PC Games Civ IV Review + Interview

[sabrewolf]

As published on the news page of poly, the german gaming magazine "PC Games" has published a report in their newest issue and CivIV is free for view online.

As it's quite long, i'll translate this and shorten/summarise it at the same time. if any other german speaker wants to help translate --> let's coordinate

i'm doing this on the fly, so it will come in sections in the following posts:

[sabrewolf]

http://www.pcgames.de/?article_id=405680

Despite 3D Engine, easier start for beginners and bit changes to the game concept, Civ4 is still Civilization and a very well done sequel. Old fans do not need to worry about the game changing too much.

The tested version was the build of beginning of september and fills approximately 1 CD (800 MB), which shows that many multimedia data is still missing.

The setup of a new game is very similiar to Civ3. However, the new zoom function is soon indispensable and provides a surprisingly fast smooth transition from tree height up to the orbit in just 2 seconds.

Not Sid Meyer product has ever been seen as true eye candy and many canvases, animations and menu graphics havn't yet been implemented. Nonetheless already the beta version proves that the game has at least ascended to at least the midfield -- thanks to the GameBryo graphics engine and swaying treetops, moving cattle and waves along the river beds.

[sabrewolf]

part 2:

A civfreak however prefers a look at the game itself. Initially a bit confusing, it's truly charming arter a while. Everything seems new. The Tech tree for instance has been -brutally said- cut into single bits, put together again and streched apart that one wonders after the 3rd game why it wasn't always like that.
If you want a peaceful game you aren't anymore forced to develop military technology to advance - and vice versa.

The length of the new tech tree seems well balanced. While the first 2.5 millennia still fly past in no time (probably a reaction to the new early techs such as meditation and animal husbandry). It seems as if development is slower than in Civ3 and it's not anymore so quick to create super-empires. Less, but more specialised cities fulfil the same task.

Technology for terrain improvement have been extended - windmills, quarries, cattle gates, etc are often coupled with happiness boni for the cities.

The biggest change are the religions and civics. Their integration turns out to be a blessing as the game wins in depth without confusing civ3-used-players. Because everything is opened up step-by-step, the matching civic and religious settings depend very much on geography and oponents attitude and develop on their own.

[sabrewolf]

part 3: interview with Timothy McCracken, the Quality-Manager of Firaxis:

Q: In Civ3 the AI was helped with unfair bonuses to compensates the difficulty levels instead of really playing better. will this stay in civ4 or can a serious, really-improved AI be expected?

A: many testplayers criticised this. one thing we did is remove the AI's ability to know where things are in advance. Søren Johnson, the cheif designer, let the AI play each other every day and evaluated the statistics. If something worked, he kept it in, else it was improved and changed.

Now, I am not saying that the AI does not have advantages at higher levels. It indeed has productivity boni, etc, but it also does better decisions. 300 Testers who receive weekly builds can confirm that it's a more intelligent and not a more cheating AI.

So yes, I would say that the AI player is a better oponent

[Nikolai]

Great that you take this job on you, sabre! Thanks for the effort!

[sabrewolf]

part 4: interview continuation

Q: Tedious micromanagement and the passing of several decades with "End Turn" because nothing happened towards the end game of Civ3 was compared to the beginning and the middle game not really challenging anymore. Was this weakness seen and if yes, improved?

A: This aspect was definatly improved! Something we did is the removal of a major part of micromanagement, though it's still in there, because many players like to control everything to the last detail.

We added a bunch of stuff such as grouping of units, specialising of units, and so on.
In other words: what was build a long time ago can be improved [upgraded] to create a heterogenuous army. Not just always the same way leads to success.
And in the endgame you do not anymore experience -what you call- stagnation, but have to deal with new strategies, great personalities, etc turn by turn which should help elevate the motivation.

[sabrewolf]

Originally posted by Nikolai
Great that you take this job on you, sabre! Thanks for the effort!

thanks... i'm past the half way... didn't do much shortening, though

[sabrewolf]

part 5: interview continuation

(previous answer continues)
you can trigger your golden age anytime which brings forth 3 great personalities. You can cause a "culture shock" [culture bomb] by letting them create a great artwork in a city.

Another example is the technology tree. It is not anymore linear but dynamic. For instance gunpowder. There used to be only one way, now there are several [comment sabrewolf: probably via guilds (metallic tech tree route) OR via education (religion or writing-based)]. Yes, I believe this was a big weakness of the predecessor. But with the religions, the new way to deal with culture, great people and specialising of the units we have definatly created a better game!

Q: That's interesting. I think the fans we like it

A: Yes, I think so too. Let me tell you this: We, the beta community, recorded stuff, asked the fan base, visited fan sites, even invited the public to help in testing.

One of the best arguments is that they are not employed by us, therefore unbiased. They can tell us what they love and hate. Over the past 2 years we found a good balance. And I'd say that the most who know the game think that all previous weaknesses have been addressed and dealt with

[sabrewolf]

part 6: interview continuation

Q: Regarding the release "pre"sponation: was it noticed that the game was mature earlier than expected or was it a decision outside of the development team? If the latter: when do you reckon with the first patch? Or is that already in development?

A: Honestly, we are doing everything to create a game that works without a patch. Nonetheless there are many features that we can only integrate later on. One of which is the Game SDK [comment sabrewolf: Software Development Kit]. Although this is mainly for the modder who can then go into the program and reprogram all of the code, but also the world editor which we will also hand out later will change the game.

After the beta testers have tested over the past ~1.5 years superficially and in depth, I believe that we created have a solid game.

Regarding the earlier delivery: We only have to concentrate on fine-tuning instead of adding new features in and cancelling out others. That only means that the game will be completed much earlier.

PC Games thanks for the very open words! We are looking forward to the completed game (Thomas Borovskis)



cheers!
sabrewolf

[V. Soma]

eagerly waiting for the rest of it!

[LordShiva]

Re: PC Games Civ IV Review + Interview

Originally posted by sabrewolf
...and CivIV is free...

[Nikolai]

Originally posted by V. Soma
eagerly waiting for the rest of it!

I'm pretty sure this was it all.

[alva]

Nice work SAbre.


300!! testers? didn't know they sold that many games to begin with.

[sabrewolf]

Re: Re: PC Games Civ IV Review + Interview

Originally posted by LordShiva

selective reading? i thought only women have that (together with selective understanding, selective listening and selective gratitude )

[sabrewolf]

Originally posted by V. Soma
eagerly waiting for the rest of it!

that was all...
surprisingly much information. usually the german market only gets 2nd hand information, but here there were some novelties. i guess McCracken (Zack? who else loved that game back in the days...? ) wasn't aware of all the censorship. also saying the "the beta testers can confirm". they have probably signed a non-disclosure-agreement.... surprising (and veeeery pity) that nothing has leaked...