Civilization V Impressions

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Asharak
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Civilization V Impressions

Post by Asharak »

***Impressions begin on Page 2 (you're surprised?), at this post***

Since Lorini asked so nicely, here's a new thread to discuss Civilization V, post-release, rather than making people sift through thirteen pages of preview comments to get to the good stuff.

In an effort to make this thread not totally useless until tomorrow, here's a probably-incomplete compilation of links to reviews and other useful things that have been mentioned in the preview thread (I'll try to keep this updated past tomorrow, but no promises):

Official site and PDF manual.

CivFanatics: Civ5 Confirmed Features and Versions (retailer-specific ordering information is in this post)
CivFanatics: Civ5 Playthru Gallery
Arioch's Civ 5 Analyst
Sulla's Civ5 report

Tips & Tricks

How to Disable the Intro Video:
Exodor, courtesy of SA, wrote:Go to C:\Users\USERNAME\Documents\My Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 5 (For Vista/Win7) and load UserSettings. Search for SkipIntroVideo and change it to 1. SkipIntroVideo = 1
Note that the intro video is just a cover for the game to finish loading, though. Disabling it will cause you to look at a blank screen, instead, for the 15 or so seconds the game needs. The video is skippable even if you don't disable it - it just doesn't respond to the skip request until loading is finished.

Gameplay Videos
2K Livestream: Part 1 & Part 2
Gamespot

Reviews (Metacritic page)
The Escapist
Joystiq
Game Informer
Destructoid
Gaming Nexus
ShackNews
GameTrailers
IGN
PC Gamer
Wall Street Journal (seriously? the WSJ reviews videogames now?)
Wired
Computer and Video Games
Ars Technica
PC Mag
Cheat Code Central
EuroGamer
GameShark
Strategy Informer
VideoGamer
Tom Chick: 1UP review; Ten Cool Things; AI War Issues; Singapore Mon Amour

Those of you who are so inclined now have approximately 27 hours to get this thread to page two.

- Ash
Last edited by Asharak on Thu Sep 30, 2010 10:11 am, edited 14 times in total.
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Re: Civilization V Impressions [None Yet!]

Post by The Meal »

Best. Release Day. Thread. Start. Ever.

Nicely done, Ash.
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Re: Civilization V Impressions [None Yet!]

Post by tgb »

From the WSJ review:
Every leader sounds like Orson Welles.
I can't wait to encounter Queen Elizabeth.
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Re: Civilization V Impressions [None Yet!]

Post by Carpet_pissr »

Wired review (8/10):

http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2010/09/r ... than-ever/" target="_blank
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Re: Civilization V Impressions [None Yet!]

Post by whispa »

Nice job posting info on the game, thanks Ash!
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Re: Civilization V Impressions [None Yet!]

Post by Jeff V »

The performance of the manual really sucks on my non-quad-core laptop. I hope this doesn't bode ill for performance on my equally non-quad-core gaming computer.
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Re: Civilization V Impressions [None Yet!]

Post by whispa »

Just watched the Gamespot video. Was the guy doing the interview annoying or what with his little "right" "yup" etc...heh
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Re: Civilization V Impressions [None Yet!]

Post by tgb »

Jeff V wrote:The performance of the manual really sucks on my non-quad-core laptop. I hope this doesn't bode ill for performance on my equally non-quad-core gaming computer.
You can always check out the demo. Oh, wait.
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Re: Civilization V Impressions [None Yet!]

Post by neofit »

From all those who have to wait ... (Alt-Tab, F5) ... "approximately 2 days and 16 hours": we hate you!

Edit: I thought I'd be clever and use the office printer to print the manual in the meantime. WTF? 233 pages? Not worth the risk :).
Last edited by neofit on Tue Sep 21, 2010 3:22 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Civilization V Impressions [None Yet!]

Post by TiLT »

neofit wrote:From all those who have to wait ... (Alt-Tab, F5) ... "approximately 2 days and 16 hours": we hate you!
Amen!
Insert witty comment here.
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Re: Civilization V Impressions [None Yet!]

Post by gbasden »

7 hours to go!
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Re: Civilization V Impressions [None Yet]

Post by Asharak »

Ars Technica review is posted. Sadly, no time to read it just yet, so no quotes.

EDIT> Now with quotes. I'm quoting a lot here because this an excellent review, with a level of specificity and detail far superior to the other reviews I've read so far. Do the site a favour and click-through, at least, so the convenience of these quotes doesn't cost them their well-deserved page views.
Civ5 [is] as addictive, if not more so, than its predecessors.

[...]

The game hasn't lost its lighthearted sense of humor [...] in 2000 BC Goethe or another famous cultural figure might anachronistically publish a list ranking the world's civilizations in categories like "People That Like to Smile the Most" or "People With the Pointiest Sticks."

[...]

