Will this time be different ?

[snoopy369]

Originally posted by Solver

Could either of you beta testers send a CD my way?

I could send you my Civ3 CD!

I seriously hope this time will be different

[JonahFalcon]

Just as I predicted will happen...

[Solver]

There are always going to be people who won't like the game . The only question is what the majority will think.

[Ninot]

Originally posted by yin26
Ah, it's just me saying that you will lose points in Heaven by wanting to see me go through the painful process of eating cardboard. Actually, God (if there is one) probably set this whole thing up from the start. I bet, in fact, God did some of the programming for Civ 4 just to be safe.

Awww, you know I wouldn't wish that on you Yin. But I won't mind watching. You eating a cardboard box means something went right, and thats good in the end, no?

[Kc7mxo]

i thought he was only going to eat the box if ICS wasn't in civ4.

[JonahFalcon]

I know some people will bash the game without even buying it.

[korn469]

The main difference this time is that it seems like Civ4 has had a very smooth development process, while Civ3 did not. I had very high expectations for Civ3, but I began to have my doubts when Brian Reynolds, Tim Train, et al left to form BHG. At the time, I had almost complete faith in the development team's ability to overcome such a complete disaster. I underestimated the difficulties of having to reform a development team in the middle of a project, redefine the goals and priorities of the project, and then complete the project in a timely manner. Yet Firaxis almost pulled it off. In retrospect, Civ3 was a subpar game on many, but not all levels when compared to Civ, Civ2, and SMAC/X (three of the greatest strategy games ever). Civ3 lacked the little touches of polish that gave the previous games much of their charm. Civ3 also felt very constrained in its playstyle. Still it made some fundamental improvements to the series along with introducing many new ideas to the game. It seems like Civ3 debuted on store shelves about nine months too early. I mean come on...no multiplayer out of the box?! No scenario editor?! No wonder movies?! No voice over?! All of these things seem symptomatic of a game rushed to completion because Firaxis basically had to restart the entire project around February of 2000.

It also makes me wonder what went on behind the scenes that caused Brian to leave? Did he simply get RTS fever and couldn't shake it? Something was seriously amiss since he had to leave a company he cofounded while in the middle heading up development of a blockbuster game to form a completely new company. We'll never know, but I can almost guarantee this is why Civ3 turned out the way it did. In the end though, I think it helped make Civ4 a better game. I think Firaxis felt like it had something to prove when they started working on Civ4, and from the what we know so far I think we have reason to believe they accomplished that with Civ4. I have my fingers crossed, but soon we'll know how things turned out for sure.

[Robert]

Originally posted by yin26
Ah, it's just me saying that you will lose points in Heaven by wanting to see me go through the painful process of eating cardboard. Actually, God (if there is one) probably set this whole thing up from the start. I bet, in fact, God did some of the programming for Civ 4 just to be safe.

In fact God is the creator of civilization!

Be happy that you don't have to eath the cardboard of the original version

[Sabre2th]

Originally posted by yin26
Actually, God (if there is one) probably set this whole thing up from the start. I bet, in fact, God did some of the programming for Civ 4 just to be safe.

Now I know Sid has achieved a certain status with people, but let's not go too far...

[The diplomat]

I was very dissapointed with civ3 but I am optimistic about civ4. Just the fact that the game has voice-overs for techs and wonder movies shows that the production team went the extra mile to add some polish to the game which they did not do with civ3.

But the graphics do look great and the new features like civics are very promising. So, I think gameplay should be fun again.

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by yin26
And to all you people waiting to see me eat cardboard, your places in heaven just got smaller. You still have places, but they're smaller. The Big Man just sent me a PM about this.

Good thing I'm an athiest anyway.

[asleepathewheel]

Personally, knowledge that many of poly's citizens have been betatesting behind the scenes is very comforting. Granted, such was the case with C3C, but this seems to be a much better set up.