Sid Meier's Civilization VII : GaaS.

P.-S. : You can try all you want to prove me Civ7 is not a GaaS, trust me it has enough stigmata of it for me.
I don't work for Firaxis, and I have no reason to care whether you buy their game or not.

I don't particularly like the situation where too many overpriced DLC has become the norm, but there really isn't any functional difference between Firaxis waiting 3 years to release the whole thing as one package, and you waiting three years to buy the whole thing at a discount. Choose your own degree of crossness.
 
I don't work for Firaxis, and I have no reason to care whether you buy their game or not.

I don't particularly like the situation where too many overpriced DLC has become the norm, but there really isn't any functional difference between Firaxis waiting 3 years to release the whole thing as one package, and you waiting three years to buy the whole thing at a discount. Choose your own degree of crossness.
There is something called the 'hype train' that drains some attention, even from me. For example, I wouldn't want to miss the topics (as opposed to the actual DLCs : I mean the meta game, not particularly cosmetics or civ or leader) here discussing about the optimal strategies since their beginning, because after a while it just becomes a huge amount of posts that I can't bother to read, added with necromancy if I decide to react to the OP 3 years later for example.

Anyway what I think now is that with all the previews, pre-release stuff, reviews that most of are kind of mixed, the game has been kind of spoiled before release. There's definitely no more this feeling of excitement. But I have to keep in mind that my tastes are solid (as a gamer-designer, often both being contradictory, but precisely in Civ7 they seem to match more than Civ6 at least), and that it's maybe not the case of all reviewers. (somebody gave them a bone, they tried to bit it and diverse impressions resulted in it) I mean, most people have no clue what to expect from a new Civilization. I do. But so far what I've seen is kind of mixed too so the one in the other... if I play this game one day I will try to focus on positives, and not being obsessed with Deity.

To clarify my OP and why I felt like I needed to share this, is that I just don't want the discussions focused exclusively on what's to come next, because apparently there's never enough, and this I fail to see why. The degree of concerns about the game is surprisingly low here, and I don't get why people just feel satisfied by what in the end is just news. They could just stick to H24 info news TV channels for Civ, if it existed. (oh wait, CivFanatics is a close up) I mean the hype is not there, it's about minor details that will make you love or hate the game. Granted, I missed most of them, but I have to say that Firaxis is terrible at making the rules of Civ obvious. I mean I learned by a youtuber that in Civ5, each city conquered was, even if razed, rising the cost of all technologies. That can come in handy when trying to beat the game at whatever difficulty it is set up. Because let's face it : everyone wants to play a game where one dominates, as long as one doesn't find it too ridiculously easy.

And crap, I just hate this launch. I feel that it's ridiculous, we need a degree to understand it, not to mention the ridiculous and nearly insulting pricing, and I just wanted to say it ! ;)
 
Anyway what I think now is that with all the previews, pre-release stuff, reviews that most of are kind of mixed, the game has been kind of spoiled before release. There's definitely no more this feeling of excitement.
Seems you brought this on yourself.

I go in to every game I play completely blind and it greatly increases my enjoyment. This game, I made an exception and watched all the Firaxis livestreams because I had never done such a thing before. It certainly hasn't spoiled anything for me.
 
In this case, Civ7 lands in a poorly polished state in terms of gameplay specifically - that's the Balancing and UI aspects most of all - plus missing main-stay Leaders and Civilisations and generally suspicious monetization strategy.
But they have good solutions to a lot of issues with previous games. That's good, but why can't they take the time to fully bake the product?
They didn't just release the game and immediately abandoned it though.
- How do you know the UI is bad? Thanks to the reviewers, right? So in order for the devs know that their UI is the main point of criticism, the game has to be released to a wide audience. From the experience of Civ6, devs did listen to constructive criticism and fix their UI accordingly.
- The matter of balance is pretty much the same. It is easier to know the game is imbalance when you have a large population of playtesters. And to be honest, no one plays Civ expecting it to be fully balanced, cuz 1/ it is almost impossible to balance the game immediately when it is released, it is an unrealistic expectation, the game has too many moving parts, and 2/ as the devs said themselves, a too balanced game is a boring game. Fun things are often imbalanced, and balanced things are often not fun.
- The inclusion and exclusion of mainstay civs seem to be a matter of personal preference. I hate playing a game full of well known civs and leaders with no surprise. I guess if you are cynical enough, everything can be framed as a money grab.
- Considering the gap between VI and VII is almost a decade, I can promise you most people want to try VII now, if not even sooner, even if the game comes with expected flaws.
 
- How do you know the UI is bad? Thanks to the reviewers, right? So in order for the devs know that their UI is the main point of criticism, the game has to be released to a wide audience. From the experience of Civ6, devs did listen to constructive criticism and fix their UI accordingly.
UI is a problem in civ 6. What is the Firaxis response: "We did not prioritize the UI (in civ 7)". BTW, Civ6 UI was fixed by modders, not Firaxis. But, if people are going to volunteer to fix your product, why bother do pay your staff to do it?
 
UI is a problem in civ 6. What is the Firaxis response: "We did not prioritize the UI (in civ 7)". BTW, Civ6 UI was fixed by modders, not Firaxis. But, if people are going to volunteer to fix your product, why bother do pay your staff to do it?
Modders improved the UI of Civ6. I don't find the base UI of Civ6 after gathering storm bad.
And what is wrong with Firaxis' response? To put it in context, they acknowledged it was bad because they didn't prioritize it, and they mentioned they would improve it. So, what is the problem with that response?
 
But that's literally what Right to Rule (and the other monthly release DLC season passes which will follow after it) is. :mischief:
Tbh I'd forgotten that RtR wasn't just coming as one pack, so yes it's very similar. :D

Edit: I do hate the term GaaS though, it's used for such a broad range of models / approaches that it's almost meaningless.
 
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I think you are wrong, the game seems deep and made with love and attention to detail and it tries to tackle some of the faults that have been in previous entries of the series.

It also brings some bold new ideas. I especially like the diplomacy system.

Of course the publisher wants to make money and sell dlc stuff, and Firaxis people need a salary to work and live.

I see nothing strange here.

The fact that the game is made with love and attention to details, doesn't at all contradict the statement that it's GaaS with predatory marketig practices.

While I love the direction Firaxis goes with the series gamedesign-wise, I despise the marketing model that is being used.

And yes it definetely started long before Civ 7. Not sure about 5, as I've encountered it in already full form, but 6 has gone too much in this direction for my tastes. For instance, did you know that the initial price on Steam for Nubia Civilization and Scenario Pack was 80$? And the same for Persia and Macedon.
 
No, it wasn’t. Here’s the other one: https://steamdb.info/sub/181156/

The one that you’re referencing is pulling the price of the entire Civ VI Platinum bundle. I’m not sure how you could believe that one small DLC was ever $80.
Oh, thanks God! I couldn't believe it myself at first but I didn't know how else to explain the observation.

I must say this is very confusing. Why would it show the price of the whole platinum bundle even before the bundle was available? Why not just base game + the specific pack in the name. Why not say anything in the name? Argh.
 
I think that they created a new entry for that DLC to add it into the bundle. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the one that you linked isn’t available for sale individually. Who really knows how Steam inventory works, though.
 
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