse, just different, and I personally like those differences.

My big problem with the Firaxis units has always been their lack of historical accuracy, but they are also very wooden with regards to animation compared to fan-made units.

I also enjoy the fan-made LHs, especially R8XFT's. I still shudder when I think about the Firaxis Cleopatra - some of the Firaxis LHs are simply too cartoonish. I used to exclude America and China from my games just to avoid having to see Abe and Mao.

I would also rate fan-made terrain better than Firaxis' and the scenarios made here are also better than the Firaxis originals.

I agree with Silver that we have to remember Firaxis gave us the game itself, but honestly, I think a couple of people here could have designed a much better game than the Firaxis team did.

 

[W.i.n.t.e.r]

This isn't likely to be the most unbiased poll, since nearly all of the people who frequent this particular forum are modders

Ditto. Tried to be as objective as I could, tho:



- Terrain: Nothing nice to be said about Firaxian terrain (However one might argue it doesn't matter too much in a strategy game); personal quality levels and gustos vary a lot from one modder to the next, yet there are some really superb ones out there! Clear win for the fans do to lack of Firaxian competition.

- Leaderheads seemed pretty much equal quality to me, latest fan ones increased in quality. Some somewhat better, some somewhat worse. No preference (quality wise).

- The Firaxian units differ in quality, but so do Fan made ones (highly), and between the fan creators different techniques are being applied (and mine are almost exclusively based upon Firaxian originals.) The lateest fan ones are of higher quality (and also appeal, mostly due to limited Firaxian interest in doing more for the Civ3 line).

Conquest or Fan-based mods? Fan-based clear winner, without question, since Firaxis merely made some mods to keep the ball rolling and so as to show some of Conquest's possible features to encourage the fan modders to make their own.

 

[LouLong]

I agree with Zulu.

I agree with the last Conformist about the LH being probably the only ones for which I prefer the Firaxis ones.

Fan-units are better, not only because of quality but mostly because of their sheer numbers (whcih means diversity). And regarding quality, aaglo's are top-notch, Kinboat is definitely near the Firaxis identity (the term fits more than quality IMHO) and has excellent animations (often better than Firaxis ones). Bebro's modelling was terrific.

Fan-terrains are very nice

Fan-LH I think don't often blend too well.

Scenarios/mods : honestly some fan-made ones are very good but the ones that can compare with Firaxis ones (with proper tech-tree, pedia,...) are not that many. But they often have good ideas and sometimes better implementation than Firaxis ones.

 

[Sildo]

Originally Posted by zulu9812
This isn't likely to be the most unbiased poll, since nearly all of the people who frequent this particular forum are modders

You are right, so, I posted this poll in the main Civ III fourms (that is legal, right?)

 

[Goldflash]

Of course one must remember that would have not been possible without the game itself!!!!

One also must remember that its spelt Firaxis. Fir Axis.

 

[flamescreen]

Firaxis for game needs, fan-made for fan needs.

It's impossible to not be biased though. You wouldn't have fan requests if Firaxis units weren't there as a base to start from. In my mind Firaxian units have the perfect measurements though, which I don't think was exactly copied yet. Even if the dimensions are identical, like Kinboat said(more generally speaking though), there will be still something missing.

 

[odintheking]

I like fan units (smoother animations, better pedias) but no one beats Firaxis in LD's. There are sooooo detailed.

 

[Varlin Saliptor]

I think I still like the Firaxis units better than fan made units. I don't think we've been able to quite capture the look. I think Aaglo comes closest of any of us, especially with his boats. But there's still something missing... and I don't think I can tell you what... I've been trying to figure that out for a long time now.

I know what it is. Fan units are almost always...'shiny'...as is a lot of the animated fan art.

... but no one beats Firaxis in LD's. There are sooooo detailed.

Meh...like someone else said, the vanilla LH's are the best. The Xpacks kinda lost out on LH's IMHO. I think some of the fan heads are better than quite a few of the Firaxis ones...especially Jorde's. His are the least shiny of the LH's. They look the most like the Firaxis leaderheads. The best leaderhead ever made though was Xerxes...he is awesome looking...

 

[aaglo]

I prefer everything
Altough there is just one thing I have to say.
Warpstorm's watercolour terrain conquers all. It's like bringing an atomic bomb to a game of rock-paper-scissors

 

[Plotinus]

I agree with TLC and Winter. The units are probably about equal either way (although the best fan units are better, I think, if only in animation). I'm afraid I prefer Firaxis LHs as a rule, although the best of the fan ones (and there are quite a lot of them now) are pretty much up there. My main problem here is that no fan LHs have ever quite captured the style. So while the best ones are probably *as good as* the originals, I never feel that they *quite* blend in seamlessly.

The best scenarios/mods definitely beat the Firaxis ones, which in my opinion completely fail to exploit all the possibilities they could. But Loulong is right that the same is true of a great many fan ones too.

 

[Bungus]

Firaxis leaderheads are, for the most part, better. Some of their units (less than half) are superior to just about anything here, in terms of animation (although some creators' here come pretty close). Their terrian sucks, and their skills at manipulating the editable game mechanics are poor. Some of our mods here are better than anything Firaxis made, and the knowledge base of this community as a whole seemingly surpasses Firaxis. I say seemingly, because perhaps they locked the one guy who studied the mechanics of the game, knew history, watched the AI, and could do arithmetic, in the closet and didn't release him until after the game hit store shelves.

No hard feelings to any graphic creators here, but let's be honest: Civ3 was made by professionals, and despite how much we'd like to believe our own efforts or those of our friends result in better work, it is not always true. But we shouldn't be concerned when fan art isn't quite as good as paid professionals, because the hundreds of graphics here flesh out areas of the game Firaxis never got around to making (white Zulu's, anyone?). And in many cases, the difference is marginal.

 

[Ogedei_the_Mad]

I like everything except for the Firaxis leaderheads. I just can't stand having Uncle Fester as Wang Kon and Prune Face as Genghis Khan.

 

[Bungus]

Heheh, fugly, but still good.

 

[Aion]

Fan works beat Firaxis by their sheer quantity alone. In quality, the only are where Firaxis leads are LHs (though some of them are really ugly, e.g. Temujin and Hannibal). There aren't many mods that beat Firaxis' conquests, but these which do, are a million times better. Just compare Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire with the Rise of Rome conquest.