KinanEldari
Chieftain
- Joined
- Nov 5, 2014
- Messages
- 1
G'day Gents 'n Ladies
Disclaimer:
Yup. A thread posted with my first post. With this being the internet I don't expect much more than some derision. I've made this account purely with the goal of stating some of my thoughts on the game in a place where the developers may see it, without having to bug them via e-mail. Plus, I'm curious what other Civ players may think of my musings. Perhaps through this, we could help create an even better CivBE.
Alright, without any further ado... My thoughts on CivBE as respectfully as I can phrase them.
The feel and theming of the game is amazing. The map feels like a breathing, living planet that is very clearly not Earth. Especially with the aliens that roam the lands. It definitely shines in CivBE
That said, it feels a bit unclear here and there. Firstly, the tech web, though a very nice improvement to the tech development of Civ5 (and a breath of fresh air after 350 odd hours in Civ5) and its surprising depth, also feels like there is room for improvement. One mod I saw for example, which sadly does not work in multiplayer, is an addition of colours to the icons of the buildings/units/etc. that you can build upon completing research. The current system, while being clear when you take the time to read what everything does, makes it a little bit tricky to distinguish wonders from regular buildings or even units at a glance.
Though my pace was set to "Quick" in the BE games that I've played so far, the game feels even more so from the way it's set up. While at the same time making you as a player feel slow. Now don't get me wrong, I like a different pacing compared to Civ5, but now a game can feel less meaningful. Or like you are not developing your new cities fast enough compared to how quickly you progress through the turns. I can't possibly begin to try and explain why this is, as it's more a gut feeling than anything else.
So far I have opted to turn off the Contact victory because the game can be won through that method at around 200 turns. It seems to be too easy to research the necessary steps to get it and my friends and I have all lost games around this number of turns to an AI that went for it.
I like the addition of a victory condition screen, but can't help but think that the bar that I assume represents a percentage of the total completion of a certain victory condition could do with some extra nuance. Right now you see a bar and it's impossible to tell whether an opponent has already started building a planetary wonder or whether something else is going on. Again, some clarification perhaps on what's happening could work in its favour.
The quest system is great too. It adds a layer of interaction and a sense of agency with the world. It gives you goals to work towards and a narrative to follow. It reminds me of Shogun 2 Total War and its assignments. Although I cannot possibly judge how much variation the quests have, I've already come across a number of quests that are exaactly the same. To be fair, to create three different quests to accomplish the same goal seems to miss the purpose of them. So I don't expect this to change. They do their jobs well. Perhaps though maybe randomise them a bit more.
Mind you, these are just observations and I again want to state that I love the game (and wish I had more time to play it). I think with a few tweaks, it will be amazing enough to carry us over to the first expansion DLC.
Thanks for your time, folks.
Disclaimer:
Yup. A thread posted with my first post. With this being the internet I don't expect much more than some derision. I've made this account purely with the goal of stating some of my thoughts on the game in a place where the developers may see it, without having to bug them via e-mail. Plus, I'm curious what other Civ players may think of my musings. Perhaps through this, we could help create an even better CivBE.
Alright, without any further ado... My thoughts on CivBE as respectfully as I can phrase them.
The feel and theming of the game is amazing. The map feels like a breathing, living planet that is very clearly not Earth. Especially with the aliens that roam the lands. It definitely shines in CivBE
That said, it feels a bit unclear here and there. Firstly, the tech web, though a very nice improvement to the tech development of Civ5 (and a breath of fresh air after 350 odd hours in Civ5) and its surprising depth, also feels like there is room for improvement. One mod I saw for example, which sadly does not work in multiplayer, is an addition of colours to the icons of the buildings/units/etc. that you can build upon completing research. The current system, while being clear when you take the time to read what everything does, makes it a little bit tricky to distinguish wonders from regular buildings or even units at a glance.
Though my pace was set to "Quick" in the BE games that I've played so far, the game feels even more so from the way it's set up. While at the same time making you as a player feel slow. Now don't get me wrong, I like a different pacing compared to Civ5, but now a game can feel less meaningful. Or like you are not developing your new cities fast enough compared to how quickly you progress through the turns. I can't possibly begin to try and explain why this is, as it's more a gut feeling than anything else.
So far I have opted to turn off the Contact victory because the game can be won through that method at around 200 turns. It seems to be too easy to research the necessary steps to get it and my friends and I have all lost games around this number of turns to an AI that went for it.
I like the addition of a victory condition screen, but can't help but think that the bar that I assume represents a percentage of the total completion of a certain victory condition could do with some extra nuance. Right now you see a bar and it's impossible to tell whether an opponent has already started building a planetary wonder or whether something else is going on. Again, some clarification perhaps on what's happening could work in its favour.
The quest system is great too. It adds a layer of interaction and a sense of agency with the world. It gives you goals to work towards and a narrative to follow. It reminds me of Shogun 2 Total War and its assignments. Although I cannot possibly judge how much variation the quests have, I've already come across a number of quests that are exaactly the same. To be fair, to create three different quests to accomplish the same goal seems to miss the purpose of them. So I don't expect this to change. They do their jobs well. Perhaps though maybe randomise them a bit more.
Mind you, these are just observations and I again want to state that I love the game (and wish I had more time to play it). I think with a few tweaks, it will be amazing enough to carry us over to the first expansion DLC.
Thanks for your time, folks.
