Poll: For Civ VII, which art direction style do you prefer?

[Orango Nash]

"Other.."

Something that's clear and easily readable for a strategy game (if Civ 7 is intended to be a strategy game, of course). And that doesn't force a graphics card upgrade just to display the map.

 

[pokiehl]

if Civ 7 is intended to be a strategy game, of course).

What else would it be

 

[TheCleanerDragon]

The ones in Civ 4, and even in Civ 5 were more impressive. Even though they were only static images with music and quotes.

In Civ4, it's not a static image, a video plays showing the construction and finished form of the wonder.

 

[Orango Nash]

What else would it be

After the "progress" from 4 > 5 > 6, who knows? Note the decline in "Strategic and Tips" discussion posts here through those titles. Follow that progression ...

 

[pokiehl]

After the "progress" from 4 > 5 > 6, who knows? Note the decline in "Strategic and Tips" discussion posts here through those titles. Follow that progression ...

Civ games aren't that complex period. They all can be "solved" with meta strategies...I certainly don't think Civ 6 is any less complex than 5 or 4.

I think the reason you're not seeing as many "Strategic and Tips" posts is because Civ 4 came out in 2005 and Civ 5 came out in 2010. Use of traditional forums like Civfanatics has steadily declined since then. Players find their tips on YouTube or Reddit or Discord servers now.

 

[W|M]

I prefer consistency over what civ 2 gave us. 3 must be awful... I can't even remember
Not sure how, as good as they were, you can claim 4's were better than 6's. It's almost the same thing, but without the very cool situating in your own world.

In Civ 3, you have just a picture of the wonder when you complete it, but what you can also do (unlike later games) is get a more close-up look at the city and where your buildings and wonders fit in. You can also gradually build up your palace as time goes on so that it eventually gets bigger and fancier

 

[vorlon_mi]

Civ games aren't that complex period. They all can be "solved" with meta strategies...I certainly don't think Civ 6 is any less complex than 5 or 4.

I think the reason you're not seeing as many "Strategic and Tips" posts is because Civ 4 came out in 2005 and Civ 5 came out in 2010. Use of traditional forums like Civfanatics has steadily declined since then. Players find their tips on YouTube or Reddit or Discord servers now.

I agree; when I finally bought Civ6 -- a few years after its release -- I was surprised at the low activity in the "Strategy and Tips" forums. I didn't want to spend a few hours (literally) watching YouTube videos about strategy. I can read words faster than that; I can tell from the first paragraph or two whether I want to read the rest. It's harder to do that with online videos.

On the other hand, folks like Potato McWhiskey are far more prolific than any of the old-school strategy forum writers here at CivFanatics. Once I find a creator I like, I can watch a lot of content from that person. The times, they are a-changin' ....

 

[TempusFugit]

In Civ4, it's not a static image, a video plays showing the construction and finished form of the wonder.

Yeah that was a spelling error on my part.

 

[TempusFugit]

I prefer consistency over what civ 2 gave us. 3 must be awful... I can't even remember

I prefer art styles that give me immersion over very strict forms of consistency

And mixed types of art, real footage, 3d models, 2D art and so on, can work very well together and create its own consistency. Some people who aren’t used to it might think that it is strange at first, but they will often get used to it, or even love it if they aren’t very close-minded.

This sort of thing was much more common in computer games in the 90’s. Especially after the introduction of CD-ROM media. Civ 2 is a well known example here. Another one is the fantastic open-world RPG Might and Magic 6 from 1998.

It mixes together real 3D, pre-rendered 3D, some 2D artwork and for the NPC’s you talk to, their portraits are mostly made up of real people dressed up in “period” clothing. Seeing real people in a game like that feels a little unusual at first for many people. But it seems like it was a good choice, and many people seems to appreciate the unique style it uses. Unfortunately for Might and Magic 7 they used only 3D and pre-rendered 3D, and that game has a blander look.

Not sure how, as good as they were, you can claim 4's were better than 6's. It's almost the same thing, but without the very cool situating in your own world.

You are spot-on that they are almost the same thing with a small difference. But that small difference apparently makes an important difference for both you and me, only in different ways.

For me, getting momentarily taken away from the game in Civ 4 and shown something that is almost like a short ”documentary” or presentation, makes it more immersive. In Civ 6, seeing them getting built on the map was a neat effect, but it wasn’t that immersive for me, since I never connected much with the map in Civ 6. I find it hard to imagine the buildings in Civ 6 as either a representation of cities in a geographical region, or actual buildings in a city. Different strokes I guess.

 

[TempusFugit]

I agree; when I finally bought Civ6 -- a few years after its release -- I was surprised at the low activity in the "Strategy and Tips" forums. I didn't want to spend a few hours (literally) watching YouTube videos about strategy. I can read words faster than that; I can tell from the first paragraph or two whether I want to read the rest. It's harder to do that with online videos.

On the other hand, folks like Potato McWhiskey are far more prolific than any of the old-school strategy forum writers here at CivFanatics. Once I find a creator I like, I can watch a lot of content from that person. The times, they are a-changin' ....

Another option is to just explore a game on your own and create your own strategies. This is how I usually play games and it was also how I used to play Civ games before, and still mostly do.

But sometimes when you have gotten really into a game, it is a lot of fun to read up on or listen to other peoples ideas about game strategy too. This what what happened to me when I really got into Civ 5, I started listening to the older Polycast episodes about it on my way to work, while making food and so on. Thankfully Civ 5, like Civ 6 has so many ways to play it, that you don’t spoil yourself the ability to come up with new important ideas, just because you have listened to some podcast episodes.

But in general I don’t like acquiring non-superficial info about games I play from other sources than the game itself and its manual. At least not before I have finished playing it. (If it is the type of game with an ending.) But I have some important exceptions of course, and one of them is that in games with deeper game mechanics, if really like the game mechanics, I will often look up aspects of them not covered by the game, because it gives me a lot of joy to understand those. For the Civ series, understanding diplomacy modifiers in Civ 5 and corruption in Civ 3 was very rewarding for playing those games. I think it would have been better if Firaxis had made every aspect about those clear in the Civiliopedia. But on the other hand it is probably important to hide some aspects of a game’s mechanics from the player, so not everything can be “gamed”.