Hard pass.

[Sherlock]

So if I research tractors I have to go to every single farm of mine and update to 'tractor'?

Sounds crazy tedious.

 

[ggalindo001]

I've been on the fence on a pre-purchase or day 1 purchase, and have decided to wait a bit. I'm not in "hard pass" territory, but am definitely away from a D1 purchase.

This game has so much promise, and there is quite a bit that I like in concept, but there is a lot in the limited and controlled release today that has given me great pause.

What you highlight to is my major concern -- that this just becomes a tedious clickfest to where I am just wishing for a way out rather than a very exciting series of decisions that are important.

From the reviews and videos today -- several "red"ish flags.

1 -- Level of true micromanagement on the crafting system
2 -- Complete runaway once you get rolling -- the video creator of the 6+ hour video of gameplay basically said you don't even have to be technologically advanced to crush it
3 -- Performance issues even on high end equipment
4 -- Some headscratchers (unable to upgrade units, plain vanilla diplomacy that appears to be unimportant to the gameflow, etc.)

After Humankind, I have learned my lesson to stay away from a pre-purchase or D1 purchase -- this one had me very tempted. I thought Millenia would be a purchase, and thank goodness I didn't go there. But I am going to remain patient on Ara -- I want it to be successful, as I love the premise all the way around. I just hope it isn't a strong early game and then blah the rest of the way, in spite of all of the cool modern/post-modern units and tech.

 

[Takfloyd]

So if I research tractors I have to go to every single farm of mine and update to 'tractor'?

Sounds crazy tedious.

Apparently this will get fixed in an UI update soon after launch, according to one of the devs.

 

[UncivilizedGuy]

I've been on the fence on a pre-purchase or day 1 purchase, and have decided to wait a bit. I'm not in "hard pass" territory, but am definitely away from a D1 purchase.

This game has so much promise, and there is quite a bit that I like in concept, but there is a lot in the limited and controlled release today that has given me great pause.

What you highlight to is my major concern -- that this just becomes a tedious clickfest to where I am just wishing for a way out rather than a very exciting series of decisions that are important.

From the reviews and videos today -- several "red"ish flags.

1 -- Level of true micromanagement on the crafting system
2 -- Complete runaway once you get rolling -- the video creator of the 6+ hour video of gameplay basically said you don't even have to be technologically advanced to crush it
3 -- Performance issues even on high end equipment
4 -- Some headscratchers (unable to upgrade units, plain vanilla diplomacy that appears to be unimportant to the gameflow, etc.)

After Humankind, I have learned my lesson to stay away from a pre-purchase or D1 purchase -- this one had me very tempted. I thought Millenia would be a purchase, and thank goodness I didn't go there. But I am going to remain patient on Ara -- I want it to be successful, as I love the premise all the way around. I just hope it isn't a strong early game and then blah the rest of the way, in spite of all of the cool modern/post-modern units and tech.

So I decided to purchase it despite some of these concerns. I rarely buy games anymore especially on day one. But I'm very intrigued at the approach the developers have taken and the game looks solid. This game scratches many itches I have in this genre and to be honest I've been a bit disappointed with the direction of Civ. I'll gladly give some feedback after a few playthroughs if it helps everyone make a decision.

 

[fjaoaoaoao]

I've been on the fence on a pre-purchase or day 1 purchase, and have decided to wait a bit. I'm not in "hard pass" territory, but am definitely away from a D1 purchase.

This game has so much promise, and there is quite a bit that I like in concept, but there is a lot in the limited and controlled release today that has given me great pause.

What you highlight to is my major concern -- that this just becomes a tedious clickfest to where I am just wishing for a way out rather than a very exciting series of decisions that are important.

From the reviews and videos today -- several "red"ish flags.

1 -- Level of true micromanagement on the crafting system
2 -- Complete runaway once you get rolling -- the video creator of the 6+ hour video of gameplay basically said you don't even have to be technologically advanced to crush it
3 -- Performance issues even on high end equipment
4 -- Some headscratchers (unable to upgrade units, plain vanilla diplomacy that appears to be unimportant to the gameflow, etc.)

After Humankind, I have learned my lesson to stay away from a pre-purchase or D1 purchase -- this one had me very tempted. I thought Millenia would be a purchase, and thank goodness I didn't go there. But I am going to remain patient on Ara -- I want it to be successful, as I love the premise all the way around. I just hope it isn't a strong early game and then blah the rest of the way, in spite of all of the cool modern/post-modern units and tech.

Millennia is great, just sloppy.

unit upgrades and globalness for UI (craft system) are planned to come soon.

 

[Thormodr]

I like that the devs are very open to feedback. They have also been prebudgeted for a year of free updates.

I think many of these legitimate concerns will be dealt with. The future looks very bright, IMHO.

 

[KayAU]

I think these are very fixable issues, and the devs have certainly been working on them for a while already, as it appeared to be the most common complaint among alpha testers. The specific point about having to upgrade one and one building was certainly on my feedback form. As I understood it, some improvements to UI are already underway shortly, they just weren't ready in time for the feature freeze for launch.

