Well after reading an encouraging review on IGN and hearing about the slightly less encouraging review on Gamespy I cracked open the box last night and started playing the tutorial which I didn’t finish.
So far my impressions are these:
It’s fun!
The graphics remind me of 2003
I really like the arrows that tell you where people are going and where they live
Fires are annoying
Well that’s it for now. So far so good. What do the rest of you think?
So you weren’t joking about having the game sitting right next to you but waiting for the internet to validate your purchase before you opened the box? I didn’t know people actually did that.
Deleted snarky response.
(raahr!)
Screw you and your dinosaurs Ben.
I don’t remember the significance of the dinosaur but would you consider removing it Ben.
I would like to have a thread just devoted to CivCity: Rome. It’s a fun game and I’d like to have a place to collect tips and impressions.
Right…
All that stuff you just said about my post? Implications of moral judgements? High horses? Yeah, none of that was there. The first sentence was giving context for the second sentence which was the commentary. I genuinely did not know that people actually did that.
Well then I apologize.
This thread is probably doomed to be Dinosaurs and mistakes unfortunately.
Relax, Spoofy–it was all in good fun. Your post was just so unabashedly snarky, it was almost poetic. Also, it made me think of that picture.
Sorry about that. I’m feeling a bit touchy today for some reason.
Ok… so… does integrating the Civ tech tree really add anything to the builder model?
What’s holding me back on this one is that I’ve heard of a few annoying bugs (one being that cisterns supposedly don’t always work, so you have to plop down wells in addition, two being that clicking on items seems to be a bit wonky - you can click on a building and it’ll register that you clicked on something close to it, so selecting things can be challenging).
Plus, the fact that in the happiness display they use a giant freakin smiley face… that’s a bit jarring to me. It seems somewhat out of place.
But I guess the bottom line is: is it fun. And if so, then there ya go. Worth the cash, or wait for Caesar IV?
I actually meant to mention the clicking issue. Apparently this happens at resolutions above 1024x768 (or at the very least, I KNOW it happens at 1280x1024…didn’t test 1152x864)
I’ve just been running at 1024 for lack of a better option. It’s really annoying that this doesn’t seem to support custom resolutions…I’d love to play it at 1680x1050. Oh well.
As for whether to wait for Caesar IV…I don’t even know when that’s supposed to be released so it’s a tough call.
Is there a demo of this. I like games like this. but no demo?
Apart from graphics, how well does this one stack up against its predecessors? Modern graphics are nice, but if the gameplay can’t atleast match that of Impressions’ old offerings then the game becomes hard to justify.
Am starting the beginner campaign so it’s gonna take awhile to figure this one out. Frankly I was kind of shocked to see how bland it all looks so far. 2003 is being kind.
— Alan
Agreed. And for me I’m not seeing “Caesar III” play, I’m seeing “Stronghold 2” economic missions with a Roman Theme pasted on.
So…no? This just went up on Direct2Drive and it tempts me, but it sounds pretty iffy. Wish Gamespot would put up their review, I at least usually understand where they’re coming from even if I don’t always agree.
Caesar IV isn’t coming out for at least a couple of months.
EBGames (for what it’s worth) lists a ship date of September 26 for Caesar IV. Ok, so technically, that’s a “couple of months.” But really, given that I’m still sucked into Titan Quest, it’s not asking too much for me to hold off on my builder fix until then.
I’m seeing “Stronghold 2” economic missions with a Roman Theme pasted on.
Oh I don’t think that’s the case at all. Stronghold 2 (and 1 to a degree) suffered from economic missions that regularly tagged the player with “natural disasters” and whatnot with alarming frequency. Players really had to play a scenario to see what crap the devs were going to unleash and then replay with the knowledge to beat the level.
An early Civ City mission does this (I think it was the one that introduces the Fire Tower buildings), but it was very easy to beat. Later missions feel a lot more like the Caesar games IMHO.
Also, I’m not entirely convinced the cisterns are bugged. It seems like the super low level housing (shacks and such) don’t benefit from plumbing because they are homes that wouldn’t logically have any plumbing. Once the structure evolves past the first two levels It gets plumbing and can enjoy the benefits of the cistern. Just a theory at this point as the manual isn’t any help. Anyone else notice anything?
I’m also unsure about the criticism in the Gamespy review bemoaning the lack of a “marketplace” building. I think the whole point of having workers ply their trade in individual buildings is to allow the player to create his own marketplaces near residential areas. This makes even more sense when you realize that once homes reach a certain level, you can relocate them on the second story of a shop. This opens up land for rezoning (or reseeding residential) and keeps that deluxe homeowner near the markets.
Just some food for thought to keep this thread alive.
What, did you happen upon a charitable act occuring in public or something?