How do you feel about the SCS announcement?

[78stonewobble 1]

"2.0 GHz processor

1GB ram

Windows XP or upwards

128mb Graphics card with pixelshader 3.0 support for HDR lighitng

2.5/4 GB of HD space

etc... 

with specs like that...I don't think i can afford the game...i think everything is double what i already got... "

Cjah, you can built a pc that lives up to that pretty cheap these days. A quick guess would be around 5.000 danish kroner or around 900 $. Probably less even.

[sparkin50 0]

Knee jerk reaction: "I already have City Life, and was bored of that game in less than a week, no thanks."

Ok, now that I have responded to the threads intent, I have some rather poignant points to make (Long, thorough read ahead). 

I have been playing the Sim City series since SC2000. Ever since said installment, the series has progressively gotten more complex AND enjoyable (yes, simultaneously!!!). Each step of the way has given me a more enjoyable and rewarding style of gameplay that lasts LITERALLY for years in each game.

Let's use Sim City 4 + RH for the benchmark. Sim City 4 provided the most realistic, enjoyable, rewarding, and replayable experience from any *City* game to date (or strategy game, for that matter). It was a type of game you could play the same city for 2 years and still stay up 'till 3 am to upgrade infrastructure, or (re)zoning neighborhoods. When I bought Sim City 4 the day it came out, I knew it was a gem beforehand. Today, I still anticipate the end of my work day so I can finally play the game.

As a matter of fact, my video card is screwed up, and I can ONLY play Sim City 4 (not a 3D app.) Sure, I can get a new GPU; but I don't care because Sim City 4 WORKS! Explanation as to why I am content with SC4: total replayability and sense of craftsmanship, combined with absolute fun. It is great to *need* a freeway system, upgrade from a road to an avenue, or from region view - obsess over the skyscrapers your downtown has sprouted or the sprawl of suburbia that has developed due to the internal demand for it. The thrill of Sim City simply comes from the fact you have to PLAN the game, not only shape it.

I'm done glorifying SC4 for now, so let's take a look at what SCS is trying to mimic: City Life.

I bought City Life for a few reasons, some misleading and others out of curiosity. Many reviews were touting it as the closest & best thing to SC4 since the game itsself. Combine this with the TITLE of the game, one could believe it may be fun in similar ways to Sim City. Curiosity involved me into City Life with the different "Social Structures" of the game, so I bought it.

Buying City Life felt like a good idea for 4 days, then I started playing SC4 again because there was no replayability and it was far too easy. Without any transportation options such as freeways or trains (only upgrade roads to bigger roads, which take up no extra space.) or very little internal factors ("demand"), the game had no difficulty aside from money management. The social factors failed to interest me for long, it was just a reason to keep a strip of space between clashing cultures.

-

I tell all of this to make the following point: EA is attempting to make a City Life clone, not a *true* city simulator game. Perhaps they believe this is the new trend to make money on, because Monte Cristo tried it and they want to make a better game. It looks as if we will not get our modern day city simulator just yet. Ignore the name "Sim City" in "Sim City: Societies", as it is definately not the game we all know and love.

All I wanted was bridges over roads, angled roads, modern coding, the ability to craft interchanges, intersections, amount of lanes on avenues & intersections, and mod community. Same mechanics of SC4+RH plus said mentions = $50 from me (and probably everybody reading this post).

Anyone agree with that?

[John-SJ 13]

Originally posted by: 78stonewobble "2.0 GHz processor

1GB ram

Windows XP or upwards

128mb Graphics card with pixelshader 3.0 support for HDR lighitng

2.5/4 GB of HD space

etc... 

....quote>

 

I'm curious, where do these requirements come from?  I didn't know any had been published already.  Thanks!

[Mr_Maison 2,426]

I love my wife I been married to for years and I want to buy my wife a new dress...not get a new wife.