I still found the game incredibly enjoyable as is though. There are just so many things about it which feels fresh and innovative, and I am looking forward to exploring it more. I'm sure that the UI issues will start to grate eventually, but hopefully, they will be improved on before it gets too bothersome.

 

[Nico_D]

I was in and still am in the insider program and the micromanagement problem has been there for a while. A lot of people have talked about it but I guess the development was so far at that point that they weren't able to do anything about it.

 

[Seek]

Had high hopes but it unfortunately seems like a hard pass from me as well at this point.

As someone who has never found “crafting” in video games particularly compelling, my worst fears about the game seem to have been realized, and to a greater degree than I even imagined. I enjoyed Anno but this looks much more micro heavy (someone described it as ver “clicky”). I am also disappointed by the map: the unoccupied map is beautiful but once every tile is settled it loses that appeal.

From anyone who has played it, what other mechanics of the game in particular that you find exciting, interesting and/or enjoyable? Is it possible to mostly ignore or automate the crafting and still have a good 4x game here?

 

[Nico_D]

One idea which I really would've wanted to see and which would've been with crafting, was to have "blank" units which become swordsmen and archers etc. by equipping them with those with a possibility to change later instead of having to produce new units.

That would make collecting experience and barracks and such more functional.

 

[Xefjord]

I keep making this comparison and I will continue to do so. This game feels a lot like launch Vicky 3. Which had pretty negative reviews for its tedious and confusing UI as well as bare bones systems like it's war setups.

Where is Vicky 3 now? It's my favorite paradox game by a longshot and is largely seen as a success story. Because the game continues to be supported and really the core mechanics of the game WERE good. It was just presented very badly and needed those couple extra tweaks and polishing features. That all got fixed within a year. And this game is already confirmed to be financially supported for the next year and the devs are extremely responsive in all the criticisms that players have brought up.

Maybe I am an idealist, but I say let the game cook. I am having fun as is and I only see the game getting better from here.

 

[sav]

It crashed my desktop so hard it turned itself off twice in the first 30 turns. Guess I'll wait a bit...

 

[Thormodr]

I keep making this comparison and I will continue to do so. This game feels a lot like launch Vicky 3. Which had pretty negative reviews for its tedious and confusing UI as well as bare bones systems like it's war setups.

Where is Vicky 3 now? It's my favorite paradox game by a longshot and is largely seen as a success story. Because the game continues to be supported and really the core mechanics of the game WERE good. It was just presented very badly and needed those couple extra tweaks and polishing features. That all got fixed within a year. And this game is already confirmed to be financially supported for the next year and the devs are extremely responsive in all the criticisms that players have brought up.

Maybe I am an idealist, but I say let the game cook. I am having fun as is and I only see the game getting better from here.

Yep. The Victoria series has always been my favourite Paradox IP. I've been playing it since the first iteration.

Victoria 3 is pretty fun and yes, it had a somewhat rough launch as the UI was not the best. It has really improved, though. I think Ara is a pretty good comparision and will also improve significantly in that area in thr first year which has already beem prebudgeted for.

Anyway, I already enjoy this better than Millennia and Humankind. There is real potential with Ara.

 

[fjaoaoaoao]

i actually don't think the level micromanagement is bad, it's more of an acquired taste where some people will like it more than others.

the issue is that with the current UI its not the easiest to manage especially if you are in a more competitive game; hopefully that will change with newer updates.

 

[KayAU]

From anyone who has played it, what other mechanics of the game in particular that you find exciting, interesting and/or enjoyable? Is it possible to mostly ignore or automate the crafting and still have a good 4x game here?

Just to be clear, Ara's crafting is nothing like what you have in games like Minecraft. Think of it more as setting up production chains, like you do in city builders.

To answer your question, I honestly don't think you can ignore it, it's such a key part of the game. It's how you do the eXploitation part of the 4X, and I believe you would not be remotely competitive if you ignored it. You are supposed to see that there's Sheep on the map, build a farm to harvest Wool, set up a building to process it into Fabric, which can then be further processed into products like Tunics, which can then be used as Amenities in your cities. That is just one example of a chain, pretty much everything has multiple uses, which can be unlocked through the Tech tree.

There are certainly other aspects to enjoy, such as warfare. This is handled more like a grand strategy wargame than a typical Civ-like, in that you may declare wars with specific goals, organize forces from your reserves into formations to deploy them, and then give them orders which they will try to execute.

Ara is not Civ. It tackles many of the same concepts, which is why you will recognize things like Settlers, Spearmen, Triumps/Wonders, Cities, Trade Agreements and so on, but it usually takes a very different approach from both Civ, and most civ-likes. That in itself is very interesting to me.

 

[Seek]

Thanks for the reply, KayAU. My impression in the above post was based on the 6 hour video that was released the day before launch. After seeing some other plays, i see that that player seems to have a particular play style that is extremely micro-heavy which tarnished my view of the game (he spent what seemed like 90% of the time in the crafting menu in order to min-max). Other players have shown a more balanced experience.

So while I don’t find myself super enthusiastic about the game right now, I can see potential. I think I will let it cook for a while and check in again next year.