Civilization V

[Kalah]

Civ 5 is getting rave reviews over here in Norway, and I'd love to just buy it from Amazonright now, since I loved Civ 4 (including the expansions) - even though the web MP didn't work.

I won't buy it, though, since it requires Steam to be installed.

[Kristo]

I heard you need a massively powerful computer to run it.

[Pol]

Demo should be already out.

No idea. 3cores and 3GHz with DX11 (fe ATI HD5670) should suffice, like for most of today's articles.

[OliverFA]

Why don't you just download the demo and try by yourself?

I have to say the game looks impressive. Nothing against the effort put in it. But still trying to decide if I like the design. Probably I will wait until some expansions are out and buy some complete version.

[TheUndeadKing]

I heard they changed the unit placement system to prevent creating stacks of doom (1 unit per tile or something like that). I don't know how it works (feel free to fill me/us in), but it sounds like a major change which is very interesting.

[Banedon]

What the heck ...

And I already have so many games on the to-buy list, from SC2 to GW2 to Civ 5 to Heroes 6. This is going to suck.

[Tress]

Not really a big civ fan, but mixing tactic elements like shooting over square(specially with units that are prior to howitzers) and 1 unit per square seems so unciv like.

[MistWeaver]

I won't buy it, though, since it requires Steam to be installed.

I wonder if installing some middleware ever stopped you from playing the game. Baaah, this game requires PhysX, screw it!

I mean, what's the problem ? It's not starforce that messes things on kernel level in your OS, and you don't have any control over it.
It's just a shop/community client program.

[TheUndeadKing]

I kind of agree, there's nothing wrong with Steam, except for the $=€ stupidity. I'll probably wait a (long) while for the price to come down.

Physx, on the other hand, is the sole reason I'm NOT buying an nVidia card for a good, good while.

[Ethric]

I mean, what's the problem ? It's not starforce that messes things on kernel level in your OS, and you don't have any control over it.
It's just a shop/community client program.

Having to run a combined advertisement, surveillance and who know what else third party program to run a game is a bit of a put off.

[Kalah]

Yes, and this requires the connection to be open all the time, doesn't it? You (who know about law stuff) can find out for us what the Norwegian Consumer bureau think about that. This is a game made for standard play on a standard PC; is it allowed to require a web connetion? I could understand if it was an MMORPG, but ...

[Ethric]

I'm not sure if it requires a constant connection, think I read somewhere that it didn't. But they can make it however they like; you don't have to buy it.

[TheUndeadKing]

I believe the single player portion doesn't require a constant internet connection. You only need internet connection to activate your product on Steam. Once activated and updated, Steam's Offline Mode will be available for your game.

[Banedon]

Houston, we've got a problem.

It seems Civ 5 will be like Galactic Civilizations, except that one game takes very very very very very long to finish. I wonder if the game's my cup of tea then. Long games aren't very much in my style. Although I enjoyed time spent on GalCiv, there were times when I was just in a hurry to get things over with. Too much micromanagement was terrible, and the extremely long pace detracted from the game as well. From the reviews, Civ 5 will be the same (they are from the same 4x genre, after all) and you won't be able to play hotseat, which means I won't be able to play with my brothers easily since we can't rotate players while doing something else. Like, they are already quite reluctant to play Sins of a Solar Empire, which is a mesh of 4x and RTS, a game of which lasts a "mere" 2 hours or less. Furthermore, I did have a rather bad experience with Colonization.

This game simply might not be for me

[ThunderTitan]

Having to run a combined advertisement, surveillance and who know what else third party program to run a game is a bit of a put off.

I for one haven't seen any advertisements on Steam unless you go into the store section...

Of course i am against the fact that you need another program running to play your games... but Steam has gotten to a point where it's not as bothersome as other DRM.

And you only need to be online when you first register the game, after that you can just use offline mode.

[Ethric]

It's not just the running another program-thing (I suppose all DRM can be seen that way), but it's the constant checking up and possibility of shutting you down. And ss with many things, it's as much to do with the principle of the thing as the inconvinience.

Anyway, the game suffers from some pretty bad design decisions, and isn't up to the hype at all. Worst of all, it's consoleized; evident in the UI among other things.

[ThunderTitan]

I think the UI is the last thing you don't want to be simplified... UI's aren't supposed to be complicated.

And Steam in offline mode (with no net connection too perhaps, i heard it might communicate with the servers even in offline mode if it can) doesn't check on you... though it's true that they can shut down your whole account over one game, which is retarded... which reminds me, i should start making new accounts if i ever get other games...

[Ethric]

I think the UI is the last thing you don't want to be simplified... UI's aren't supposed to be complicated.

I didn't say that either. But in a Civ-game, information should be readily avaliable. They have made it clumsier. True, anything new is usually clumsier until you get used to it, but the city screen for one is far worse. have to click on separate buttons to get any sort of info, whereas Civ IV have almost all the info right there, no need to go into submenus.

[Kalah]

I'm really disappointed with that, because I enjoyed Civ 4 very much, and I was looking forward to the next instalment of the series. The good reviews didn't do anything to stop that desire, of course. On the other hand, if it's got this stupid online/check-up program thing, I would be loathe to buy it anyway - so it is perhaps better if the game itself is not any good.

[ThunderTitan]

have to click on separate buttons to get any sort of info, whereas Civ IV have almost all the info right there, no need to go into submenus.

Well that's not exactly consolization...