[GS] "Should I stay or should I go..."

[Aristos]

Anyone remembers the then infamous quote "A big sloppy kiss to our fans"?

I do. That kiss earned me a heck of a lot of infractions here.

They did not lie though. It was VERY SLOPPY.

 

[ohbuggerit]

Hi Civvers. I'm an old school Civ player (since the beginning!). Played them all, struggled with Civ5 and fell out of love with Civ6. Even went back to Civ4 for a few months...

Question is, should I immerse myself in Gathering Storm (and other DLC?) and give it another go?

I love exploration and Empire Building, but is this game now fit for purpose? Is it playable?

Any advice, greatly received. Thanks

TM

Like others have said - ultimately its a subjective decision. I am also a long time Civver since the start , in my 40's, who also struggled to enjoy 5 (except in multiplayer) , and feel rather gutted by the state of 6. I think i might enjoy 6 in multiplayer too but that is just impossible for me to commit to these days. The threat from the Ai just does not exist - especially in the later game- in the way it did (for me) in civ 4. Its not only about the AI though for me. The core design feels to me like it has moved away from larger strategic decisions to less consequential multiple micro decisions. (thats how it feels to me anyway). So i find i enjoy the start of the game- especially exploring the beautiful maps - but by the halfway point - the win is a forgone conclusion and i get bored.

I did buy GS and did not find that it increased my enjoyment significantly, as the core problems for me are not really resolved. Other people can find enjoyment from winning as quickly as possible etc, but its not why i play. Its my favorite game series of all time but I am coming to the conclusion that either i have become burnt out with it, (I'm in my 40's maybe some of the toys need to go) or my conception of what Civ is about differs from that of the designers at firaxis. So for me i regret the purchase in the sense that with reduced sales maybe they might design the game differently or address the AI properly, in future installments. With good sales figures though where is the incentive? So i have been part of the problem by buying 6 and the add ons. (more fool me)

 

[Trav'ling Canuck]

Like others have said - ultimately its a subjective decision. I am also a long time Civver since the start , in my 40's, who also struggled to enjoy 5 (except in multiplayer) , and feel rather gutted by the state of 6.

The Civ community varies so much in what it wants, it's impossible with the information provided by the OP to really give any quidance. I'm also a long time Civver (though in my 50s), and I LOVED Civ 5 … but I'm also gutted by Civ 6. Well, "gutted" is probably too strong, but Civ 6's not to my tastes.

So for me i regret the purchase in the sense that with reduced sales maybe they might design the game differently or address the AI properly, in future installments. With good sales figures though where is the incentive? So i have been part of the problem by buying 6 and the add ons. (more fool me)

I was even worse. I pre-bought 3 copies of the base Civ 6 (gave two away as gifts) because I loved Civ 5 so much. Then I pre-bought 3 copies of R&F, as I figured it would have to improve Civ 6.

And in a way, R&F did improve Civ 6, for those who enjoy Civ 6. It just took me loading up R&F to realize that the reason I didn't enjoy Civ 6 vanilla wasn't because the dev team hadn't finished working on Civ 6 … it was because the game the dev team is creating isn't a game I enjoy.

Anyway, GS would be a game I would dislike even more than R&F, but I've finally figured that out and passed on GS. But I disagree that mine (or yours or anybody elses) 'non-sales' are going to influence Firaxis with respect to the AI or game design going forward on Civ 6. Because the game they've developed does appeal to a large number of people - witness the many active posters on this site who love civ 6!
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[Aristos]

It's love-hate for me. I love the potential that civ 6 has. I hate the unrealized potential that civ 6 has.

 

[CPWimmer]

As a fellow long time "older" civ player - While I disagree with @ohbuggerit and @Trav'ling Canuck in their opinion on Civ 6, I agree 100% with their assessments:

• We are a very diverse community at this point, and catering to all of our desires will be nearly impossible - and we need to know more about @TM Moot to help him decide what is "playable"
• GS enhances but doesn't change the core game play of Civ 6.
• Civ 6 is NOT a challenge for a highly skilled 4x player (compared to Civ 4, for example)
• Early Game exploration is one of the strongest areas of the game, but in many situations you have "won" by the mid-game.

 

[raen]

I like the base game very much, the building of districts and buildings inside, build your cities in full experience. But for me expansions for civ 6 did not bring value, but for modding value was added.

 

[Aristos]

1,000 people might love/hate it and you might feel the opposite.

Which would be... hate/love it? That's me.

Now that I think of it, this thread should be renamed as:

 

[TM Moot]

Wow, thanks for all your replies and advice (sorry for the slow response, forgot I had posted this!).

I'm definitely inclined to purchase GS and give civ6 another blast, and if it still fails to entice me, I can revert to cIV BtS for my Civilisation fix. Happy days...

Cheers all

 

[Tiger Genocide]

Hi Civvers. I'm an old school Civ player (since the beginning!). Played them all, struggled with Civ5 and fell out of love with Civ6. Even went back to Civ4 for a few months...

