Hello, all:
I'm a new member, so apologies if this is out of
place. I've played Civ4 a few times _ coming to
it straight from years of Civ2. I've a few frustrations,
I'm afraid, but maybe I'm being clueless. Anyway _
Comparison with Civ2: "If it ain't broke, don't
fix it" is my verdict.
1. Game simply isn't as much FUN. Simplicity of Civ2
stimulated imagination. Yes, Civ2's artwork is great _
but unnecessary.
2. Challenge has been taken away.
Examples _ (a) govt type; (b) war; (c) pollution
and corruption; (d) maker bias and editing of
civilisations.
(a) In Civ2, you pretty much knew your choices _
Democracy, Communism, Monarchy, etc. OK, one could
argue about interpretation of the names _ game
has a very American slant _ but still, in game
terms, you had clear choices: the more freedom
people have, the more money they may generate,
but the less they will willingly fight for you.
From the very start of a Civ2 game, you make a
clear personal choice about what type of ruler
you want to be: this has specific benefits, and
specific costs, which change your whole game.
In Civ4, the expansion of this into 28 or so
Civics ends up leaving you, oddly, with no
real choice _ because the way they're set up,
they make no real difference.
The irony is, when I first saw Civ4's splitting
of government choices into detailed Civics, I
thought it was a great idea _ and in theory, it
is. But for whatever reason, it doesn't work out
like that in actual game-play.
Giving the Pyramids the power of having all
"Government Type" civics is a LOUSY idea: takes
all the challenge out of the game. In Civ2, the
equivalent power is only given very late: with
Statue Of Liberty, I think it was ? Anyway, my point
is, I learned very early on to ALWAYS go for
building the Pyramids a.s.a.p. in Civ4, and
thereafter use either Hereditary Rule or
Representation. Virtually no penalty or
challenge. What's more, switching between the
"Government" civics makes very little
difference on the ground.
(b) As regards war _ as far as I can see, in
Civ4 it's virtually impossible to take an
enemy city if the two opposing civilisations
are within an ass's roar of each other
technology-wise. This leads to a defensive,
World-War-1 mindset
(c) The manual says (not in quite these words) that
the makers removed corruption, waste, and
pollution as big factors because too many
people were whining about them. Pathetic
decision, removing all challenge.
(d) I feel that the makers show a weird sort of
bias in their choice of so-called great civilisations
and leaders, as compared to Civ2's. Bluntly, I
don't see why the "American Empire" merits two
leaders while the Romans only get one. The "American
Empire" shouldn't even exist, really, given that
the USA was a breakaway from English imperial history _
it would be more proportional, in world history terms,
to merge "The English" with the Americans as "Anglo-Saxons". On which note, how on earth does Victoria
merit inclusion as a great leader ? By her time,
English monarchs didn't DO anything except sit on
the throne. What about Henry the Fifth, Cromwell,
or Gladstone ? I only like the last one, but they
were all major English figures.
Plus, I'm sorry, but how on earth does Mali get in
there as an important civilisation when the Celts
don't ? No disrespect to Mali, but in terms of world
history, they just didn't happen to be where the
world-changing action was. The Celts were: first,
they were the Iron Age movers and shakers in Europe,
second, Rome had to conquer them, in Gaul, to get
its Empire going, and third, when Europe sank into
the Dark Ages, it was Celtic monks who kept learning
(Latin, Greek, etc.) and writing alive, and spread
idea-bearing religion, which ultimately got Europe up
and running again as a civilisation. Regardless of your
personal opinions on Christianity or Europeans _ these
things *happened*.
Of course, I wouldn't care about stuff not being there if it was easy to make one's own changes _ it isn't.
The makers claim you can add a new Civ using XML _ you can't. I'm using Windows XP, so it's not me that's the problem.
In Civ2, all one had to do to make changes was some
simple editing of ordinary text files.
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Finally _ I've read the makers' end-notes in the manual,
about what they felt was "wrong" with earlier
Civ versions, that they wanted to "improve". I
reject this utterly as regards Civ2 (I can't speak
for other versions).
When all the smoke has cleared
away, the only real improvement has been the art
quality. Yes, Civ2 graphics were simple and almost
cartoonish _ a small price to pay for the most
addictive game I've ever played. Civ4 doesn't
even come close. Classic case of "if it ain't
broke, don't fix it".
Score: Civ2 beats Civ4 5-nil _ or 5-1 at best.
P.S. In fairness, there IS one thing I think
is great about Civ4 _ the religions.