Why have you and/or do you play Civilization games?

[CountAccountant]

I'm 35 now, and I've been playing since I was 12 or 13 years old. At the time I was captivated by the idea of building something glorious, that no one had ever done before. "You could be different," the text on the game box promised after describing the ruins of once great real-world civilizations. "You could be the one to build a civilization that STANDS THE TEST OF TIME!" The leaders were larger than life, too - if Alexander the Great conquered the world in his day, how can I hope to survive this war against him and Napoleon at the same time? It's a feeling I still get echos of when I turn on the PC and see my people found their first city in 4,000 BC.

Today I play mostly because 35 year old me would give anything to be as excited as 12 year old me was about everything.

 

[Amrunril]

I actually like Civ V and VI for exactly the same reasons many people complain about them. I love strategy board games, and Civ is the perfect (or rather closest to perfect that I've found) digital equivalent, with great flavor, distinctive mechanics, lots of variation from game to game (based on faction choice, victory conditions, wonders, etc.) and (in my view) a good balance when it comes to adding strategic depth without adding complexity for complexity's sake.

 

[bite]

If I may ask, are you a builder in real life?

Not in any way shape and form

 

[Ondolindë]

I'm 35 now, and I've been playing since I was 12 or 13 years old. At the time I was captivated by the idea of building something glorious, that no one had ever done before. "You could be different," the text on the game box promised after describing the ruins of once great real-world civilizations. "You could be the one to build a civilization that STANDS THE TEST OF TIME!" The leaders were larger than life, too - if Alexander the Great conquered the world in his day, how can I hope to survive this war against him and Napoleon at the same time? It's a feeling I still get echos of when I turn on the PC and see my people found their first city in 4,000 BC.

Today I play mostly because 35 year old me would give anything to be as excited as 12 year old me was about everything.

Thank you for sharing this! It is very true. Sometimes, we long for how we viewed and felt the world at that age. Well, congratulations. Just by saying that, you haven't killed your 12 year-old self. Believe me, it is still there within you. Just let him out to play (not necessarily games, I mean ) and be excited more. I am glad Civ games help you that way. It certainly helps me.

 

[Ondolindë]

Not in any way shape and form

 

[nzcamel]

I love history, hence I like putting myself in control of a great Civilization, and watching it rise. I want to go up against the best; and so facing off against leaders who left an indelible mark on the world as we know it makes my day I love the colours of borders and watching them expand and collide with other borders. The gradual flourishing of my civilization through the expansion of roads and the improvements to the land... that warms my little heart!
And I do like the smaller narratives that work their way into my epic tale. VI brings us some great ones like the scout who maneuvers his way out of an impossible situation to explore another day (or should I say another decade ).

Although, I must give them kudos for announcing two extra DLC's for their obvious currency exchange error.

To be fair to Firaxis that wasn't an error on their part. I'm pretty sure it's just the way currencies change against each other...?

 

[Kouvb593kdnuewnd]

I don't have a particular strong relationship with the civ games. I have played games in the series from about 2005 to now starting with civ III. The concept feelt similar to some other games I had played at that point such as empire earth and age of empires. Civ III and IV are nice empire building games and they were quite nice when you are young and dont understand the games that well. Civ V is in many was a downgrade as it is not about empire building and one unit per tile have not done anything good to the series. Civ VI have tried to improve the concept of civ V with a medicore of success as in some cases it have lead to even worse stuff than civ V.

Nowdays civilization only really seems to be a big name that is selling, many other 4x games offers in my opinion better mechanics and more stuff overall for a less price tag than civ VI. It is quite sad in a way to see how these old game series decline and become something entirely else but on the other hand new games are made to take their places.

I don't even think Total War favor conquest as much as civilization VI which completely crazy and I don't even know what civilization V tried to be, maybe pocket empires

Civ III and Civ IV you was actually building an empire unlike V with atleast some challenges unlike VI.

I actually like Civ V and VI for exactly the same reasons many people complain about them. I love strategy board games, and Civ is the perfect (or rather closest to perfect that I've found) digital equivalent, with great flavor, distinctive mechanics, lots of variation from game to game (based on faction choice, victory conditions, wonders, etc.) and (in my view) a good balance when it comes to adding strategic depth without adding complexity for complexity's sake.

To me these game do not feel like board games. III and IV are in many ways simpler games and on contrary I feel these games throw in alot of stuff just for the sake of complexity as I do not see any real depth behind large amout of the mechanics.

 

[Victoria]

I always treated civ as my break from wargames/shoot em ups. I like the exploration and choices and variety in what you can do. I often turn victory off and just play as if it's a real world evolving, not to play by the rules but to play for immersion. Saying that I also like the rules, what can be done, how, evaluate to decimate.

 

[Ondolindë]

I love history, hence I like putting myself in control of a great Civilization, and watching it rise. I want to go up against the best; and so facing off against leaders who left an indelible mark on the world as we know it makes my day I love the colours of borders and watching them expand and collide with other borders. The gradual flourishing of my civilization through the expansion of roads and the improvements to the land... that warms my little heart!
And I do like the smaller narratives that work their way into my epic tale. VI brings us some great ones like the scout who maneuvers his way out of an impossible situation to explore another day (or should I say another decade ).

I appreciate the passion and the savoring of that accompanies how you express yourself about the game. I agree with you completely. Those little things is what really makes me play it because many times they do add up quite substantially in the overall enjoyment of the game. It's always the little things, isn't it?

 

[nzcamel]

It was always cool watching the after game replay in IV, and seeing where the other empires spread and moved

 

[stinkubus]

Absolutely. It was like watching a petri dish on a time lapse camera.

 

[sonicmyst]

Taking on a civ to "stand the test of time" appealed much to my taste. I also like that this game provides a bit of historical backgrounds (either by reading the Civilopedia) or just by reading between their lines, historical agenda, or just by reading along with Sean Bean during the leader screen intro. This provides fun and fact at the same time. I also like the replayability that there is no cookie-cutter steps to win.

 

[stinkubus]

I've always liked that it takes a bit of learning to get competent at the game, and quite a bit of learning to master it. There's no "learn to play Civ in ten easy steps" manual.

 

[Ondolindë]

It was always cool watching the after game replay in IV, and seeing where the other empires spread and moved

Absolutely. It was like watching a petri dish on a time lapse camera.

Yes, I like that as well. I loved it especially watching your empire grow.

That made me remember for some reason one thing about Civ III: the button you could press to see your city and the wonders and building being built on a separate screen. Don't know if you guys remember that, if you played Civ III.

 

[nzcamel]

It was a nice feature, but I personally prefer seeing them on the map. I love that since IV every city becomes distinctive on the map depending on what has been built there

 

[Ondolindë]

I've always liked that it takes a bit of learning to get competent at the game, and quite a bit of learning to master it. There's no "learn to play Civ in ten easy steps" manual.

Yes, I like its complexity and the idea that there is no one way to do it this time around, for the most part. I hope they will iron out the bugs and add things that would add layers of complexity to make it challenging while enjoyable.