Was it worth the 20 quid?

[zulu9812]

All the bad reviews that Play The World has recieved got me thinking. I think PTW is brilliant and, to paraphrase Warpstorm, I wouldn't uninstall it even if someone paid me. But was it worth a poor student shelling £20? XP's are usually around the £15-17 mark, depending on where you shop. For Americans, £1 is about $1.60.

I have yet to play multi-player and, to be honest, I probably won't. So this is what I have gained out of buying PTW:

- stayed in the modding 'loop'
- WWII and Japanese units
- 8 new civs + their UUs
- the scenario search path feature, which is limited and doesn't work as I'd like it to
- new unit commands, agains, some of which don't work as I'd like them to

Was that all I should be expecting from an expansion pack. Should there have been more in there for the single-player only man?

[vondrack]

Well, what the value of a computer game or XP pack is for a poor student is always debatable... no easy answer, I would say.

There is one more thing you did not mention which I feel is very important improvement in PtW: the "minor tweaks" - as Soren puts it - in the AI. My PtW games are quite different from my vanilla 1.29f games. The AIs are noticeably tougher for me. Plus, the Foreign Advisor screen enhancements (running deals) - these are golden for me.

So, I consider my bucks very well spent. But then, I am not a poor student...

[CerberusIV]

Not an easy question. The reviewers, and most of the punters who buy the games, want something that works straight out of the box and will be very critical if it doesn't.

Having paid £26.99 for Civ3 and £16.99 for PTW I am quite happy with the whole deal. If the original release had come out with the game PTW 1.14 now is then it would probably have been acclaimed as breathing new life into TBS and nominated for awards. As it is the game has evolved and got better with the patches and expansion. I think the result we now have is better than a game that worked first time out of the box and never got upgraded would have been with the things such as the AI that have been improved, not just fixed.

Then again, it is a long time since I was a poor student!

Disclaimer: The above is a personal opinion and I do hope that Civ4 works properly from the start (whenever that may be).

[Franses]

I bought CIV3 for its multiplayer aspects (not knowing at the time it would take an XP and a year to get there). PTW therefore is crucial for me. Even though its current implementation of MP is unbelievable crappy I still am reasonably satisfied with it. This assuming Firaxis will further patch PTW and bring it up to an acceptable level.

I would not advice to spend the money for the current version of PTW to a CIV enthousiast unless he is a diehard like me and certainly not to a "poor" student who is interested in SP only. I do hope I will alter this advice after the next patch and am looking forward to that change in my opinion.

[FNBrown]

It depends on if you got what you paid for.

When I bought PTW, I did it for the following reasons:

• I wanted to stay in the "upgrade path." Firaxis is done patching Civ3 at 1.29f. Further improvements will only be available to PTW owners.
• I wanted to play via LAN. Internet play isn't an option for me, because I have a really poor dial-up connection at home.
• My wife is Scandanavian. She loves the idea of playing as the Vikings.
• I was looking forward to an improved editor.
• More Civs definately makes the game more fun.

Basically, I got 3 1/2 out of 5 on my wish list, with the 1/2 being the editor that still needs work. The LAN play is essentially missing, because it fails terribly late in the game for me. Are the other features worth my twenty bucks?

Probably... but just barely. My only consolation is that there's still a good chance that Firaxis is going to fix what's still broken.

[Inverse Icarus]

first off, get some real currency.

second, yes. patch up and it isnt too bad, and it'll only get better.

[FNBrown]

Originally posted by UberKruX
first off, get some real currency.

second, yes. patch up and it isnt too bad, and it'll only get better.

The British Pound is as real as currency gets.

I hope they keep away from the Euro...

[jdd2007]

20 pounds: maybe not

20 dollars: yes

[Unregistered]

Well, in general, no.

But I bought it anyway.

Having airfields, radar towers & outposts is cool. But Civ II (& the original too iirc) had airfields. SMAC had sensor arrays/tower things. So these should have been in the original release. imo. It is nice to get the functionality 'back' though.

More civs is a cool thing. This is something you'd expect to see in an expansion. Having them is nice, too.

Making the warrior-swordsman line upgradable to the generic medieval infantry and the later guerillas is a nice addition, but I don't know if it's expansion worthy. Could have been introduced via a patch.

There are reports of more ai tweaks in the expansion, I haven't played enough to see them yet. It's still pretty retarded from what I've seen. These could definitely have been patch level type things. I'll note here that ending patch support for Civ III and saying that you'll have to buy PTW to receive any additional support smacks very strongly of blackmail. (some would say aggressive marketing) Otoh, patch support for a game release beyond a year is pretty rare. Except for popular/successful games. Which Civ III is. So.... I guess I'd have to go with 'aggressive marketing' for $200 Alex.

A new wonder & a couple of new city improvements. These are nice. A bit more in line with an expansion. Could have been done in a patch.

Multi-player is a definite expansion type feature. Implementing tcp/ip connectivity in a game is not small potatoes, especially for a company that has never done that before. (at least, it appears that firaxis hasn't ever done it before) However, it is 2002 and multiplayer has been a pretty standard feature of the genre for several years now. Releasing the game without multiplayer, especially after initially touting it as having it, wasn't the years best pr move.

So. Was it really 'worth' the xtra $'s?? Probably not. But I bought it. And am playing it. It is fun. Do I feel like I've been robbed? A little bit. Considering all the money I've spent on games that weren't worth the box they came in, I don't feel too bad about this one. But I don't feel very good about it either. Good thing I can afford my indulgences.

Vaya,

[WarpStorm]

Why do you guys think any new functionality should be included in a patch? Bug fixes, yes. New functionality could be done in a patch, but why should a company (any company) do that? It doesn't make any business sense to do that. Programmers and artists cost money to keep around. Lots of money. Having them work on a patch is the last thing you want them to do. As an employer you would much rather have them working on the next paying project rather than spending your money working on the last one that isn't bringing you any more money in.

Firaxis is far from the worst. Broodwar added what 3 units for the price. The Sims just keeps adding expansion after expansion and there really isn't anything different (plus you'll have to pay a monthly fee to play it MP).

Firaxis has to pay their bills, and putting lots of new features in patches isn't the way to do it.

Oh yeah, as Zulu said in the beginning of this thread, I wouldn't delete it permanently from my system for $50.

[zulu9812]

I am, however, somewhat peeved that they didn't bother to give us pedia entries + icons for the 'extra' units. Those 'extras' were my main reason for buying PTW, and it's pretty shabby.

[Childeric]

hmmm how come I never see anyone mention the "move stacked units in 1 click" feature?

or maybe it is mentioned but I missed it...

anyway, I love it! moving 70 tanks with Civ 3 was a real pain, with PtW it's just one click )

I think they should add the "name your army" feature, à la Red Alert/Warcraft etc... Alt 1, Ctrl 1, yes )

[zulu9812]

You could do that with 1.29f civ3. The addition in PTW is that you have a choice between moving all units in the til (J) or all units in the tile of the type currently selected (Ctrl-J). However, stacked movement with ships is annoying. If passing within one tile of an enemy vessel, or an enemy unit on the coast, the ships only move two at a time. It's really annoying.

[alva]

In fact, in PTW you can (re)name any unit...

[piratebrun]

I'll say it is worth 20 squids.

Unless it's the one that got Hagbard... I mean Cap'n Nemo ;P