Sim City 5 or Sim City Societies 2?

[spicytimothy 7]

Looking at the official website there are many troubling signs...

1. Ploppable buildings: "Customize buildings to unlock additional functionality and offer additional gameplay benefits. Experiment and place buildings in different locations and watch how it affects your city."

It appears that gameplay will be driven mainly by individual buildings plops - although they seem to be upgrade-able. Zoning was mentioned along with curved roads, but doesn't appear to be a main focus.

2. Specialization: "Create a unique city each time you play by specializing in a specific industry."

This is basically the idea behind Societies. Doesn't seem possible to build a cosmopolitan, multi-faceted metropolis.

3. Multiplayer: "Work together with friends to build a region for the first time! The cities in your friends’ region will directly interact with each other."

Personally I love Sim City because it is solo and I don't have to consider other players when I plan.

4. Towns, not cities: "Now every Sim has a purpose in the SimCity world, a home to go to, a job to work at, even stores to shop in."

The days of x00,000 metropolis might be over.

Forgive me, I'm a pessimist. :-(

[Altus 111]

Right now its unclear, they're clearly trying to distance them selves from Societies but a few things have set off alarms. We're going to have to wait till we see in game footage to really make strong judgements. I'm hoping for the best, the trailer looks really cool and hey it is Maxis.

[Ganaram Inukshuk 906]

Big thing to note: SCS is all EA. SC5 is all Maxis.

[LivingInThePast 364]

Definite alarms...

1. "Online and social elements where if you put a lot of polluting power plants near your borders, your friends might start to get some smoke rolling into their suburbs. You might even start to contribute to global CO2 levels."

2. I heard something about "social values".

3. "Online only" is a VERY BAD sign. That means no mods...

[Altus 111]

I also heard something about different kinds of sims depending on your city, that was what worried me the most.

[jacksunny 741]

3. "Online only" is a VERY BAD sign. That means no mods...

Not necessarily, there are still ways to incorporate mods into the game.

And the multiplayer is optional people, stop worrying about it!

[nathanthemayor 1,263]

What I hope is that they don't mess it up like they did to Societies....

[LivingInThePast 364]

Are you sure? Origin's feature page said it was "Online Only"

[Altus 111]

Are you sure? Origin's feature page said it was "Online Only"

They were probably talking about the pre-order.

[Cob92 360]

1. We had ploppable buildings in SC4. From what we've seen in the art so far, they're referring to stuff like utilities and civic buildings, like being able to add a new science building to your university or a bigger jail to your police station (assuming that what we read about zones was true, which I hope it was). For all we know, this might finally give us modular airports and seaports as a standard game feature.

2. How is the ability to specialize a bad thing? We already did that to a certain extent in SC4 by segregating different zone types into different cities, creating bedroom communities, industrial wastelands and downtown areas. I doubt that they're going to make it so you can't put lots of different stuff into a city.

3. Ever heard of SimCityScape? SC4 was the first SimCity to have a crude form of multiplayer, but was limited by the Internet of 2003. Doubt Maxis would be stupid enough to make it online-only after EA saw how that pissed off Command & Conquer fans in C&C4.

4. SC4 already simulated travel paths for your Sims to work and gave you feedback down to the level of the individual household, which had persistent age, education, and opinion stats house-by-house (plus they somehow managed to simulate families with children). It sounds like this new SimCity is simply expanding where SC4 left off.

Of course I could be wrong and Maxis really is planning to destroy SimCity, but I doubt that. They haven't given us a bad SimCity yet.

[Jahnri 21]

So much to learn still. The plop system though looks radically better then the predecessors. They are referring to police stations, fire stations, schools and services in general. Perhaps even some large zone plops like Arcologies. The ability for the plops to adapt to there surroundings is immense and I for one applaud there progressing the system to reflect reality.

The social aspect is something I've been waiting for a looooong time. I have well over 30 people I can think of right off the top of my head who will be playing simcity.

Those people all have different styles of cities. Trading resources will be a ball! Having impacts over the region will give a really feeling of worth.

I dont know, Im just a very positive person.

What really has me jazzed is the potential for this game. Just like Lucy brang up, this is a lot more complex set of code. The potential for the game is immense.

OH! One thing, the online only part is probably relfective of Spore. It could just be that you have to be able to be online to play it.

