Sure Civ 5 would be nice but...

[jeffreyac]

well, I have to admit - as important as gameplay is (and Civ has pleanty of that!) eye candy is still a big issue. After all, if graphics were completely unimportant, we'd all play text games...

 

[Swein Forkbeard]

You should. EA has a reputation of destroying good development houses. If they do the same to Firaxis that they did to Westwood, Civ games in the future will suck big time and eventually Firaxis will no longer exist.

Not Westwood! Boo! COMMAND AND CONQUER!

Yeah, I sure hope that doesn't happen.

 

[King Flevance]

You should. EA has a reputation of destroying good development houses. If they do the same to Firaxis that they did to Westwood, Civ games in the future will suck big time and eventually Firaxis will no longer exist.

I don't really though. Take 2 has crapped all over my game by seeing it only as a cash cow. For a brief second, I thought that Take 2 would let up because they had practically recovered from all the turmoil out around the time of 4's release. But then this merger/takeover thing came out. So I think 2K is going to continue to just sit back and milk the title at least until they are out of their slump they have been in since aquiring the title. AT this point they would think Bathroom Tycoon was a good idea if Sid Meier would slap his name in from of it and they could milk it a little. At worst this is what EA would do. Besides, we had to buy an expansion pack to get the patches that fixed large issues with this installment anyways so I am not too worried about EA's patch policy. It is only a quarter inch worse than 2k's

But I think Activision has EA kind of worried about it's reputation now. Only time will tell. I could go on about this, I have given it alot of thought. And honestly, I do not care who maintains the rights. Its like Bush vs. Kerry all over again.

The graphics for Civ4 now look old and for that reason probably very few new people will buy it at this stage.

They have always looked out of date IMO. Even when it first came out I would never have told anyone it has great graphics.

 

[Swein Forkbeard]

I'd prefer to see another expansion pack. Something that would make certain traits no longer suck (Spi, Prot, and Imp), something that would add a large amount of new civs and some more leaders for existing civs (Why does Japan only have one leader still? Japan and Spain are like the only two Civ4 vanilla civs to still have only one leader.)

This is Civilization IV, not The Sims, EverQuest, or Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War.

Guys, most computer games that get expansion packs receive only one expansion pack (e.g., Empire Earth, Warcraft III, StarCraft, Age of Empires II, HomeWorld, Command and Conquer, Warcraft II, Age of Empires). More expansion packs are becoming more popular now (Civilization III, EverQuest, The Sims, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War, Battlefield 1942, World of Warcraft, Half-Life, Half-Life 2, Rome: Total War, Civilization IV, Civilization II, Command and Conquer: Red Alert, Age of Empires III, TIE Fighter).

What I'm saying is that you guys should be lucky that Civ4 has received two expansion packs.

 

[Balderstrom]

I seriously hope CIV:V has at least 24-32 Civs, and one (good) Expansion that adds in another 16-24. If that was the case, I'd buy the game at release, instead of waiting for the inevitible price drops.

 

[Oatse]

The graphics for Civ4 now look old and for that reason probably very few new people will buy it at this stage.

I really doubt that, people are still buying and playing HL1 after all these years and that game makes Civ4 look like Crysis in comparison.

 

[Willem]

I seriously hope CIV:V has at least 24-32 Civs, and one (good) Expansion that adds in another 16-24. If that was the case, I'd buy the game at release, instead of waiting for the inevitible price drops.

Fat chance of that happening. It will start out with a low number and get bigger with each expansion.

 

[Broufar]

(Why does Japan only have one leader still? Japan and Spain are like the only two Civ4 vanilla civs to still have only one leader.)

If Spain does get another leader, I think El Cid would be awesome. (although there is probably a mod for that already)

As for Civ 5, I can't think of many improvements except it would be cool to have a more involved battle option where you could take control of your armies and direct them for each individual battle. It would make for a much longer game, but it would be an optional feature.

 

[Mukuu]

well, I have to admit - as important as gameplay is (and Civ has pleanty of that!) eye candy is still a big issue. After all, if graphics were completely unimportant, we'd all play text games...

Whoa! Dont be tearing apart text games now, those can be heavily entertaining... ... ...

People definitely dont buy Civ for the graphics. And if someone ever admitted that they did, I would have to laugh at them.

While I would also love to see a SMAC II, it is not goin to happen... for a LONG time. That is almost as bad as wanting a new X-Com UFO defense (updated graphics and AI). I have seen people "petitioning" for that for the last 10 years(or so). *shakes fist angrily at Microprose* Who owns the rights to X-Com now?

I dont think a Civ V is needed right now. The only reason they would NEED to bring it out, is if there is something that is just to much work to patch (something like a completely revamped AI system). Then they can deal with it as they see fit... but in my opinion, they have made the game as beautiful as I would want it. Its not to often you find a game that is a challenge for EVERYBODY. But, reality sets in, and Fraxis loves money. So, a Civ V will come out before it should.

 

[Eclipse-X010]

The graphics for Civ4 now look old and for that reason probably very few new people will buy it at this stage.

If someone dosn't buy Civ 4 it's usually because they are not a strategy gaming person (they will just use the graphics as an excuse when actually they're OK)

A person who is really in to strategy games and knows how good of a strategy game Civ is would probably buy it even if the graphics really sucked (which they really don't)

 

[Genv [FP]]

Did you guys know that Starcraft is played as an e-sport is korea?

The game is so old that you have to play it at 800x600 resolution.


I think Starcraft is about 10 or 11 years old.

