Cities: Skylines II

[jztemple2]

What I got from the guy's video (including the stuff before the 55min mark) was that there are some things missing that would be nice to have, but nothing that would stop someone from playing the game. Things like not being able to change the tree types on the roads you lay down, well, I never even considered that was something that could be done anyway. Another thing was wanting to customize fences on lots you place, again not something I thought about before.

I mentioned waiting until the review embargo was lifted so we could get a broader cross-section of opinions. I'm suspecting that the tone will be that CS2 is better than the original, but could and will be even better sometime in the future. So it might just depend on whether you're wanting to play it right now as is or wait until it is even more shining and bright.

[Punisher]

What I got from the guy's video (including the stuff before the 55min mark) was that there are some things missing that would be nice to have, but nothing that would stop someone from playing the game. Things like not being able to change the tree types on the roads you lay down, well, I never even considered that was something that could be done anyway. Another thing was wanting to customize fences on lots you place, again not something I thought about before.

I mentioned waiting until the review embargo was lifted so we could get a broader cross-section of opinions. I'm suspecting that the tone will be that CS2 is better than the original, but could and will be even better sometime in the future. So it might just depend on whether you're wanting to play it right now as is or wait until it is even more shining and bright.

And now that youve planted this in my brain I really want to be able to drop cherry blossoms at will.

[Carpet_pissr]

I got the impression that as a (super?) fan of the franchise, he was pretty disappointed that they didn't even include QoL things that they not long ago added to the previous title - things that apparently the community wanted and loved. It felt like he was really tempering his...pretty obvious disappointment with a lot of those final comments.

Again, I don't mind waiting at all, and they certainly aren't the first to launch a game that needs months more work. I'm also very aware of my own personal quirk about game launches and their release state: I think it must be a form of FOMO...there are things the devs wanted to put in, and will put in, but didn't for launch bc they didn't have time. *I* want those things too, and since I am not one to go back and re-play games (though it's different for games like this, admittedly), I want to play as close to the final version of the game as possible.

But even a game like Civ...if you take say, Civ V, and were an early adopter (like me), played it on launch like I did, you were likely very disappointed coming from a very polished IV. Wait a year (or three!), and voila, a very mediocre version of Civ is now the best version - it just needed 6 total years of development instead of the three they gave it before launch.

Since I have "finite" hours to play, as well as X hours before I get burned out, I want to play the best version of something I can. If that means waiting, I have no problem with that. Yep, I am aware that that is super weird.

[Carpet_pissr]

What I got from the guy's video (including the stuff before the 55min mark) was that there are some things missing that would be nice to have, but nothing that would stop someone from playing the game. Things like not being able to change the tree types on the roads you lay down, well, I never even considered that was something that could be done anyway. Another thing was wanting to customize fences on lots you place, again not something I thought about before.

So glad you mentioned this...this is what my brain needs to read (and in general, about many things, not just about this very niche topic). I tend to get caught up on small details that can totally derail...whatever (playing and enjoying what is probably a great builder, a genre I love, in this case). Completely ignoring (or just not seeing) that I'm so focused on what most people would consider tiny or unimportant details, that I miss...the thing. Stupid brain!

When my brain processed that video, I very much heard "thing is not finished, needs this, doesn't have that, doesn't even have X, Y and Z from previous title!" and completely dismissed WHAT those things were. Customizing tree types? OK, whatever man! I really DON'T care about that. As long as the actual gameplay is there, if the non-baked parts are that minute, so be it.

As a counter-point (to myself!), Jagged Alliance 3. The things that needed "baking" in that on launch were core gameplay tweaks that launch day players missed out on, and as a result, played IMO a much worse version of JA3 than you get if you play today. Many of those players finished the game in launch state, and moved on to something else. Had they just waited, that experience would have been X times better. (or so thinketh my screwed up brain).

[Unagi]

What I got from the guy's video (including the stuff before the 55min mark) was that there are some things missing that would be nice to have, but nothing that would stop someone from playing the game. Things like not being able to change the tree types on the roads you lay down...

