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SimCity Societies


Boerseun

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So, I'm a bit of a SimCity nut. Ever since the first one ages ago, that I played on my trust XT. It fit on a single floppy! A whole 360K of fun!

 

But, in any case - it seems as if the new SimCity is to be launched on the 15th. We'll prolly have to wait a bit to get it in SA, hopefully before Christmas.

 

But here's the crunch:

 

I've read up on their page that they're breaking with tradition completely, and SimCity Societies is breaking away from the original zoning approach employed by the prior versions. Apparently, the whole thing is about citizen "energies". Sounds very new-agey hocus pocus to me. Also, the player manually places each and every building employed on the board. According to the makers, this was done because the old version was too "complex".

 

COME ON!
/forums/images/smilies/mad_2.gif

 

That's the whole reason I love SimCity!:weather_snowing: Now my fav game is going to be dumbed down to the lowest common denominator so that they can shift more units! SELLOUTS!

 

The screenshots of the new version looks utterly crap, too, with cartoon-like elements replacing the gritty reality as used in the older versions.

 

I'm parking this discussion here (and not on the SimCity website) because I want to get the opinions of people I know about this game.

 

So, are you a budding mayor?

 

Have you played any of the previous versions of SimCity?

 

...and most importantly, have you played the new SimCity Societies, and what are your impressions?

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I am so looking forward to SCS:)

What loss, if any, of the nity grity business is easily made up by the addition of societal tools.

Heck, the guys with a perfect solution for the world (you know who you are;)) should love this. Want a pure socialistic society, go for it. Want a pure libertarian society, have fun. I am wondering how much modification will be possible and look forward to trying it out in a few days.

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I played all the previous versions of Sim City. I loved the game, but... Really, I loved only the first 40 or 50 years of a game, the getting started part, the initial layout and seeing how fast it grew. By the time a city got big enough to need freeways, I got bored. I put in the freeways anyway because I did enjoy building the on/off ramps, the feeder roads and the underpasses. I'd let it coast a few more years, then start a new one. But that's just me.

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That's the thing, you see.

 

I think SCS can stand perfectly well on its own feet as an exercise in Sociology, or something to that effect. But as the heir to the SimCity throne? No ways!

 

SimCity is a technical exercise in managing resources, traffic, civil engineering, etc. - whilst not touching on the sociological side of things. With the classic SimCity approach, you also don't have a say in any particular buildings being built - you have to create the correct environment for it. In SCS, apparently, you have to place every building yourself. Which might be cool if you have any particular layout in mind, but too easy!

 

I don't know. I think SCS can exist perfectly fine as a spin-off from the franchise, but I think a proper SimCity 5 is needed to take the franchise into the future.

 

I'm looking forward to seeing the full version of SCS myself, though - but I'll prolly be back playing SC4 soon...

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There were a few things about SC that always put me off. The biggest was the lack of a calendar that warned me when contracts were gonna run out. I'd be playing and suddenly George Whatisface would inform me that I had reneged on our water contract and I had to pay a zillion dollar fine. WTF, over?

 

Or things were going good and the city was coming up fine and then I was in the red. And the next year and the next. And there wasn't any good way to get back in the black. How come I couldn't sell off a few properties? Many games just went into a death spiral and I had to abandom them.

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I remember sitting up until 3 AM building a SimCity city, and then zooming in real close to one of the residential areas made up of just low rent apartments and small single-family residents. I stared at the screen until my eyes went dry. I was looking to see if some "sim", be-bopping down a sidewalk, would suddenly turn into a back yard, look both ways, and then enter the residence through a window.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well, after playing 7 games, and getting my fanny chewed up 6 times pretty badly, I finally won my first game of Age of Empire III.

 

I played the Spanish (easiest nation to master), at the "Easy" setting, with 1 ally (Queen Elizabeth), against 2 enemies (the Tsar and Frederick the Great); in the large map of Texas (of course!). I had to play this same scenario 5 times before I won.

 

"Easy" my ***!

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I played Simcity 2000, and I loved it to death. I do have a sizable number of improvements that I would like to see in the SimCity series, and I have to say, I was very dissappointed with SimCity 3000; unfortunately, I missed out on playing SimCity 4, but I think there was little change between the games.

From what I've seen on the website, I think that I might like to play SCS, as it seems to have a few of the improvements that I have been hoping for since I started playing games like SimCity and Civilization. In SimCity 2000 my biggest complaint was the lack of percision in development; I never used highways and never worried about traffic. After playing for nearly half a year, I finally was the first to establish a self-sufficient city in my family; once I had accomplished that everything else ceased to matter because I knew the pattern and could add to the city and subtract with little consequence.

It was the little things though that galled me, I tried and for the life of me, I failed to get adequate coverage of services around my city; I tried all number of shapes, sizes, and combonations of zone, services, and transportation blocks: none of them gave even close to 95% coverage for all services.