Question is, should I immerse myself in Gathering Storm (and other DLC?) and give it another go?

I love exploration and Empire Building, but is this game now fit for purpose? Is it playable?

Any advice, greatly received. Thanks

TM

Try it with the Real Strategy Mod on at least Emperor and if it is still too easy or boring, go to other stuff.

You can also add in Steel and Thunder Mod for additional unique units that make the game much more fun as well.

 

[Socrates99]

Nice thing about VI is that mods do not disable achievements so I think more people use and make mods. Some of them just make the game so much more enjoyable.

 

[Mahi]

I'm waiting for GS coming on sales and you should too. Hopefully it will be included in some summer sales on Steam.

Normally I have been buying the expansion DLC's the day they come out because I know the hours I put into the game compensate for the relative high price tags on the games/expansion packs. With GS I've stopped. There's just too much dissapointment in Civ 6 that I can justify buying GS full price. It annoys me because GS is probably the best experience for Civ 6 as expansions have always provided more depth to the Civ games.

To be honest I felt like I got screwed a bit when I bought the base game on release date. Not because the base game was lacking fundamentel mechanics that would later come with the expansion pack but rather (in my opinion) I got "tricked" to buy the game for €89 with the next two DLC's included. I know the mistake is on my side but I never expected the next two DLC were just two new civs and nothing more. So I was forced to buy R&F for like €30?

So for a game that I have already spent ~€110 on and really is not enjoying yet as much as did with Civ IV and V there's no way I'm going to pay full price for GS.

 

[King Rad]

I'm an 'older' player as well [literally - as in work part time and draw Social Security]. I loved IV BtS - except that I hated stacks of doom and square tiles [possibly from all the old board games I played pre-computer days like the Avalon Hill series: Civil Way, Victory in the Pacific, Africa Corp, etc.]. Loved V even more in its final form. And Civ VI vanilla was still my favorite when it came out; and now is my favorite by far [just hoping for another expansion with some things like corporations, a modification to the lux resource to make them play more like the strategics, etc.]. So, for me, the current game and iteration are my favorite. Perfect? No. Tons of fun? For me, yes. As you can see from other posts, we all have our personal preferences. I like to play peacefully, expand my empire, and I really like the 'new' mechanic of the districts and wonders being moved out of the city center and all that went along with that. CiV was definitely a different game from V and VI. To me, VI is an excellent extension of some of the concepts introduced in V. And GS makes it the best game so far. As to best deals, you might check GMG and Humble Bundle for special sales or promotions.

 

[CPWimmer]

I'm waiting for GS coming on sales and you should too. Hopefully it will be included in some summer sales on Steam.
...
To be honest I felt like I got screwed a bit when I bought the base game on release date. Not because the base game was lacking fundamentel mechanics that would later come with the expansion pack but rather (in my opinion) I got "tricked" to buy the game for €89 with the next two DLC's included. I know the mistake is on my side but I never expected the next two DLC were just two new civs and nothing more. So I was forced to buy R&F for like €30?

To be fair we got 6 Free DLC when we bought the Deluxe Edition (unless you got some weird 2-DLC version that I am unaware of): Vikings, Poland, Australia, Persia/Macedon, Nubia, Khmer/Indonesia. In the US, that was close to a 50% savings on the DLC as soon as they were released.

But I don't disagree with your personal opinion on your money to value benefit. Each of us have our own views on that, based on our own experiences.

I applaud your decision to wait to pick up GS on sale, and I hope that you enjoy it when you get it!

 

[greenOak]

Civ4 bts is my most played version of civ, and I just don't find civ5 fun - even after all the expansions. Game balance and the AI in Civ VI is still poor, but the big difference is that I actually enjoy this game. It really depends on what you didn't like about civ5 and vanilla civ6. I have two major reasons why I prefer civ6 is because the game actually forces you to fight for land in the early game. The second reason is that I feel strategy is much more dynamic in civ6. In civ5 I felt like I basically picked a strategy at the beginning of the game, and then went on auto-pilot. In civ6 I find actually find myself changing strategy based on stuff like terrain, neighbours, and city states. And it should go without saying but ymmv..

 

[Zenstrive]

Civ VI when it first came out makes me feeling directionless and always have this feeling of dread when playing it, especially when the barbarians are raging and you're starting in a poor locations.
Several DLCs later it was fun for me. Especially after Gitarja and her Ships made of Prayers
Rise and Fall boost VI for me, since now you have a kind of goals to achieve, and filling that era circle with golden shine is satisfactory. You know you're progressing wrong when that bar stays gray.
Gathering Storm added some great leaders and civs too, like Inca and Maori, but still needs work on diplomacy (bleh) and the now grindfest Science Victory.

Try playing in on Island Plates, that map is a lot of fun for me. I have been winning with multiple civs on that map type.