[Jaico 0]

Looking at the official website there are many troubling signs...

1. Ploppable buildings: "Customize buildings to unlock additional functionality and offer additional gameplay benefits. Experiment and place buildings in different locations and watch how it affects your city."

It appears that gameplay will be driven mainly by individual buildings plops - although they seem to be upgrade-able. Zoning was mentioned along with curved roads, but doesn't appear to be a main focus.

This doesn't mean plopable. This actually means you could, for example, upgrade an elementary school to add something such as a gym. Thus improving health. This actually has a lot of potential to add a great deal of depth to the game.

2. Specialization: "Create a unique city each time you play by specializing in a specific industry."

This is basically the idea behind Societies. Doesn't seem possible to build a cosmopolitan, multi-faceted metropolis.

You could technically do this in SC4. All this means is that each city in the region works off each other. Ergo, you could have one city dedicated to residential and another commercial. This further expands the scope of the game.

3. Multiplayer: "Work together with friends to build a region for the first time! The cities in your friends’ region will directly interact with each other."

Personally I love Sim City because it is solo and I don't have to consider other players when I plan.

You can play solo If you want. I'm assuming this feature is there to simply compete with Cities XL.

4. Towns, not cities: "Now every Sim has a purpose in the SimCity world, a home to go to, a job to work at, even stores to shop in."

The days of x00,000 metropolis might be over.

Forgive me, I'm a pessimist. :-(

You're twisting the meaning of this. It just means that sims within the city are more important and less like pawns.

Also, from what I've read, the team behind the sim city reboot consists of plenty SC2k and SC4 veterans.

  Edited March 7, 2012 by Jaico  

[Jazzmaster 716]

There's still so much we don't know about the game, that I think it's a bad idea to start comparing it to SimCity: Societies like has been done so many times already.

I mean, if they take the elements form Societies that were GOOD I'd be happy, and yes SCS had to have at least some redeeming qualities about it.

When they talk more about Glassbox and all that, then we can worry further, or hopefully be even more excited.

[Jahnri 21]

I just realized something when I watched the video. Now mind you I may be wrong and its a stretch but I think I figured something out.

From what I can see you build zones like in the old game. As the city grows it qualifies for Zone plops which seem to function as hubs guiding the purpose of the zones around it.

So say you have a block of commercial and you qualify for a mall or perhaps a giant office. Offering different benefits.

This suddenly reminds me of Simcity on the Snes!

If that is indeed how it works I am WAY jazzed.

In some ways thats exactly what Simcity 4 did. Not to mention what half of the Modded buildings were.

Its like the refined the ideas and polished them. I have a really good vibe going with this now.

[Winterwolf 0]

Are you sure? Origin's feature page said it was "Online Only"

They were probably talking about the pre-order.

It lists under features:

Multi Player 1-16

Online Only

which sounds to me like you can play alone but you have to be online all the time to play.

[hyno111 0]

Watch the streets, homes, businesses, and vehicles around your landmarks start to take on the flavor of those countries. This looks good,I don't know why it is a DLC content.

Receive exclusive missions, complete unique achievements and earn big bucks as waves of Sims visit the landmarks.Complete missions to unlock better buildings and create the most impressive city in your region. hope this does not mean mission/achievement will be a critial part of the game.personally I just want a sandbox.

I somehow feel that there will be a 1-in-3 choice of educational/tourist/Industry city,while a universal city is not possible. To encourage cooperation,maybe? I don't like it.

[Tony Bark 2]

Are you sure? Origin's feature page said it was "Online Only"

They were probably talking about the pre-order.

It lists under features:

Multi Player 1-16

Online Only

which sounds to me like you can play alone but you have to be online all the time to play.

Hm, that is a tad unsettling, yet it mentions nothing about subscriptions. Then again, it's to early to tell.

[Durfsurn 539]

Oh no. Nah uh. This is gonna be bad. SCS 2. ALarm bells go off when the words "Online Only" appear. Yeah maybe you can play solo but if im on holiday or dont have an internet connection i can't play! If they change their minds i MAY consider buying this but I'm gonna go with Buggi's Boomtown. Looks like EA have told Maxis that online is a must.