[T]he game still flies you to the necessary location to give orders to combat units or workers, but there is generally much less attention-hijacking on the part of the interface [...] It feels much better

[...]

Expansion happens somewhat more slowly in Civ5 [...] keeping the cities to a reasonable number helps keep the game from getting overwrought.

[...]

The geographical location of cities in the game are a bigger point of diplomatic contention [...] just settling a city a little too close to another civ, not even letting the borders touch, almost always immediately triggers a serious message [...] you are allowed to be similarly paranoid: one of your default diplomatic phrases to say to other leaders is "Don't build cities near us."

[...]

There is now a nifty new interface that allows the player to purchase tiles adjacent to the city's current borders for a fee ranging between fifty and a few hundred gold. It's unclear how the prices are set (occasionally it seems like the game will try to gouge you just because it knows you have quite a bit of gold languishing in the kitty

[...]

All units have a set number of hit points, or "strength," that can be augmented by bonuses, and each unit is strong enough that evenly matched enemies take two to four turns to defeat each other.

[...]

Without stacking, arranging units for an attack on a specific tile becomes an exercise in choreography. [...] The game will help you out a little by voiding tiles as destinations if you've already scheduled a unit to move there in a few turns.

[...]

Few things in Civ are more true to life than the diplomacy dealings. [...] [C]ivs can now enter research agreements with each other, where each pays 250 gold and shares the next tech they discover with the other civ. [...] t can be irksome to have to renew a small deal, like one for mutual open borders, with a continually friendly nation every time it expires.

[...]

With the addition of city-states, there are so many more diplomatic entities to deal with that it creates these realistically complicated social webs that must be navigated. [...] [C]ity-states that have a beef with each other will ask civs to eliminate their enemy, and players suffer no penalty if they don't do as the city-state asks. But if you agree to do the other city-state's dirty work, you will win influence

[...]

The [tech] tree has also been trimmed to 74 techs, down from 85 in Civ4.

[...]

The selection of included policies doesn't always make sense—for instance, there are both Freedom and Liberty policy trees, which seems like a way to squeeze in twice as many values for virtually the same social concept. [...] Overall, it seems the role of civics and social policy have been diminished; at least, they don't have the ability to effect sweeping changes like some of the civics in Civ4

[...]

Firaxis has an iffy history with first releases, and often ends up shipping titles with many bugs that must be patched soon after the game drops. During my playtime of with the latest Civ, though, I experienced few issues.

- Ash

PS> Thanks Meal, et al!
Last edited by Asharak on Tue Sep 21, 2010 8:52 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Civilization V Impressions [None Yet]

Post by tgb »

Is it 7AM PDT yet? I just went through the manual and made a list of the wonders and social policies I want to prioritize for a Cultural victory. I haven't done something like that for a game since I had hair.
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Re: Civilization V Impressions [None Yet]

Post by Holman »

Would people be sure to post anything they notice about performance (especially bad)? Thanks!
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Re: Civilization V Impressions [None Yet]

Post by Asharak »

PC Mag has the first significantly negative review:
Civilization V succeeds most when it develops these classic ideas in new ways. Chief among these is the introduction of City-States

[...]

You're now limited to one unit per tile, which makes many combats—and even merely organizing your forces—far messier and more cumbersome.

[...]

Religion and culture have been almost completely eradicated. [...] Similarly, corruption and pollution—vital elements for years—have in most cases been replaced with the general-purpose "Happiness." [...] The interplay of combinations of leader traits, which made choosing a character so crucial to victory in Civilization IV, has also been distilled

[...]

[T]hese changes feel like capitulations to the board game crowd, if not an outright acknowledgement that PC gamers are no longer interested in the multilayered intricacies on which the series has always prided itself

[...]

I prefer the more vivid palette and highly detailed strokes of the earlier games, which went further to make sure you understood what makes the real world tick

[...]

[W]hatever else may have happened, it's still Civilization, and the millennia-long struggle to assert your superiority by means technological, economic, and materialistic hasn't gotten old.
Differing opinions are just as valid but I question a couple of the criticisms raised here on the Rotten Tomatoes principle: when the vast majority of reviewers are going out of their way to praise the updated artwork and 1UPT mechanics, a review that focuses on those things as negatives seems like an outlier opinion.

That said, he also raises concerns about systems that have gotten more generally negative attention as well: religion, culture, happiness, barbarians, etc., so he's clearly not just out to lunch.

