I doubt I'll buy this game if it won't run in a window

[Alexander's Horse]

My attitude has hardened after a not very fun experience Hydey and I had trying to start a game of CTP II last night. CTP II is fullscreen and it uses a server. Of course whenever we opened the game we couldn't use icq anymore and then since we couldn't see each other on any of the servers we kept having to back out of the game completely to send icq messages to each other. After about an hour, we gave up.

Single player is pretty much a waste of time for any players with a decent level of skill. We all know the AI will suck, we're just waiting to find out by how much.

So if Civ III won't run in a window, that will trash multiplayer and I rpobably won't be buying it. If they put it on a server I probably won't buy it either.

When will game makers realise that internet multiplayer is the future of these games and we are a powerful group of consumers? It was actually unhappy multiplayers mostly who bad mouthed CTP II so much that it failed.

[Inverse Icarus]

im sure firaxis cares deeply about you purchasing the game .

but IMHO, the windowed version is better. if u get civ 3 and its fullscreen (as it appears), try alt+tab. if that doesn't work, KILL IT.

[Juggernaut]

Of course whenever we opened the game we couldn't use icq anymore
(...) we kept having to back out of the game completely to send icq messages to each other.

ever tried CTRL + ALT + ESC?

[TechWins]

I hate not having a windowed game. I'm not too worried about the game not being a windowed game because I know Firaxis cares about their customers so much

[Alexander's Horse]

Horsie wants to multiplay

Actually I partly posted this thread to get those codes to close a fullscreen game

I'm sure Firaxis couldn't give a rat's arse whether I personally bught the game or not - but the underlying point remains - its a very dumb commercial move to gyp the multiplaying community.

That's a big change since civ 2 came out when they could get away with an SP version and then MP as another edition you had to play for. The multiplayers are still a minority but a growing and very vocal and articulate group of consumers, particularly on the net. I'm amazed at how quickly unhappy multiplayers were able to trash CTP II, and Activision with it.

[Inverse Icarus]

gyp: ethnic slur against the gypsy people.

so now i use the term "jew", it's the same basic premise, and they're used to being made fun of.

(i kid, i kid, im dating a beautiful jewish girl)

[TechWins]

(i kid, i kid, im dating a beautiful jewish girl)

You do know that blowup dolls don't count, right? No, I'm just messing with you.

[Inverse Icarus]

you leave her out of this

[smellymummy]

Re: I doubt I'll buy this game if it won't run in a window

Originally posted by Alexander's Horse
When will game makers realise that internet multiplayer is the future of these games and we are a powerful group of consumers? It was actually unhappy multiplayers mostly who bad mouthed CTP II so much that it failed.

i won't disagree that there is a large group of gamers who prefer MP vs SP, and provide a market for the game industry (we only need to look at the trend the gaming industry has taken the past few years) but to say that CTP2 failed because of badmouthing from the MP community?? I enjoyed the many new features in CTP2, but was dissapointed by it's other flaws, and I've been reading these boards for quite some time now... well never has the MP badmouthing community affected my view on CTP2, nor has it ever seemed to get any special attention...

Mention badmouthing from bugs (and lots of those...), terrible AI, etc, -> leads CTP2 to not being a hit, then OK. But to say that a civ game clone failed because of the MP community is just nuts. The MP community is large, but it doesnt rest on the TBS genre (time required > time available), it's mainly in RTS, MMORPGs, FPS (time required < time available) and others.

[Father Beast]

Windowed mode isn't just for MP. I use it regularly to shrink my civ game while my wife prints something real quick. sometimes I can play a few civ truns while waiting for apolyton pages to load.
not allowing shrinking suggests a large ability to crash, to me.

[Alexander's Horse]

Thanks for mentioning that aspect Father Beast

Yes, one good thing about a windowed game is you can do other stuff on the comp between turns. One great thing about civ 2 was it popped up when it was your turn.

Smelly, the multiplayers have long since left the CTP II boards but in the early days it was viscious. Sure there were other glaring faults but the MP crowd really knew how to put the slipper in.

One good way to hurt Activision's bottom line was to buy the game and then return your copy. I'm sure I wasn't the only multiplayer who did that - on the basis that the MP interface didn't work I was entitled to a full refund- that's $90 a throw off their profit!

God we are evil

[TechWins]

Windowed mode isn't just for MP. I use it regularly to shrink my civ game

Yeah, I use it to change my music that I'm listening to on Napster, look at something online, e-mail somebody, etc... Having a game in windowed mode is such a convience and not having a game in windowed mode can be so frustrating trying to do something else besides playing the game. Civ3 has to be in windowed mode because if it isn't I think they may have two customers that won't buy the game, Me and Horsy. Maybe if everybody here at Apolyton said they would boycott the game if it's not in windowed mode Firaxis might just make it in windowed mode

[OneFootInTheGrave]

Yes windowed mode i smuch better, I wish they make the game in windowed mode...


Well CTPII MP is totally screwed anyway, but SP is now much better with Med Mod II and I am sure now with the Apolyton pack... AI started to work, plus other improvements.

[Alexander's Horse]

I hope someone from Firaxis is paying attention to this thread

Care to comment Firaxis?

[Provost Harrison]

Well it certainly doesn't look like it is going to run in a window, which can be a pain. However nor did SMAC but you could still Alt-Tab to ICQ windows and the like so it never posed a problem. You could also have the hovering names in ICQ so you would still know what is going on...