So glad you mentioned this...this is what my brain needs to read (and in general, about many things, not just about this very niche topic). I tend to get caught up on small details that can totally derail...whatever (playing and enjoying what is probably a great builder, a genre I love, in this case). Completely ignoring (or just not seeing) that I'm so focused on what most people would consider tiny or unimportant details, that I miss...the thing. Stupid brain!

When my brain processed that video, I very much heard "thing is not finished, needs this, doesn't have that, doesn't even have X, Y and Z from previous title!" and completely dismissed WHAT those things were. Customizing tree types? OK, whatever man!

It's okay that you read JZT and blow me off, really - I'm cool with it.

I mean, I don't really care if I can't prioritize roads at launch, nor do I need to wait until I can pick my type of trees in the parkways (for instance)

[Carpet_pissr]

What I got from the guy's video (including the stuff before the 55min mark) was that there are some things missing that would be nice to have, but nothing that would stop someone from playing the game. Things like not being able to change the tree types on the roads you lay down...

So glad you mentioned this...this is what my brain needs to read (and in general, about many things, not just about this very niche topic). I tend to get caught up on small details that can totally derail...whatever (playing and enjoying what is probably a great builder, a genre I love, in this case). Completely ignoring (or just not seeing) that I'm so focused on what most people would consider tiny or unimportant details, that I miss...the thing. Stupid brain!

When my brain processed that video, I very much heard "thing is not finished, needs this, doesn't have that, doesn't even have X, Y and Z from previous title!" and completely dismissed WHAT those things were. Customizing tree types? OK, whatever man!

It's okay that you read JZT and blow me off, really - I'm cool with it.

I mean, I don't really care if I can't prioritize roads at launch, nor do I need to wait until I can pick my type of trees in the parkways (for instance)

Recency effect, sorry! (and yes, agree with the above, though 'prioritize roads' seems like a much bigger deal than "I want my trees to be maples instead of oaks!"

[Unagi]

though 'prioritize roads' seems like a much bigger deal than "I want my trees to be maples instead of oaks!"

I agree, but it's still just not hitting that 'deal breaker' line for me.

For a game like this, I will hopefully fiddle with it for years. In the first few months, I probably won't notice some of the finer things that will then be implemented by the time I pick it back up again.

Don't get me wrong, I agree that it's a bit of a shame that they didn't think to have a few of these things as part of the game from the start.


Also, I have an unrelated question to anyone that may have an answer.

How does this guy get to release an opinion video before anyone else? I'm asking if anyone understands the nuances of the rules, etc.

[jztemple2]

Also, I have an unrelated question to anyone that may have an answer.

How does this guy get to release an opinion video before anyone else? I'm asking if anyone understands the nuances of the rules, etc.

That's a good question. Perhaps it falls under the umbrella of a preview rather than a review. Certainly if he has that many hours in the game it doesn't reflect the final product.

[Unagi]

And it certainly would seem to fly in the face of the spirit of the non-disclosure, it would seem.

[jztemple2]

Behind the Scenes #1: Modding

Greetings everyone. We have a new mini-series of development diaries as we count down to the release of Cities: Skylines II. In this series, we take you behind the scenes of development sharing some of our processes and philosophy behind certain features as well as give you a sneak peek at our plans for the future.

To start with, we’re going to talk about modding in Cities: Skylines II. While modding isn’t supported at release, we want to share what modding means to us and how we approach modding support, so you know what to expect. Modding in Cities: Skylines played an important part in making the game a success, so it was obvious to us that Cities: Skylines II also has to be moddable, and we can't wait to see what the modders come up with this time around!

[jztemple2]

Behind the Scenes #2: Editor

Hello everyone and welcome back to another development diary. Today we’re sharing our plans for the Editor in Cities: Skylines II. Currently, the game does not include the Editor, but we will update the game post-release to include it as soon as it’s out of beta testing.

