Addicted to Civ IV

[daveymck]

Have during the last few nights stayed up till 3am, 2am and last night 4am playing this stupid game, I suspect I amy fall asleep at work later but feeling relatively refreshed. Keep sitting there thinking just one more turn.

Does anyone play the faster game how long do they last? What about online games how long do they take?

Whats worse is I suck at it anyway have no real goals or strategy and having read the civfanatics site realise how little I know about the stupid game.

Havent been so addicted to a game since the early Championship managers. But I am seriously thinking I should delete this form my system and trade it in for somthing else (Fifa 2006 or Call of Duty 2).

[whiskeytown]

I bought it - I haven't installed it yet -

I spent most of the last 3 years playing Civ 3 and writing the slashdot.com review for it, so I'm nervous to see what Civ 4 will look like cause I know it makes fundmental changes. As did 3 for 2 and Civ 2 for the orignal civ -

So I'm hoping for the best - Only reason I haven't installed it yet is because for some reason, ever since I got the Xbox it's been distracting me from Computer games, but I will get it installed - I got it bought, I'll get it installed - /images/graemlins/grin.gif

RB

[ChipWrecked]

[ QUOTE ]
Keep sitting there thinking just one more turn.


[/ QUOTE ]

There is a name for that: JOMTS

(Just One More Turn Syndrome)

[ChipWrecked]

whiskey, did you ever play Alpha Centauri? Ran the civII engine, but you could modify units. Real "OMG the sun's coming up" game.

[NLSoldier]

I am scared to buy this game.

[Blarg]

I stink at it too. The civfanatics site also reminds me how much people know about it that I don't. It did give me the occasional good idea, though, like rushing early by making a beeline for ironworking and chopping forests to help speed production. My last two games I conquered my two nearest neighbors, whereas before I was having trouble with them and sometimes got multiple civs declaring war on me at once when I was just being Mr. Nice Guy and minding my own business. However, last game it got me so far behind in research that I lost the space race. I shouldn't have kept every city, I guess.

I'll try the fast games soon, too, I think. But right now I want to get at least a little non-sucky at regular games.

One thing I do note about the game: it's the most boring game to read strategies about that I've ever had. There are so many details that, once mastered, don't really make the game more interesting. They're just more info to put on the checklist of things you know and need to know, which seem never-ending. The civ fanatics site is full of great ideas that it's half torture to read about.

I think the problem is the game is more broad than it is deep. I don't feel like more study of it is making it much deeper or more interesting as a game, so the study feels unrewarding. When I've read strategy on other games, I feel like it has been intriguing and stimulating. Civ 4 doesn't feel all that mentally stimulating, just consuming because there's so much to do and keep track of. Being consumed by something can be kind of fun, but ultimately it feels a little like a hollow experience in this case, because the game doesn't seem to be that deep, just very very busy.

[whiskeytown]

never got into it - played the demo - don't know why it didn't appeal to me -

I also tried civilization/call to power - it was some way they were able to rip off Sid's creation cause of licensing via the name rights. - It sucked too -

RB

[daveymck]

I've uninstalled it a 3am followed by a 4am has convinced me its not good for me. My GF was a bit shocked said "but you like that game", its getting traded when I get home next week.

Call of Duty 2 is friggin sweet. Even if you don't swap games, I highly recommend it. I don't even like war games really but this game is simply really fun. Get it.

[TheGame1020]

Age of Empires 3.

[Lazymeatball]

I have a very addictive personality for this game, as evidenced by my history with Civ 3. When that game was out everyone in my apartment would take turns hitting the gravity bong and then playing that game for 8 hours without eating until sunrise and cutting off all outside communication. I don't know if I want to buy this game for another year or so.

[fnord_too]

I haven't played it yet because on my sony flatscreen it is washed out looking, and I can't get the damn thing not washed out looking. (games that resize seem to all do this on this monitor, it is annoying as hell.)

[whiskeytown]

I distinctly remember a presentation for Civ3 where one of the developers said they were happiest when people were complaining that their game was keeping them awake till the next morning.

He joked that they were happiest when people were mad at them for keeping them awake so long -

I'm glad it's living up to it's predecessors...can't wait for it to be going again. I'll probably install it this week -

maybe I can even write a new slashdot review for it....LOL - since I wrote the Civ3 one.

RB

[daveymck]

Will probably get Call of Duty 2, enjoyed the first one and like that sort of gme anyway, was in a Wolfenstein clan at that games height of popularity.

AOE 3 is getting not too good reviews or the one i read anyway and I am bit sick of RTS's.

I never even heard of this game until a few weeks ago when someone started a thread about the game being released.

