Knightly_
Warlord
Hi there,
i played about 50 hours of civilization 5 and neither i have the "just one more turn" habit nor do i feel a true civ atmosphere. I want to point out why i think this is the case. This should not be about new game elements like social policies, 1 UPT, happiness system and the AI behavior. It is more about the feeling when you play the game. I want to list positive and (you can image this are more) negative aspects. The latter are the reason why i dont have so much fun when playing the game. Dont get me wrong i like the game and most of its new features but there are so many small things which make me sad. I am playing on a two year old computer with more or less low to medium graphic settings.
positive aspects that create a good "feeling":
-The beginning of a new game is awesome. You get some nice info about the leader you are playing with. This creates some identification with him. You feel like you know who you are playing and this is cool.
-The look of the cities from the main map is great when it comes to the different continent styles. Especially in the modern era this creates a huge identification with your empire. Last game was with Siam and i absolutely loved how my modern cities look like. The outspreading when population increases is also cool and gives you the feeling that you have a real metropolis.
-The pictures when you build wonders are sweet. I always thought the videos are kind of senseless and this "converted from photo into graphic" looks cool.
-I like the icons above military units. They are simple and you almost know immediately what kind of unit there is. Good Job!
-Farms look great. Especially the fact that multiple farms are connected give you the feeling of farmland which most modern civilizations in the world have plenty of.
negative aspects that somewhat kill the civ game atmosphere for me:
-Music and appearance of the main screen does not create a civ feeling in any way. In Civilization 4 this was perfect. The world as background and baba yetu as music instantly created a "Wow... i need to build an empire out of nothing and rule the world" feeling for me. Of course its hard to beat but honestly the music (especially the first minute) is like out of a horror movie (im sure there is a music that is almost identical in the "The Ring" movie) and the picture is like "Um great walls everywhere... its dark... im boxed in... feels ugly... i need to get out of this menu". This is where i directly come to my next point:
-The entire UI feels hostile for me. I have read that Firaxis removed the black color for the unknown area and replaced it with clouds because its does not look that hostile. Great! But why make the rest look hostile then. Maybe this is hard to judge because i dont know how it would look otherwise but this black background color everywhere... Worst thing is the tech tree... i always immediately wanna get out of there.
-Probably i am lone with this but i dont like how enemy leaders are presented when you talk to them. First of all let them speak in their native language seems cool in the first place but i must say that i actually like it only for Bismarck and Eliz because these are the two leaders i can understand. Anyway sometimes you can hear their feelings about you when they talk (like desperation) which is cool. Second thing is the background theme. Its a nice idea but the problem i have with it is that it does not fit to the time. I met Bismarck 1500 BC and he says hello in his red office which was build thousands of years later. This just seems wrong to me. Its the same the other way round. Talking to Monty with his tribal village while being in modern times just does not fit.
-Tradings posts look ugly... they look ugly in every era and make the entire map look bad. I cranked up graphics to the maximum to see if its due to my settings but its not. In modern times i have a size 20 super awesome looking capital and next to it some small quadratic buildings. This does not look like a modern civilization. Civ 4 look was the perfect solution to this. Kind of smaller cities which grow in time. I mean it doesnt nessecarily need to give you more benefit in time but it would just look so more natural when trading posts would be replaced with small towns.
-I dont like the game music. While i have to admit that there are cool tracks the biggest problem is that it does not fit to the time like in civ4. This supresses the feeling that your empire goes through different eras. Continental style music is ok but i would definately create it in a way that it fits to the time.
-Almost no information about the enemy. While this is maybe a conception of the game it is definitely bad for game experience. You have a mighty empire to lead and you want to know where you stand comparing to your enemies. I want to know at least which techs the others have to have a small idea of where i stand. The lonely demographics screen is just not enough.
-There is no satisfaction when you win a game because there is no game development history. I talked about this one in another thread... this point makes me really angry.
-As the effect of wonders has been decreased they dont feel like epic buildings anymore. They are very expensive but their effect is often only a little bit more than a normal building. This does not create a feeling that your civ did build an epic, unique true wonder of the world.
There are some more minor things i dont want to explain but just mention them
-apples as a symbol for food
-city just feel like tools and not part of your empire (again hostile UI, no identification with your citites)
-for me the map resource symbols look too comic like. While its ok for the techtree and buildigns/units the resource icons should look more real like the map tries to.
If i would have to sum it up to one point i would say that you dont have the feeling that you lead an empire that goes through eras and advances forward like in older civ games. What to you think about my points ?
