Civilization: Beyond Earth

Urouge

I've always been a huge Civ fan. The games used to have a nasty habit of "one more turn"ing me all the way until sunrise. But even I would tell you that the series overall had gotten pretty stale and repetitive. They'd essentially just release a slightly upgraded version of the same game, yet again, and increase the numeral another notch. All the way up to Civ 5 (and I should know because I bought each and every one of them and played them to death, along with Civ Revolutions which was the same thing but for consoles). Despite the fact that I have over 100 hours in Civ 5, I couldn't help but feel like the game was still sort of ripping me off after Civ 4. Well, that rut has finally been smashed into oblivion.

Meet Beyond Earth. Rather than starting back at the dawn of time yet again, it changes up the formula. Now you've won the space race, and you're essentially the very first settlers arriving on an alien world (which is exactly what I've always wished for every single time I've ever won that way). The change in setting allows them to change a lot of fundamental aspects of the game to make it feel very fresh and unique. This game is a threat to my health. My hype level has reached the upper tiers on this one.

And now they have a release date! October 24th? Why October? The list of games coming out that month is getting ridiculous. I'm not sure if I fear more for my wallet or my social life.

Surprisingly the Civ games have a multiplayer community, though I don't know why. A single player game alone can take me multiple days to get through, and that's without waiting on other peoples' turns. You'd have to devote like an entire weekend to finishing a single game, and hope that everyone else did the same. I think you'd have to know the people well and be willing to stretch the game out over a long period of time. It all just seems like too much of a headache to me.

Sakonosolo

I think what you're saying about getting stale can kind of be applied to this game though since it's essentially a reboot of Alpha Centauri and probably doesn't reach that game's greatness, like I've heard V doesn't reach IV's greatness.

I really enjoyed V though and the expansions make it even more fun so I am looking forward to this. I was really interested in that orbit mechanic they were talking about, where not only do you have land units but you can put units into orbit and use them from there. Not sure how they differ from flying units in the other Civ games though.

Urouge

Well, I don't know about reaching IV's greatness or whatever, but you had to question how they could justify it being worth a $60 upgrade. The mods are always super fun regardless of which version you're on.

I think this game takes a few departures from Alpha Centauri as would be expected after a 15 year gap, though the concepts are definitely very closely aligned. That said, Alpha Centauri was a fantastic game, but also only one standalone game that was made 15 years ago. Not a string of 5 games, the last few of which are just too close together to really matter for such a static strategy franchise. Even if they named it Alpha Centauri 2 and upped that game to current gen I'd eat it up with a spoon. It's been too long.

So I'd argue that it's not really stale. Rather it's forgotten. Sort of like space sims (X-Wing, not Mass Effect/Halo). They used to be stale because they were everywhere, but they haven't been made in so long that they really aren't anymore and the resurgence begins. To give you an idea of how long it's been, even high schoolers these days don't really have one that dominated the gaming scene during their lives. The only one that really even tried was Starfox which was a railshooter.

Leon

Wow. I thought I was the only one here who loved Civilization. I am a huge Civ 4 and Civ 5 fan. I adore turn based strategy games in general. Have tried many other such games such as Age of Wonders, Warlord, Alpha Centaurs but Civilization 4 has always been my favourite.

Anyhow, I am looking forward to this but I don't know if can buy it soon, since I have been saving money for DA:I and Shadow of Mordor.

GJardim

Do you guys like gameplay footage? I do.
http://www.gamespot.com/videos/sid-meiers-civilization-beyond-earth-gameplay-walk/2300-6420047/

Urouge

I always like good gameplay footage.

@Leon:

Wow. I thought I was the only one here who loved Civilization. I am a huge Civ 4 and Civ 5 fan. I adore turn based strategy games in general.

One look at the Fire Emblem thread will tell you all you need to know about the turn based strategy appreciation on these forums. The Civ games just lack the storyline elements and romance mechanics that drive countless pages of discussion like that thread gets. But I believe the love is still there.

Wagomu

I jumped on the Civ train more recently than you folks when the humble bundle came out and I've been a fan since (a whole several months).

Beyond Earth was giving me some mixed feelings when I first heard about it, but the gameplay video clears some things up. I was mostly worried that there would not be much of a reason for interaction between civs, with most of the victory conditions being affinity-based, but seeing that there are things like resources needed by specific affinities makes me feel a lot better.

GJardim

I wasn't so sure about Beyond Earth, but since it's getting better, in my view, as they release more info about it, I guess we can expect a good and solid game.

Cyan D. Funk

Civ 5 owned hard, Beyond Earth looks equally awesome. Africa dude all day erry day.

JarmenKell

Eh Civ 5's 1 building per tile thing was odd to me, but 4 was very good. Just hope they remove that limitation.

Not exactly willing to pay $60 for something that looks almost like a reskinned Civ 5 so I might wait for a later sale. Dunno how fast Civ games depreciate though.

GJardim

@JarmenKell:

Eh Civ 5's 1 building per tile thing was odd to me, but 4 was very good. Just hope they remove that limitation.

You mean 1 unit per tile, right?

Also, I didn't find it bad; I found myself enjoying more Civ 5 than Civ 4 mainly because of this change. It's just me, though.

Cyan D. Funk

Hexes are better than grids, doomstacks on one tile were stupid anyway.

Urouge

I was never much of a fan of the doomstacks. It seemed cooler to see the waves of units move across the map anyway. And yeah hex grids all the way.

Now they just need to make a game that combines both Civ 5 and Beyond Earth, rather than being fixated on either the past or future by itself, and my life will be thoroughly destroyed.

Cyan D. Funk

I want to play as Space Pocatello.

Leon

I started the game yesterday. Honestly, I am not really impressed. It felt bland and uninteresting. They still have not solved slow loading screens which is typical of all the Civs

Sakonosolo

Yeah I heard it was disappointing. More in that it's a reskin of CivV more or less than it necessarily being bad by itself. I never really had an issue with the loading screens unless I was playing on my laptop. I don't think there's anyway to really get around the loading being slow on some computers. The world has to be built and all that stuff.

stephen

I played a game and wasn't really into it. Definitely felt like a re-skin of Civ 5, only without the benefit of all that real world history and background, or the ridiculous breadth of all that DLC. I might give it another shot if they end up going back to flesh out some of the systems, but did not capture me enough to keep playing as-is.

DarthAsthma

@stephen:

I played a game and wasn't really into it. Definitely felt like a re-skin of Civ 5, only without the benefit of all that real world history and background, or the ridiculous breadth of all that DLC. I might give it another shot if they end up going back to flesh out some of the systems, but did not capture me enough to keep playing as-is.

Same here played a game I have to say Civ5 with all the DLC is way more fun to me. Beyond Earth somehow feels like lacking options. I never played the Alpha Centauri games but the way people talked about it I expected something a little more different than a Civ5 reskin.
Playing Beyond Earth feels really similar to playing a new Sims game. Prettier graphics but no the same wealth of content.