- Ash
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Re: Civilization V Impressions [None Yet]

Post by tgb »

I read that review and thought it was reasonable. I disagree that the new art style is "cartoony", but not everyone is going to care for the changes, and the reviewer is clearly one of those people.
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Re: Civilization V Impressions [None Yet]

Post by neofit »

Asharak wrote:PC Mag has the first significantly negative review:
I don't have the game yet (still need "approximately 2 days and 11 hours" plus about 17 hours for sleep and work), but when reading reviews, namely Tom Chick's "10 cool things", I had similar thoughts. Let's hope these changes resulted in a streamlined experience and not in a "dumbed down for consoles" one, as the saying goes.
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Re: Civilization V Impressions [None Yet]

Post by Asharak »

A bonus plug for that Ars Technica review that I linked earlier this morning. Having had time to read it and add some quotes to this thread, it is by far the most detailed and useful of the reviews that have been posted so far. Check it out if you have the time (it's six pages long); it's definitely worth it.

- Ash
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Re: Civilization V Impressions [None Yet]

Post by tgb »

Few things in Civ are more true to life than the diplomacy dealings. [...] [C]ivs can now enter research agreements with each other, where each pays 250 gold and shares the next tech they discover with the other civ. [...] t can be irksome to have to renew a small deal, like one for mutual open borders, with a continually friendly nation every time it expires.


I guess we'll find out in about an hour, but it sounds like you really need to know what your partner is researching before entering into one of these. Unless the gamble is going in blind.

T-58 minutes and counting.
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Re: Civilization V Impressions [None Yet]

Post by Archinerd »

Has anyone seen anything about Babylonians yet?
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Re: Civilization V Impressions [None Yet]

Post by mtkafka »

Wow we're still not on page 2... and its release day!
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Re: Civilization V Impressions [None Yet]

Post by Vorret »

mtkafka wrote:Wow we're still not on page 2... and its release day!
Well, it's not released yet...
In technicly 35 minutes.
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Re: Civilization V Impressions [None Yet]

Post by tgb »

mtkafka wrote:Wow we're still not on page 2... and its release day!
That's so 2005.
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Re: Civilization V Impressions [None Yet]

Post by mtkafka »

wtf?!? my steam had 1 hour left about 5 minutes ago... now its FOUR HOURS now.

... i hate you steam ...

:(
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Re: Civilization V Impressions [None Yet]

Post by Asharak »

And Steam's "This game will unlock message..." just disappeared. It should be out. Gentleman who are sitting at home waiting for this...please start your clients. ;)

EDIT>
mtkafka wrote:wtf?!? my steam had 1 hour left about 5 minutes ago... now its FOUR HOURS now.
Refresh it again. It did that on the website briefly and then went away completely.

- Ash
Last edited by Asharak on Tue Sep 21, 2010 10:02 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Civilization V Impressions [Soon...]

Post by Exodor »

Decrypting now! :horse:



Too bad I have to go to work in 10 minutes. :doh:
Last edited by Exodor on Tue Sep 21, 2010 10:02 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Civilization V Impressions [Soon...]

Post by The Meal »

Just exited Steam and am restarting. Cross your fingers!

Decrypting! 28%
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Re: Civilization V Impressions [Soon...]

Post by SpaceLord »

*click*
They're going to send you back to mother in a cardboard box...
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Re: Civilization V Impressions [Soon...]

Post by mtkafka »

Exodor wrote:Decrypting now! :horse:



Too bad I have to go to work in 10 minutes. :doh:
SPOKE TOO SOON!

restarted steam, its now DECRYPTING!

yay!
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Re: Civilization V Impressions [Soon...]

Post by Daveman »

Decrypting... going past 20% is taking it's time.
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Re: Civilization V Impressions [Soon...]

Post by Exodor »

Daveman wrote:Decrypting... going past 20% is taking it's time.
Yeah, stuck at 30%. At this rate it will be ready just about when I'm ready to leave for work. :x
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Re: Civilization V Impressions [Soon...]

Post by abr »

Sigh ... another 2 days 10 hours. :cry:

Well, have fun guys and make sure to post some impressions to shorten the wait for me. :)
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Re: Civilization V Impressions [Soon...]

Post by The Meal »

49% is like a Roomba at a Woot-off.
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Re: Civilization V Impressions [Soon...]

Post by tgb »

Yeah, after the first 20% it really slows down. Can't say I'm surprised. Just think how much worse it would be without the pre-load.
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Re: Civilization V Impressions [Soon...]

Post by Asharak »

Heh. CivFanatics forum "is too busy at the moment. Please try again later". I wonder why...

- Ash
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Re: Civilization V Impressions [Soon...]

Post by Debris »

10 minutes in and I'm still at 30%.
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Re: Civilization V Impressions [Soon...]

Post by Daveman »

30 > 31% is taking forever dammit :x

*edit* How sad is all this decryption updating? :P
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Re: Civilization V Impressions [Soon...]

Post by Archinerd »

Anybody won a game yet?
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Re: Civilization V Impressions [Soon...]

Post by Vorret »

lol
I'll waste my time doing that tonight :P
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Re: Civilization V Impressions [Soon...]

Post by tgb »

33% :horse:
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