Oh gawd.
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Simcity, it's actually a very well made game.
- Thread starter imjust1n
- Start date
Oh gawd.
YodaGoneMad
Banned
Even worse now that the early game is forced to run at slow speed. What used to take me 30 minutes is now 1+ hours.
SteveWinwood
Member
Unstoppable Lionheart
Banned
Came in to say this.
Even though it's meant I haven't been able to play my game, I'm glad this whole shitstorm happened, and wouldn't even mind it if it even got a little worse. This fiasco, combined with what happened with Diablo 3, has to give both EA and others pause in using this in the future. You'd think.
To the game itself, yeah, it is pretty good, and is actually as (or more) deep as any other SC when you take on the task of managing multiple cities in your region. You can manage 16 cities at once, and share services, workers, shoppers, etc. between them. That is a level of management that goes beyond anything in the previous games. Sure, I would also like to have the option to make a sprawling big city of 1,000,000 people, but you'd be wrong if you're trying to paint this game as over-simplified kid shit. I certainly don't agree with every design decision the game made, but it's not The Sims, nor is it SimCity Societies 2.
To the game itself, yeah, it is pretty good, and is actually as (or more) deep as any other SC when you take on the task of managing multiple cities in your region. You can manage 16 cities at once, and share services, workers, shoppers, etc. between them. That is a level of management that goes beyond anything in the previous games. Sure, I would also like to have the option to make a sprawling big city of 1,000,000 people, but you'd be wrong if you're trying to paint this game as over-simplified kid shit. I certainly don't agree with every design decision the game made, but it's not The Sims, nor is it SimCity Societies 2.
QisTopTier
XisBannedTier
Think he's getting payed 16 cents per post?
That's about right. I should take a screenshot in SimCity 4 for comparison purposes.
I reckon smaller. Maybe the buildings are just larger now but it feels tiny.
I'm guessing there won't be a sale on simcity 4 for a long time.
SteveWinwood
Member
Subterranean
Member
SillyEskimo
Member
Wow. Holy shit.
I still havent played it [after D3 i'm not buying such stuff at launch], but from what i've seen and learned, its actually the way Simcity should evolve.
Its great base for new SimCity series, because of all micro-simulation stuff and i actually like idea of regions having connected cities.
Just image next one that have Regions that allows for 32 cities that are 3 times larger and those regions are connected with others to create small country/continent/planet and allow for global economy to be simulated and have stock market etc, it would be amazing.
And having micro-simulation and economy allows for sims to craft items with resources they gather/earn and other stuff that affect economy from micro to macro scale.
I really love direction this game could go with those new systems, they just need to get basics right, like city size and interaction and servers.
Its great base for new SimCity series, because of all micro-simulation stuff and i actually like idea of regions having connected cities.
Just image next one that have Regions that allows for 32 cities that are 3 times larger and those regions are connected with others to create small country/continent/planet and allow for global economy to be simulated and have stock market etc, it would be amazing.
And having micro-simulation and economy allows for sims to craft items with resources they gather/earn and other stuff that affect economy from micro to macro scale.
I really love direction this game could go with those new systems, they just need to get basics right, like city size and interaction and servers.
ebullientprism
Member
I am going with Viral marketeer. I refuse to believe any fan would go through such lengths to do damage control.
Ya, and playing a local co-op game by myself with 1 controller in each hand is challenging as well. Does it feel like they actually want you to do that by yourself? From what I have seen it just becomes a point of making specialized cities to feed your main one when there's no one else to play with you, and if there is the frustration comes from him not doing what you need for your city to develop properly.
There certainly not a feeling of a sprawling region all happening at once when you have to be jumping from one city to the next without managing all the systems at the same time. to me that's artificial complexity. The game might be deeper than many people give it credit for, but the size and compartmentalization only works as a disadvantage when playing by yourself.
TheGreyHulk
Member
I've played the game twice since I bought it @ launch, but both times I played for about 3 hours each session. It's a serious time sink, which is a good thing.
always on / server issues are obvious negatives, so i won't bother discussing those.
city size is also an obvious negative because it is too small and the whole "just play as another city too" statement is a bull shit excuse. the cities are too small and when your city grows, it shows. there just isn't enough space in a city to keep your residents as far away from your "dirty" areas like we used to do in SC4. the non seamless borders are also a huge "WTF" for me.
outside of these 3 big issues, the gameplay itself is actually very fun for me even with cheetah mode disabled right now. playing with online neighbors does improve your experience with this iteration of simcity. i loved being able to start a city in an established region and being able to buy water/power/sewage directly from neighbors and the best part of it is that you don't have to constantly up your demand for those services. it's done automatically which is great. you can lend your cops/fire/trash/recycling trucks to other cities and you can even share health/education over the region which is a HUGE plus IMO.
education is handled much better as well. i hated the way it was in sc4. you had to plop down schools every other block and you couldn't upgrade your schools. it was terrible. i've only used the elementary + high school in my city, but it was a very smooth experience. I had just 1 grade school + 1 high school in a city with about 60K residents. The best part was being able to use school bus stops to manage education coverage instead of having to have a school right next to a group of houses to cover them as done in SC4. not enough capacity? upgrade and add more... need more school buses? upgrade and add more. it's awesome!
