Civ3 Interview: JEFF MORRIS

[Colonâ„¢]

Look, I believe all sides have points that are very valid, it’s true that several signs are ominous, it’s also true too little is known about the game and I don’t the different visions will be reconciled but I do would like you people to quit name calling.
You can have constructive, positive discussions, and differences in opinions don't need to ruin the atmosphere but this name calling will.

So to repeat, quit it, ok?

[Locutus]

Cybershy,
Okay... People accuse critics like yin and me of abusing Firaxis, but look who's abusing now (I can hardly believe I'm even replying to this)...

Let me set this straight. I'm not saying Civ3 is or isn't gonna be the best civ game ever. I'm saying that you can't claim this without question. In order to be able to make a claim like this, you'd have to have played all civ games extensively (no, just 1 or 2 games doesn't count). Noone outside Firaxis has done this obviously and I highly doubt Firaxians ever tried CtP2 plus MedMod or Cradle (those aren't mods ala Civ2 but revolutionary enough to be games in themselves) or some the Alt. Civ games (if they did, I'd love to hear their opinion on them). Also, some note on how this is just a personal opinion would be in order; all too often people present it as an absolute truth (which is where it becomes so arrogant).

Yes, many other games don't have 'proper' sequels either, but that doesn't make it okay for Civ to be just as bad. BTW, I can assure you that I probably have more experience in the gaming industry than you do.

FYI: I'm living in debt, I have trouble paying my bills each month and my parents weren't much better off when they raised me, so I for one far from grew up in too much wealth (I already started to set aside some money for Civ3 so I will actually have the money to buy it when I think the time is right). And no, I'm not looking for pity (far from it, I don't see see why not having any money is a bad thing), but since you brought it up...

[MarkG]

locutus, just a sidenote

jeff answered a question about the ctp series. that shows that they probably have tried the games. i cant imagine them not checking up on the competition....

[Locutus]

Markos,
You of all people here should know the enormous differences between regular CtP(2) and CtP plus MedMod or Cradle. Some have agrued (and I tend to agree) that CtP2 + MedMod could well be sold as a commercial product (in fact, currently it's donationware and some people are actually paying for it) and be renamed CtP3 (or to rename CtP2 to what it really was, CtP1.3, and rename the MedMod CtP2). Anyone who is familiar with the mod will surely have to agree that it's too different from regular CtP2 to be seen as too similar to disregard.
I know for a fact that Firaxis has tried the CtP series (they mentioned this at several occasions) but I doubt they played it with the MedMod or Cradle, while both do have some new ideas and features that wouldn't be out-of-place in Civ3. If they *have* tried these mods/games, I'd love to be corrected by them and hear their opinion on these mods.

[Solver]

I completely agree with Locutus here. CtP 2 AI, as is, presents something very easy, even on the Impossible level. However, after adding the MedPack, it no longer is a pushover, and the game is fun to play, as it had great potential since the very beggining, and here it is realised. Wish though those mods would also return space.

[Solver]

Also, there can be a good zide on the fact that it will support 8 civs by default. Those of us with lower-end PCs will be able to play Civ 3, and not buy a new PC. I like the fact that Firaxis are trying to make it so that everyone who has 64 MB RAM and an average CPU will be able to play the game. If you have a big whomping 1.4 GHz and 512 MB RAM, make the 16 or 32 civs, but if you can't play with the default choices, what still will be fun.

[Sabre2th]

I agree with solver here. I recently got a new computer (P4 1.3 GHz ), but was stuck with a P200 for quite a while. CTP/CTP2 games with more than 5 or 6 civs were extremely slow later in the game and it depressed me to know that it was possible to play with 32 or more. I understand Firaxis's choices with this and support them fully. As long as I can play 16 with my new comp

[Rhuarc]

The main problem I see here is that Firaxis apparently did not make the screens ble to display more than 8 civs. I mean if they are going to allow someone to up the number above 8, why not have it default to 8 civs (for people like you Sabre2th, who's computer runs that fine but no more) and then for other people who have fast computers all they have to do is select a different number. Firaxis could even put a warning on the screen saying they don't reccomend more than 8 civs for anything below a P3 500, or 600, or whatever they feel is a good threshold. This way if someone below that threshold selects a larger number, they know that it may crash their computer or run very slowly. This way it solves the problem both ways. The slower computers will still run it, but the faster computers have the option (without going into configuration files and changing things, or not having enough screen space)to select a larger number. What would have been so hard about that?

