Which game's graphics do you prefer?

[FstrthnU]

Over the past few years, ever since I got Civ5 I've been trying to decide whether Civ5 or Civ4 has better graphics. My thoughts are that Civ5 is more detailed, more realistic and looks "grander", but Civ4 is more playful (esp. w/ the units), more colorful (5 looks a bit washed out) and looks cleaner overall. I do think that the hex tiles make better looking terrain/continents than the square tiles (esp. w/ peninsulas).

Which one do you guys prefer?

 

[Glassmage]

civ5 is better

 

[Lord Silverkey]

Well as someone who wildly prefers Civ 4 to Civ 5 as a game, the graphics are one thing that I think are generally better in Civ 5. On the other hand I understand that some people like the graphics in Civ 4 more, just like some people prefer the graphics in The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker over the graphics of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, which I don't at all.

The only part of the more "realistic" graphics that I don't especially like are the Civ leaders. I rather enjoyed the larger than life Civ 4 leaders, such as Catherine slapping you in the face when she rejects an offer, or many of the leaders quickly glancing off screen before agreeing or disagreeing. (quite possibly to get the "go ahead" from some "subordinate" who actually knows what's a good deal or not. lol) Also, many of their lines are amazing, for example: (these are paraphrased to a point as good as I can remember)

Upon meeting Julius Caesar: "Care for some salad? I made it myself."
Upon meeting Kublai Khan: "The mighty Mongolian Empire greets you. Let us work together to achieve total destruction of our foes, and only THEN betray and rend each other like the rabid dogs we truly are!"
Huayna Capac: ''Play Ceremonial ball with us, and we play Ceremonial ball with you.''
Upon meeting Alexander the Great: Greetings! I am Alexander, ruler of warlike Greece! Let us join together and crush the world's armies beneath our sandals! It'll be way cool!

The Civ 5 leader screens, with all their "realism" are grey and drab in comparison. (which isn't always true as the Egyptians actually speak Arabic, which bugs me to no end as my father is a middle eastern historian and I'm quite familiar with ancient Egypt and can speak passable Arabic)

 

[glider1]

In Civ4, you could rotate the maps and even use free camera. In Civ4 there was a 3D model for every building. In Civ4 there were these trees called "pine trees" that actually cover much of the northern rim of the earth...... that are missing in Civ5.

In Civ5 the map might as well be the same technology as CivIII, because all you get is some lip gloss to the graphics like "shadows",,,, oooooh,,, water reflections,,,, oooooooh,,, and white fog instead of black fog ,,,,ooooohh,,,.

And for what? You needed a big graphics card that used as many resources and produced as much heat as my flight simulator.

I seriously suspect that back in 2010, most of us were addicted to eye candy. I think these days with the rise of mobile computing, we are starting to see through the addiction to graphics eye candy we had back then. We got the eye candy we wanted at the expense of being largely unable to play on huge maps.

Have you tried the mod that rotates a Civ5 map? The tree models in Civ5 are actually just almost flat 2D objects. No wonder they cut out map rotation because it would be embarrassing to them if you did rotate the map to see these ugly flat 2D trees on a 3D map in a graphics engine that was dated 2010 when 3D was already a mature technology.

We were conned. Drawn in with a gimmick of better graphics. We civ'ers are smarter now (I hope!)

To be positive, the maps in Civ5, not the graphics is what draws me in. They are spectacularly good especially once you fix the bug in maps like Continents plus where too many city states settle off-shore. I also like the leader heads, they have a lot of character.

Cheers

 

[DemonicAppleGuY]

Egyptians actually speak Arabic, which bugs me to no end as my father is a middle eastern historian and I'm quite familiar with ancient Egypt and can speak passable Arabic)

Speak Arabic currently? Yes. They haven't always spoken it however.

In any case, I really like the CiV graphics. And while loading some of the larger maps can take a bit it isn't so bad.

I'd imagine they'll have most of the complaints hammered out when we get to CiVI.

 

[JanghanHong]

Complaints about civilization 5 gets more specific every day!

 

[Lord Silverkey]

Speak Arabic currently? Yes. They haven't always spoken it however.

In any case, I really like the CiV graphics. And while loading some of the larger maps can take a bit it isn't so bad.

I'd imagine they'll have most of the complaints hammered out when we get to CiVI.

Perhaps I wasn't clear, I was saying that in Civ 5 the Egyptians are actually speaking Arabic which they should not be doing... ie: Ramesses II speaks Arabic. In the real world he did not. He spoke ancient Egyptian. The reason that they did this is because we don't know how ancient Egyptian sounded as it is an extinct language. (and yes, we can read Hieroglyphics. But they only portray meaning, not physical sounds for you to say)

So really, I actually do know what I'm talking about, I might just seem like an idiot for not making myself clear enough.

 

[Greizer85]

If I could have Civ 2 graphics (with a better resolution) in Civ 5, I'd take it any day of the week. Could play huge maps without lag as well. In strategy games, I infinitely prefer the painterly, yet at the same time non-cluttered outlook of 2D graphics to the unnecessary fluff that is 3D. I play all my games in Strategic View right now, but you can't start with it on and if I load a save game on a huge map, chances are that the game hangs before I can turn on Strategic View.

 

[Hormagaunt]

Civ5 has the prettier graphics (mostly) but Civ4 has the better graphics.

In Civ4 I know which lumbermills are being worked without looking in the city. I know which farms are active, which mines, so on and so forth. In Civ4 the trees move in the wind, you can see new trees growing in the squares, and overall it's a more... living map. The Civ4 map provides much more information than does the Civ5 map.

 

[Junuxx]

I like the pretty consistently applied Art Deco style of the Civ5 interface. I also dig Century Gothic. But the terrain is really bland, boring, ugly even at times. Civ 4's terrain with Blue Marble is just prettier. And I don't like the menus and icons in 5 either, I thought those elements were easier on the eye and more functional in 4.

 

[CivCube]

Civ 5's graphics are meant to be viewed on a large monitor. The UI looks superbly HD and readable. I like that they decided to have the terrain and city graphics serve the UI.

Civ 4's is nice too. It's clearly supposed to be Civ 1 on steroids.

 

[compwiz1202]

Civ5 has the prettier graphics (mostly) but Civ4 has the better graphics.

In Civ4 I know which lumbermills are being worked without looking in the city. I know which farms are active, which mines, so on and so forth. In Civ4 the trees move in the wind, you can see new trees growing in the squares, and overall it's a more... living map. The Civ4 map provides much more information than does the Civ5 map.

I miss that from IV. I used to love how the yield icons popped out for the worked tiles. And I agree I like IV graphics better. I enjoy the more colorful "cartoony" graphics to the realistic ones. Especially since for the most part they are much less of a tax on resources.

 

[rschissler]

Civ5 has the prettier graphics (mostly) but Civ4 has the better graphics.

In Civ4 I know which lumbermills are being worked without looking in the city. I know which farms are active, which mines, so on and so forth. In Civ4 the trees move in the wind, you can see new trees growing in the squares, and overall it's a more... living map. The Civ4 map provides much more information than does the Civ5 map.

I agree with this. Though, my biggest complaint are with the unit graphics. Sure, the Civ V units look more realistic, but from a playability standpoint the Civ IV units are better. Take away the ugly silhouette icons from Civ V units and it's hard to tell a different unit from another.