It sounded interesting and I purchased the game the next day. I was surprised at the learning curve, but figured it would be large. I read the manual, went through the tutorial (which kind of blows), and started playing the short games.

The short games take about two hours to play, and now I'm playing the epic games.

I must say, I don't get it; I mean I get it, but I don't understand what is so addicting. It's a pretty boring game to me. What am I missing?

My brother and I talked about it, and he said I probably would enjoy Age of Empires better. Never played that either, but not sure I should take the chance.

[ChipWrecked]

It's probably a reflection of personality type. I don't care for first person shooters; the people I know who excel at those don't care for the 'little man' games.

[Lawrence Ng]

City of Villains, Quake 4 and Serious Sam 2 are good enough for me now. Add on Civ 4 and I will never sleep.

Lawrence

[ QUOTE ]
It's probably a reflection of personality type. I don't care for first person shooters;

[/ QUOTE ]

That's the thing- I never cared for Quake, Doom or any of those types of games either.

I like the concept of the game, so maybe I need to give it more time. Perhaps I should try AOE.

[obsidian]

I've stayed up to 4am playing civ4 more than a few times already...

[HopeydaFish]

I was up until 3am last night playing. I won the Space Race but then kept on playing because I wanted to destroy the rest of the civs. I finally gave up and went to bed once I'd destroyed everyone except for the English. It would have taken me at least another hour to finish them off. I was playing one of the lower difficulty levels, though...I'm scared to start over with one of the higher levels because I'll be up until 3am again if I do.

It was kind of a weird game last night, btw...There were two continents, one which was much bigger than the other. The game stuck all 6 civs on the same continent, and nobody on the other one. The other one was too far away to sail to until you'd discovered the right techs to do so. I finally sent a ship over to the other continent in about 1700AD or so, and figured that it would be full of other civs' cities. However, none of the other civs had built cities there...it was totally empty except for a few large barbarian cities. It was kind of neat...sort of like discovering "the new world".

[diebitter]

[ QUOTE ]
I'd destroyed everyone except for the English. It would have taken me at least eternity to finish them off.

[/ QUOTE ]

FYP (if it's a realistic simulation, obviously)

[skiier04]

[ QUOTE ]
Age of Empires 3.

[/ QUOTE ]

[bugstud]

the epic games are poorly synced right now, I suggest sticking to normal or going to civfanatics and helping them test the best way to mod it.

[Spaded]

[ QUOTE ]
It was kind of a weird game last night, btw...There were two continents, one which was much bigger than the other. The game stuck all 6 civs on the same continent, and nobody on the other one. The other one was too far away to sail to until you'd discovered the right techs to do so. I finally sent a ship over to the other continent in about 1700AD or so, and figured that it would be full of other civs' cities. However, none of the other civs had built cities there...it was totally empty except for a few large barbarian cities. It was kind of neat...sort of like discovering "the new world".

[/ QUOTE ]

You played the "terra" style map. If you play the "continents" style map you'll see other undiscovered civs on that second continent.

[HopeydaFish]

[ QUOTE ]

You played the "terra" style map. If you play the "continents" style map you'll see other undiscovered civs on that second continent.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks. Right after I'd made my post I went to play the game and noticed the description for the "Terra" maps. I quite like that style of game. If you can develop your techs that lead to navigation quickly, you can have a whole continent to yourself for awhile.

[Blarg]

It's my nature to get obsessed with anything I even halfway like. Civ 4 is definitely one that can keep me up literally all night. That said, I think the game has too much detail for the actual fun level. This is similar to what happens in some RTS's and MMORPG's, where micromanagement substitutes for anything fun sometimes. This game can keep you so busy you don't really notice that it's not as exciting as it seems to check over your city tiles or something. It's just...busy.

I'm getting Earth 2160 next week, an RTS. The graphics look astounding, and the franchise has been around and refining its gameplay for a good while now. I think I might wind up playing it more than Civ 4, especially if there's a good multiplayer to it. That's where RTS games really exist, in multiplayer.

But right now, I've played almost 9 hours of [card game] straight and I think I'm actually going to fire up a Civ game to relax.

[David04]

Wow after reading so much about this game on here, I finally got it(I had never played a Civ game before. Totally. Awesome.

Wow, this game is so great.

[TylerD]

I've spent the last month or so addicted to Civ III (after having rediscovered the franchise having not played it since Civ I) so I'm trying to not buy Civ IV for a while.

Its got to the point where my parents are encouraging me to play p*ker to prevent me from playing Civ III!

[Blarg]

LOL it has definitely made my poker less haphazard. Now I'm doing longer sessions instead of hits here and there during the day, because I know if I decide to play Civ 4 "just a little," I'm done for the day on doing anything else at all. Like except for eating and going to the bathroom.