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Tropico 5 |OT| Top Banana Republic Man

Jintor

Member
The review embargo is up as of 4pm today. Here's my review, a 4 out of 5:



You can read the rest of it here: http://www.savingcontent.com/2014/05/22/tropico-5-review/

Most definitely. Even with all the additions I find myself falling back into the traditional "Tech to raw resources, tech to industry, boom/bust as ships come in and out"

However, the trade features are par excellent, at least in terms of improving cash flow. Feels like diplomacy has been nerfed, or at least rendered inconsequential though.

Haven't tried sandbox yet.
 

Emerson

May contain jokes =>
Wait so does it not come out tomorrow in the US? GMG says tomorrow. The OT says 23rd for "Global" and 27th for "US," whatever that means.
 

Shahadan

Member
Nuuvem is already sending the keys....but wrong key in my case....

Apparently they gave retail DVD keys...I guess they'll fix that.
I downloaded the installer from nuuvem in the mean time (to the right of your serial, open in a new tab) installed, put the code in the kalypso installer and it worked. Playing right now.
It shouldn't have worked I guess but I won't complain.

I don't know how I'll put the game into steam if they don't provide a new key :s
 

Shahadan

Member
The only time I had trouble with Nuuvem was with Saints Row 4 because it was region locked and nobody knew. They sent email in english to everybody and gave a key for the specific region to everyone. IIRC it was in time too.
I hope they'll do the same here.

On topic, I'm quite lost with the new UI. In 4 I felt it was perfect and things were placed mostly where I wanted. It was easy to use. It's kinda hard to switch to 5.
Also a few things seem to have strangely disappeared. There is no filter for employment and some other stuff anymore.
I can see it being a problem with big cities.
 

hythloday

Member
Most excellent OT, Presidente!

Not available on Steam yet, so I patiently wait.

I'm hopeful that the 5th installment won't poke the same sore spots on me that Tropico 4 did after the Modern Times expansion - The mandatory replacement of buildings with sometimes-ugly modern counterparts. For example once you unlocked the skyscrapers that replaced apartments, that was all you could build for apartments unless you went for tenements or conventillos. I like planning out cities with nice aesthetics, and the skyscrapers fit very well for a "downtown" area but not for all over the place. The old apartments were so nice.

With the 'Era' system I'm not so sure it will be different, but here's hoping. I'm probably going to spend way too much time with this game over the weekend.
 

Shahadan

Member
can any of you nuuvem bros let us know when they've sorted things out?

An admin posted this on their forum :

Hi Guys,

Just confirming. Due to a miscommunication between Nuuvem and Kalypso, we didn't receive a Steam key for Tropico 5 and, in fact, all of those who pre-purchased Tropico 5 we'll not be able to activate their respective keys on Steam.

We are working to solve this issue at this moment, so please be patient. I'll keep you posted as soon as we have more news.

So we'll have to wait a bit.
I don't know what they'll do. Since it works without Steam, if they replace the key they'll essentially give away two copies of the game right?
 

Scotch

Member
Most excellent OT, Presidente!

Not available on Steam yet, so I patiently wait.

I'm hopeful that the 5th installment won't poke the same sore spots on me that Tropico 4 did after the Modern Times expansion - The mandatory replacement of buildings with sometimes-ugly modern counterparts. For example once you unlocked the skyscrapers that replaced apartments, that was all you could build for apartments unless you went for tenements or conventillos. I like planning out cities with nice aesthetics, and the skyscrapers fit very well for a "downtown" area but not for all over the place. The old apartments were so nice.

With the 'Era' system I'm not so sure it will be different, but here's hoping. I'm probably going to spend way too much time with this game over the weekend.
Heh, I'm exactly the same way as you. I also didn't like the look of those modern apartment buildings and condo's in Modern Times. I made a habit of quickly building the old style apartments before I got stuck with the ugly new ones.
 

hythloday

Member
I made a habit of quickly building the old style apartments before I got stuck with the ugly new ones.

Me too! I liked to use them to house workers for the touristy "beach" areas, so as soon as I could I unlocked them and built a bunch. Was expensive, but my cities looked nicer.
 

Jintor

Member
Huh, it's currently topping the Top Sellers list on Steam. Surprising - outpacing Wolfenstine, Watch Dawgs and Transistor, though I assume they spiked earlier.
 

Shengar

Member
Huh, it's currently topping the Top Sellers list on Steam. Surprising - outpacing Wolfenstine, Watch Dawgs and Transistor, though I assume they spiked earlier.

El Presidente is popular in the third world countries!
Actually, I don't know
 
Ars Technica posted a review:

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2014/05/tropico-5-review-empire-building-with-a-bit-too-much-guidance/

Their main complaint:

Rewards in Tropico 5 come mostly from following orders, not from understanding how the game's systems work and how to best exploit them. It all ends up feeling like the strategy game equivalent of Skyrim’s excessive quest arrows or Far Cry 3’s overenthusiastic mini-map. A game overlay tells you exactly what to do instead of encouraging direct engagement with the game world.

Though "quests" were present in Tropico 4, apparently they're worse here somehow:

Loading up Tropico 4 gave me my answer almost immediately. While Tropico 5 fails by trying to push players down specific paths, Tropico 4 (and other successful city-builders, like Banished) succeed by giving players the information they need in order to make their own choices. This is an object lesson in how too much extrinsic motivation can be bad for a game, just as Banished demonstrated how a lack of extrinsic motivation weakens a game.