From the start, we knew we wanted to include an in-depth editor powerful enough to bring your ideas to life. This time around we have a good sense of what modders and creators may need, based on all the amazing things they created for Cities: Skylines, and our goal is to support that with the new Editor currently being worked on for Cities: Skylines II. We’re developing it in close cooperation with the modding community, and while the tools are something we’ll use internally as well, the goal is to offer you the possibility to create your own content for the game. That’s what the Cities: Skylines experience is really about: Freedom to create!

[Carpet_pissr]

Also, I have an unrelated question to anyone that may have an answer.

How does this guy get to release an opinion video before anyone else? I'm asking if anyone understands the nuances of the rules, etc.

That's a good question. Perhaps it falls under the umbrella of a preview rather than a review. Certainly if he has that many hours in the game it doesn't reflect the final product.

Or could simply just be a pay to play situation. Not sure how big of a Youtube presence this guy is, but if he's making as much bank as some of the ones my kids follow, I could easily see him throwing a small/medium sized developer or publisher some serious coin to get him access. I don't get the impression that he is making obscene amounts of money from his pretty niche seeming channel, but I could be very wrong.

[jztemple2]

Cities Skylines 2 download size is 12 times bigger than CS, no preload

The Cities Skylines 2 download size is 12 times bigger than the original Cities Skylines 1, as Paradox confirms that the new city builder will not be available to preload. Paradox has previously discussed Cities Skylines 2’s performance, saying that the new game from Colossal Order has not reached internal targets, but will still be released on its original, intended date. The publisher behind Crusader Kings and Europa Universalis also outlines a new platform for Cities Skylines 2 mods and how they will be created and distributed among players.

With the Cities Skylines 2 release date almost upon us, Paradox shares the full Cities Skylines 2 download size, explaining that the city building game will be “about 50 GB at release.” CS1 meanwhile, according to official system requirements, needs 4 GB of free space. Based on official announcements, this makes the Cities Skylines 2 download size 12.5 times larger than its predecessor, and all of the upcoming Cities Skylines 2 DLC will likely add to the game’s size on your hard drive.

[Unagi]

Paradox has previously discussed Cities Skylines 2’s performance, saying that the new game from Colossal Order has not reached internal targets

Hmm. I wonder how severe that is.

[jztemple2]

Paradox has previously discussed Cities Skylines 2’s performance, saying that the new game from Colossal Order has not reached internal targets

Hmm. I wonder how severe that is.

We'll probably see that in the reviews, but for me that's a minor issue since for me the absolute quality of the graphics isn't as important as that it be good enough for enjoyment in playing the game. For instance, I'm still enjoying American Truck Simulator even though the quality of the graphics is years behind what is now considered cutting edge.

[Unagi]

Paradox has previously discussed Cities Skylines 2’s performance, saying that the new game from Colossal Order has not reached internal targets

Hmm. I wonder how severe that is.

We'll probably see that in the reviews, but for me that's a minor issue since for me the absolute quality of the graphics isn't as important as that it be good enough for enjoyment in playing the game. For instance, I'm still enjoying American Truck Simulator even though the quality of the graphics is years behind what is now considered cutting edge.

Interesting that your mind goes to graphics performance.

I’m picturing maybe something like large cities causing cpu problems for lower end machines, for example.

[jztemple2]

Paradox has previously discussed Cities Skylines 2’s performance, saying that the new game from Colossal Order has not reached internal targets

Hmm. I wonder how severe that is.

We'll probably see that in the reviews, but for me that's a minor issue since for me the absolute quality of the graphics isn't as important as that it be good enough for enjoyment in playing the game. For instance, I'm still enjoying American Truck Simulator even though the quality of the graphics is years behind what is now considered cutting edge.

Interesting that your mind goes to graphics performance.

I’m picturing maybe something like large cities causing cpu problems for lower end machines, for example.