I would like it very much if in this next iteration, SimCity would allow us to define coverage areas more percisely, make discoveries for social models at our own pace and focus. My problem with SimCity has been that you rarely and only with herculean effort achieve more than 70% efficiency. If I get to define how my services work, for who, and where, then I am more than willing to give this SimCity iteration a try; otherwise, I'll just wait until Spore hits the shelves in the beginning of next year.

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Yeah, well - that's the thing. When it comes to real city modelling, which, in my mind, is what the franchise is all about, then anything close to 100% efficiency in any city is impossible. Cities are messy, sloppy things, and you won't be able to keep everybody happy in all regards at all times.

 

I read up on the reviews at SimCity.com, turns out that very few people are happy with the new release, quite a few of them actually "demanding" their money back!

 

Basically, turns out SCS is "SimCity for Kidz", or an eternal "sandbox" mode, where you just plop down buildings to your heart's content. The number and type of buildings doesn't reflect your population level, for instance. You plop down three houses and eventually you end up with thousands of people. No realism in the mathematical modelling. Some marketing guru wrapped his ponytail around his forehead and decided to pitch the product to the dumbest possible audience. No challenges. And that's not what the game's about.

 

If you loved SC2000, you'll really dig SimCity 4. But SimCity Societies sucks some serious tripe, if I understand the net buzz correctly. I just want to chat to someone who'se actually played the damn thing.

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B, I suggest you find other reviewers;)

 

I can see the description 'simcity for kids'. It has more of a 'graphical' appearance.

I can also see how people who loved SimCity would not like the changes in SCS.

You are limited in what you can buy unless you use the sandbox mode. This is a selection at the beggining of the game (difficulty level). If you don't want sandbox mode you don't need to play it.

 

The number and types of buildings certainly do represent population levels. Each type of housing unit has a population limit. Some also require another commodity called creativity.

 

There is a lot involved in the game and I have barely scratched the surface yet.

If you are expecting or looking for a knock off of the earlier games, you will be disappointed. I would recommend checking out the videos and demo at SimCity Societies.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Ok, holiday obligations (shoppin and planning) are winding down and I have played SCS for some hours now.

Extremely fun and addicting (IMHO):)

I would reinforce, if you are looking for another game just like SC4 you will be disappointed.

Some of the things that have me so hooked (again, all IMO)

Cities have a lot more personality to them. You can put as much or as little personality into your city as you like.

Specialty Sims are produced by some buildings. These range from researchers that will increase the capabilities of other research labs for a time, to farmers, fighting monks, police, hippies, crooks, Men in Black and many more.

Buildings produce or require one or two of either 'security', 'prosperity', 'creativity', 'spirituality', 'production' and 'knowledge'. Work places generate simoleons.

While you can certainly focus on a particular type of city (knowledge for example) many buildings require you have some of the other traits.

Hmmmm, this could go on for a while....

 

Basically, the game is easy to dive into, yet extremely deep. I haven't got to play around with the disasters yet. I do have climate disasters turned on but all my power is wind, solar and hydro power:)

 

Oh, and the famous 'just one more turn' aspect is present in full force:)

 

If anyone is still interested in any aspects of the game please ask, I'll be happy to answer or research.

Gotta get back to my alien research lab:alien:

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  • 2 years later...

Oh...My...God...:lightning

 

I got CitiesXL as an early birthday prezzie from Charlie, because I've been goin' on about it ever since the launch of SimCity Societies. It seems as if a whole bunch of developers got p'd off about SCS and the direction the franchise was being steered in, and decided to do the whole indy-game bit, and they came up with CitiesXL as the actual heir to the City Builder throne that SimCity have been occupying since the early 90s.

 

Now here's the thing:

 

You plug it in, you install it, and you click on the game icon on your desktop. First of all, you have to log on to CitiesXL's website each and every time you wish to play the game, even in solo mode! Would that piss you off?

 

Secondly, on the very first start, there's a download of more than 390MB that automatically kicks off, with no option to bypass or cancel or just get to the game. There is NO WAY to start the game without that 390Mb update. In other words, they shipped half a game. Would that piss you off?

 

Thirdly, in order to get anything more advanced than roads in the game, you have to play their "Planet Offer" which will cost you $9 per month. I have always thought that transportation concepts like trains and buses were pretty much core to a city simulator? Not here it isn't - a simple bloody bus stop will cost you $9 per month. And all of it is on the disk you bought already, that $9 merely unlocks it so you can access it in the game. Does that piss you off?

 

I thought so. Because it sure as hell is pissing me off to the n'th degree.

 

I haven't played the game yet, because (yes, won't you know it) I'm still waiting for my 390Mb download to finish. And their servers are crap slow, because thousands of other idiots around the globe have fallen for their pretty pictures and screencaps and crap that they've been using over the last three years to build the hype around it, and are hogging their servers to hell. It better live up to it. Yes, it better bloody well live up to the hype. But there is no way I'm paying $9 for a bus stop. NO way, especially if it is on my disk already.

 

God, don't you just hate the corporate money-grabbing shits that game vendors have become?

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