Decisions, decisions... Where are they?

[LzPrst]

imo, the only real decisions in Civ5 are the social policy ones. And they happen far too seldom to make the game interesting. Tech is just a gradual improvement of what you have, so are buildings. Even city placement is a non-brainer as the terrain is effectively all the same. There are no decisions to make = no fun in the game. That is why it does not hold our attention, we do not need full brain power to play the game.

[Ming]

imo, the only real decisions in Civ5 are the social policy ones. And they happen far too seldom to make the game interesting. Tech is just a gradual improvement of what you have, so are buildings. Even city placement is a non-brainer as the terrain is effectively all the same. There are no decisions to make = no fun in the game. That is why it does not hold our attention, we do not need full brain power to play the game.

What he said
And if you use the many city approach vs the tall city approach, social policies never seem to happen

[rah]

Yeah, the terrain was the biggest disappointment for me. Yes, they've tweaked it but it still seems all the same. Where's the coveted whales from civII? Finding that sweet spot that claimed 4 whales would thrill you. Or civ four where you might agonize over exactly where you wanted to place the city because moving it one might give you two different specials vs one the other way. And the impact of culture. Do I risk building two away knowing I have a creative neighbor. Now you just place the city and buy the hex. TERRAIN IS NOW BORING BORING BORING>

[Proteus_MST]

Exactly...
something that I found annoying as well,
terrain and specials don´t matter too much anymore in your placements of cities
sometimes it might even be better to place your cities away from terrain specials
instead of making sure that they are within your cities surroundings

[wodan11]

sometimes it might even be better to place your cities away from terrain specials
instead of making sure that they are within your cities surroundings

That's true of Civ4 as well (though it doesn't happen very often). However, you don't have to improve the special, you can always put a different improvement on it.