[Sabre2th]

I believe (for no good reason) that in-game screens will support 16 civs fine.

I disagree with you, Rhuarc, about the choices. It would be stupid IMO to have 16 civs easily available in the main screen if only a few people could use that many. Firaxis's minimum (or at least recommended) requirements would have to go up, realistically.

Also - Getting 16 civs won't take much work. Firaxis has said that it will be easily customizable with the editor. (No changing config files manually this time)

[Rhuarc]

The reason I say what I did is because of how many computers I see everyday. I repair computers for people, and see a lot of them everyday. Most people have at least a 500Mhz computer now. The way I see it the majority of people are going to have computers that would be able to handle over 8 civs. And didn't Jeff Morris already say that the ingame screens will only be able to display 8? (Or something ot that effect? Correct me if I am wrong, but I think he said something to that effect!) Don't worry, I will be happy either way, I just think games are best designed with as many possible options readily available. * would of course be the default number, and they should make setup screens so you don't have to change everything, but most things will default to a certain value, then if you want to change that you just go into that particualr screen and change it.

[Sabre2th]

Yes, it's true that a lot of people are over 500MHz now, but Firaxis can't leave out the rest, even if it is a small number.

I don't remember that part of the interview and I'm too lazy to go back and look

[Rhuarc]

Firaxis would not be letting the lower speed people out in the cold. By making it an option they would allow even the people with slow computers to run it, they would just be making things easier for the majority of people by making the larger number of civs available in the setup screen.

Quote from Interview: "Apolyton: Will there be 7 civs in a game like civ2 and smac or more? We have
heard almost any possible choice on this
Jeff Morris: Supported, there will be 7 civilizations in a game, 8 including the player. The editor allows you to adjust this, though many screens are setup only for this 8 civ limit.
(sidenote: when asked what the limit of the editor will be, Jeff responded that the tools are still in development and that the current limit is 16)"

This tells me that, as in CTP2, the game engine will support more than 8, but the screens inside the game (at least some of them) are only set up for 8 civs.

[Sabre2th]

Who says that everyone will be playing with more than 8 civs? Personally, I like having a smaller number of more developed civs.

And I still disagree about the options screen.

[Sabre2th]

Also - your quote from the interview tells me that they haven't decided yet on the in-game screens. He also definately said that they could change. It almost sounds like he's leaving himself a way out (Like he thinks it will actually happen.)

[Ralf]

I have read the interview and Im a little surprised why this short and general interview alone can generate so much pessimism.

Why?

The official max-limit of 8 civs (including the player) was pretty much 98% obvious, considering the AI-demands, the quality-before-quantity priorities and end-game playability/ turn waiting time limits. Anyone who understands the unproportionaly rising demands for each added AI-civ above 7-8 in a game like Civ, instantly realize this.

By the way; a sobering reminder about future civ-customers expected computer-power around christmas-01: check out THIS POLL.

The map-graphics could be better, yes - but this can very easily be changed and replaced by anyone who think he can do better. The (mostly static) map-graphics is comparably much easier to modify, then for example animated unit-modpacks.

And why suddenly the the "conservative sequel" discussion? We already know pretty much about how Civ-3 is shaping up, dont we? The released info so far tells us that the update-jump will be much bigger from Civ-2 to Civ-3, then it ever was from from Civ-1 to Civ-2. Not to mention comparing with the weak & shallow TOT-update. You guys react like this last interview was the very first official game-information ever released, so far.

Apolyton: Has the whole CTP1/2 story taught you anything? Do you think these games helped the genre or not?

Jeff Morris: They helped us understand the impact of major changes to this system. New features must seamlessly integrate with the existing system, and that's tough the more radical the change. At first I wasn't a fan of a conservative sequel, though I'm a complete convert now.

What is it in above answer that doesnt make perfect sense? I sure as hell dont get it. Firaxis cant make Civ-3 look & play like a supposed CTP-3, or EU-2. Civ is Civ. They must stay true to the basic magic formula, and develop/rehash the game further with that in mind. And by the looks of it, they have done pretty well so far. Stop whining!