new preview on GameSpy

[TheDarkside]

Originally posted by Solver
The preview is far less moronic than I expected. However:

[..] further testing shows that you can easily have a single game stretch on for hours. We played a game on a small ocean map with five civilizations, two of which were controlled by humans, and after about three and a half hours we'd gotten to Napoleonic-era technology. It looked like another two hours or more to finish the game off.

Wow, a game can stretch on for hours! Surprise! A game taking five and a half hours to finish - surprise again!

Honestly, if there's one thing about Civ that none of the reviewers seem to get, it's that Civ games are supposed to be long. There's a good reason why Civ is different from all the numerous RTS games which you can play a full game of in an hour.

I am, personally, looking forward to 20 hour games!

Indeed, as do I.

It makes me laugh when some previewers list the possible game length as a con (in his "Iffy" category) because that's exactly what I prefer.

And now there are so many options you can pick to make the game follow pretty much ANYONE's speed preference so it's actually kind of sellfish when someone complains about how not every setting suits their playstyle. Think about OTHER people!

You want a fast game choose a small pangea map not an ocean map!

[alva]

Originally posted by LordShiva


with his little dog Dogmatisk?

Ah, in Dutch and French(?) he's called Idefix.

[korn469]

Well in the Blitz mod when you built the pyramids each of your cities received a free Obelisk which gave +1 culture. It was one of many culture only buildings in the mod. So I hope that it doesn't do anything besides giving +1 culture. If that's the case, that means winning through culture requires more resources and planning, and suddenly you have interesting strategic decisions to make about the opportunity cost of focusing on culture. It looks very promising to me.

[MrFun]

This preview is the first source from which I found out about map flavors.


Interesting idea.

[JonahFalcon]

I like how units look like Godzillas strolling through town.

Attack of the 200 foot archers!

[JonahFalcon]

Originally posted by korn469
i like how the "iffy" part of the game was that it could take a long time to play on larger maps...

Thank God for something I like to call "SAVE GAME".

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by Boris Godunov
I love that when a city is polluted, there's a veil of smog around it. That's awesome detail.

Indeed . It seems that Firaxis has REALLY focused on the detail. Unlike Civ3, this really seems like a labor of love.

Even the diplomacy screens give you info at a glance -- if a ruler isn't willing to negotiate a point, it's highlighted in red, meaning that he won't consider trading it. If you mouse over an item you'll see text explaining why the ruler is reluctant.

BRILLIANT!

[Imran Siddiqui]

I like the high praise as well:

After hours of play and several games, we've come to a few conclusions about the next Civilization. Not only is it going to be one of the best PC strategy games of the year ... it's actually in the running to be one of the best Multiplayer PC strategy games of the year. Firaxis is working hard to slap a final coat of polish on this sucker -- we can't wait to get our hands on the final version!

[Solver]

I can confirm the attention to detail in Civ4. Polish and little details are things that are hard to describe, but that are obvious when you play the game. Civ4 does that right .

[alva]

Perhaps you should stop confirming Solver alse the're will no reason left to post your preview.

[Solver]

Well, I really like to talk a lot - that will anyway be obvious once people see the length of, say, my section on combat .

[Imran Siddiqui]

Well, I really like to talk a lot

No! Really?