Lies about Civ4 from Gamespot!

[bugmenot17]

Jason Ocampo from Gamespot comments Civ4 in a radio interview.

Here's the full audio interview you can listen to for yourself:
http://www.wamu.org/programs/kn/05/10/25.php

Radio guy asks: What is your professional opinion of this new game?
Jason answers: ...they've streamlined it and made it much faster and much more fun to play.
Radio guy asks: Why is it that the games under the Sid Meier titles tend to remain popular?
Jason answers: ...Sid understands that it's gameplay that's important, it's not graphics, it's not flash.

Oh, really? I tend to clearly remember quite the opposite user's experience...

Hey.

I just wanted to give my update on how Civ 4 runs on a very old computer.
My system specs are:
P3 900mhz
256mb ram
geforce 4 mx440 128mb ram
some kind of onboard sound card
80gb harddisk, standard. running ntfs.
newest graphic driver, directx9.0c

Starting the game goes with no problem.
Starting a new game, takes forever. Details all set on the lowest. takes like 5-10 minutes to start new game.
Game runs with some lag. Takes time for units to move, 1-2 seconds lag. the different advisor windows, i keep from entering... can stall the game entering foreing window.
Otherwise i can see all the movies, graphic has no errors. and i do mean none what so ever.
Exiting the game also takes like 5-10 minutes.

Is Firaxis actually paying Gamespot to spread this kind of <deleted> or what? It's sickening.

Moderator Action: Warned - Language.
Please read the forum rules: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=422889

 

[dannyevilcat]

The game play has improved, turns seem to fly by, and it is more streamlined. Don't be an idiot. The quote you added translates to this: My old computer sucks, and it can't play new games.

If you don't like the game, that's fair, but I see no lies in the portions of that interview.

 

[Rustwork]

could not get game to work myself. temporarily installed on a better computer and played it fine for about an hour. (could not leave it installed) all these video problems could be taken care of by eliminating them. game design seemed excellent, but the new graphics did not improve the game at all!! much too much attention given to the "flash". poor job sid.

EDIT- seems fair dannyevilcat, but why alienate a core group of paying customers for an element of the game that i felt added nothing to how it played. who needs to see a group of horses? i just need to spot the resource to start getting my units build, period. or scroll zooming in and out. not needed. despite what jason from gamespot says, too much unnecessary attention on graphics and flash.

 

[bugmenot17]

The game play has improved, turns seem to fly by, and it is more streamlined. Don't be an idiot. The quote you added translates to this: My old computer sucks, and it can't play new games.

If you don't like the game, that's fair, but I see no lies in the portions of that interview.

You should really learn how to read and stop embarrassing yourself like that.

 

[ERLoft]

I don't quite get the point of the initial post. Ok, so Jason from Gamespot makes comments on how he thinks that gameplay is more streamlined and fun, and that Sid makes games that are more based on thier gameplay qualities, rather than just the flash and glitz of graphics.

The second portion quotes Sunee, who attempts to run a modern game on a Pentium 3 900mhz and states that despite the 'ancient' (in computer terms) processor, he can actually run the game, but it does take lots of time for things to happen, which is to be expected. (admittedly, the rest of his system specs seem to meet the minimums, so it's a fairly 'high end' P3 setup)

So, are you trying to say that the look of Civ should remain stagnant, and that the series should become captive to those who will not or cannot upgrade to a modern computer system? Sorry, even if I thought personally that that was a good route to go, it's never going to happen. Progress happens, technology improves, things move forward. If you don't want to be on the boat, then so be it, but the boat's not going to stay in port for you or any minority, however vocal, of gamers who don't have modern systems. To be honest, gamers tend to have the most cutting edge systems.

Sorry, I just don't get the point...

 

[ainwood]

Moderator Action: Moved to Civ3 GD.

People - calm down. If you disagree with each other, then fine; but don't insult and flame each other.

 

[bugmenot17]

What I'm trying to say is if the game is really so streamlined and it's not the graphics and flash that's the most important, why does the game require 1.8GHz P4 class CPU and T&L as bare minimum requirements to run the game? It makes no sense, it's pure contradiction in terms, also known as a lie.

Get it?

 

[Rustwork]

i truelly understand about progress, but from my limited look at the game i thought that i could "see" the board better in earlier versions. i thought the graphics detail made things more confusing to me; that is why i feel the attention to graphics and other motion was unnecessary. since this seems to cause most of the difficulty i believe it was a poor design decision. all they care about is sales and if enough people upgrade to play the game then it really doesn't matter what my opinion is, but i for one will not be doing this. someday i will have better equipment as it will be needed for more than playing one game.

 

[THARN]

ram does alot more than you think/./// 1.8 is not the minimum proc speed to run the game well.

 

[dannyevilcat]

What I'm trying to say is if the game is really so streamlined and it's not the graphics and flash that's the most important, why does the game require 1.8GHz P4 class CPU and T&L as bare minimum requirements to run the game? It makes no sense, it's pure contradiction in terms, also known as a lie.

Get it?

No, because those requirements are so underwhelming as it is. These are really not stringent requirements. T&L is not a new thing. Everyone knows integrated graphics aren't good, and it shouldn't come as a huge surprise problems are going to arise.

One can still make an honest claim about putting gameplay first without making a game compatible on Pentium 75 with 16MB of RAM.