Greetings Knightly_
i played about 50 hours of civilization 5 and neither i have the "just one more turn" habit nor do i feel a true civ atmosphere. I want to point out why i think this is the case. This should not be about new game elements like social policies, 1 UPT, happiness system and the AI behavior. It is more about the feeling when you play the game. I want to list positive and (you can image this are more) negative aspects. The latter are the reason why i dont have so much fun when playing the game. Dont get me wrong i like the game and most of its new features but there are so many small things which make me sad. I am playing on a two year old computer with more or less low to medium graphic settings.
positive aspects that create a good "feeling":
-The beginning of a new game is awesome. You get some nice info about the leader you are playing with. This creates some identification with him. You feel like you know who you are playing and this is cool.
-The look of the cities from the main map is great when it comes to the different continent styles. Especially in the modern era this creates a huge identification with your empire. Last game was with Siam and i absolutely loved how my modern cities look like. The outspreading when population increases is also cool and gives you the feeling that you have a real metropolis.
-The pictures when you build wonders are sweet. I always thought the videos are kind of senseless and this "converted from photo into graphic" looks cool.
-I like the icons above military units. They are simple and you almost know immediately what kind of unit there is. Good Job!
-Farms look great. Especially the fact that multiple farms are connected give you the feeling of farmland which most modern civilizations in the world have plenty of.
negative aspects that somewhat kill the civ game atmosphere for me:
-Music and appearance of the main screen does not create a civ feeling in any way. In Civilization 4 this was perfect. The world as background and baba yetu as music instantly created a "Wow... i need to build an empire out of nothing and rule the world" feeling for me. Of course its hard to beat but honestly the music (especially the first minute) is like out of a horror movie (im sure there is a music that is almost identical in the "The Ring" movie) and the picture is like "Um great walls everywhere... its dark... im boxed in... feels ugly... i need to get out of this menu". This is where i directly come to my next point:
-The entire UI feels hostile for me. I have read that Firaxis removed the black color for the unknown area and replaced it with clouds because its does not look that hostile. Great! But why make the rest look hostile then. Maybe this is hard to judge because i dont know how it would look otherwise but this black background color everywhere... Worst thing is the tech tree... i always immediately wanna get out of there.
-Probably i am lone with this but i dont like how enemy leaders are presented when you talk to them. First of all let them speak in their native language seems cool in the first place but i must say that i actually like it only for Bismarck and Eliz because these are the two leaders i can understand. Anyway sometimes you can hear their feelings about you when they talk (like desperation) which is cool. Second thing is the background theme. Its a nice idea but the problem i have with it is that it does not fit to the time. I met Bismarck 1500 BC and he says hello in his red office which was build thousands of years later. This just seems wrong to me. Its the same the other way round. Talking to Monty with his tribal village while being in modern times just does not fit.
-Tradings posts look ugly... they look ugly in every era and make the entire map look bad. I cranked up graphics to the maximum to see if its due to my settings but its not. In modern times i have a size 20 super awesome looking capital and next to it some small quadratic buildings. This does not look like a modern civilization. Civ 4 look was the perfect solution to this. Kind of smaller cities which grow in time. I mean it doesnt nessecarily need to give you more benefit in time but it would just look so more natural when trading posts would be replaced with small towns.
-I dont like the game music. While i have to admit that there are cool tracks the biggest problem is that it does not fit to the time like in civ4. This supresses the feeling that your empire goes through different eras. Continental style music is ok but i would definately create it in a way that it fits to the time.
-Almost no information about the enemy. While this is maybe a conception of the game it is definitely bad for game experience. You have a mighty empire to lead and you want to know where you stand comparing to your enemies. I want to know at least which techs the others have to have a small idea of where i stand. The lonely demographics screen is just not enough.
-There is no satisfaction when you win a game because there is no game development history. I talked about this one in another thread... this point makes me really angry.
-As the effect of wonders has been decreased they dont feel like epic buildings anymore. They are very expensive but their effect is often only a little bit more than a normal building. This does not create a feeling that your civ did build an epic, unique true wonder of the world.
There are some more minor things i dont want to explain but just mention them
-apples as a symbol for food
-city just feel like tools and not part of your empire (again hostile UI, no identification with your citites)
-for me the map resource symbols look too comic like. While its ok for the techtree and buildigns/units the resource icons should look more real like the map tries to.
If i would have to sum it up to one point i would say that you dont have the feeling that you lead an empire that goes through eras and advances forward like in older civ games. What to you think about my points ?
Greetings Knightly_
