Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth

[Spectacle]

Civ has never been about history per se

 

[Onyxme]

I can't ascribe much character to Civ V because it's just gradeschool caricatures of history. It was better before V, but if V is their template of storytelling and character, we're utterly fucked.

I don't see though how it was better before, Civ has never been about history per se. What defines character in a 4x game to me is art style, factions and lore.
Civ V has a clear art style, unlike many other Civ games.
Civ V has very unique factions, that actually feels like they play extremely differently depending on their historical context, also the leader animations are a nice addition.
The lore is history, like all other Civ games...

You can say what you will about the gameplay, but really I do feel that Civ V really has a unique feel, so much so that many newer 4x games try to copy Civ V when it comes to the feel and character (age of wonders III, Warlock I + II).

It's in the small details, but they're there.

Civ 3 had nice touches like the 2D townscape of cities showing wonders--I'll take 2D artwork to 3D pyramids randomly dropped into the ocean next to your town every day. Wonders videos being generally more impressive than the paintings with STAR TREK narration we got in V. There was also the palace customization that evoked some sense of culture. The civopedia was more factual, more informative, and generally better written in previous games. Tech tree was also better and more logical, but that's more about game/systems design, so I'll leave that aside.

IV was even worse than V, though, from an initial appearances perspective, so if you are comparing V to IV, I'd agree with you.

You have good points, Civ 1-3 probably did have a lot more details in the writing/cg clips to make up for the lack of visual feedback. The question is how much value is put in one thing over another. I also should mention that I despise how very few civilizations have any degree of uniqueness in Civ 1-4 compared to Master of Orion/Alpha centauri.

Civ has never been about history per se

What I mean by that is that no real value has been put into how things change trough history outside of the tech tree, basically epochs feel the same. Funnily enough it wasn't until Civ V + expansions that it changed and they put emphasis on era specific mechanics (I know UN exists in previous Civ, but it was almost only relevant for diplomacy victory).

 

[tuluse]

Civ4 BtS uses religion, UN, corperations, and totally different mechanics for air units to give different eras different feelings.

 

[Onyxme]

Civ4 BtS uses religion, UN, corperations, and totally different mechanics for air units to give different eras different feelings.

Religion and corporations were weaksauce but I see what you mean. Civ 4 was better in that regard than the earlier games in the series, that is true.

 

[cvv]

I don't see though how it was better before, Civ has never been about history per se. What defines character in a 4x game to me is art style, factions and lore.
Civ V has a clear art style, unlike many other Civ games.
Civ V has very unique factions, that actually feels like they play extremely differently depending on their historical context, also the leader animations are a nice addition.

Not enough variety between factions is actually one of my biggest gripes with Civ5. Sure, a Civilization game can't have a crazy menagerie of factions like MoO or even SMAC but Firaxis definitely could've put some effort into developing the UAs and UUs a bit more.

As for character, I agree art plays a huge role here. A lot of people are quite happy with games that look like a fucking spreadsheet app and if you're playing, let's say, a roguelike-like like FTL basic graphics is just fine (although they could've done away with that retarded nostalgiafag headline font) but for me a big, complex game like 4X or grand strategy has to be nice to look at.

Civ 5 is certainly the prettiest to look at, especially compared to that ugly-ass 3rd and 4th installments (even Civ 1 looks better in many ways than the 3rd), but for me the 2nd one is the one with the best character, mainly because stuff like the fantastic Wonders movies, which I swear I still play now and then on Youtube, the High Council, the SV outro etc.

What I would REALLY love to see in the next Civ is the return of all these small things like the Wonders movies, more interesting new tech announcements than just a fucking pop-up window, some proper outros AND THE FUCKING CITY SCREEN! I want my city screen back! Seriously, can't get over the fact they ignore the awesome city screen since Civ1.

Jesus, what a rant.

 

[Onyxme]

I don't see though how it was better before, Civ has never been about history per se. What defines character in a 4x game to me is art style, factions and lore.
Civ V has a clear art style, unlike many other Civ games.
Civ V has very unique factions, that actually feels like they play extremely differently depending on their historical context, also the leader animations are a nice addition.

Not enough variety between factions is actually one of my biggest gripes with Civ5. Sure, a Civilization game can't have a crazy menagerie of factions like MoO or even SMAC but Firaxis definitely could've put some effort into developing the UAs and UUs a bit more.

