No real squares in civ IV!

[morbror_sven]

i presume most of you have seen the screenshots, otherwise you have one here:

As you see there is big differences. First, if you didn't know that this is Civ IV, would you understand that this is Civilization?
The answer is NO.
This looks more like some RTS the boy is playing.

Clearly there will be too big differnces in this game. Bringing an old game from 2d to 3d is very hard and most important is that peapole still can feel that the main concept is there. It's good that sid improves the graphics for us as long as he don't make a new game out of it.
Many games have lost its players by changing from 2d to 3d.
I don't say it's impossible but this screenshot looks like sid has chosen the path of disaster.

I say more Civ and less Warcraft III.

 

[Civrules]

Again, these screenshots are many months old.
Your title says that there are no squares, but you don't mention anything in the thread. Just to make it clear, the game will be tile based, like Civ III.

As for the feel, I don't think I'm worried about it. If Firaxis can remake a 17 year-old classic and make today's version feel the same, that should tell you something.

And also, RTS games cannot compare to Civ. Almost all RTS games are very similar to eachother in various ways.
Civ has always had its own unique concepts, and I think it's going to stay like that.

 

[Elysium Dreams]

Even in the picture you can still see tiles pretty clearly. The forests are a dead giveaway.

 

[morbror_sven]

yeah but look at the town, look at the warriors. They are not symbolized by one like it used to....
As you said all RTS games are very similar and with this appearance Civ will become one of them.

How much are they ready to do to attract the wide RTS audience?

Ask yourself a question, would you understand that this is civilization if you didn't know it?

 

[Chieftess]

If you looked at a Civ3 screenshot for the first time (one without grids), you might think the same thing. A lot of RTS and TBS games rely on a tile-system, whether it's isometric, or square. I think they went with the Civ1 look to bring back some "old school" players.

 

[morbror_sven]

Yeah i have seen those too ....

But i have to choose i there would be no doubt i choose the undeveloped Civ3 rather than undeveloped Civ4. Althougth both looks like.....

I think you shall look back and see your first thougths when you saw these screenshots:
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=106420

 

[thescaryworker]

Actually, there will probably still be tiles in cIV. I think it only looks like this because they have developed the graphics to gradually go from one tile type to another.
Besides: look at the town border shape. (it is a square) If yo can't see the border, look right above the horsies.

 

[Gogf]

They could just have the grid turned off.

 

[MeteorPunch]

If there is tiles, than there is a lot more per city grid. See that little Tundra all by itself? There may be room for 50 or so mini tiles in the grid.

 

[Civrules]

If there is tiles, than there is a lot more per city grid. See that little Tundra all by itself? There may be room for 50 or so mini tiles in the grid.

That's true... Good observation there. And if the units are actually on the large square itself, it might make sence.
So here is a rough scetch:

I don't know how complex that would be if each base square had more squares in it, but the squares are pretty big just by themselves.

Even with all this speculation... the small tundra might just be a graphic in the big, base square:

 

[mikehunt]

the new Pirates! is tiled kind of like that

 

[warpstorm]

I'm sure that there will be an option to turn a grid on.

 

[Lockesdonkey]

Has it occured to any of you that they might be zoomed in?

 

[Civrules]

Has it occured to any of you that they might be zoomed in?

Yes, that's why there's a different screenshot in which you can make out smaller squares.

 

[warpstorm]

Has it occured to any of you that they might be zoomed in?

In fact, I'm pretty sure that this is at max zoom in.

 

[dh_epic]

It looks like there are squares to me. They just have some artistic embellishments that blur the line between terrain, so it doesn't look too obviously square like. But there are definitely squares.

Doesn't look like they've made huge overhauls that ruin the game. Quite the opposite. It looks like they've made mere aesthetic changes that ultimately keep the game the same. I'm still waiting for the "killer feature" -- good or bad -- that makes Civ IV into a new game.

 

[Hyronymus]

Has anyone thought of how useless it is to worry about 'previews' that appear 1,5-1 year in advance of a release?

 

[Civrules]

Has anyone thought of how useless it is to worry about 'previews' that appear 1,5-1 year in advance of a release?

One word:
Curiosity.

 

[Hyronymus]

Curiousity is something else IMO. This is ringing the alarm bell for no good .

 

[morbror_sven]

Has anyone thought of how useless it is to worry about 'previews' that appear 1,5-1 year in advance of a release?

Yeah your rigth... I shouldn't be worrying about this.
I shouldn't even be in the "Civ4 - Ideas & Suggestions " since all mad ideas makes me crazy.

However Civrules, may you investigate the "extra-squares" a bit more? I'm sure there are many peapole that's curious about it..