I think Sid is trying too hard.

[VladDrakken]

I normally would be against fanboy ranting and such, but I have to say this new Civ is adding too many different changes.

Don't get me wrong, I like new toys and trying new ways to play, but I don't like having additional rules either.

All and all, based on all Ive seen and read, I think Sid is trying way too hard on this game. Its almost too different for my tastes and until I try a demo, I may not even bother with this installment.

 

[Camikaze]

Firstly, Sid isn't the Lead Designer for this game; Jon Shafer is.

And secondly, I disagree. If they aren't going to make some reasonably major changes, then there isn't really any point in creating a new game, as opposed to another expansion pack, or relying on mods.

 

[TheDS]

I wasn't all that interested in it when I first saw the news, but HEXES grabbed my attention, and so did CITY-STATES and NEW DIPLOMACY. I'll wait and see what they put out before I vow never to play.

 

[Dero Zero]

I think Sid isn't trying hard on Civ 5. He is more interested in the Facebook civilization.

 

[stormbind]

I was thinking the opposite. If you take Civ1, move the camera by spherical coordinates and add an overlay, you pretty much make Civ4. They made some changes but overall I'm bored by the lack of difference. Best part of Civ4 was the introduction song, and I know its manipulates my puny human mind but there isn't anything else to explore in the game. In terms of playability, Civ3 was superior to Civ4 (the latter only reduced visual feedback, introduced overlay deadspots, and inserted an anoying red button).

For the next one, I hope they employed a cognitive designer instead of a games designer - to inject some outside original thinking.

 

[Sciguy001]

Technically, Sid hasn't been the creator of a pc civilization game since civ1. This time it's Jon Shafer, CivIV was Soren Johnson.

But besides that, CivIV is so modifiable that it would be pointless to just add minor changes to make a Civ5, the entire system has to be different. Because of moddability, CivIV has almost infinite replay value, so I bet a lot of the community will still be playing CivIV for years to come.

 

[Louis XXIV]

I'm of the opinion that, if they don't make big changes, you might as well just play the old game. We're at the point where the AI and UI were good enough that the games don't seem all that dated even when going back to play them. Therefore, progression is needed.

 

[Kissamies]

I'm a bit worried that they might be doing changes for changes' sake. Changes should have a purpose. Otherwise some lame changes might ruin all the awesomeness of the cool changes.

 

[Ahriman]

Every major change they have announced is with a major design goal in mind.

1Upt is to end stacks of doom and move combat out of the cities and into the field.

 

[Naokaukodem]

I'm a bit worried that they might be doing changes for changes' sake. Changes should have a purpose. Otherwise some lame changes might ruin all the awesomeness of the cool changes.

There's a lot to do to improve Civ4. But that doesn't go without general game design thinking. Here are two topics of mine that deal with it:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=361748

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=360533

 

[ETa]

Only thing that matters is the AI. Rest is irrelevant. Fix the AI and it might be worth buying.

 

[President]

Well, Sid Meier isn't developing this game, but, in general, I do agree that the developers are trying hard on this game, but I don't think there is an excess of effort in this case. It's good that they're trying very hard to improve in all aspects of the game. It shows that, unlike most gaming companies out there, they really care about their fans and this entire franchise. Change is hard, but sometimes it is necessary in order drastically to move forward. I am sure that the majority of Civilization fans will participate in this new installment, and it should also gain many new fans from the changes as well.

 

[CivMyWay]

Civ suffers from too many versions with too few changes in between. In fact I find the add on packs insulting, because I bet they work on them during the main-development cycle, and just cut back on features so they can sell you another disk.

 

[KIEJ.MANIK]

After they're done let's give them a long nap and a BIG cookie , a special gift from civfanatics.com

 

[Challs]

I'm not sure what you mean by "trying too hard". Why should that necessarily be a bad thing? They need to work hard to make Civ5 even better than all its predecessors. And that includes both graphics and gameplay. I like the system in Civ4, but we have to move on, try something new and fresh. I think Sid is doing a great job so far.

 

[Avernus]

Every major change they have announced is with a major design goal in mind.

1Upt is to end stacks of doom and move combat out of the cities and into the field.

This is a welcome change for me. After playing Daisenryaku on the XBOX I realized how cool this concept would be in a Civ game.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daisenryaku

Daisenryaku even had overlapping air hexagons for multiple levels of altitude which effected unit visiblity. I think it was Daisenryaku 7 that I played. It was the first and last game I have ever played of that franchise. I found the combat mechanics to be excellent though and the hexagon system with no unit stacking and ranged combat allowed the game to feature almost any unit you could imagine.

 

[attackfighter]

I like the changes, I've always been dissapointed with Civilization's core gameplay. It needs more complexity in terms strategy and features - the most effective way to play is to simply mass cities until no one can challenge you... there're no revolts, the AI doesn't gang up on you; it's just a linear cruise towards world domination.

Civ5's apparantly improving diplomacy and putting thought into small nation states, so that's good. Hopefully the new hex system will also curb the effectivness of the overwhelming armies that large empires can spew out. I also hope the game has more flavour units and tech, although that's doubtful since that's the kinda thing they use to 'justify' expansions.

 

[Naokaukodem]

the AI doesn't gang up on you

Hmmm... in fact Ais gang up on you more often that it is sane to believe so. And did you play CivRev? every AI is at war with youi because of insane demands...

 

[attackfighter]

Hmmm... in fact Ais gang up on you more often that it is sane to believe so. And did you play CivRev? every AI is at war with youi because of insane demands...

They gang up on the player for seemingly random reasons. They don't say 'hey, the only way to stop this guy is if we band together!', they go 'lol lets dogpile this n00b cause he has a small military and heathen religion'.

 

[W|M]

A lot of features from ciV are in cIV mods, like City States and Improved AI.