Should I Buy CivIII?

[Libertarian]

Consider that reviewers might not have enough time to competently evaluate a game as complex as Civ3. (The game's shortcomings don't become apparent until the modern age, which, as I recall, Firaxis itself never play-tested.) Consider also that they might have fiduciary conflicts in bashing their sponsors.

You can check out the reviews of actual players at Amazon. Here's an excerpt from one of them:

On the technical side of the game, the interface is unintuitive and generally ugly. Menus are in strange places, and your advisor screens are nearly impossible to get useful information from. The graphics are a warmed over version of the Civilization II game, and the sound and music are embarrassingly poor quality. Response time is a major issue, with late game enemy turns taking 30 seconds to 1 minute per enemy. Start up time for the game itself is good, and I have not experienced any crashes with this game (patched version 1.16f). Also, the game manual is large, but uninformative, and index and table of contents are almost useless in aiding you in your search for some obscure game quirk.

[Alex]

Originally posted by Libertarian


Having just returned from Las Vegas,

Hey, Lib is back! Las Vegas... it is near Mingapulco, isn't it?

Welcome back, man.

And Wiglaf... I'd say buy it, but I could also say wait for the next patch. Depends on how high your expectations are.

[Libertarian]

Hey, Lib is back! Las Vegas... it is near Mingapulco, isn't it?

Actually, I think it's in a world of its own.

Welcome back, man.

Thank you. Most kind.

[ACooper]

Originally posted by Libertarian
...(The game's shortcomings don't become apparent until the modern age, which, as I recall, Firaxis itself never play-tested.) ...

Back to your old unfounded statements, eh, Lib?

[Leonidas]

Originally posted by Wiglaf
I guess I'll wait for the next patch and then buy it, just because it's hard to be totally sure. All the review sites are giving it near perfect scores, though...ign, gamespot, avault, etc. If it's even a minor improvement to civ2, I'd like it (it's not a huge step down or anything, is it?), but for now I'll probably look into EU2 and watch civIII closely.

Thanks again.

Wiglaf: Be careful with the offical reviews on Civ3. Most reviewers probably only played Civ3 for a few hours and were under pressure to give the game high scores (advertising pays a lot of bills). You have to play Civ3 for a couple of weeks to see that the whole is not equal to the sum of its parts.

We gamers have absolutely nothing to gain by advising you. I played Civ 3 for several weeks when it first came out. It IS fun, and I love the unit graphics and animations. But many concepts in the game were not thought out or playtested properly. After a while sheer game tedium/frustration sets in.

If you wait a couple of months you can still pick up Civ 3 for half the price it is now. And you will enjoy it. But there are several games out RIGHT NOW that are much, much cheaper and are a better value for your dollar:

1) EU2
2) CTP2 (get the mods to go with it)
3) Shogun Total War: Warlords Edition
4) Imperialism I and II (free downloads at the underdog site)
5) Heroes of Might and Magic III series
6) Alpha Centauri and Crossfire
7) The Age of Empire series (real time games but they are fun and they have real quality)

With all that said, I plan to have another look at Civ 3 when the Gold Edition comes out.

Hope this helps

[Libertarian]

Originally posted by ACooper


Back to your old unfounded statements, eh, Lib?

Ask Mark to give you a link to the Christmas chat.

[Willem]

Originally posted by Wiglaf
I guess I'll wait for the next patch and then buy it, just because it's hard to be totally sure. All the review sites are giving it near perfect scores, though...ign, gamespot, avault, etc. If it's even a minor improvement to civ2, I'd like it (it's not a huge step down or anything, is it?), but for now I'll probably look into EU2 and watch civIII closely.

Thanks again.

It's not a step down at all, in fact it's a big improvement overall. It's just that some of the changes they've implemented need to be fine tuned some more, and there's a few bugs that have to fixed. It may take some time to do this, but it's still a good game. I feel I got my money's worth at any rate.

[Leonidas]

Here is the Wargamer's review of EU2:

http://www.wargamer.com/reviews/europa_universalis_2_main.asp

[Blaupanzer]

Like RPGs? Get Wizardry 8. Like RTSs? Get Cossacks. Like bookkeeping on a massive scale? Get EU II. Like strategy games AND willing to play them on their own terms; get Civ III. Like getting flamed? Ask the General forum about the value of Civ III; then tell them what you decided. Enjoy gaming. Let us know what you think when you do get the game.

[Willem]

Originally posted by Alexnm

And Wiglaf... I'd say buy it, but I could also say wait for the next patch. Depends on how high your expectations are.

Well it appears that 1.17f will be out by Friday.

[Zoid]

Wiglaf, you can buy my copy of Civ3 50% off.

[Zoid]

Originally posted by kailhun

If you're looking for a civ3 type game, then civ3 is probably the best around.

Well, duh!

[thinkingamer]

2 major changes in civ 3: culture(good idea, but works weird sometimes) and GL (if u r lucky enough to get enough GL in a single game u can perhaps even beat Deity lvl.)

3 other significant changes in civ3: Each civ has its own bonus and a unique unit (borrowed from Aok), units require 1 gold for upkeep instead of 1 shield, and significant gov. changes (ex: no fundamentalism)

pros: Probably the best civ AI ever.

cons: still takes 24 hours to finish a single game (even tough u KNOW that u won 3 hours ago),
LOTs of bugs,
slow even on a high speed system, bad scenario editor,
50% luck and %50 strategy on most of cases (ur lucky starting location, the amount of lucky GL u get in single game, etc.),
requires to buy an official strategy guide to fully understand the game,
forces u to pay extra 10$ for a crappy tech tree (and a 12min video cd that tells u how smart/cool Sid is),
and, bla, bla, bla........(i could go on forever)

wait for civ3 gold edition for 40$ at most.

[klesh]

Originally posted by thinkingamer bad scenario editor.

Rather, a lack of scenario editor in the true sense of the term.

-FMK.

[Wiglaf]

Consider that reviewers might not have enough time to competently evaluate a game as complex as Civ3. Consider also that they might have fiduciary conflicts in bashing their sponsors.

Good point, but very rarely do so many different people make similar mistakes or voice the same general bias over a game - out of twenty or so sites I've seen review CivIII, only a handful have been negative. OTOH, CTP and CTP2 were hit pretty hard.

If you wait a couple of months you can still pick up Civ 3 for half the price it is now. And you will enjoy it. But there are several games out RIGHT NOW that are much, much cheaper and are a better value for your dollar:

1) EU2
2) CTP2 (get the mods to go with it)
3) Shogun Total War: Warlords Edition
4) Imperialism I and II (free downloads at the underdog site)
5) Heroes of Might and Magic III series
6) Alpha Centauri and Crossfire
7) The Age of Empire series (real time games but they are fun and they have real quality)

Dunno about EU2 (looks like a different concept, apparently an RTS with a different scope entirely). Also, it runs up about $40 as well, and I'm still a little wary about the others (already tried/own CTP and SMAC) that have reached the bargain bin. Thanks for all the help, hopefully the next patch will make things much more clear cut.

Just to clarify, as all the reviews got to my head - what are the major problems civIII has that keep it from being a must buy?