 

[pilferman]

What I'm trying to say is if the game is really so streamlined and it's not the graphics and flash that's the most important, why does the game require 1.8GHz P4 class CPU and T&L as bare minimum requirements to run the game? It makes no sense, it's pure contradiction in terms, also known as a lie.

Get it?

The streamlining comment you mentioned is in reference to the actual gameplay, not system performance. Gameplay in Civ 4 has been streamlined so that time spent on micromanaging has been greatly reduced. Streamlined system performance was never mentioned by Jason Ocampo. Gameplay and system performance are distinct and should not be confused as being the same.

It's true that Civ 4 received many additions to graphics and sound. Also, with regard to system requirements of other recently released, most notably first-person shooters, the system requirements for Civ 4 are quite reasonable. The fact that Suneee can actually run Civ 4 is nothing short of a miracle. That's how things go, I guess.

 

[spymonkey]

At some point a line has to be drawn between pleasing the graphics crowd and pleasing the low-end computer crowd. I most certainly do not expect the 486 PC I have lying in my garage somewhere to play Civ 4, nor does anyone else on this board I would imagine. With that said, the requirements for this game are fairly low even by yesteryear's standards. A video card with hardware T&L? I very distinctly remember buying a video card nearly 5 years ago for less than $100 that had T&L, it's not unreasonable at all to expect today's computers to have this technology (with the exception of laptops not designed for gaming of course). 1.8 GHz processors? I'd imagine many retailers would stop even carrying processors that outdated.

 

[Willem]

What I'm trying to say is if the game is really so streamlined and it's not the graphics and flash that's the most important, why does the game require 1.8GHz P4 class CPU and T&L as bare minimum requirements to run the game? It makes no sense, it's pure contradiction in terms, also known as a lie.

Get it?

Geez, look at his specs. A P3 900 mhz? I'm sorry but you can't fault Firaxis if people want to play the game on antique systems. Yeah it sucks having to hand over money to upgrade your computer, but that's something that's necessary at times. I just spent a lot of money this summer upgrading mine and at 1.4 Mhz, it's still only a middle of the road system, if not bottom end.

And 1.8 isn't the minimum required, 1 is. Even if it was, it's still pretty low considering that many people out there have 3+ mhz machines. As for T&L, it's been around for years, it's hardly state of the art technology. Many games require it these days, I have at least 3 on my system right now.

 

[Shakes]

Wow, what a surprise, the game runs like crap on a machine that's below the minimum specs.

I can't believe people are whinging about T&L either. The video card in my machine wasn't even top of the line when Civ III came out and still has T&L and meets the recommended specs! Get with the program, if you want to play games on your PC you can't expect to use your XT from 1981.

 

[Novaya Havoc]

Many games -- Guild Wars, for example -- allows you to downgrade the graphics enough to play comfortably on low-spec systems.

Why this couldn't be available in a freaking turn-based strategy game where the most "animated" part should be units and leaderheads (like, hmmm, Civ3?) is beyond me. Especially, as the initial poster pointed out, Civ is more about gameplay than graphical flash.

It doesn't have to be stagnant to also be practical. Jeez.

-B

 

[bugmenot17]

And 1.8 isn't the minimum required, 1 is.

Actually, 1.2 is. But since someone else mentioned that the readme file states it's 1.8, I assumed it's been updated since, as the poster stated it himself. Still, you're missing the point.

 

[korsteve]

They definitely have to draw the line somewhere and cannot always cater to the lowest common denominator. I mean that computer could be a decade old. I do not agree with the original poster whatsoever.

I just bought my computer two years ago and I feel like it's time to get a new one.

 

[Shakes]

Many games -- Guild Wars, for example -- allows you to downgrade the graphics enough to play comfortably on low-spec systems.

In a game like this, your video card is going to be doing the bulk of the grunt work for graphics. The CPU being slow is going to hurt the AI processing speed more, and that's not something you can easily just turn down without changing the game experience.

 

[Willem]

Actually, 1.2 is. But since someone else mentioned that the readme file states it's 1.8, I assumed it's been updated since, as the poster stated it himself. Still, you're missing the point.

No I'm not. If someone with a P3 wants to run a game produced in the modern world, he can expect to have poor perfomance. Technology has advanced quite a bit since that processor was put out and game companies shouldn't have to cater to people who insist on being dinosaurs.

For every player who just wants a basic game with minimal graphics, there are two or three who insist that their game looks good and appeals to their sense of asthetics. I'm one of them. I certainly wouldn't be content to play a game that used graphics similar to Civ 2, I want to see things improve. I didn't even like the Civ 3 graphics, I ended up getting most of Sn00py's graphics in my game. If that means I have to get a more powerful computer in order run the game then so be it.

The bar has been set very high for computer graphics with consoles coming out like the XBox 360, and companies that don't make any sort of attempt to reach that bar are going to sink quickly. It's very competitive out there in game land, and companies need to keep up with the times in order to survive. If the players don't want to keep up with them, then it's their tough luck. Not only that, but going 3D makes it easier and cheaper for them to produce the game. They don't have to bother rendering out frames to be used for 2D animations. That makes them not only more competitive, but also able to put more time and energy into the gameplay aspects.

 

[Phoenix_56721]

There was a poster on another thread that said he is able to run the game on a 450mhz, geforce 5200 FX (thats amazing!) As for myself I should get my copy (UPS) tomorrow to see if it can run on my system which is pretty old. 866mhz, 512 sdram, geforce 5700 le, if it doesn't I will be ordering a new computer Saturday!