In other words, I'm not looking for a new game when it comes to Sim City. Like others have expressed, all we need is first off, for the issues of SC4 to be addressed like the dumb@$$ behavior of the sims and their laziness, and more realistic city design. We been screaming these things for years and what do we get. It's like asking the waiter if he can get some gravy for the mashed potatoes and he takes the potatoes and brings back frenchfries. But I didn't ask for frenchfries!!!! where's my Mashed potatoes???!!! I see what the waiter is bringing to the table. There's nothing wrong with frenchfries....but wheres the mashed potatoes I asked for with the gravy??!! There was nothing wrong with the mashed potatoes, it just needed gravy!!!

One of the biggest complaints I always had for years with game sequels was the direction the developers take in a continuation. If everything that was in the first (except the bugs) is not in the second...it's not a sequel. It's something else and should be introduced as such. a sequel should be the same story with more added to enhance. Changes is for depth and quality.

[toxicpiano 125]

I suppose because I'm an FPS gamer I'm lucky because I'm always trying to prepare for the next big thing (in this case DX10 games like crysis), so usually games like this are a piece of cake to run.

[waffle ghost 0]

Now I dont know if anyone has said or thought of this (seeing that Im not going to read every frikk'n post) but did anyone ever think that this is just a "Tech Demo" for what may or ideas that could come in the REAL SC5, an that greedy EA just wants to sell it to everyone to make some cash.  And having Tilted Mill do it is so everyone at Maxis can focus on Spore so they can stop screwing us around with that, and release to us so we can start play'n. And then take some action to make the REAL SC5

[hawkpride147 1]

i highly doubt it is a "tech demo" spore is going to be the latest technology...all this is, is the sims in a different package. it is simply a reskinning of Sim Theme Park. think about it...everything is ploppable, only one type of road, its certain buildings over and over again, only one purpose, and pretty much only one way to play...i won't be buying it. ever. period.

[djgilesy 0]

Well guys I must say that I really need to know how this game is going to work. If it is just a clone of city life and everything is plopperble then the simcity series will be dead and buried. Rush Hour was the best simulation game ever relesed since then every game to come out had been simple to the point of being bored within days. Now ok we don't know if there'll be zoning and regions and a complex transport system but i hope and prey that there will be. Because if this game becomes a city life clone I feel that we'll see the end of simcity for ever, because there's no come back from a game that bad. Anyway, i'm sure i'm just reapeting what other people have said but I want to voice my opinion hoping that if enough people have their say here EA might take note and (with any luck) shelf the game for a few months to make sure it is up to an exceptable standard.

[existenz 2]

Hi, I'm new to the forum and Sim City 4 but not SC3Unlimited or SC2. I just want to say that I would also prefer SC5 not SC:Societies, and that's coming from someone who likes Children of the Nile! but not Caesar 4. I like Caesar3 and Pharaoh but will spend hours on SC3 Unlimited and now probably SC4 and Rush Hour when it arrives in a few days. I like the realism of Sim City and the micromanagement. I don't want easier I like complexity otherwise I just get bored. So heres hoping WW hears these comments and commissions Maxis post Spore to either add an expansion to SC4/RH or starts SC5 the way most people here seem to want it. I also want to take the opportunity to thank all who have contributed their time and creativity through downloads and mods etc to SC4 and SC3 Unlimted - hours and hours of extreme enjoyment to those of us who don't know how to do it for ourselves. Thanks.

[DarkWarriorXII 3]

When I heard there was a new SimCity coming out, the first place I visited was back here. It's been a while since I've posted here. As expected, ST got the sneak peek at SCS, and I'd like to thank dirk and rybolton for their reviews of the game. I tend to agree with the general concensus around here. I won't be buying SCS. However, I don't see this game as the SC4 successor at all. In EA's defense, I think they put this game together because they knew, with Spore and The Sims taking up Maxis' time, a new SimCity wouldn't be out for a while. They knew no one else could match the abilities of Maxis to create a SimCity 5, so they decided to go a different route for the next game. They probably hoped that we'd accept this game and would keep us happy until SimCity 5 would come out. They knew we've been wanting a new game in the series, but unfortunately, Maxis couldn't deliver at the current time. So in an attempt to satisfy our hunger for a new game, they threw one at us hoping we'd be pleased with it. EA had no intentions of this being a successor to SC4, nor do they intend for this to be the new direction of the series. If they did, they would have called this game SimCity 5, not SimCity Societies.

