Sid says: "Civ III delivers visual realism like never before."

[splangy]

Originally posted by Grumbold
Splangy, thanks for the blind optimism but every time they post a new interview referring to beautiful graphics and match it with those same screenshots, your arguement gets weaker. Every interview they crow about the same stuff. Every time they seem to conveniently forget that TBS games have evolved in the five years since Civ2. The only truly unique item that will first appear in Civ 3 is culture. Everything else has been tried out in different ways in SMAC, CtP, CoNW, Imperialism, HoMM etc yet they seem stubbornly insistent that these titles either never existed or were graphically inferior and introduced nothing of any worth.

I really really want civ3 to be the best strategy title ever. So far they are falling far short of proving it.

we haven't got alot of screenshots latly besides that batch, dosent anyone see that They Are Old very old, infact some of the ones released BEFORE them look nicer. im not being a blind optimist, its just pessimism is getting out of hand and when yin complains about the same screenshot TWICE it proves my point.
and i have yet to hear a word from yin since he started this unbased, pessimistic post. besides, sid answerd like that without yin in mind . some people (like me!) DO like the screenshots, g'day gentlemen

[yin26]

Please see my other post in the "What's all the fuss" thread as to why I continue to make a big deal out of this.

Yin: Do you have complaints on the other screens? (diplomatic, city, etc.)

Yes. I think they look cluttered and totally unfinished as of yet. They also look amateurish still. However, I have confidence those were alpha builds, and I was the first person to shout: ALPHA GRAPHIC PLACEHOLDERS, as I'm sure you'll remember but most people forgot or never saw. Pay attention there, Splangy.

Again, my problem is: If this is ALL you release to the public and then you turn around and say "We have the best TBS graphics EVER!" well, then, you are just asking for trouble. Firaxis made its bed. They should sleep in it.

[MarkG]

guess what yin, all(and i mean ALL) the screens we have seen are from alpha builds....

[To_Serve_Man]

Originally posted by yin26


Obviously I disagree. A PR department (a good one anyway, so maybe you have a point regarding Firaxis) WILL guage how their 'carefully crafted words' are doing with the public. I want to make it damn clear to ANY Firaxis person comes in here that their PR is horrid and insulting.

Ok, again, i don't have much knowledge about this stuff. So i'm just going to leave it alone.

This is why I particularly find funny the motto the "Realists" seem to like so much

I'm not sure if this is directed at me. If it is, please do not label me. If you want to label yourself as a pessimist, then be my quest. But don't do it for me. I'm here, doing the same thing you are. Being skeptic about all of this. To tell the truth, I am... Uncomfortable with the graphics. They do show improvement though. I feel that the graphics improved over Civ2.I have been playing the Devils Advocate with you to further our analyzes of what you find important. I have never played CTP2 or SMAC. I cannot base my judgement on them. But my question to you Yin is, How can the graphics improve? How can something become the Best? Define what Best means to you.

[Nazgul]

Originally posted by MarkG
guess what yin, all(and i mean ALL) the screens we have seen are from alpha builds....

Thank you MarkG for that information,

If those screens are alpha build then all bets are off.

I guess we shall wait and see if they come up with better screen soon.

Nazgul

[yin26]

How can the graphics improve?

Are you saying you haven't looked around and seen better graphics? Even CtP2's look better to me.

How can something become the Best?

Ask Firaxis. They are making such claims.

Define what Best means to you.

I'd settle with something very simple, something I've argued for a long, long time: Just give me crisp, clear and colorful graphics that are at least ahead of the last title in the series and of that of your most recent competition. Would that make them the best? Who knows, but they'd be damn good enough for me.

As for labels, my comment about realists was no directed at you, per se. But the idea that our voices don't somehow count reminded of their defeatist attitude of 'If we can't fix it, it ain't broke.' If you don't have that attitude, then I wasn't grouping you with that statement.

[meriadoc]

I may never post in this thread again since I tend to think that the graphics that they have shown us so far are really pretty good. I also suspect that the graphics have improved since those screenshots were taken.

I do want to make a statement about realism and 3d/state-of-the-art versus playability. Yes, it would be nice if the roads were contoured to go behind the mountain and through the forests, not floating over top of both. It would look beautiful, but after about two hours it would get really annoying when I still find myself asking the question of "is there a road there?" It may look good graphically to have the road go through a hole in the forest, but if it makes me make stupid moves with my units because I can't see the road then I don't want the graphics to be that good.

[Fidel]

Originally posted by yin26
Silence, however, WOULD help perpetuate this crap. This is why I particularly find funny the motto the "Realists" seem to like so much, which is basically: "IF we can't fix it, it ain't a problem." Well, feel free to bury your heads thinking you can't make a difference. You are obviously resigned to playing any slop thrown at you, and there's nothing wrong with that in and of itself, I suppose. Too bad you'll be helping drag down the rest of us who have much higher expectations.

Yin,
Are you actually employed at Firaxis? I mean, don't you think it odd that they are trying to ruin the game despite your wise comments?

[tniem]

Originally posted by LaRusso
Yin,
Are you actually employed at Firaxis? I mean, don't you think it odd that they are trying to ruin the game despite your wise comments?

Come on. Do you honestly believe that Yin is working for Firaxis?

He was the leader of the list on ACS and was for a while the mod of this thread. He has since moved on. But of course still posts here.

[Sabre2th]

You guys obviously don't pay enough attention. Yin is actually SID.

Click Here

[Fidel]

Originally posted by tniem


Come on. Do you honestly believe that Yin is working for Firaxis?

He was the leader of the list on ACS and was for a while the mod of this thread. He has since moved on. But of course still posts here.

tniem, you are right, he is not employed at firaxis, he is the one who EMPLOYS

[kolpo]

Apolyton: Are the graphics or are you still working on them? Some people are hoping for the second...
Jeff Morris: Graphic tasks right now are finishing the remaining overlay tiles (like poles and mines) and polishing screens.

This let me rather think that what we see is close to what will be shiped except some erros like flying roads but that isn't the real concern of most.

Am I the only one who thinks the irigation graphics looks like swamps or flooded land?

[Fidel]

Originally posted by kolpo

Am I the only one who thinks the irigation graphics looks like swamps or flooded land?

nah, those are moskito farms

[Rhuarc]

Has anyone ever seen large irrigation areas from the air? I think they are trying to make them look like what it would from the air. I realize it doesn't look like irrigation in the US, but what about irrigation in china, like the rice fields. I could see how it would look similar to this from the air. But hey, I'm not about to get into a big argument over all this! I do however think that the screenshots are pretty good, and like Markos said they are alpha screens. Also, I really like the epic feel that the new style of graphics give the game. Instead of the sharp blaring graphics of CTP2 (which I also liked by the way!!) these graphics provide the needed information while still giving the feel of an epic story unfolding before you.

[SerapisIV]

Originally posted by Rhuarc
Has anyone ever seen large irrigation areas from the air? I think they are trying to make them look like what it would from the air. I realize it doesn't look like irrigation in the US, but what about irrigation in china, like the rice fields. I could see how it would look similar to this from the air.

The difference between the graphics is like between farmland and irrigation in Civ2. We're seeing irrigation in 1000BC in a lot of screenshots, well before farmland. I'm sure that the neat rows tat people are expecting (not you Rhuarc, just prior posts) is a later terrain advance that you have to discover.