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Delthayre
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Allentown, PA United States of America
Oct 2001
time: 00:15
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 First off, thanks for replying regarding the language Yin (I've always been fascinated with languages, so I thought I'd take an oppurtunity to ask someone with some experience)
Now, on to responses to your points (and pardon me if I get antagonistic)
1. Lack of MP doesn't bother me that much, I'm taking a positive spin on things (It'll give me time to work on my skills until they do release it). But I can understand, to a degree why it frustrates (and at times drives you beyond reason) that it was not present. I still believe they will include it eventually. But, as I have said in the past: If they do not release it as a free download (even if it is also part of an expansion) I will raise hell.
2. I'm justifiably optimistic about this one. They said they'd work with the mod community to improve it and have said they didn't want to hold up the game just to finish the editor (I think they underestimated how much it was valued). I am someone angry that they gave the impression on their website that it would be a complete editor, that my friends is false advertising.
3. This annoyed me as well. I wouldn't be so annoyed if they had released a complete editor (if they had, the lack of scenarios would cease to be a problem within a week). Firaxis would do well to release a free scenario pack (of good scenarios, not rushed crowd appeaser) within the immediate future. A monthly proffesional scenario on their website would be welcome too.
4. It ran find on mine (a 3-year old 8mg Intel i740 based one at that) so I'm not qualified to comment.
5. I've seen worse (of course those were maps I made). I always enjoyed playing on the world map in Civ 2 (I know, an odd thing to do, but I enjoyed it none the less) and was hoping to use them in Civ 3, but their horrible quality (you really expect me to believe that is Italy?) has turned me off. You would think that with larger maps, they would have been able to capture more detail...not less.
6. Didn't bother me, but I can see how some people would want better zooms (I'd like more of a distinction between workers and settlers visually).
I will agree that it was rushed (I've learned to be patient on releases, I wouldn't have minded a delay) but by my standards it is not imcomplete.
I mostly satisfied. The new interface is a bit awkward at times, but it works smoothly for me and the new features (resources, trade, ect.) seem mostly well implemented.
So, in short, I think Yin has several very valid points (that come through more clearly and reasonable when everyones calmed a bit) but I'm more willing to give the benefit of the doubt to Firaxis for now.
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Delthayre
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Allentown, PA United States of America
Oct 2001
time: 00:15
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*Sigh* by all indications it seems a great deal of the problems seem like they might be publisher side. Y'know what, I'm getting sick of this crap from publishers, they have no respect for the players sometimes. Most of us would rather have a good game late than a good, but feature lacking game early. I'm still happy with it, but again, I am frustrated at the publisher. Of course, maybe I'm wrong, it is to early for the dirty facts about the Infogames/Firaxis relationship to come out. If it was not for Firaxis's (by my standards) excellent, if limited, track record, I would be more open to the idea that they are more at fault.
Has there ever been a publisher that didn't rush games and stayed solvent? I think there is, but it can be hard to remember since I have to sift through the screw-ups.
In short (for clarifcation)
FIRAXIS: A good studio that admitedly made a few mistakes.
INFOGAMES: Just another publisher that thinks in dates and dollar signs.
Those are, perhaps, overly strong positions, but I have a long standing hatred of upper corporate america.
I guess I'm fortunate that I don't mind waiting for patches (one of the few respects I'm laid back in, otherwise I'm a frantic mess).
It is a good thing that the single player is quite playable and mostly stable (I had one crash, but that was because I had been running the system for quite some time and the RAM was mostly eaten up by other things by that point...restart and no problems).
Now, given what Yin said...I'm going to break out the flannel!
Optimism is good for the soul, but pessimism keeps you sane...as always, seek balance.
