The narrative events in Civ7 are a fantastic addition to the franchise. And I was skeptical at first. They remind me of scenario events in previous Civ titles, or the planet narrative in SMAC, but are broad enough to have tie-in to whatever game world you are playing in. I think this should be an ongoing feature.
DISCLAIMER: I am a player who wants fluff and text and narrative in my Civ games. I am not (only) a number-cruncher or min-maxer type of player. I think narrative gives 4x games weight and life. I am a fan of Endless Legend, Old World, and Alpha Centauri.
The goals for narrative events, to me, are as follows:
Some suggestions for narrative events, though:
DISCLAIMER: I am a player who wants fluff and text and narrative in my Civ games. I am not (only) a number-cruncher or min-maxer type of player. I think narrative gives 4x games weight and life. I am a fan of Endless Legend, Old World, and Alpha Centauri.
The goals for narrative events, to me, are as follows:
- Give a sense of life to the world and help craft a different story each game
- Create player agency in developing civ / circumstances that could presumably be different every playthru
- Meaningful choices
- Further define the personality of our immortal leaders
- Further define the characteristics of game elements like wonders or unique units
Some suggestions for narrative events, though:
- Give them titles. I'd like to see the narrative events have titles, so that they can be referenced and remembered more readily -- given more weight.
- Give them art. Easier said than done, of course. But it would be nice if we could see our leaders or civs in different contexts with concept art attached to narrative events.
- Have more of them / have them link up: Some of the events currently link up, or lead to other events, which is nice -- but we could use more!
- Have "if / then" events between different civs and leaders: Again, this is happening to an extent, but more interactions between leaders or their differences, or civs and their differences, would be a fascinating choice to make.
- Even specific events that only happen if you choose some absurd combo, like Confucius and the Shawnee
- ...but also, of course, some light history-driven events. I am more interested in leader personality events, though, than a re-living of specific historical events.
- Have more narrative events tied to leaders, specifically: I like the ones I got for Himiko, but they were few and far between. It would be nice to have more of these for leaders, to really flesh out their characters and personalities in game text, rather than just attribute points.
- Old World also has a mode where you can make the effects of your choices hidden. This would be nice, as I like the mystery of not knowing what I'll get (a pop-up could tell you though after selecting your decision).
- Instead of "Close" for an option on single-option event pop-ups, give it some more flavor. For getting a unique unit, for example: "We will put them to good use!"
- Have a record or timeline of narrative events that we can reference any time, which would be a fun way to see a timeline of our choices
- Different sound effects for different classifications of narrative events (e.g., cultural, political, etc.)
- More events that respond to stuff you are doing, e.g., a war! Capturing a city! Building a wonder! Losing a ship at sea! Etc. There are some, but we need more.
- Generally, as the game progresses, I think narrative events should have more weight
- I would like agendas more if they had associated flavor or interaction between other leaders and were not only mechanical... or, even better, if they evolved.
- Leader dialogues -- I don't mind the grunts and such as others do in the diplo screen. Instead of recording more voice, why not just have text for them saying certain things related to your actions and their agenda? Thinking back fondly on SMAC leaders talking... smack.
- How about narrative events while in the diplomacy screen, choices we can make based on the diplomatic actions we are pursuing, specifically tied to the leader and civ we are talking to?