[Altus 111]

Oh no. Nah uh. This is gonna be bad. SCS 2. ALarm bells go off when the words "Online Only" appear. Yeah maybe you can play solo but if im on holiday or dont have an internet connection i can't play! If they change their minds i MAY consider buying this but I'm gonna go with Buggi's Boomtown. Looks like EA have told Maxis that online is a must.

Its probably going to be an identical set up to Spore.

[Tony Bark 2]

I just asked the official Twitter account. God knows how they'll respond.

[Azurespecter 506]

Honestly, I think that having the game online only is the most likely action. EA Games has been doing that with most of their games... in fact, most gaming companies are leaning that way. Blizzard has all of its games online-only, and they are kind of a leader in the gaming community. However, I don't think you will be forced to play multiplayer. This is just speculation of course, we can still hope for an off-line mode, and I personally hope for a single-player sandbox mode for when I just want to plop a work of art city.

[Tarkus 6,933]

I somehow feel that there will be a 1-in-3 choice of educational/tourist/Industry city,while a universal city is not possible. To encourage cooperation,maybe? I don't like it.

Look back at SC4 . . . the way the "official" tips-and-tricks for the game from EA/Maxis were, they mentioned the notion of using the regions to have cities focused on a given thing, particularly the notion of keeping dirty industry away from residential areas. Really, with the region system, which it appears will happen with the new SimCity, you'd still be able to have a "universal" city. You just need to conceptualize it differently. The regions allowed for a vast new gameplay option that wasn't present in SC3000 and earlier. Hopefully, the new SC will get the region part right this time--e.g. no eternal commute loops, perhaps having the freight side of things programmed in?

Cities, both in SC4 and in real-life, already take on a specific character as it is.

-Tarkus

[Jahnri 21]

The whole issue with having a online connection seems a bit odd to me since I am always connected. My how things have changes in the last decade These days I can get a connection in the middle of a jungle in Indonesia. Which I actually did get a decent 1mbps connection in a hut Lol.

[Altus 111]

This is what seriously worried me:

"Create a unique city each time you play by specializing in a specific industry.

Build a casino resort and watch as your city becomes a major tourist attraction.

Invest in schools and become an educational enclave.

Or transform to a manufacturing powerhouse that fuels your region.

Watch as these specializations influence the look, feel and core personality of your city."

It seems they like to lock you into a specific path these days, probably for causal gamers and children. It really sounds like Societies in that paragraph.

[Chris_12 1]

It's going to be Simcity 5 no doubt, Societies was made by Tilted Mill Entertainment and this new simcity is being developed by our dear Maxis, when have maxis disappoint us? I trust Maxis .

[Altus 111]

Well, they disappointed with Spore their latest title.

[Techleo 18]

Ah! Good to be back on the boards!

I really honestly think if they go the direction there going now were in for a treat. My biggest issue is modding. With the online play it could be.. difficult. Mind you we know little or nothing about what they have planned. After all , all the other Sim games they have made are centered around sharing content. *shrugs*

[BurroDiablo 222]

Definite alarms...

3. "Online only" is a VERY BAD sign. That means no mods...

'Online Only' will be a DRM thing, similar to Spore or Anno 2070... Anno had expansive singleplayer and Spore was all singleplayer. So 'Online Only' =/= 'Multiplayer Only'.

As for modding, we'll just have to wait and see... I don't see anything that suggests modding is impossible, multiplayer won't be forced either, although you won't be able to play online with them. Hopefully SC5 has an in-game Mod Manager like Men of War, where you can select to have mods enabled or not. This was make it 1000 times easier to shift between singleplayer with mods and multiplayer without. That said, Multiplayer with mods would be beyond awesome, if the mods enabled in the region were automatically downloaded and installed in a similar way to modded Counter Strike servers.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Refrain from enumerating your feathered progeny until the period of incubation has expired, you people. You are blithering on and on about a lot of hype with no real facts other than some bafflegab from one of the least trusted names in the industry. What is the matter with you people?

Let us all lie down in the weeds and wait. Certainly no one should give these guys any up-front money. No pre-orders. No program, no moolah. You could easily be out eighty bucks if they never deliver.

I want to see a working demo of the released game before I will move towards it. It may be all flash and little substance.

[Altus 111]

Apparently a working demo dose exist, they talked about it last night at the announcement. And there will be more information about it coming out today from the glassbox presentation.

  Edited March 7, 2012 by Altus