 

[Mukuu]

You have to disable direct draw to play X-Com, nothing tops that!

 

[The Almighty dF]

Did you guys know that Starcraft is played as an e-sport is korea?

The game is so old that you have to play it at 800x600 resolution.


I think Starcraft is about 10 or 11 years old.

If only Blizzard did the smart thing and made an MMO out of a better selling series of theres, like Diablo or Starcraft.
Instead they went with a series that was actually kinda dying, especially since Warcraft 3 sucked so hard.

 

[Kiwi Tyrant]

When they do release Civ5, I personally hope it is a big jump with alot of thoughtful revamping. Sort of like the worthwhile jump from Civ3 to Civ4.
I care nothing for eye-candy; I want the game so huge I have to have the graphic's on their lowest settings just to play the thing! I want such total immersion that when I get back to reality I think "beam me up Scotty, this world is stuffed, map regeneration required now!"

 

[Genv [FP]]

If only Blizzard did the smart thing and made an MMO out of a better selling series of theres, like Diablo or Starcraft.
Instead they went with a series that was actually kinda dying, especially since Warcraft 3 sucked so hard.

That could be the worst thing they could ever do

Do you know how many characters are killable by players in WoW?

If Blizz makes a Starcaft or Diablo MMO, Say goodbye to the storyline

 

[The Almighty dF]

When they do release Civ5, I personally hope it is a big jump with alot of thoughtful revamping. Sort of like the worthwhile jump from Civ3 to Civ4.
I care nothing for eye-candy; I want the game so huge I have to have the graphic's on their lowest settings just to play the thing! I want such total immersion that when I get back to reality I think "beam me up Scotty, this world is stuffed, map regeneration required now!"

Agreed.
Although I hate to say... I haven't played Civ3. I own it, but... the graphics. I normally don't have a problem with poor graphics, but some actually kinda hurt my eyes when they're put on the big screen.

 

[r_rolo1]

Use Rhye's terrain for Civ III ... it will help. It will not make it by today's standarts, but it is far better than the vanilla set ( believe me... the jump is bigger than from basic Civ IV to BlueMarble )

I think Civ V will need to put to use the 3D enviroment..... We have 3D in Civ IV but it is completely eye candy. No uphill battle, no cliffs ,no canyons, all the planes fly at same height... when you think on it, it seriously look like a waste of computer resources. If we have 3 D why are playing in 2D with ovesized warriors ?

 

[Willem]

Use Rhye's terrain for Civ III ... it will help.

I liked Sn00py's myself. It's too bad he hasn't done anything with Civ 4. Just before the game came out he was chomping at the bit but then he just disappeared, never to be heard from again.

 

[CheScott]

Cristo can only be built by one civ, and you can't always be in a Golden Age. It may not be quite as advantageous as it used to be, but it's still pretty powerful.

Cristo's the last one other Civ's go for. If I don't get it, I'm not doing very well anyway. And, I'm just gonna say it, one turn isn't that big of a deal if you need to make bigger changes in case of sudden war you can save Police State for when you're on the offensive.

That could be the worst thing they could ever do

Do you know how many characters are killable by players in WoW?

If Blizz makes a Starcaft or Diablo MMO, Say goodbye to the storyline

Lol. Oh man. What storyline? Diablo II? Come on, what's up with the Expansion? "Oh! Suddenly Baal is going after this huge crazy rock! (that we sorta never mentioned at all before this, heh) But OMFG if you don't stop him everything is pwnt!" Ridiculous. Blizzard is beyond salvaging and was heading that way since DII. WoW is their peak and it's only down hill from here. SC2, you say? No new races? Are you KIDDING? What's the story this time, "Oh no! We went through a time warp and have to do it all over again... but with better graphics!"

Blizzard has tasted the fruit of millions of dollars every month and found it to be delicious. I assure you, World of Diablo is inevitable.

Now, to address the question at hand... I would, quite literally, kill for Alpha Centauri II. (Sid, if you're reading this, go ahead and email me. I don't like those EA SOB's anyhow.) Alpha Centauri, as sad as it may sound, had an enormous impact on my psychological development in my late teen years and, I would dare say, had more of an impact on my persona than any game I've played before or since. God I f***ing hate EA.

So, back here in the real world... I'd like to see a sanctioned release of some of the user mods, sorta like CivII: Fantastic World's 'Best of the Net'. (Or was that Scenarios? Anyway...) There are a lot of great mods out there but, quite honestly, I am entirely too lazy to sift through them all and figure out which one best suits me. What I'd like to see is some cleaned up, debugged mods with some sort of interface that allows you to implement selected mods, or features from selected mods. Just some kind of Mod-Maddness release.

Most of the work's already been done, and I'd actually pay for that, as long as it wasn't a full expansion price. $20 bucks a pop sounds fair, to me. Civ V is hardly needed, people who are b****ing about graphics should probably find a different franchise. The eye candy factor is, necessarily, not the top of the list. There is simply too much else going on for all of it to be super-sexy. And, to be honest, I'd keep playing this as is for another 10 years. I played Alpha Centarui about that long, I think.

In fact, I can't even comprehend complaints about the graphics. Seriously, if this isn't cutting it for you, you need to be playing First-Person Shooters or something.

 

[Supr49er]

well, I have to admit - as important as gameplay is (and Civ has pleanty of that!) eye candy is still a big issue. After all, if graphics were completely unimportant, we'd all play text games...

Man I loved Colossal Cave, and Zork.