Dale
Mohawk Games Developer
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Yes, and the whole "improvement points" to build tile improvements, which is a copy of CtP's public works.
Millennia: Free demo from February 5 to 12
- Thread starter The_J
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May be to step in different following eras (so I don´t like that Age of Blood era) ?
Boris Gudenuf
Deity
It appears from an admittedly only casual investigation that they have tried to make each of the Ages/Eras and National Spirits as distinctly different and single-purposed as possible. That is not inherently a bad thing if you have enough choices - and if the choices are equally applicable to winning the game.
IF instead, and vids of two different run throughs seem to indicate this, some Era/Spirit combinations are grossly OP compared to others, then they have a major balance problem to address before they launch. It does no good to have dozens of National Spirit, Age/Era combinations if only a few are really viable.
CivLuvah
Deity
I have to admit. Between this year's two challengers for Civ - ARA and Millennia (I hyperlinked my first impressions) - it was Millennia that caught my eye more because, at the time, I thought the mechanics that stood out as markedly different from Civ were unique enough on their own. Then I watched that ARA Xbox Direct video out of casual curiosity. I dove deeper and sensed ARA was onto something way more ambitious for the genre. I did watch a couple of gameplay videos for Millennia, but I felt a bit bored midway.
Furthermore, while at first, my critique of ARA was that I was put off by the UI, as watched more clips of their gameplay, the way it looks suddenly made more sense. Ironically, I got the reverse impression from Millennia gameplay, especially with that dated battle interface. And while ARA gave you a wealth of options for factions, Millennia's feels like a historical RTS (a la Age of Empires 3). Honestly, my shift in perception just came down to actually seeing it in action.
I'm still going to play the demo, just to try it, and see if playing it could help get past those few first impressions.
Furthermore, while at first, my critique of ARA was that I was put off by the UI, as watched more clips of their gameplay, the way it looks suddenly made more sense. Ironically, I got the reverse impression from Millennia gameplay, especially with that dated battle interface. And while ARA gave you a wealth of options for factions, Millennia's feels like a historical RTS (a la Age of Empires 3). Honestly, my shift in perception just came down to actually seeing it in action.
I'm still going to play the demo, just to try it, and see if playing it could help get past those few first impressions.
Ita Bear
Warlord
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- Dec 8, 2020
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I will say that the actual game isn't quite as hideous as it looked on the previews, but it's still far from a pretty game. The battle screen is also bugged. After a few rounds of combat, the two armies settle into an eternal staring contest.
What is everyone's first impression so far?
Kind regards,
Ita Bear
What is everyone's first impression so far?
Kind regards,
Ita Bear
I think that's just the battle ending in a draw - this game's combat system doesn't always result in a defeat for one side.
Nikolai II
King
Tried the demo for about an hour.
Impression: Confusing overall, bad design decisions like you can't declare war without first declaring hostilities and then wait for 3(!) turns to declare proper war, and, most importantly: I was bored all through the playthrough. The more I played, the more frustrated and bored did I get. Not a good look.
What do you guys feel? I really hoped I would like this better hands on than from the stream.
Impression: Confusing overall, bad design decisions like you can't declare war without first declaring hostilities and then wait for 3(!) turns to declare proper war, and, most importantly: I was bored all through the playthrough. The more I played, the more frustrated and bored did I get. Not a good look.
What do you guys feel? I really hoped I would like this better hands on than from the stream.
CivLuvah
Deity
So I took a crack at the demo myself. Some good stuff: I like the innovation mechanic. I was playing India and randomly out of nowhere I got a prompt saying my people had adapted to building houses on trees. That was cool.
Otherwise, I found my experience overall to be confusing and lacking in immersion. It felt like it was a mod of Civ6 but with devolved graphics. It had a lot of interesting ideas, but many of them feel like ideas that were slapped on something that already exists, rather than something that's actually innovative. I found the battle screen amusing, in a bad way, and would rather have combat integrated into the map. I also don't like interacting with abstract flags in diplomacy in a 4X/grand strategy game. It lacks the immersion of Civ and its competitors because of its art design, battle screen, and interactive elements. The city screen doesn't feel like I'm assigning my workers to optimal slots; it feels more like I'm slotting in cards. Lastly, half of the time I had no idea what I was doing. I understand that this is a demo, and I feel the tutorial will be fleshed out in the final product. But I found the tutorial system very unintuitive.
Overall, a hard pass for me.
Otherwise, I found my experience overall to be confusing and lacking in immersion. It felt like it was a mod of Civ6 but with devolved graphics. It had a lot of interesting ideas, but many of them feel like ideas that were slapped on something that already exists, rather than something that's actually innovative. I found the battle screen amusing, in a bad way, and would rather have combat integrated into the map. I also don't like interacting with abstract flags in diplomacy in a 4X/grand strategy game. It lacks the immersion of Civ and its competitors because of its art design, battle screen, and interactive elements. The city screen doesn't feel like I'm assigning my workers to optimal slots; it feels more like I'm slotting in cards. Lastly, half of the time I had no idea what I was doing. I understand that this is a demo, and I feel the tutorial will be fleshed out in the final product. But I found the tutorial system very unintuitive.
Overall, a hard pass for me.
KayAU
Emperor
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- Sep 1, 2014
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- 1,115
I kind of loved it. 
I might post more about it later, but the TLDR is that it immediately hooked me with what usually makes the early game in civ so addictive: presenting me with a bunch of goals I want to accomplish. I want to get this tech so I can use that resource, enough of these points so that I unlock that ability, and so on.
I might post more about it later, but the TLDR is that it immediately hooked me with what usually makes the early game in civ so addictive: presenting me with a bunch of goals I want to accomplish. I want to get this tech so I can use that resource, enough of these points so that I unlock that ability, and so on.
Moderator Action: And we have another thread here https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/millennia-steam-next-fest-demo-live-now.687984/ , please continue the discussion there.
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