As for character, I agree art plays a huge role here. A lot of people are quite happy with games that look like a fucking spreadsheet app and if you're playing, let's say, a roguelike-like like FTL basic graphics is just fine (although they could've done away with that retarded nostalgiafag headline font) but for me a big, complex game like 4X or grand strategy has to be nice to look at.

Civ 5 is certainly the prettiest to look at, especially with the ugly-ass 3rd and 4th installments (even Civ 1 looks better in many ways than the 3rd), but for me the 2nd one is the one with the best character, mainly because stuff like the fantastic Wonders movies, which I swear I still play now and then on Youtube, the High Council, the SV outro etc.

What I would REALLY love to see in the next Civ is the return of all these small things like the Wonders movies, more interesting new discoveries than just a fucking pop-up window, some proper outros AND THE FUCKING CITY SCREEN! I want my city screen back! Seriously, can't get over the fact they ignore the awesome city screen since Civ1.

Jesus, what a rant.

I understand your feels man, if only CA just could make a good TW game again and bring THE FUCKING CITY VIEW BACK.

 

[Goegoff]

but for me the 2nd one is the one with the best character, mainly because stuff like the fantastic Wonders movies, which I swear I still play now and then on Youtube, the High Council, the SV outro etc.

Leonardo's workshop

Spoiler

However, the high council has shifted from hilarious to hilariously retarded over the years for me.

 

[cvv]

but for me the 2nd one is the one with the best character, mainly because stuff like the fantastic Wonders movies, which I swear I still play now and then on Youtube, the High Council, the SV outro etc.

Leonardo's workshop

Spoiler

However, the high council has shifted from hilarious to hilariously retarded over the years for me.

My favourite is the Shakespeare's Theater and Cure for Cancer but most of them are great.

 

[Keshik]

Hoover Damn is my favourite, if for nothing else than the remix of Arkham Bridge music from Mechwarrior. The Civilopedia has gotten a lot dumber as the series has progressed, or at least I think it has.

 

[Xu Fugui]

No Brian Reynolds no hype. Considering how he was Lead Designer of my favourite Civ game, Alpha Centauri and Rise of Nations I don't think they can make a game of that quality without him. Still, it will be interesting to see how these fresh new faces perform, I can't say what I've heard so far in the interviews have been very encouraging though, Civ: Beyond Earth sounds just as inspired by the Lalande campaign of Test of Time as it is by Alpha Centauri.

As for Wonder movies I'm quite fond of the lot of them for nostalgic reasons, but I think I like Darwin's Voyage the most.

Spoiler

 

[Renegen]

 

[Keshik]

Guess no one had the manual handy.

PC Gamer: What technological extremes can you explore on the tech web?

Will Miller: That's where the reading list came in. The first thing we did was go on Wikipedia to the Alpha Centauri webpage, and it has the books that Brian Reynolds and his team read, so we read those, and that was our starting point. And we read a lot more, and got a survey of all the weird things we could do and the weird places we could go, and the tech web really reflects that. They cater to each of those affinities as we mentioned, but there's always this thread of plausibility through the whole thing. It was important to us not to start high sci-fi, but to gradually get there through a route that seems very plausible to the player. I don't remember the exact Karl Sagan quote, but he says humans of the future will be quite different from us, fewer of our weaknesses, more of our strengths. We wantes to show this evolution all the way through, and have it be plausible.

Also, Karl ?

 

[KoolNoodles]

I don't know. At least they bothered to read the books(supposedly), and not just the wiki. And they name-checked CARL Sagan(PC Gamer you fucking idiots). Could be worse?

 

[Cassidy]

Spoiler

This will be a piece of shit, but Morgoth will still D1P

 

[Morgoth]

http://www.gameinformer.com/games/c...ast-civilization-beyond-earth-panel-here.aspx

 

[Space Satan]

http://www.gameinformer.com/games/c...ast-civilization-beyond-earth-panel-here.aspx

Do not give page views for the faggots

 

[KoolNoodles]

ARE YOU READY FOR THE AWESOMENESS??!?!

 

[grdja]

How retarded can the rightmost entity (not worthy of being called a person) be?

Is he a gaming journalist by any chance?

 

[Ulminati]

What were some of your sources of inspiration for Beyond Earth, either in terms of setting, tone, or how you wanted to the game to play?