That's a very good point you make and I confess that I tend to think of only graphics performance due to games I've played recently like Starfield or Assassin's Creed Mirage. But you're right, CS2 will probably be processor intensive due to trying to track all those little pops. Your statement makes me think of games (which sadly I can't remember the name of now ) which warned you that once your population reached X you would start seeing significant slowdown.

Was the first Cities Skylines sensitive to population size? I honestly can't remember.

[jztemple2]

Behind the Scenes #3: Game Balancing

Hi everyone! We are back with another development diary for Cities: Skylines II and today is all about the game balancing. We want to give you a peek behind the curtain as we discuss our guiding principles and challenges in balancing Cities: Skylines II. Striking the right balance is always a challenge, but reaching a good balance for the various features is an important part of how the game plays and feels, and we believe it is especially important in simulation games.

[naednek]

Ign review. 6/10

https://www.ign.com/articles/cities-sky ... G5r85GBs8g

Sent from my Pixel 7 Pro using Tapatalk

[Unagi]

Not a great review, for sure. Especially the final words about feeling like very early Early Access.

I've got it pre-ordered so I will know soon enough, but I suspect I will be more generous than that review - but I'm starting to wonder.


I will say this though, these developers seem to be very much behind the game so I think in the end it will be a fun title.

[coopasonic]

Gamepass so I will be checking it out, though Spider-man 2 comes first (no, not on GamePass!).

[baelthazar]

RPS review - basically “if you own the first one and DLC, you are going a step back.”

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/cities ... s-2-review

[naednek]

Not a great review, for sure. Especially the final words about feeling like very early Early Access.

I've got it pre-ordered so I will know soon enough, but I suspect I will be more generous than that review - but I'm starting to wonder.


I will say this though, these developers seem to be very much behind the game so I think in the end it will be a fun title.

I'm playing it on gaming pass. If it sucks, it's fine. I personally think the base game will be fine, and overtime get better. If we're this forgiving for Starfield, we should be the same for this.

[jztemple2]

From PC Gamer, Cities: Skylines 2 review. Numeric score of 77

The city builder sequel is packed with big improvements but a fair share of disappointments.

[jztemple2]

From PCGamesN, Cities Skylines 2 review – bigger, not better, score 7/10

Intricate, intuitive, and ambitious, Cities Skylines 2 successfully integrates all the major improvements that players might have wanted. Something personal is lost in its larger scale, while performance problems spoil the beauty, but this could one day become the superior city building game.

Yeah, since I don't have Game Pass, and have other things to play, I'm going to postpone even considering buying this until we get some more positive impressions after some updates.

[Unagi]

I've watched a small handful of YouTube videos of gameplay -- and frankly, it looks pretty good from what I saw. Obviously, that's pretty meaningless, but I'm just sharing that my impressions were slightly buttressed by what I saw.

[jztemple2]

Behind the Scenes #4: Companies & Billboards

Hello and welcome! It’s a new day and that means a new Cities: Skylines II development diary. Today we take a look at the companies and billboards in the game. In the effort to make a more realistic city-building game, we have given companies and their billboards a significant upgrade from the original Cities: Skylines. Companies now play a role in the game mechanics, and billboards represent the companies that reside in the buildings.

Cities: Skylines II introduces companies as a working entity. They will move into the city if there is enough demand and influence the availability of jobs and the type of education needed. Companies contribute to city wealth and can import and export goods from outside the city. These features can greatly influence how you build public transportation within the city and outside connections to neighboring cities. The types of industries that are in the city also impact the types of companies that move in. Industry types will attract companies that can utilize the materials from those industries.

So let’s dive right in and start looking at all the different ways this shows up in the gameplay.

[jztemple2]

From PCGamesN, this is a bit cheeky, but worth a look: If Cities Skylines 2 performance has you worried, play this instead

Cities Skylines 2 performance on PC is causing worry for fans of the giant Paradox city builder. While its new features and tools are all welcome additions, and it offers a much greater scale and creativity than the original Cities Skylines, CS2 struggles on even the strongest gaming rigs, with our own Cities Skylines 2 review citing numerous issues. If you’ve got concerns about the upcoming sequel, but still want a great new building and management game, Cities Skylines 2’s closest rival, Highrise City, is the perfect option.

