pay to beta

[Robert]

Well, I'm from the 2nd millenium, unless the author of that comment. That must be the reason that I love it while he hates it

[Beta]

Personally, I think pay to beta is a great idea! For those interested, I will provide my banking information on-line...

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by yin26
Coming from one of the most difficult to please members of the Poly community, I can tell you that this game, out of the box, is absolutely worth playing. Of course, I do see many places where its seem quite obvious to me the game was pushed to the public a few months earlier than planned. I will cover some of these issues in my review.

However, I promise you that even if you buy the game now, you'll still be working on new strategies and still learning some of the great new game mechanics long after the first patch or two comes out. Of course, I have *always* advocated waiting until the X-pack or the bargain bin if you are the kind of player who absolutely can't stand less than fully polished games. I understand this. I live and breath this. But I took a chance on Civ 4, mainly because of my faith in Soren, and (yes, issues aside) I'm having a great time.

I'm sorry we ever had disagreements, Yin.

I totally agree. Civ4 works great for me out of the box. Were the bug issues really a huge deal, it would have come out in the reviews on many sites that the game was buggy. Overall, the serious bugs are only occuring for a minority of players. And Firaxis has done a great job already helping fix those problems, even without a patch.

I am enjoying Civ4 more than any Civ experience since when I sat down with the original Civ in 1992.

[Fried-Psitalon]

I think this was kind of an obligatory thread. There's always one of these per game release, at least. You could measure the quality of a game by how many of these threads exist, in fact. But, like many other obligatory threads, this one can be dismissed. Rarely is a game released in this good a shape, IMO, and that's coming from someone playing in the area that's probably weakest, with our crash-a-few-times-a-night MP lobby.

How quickly we forget the lessons of PTW!

[Beta]

From the review above ..

sorry guys, but i lost interest in turn based games a long time ago..... turned based gaming is so LAST DECADE.

Funny, I lost interest in real-time (read "click-fest") games ages ago.

And from what I can see so far, Civ4 is just fine.

[Ninot]

I know I can't possibly be considered unbiased, but I would like to consider myself atleast partially objective. There are parts of the game I think need fixing afterall.

But I can't even begin to comprehend why some people who disagree with this game too much. If its an issue that crashes your game, thats something to complain about, but it will hopefully be fixed.

But like, unless your like the guy Yin quoted, who just isn't into TBS, what is there to truly dislike about the game?

I understand the need for these threads, but wheres all this hate comin from?

[Beta]

Originally posted by Fried-Psitalon
I think this was kind of an obligatory thread. There's always one of these per game release, at least. You could measure the quality of a game by how many of these threads exist, in fact. But, like many other obligatory threads, this one can be dismissed. Rarely is a game released in this good a shape, IMO, and that's coming from someone playing in the area that's probably weakest, with our crash-a-few-times-a-night MP lobby.

How quickly we forget the lessons of PTW!

FP - bang on!

[LzPrst]

Civ4 works perfectly for me. joy and utter joy.
my flatmate has some video problems but he doesnt have the newest drivers so its likely his mess not civs.

BUT. there ARE several in-game issues that have not been IMO fully completed. the AI is one. specifically relationship with the AI. bad scores never go away. good scores dont increase over time. I am now referring specifically to declaring war (3000 years later AI is still just as outraged, despite otherwise good relations) and secondly our 5000 years of peace only gives +1. shouldnt it increase over time?

also, the AI is highly irrational in what it will trade. my best friend and ally wont trade me horsebackriding in medieval times but my until recently enemy will..? why?

the AI on noble cannot defend itself against an organized attack, and the AI hardly ever fights wars against other AI's and when they do they fight them very uneffectively.

resources on the resource advisor are not numbered. why? the unit advisor is all but useless. the financial advisor has several concepts that are not explained by tooltip or civilopedia. the civilopedia is not finished and lacks among other things linking.

these are issues that are not bugs, they are foreseeable and they are important for the feel of the game. I like the game, I love the game, I dream erotically of the game, (kidding) but it has unnecessary incomplete features. it is the details and polish that makes the game complete. a chair is still a chair after you've nailed it together, but unless you polish it and treat the wood, you'll get splinters in your rear whenever you sit on it. if you catch my drift.

[yin26]

Originally posted by Boris Godunov


I'm sorry we ever had disagreements, Yin.

I totally agree. Civ4 works great for me out of the box. Were the bug issues really a huge deal, it would have come out in the reviews on many sites that the game was buggy. Overall, the serious bugs are only occuring for a minority of players. And Firaxis has done a great job already helping fix those problems, even without a patch.

I am enjoying Civ4 more than any Civ experience since when I sat down with the original Civ in 1992.

Looks like a long-range peace agreement has been signed!

[Imran Siddiqui]

Threads like these make me smile (and not just as a result of peace accords ). Yes, there are problems with some video cards. Part of it is the driver on the video card, and part of it may be the coding of the game itself (though with a lot of complaints there seems to be a number with the same video card who are able to run the game.. or it isn't T&L).

However, calling it a beta that the 'mod' community has to fix? How exactly is the mod community going to fix an issue with drivers and coding for video cards? If they could do that, they should consider working for some gaming companies.

Is it perfect? No game is. There are always little niggles that may have been done better. But it's a fabulous game. A patch (or two) will fix most of the video card problems (if you have a T&L card, of course) and then all will be... not well, but better .

[MarkG]

Originally posted by yin26
Yes, I guess the patch should fix this TBS thing ASAP! How did that get by QA?!

and he didnt even mention the ICS issue!

[Adagio]

Why should I pay to Beta? What has he ever done for me?



I don't see how this game can even be considered a beta, this is the most finished game I have seen in many years

[Solver]

And, those who actually HAVE seen the beta know very well what the difference between that and the retail civ is .

But yeah, this is sort of an obligatory thread anyway - I guess it wouldn't be a complete 21st century game release without several moaning threads .

[LzPrst]

so you're all saying that the issues that I've mentioned above are to be expected from a finished game?

bugs will always show up due to the infinite variety of combinations for the players, BUT the actual game itself should have been fully completed with all the details. thats what upsets me. maybe beta is the wrong word. diamond in the rough might be better

great game, but it needs a few finishing touches for me to acknowledge it as a completed product. does noone agree on that?
its the finishing touches that completes a game, not whether it actually works or not. if it doesnt work its not half finished, if it works but lacks pollish, then its 95% finished. have really your demands dropped that low?

if so, we need to get organized and fight back against the software industry, power to the gamer!

[MarkG]

95% finished is NOT a beta. it's a release candidate