Should I but Civ 4?

they are both very different games.

the same strategies don't apply.

try IV and see what you think. I'm probably over it. Played it enough for a long time.

Then again, if V is your first experience with Civ, why stop at IV? Try all the previous ones.
I remember III being one of my favorites.
 
Yeah get the full Civ 4 with all the addons and you'll still be playing it when Civ 6 arrives.
 
So the question is: should I get Civ 4?
Yes. It seems that what you find lacking in Civ5 is precisely what they removed from Civ4. Particularly the "feeling flat" part.
It depends on a few things:

1. How much does Beyond the Sword and the game cost total? I can't return V so I'll have to spend more money out of my pocket - $50 is my budget.
I think you can get the whole set (Civ4 + the two extension) for less than 30 €. Definitely below the price of a new-released game anyway - it's an old one after all.
2. Do you think I'll enjoy it more than V? Will I get the addicting "one-turn syndrome"? Most importantly, will I be able to enjoy Civ 4 after tasting the better graphics, 1upt, and hex tiles of Civ 5?
It depends on your tastes. The hexes are nice, but honestly they change practically nothing in the game.
The "improved graphics" are really debatable - I find Civ5 WORSE looking than Civ4, honestly, the maps are lifeless and they lack animations. And the interface is horrid in Civ5, definitely much better in Civ4.
As for the 1upt, you can see on the forums that quite a bit of people don't feel it's an actual improvement, so again it's up to you.

As for me, I'd say it's much harder to enjoy Civ5 after tasting the depth of Civ4, than Civ4 after tasting the shallowness of Civ5. You will lose some inconsequential gimmicks when going to Civ4, and you will gain some major core game functions. It's a complete win in my views.
 
Anyone who considers themselves any kind of Civ fan should own it. For some reason Steam doesn't seem to be selling the complete Civ 4 game with expansions anymore? I know I picked up the whole thing for under $10 not long ago.
 
Kerosene31:

I think the OP's point was that he hasn't bought Civ 4 up to now, presumably out of a lack of interest, and having tried Civ 5 and not liking it, would he like Civ 4?

The two are markedly different in many respects, so there's no telling if he'll dislike Civ 4 just as much, but if he found Civ 5 flat, he may also find Civ 4 flat as well. We can't know what he found dissatisfying about Civ games if all we harp on is how superior Civ 4 supposedly is.
 
Anyone who considers themselves any kind of Civ fan should own it. For some reason Steam doesn't seem to be selling the complete Civ 4 game with expansions anymore? I know I picked up the whole thing for under $10 not long ago.

I'd expect the bundle to be offered again for the price of $10 again next month, during the annual Christmas sale. I'd wait until then to pick it up.
 
Civ4 is in many ways inelegant - the maths is tortured, the interface has some serious flaws, the combat mechanics are neither intuitive nor terribly interesting.

Nevertheless, there is plenty of depth to it with many possible approaches being viable, and it can be quite challenging if that's what you want. AI freebies become borderline obnoxious on Immortal, below you could fool yourself into believing you play a fair game if you can forgive starting archers on Monarch+ (heavy-handed but they got the anti-rush precautions right: You can rush successfully even on Deity, but it tends to be risky). For many regulars, it took years of fairly serious play to get to Immortal.
 
I prefer Civ IV but i cant go back to playing it i cant explain entirely why partially its because Civ V has so much better graphics, hexs, 1UPT etc theres so many better things but Civ IV also has many things that are better and in my opinion more better things (especially AI opponents) yet i cant go back to it which is a pain in the arse as i would love to play it :\ it depends really if your one of those people where graphics matter to you alot then dont get civ 4 if they dont matter theres no harm in trying it it shouldnt be to expensive.
 
I really dont care if you want to buy civ 4 or not, try going into the civ 4 forums and ask there :)
 
I really dont care if you want to buy civ 4 or not, try going into the civ 4 forums and ask there :)

Take a deep breath and relax. Maybe the OP started out with civ 5 and wanted opinions from people who had both tried civ 4 AND civ 5.

You'll likely find those opinions in civ 5 forum rather in civ 4 forum.

OR

maybe he already asked there as well. did you check?
 
I personally like Civ4 a lot more than Civ5; I have both, and I essentially never play Civ5; and I think Civ4 Complete is a great value game (it was very cheap last time I checked). --- but... based on what you said in the first post, I'm not sure you'll like Civ4 either. I do think that civ4 has more depth of strategy and all that, but the AI still cheats like crazy on the higher difficulty levels.
 
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