3d Civ. I'm still a doubter.

[evizaer]

When i saw the screenshots and gameplay videos prior to Civ4's release, i was absolutely astonished at how good the game looked in a sheerly visual sense. The cities sprawling over the landscape and animated resources looked beautiful. Now that i have the game in my hands, though, i've begun questioning whether this 3dization of civ was worth it.

My computer hates me for buying civ4. This game is a resource hog and everyone knows it. My computer used to not have a problem running a civ game. Why? Because it only had to deal with the logistical problems of managing a LOT of data. Computers are good at managing a lot of data. With civ4, my computer must process the data AND render 3d visualizations that are constantly animated. How many of those 3d animations actually matter to gameplay? probably less than 10%. Now i'm playing a Civ game with grahical bells and whistles that aren't important yet slow the game down significantly.

What have we gotten out of 3d civ? Pretty, but useless, animations on objects that don't really need them. There was no reason to make civ4 3d. An elegant 2d interface and great sprite design could have made a 2d civ look significantly better at default settings than 3d civ.

I guess the marketting division got their way on this one.

It doesn't stop me from thinking about how great civ4 would be if my computer didn't have to do backflips simply to render the graphical end of the game.

[nbarclay]

At the very least, I think they should have made the 3-D features optional, with a mode to use a variant of the 2-D display from Civ 3 if players prefer. A lot of people who play Civ are not into any other games that have demanding graphics requirements, and so either can't play Civ 4 at all or can't play it without spending more money than the price of the game itself on a better graphics card. Between lost sales because people don't have adequate hardware and negative word-of-mouth, I strongly suspect that they'll lose more than it would have cost to add a 2-D mode, especially assuming they could have reused a lot of Civ 3 graphics code for the 2-D mode.

[MrFun]

The more I read, the more I am thinking about not buying Civ IV -- this would be the first Civ title I would not buy, if not buying it becomes my final decision.

[Franklinnoble]

I agree... they overdid the pretty graphics. I can live without them.

[MattPilot]

You guys are nuts. NUTS I tell you!

The graphics are awesome!

[Dis]

The graphics are great. Maybe we don't need all the animations. But it's nice not having a static map.

[evizaer]

Originally posted by Dis
The graphics are great. Maybe we don't need all the animations. But it's nice not having a static map.

It might be "nice", but who the hell needs it by default?

I want amazing gameplay out of civ. If i wanted amazing graphics, i'd go play Quake 4 or something.

[Caltone]

Originally posted by evizaer


It might be "nice", but who the hell needs it by default?

I want amazing gameplay out of civ. If i wanted amazing graphics, i'd go play Quake 4 or something.

Actually we get both, amazing gameplay and a nice looking game.

Here I am up at 1:30 on yet another night, playing some Civ

The gameplay's the thing and it's fantastic, the best of the series. The AI work continues to amaze and there are just tons of strategic options with each move.

And I love zooming in close to take a look at things, watching combat, enjoying to atmosphere of the game. IMHO the visuals just add to the immersion of the game.

I'm older than many here (45) and been playing PC games since the 1st PC's. There've been many leaps forward in PC games since then and some very interesting things yet to come. But this title represents a major milestone in PC gaming. Sid and company have done it again.

[Dis]

to me, that doesn't make sense.

Quake 4 is a completely different genre. I hate FPS's. And I don't play games for graphics.

But that doesn't mean we can't have great graphics and great gameplay.

[evizaer]

graphics are often crucial for FPSes, because the better the expression of the world in three dimensions, the more that can be done with that world. Better graphics and physics engines are an obvious evolution.

I'd prefer there to be more time spent developing AIs that have to cheat less and offer more strategic depth than time spent on putting together a modern 3d graphics engine that works on most systems.

Well... i'm looking at this more from a game design standpoint than a player's standpoint. I'd much rather design a 2d strategy game than a 3d one. It almost forces me to work harder to make the gameplay smoothe and enthralling.

[Sava]

Originally posted by MrFun
The more I read, the more I am thinking about not buying Civ IV -- this would be the first Civ title I would not buy, if not buying it becomes my final decision.

Are you insane?


This is the BEST CIV GAME EVER!

literally MrFun

I am up until 4 in the morning every night!!!

it is so fun

don't listen to these people

they just have ****ty PC's

I'm on my 5th game right now... this is the first game I will win by Conquest I think.

[nbarclay]

Originally posted by MattPilot
You guys are nuts. NUTS I tell you!

The graphics are awesome!

Spoken like someone who already had, or at least was about ready to buy, fully adequate hardware to take advantage of the game's graphics.

If Civ IV's "awesome" graphics would require you to pay for a graphics upgrade that you otherwise had no use for, how much money would you regard those "awesome" graphics as being worth compared with Civ 3 style graphics?

[evizaer]

Regardless of my qualms about the graphics, Civ4 is still my favorite civ game of all time. It's tied with SMAC for my favorite turn based game of all time. SMAC is so damn fun.

I can play SMAC endlessly. I can only play Civ4 for a few hours before i get sick of it stuttering come the modern era. I can play SMAC on a HUGE map, i can't play anything above standard size in civ4 and i'm at or above recommended specs.

[Datajack Franit]

The more I read, the more I am thinking about not buying Civ IV -- this would be the first Civ title I would not buy, if not buying it becomes my final decision.

Buy it. It just kills your social life

[xpfusion]

It's a good thing Firaxis are visionaries, unlike some of you guys. I'd much rather see a totally awesome game that I have to upgrade my computer in order to play, than a mediocre game that plays on my old hardware. Of course gameplay is most important, but great graphics does so much for the experience of playing and I'm really happy Civ finally has them.