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korn469
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Poetic Justic
Apr 1999
time: 00:15
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this is not my review just my thoughts after playing it for a while
*no texts bugs encountered so far
*i have been playing on deity, the AI is fairly smart, however its production bonuses and perhaps a hidden combat bonus (not sure i haven't read the guide) makes it a good opponent
*lack of rush buying in despotism virtually takes away the players ability to get a lead on the AI, and the AI has established strong tech and economy leads on me in the first three games i have played...however i can hold on own on the battlefield
*AI is good at expansion, however it is harder for the player to expand
*the graphics are good (compared to civ2 and smac) they do all they need to
*the sound has statics in it
*in my second game i was playing on the huge map of earth with 16 civs, i was amassing an army ready to take out the russians and zulus for control of south america, however the turns took about 2 minutes to process, so i saved that game (i was holding my own)...i have a p2 400, 128mb ram, 32mb ati radeon, 4x dvd drive
*the interface is tricky, it took me forever to figure out how to establish an embassy...and i still haven't been able to upgrade units
*the new tech advance system is kinds tricky, but it has prevented me from beelining for military techs, things have been switched around, this time i am the player sending tons of old units out 
*wealth doesn't seem that good
*no penalty for switching production
all in all its ok so far, but i still need lots more time to come up with a better evaluation...more to come, so stay tuned
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yin26
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This space reserved for Darkstar.
Apr 1999
time: 14:15
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quote:
so once again you evaluated a game without playing a single minute with it.... |
LOL!  THIS IS MY FAVORITE ARGUMENT! (And I hear it all the time). Yes, Markos, if I close my eyes reeeeeeeealy tight, wish on a falling star, and blow candy fairy dust on my Civ 3 disk, and the installation will magically show me:
MP better than ever ... you can play on a constant server ... even take over for people leaving games. AMAZING!
Not only will the editor be in there, but it will be voice activated! I can simply say: 'Computer. Real world map circa 1530, focus on Asia. Difficulty level Alpa.' And it will on its own scower the Net downloading the relevant data for the Civilopedia, including authentic sounds from the era as best recreated at George Lucas' studios!
The scenarios will be so good that major universities will assign them for homework!
The graphics will work ... WITHOUT a graphics card AND they'll restore my eyesight to 20/20!
The maps will be consulted by the military and historians for their stunning accuracy.
And I'll be able to zoon in so close I can see Elizabeth primping her hair in the royal chambers!
You crack me up, Markos!
Korn:
As I said, your review will determine for me whether I buy the game or not ... and whether I 'go on the war path' or not, so to speak. So far, it sounds great.
I look forward to the full review once you've figured things out some more.
Delthayre:
My main concern here is that it's hard enough to get things to a 'harcore' acceptable level with patches even when the release comes out highly polished with all features in place. My experience with this genre is we have about 4 patches to work with ... if we are lucky (before any x-pack, of course). So the first one or two will be spent primarily getting in the features that should have shipped to begin with.
It's kind of hard for Firaxis to worry about the little stuff when they don't even have MP and an editor in place. And I think, ultimately, Infogrames and the general public (even) will simply be happy when those basic features are in play ... leaving many of the 'little' things frozen in the code forever.
Is this the end of the world? No! But it is disappointing, particularly since (believe it or not) I held Firaxis in much much higher regard. I never imagined Firaxis could be forced to release a game without those features with SID at the head of the company.
*sigh*
Just waiting for Korn's full review now...
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Jason
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Halifax, NS, Canada
Aug 1999
time: 05:15
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You aren't going to buy the game, or are going to just to criticize it in more depth. Might as well drop the tired pretext of evenhandedness given prior posting.
You are correct in saying that you don't have to own a game to judge it, there is truth there for sure. What people mean, I think, is that some of the more... dedicated naysayers here are discounting with contempt the testimony of people who are playing the game. 2 days after release. Which is a bit tedious.
Flame away.
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01-11-2001 07:03
or at least I tend to think so. 
But while it's true they don't give you MP, don't you think there's at least a possibilty that the game is such pure, gaming bliss that you can overlook the lack of MP flaw and consider it a great game? Every game has flaw or two. I think that while MP on paper sounds like an extremely important thing, but I think that the excessive quality of the rest of the game makes up for it. Quality beyond quality. Once you get playing this game that is far more polished then the Firaxis gang had to make it (and it would have still sold like hot cakes), you will see that the lack of MP flaw isn't an entirely fatal one. Don't you at least agree that it is a possibility theoretically Yin? 
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