In my opinion, since this game had Societies attached to the name instead of a number, like all the other games in this series (except classic), EA simply viewed this as a sidetrack in the series, not a main game. Looking back years from now, we'll see SC 1, 2000, 3000, 4, and 5, as well as a couple side games like Societies. These side games were created to keep us satisfied during the long periods between the main games. Unfortunately for EA, this first sidetrack game isn't turning out too well. Maybe next time they'll think it through more.

So do I view this as the end of the series or the new direction of the series? No. I see this as an attempt to keep us satisfied while Maxis works on other things. In due time, Maxis will return to SimCity and will put out SimCity5. But for now, you can either stick with SC4 or give SCS a try. I wouldn't see this as an attempt to change the series completely. I think this was just put out to keep us interested since SC5 probably won't be out for a long time. Unfortunately for EA, this project backfired on them.

As I said, based the previews, I'm not interested in this game and I won't buy it. I just felt I'd give my viewpoint on this game since it seems everyone's bashing EA for putting this out, when they might have really been trying to please us in the end. Hate me if you want for defending EA; I simply wanted to offer a different view on this situation.

[Gorgogn_the_sim_killer 1]

At first I thought " What, a new rollercoaster tycoon already?" but when I realized what really happened... you don't wanna know...

[SAGG 4]

Hello. Obviously, I'm with the general majority of posters here: This "SCS" game is NOT a true Sim City game! > I'm certainly not going to buy and play it!! Maxis, you people have severely disappointed me!!

[Crissa 1]

I'm hoping that SC4 isn't 'killed off' by SCS. There's still many things that can be done and projects unfinished in SC4... Things that can't be done in SCS.

-Crissa

[Androv 6]

I don't think we will know what can and can't be done in SCS until we get the game. It might be really easy to mod some more roads into it for instance. And Maxis isn't even involved in the game so it's a bit hard to be disappointed in it (unless you disappointed in them giving up the rights to another company).

[doodlea21 31]

I never had the intention of buying Simcity Societies. I never desired the social aspect at all. What keeps me glued to Simcity 4 is the subways, power plants, etc - not to mention the trail parks, retaining walls, ploppable water, road top mass transit, underpasses and many, many more gems created by the Simcity 4 community

The 3d graphics didn't really appeal to me either, especially after seeing the screenshots at Gamespy - the graphics, through they are 3d, are none too impressive. The geometric details have been spared on nearly everything - understandably to spare RAM. Just look at this - the lack of detail really shows on the crane-like structures in the foreground.

Of course there will be a whole load of people who like the new game. It's just that EA seems to have neglected its old audience, and the new game is geared towards an entirely new one altogether. I'm not going to complain - we still have SC4!

[Sabretooth78 808]

We've reached a point with modding and BAT with SC4, that I'm content if it's the last in the series. So long as it's compatible with my system, it has a home. Yeah, it has its issues, but overall it's one hell of a way to waste a day!

I'd say there's no chance I'd buy SCS. Bad impressions aside, I've invested too much into my SC4 setup - to uproot it almost seems stupid - unless this next thing was the step forward we'd all been hoping for. The other thing is I'm sick to death of my wallet getting raped for $50 for the base game, $20 for an expansion pack, and then it comes out on a $20 deluxe package. *****!?!?! Same thing with Civilization III - so much so that I've still yet to buy Civ IV, I figure I'll wait until Civ V comes out and then upgrade to IV (stay a version behind). Heck it's new to me! So even if "SC5" was buyable, I'd probably skip it until post-expansion pack anyways.

Basically though, there's nothing putting us "out of business" as SC4 fans. We'll go out of business when we decide to, not because we were run out.