Our Cities Skylines 2 review provides detailed analysis on what works and what, unfortunately, doesn’t work in the new city building game from Paradox and Colossal Order. The new Cities Skylines 2 maps system is very welcome, as are the new road, traffic, and service tools, but even on a PC that can happily run some of the most high-end games of 2023, CS2 struggles. Enter Highrise City, a new city builder just launched on Steam that offers a similar but alternative experience.

By the way, there is a demo

[naednek]

From PCGamesN, this is a bit cheeky, but worth a look: If Cities Skylines 2 performance has you worried, play this instead

Cities Skylines 2 performance on PC is causing worry for fans of the giant Paradox city builder. While its new features and tools are all welcome additions, and it offers a much greater scale and creativity than the original Cities Skylines, CS2 struggles on even the strongest gaming rigs, with our own Cities Skylines 2 review citing numerous issues. If you’ve got concerns about the upcoming sequel, but still want a great new building and management game, Cities Skylines 2’s closest rival, Highrise City, is the perfect option.

Our Cities Skylines 2 review provides detailed analysis on what works and what, unfortunately, doesn’t work in the new city building game from Paradox and Colossal Order. The new Cities Skylines 2 maps system is very welcome, as are the new road, traffic, and service tools, but even on a PC that can happily run some of the most high-end games of 2023, CS2 struggles. Enter Highrise City, a new city builder just launched on Steam that offers a similar but alternative experience.

By the way, there is a demo

At first, Highrise City looks like skylines but the game play is very different.
In skylines, you spend hours optimising traffic so you can place more city zones.
In Highrise you spend hours optimising supply chain so can meet your citizens needs / satisfactions.

I enjoy the depth of mining, manufacturing, production and the challenges to meet supply and demand.
I also like the building upgrades, some of the costs are significant so you shouldn't upgrade every building.
Traffic has very little impact, which is good, since supply chain is your top priority.

There are many short comings
- bugs and crashes around saving; game load time is brutally slow
- the ROI demand seems out of whack, it doesn't give me a good indictor of the 'industry jobs i need to fill'. The O, commercial, doesn't seem to be very relevant other than supplying shopping and creating garbage
- the 'delivery' challenges are brutal. either fix it or get rid of them. I skip them all, so an option to exclude would be great

Ya I'm not wanting a supply and demand game. I have Railway Empire 2 for that. I'm not too worried about Skylines II. The original wasn't great at ship either.

[jztemple2]

I'm wondering if we might be seeing that rare phenomena the anti-hype train. Where expectations have been so high for so long that reviewers, upon getting their hands on the actual game, cannot help but feel disappointed that it isn't utterly brilliant and awesome. Then others feed upon that.

I'm beginning to think I might be getting the game after all. When I keep hearing "It's good but not great", maybe I should pay more attention to the "It's good" part.

[Unagi]

I'm wondering if we might be seeing that rare phenomena the anti-hype train. Where expectations have been so high for so long that reviewers, upon getting their hands on the actual game, cannot help but feel disappointed that it isn't utterly brilliant and awesome. Then others feed upon that.

I'm beginning to think I might be getting the game after all. When I keep hearing "It's good but not great", maybe I should pay more attention to the "It's good" part.

Thank you for articulating what I didn't feel like proposing people think about. I'm sure the game legit has issues on machines that shouldn't have issues, etc. - but I'm interested in the things they added and I'm not really hearing anything but positive things about that aspect of it.

[jztemple2]

Another review, this from Shacknews, Cities Skylines 2 review: Building a better sequel

Cities Skylines 2 is the rare kind of game where you learn and feel like you’re progressing even when everything violently explodes around you. It’s, admittedly, not a massive upgrade from the original game, and there are some missing features. However, the changes that developer Colossal Order implemented make it a more tightly connected network of systems and processes that feels more natural and rewarding to experiment and create with.

