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I've bought it yesterday, and me and my friend played it for a few hours. We didn't took up the manual, but we are veterans of Civ IV and III and II, so we thought we could get through easily.

We kinda did, on the 3rd easier difficulty setting. The game has potential. It has some very fun elements that now I know I want to see in all my future Civ games... The strategy aspect of combat, for example, is a lot more fun than previously.

What I don't like, however, is the simple sheer lack of data provided to you. They decided to go with the more "streamlined" UI so in vogue in all fraking games. They seem to have forgot that THIS IS CIVILIZATION! You need inputs. You need easy access to the encyclopedia. I tried to figure out where the Cattle ressources appeared on my screens, simply not to find it. I tried to find the "search" option, simply not to find it. I finally looked out on the next to find up that food ressources simply gives out a bonus on the tile, and nothing more.

*grumph*

I like the mechanic of Puppet states, which is a relief for micro-management. I hate the new diplomacy system, as you have no idea what you are doing right or wrong. I am ambivalent regarding the new Civics system, as it's nice to actually having to work hard to personnalise your civilisation, but I hate the fact that you can't change the choices you've made.

But it's a game that needs more polish.. or maybe less polish, actually. The game is simply too... .... smooth. They streamlined everything, I had fun playing for the first 2 hours, but afterwhile, we just started a war with the U.S. simply to out-bore ourselves (the fact that they built a city right between my capital and the rest of my empire didn't helped. I had to happily sadly burn New York)

The new cultural expansion is so great. I mean, that's exactly the kind of stuff I want to see in my futur Civ-like games, where the culture progress tile by tile, and you can actually force-buy cultural expansions rather than wait for natural cultural development. It actually justify the whole Land-grab France did during thec olonial era, and why they ended up being much larger, but much weaker than the English colonies.

All in all, the game is simply lacking really nice stuff. But it sits on VERY strong fundamentals, which I believe make it worth buying now so the devs will work on additional expansions to add more stuff, and patch the annoyances. Also, the game seems to be much more Mod-friendly than it's predecessor, with a already built-in Mod interface, which is a good news, since fan-made mechanics are usually better than dev-made.

Anybody wants to add their 2 golds?

Wish I could run it on my computer. Alas, no dice.

I'm waiting for the first expansion. When they add all the stuff they wanted to in the first place but didn't have time/money. Like what they did with all the other Civ's.

I can get behind that reasoning. But remember that they only put a lot of money in an expension if the original game sold... so encouraging the devs/publishers might be a good idea.

Again, I can't say the game is bad. It's just (for now, on my 1st gameplay) lacking a real effect of.. characterisation.

But maybe Fall From Heaven II spoiled me

I am a huge fan of Civ IV, probably the best in the whole series and I planned on buying Civ V as well, but after reading this:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=382421

am not so sure anymore. Seems to me they cut out whole portions of the game, things I greatly enjoyed in CIV IV and considering that they fired a good portion of the development team a few months prior to release, only to deliver a half finished game.......that leaves a sour taste in my mouth. A friend of mine bought it without checking any reviews (also a huge CIV IV fan) and is hugely disappointed that they cut out so many great things.

I can get behind that reasoning. But remember that they only put a lot of money in an expension if the original game sold... so encouraging the devs/publishers might be a good idea.

I disagree. I know that the developers are not responsible for delievering a "streamlined" or downright half finished product, but in no way should they be encouraged to do the same in the future. If a product is no good or not finished it shouldn't be bought. Even more so if the name of a developer or the name of a great franchise is used to "trick" customers into buying the product.

Oh I'm not saying its unfinished. It has about the same amount of content as the first edition of Civ IV. The expansions of IV were awesome, so I figure that the expansion to this will be just as good. So I'll wait till then.

I'm ashamed to say that I've never played it.

Well I have, thats a lie. But it was the original Civilizations and I was roughly about 5 or 6. As you can guess, i just pressed any button that made cool looking things happen.

Reliant121 wrote:I'm ashamed to say that I've never played it.

Well I have, thats a lie. But it was the original Civilizations and I was roughly about 5 or 6. As you can guess, i just pressed any button that made cool looking things happen.

Yeah, gaming still works the same. Just because we understand the action, doesn't change our reaction. From "Mommy, daddy look its cool!" to "John, Kurt look its cool!"

True enough. I didnt really understand any of the mechanics that accompanied it.

This is why I am replaying halo 1 and 2, because I didnt understand them when I first played them. And the flood gave me nightmares

To be a kid again.

Atekimogus wrote:

I can get behind that reasoning. But remember that they only put a lot of money in an expension if the original game sold... so encouraging the devs/publishers might be a good idea.

I disagree. I know that the developers are not responsible for delievering a "streamlined" or downright half finished product, but in no way should they be encouraged to do the same in the future. If a product is no good or not finished it shouldn't be bought. Even more so if the name of a developer or the name of a great franchise is used to "trick" customers into buying the product.

But the product isn't half-finished. As I said, it's a good game that stands on its own, it's just that compared to Civ IV, it feels a little empty for now. But that's to be expected after 2 (3?) expansions, + Fall From Heaven Mod...

I'd like to add an addendum:

The combat system. It's probably one of the fundamental changes done in this game. A single unit per hex? It's not 100% perfect, but they are DEFINETLY going on the right track. Each units are really important in their own ways, and you have to think about what kind of army you want to build up, mixing cavalry, infantry, archery, artillery..

It's not perfect yet, as there is the stupid fact that Modern infantry and tanks shoot less far than 3000 BC archers.

However, no way 6 archers beat a single tank.