[geek511 0]

the graphics are terriable. i would like sim city 5 by maxis

[LTParis 1]

I hadn't played SC4 is a good while. Between a stint of playing WoW, work, having a new kid my time got very limited. My wife had bought S2: bon Voyage and they had an ad for SCS so I naturally had to come here and lo and behold the preview was out.

I am utterly disappointed in the game. I didn't mind that they were going for more simplifed gameplay but I was hoping that there would be a hybrid-play style that allowed the SC4-type crowd to really get into the game. SCS does not deliver in any regards to that and I fear that SC5 will never see the light of day. *sigh*

[Andy_108 1]

This new game looks bad... and i an't going to buy it. The graphics are poor and cities look very unrealistic. Simcity4 is far better than this yet i will still try the scs demo to see what it is like but otherwise i'm sticking with simcity4!

[Hilde 0]

I am new to this forum, only become a member because I am going to buy the game and was hoping to get some help and feedback when playing but now I have read all the post about this game and I do not think I have read one post that was positiv to this game. Is it really that bad?
Or is it just because you was expecting something else? 
I remember back when I playd Zoo Tycoon and when we started to hear about ZT2 and puh! Lot of angry people who said that they would never play it .. but they did. And they loved it and still do so maybe in time when the game comes out it will be better? I hope so.

[Need4Camaro 50]

Does anyone find it quite hillarious how Maxis simply left the Sim City Scene for the Sims, leaving all of the Sim City Fans in the dark... When we all complained to Maxis about the lack of sufficient support and content for Sim City 4000, they smiled and gave us Sim City Societies... an absolute joke... Does anyone find it funny at all how Maxis simply dropped the Sim City Title along with its fans down the toilet?

[ManagerJosh 0]

Maxis no longer exists. More to the point, Maxis isn't making SimCity Societies. Tilted Mill is.

[lasergoat 0]

Hilde:

If you weren't expecting something already and as a new game, it's fine and seems to have some intriguing aspects, but as the next iteration of Simcity to a lot of Simcity 4 fans, it's little like what was expected and many fans are disappointed.

[Androv 6]

Well Will Wright said he wanted to bring it back to it's roots :-) So expecting something more in depth/micromanaging than SC4 was probably getting your hopes up.

[lasergoat 0]

It might be all be well and fine if EA actually brought Simcity back to it's roots, but instead Societies is a Ceasar 4'esk game with modern buildings. The odd thing is EA then intentionally limits the game in some ways so it resembles Simcity Classic, such as transportation, but in complete conflict with what they are trying to promote (endless possibilities instead of limited possibilities).

[KingTitan 6]

I think Im gonna wait till the hype burns out... remember what happened with the iPhones.....LOL

[Androv 6]

I admit that it would be a lot better if we had at least two types of sealed road to use instead of "This is Main St" everywhere, and if they used something like the nodal based system in City Life. But I'm still looking forward to it :-)

[BattleField-2142 9]

Way too kiddish, not something I'd buy. You'd think that with all these amazingly graphical quality...ish... w/e u call it games comin out, they would notice that theirs dont compare.. I think they are way too lenient on them selves because they think the 3d automatically makes a major improvement to the game, which is 99% of cases, it does. But these textures they are using are just terrible! Theres no friggin reflections or transparency at all!..

[ManagerJosh 0]

How is it kiddish, Battlefield?

[BattleField-2142 9]

Everything is too colorful.. and the fact its getting easier is another thing. I dont want a game for little kids thats so easy you dont even have a learning curve for it. I like SC4 cuz im always learning something new about it, and with a game thats just simple easy plopping... mm thats hard. I dont feel like goin on, but the "textures"/colors they use are way too kiddish. the " around textures are because they are so poor its more like blobs of color like a kids painting, except with using only 2 colors of paint.

Id love too see Rockstar make an attempt in city simulation games. Sure, is not what they do, but look at GTA IV, it looks amazing. Those are what you call good textures