17-02-2002 14:01									#1
	Still on my HD, and a good thing... Avatar Enlargement: We've got the solution

Well, I have never been known (if known at all) as a 'fanboy', nor am I one. I still have serious disagreements with several of fixaris's decisions, and civ3 is still not the game I envisioned. At the same time, unlike some more ademant 'whinners', kept the game on, for a simple reason. I believed that improvement was coming- and it has.

Now, there are two modes of thought. All or nothing, and incremental. I suspect that several posters will only re-install the game when it finally meets their dreams and hopes. I belive that incremental improvement is possible and worhtwhile. Has Civ3 become all that I wanted? Not yet. Is it the same as in November? No.

After the two patches and fiddling with the editor, various issues have been resolved, to a certain extent. Corruption is still made a bogeyman- well, go into the editor and be done with it. I no longer find it even an issue worth 'whinning' about. While I still view the combat system as flawed, with the editor it can be made more tolerable- and fast units severely declawed, wich is crucial.
The last big hurdle to be fixed with a patch, i believe, is the weak diplomatic game- far more interesting games can be created with just a few addtions to the diplomacy. Long-term defensive alliences, ala Civ2, SMAC, MOO, and just about every other game like this, could improve things much.

The last remaining BIG issue, which I believe will only be fixed in an expansion, will be the creation of real, scenerio creating abilities, which meet the demands of Tecumseh's letter. Once players are able to make a 'RED FRONT' for this game, Civ3, in my view, will have arrived.

And for all those reasons, Civ3 remains in my hard drive.