I was building an oil tycoon town and i love the city specializations menu and the whole upgrading buildings thing. its very well done.
i would go on and on, but i'm at work... so..
the game itself is very good IMO... BUT there are obvious flaws with the servers, city size and being forced to play with others to get the full experience, but the gameplay itself is solid.
if i were to rate it, it'd give it a 8/10 for the gameplay.
can't wait to play more... i hope the servers aren't fucked still when i get home
always on / server issues are obvious negatives, so i won't bother discussing those.
city size is also an obvious negative because it is too small and the whole "just play as another city too" statement is a bull shit excuse. the cities are too small and when your city grows, it shows. there just isn't enough space in a city to keep your residents as far away from your "dirty" areas like we used to do in SC4. the non seamless borders are also a huge "WTF" for me.
outside of these 3 big issues, the gameplay itself is actually very fun for me even with cheetah mode disabled right now. playing with online neighbors does improve your experience with this iteration of simcity. i loved being able to start a city in an established region and being able to buy water/power/sewage directly from neighbors and the best part of it is that you don't have to constantly up your demand for those services. it's done automatically which is great. you can lend your cops/fire/trash/recycling trucks to other cities and you can even share health/education over the region which is a HUGE plus IMO.
education is handled much better as well. i hated the way it was in sc4. you had to plop down schools every other block and you couldn't upgrade your schools. it was terrible. i've only used the elementary + high school in my city, but it was a very smooth experience. I had just 1 grade school + 1 high school in a city with about 60K residents. The best part was being able to use school bus stops to manage education coverage instead of having to have a school right next to a group of houses to cover them as done in SC4. not enough capacity? upgrade and add more... need more school buses? upgrade and add more. it's awesome!
I was building an oil tycoon town and i love the city specializations menu and the whole upgrading buildings thing. its very well done.
i would go on and on, but i'm at work... so..
the game itself is very good IMO... BUT there are obvious flaws with the servers, city size and being forced to play with others to get the full experience, but the gameplay itself is solid.
if i were to rate it, it'd give it a 8/10 for the gameplay.
can't wait to play more... i hope the servers aren't fucked still when i get home
graywolf323
Member
the beta didn't impress me so it'll be quite a while (or whenever it goes on sale cheap) before I pick up SimCity
one man band defense force
one man band defense force
LonelyGreyWolf
Banned
Holy shit.
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Yeah, it's in a sense very easy to salvage: get more, higher quality servers up and running this game, keep all features on, and I'm sure it'd be undoubtedly a pretty good game even if there's some disappointments relative to prior SimCity titles. Not like it's broken at a fundamental programming level far as I can tell.
This is probably the most legitimate reason to think he really is something other than a blind fanboy, haha.
SteveWinwood
Member
I've heard a few things along those lines (numbers just clearly not adding up, certain pathing being fucked) but this stuff has overshadowed all that, and anyone who wants to really test it and try those out obviously have a hard time getting into the game to see.
I'm not sure if this is the joke you're making, but Maxis did actually make a SimTown in the 90s.
Mr. Poolman
Member
Hey hey!
I want some of that sweet EA money!
What do I have to do?
I want some of that sweet EA money!
What do I have to do?
Yeah, I think the joke is that Sim City 5 is more like SimTown than an actual Sim City game; which is a real shame.
BolognaSoup
Member
Completely agree. We can't just say "server trouble aside the game is great." The mere fact the game requires server connection is the very reason why the maps are so small to begin with. The map is friggin 2km square for crying out loud. People were filling it in the 1 hour beta alone. The lack of terraforming is also heartbreaking.
The arbitrary borders around the little cities with perfectly good, buildable land RIGHT THERE is just so stupid and awkward.
Stop promoting the game, apparently.
No just support good games.
la flama blanca
Banned
What else do you play?
Terra Firma
Banned
Well played.
JakkuFurosu
Member
SolsticeZero
Banned
Beat me to it.
TheNatural
My Member!
Jibbajabbawockky
Member
I actually really liked what I played in the Beta but what would keep me from ever buying SimCity beyond being terribly broken right now, is that 1.) the cities are too damn small, 2.) No terraforming.
If they made the cities much bigger and added in terraforming (maybe with subways and more mass transit options) then I'd likely get it.
If they made the cities much bigger and added in terraforming (maybe with subways and more mass transit options) then I'd likely get it.
spindoctor
Member
I don't think that's right. The reason for the small city size is because of the overly complex simulation system going on in the game. Still, the tiny city size is a crippling flaw in the game. It's a bigger problem than the always online thing IMO.
Viral marketer. There's not enough glue to sniff to become that disconnected with reality...
Even if the expansion packs each will be 20 dollars?
that's not really an "if"