There’s still work to be done, but Cities Skylines 2 is an impressive improvement over the original. Its systems work together seamlessly, and you have more control over how your city develops without it feeling overwhelming or intimidating. It's a shame some features like green building are gone, but I'm looking forward to seeing how Colossal Order keeps building Skylines 2 in the future.

Reading the whole review is worth the time as he identifies things both bad and good in CS2, but does it in what I feel is a more balanced approach. I learned more about the game from it as well.

[jztemple2]

Behind the Scenes #5: Citizen Characters

Hi and welcome back to another development diary for Cities: Skylines II! We’ve talked about the people living in your cities before, their wants and needs, and how they affect the simulation, but today we focus on the models themselves, our goals for them, and the process of how they came to be.

From the very start, we had a distinct goal: we wanted a clear and definite upgrade from Cities: Skylines in all aspects. The new Photo Mode camera allows you to get pretty close, so citizens had to have a level of detail to match this. But we also wanted our citizens to have much more variation to create a more inclusive and realistic gaming world. It was essential to us that the characters in Cities: Skylines II represent a broad spectrum of humanity, including different ethnicities and body types.

Achieving this diversity required a flexible and efficient system for creating character models across all the different age groups of the game. It was clear that a tool was needed to combine all those aspects and on top of that a great variety of hair, clothes, and accessories needed to be added. Lastly, it was also a major requirement that animations should work with any type of character model regardless of the body type.

[jztemple2]

Direct link to his Google Spreadsheet:

[jztemple2]

Behind the Scenes #6: Tutorials & Advisor

Hello everyone! It’s time for another development diary, the last one in our mini-series taking you behind the scenes. Today, we take a look at the tutorials available in the game, how they work, and what kind of helpful information they provide.

Our goal with the tutorials in Cities: Skylines II is to provide you with a thorough introduction to the game and guide you toward building a successful city. While we had small in-game guides in Cities: Skylines to explain different services or features, they were quite limited, so we developed a new system for Cities: Skylines II to help both players familiar with its predecessor and players new to the genre.

Tutorials can be enabled at the beginning of the game and function as a guide bringing you essential information on how to start a city. They provide easy step-by-step instructions on the basic city needs and help set up the city for future growth. As the game progresses, the steps of the tutorials provide more information and fewer step-by-step guides letting you take the reins and choose the direction for your city. Tutorials have no time limit on how long to take on each step and are shown for services and panels when the service or panel is opened.

Tutorials work together with tooltips and other information in panels, which provide more in-depth information about what the feature is, while tutorials focus more on how and where to build and place the feature. Together they provide a good overview of how to use each feature to make a successful city.

For beginners, the tutorials provide an easy start with more guided and instructional beginning with additional information and hints as the city expands and more features are opened. For experienced players, the tutorials provide information on the features that are new and a helpful resource if stuck on something or uncertain about how a feature works. Tutorials are optional and can be turned on or off at any time, and even when turned off they are easy to reach in the Advisor found at the top-right of the screen. Just open the panel and select the feature you want to learn more about.

There is also an option to restart or continue the tutorials. These options can be used on the same map while continuing to build the city already started, or on a new map, with a new city.

[jztemple2]

[jztemple2]

I've found this guy's videos to be useful, so I'm posting this one so we can be ready for tomorrow

[jztemple2]

In spite of previous announcements, apparently you are now able to preload the game on Steam and the Microsoft store. I am AFK and still awaiting my GMG key anyway so I can't confirm, perhaps someone else can confirm?

[jztemple2]

In spite of previous announcements, apparently you are now able to preload the game on Steam and the Microsoft store. I am AFK and still awaiting my GMG key anyway so I can't confirm, perhaps someone else can confirm?

I'm home now and have my GMG key, can confirm preload is available. Sadly we'll be out on a trip during the day tomorrow, so no impressions will later, probably in the evening.

[naednek]

was hoping to play before work. Nope, doesn't unlock till 9am... WTF