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Hi guys. Had my first CivIV experience last night and-like some complete nooby-I decided to start off with the tutorial. Now, in spite of a few very minor graphics 'artifacts', the game worked for me RIGHT out of the box-which was a great start 
! Speaking of Great Starts, the entire introduction sequence is just plain freakin AWESOME-there are simply no words to describe it-I could spend several hours just watching the intros alone-be it the 'movie' intro at the start, or the hilarious 'tip of the hat' to Civ I-wow did that revive memories of many sleepless nights !
Anyway, if I had thought that the great visuals and sound were behind me-boy was I WRONG! The terrain, cities etc are just absolutely beautiful, and totally immersive. Quite frankly, no screenshot or video preview can do it justice! Hearing Sid guide me through all the elements-new and old-of the game made me realise just how big a change this game is from Civ1,2 or 3. It is probably closest to SMAC or-dare I say it-CtP (in a GOOD WAY), but it still retains the best elements of the previous Civilization games-the ultimate result being that it was-for me-a wholly NEW Civ experience.
Anyway, seeing Sid explaining the tools and features of the game-all with a 'Obi-Wan' style flourish (hence the title of this thread) was a great touch-absolutely hilarious. What really grabbed me most was how much choice I had even from the very start! Usually, in civ games, it is a pretty mechanical process of 'pick a high food spot', churn out a warrior or barracks, then settler-rinse and repeat. Not this time around. I realised that I had to think in terms of overall resources-and the kind of terrain improvements/specialisation focus I wanted the city to have-all I can say is that I was glad to have Sid guiding me the first time around!
The same goes with what to research first, or what to build first. True I had to 'do what Sid said' in the first part of the game but, again, I was kinda glad-'cause the decisions were kind of tough (why? Because they ALL had some merit) Do I build a worker straight away, or build Scouts to explore the world, or warriors to defend my city? Or do I forgo units and build a barracks so that all of my future units get a bonus promotion? Choices, choices!!! Same with techs-do I pursue a religious/cultural path or a scientific one? Do I try and get something for my workers to do, or try and get techs which will make me a military and/or industrial power? Even something as 'simple' as promotions was a real 'head scratcher'. I had a warrior gain a 'basic' promotion, but then had to ask myself 'do I want to just beef him up, or do I want him to be a woodsman or city specialist?' All of these DECISIONS, and this was just in the first 10-20 turns of the game. Sure there were moments where I was doing nothing in a turn but clicking on the 'end turn' button, but never more than 2-3 times in a row-and even this I did with anticipation of what was to come-very different from my civ3 experiences!!!
Another note is the AI. Though my game didn't involve much contact with other civs (except Ghandi) I was VERY impressed with the Worker AI. The 'Road To', 'Create Trade Network' and 'Improve Nearest City' buttons are an absolute GOD SEND!! As is the general Automate worker system-not only did the workers make the improvements which I myself would have made, it actually picked up on opportunities which I had missed (like the forested hill which he first cut down, then mined!)
So, what is there to say except that I am INCREDIBLY impressed!!! The ability to safely palm off micromanagement to the AI and a huge range of strategic decisions in the early game-in spite of it being a tutorial-made this an incredibly addictive first game for me. In spite of having to be up at 6am the next morning, I still found myself saying 'just one more turn' right up past midnight. It was only a sheer ACT OF WILL that finally got me to put my foot down, and stop playing after I had built the pyramids! Yep, the 'one more turn' addictiveness of this game is BACK-and then some. Finally, there are a lot of GREAT NEW things about this game, as well as massive improvements of older concepts, but I think it is the 'little things' which impressed me the most-like the sound effects from mousing over terrain and the great music-it just made it such a great overall experience.
Anyway, you can expect to see more game impressions from me over the coming week-hopefully even with screenshots this time
! I hope you enjoyed my 'First Impression' though !
Yours,
Aussie_Lurker.
! Speaking of Great Starts, the entire introduction sequence is just plain freakin AWESOME-there are simply no words to describe it-I could spend several hours just watching the intros alone-be it the 'movie' intro at the start, or the hilarious 'tip of the hat' to Civ I-wow did that revive memories of many sleepless nights !Anyway, if I had thought that the great visuals and sound were behind me-boy was I WRONG
! The terrain, cities etc are just absolutely beautiful, and totally immersive. Quite frankly, no screenshot or video preview can do it justice! Hearing Sid guide me through all the elements-new and old-of the game made me realise just how big a change this game is from Civ1,2 or 3. It is probably closest to SMAC or-dare I say it-CtP (in a GOOD WAY), but it still retains the best elements of the previous Civilization games-the ultimate result being that it was-for me-a wholly NEW Civ experience.Anyway, seeing Sid explaining the tools and features of the game-all with a 'Obi-Wan' style flourish (hence the title of this thread) was a great touch-absolutely hilarious. What really grabbed me most was how much choice I had even from the very start! Usually, in civ games, it is a pretty mechanical process of 'pick a high food spot', churn out a warrior or barracks, then settler-rinse and repeat. Not this time around. I realised that I had to think in terms of overall resources-and the kind of terrain improvements/specialisation focus I wanted the city to have-all I can say is that I was glad to have Sid guiding me the first time around
!The same goes with what to research first, or what to build first. True I had to 'do what Sid said' in the first part of the game but, again, I was kinda glad-'cause the decisions were kind of tough (why? Because they ALL had some merit) Do I build a worker straight away, or build Scouts to explore the world, or warriors to defend my city? Or do I forgo units and build a barracks so that all of my future units get a bonus promotion? Choices, choices!!! Same with techs-do I pursue a religious/cultural path or a scientific one? Do I try and get something for my workers to do, or try and get techs which will make me a military and/or industrial power? Even something as 'simple' as promotions was a real 'head scratcher'. I had a warrior gain a 'basic' promotion, but then had to ask myself 'do I want to just beef him up, or do I want him to be a woodsman or city specialist?' All of these DECISIONS, and this was just in the first 10-20 turns of the game. Sure there were moments where I was doing nothing in a turn but clicking on the 'end turn' button, but never more than 2-3 times in a row-and even this I did with anticipation of what was to come-very different from my civ3 experiences!!!
Another note is the AI. Though my game didn't involve much contact with other civs (except Ghandi) I was VERY impressed with the Worker AI. The 'Road To', 'Create Trade Network' and 'Improve Nearest City' buttons are an absolute GOD SEND!! As is the general Automate worker system-not only did the workers make the improvements which I myself would have made, it actually picked up on opportunities which I had missed (like the forested hill which he first cut down, then mined!)
So, what is there to say except that I am INCREDIBLY impressed!!! The ability to safely palm off micromanagement to the AI and a huge range of strategic decisions in the early game-in spite of it being a tutorial-made this an incredibly addictive first game for me. In spite of having to be up at 6am the next morning, I still found myself saying 'just one more turn' right up past midnight. It was only a sheer ACT OF WILL that finally got me to put my foot down, and stop playing after I had built the pyramids
! Yep, the 'one more turn' addictiveness of this game is BACK-and then some. Finally, there are a lot of GREAT NEW things about this game, as well as massive improvements of older concepts, but I think it is the 'little things' which impressed me the most-like the sound effects from mousing over terrain and the great music-it just made it such a great overall experience.Anyway, you can expect to see more game impressions from me over the coming week-hopefully even with screenshots this time
! I hope you enjoyed my 'First Impression' though !Yours,
Aussie_Lurker.
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