1721

The lead of the 2nd expansion of Civ3 (Conquests) was Ed Beach, the AI lead for Civ5.

-Scott-

1722

Sure. The art direction in Civ3 was based on a famous painting of the Tower of Babylon. All the art direction was based on that painting, and trying to capture that style. I love the original painting it was based on, and I loved the art style in Civ 3. Unlike Civ 4, it was still 2D art at that point, and all beautifully crafted. I thought Civ 4’s art style was pretty ugly in comparison, plus the 3D models of the barbarians and most of the other units was inferior in comparison.

The look and feel of Civ 3, from the ocean tiles to the shoreline, to the fonts to the rest of the interface all had a unified feel, all based off that painting of the Tower of Babylon. To me it was by far the best looking of the Civ games.

Civ 5, from screenshots, looks like it has a similar beautiful art style though, so I’m guessing Civ 3 will be topped soon, in my own personal opinion, of course.

1723

No one is questioning:

Leader: Otto Von Bismarck (1815 – 1898 AD)
Otto von Bismarck, also known as the “Iron Chancellor,” is perhaps the most
significant figure in German history.

I don’t know, I don’t know…

1724

Well without him there wouldn’t be a Germany.

And they cut all the mass murderers out of this edition. No Stalin, Adolf or even Mao. Which is a good thing in my book.

Even Adolf knew Bismarck was important, he named his best ship after him.

1725

I will say this: Adolf Hitler was so significant that Firaxis probably never even considered naming the German leader after him.

1726

I watched the 13 minute gameplay video last night and it pushed me from “probably not buying” to “going to try the demo but I want this game now!”. I hate it when that happens-yet another expense to account for!

1727

im hoping the game rocks (looks like it should). because this will be a great year for 4x games imo.

i’ll have a historical (civ 5), fantasy (elemental) and space (distant worlds) trifecta time sink of 4x goodness! … more like saving money with the time to spend on good tbs games!

btw, i was able to use a ‘thankyou’ promo code on D2D to save 5 dollars. so in case you wanted to save some money (and get some dlc and civ 3 complete).

1728

Man that is tempting Kafka, I have just been trying to consolidate stuff on Steam lately.

1729

Civ5 is a Steamworks game, so even if you buy it from D2D, you will be playing it off of Steam. Win win!

1730

This is true. Buying from D2D is the same as buying off of steam except you get more stuff for 5$ cheaper. You can preload and everything. (Stares intently at the Civ 5 listing in my steam library).

1731

I don’t think it’s that peculiar. I, too, vastly preferred the 2D look for the civilization series. Civ4 looks really messy compared to the earlier games.

1732

Civilization Revolution has turned out to be quite the coup for Firaxis. When announced many (myself included) were very skeptical as it was targeted for the DS and consoles. However, they managed to deliver a superb game on both targets (DS and consoles) – and the two versions both had great UIs for their respective platform. While it didn’t have the depth of a full Civilization it appears that Firaxis learned a TON about streamlining the UI and the process of playing the game and have applied that to the PC’s Civilization V. You can blame consoles for many things, perhaps, but in this case the consoles did a service to one of the most established and loved PC franchises (assuming that all the reviews, videos, testimonials, etc. aren’t all a big lie, haha).

1733

Is there any way for my kids and I to have separate profiles on Steam (for the purposes of achievements only) and still play the single purchased copy? I’m not interested in multiplayer with a single purchased copy or anything, I just don’t want my kids earning achievements on my account.

1734

Brueghel!

I agree for the most part. I like that Civ 4 is pretty, but I find it way easier to read terrain and stuff in 2D.

1735

The interface is as nice as I’ve ever seen it. Bright colors, large type, easy on the eyes. But the world, while pretty, just doesn’t mesh with it and I sorta miss the 2D with icons and the like.

Edit: I do appreciate the 2D view they put in – I may end up playing that way.

1736

Yup, this was me too. Thought I’d eventually pick it up around Xmas in (hopefully) a Steam sale, but after watching that gameplay video I became a day-1 purchaser…

1737

where is this video you all speak of?

1738

Civ3 is shovelware for $5 everywhere.

1739

I think that is a good point although I might be inclined to give credit to a designer more than the consoles.

If I was Brian Reynolds (II), Soren Johnson (III/IV), or Jon (V) I’d be a bit annoyed it was my design, yet Sid’s name is on the box cover. Although to be fair when asked all of them said that Sid is actually a big contributor to the games.

For at least the last decade or so, Sid seems to be working on simple games, some misses like Railroads!, some solid games like Pirates!, and one under appreciated gem SimGolf. Sid is also listed as the chief designer of CivRev, and I believe he had a lot to do with the UI. The unifying feature of all of these games is a streamlined interface and unfortunately for me not a lot of depth (although I’ve never play CivRev).

If Civ V is in fact the best of the series, I suspect that Sid himself deserves a lot of credit for marrying a streamline interface, to Jon’s deep game play.

Kudos to Firaxis for not being afraid to take stuff out of the game. 95% of the time, when myself or my friends talk about improving a board or computer game, it is always “wouldn’t be cool if we added Giant Death Robots” or such :). Firaxis seems to approach game design with more of a philosophy of lets see what we can take out that doesn’t impact the fun.
I imagine this difference is why Sid is the gaming Hall Fame, and my friends and I aren’t.

A designer know he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add but when there is nothing left to take away.

1740

Strollen, here’s what I’ve read about Civ 5 that concerns me. I haven’t had a chance to read the manual yet, so feel free to correct me if I’m wrong about any of these.

  1. Tom’s post-E3 list mentions the possibility of feature creep. He specifically mentions the new civics system, which sounds like it has the potential to bog the game down with too many choices.

  2. As I said in my last post, the new diplomacy system. How does omitting information about your stance with AI opponents improve the game? Here’s a damning quote from G4’s review:

Diplomacy has never been a strong suit of the series, but Civilization 5 takes a step backward from the transparency and variety in Civilization IV. Players will be hard-pressed to know how AI civilizations truly feel about them, until the scoreboard declares them as hostile or their leader calls for war.

  1. After reading the above review, and bearing in mind CivRev’s mindless oppoenents* I’m now worried about the AI. Erik says the AI doesn’t “understand the nuances of the game.” If that’s true, then I have to question Civ 5’s long-term viability as a single player game.

  2. The system requirements. I have a dual-core machine and an 8800GT card that can comfortably run Dragon Age and Starcraft 2 at high settings, but I’m pretty worried about how well my machine will run Civ 5. Did you see how it stuttered during the official streaming gameplay videos posted last Monday? And that was on a high-end computer. Firaxis is graciously releasing a demo this Tuesday that will let me know if performance is acceptable on my machine.

  3. Just general apprehension about some of the new stuff. Is the hex-based tactical wargaming combat going to benefit a strategy-oriented game like Civ, or will it be too much? I understand resources can be depleted now, leaving deployed units that depend on them weakened. How is that going to work out?

In truth, I’m terribly excited for Civ 5, and I really hope it’s a masterpiece like its predecessor, but I refuse to buy the game based on the coverage so far. I’ve learned over the years that there is absolutely no such thing as a sure thing in gaming, so there’s a lot of value in waiting on the opinions of articulate, trustworthy fellow gamers like Tom. If you want to jump in half-blind based on early reviews and hype, then go right ahead, but I’d rather not risk it.

*please go back to Firaxis, Soren! I think they might need you!