Screenshots (Pre-Release)

[Wrightguy0 40]

Is that New York?

[GMT 389]

New York, IA maybe... lol

anyways, nice farms.

[Evillions 552]

OMG! Now FARMS! This game will surely beat City Life by a long shot! And

[MrCinatit 30]

Holy moly those farms look spectacular!

[mskero 0]

I cant wait the game!

[Jay Ess 15]

this looks great!

also, @mskero - Da, potpis je istina!

[dedgren 830]

I just don't see the huge appeal beyond the novelty. The farm buildings simply "float" lifelessly on the completely undifferentiated (and unrealistic appearing) farm field base. Are we really ready to give up years of learned experience lotting and modding for a little 3D glitz? Compare those perfectly uniform (and boring) country roads with the stuff SC4 Rural Gods like Chris (chrisadams3997), John (Darmok) and Jackie (jacqulina) are doing in SC4 today.

Like I said- I just don't see it. My hat is off to Monte Cristo for trying, but those pics, probably better than anything else to date, show the price of trying to live "off the grid."

David

[LironTheChick 20]

Question: Are lots in Cities XL can go in any direction, not only orthogonal?

[castironpigeon 1]

I've got to agree with David. If this is the price we pay for fancy 3D graphics then I'll gladly stick to 2D sprites. What's going on in that last picture? Is that ugly striped thing supposed to be a field or a caution strip? I hope these last few screenshots are just the result of fans badgering MC into releasing bad screenshots of a clearly unfinished graphics engine. I hate to sound so negative, but with CXL going gold in just a few months there's no time left to beat around the bush.

[ThomassamohT 1]

AHHHHH IM DYING

THIS IS GOING TO BE AMMMAZING

[gabry85 2]

New York, CXL

Compare with this image posted earlier in this thread.

Originally posted by: noypi07 Question: Are lots in Cities XL can go in any direction, not only orthogonal?quote>

Yes, of course. Dunno if you must plop or zone in front of a road, though.

[JanYpe 17]

Originally posted by: dedgren I just don't see the huge appeal beyond the novelty. The farm buildings simply "float" lifelessly on the completely undifferentiated (and unrealistic appearing) farm field base. Are we really ready to give up years of learned experience lotting and modding for a little 3D glitz? Compare those perfectly uniform (and boring) country roads with the stuff SC4 Rural Gods like Chris (chrisadams3997), John (Darmok) and Jackie (jacqulina) are doing in SC4 today.

Like I said- I just don't see it. My hat is off to Monte Cristo for trying, but those pics, probably better than anything else to date, show the price of trying to live "off the grid."

Davidquote>

I´d like to think these rural pictures are more of a proof of concept (look guys, we´ve started working on farms!) than anything else. Abandoning all hope at this stage because it doesn´t stack up to SC4: Custom Content Edition seems a bit like being angry with your six year old kid for not playing golf as well as Tiger Woods.

But I do agree that at this point a full 3D city builder relies a lot on novelty. If you´d call the previous City Lives and SCS the first generation and CXL the second, having this play as a coherent, less clunky and more rewarding game would be the best goal to reach for. I'd rather see an honest improvement to the genre, but with some limitations, than a game that tries to live up to the fantastical expectations of every potential customer, and ultimately fails to impress anyone because it tries to do too much.

[dasilva 3]

Hi JanYpe,

I think you are just stating what we have been telling you all for quite a long time. We wanted to share with you our development directions and get your feedback to know what you are expecting. But even if we want to please as many persons as possible, we cannot achieve such goal: that's just impossible.

One of the key messages that I'm continuously repeating is that we won't abandon the core game and content just after release. The immediate benefit for CITIES XL players on its online portion is that we are commiting ourselves to bring new content and additional gameplay features through free patches as we move on for both online and single players Therefore, even if you lack some features or content at release, quite quickly we will bring you more and more 'til the day where you'll look back over your shoulder with a smile

It is important that we can bring you all a great city builder game and that's what we are working hardly on. Obviously, we won't be able to put it all on the release version but we will keep you posted on what will come in the weeks after. Last but not least, we will continue asking you for suggestions on how we could improve the game so that we keep you interested on it

Cheers,

[castironpigeon 1]

Originally posted by: JanYpe Abandoning all hope at this stage because it doesn´t stack up to SC4: Custom Content Edition seems a bit like being angry with your six year old kid for not playing golf as well as Tiger Woods. quote>

That's all fine, but if I'm going to spend my time and money watching golf I'd rather see Tiger Woods at it than a six year old. It's not fair that CXL has to compete with years of custom content, but that's the reality of it. If CXL can't beat that then the best it can do is divide up the sim community between those that have invested too much time in SC4 to give it up for an inferior product and those who can't imagine themselves spending ridiculous amounts of time bringing their version of SC4 up to snuff.

@Philippe: I can believe that a well meaning developer such as MC will stand behind their product and release new content after it's shipped. But I cannot believe that MC will release a patch someday that rebuilds the entire game engine. Those farm shots show flat, striped fields instead of 'real' crops, fields that are surrounded by roads, and houses floating in the middle of said fields. That's not very impressive, and with the game shipping at the end of the next quarter, it's more than a bit scary.

[Rean2 10]

Some more new images go to their site and vote on your favorite stadium for each sport! Buildings with the most votes will be included in the game

[ironicepitome 0]

cool, if only my computer wouldnt implode if i installed this. Cool none the less

[ironicepitome 0]

cool, if only my computer wouldnt implode if i installed this. Cool none the less

[Hawkeye9 0]

Woah this is lookin cool!!!

I especially like those rural pics!!!

