Reasons to buy Play the World

[sprucemoose3311]

Now that so many people have blasted play the world for its poor preformance in online gaming, what reasons are there to buy the game, what are the good points. I doubt the game is totally worthless......

[Iconoclast]

I have played a great many online game with PTW, all fun. As long as you keep ping in mind, you can have fun.

[WarpStorm]

Well, the single player additions are pretty good. TET's scenario is awesome. In addition, PBEM, Hotseat, and LAN play are all stable.

[ChrisiusMaximus]

I cant get it yet but Ill be waiting outside the shop the day it comes out over here. Ive never really played MP anything before and Im looking forward to the new features mostly.

I would like to try my hand at MP though and will probably try the PBEM or LAN first but Im sure the chaps at Firaxis will soon sort out the problems some of you have been experiencing.

[Tassadar500]

If multiplayer doesnt get better I dont know if I will buy it. I dont want to always check the ping of people. What if some people dont have low pings. Do they just miss out.

[WarpStorm]

Well ping is relative. It is a relationship between 2 given computers. It may be impossible to play some but not others.

I've played peole across the Atlantic and had a rather unsatisifactory game. I've played people a lot closer <100 ping to me and it was decent if a tiny bit laggy.

[Bambul]

Originally posted by WarpStorm
Well, the single player additions are pretty good. TET's scenario is awesome. In addition, PBEM, Hotseat, and LAN play are all stable.

TET? Please elaborate.

[notyoueither]

I've had a few good games with people across the pond. 1on1. Some lag. They have very good connections.

[notyoueither]

TETurkhan. Big nasty scenarios.

They are fearsome. Some never come back they say...

[Catt]

Perhaps the biggest reason to shell out $30, regardless of your lust (or lack thereof) for MP and your lust (or lack thereof) for new civs, units, etc., is simply the need to stay in the "upgrade chain" -- to my mind, the performance of the AI has improved with each patch in stock Civ III even though the vast majority of AI tweaks never make it into a readme. Stock Civ III is now out of the upgrade chain -- all future patches will be for PTW, and if $30 isn't a significant outlay for you that requires scrutiny and careful thought, just being able to use the future tweaks to the AI and gameplay that happen behind the scenes is probably worth it.

Catt

[candybo]

Originally posted by Catt
Stock Civ III is now out of the upgrade chain

Bingo!! Nailed it Catt

[candybo]

Minor apologies for bringing this up again, but something occured me while *ahem* using the facilities..


Assuming all this is true about staying in the "upgrade chain", shouldn't PtW have been released/sold, etc as an "upgrade" rather than an expansion pack? As an example, consider The Sims. With all of the silly xpacks, none of them really affected the core game. The actual game hasn't needed any patching in a LONG time, but if something came up, it would be a patch to the core, most likely.
The main reason that there isn't a fuss about people having to buy Sims Online is that the original was SO long ago, it was never assumed to get multiplayer eventually, unlike Civ3. Maxis can present it as a totally different experience.
In my opinion, one of the difficulties is a matter of semantics. If Firaxis/Infogrames referred to PtW as an upgrade, they would have had a very hard time justifying it. If a product is simply an upgrade, it should either 1)be available as a patch, or 2)be sold as a stand-alone product, not requiring Civ3 to be played. If that had been the case, they could have retired vanilla Civ3. I don't pretend to assume how that could have been handled tactfully, maybe a rebate or something, like utilities programs.
To bring this ramble to a close, in the interest of fair play, I think Firaxis should continue to support vanilla Civ3, as much as possible, and not assume that everbody who bought vCiv3 also bought PtW. Thank you for your time...

[Switch]

Well, they've already stated that 1.29f will be the FINAL patch for Civ3.

As to PtW in the upgrade chain, it really wouldn't make much sense for it to be standalone. It is an upgrade that you must pay for, also known as an expansion. an upgrade CAN't possibly be standalone, cause then it wouldn't be an upgrade
It's like the oxymoronic statement "New and Improved." If it's new, then it is the first, thus it can't have improved on anything. If it's improved, then it obviously isn't "new."

Hope that clarifies things. If not, well....oops

[Jaybe]

candybo, PTW was released with many improvements though flawed particularly in the MP aspect. Not a "perfect world," you know.

Single-Player wise, I am having a great time with it after I resolved some reliability issues by doing a system update. Many enhancements in the interface, graphics, and "under the hood."

[Demerzel]

it's a bit harsh on people who don't buy PtW to not get any further patches or not be able to play certain scenario's.