The demo is a waste of time

[Balkor]

I personally love the demo Despite the 2k forums saying its 150 turns not 100 i was a little dissapointed but it lets me try startergies, like what happens if I attack a city state being protected by a Civ, and getting startergies for attacking Civs early on for territory/resources (Im mostly focused on combat in the demo since diplomacy cant go too far in a demo) Also, does anyone know what graphic settings level the default is? I can play the game with some slow movements and if thats on high settings id be very happy

 

[Mango Elephant]

I liked it alright. I want civV now, it gave a taste of the game without having too little or too much.

 

[Quintillus]

Not a waste of time at all. In one demo game, I learned:

*My computer can in fact handle the game pretty well (at least on Small maps), despite being borderline on the requirements.
*The city states concept seems fun.
*Gold is important, and I miss the Marketplace city improvement. But the Trade Post may make up for it if I get a nice grassy starting location.
*Hexagons aren't the end of the world.
*Warlord is ridiculously easy, even with all advice turned off (well, as much as I could turn off - there seems to be a bug in turning off recommended tile improvements) and no reading of the manual first. A lot of knowledge carries over from Civ3 and Civ4. But mainly, the AI are very slow at expanding on Warlord.
*There do seem to be some bugs yet. Skipping the intro froze the game more times than not, and turning off tile recommendations didn't seem to work. Waiting for a few patches to come out might save some agony. It definitely would have with Civ4 (and patch 1.52 instead of 1.00).
*The graphics are better than Civ4's, even on the minimum. Although I did play with static diplomatic images, but even the option for that in regular Civ4 would've been a huge improvement over several of Civ4's leaders. The units look reasonable without Single Unit Animations, too (how silly do three musketeers look fighting three warriors? pretty ridiculously silly, in a negative way in Civ4).
*If the demo hadn't ended in 100 turns, I might have played for several more hours tonight. In other words, it might be a good idea to wait until mid-December to buy this game!

Leaving a few more questions:

*How do I like combat? This should be partially addressable by playing the demo again. I'm a Civ3 combat fan, and while Civ5 still has the one-strength aspect of Civ4 that I disliked, the one-unit-per-tile rule might render that not bad.
*How well do bigger maps perform? Although Civ4 taught me (belatedly) that smaller maps are more fun with a borderline computer.

Also, does anyone know what graphic settings level the default is?

On my computer they defaulted to all minimums, except maximum screen resolution. But it may set them based on how powerful of a computer it detects. If you go to Options and then Video Options, you'll see what they're set at.

 

[net55]

The demo is boring too me, the graphics are a bit small, the map seams really small, so I didn’t get a good first impression..but I felt the same way about Civ 4….and I eventually loved that version. As long time civ player, I have faith in the franchise.

 

[Esckey]

I found the map to be surpisingly big. And I'm a guy that can't play Civ4 on anything smaller then huge.

 

[net55]

Maybe it is...everything seams small to me, units, most resources, cities...tiny galleys etc.

 

[Tortellini]

Maybe it is...everything seams small to me, units, most resources, cities...tiny galleys etc.

True. With the 10 dudes in every unit, it is sort of difficult to see what unit exactly they are.

Also, yield display in cities is somewhat buggy. Nevertheless, I had a blast playing my 100 turns and if I had had more I wouldn't have slept much last night... Time (and expansions, and especially mods) will give us many improvements, but for now, this feels like a solid basis.

Plus, MODS! The pain of every Total War release screwing modders more is what makes me respect 2k so much. I pre-ordered because I knew that even if I didn't like the demo, as long as mods are possible the modders will make something amazing.

 

[paragonae]

True. With the 10 dudes in every unit, it is sort of difficult to see what unit exactly they are.

Look at the icon of the unit, instead of trying to see if they're holding swords or spears in their hands.

 

[Darkness]

Not a waste of time at all. In one demo game, I learned:

*My computer can in fact handle the game pretty well (at least on Small maps), despite being borderline on the requirements.

That was the only thing I was looking for when I played the demo. I have exactly the minimum requirements on my old computer and the game worked for me. It automatically set some graphics to "medium" and all the leaders I met were Negroid (not entirely sure if that was supposed to be like that, 'cause I have a feeling that Bismarck was white... ), but the game ran relatively smoothly for the first 100 turns. I have no idea if my old computer will be able to handle the later stages of the game (probably the graphics will have to be set to "low", but at least I got to take a first-hand peek at the game.

Am I going to buy it?
Probably eventually. But to enjoy it completely I will probably have to get a new computer first.

 

[onedreamer]

Look at the icon of the unit, instead of trying to see if they're holding swords or spears in their hands.

what's the point of impressive graphics if then you have to look at mere icons as in Civ1?

 

[remconius]

Demo is great, to see the game, understand the mechanics, get a feel for starting strategies (like that you need 2 workers pretty early to work the land...)

 

[paragonae]

what's the point of impressive graphics if then you have to look at mere icons as in Civ1?

Impressive graphics are always a bonus, but all you really need is icons ala Civ1.

 

[Tortellini]

what's the point of impressive graphics if then you have to look at mere icons as in Civ1?

Exactly. The unit icons are actually very useful, but I end up looking only at them and not on the units themselves. I would prefer it if the units were distinct enough to not need the icon.

 

[Schuesseled]

The only good reason for why anyone would want to download the demo in my opinion is to see if your computer can play the game

That and to give a new to civ newbie to see what the fuss is about.

 

[Agent327]

Well, what did you expect? It´s a Civ demo...

Well, this could be said of any demo, n'est pas?

No. Try any decent RPG demo you can play all you want and have a full experience of the game.

 

[anandus]

No. Try any decent RPG demo you can play all you want and have a full experience of the game.

What experience from the game is missing then?

You have the diplomacy, the techs, the units, wonders, citybuilding, city-states, going to war, social policies, etc.
I can't think of anything that's fundamental to the game missing in the demo.

 

[VimesUK]

Being quite a large download for a demo would I then need to pre download the entire game again from Steam if I decide to order it ready for it to be unlocked on the 24th, or do the demo files get "amended" by Steam to the full game..?

 

[paragonae]

Being quite a large download for a demo would I then need to pre download the entire game again from Steam if I decide to order it ready for it to be unlocked on the 24th, or do the demo files get "amended" by Steam to the full game..?

The demo is handled like a different game so it doesn't mess with the preload.

 

[Arksa]

Demo is great for me, I can learn the basics of the new mechanics before starting a real game with the real thing. I don't get what you guys are telling, that it's missing so much stuff.

 

[r_rolo1]

C'mon, the demo even contains the files for the babylon civ ( atleast the leader images are there ... must hunt for the rest ).... it has more than the regular release