The direction came from the designers and from Mike Bates, the lead artist on the game. They’re all focused on making sure that we’re working with an optimistic vision of the future since Civilization is a game about progressing through history and becoming stronger and better over time.

they seem to be going for a lighthearted spess adventure feel and the civ 5 engine does not handle terrain deformation at all to my knowledge. the time of voxels are long gone

 

[Xu Fugui]

There is nothing wrong with an brightly envisioned future if it is done right, this game doesn't have much to do with SMAC other than the similar setup and setting so anything that distances it from its "spiritual" predecessor is good I think since it is easier to forgive less than stellar quality if the game is unique and doing its own thing rather than if it is a bleak copy of something greater. I doubt they could replicate much the atmosphere or elegance of Alpha Centauri anyway so it is probably for the best that they don't try, whether this can stand on its own two legs is another question and it is way too early to tell how this will turn out yet if you don't hate Civilization 5 with a passion because of the lack of unit stacking. Still, what I've read in interviews so far doesn't sound all that inspired.

I must say though that for once I am grateful of EA's IP hoarding, this could easily have been an awful reboot or something of that kind and that never ends well.

 

[Jaedar]

SMAC without terraforming and bleak over and undertones is not SMAC.

 

[catfood]

SMAC without terraforming and bleak over and undertones is not SMAC.

Well thatțs good to know because this game is called Beyond Earth, not SMAC 2

Spoiler

THANKFULLY

 

[Space Satan]

Eudaimonia is a philosophical system that takes its name from an ancient Greek word for fulfillment and happiness. Based on economic equity made possible by Sentient Econometrics and rooted in opposition to the excesses of The Will to Power, Eudaimonia encourages each citizen to achieve happiness through striving to fulfill completely his or her potential; freedom, creativity, and individuality flourish in governments that adopt this philosophy.

You could make rather utopian society in SMAC, being democratic, green and wealth.

 

[Jaedar]

Eudaimonia is a philosophical system that takes its name from an ancient Greek word for fulfillment and happiness. Based on economic equity made possible by Sentient Econometrics and rooted in opposition to the excesses of The Will to Power, Eudaimonia encourages each citizen to achieve happiness through striving to fulfill completely his or her potential; freedom, creativity, and individuality flourish in governments that adopt this philosophy.

You could make rather utopian society in SMAC, being democratic, green and wealth.

Eudaimonia is very utopian yes. It's also one of the last techs in the game and to get there you have to go through lots of dark stuff.

SMAC without terraforming and bleak over and undertones is not SMAC.

Well thatțs good to know because this game is called Beyond Earth, not SMAC 2

Spoiler

THANKFULLY

It has also claimed to be a spiritual sequel to SMAC, therefore I will hold it to those standards. Just as I would compare bioshock to system shocks.

 

[Space Satan]

Some new features from Gamecrate interview:

• "Because Civilization: Beyond Earth is less CPU intensive than Civilization V, the game should be able to run on entry-level hardware"

• “There are no pre-requisites,” David explained. In Beyond Earth you really WILL have the freedom to move laterally through the tech web however you like, though technologies that are further out from your starting point in the center will cost more to research.

• The alien life “ranges from simple to complex and scary,” the designers said, and aliens “operate like another player with their own agenda.” In contrast to Civlization’s barbarians, which are early-game nuisances that are always aggressive, the alien life will be present throughout a typical game of Beyond Earth, it will always be relevant to the decisions you make, and it will have “nuanced diplomatic opinions.” As way of an example, the designers explained that you will often encounter an alien nest on top of valuable resources. Destroying the nest would antagonize the aliens, which might make their units more aggressive against human units in that area (and not necessarily just YOUR units either).
• The key for David and Anton was in “layering” technological advancements so that by the time players arrive at outlandish-sounding technologies such as “artificial evolution,” they understand the steps they took to reach that frontier and what it meant to their particular vision of humanity.
• Picking a spacecraft model with more advanced sensors might allow you to begin the game with more of the map revealed. The colonists you choose, on the other hand, are very much about inherited bonuses for your people. The final choice you’ll make about your colony ship, the cargo, can allow you to begin the game with a cache of weapons, resources, or another one-time bonus.
• A military satellite that might provide combat bonuses to friendly units in tiles beneath it and a weather satellite that can increase rainfall and resource yields in tiles