Anyone who's played Tropico 5 already, thoughts on the review? Is that a legit concern you have or a bizarre critique?

EDIT: Should also mention apparently some comments are saying the "quest" structure is there even in sandbox. True?
 

chubigans

y'all should be ashamed
Ars Technica posted a review:

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2014/05/tropico-5-review-empire-building-with-a-bit-too-much-guidance/

Their main complaint:



Though "quests" were present in Tropico 4, apparently they're worse here somehow:



Anyone who's played Tropico 5 already, thoughts on the review? Is that a legit concern you have or a bizarre critique?

EDIT: Should also mention apparently some comments are saying the "quest" structure is there even in sandbox. True?

Those are excellent points in the review. There's a very fine balance to telling the player what to do, and giving the player enough info for them to decide what to do.
 

Interfectum

Member
Ars Technica posted a review:

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2014/05/tropico-5-review-empire-building-with-a-bit-too-much-guidance/

Their main complaint:



Though "quests" were present in Tropico 4, apparently they're worse here somehow:



Anyone who's played Tropico 5 already, thoughts on the review? Is that a legit concern you have or a bizarre critique?

EDIT: Should also mention apparently some comments are saying the "quest" structure is there even in sandbox. True?

That doesn't sound good at all.
 

Shahadan

Member
I've played sandbox for an hour now. Yes quests are here too, which is weird.
Also I haven't tried yet to reach the second Era without quests but it seems rather complicated to do so, as you need specific requirement and quests help you on that front.

Otherwise some of them will still pop as a exclamation mark and can be ignored as in tropico 4.

But for now I'll agree that I'm super confused about how the mechanics work and the tutorial didn't help me either, while in Tropico 4 I knew what I was doing and the game explained it rather well. I4ll see if the campaign can fix that but it looks like the game is designed that way.

Overall I just want to go back to 4 for now. My worst fears became true D:
I don't like a lot of the changes they made, and the game feels awfully different yet still the same. OST is a downgrade too. I don't like having a research tree, I don't like having to switch eras to to anything worth my time, I don't like being locked out of any useful building until I reach the next Era, I don't like the fog of war, I don't like dynasties, I don't like the fact I can't control my Presidente anymore, blah blah blah.
Colonial Era especially feels so pointless it's not even funny.

Most of the changes feel like useless artificial barriers to me and worse, feel designed to accomodate multiplayer.
 

Meier

Member
I just hope for the love of god that they've fixed the construction workers. Please, please, please make them more efficient. PLEASE. No number of garages is enough to get those fuckers off their lazy asses.
 

SJRB

Gold Member
I just hope for the love of god that they've fixed the construction workers. Please, please, please make them more efficient. PLEASE. No number of garages is enough to get those fuckers off their lazy asses.

By far the worst and most irritating part of Tropico 4.

I'll never understand the "logic" behind the construction mechanism, pretty sure it's completely broken.
 
By far the worst and most irritating part of Tropico 4.

I'll never understand the "logic" behind the construction mechanism, pretty sure it's completely broken.

I always "solved" the problem by spamming construction offices all over the city and just planning ahead of time. As in, I never built a building with the expectation that it would be available within 10 minutes.

I think that's how you were supposed to do construction offices? I managed to complete the campaign in T4 that way.
 

Mrbob

Member
If you have the quick dry cement DLC it helps greatly with building. Speeds up build time plus gives construction workers a skill boost. It is the first major building I constructed. Without it though yeah building anything is awful.
 

spiritfox

Member
If you have the quick dry cement DLC it helps greatly with building. Speeds up build time plus gives construction workers a skill boost. It is the first major building I constructed. Without it though yeah building anything is awful.

Always get another Construction Office ASAP, and keep them fully staffed all the time. Also, building roads to the destination and a nearby garage so they can get a car if they need to go do other stuff helps a lot.
 

Vlodril

Member
Is this game only 115 mega? I installed it but i keep getting that i am missing the executable. Is it not out perhaps and its the preloading?

When i go to the steam folder i do not see many files or an .exe

I see its a widespread issue. nvm then.
 

Shahadan

Member
Update from Nuuvem :

We are awaiting for a reply from publisher in order to check if it's possible to send us a small Steam batch, so we would be able to provide Steam keys for all of those who purchased Tropico 5 on Nuuvem until May 23. This reply may take a couple of days, most probable on next week.


Zhizor, em 23 Mai 2014 - 5:44 PM, disse:
Well, that sucks.

Sadly, the only thing we can do now is wait and hope que They get back to us as soon as possible.

It would be awesome if the previous admin wrote que Could Get back here and confirm if we can use the retail-key or not while They are fixing the Steam problem.



We don't see any problem with that. Feel free to download and use the key on game launcher after installation while we are working on this.

:s
 
Anyone managed to get into a multiplayer game? It keeps giving me a "No connection" error.

EDIT: The multiplayer servers are up and running now.
 
Wow, $40 is now €45? That's some massive bullshit regional pricing, even worse than the $=€ shenanigans that plagues Steam so much. I'm leaving this one unbought until a sale comes up.
 

Phinor

Member
Wow, $40 is now €45? That's some massive bullshit regional pricing, even worse than the $=€ shenanigans that plagues Steam so much. I'm leaving this one unbought until a sale comes up.

That's not new, Kalypso has been using $40 = 45€ for years. Needless to say I've never paid 45€ for a Kalypso game thanks to that ridiculous regional pricing.
 
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