[gabry85 2]

A cool... uh... freezing shot! (Buildings on slopes ahead)

(Thanks, Andre090904 and Mudder)

[dasilva 3]

Originally posted by: castironpigeon

Originally posted by: JanYpe Abandoning all hope at this stage because it doesn´t stack up to SC4: Custom Content Edition seems a bit like being angry with your six year old kid for not playing golf as well as Tiger Woods. quote>

That's all fine, but if I'm going to spend my time and money watching golf I'd rather see Tiger Woods at it than a six year old. It's not fair that CXL has to compete with years of custom content, but that's the reality of it. If CXL can't beat that then the best it can do is divide up the sim community between those that have invested too much time in SC4 to give it up for an inferior product and those who can't imagine themselves spending ridiculous amounts of time bringing their version of SC4 up to snuff.

@Philippe: I can believe that a well meaning developer such as MC will stand behind their product and release new content after it's shipped. But I cannot believe that MC will release a patch someday that rebuilds the entire game engine. Those farm shots show flat, striped fields instead of 'real' crops, fields that are surrounded by roads, and houses floating in the middle of said fields. That's not very impressive, and with the game shipping at the end of the next quarter, it's more than a bit scary.quote>

Hi castironpigeon,

We will patch the game for the reasons we will find it requires improvement after the game release. Our goal right now is to make sure we can deliver a good game with the basic features that make a good city builder game.

With that basis, we will then come back to you with additional features and sometimes we will revamp some content or features to improve the game.

Our players will bring us to the right direction because we will continue listening to their suggestions and remarks

[Kevin 101]

Loving the latest images... I am really excited for this game

[Evillions 552]

So when is this going to be released? August or May?

[DPMorse 2]

Originally posted by: panthersimcity4 Holy mother of God... those roads are AWESOME

Those pictures are making me slowly die inside. When will this game be released? quote>

Personally, I think the road/sidewalk textures are the worst part of this game.

A 4-lane avenue with no yellow center divide? What?! It is legal to pass into oncoming traffic between traffic lights?

And sidewalks that are at least as wide as the road lane (sometimes 2)?

Roads are flubbed up, plain and simple. They need a LOT more work. 

[ilikehotdogsalot 308]

It all looks so good! Those who are not happy, compare these pictures to the original SC4 pictures, and (cringe) the original SC4 farms...You'll see this is great progress.

[ky72x 13]

Originally posted by: USA Patriot I noticed, that in the Toronto City Hall building, they must have a deal going with General Motors in the Cities XL game. The three cars in it are a Hummer, A Buick, and a Chevy Silverado. My guess is GM will be in the game cars a lot, plus some made up generics.quote>

 

Yeah, I noticed that too.  I've already seen a Pontiac Solstice and a Cadillac Escalade in some shots, so the appearance of the H3, Enclave, and Silverado suggest that GM vehicles will make up a large portion of the in-game cars.  

Anyway, it all looks great.  Still not sure if I'll buy it though, I may still be too involved with good 'ol SC4.  But man, those aerial shots are plain awesome.

[gabry85 2]

Landmarks Reborn!

[Simonopoly 0]

Looks cool, but the way things look qua style and stuff it looks a freightening lot like...

DUM DUM DUUUUUUMMM...

Sim sity societies :S

[GMT 389]

woohooo landmarks... even with construction states... awesome!

Philippe, may I get back to one point you mentioned:

Originally posted by: dasilva

[...] we are commiting ourselves to bring new content and additional gameplay features through free patches as we move on for both online and single players

[...]quote>

does that mean that there's no additional charges for additional content at all?

or do you guys plan on adding free stuff here and and charge for other stuff there, e.g. in expansion packs or something?

[Haljackey 17,304]

Originally posted by: dedgren

I just don't see the huge appeal beyond the novelty. The farm buildings simply "float" lifelessly on the completely undifferentiated (and unrealistic appearing) farm field base. Are we really ready to give up years of learned experience lotting and modding for a little 3D glitz? Compare those perfectly uniform (and boring) country roads with the stuff SC4 Rural Gods like Chris (chrisadams3997), John (Darmok) and Jackie (jacqulina) are doing in SC4 today.quote>

Hi David, I thought I should get back to comments here.

Although you make strong arguments, we need to realize that this is not in any way related to SC4.  This game is not based on SC4, its not designed to be a extension of SC4, and is not a successor to SC4. 

CXL is what it makes itself to be, which could have influences from other games but in the end is a totally unique product not meant to be compared with anything. 

Sure the level of detail, realism and scale aren't the best, but it looks like its going to be a fun, 3D game.  If you remember back in the day the first 3D games looked pretty crappy compared to the 2D ones, but in time they have really improved.

Consider CXL one of the earlier Simcity games.  After another release or two the level of detail (in 3D) will match or surpass SC4, but you need to allow time for this to happen. 

Like I said- I just don't see it. My hat is off to Monte Cristo for trying, but those pics, probably better than anything else to date, show the price of trying to live "off the grid."

quote>

We all have to start somewhere.  With EA setting the Simcity series back with SCS, and Will Wright/Maxis stating that they are only going to do one more thing, I'm glad someone stepped to the plate!    Even more so, Philippe has taken the time to talk to our community to get some feedback.

They can't please everyone, but I'm certain the feedback Monte Cristo has received from us has benefited them in many ways and will result in the release of a better game.

It might not be like SC4, but its a huge leap in the right direction.  I'm going to buy it, that's for sure! 

Anyways, I hope this helps.

Best,

-Haljackey

[Kevin 101]

Good post hal... I agree totally. The thing that gives me the most optimism for CXL is the communication with the City-Simulation community. Even though they can't please everyone, there seems to be a real effort to please as many people as possible.