Graphics & Gameplay

[korossyl]

I realize that this is a topic that has come up over and over again, and that everyone is sick of it, but I need to post this just for my own conscience's sake. Sorry!

In all the discussions I have read on these boards concerning CivIV and its improvements, nearly all discussions of graphics have been shot down as "unimportant." If this were any other game, I'd tend to agree; graphics take a far back seat to plot, gameplay, characters, etc. (I would not say, even in these cases, that graphics are unimportant, just that they are not as important). Rather than graphics, the AI should be updated, there should be more variations in tech, city building, warfare, AI, etc. Many people have gone so far as to praise C3C for not putting in city graphics for new wonders and forbidding the "city view" option in scenarios. Most comments are along the lines "Well, such-and-such graphical innovation/city view/wonder movies is not important, and I wish that the money and time that would be spent on these would instead by spent on developing the gameplay."

I play Civ not for the thrill of commanding an entire nation, nor for the joy of conquering my enemies, nor for the challenge of balancing an efficient civilization on Deity, although all of these (eh, except that last one) are a big part of the "civilization experience." As many others on these boards, I am student and devotee of history. To this end, I play Civ to immerse myself in history. While playing a game of Civ, I find the greatest joy in having a sense of actually being present in the many eras of human civilization, experiencing first-hand the development of new ideas and technologies, and of taking part in the building of the Pyramids, the music of J.S. Bach, the movement for women's suffrage, and the new age of globalism and the Information Age.

For this immersive experience, graphics are not essential, but very important. To this day, I still play CivI and CivII, but mostly CivIII because I can feel at one with history more through it than with any other game. If CivIV comes out with religion and an improved tech tree and new means of conducting warfare but lacks a city view, some special images or movies from Wonders, or lacks pictures in the Civlopedia, I will be very disappointed.

 

[Alexnm]

I think the best option is really to strike a balance between gfx and gameplay.

But, to me, gameplay is more important than gfx ever. I'm not playing civ to see fancy special effects or flashy 3D rotatable views. I'm playing civ because I like to strategize, I love to think what I will do in the next few turns now that the Germans founded a city next to my borders, I want to maximise my production and take care of discontentment in my cities.

If all these things are well implemented in the game, then I'm satisfied, even if the graphics are not state-of-the-art. What I don't want to see is the team diverting resources and work to produce a brilliant graphic engine and forgetting to put the same effort into gameplay.

 

[korossyl]

Exactly! If the team puts the same amount of work into graphics and gameplay, then I'll be more than satisfied. Believe me, all those elements of strategy are also incredibly important to me, but a 3D rotatable view likewise helps me immerse myself into the gameplay experience. If I gave the impression that I would sacrifice gameplay for graphics, I was completely wrong; what I'm looking for is balance, rather than the one-sided "gameplay over graphics."

99% of the time, gameplay is what makes a game, but in Civ I feel that graphics are absolutely essential to the experience. I just want to show that there are people who care deeply about graphics for reasons other than mere shallow visual appeal.

 

[Naokaukodem]

i don't care for graphics
i don't care for "gameplay" (game hard mechanics)

i care for feeling.

graphs can be used for a good ambiance feeling, for example for a living map with moving animals (swimming whales, running horses through the grassland...), or for ambiance effects like sun glowings on armors, clouds shadows on the land, rain...

musics are important also,

the way all civs melt, the art and the derision, the overview of history through the incarnation of only one civ (units (no unique unit preferably -legions and war elephants for all, etc..), wonders, techs)

the experimental touch of the game that is always ON nowadays (that is why the difficulty level or the victory conditions are a sensitive subject IMO, both resizing the goal of the game) (when i say experimental, i mean this little addictive construction and exploration game that we don't know really where it will lead us, and for this the tech whole thing, included tech race, is a sensitive subject. the greatest *original* pleasure of civ IMO is to see one's city to add many other cities to form a country and finally a civilization kind of simulation in which our civ interact with others what is a really splendid picture IMO! I would really want the upcoming CivIV to refresh, to update this feeling)

etc...

 

[covenant]

graphics are just as important as any other part. No part should be short changed. I applaud fraxis for moving to 3d. If they want the franchise to survive its needed, not to mention it takes valuable processing time off the CPU and moves it to the GPU, allowing for better AI, which is something every is complaining to get.

 

[hclass]

Hi Alexnm,

"What I don't want to see is the team diverting resources and work to produce a brilliant graphic engine and forgetting to put the same effort into gameplay."

As a customer who pays for the game, why would you like to think good graphics and good game play must be mutually exclusive. i.e. why must you think that if the developer is working hard on graphics then they won't have resources for good gameplay? or the other way round?

Afterall you can't be sure what is the actual reason when one of the 2 above (or both) is poor, it could be and might not be due to "lack of resource". May be they are trying to make more money by limiting resource to the very extreme... No one can be sure.

So don't guess, just ask for both!

 

[mastertyguy]

I think gameplay is far more important, in a game like civ, than graphics. Graphics are a key point in a game like Halo, or Doom, but some still play civ2, even if the grphics are crappy. I do. Not a lot,but I do still play civ2, some times. The reason why I don't play a lot is because I don't like the unit support, by shields. And ressources.
But if graphics don't cause lacks in gampeplay, I accept, but it is secondary.