I have played Civ4 and ...

[stwils]

I have been playing Civ4 on a borrowed laptop. Kind of fun. Colorful. Full of lots of new stuff. 3D. Lions and things. Movies. All kinds of new tech tree things to research.

I often wondered where I was and what I was doing. The manual is not very helpful.

There is so much on the screen. It will take me a long time to learn this game, if I want to.

Yes, it is still Civ. But over the top. More like Empire Earth. The units run to their destination in full animation.

I am coming home to Civ1 today with relief. Civ 1 is a real strategy game. I'm not sure about Civ4. It makes my head spin. Too much, too much.

Yet it could be fun. Just seeing what they have done with this game is - well, fun but appalling.

Anyone here tried Civ 4?

It makes me love Civ1 so much, because I think the basics are in Civ1 and the graphics (though not glorious or full of great fluff) keep you on track and are wonderfully abstract and simple.

stwils

 

[trada]

I wonder if thereis/itspossible to create a graphic mod for civ4 that makes it look like civ1. I'm talking tiles instead of 3d models and map-like terrain.

 

[Sims2789]

Civ4 is more than fluff, but its lack of a user-friendly editor has crippled custom content when compared to Civ3. That, combined with a few stupid, unchangeable things like the power of the UN made it not as good as its predecessor.

 

[Osvaldo Manso]

I tried Civ 4. I own all the 4 main games. I never tried Civ 2.

In my opinion, both Civ 3 and Civ 4 have too much animation when compared with Civ 1 (I usually turn off the animations in Civ 1). I agree with stwils when he says that the graphics in Civ 1 are wonderfully abstract and simple.

In a game like Civilization, simplicity is a key factor because it allows the player to focus on the real important decisions. Abstraction is also important because it leaves more room to the imagination. When I'm playing Civ 1 (and sometimes even when I'm not playing) I forget that it is just a game. I carefully plan and make decisions almost like a leader in the real world would do. For me, Civ 1 is the only game in the series that makes possible this kind of alienation. The others (apart from Civ 2 that I never played) only provide fun or entertainment.

 

[Alex Johnson]

I gave Civ4 a chance. I couldn't figure out what was going on. Way too many things on screen. Microscopic font. Hundreds of little icons everywhere. The simple units, governments, and tech trees of the past games are now hopelessly convoluted. I gave my copy away (to my father)! It was one of the worst designed use interfaces I've tried to deal with.

I do like Civ3. It's not that better graphics take away from the game. Civ1 is a war game. Nothing more. With Civ3 I get sucked in and feel like an actual leader planning strategy and negotiating deals. I like both. Each has advantages.

 

[Osvaldo Manso]

Civ1 is a war game. Nothing more.

I strongly disagree with you. Civ 1 can be played in a peaceful way. For me it is much more fun playing for peace.

Sometimes wars can't be avoided but I rarely start a war and I try to keep peace as long as possible. An exception is when I start the game sharing a small continent with another civilization and there is not enough room for both civilizations to thrive. In that situation, I make war on the other civilization so I can have the entire continent for myself. I think of it as a war for vital resources.