Online / Offline Petition: Please register to participate in the poll.

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

Moderator Note:

I have removed the ALL-CAPS from the title, and edited it slightly to remove the anti-online bias.

In the past we have had a very low tolerance for 'petition' type threads on Simtropolis... usually (ironically) in the past demanding EA make another SC...

Now EA is making another SC... yet some folks are still unable to be pleased.

We will leave this thread, here for now, but if it turns into yet another anti-online-anti-EA-whining-fest... it will be closed.

(...and it is getting pretty close to that)

[Cob92 360]

While the idea of online play seems pretty good, the idea that it has to be tied to Origin makes me a bit worried.

Now it offers what a lot of people here seem to want. Total building freedom. No money restrictions. No physical restrictions. Good, realistic graphics. Moddability. There is a movement within the CXL modding community to make mods that make the game more fun to play rather than just adding eye candy, but there are sufficient mods there to remove all limitations that were originally built into the game and make it a total sandbox.

CXL has made some gains, however, it still isn't able to deviate from American or European styled cities. Either that or they end up a mixed mess of a salad bowl. This is at least what I'm seeing in the City Journals. I'm not saying they don't look good though.

Well, CXL has the moddability to add non-Western buildings to the game, and of course the roads can be changed to whatever you want. The fact that the cities being built are Western-styled may have to do with the fact that the majority of the players are European. Even Americans are a minority on there (there meaning Xlnation.net; the official forum is dead), and the Asian community is pretty much non-existent so far as I know. Then you've got a bunch of people who don't care to obey the rules of any regional style whatsoever and simply build whatever they please. There will be non-Western cities when people decide that they want to build them.

  Edited May 14, 2012 by Cobhris96  

[chocolate_city 93]

frdrcklim- Given time and energy Cities XL with all new and wonderful improvements its had over the past few months and it might become a true successor to Sim City 4, reading how so many people, including myself, are dissatisfied with the oncoming Sim City 2013. But its really way too early to tell.

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

But its really way too early to tell.

It sure is.

[Hanno 16]

Some of my thoughts:

1) I will buy expansion packs. In fact, I PREFER expansion packs above mods. Expansion packs, at least in theory, should be well conceived and properly tested, and it will include all the necessary core changes to make the integration of additional functionality seamless. Mods, on the other hand, comes with no guarantees, could be unstable or clumsy, and often feels more like a hack than an improvement. Of cause, there are some good mods out there, but they're the exception rather than the rule. Normally, you get what you pay for. I need to be very​ disparate before I'll consider using a mod.

2) I got Cities XL, only because it had features I always desired in Simcity: The ability to experience your city on street level, and total - well almost - freedom to place the roads as you want them. But Cities XL just isn't Simcity. For one thing, it becomes unstable when your city grows large. Then the tools aren't very user friendly: You are very limited on editing the terrain, the incorrect snapping of roads and zones are often more of a hindrance than a help. Also, we are back to fixed zone sizes. I find it annoying that when you zone high density, then you'll get a high density building regardless whether there is demand for it or not. The residential zoning according to wealth is great if you want to create an Apartheid style city, but it in most cases, I prefer to let the conditions in the city determine the wealth of the citizens, as it is in Simcity. And don't even get me started on highways! CitiesXL is a good - but not great - attempt to fill the void left by Simcity, but it will always be just that: an imitation.

3) If the big whoo-ha about on-line play is the effects of the region on your city, then I still don't get it: that was there in SC4 as well. Why can't I just have my region all on my local machine and work with that?

4) I really don't understand why some people think offline games have no future. Almost everybody here has expressed a desire for an offline mode. Cities XL only became a success after the failure of Planet Offer. I have Civilization V, and I am terribly annoyed with having to switch on my internet, log into some crappy "Steam" application in order to get to my game. Whether offline games will ever become a thing of the past, only the future will tell, but as for now, the requirement of some games that you have to go online adds nothing to the experience except for annoyance and irritation.The offline market is still very strong, and game developers will be stupid to ignore this fact.

[frdrcklim 139]

The fact that the cities being built are Western-styled may have to do with the fact that the majority of the players are European. Even Americans are a minority on there (there meaning Xlnation.net; the official forum is dead), and the Asian community is pretty much non-existent so far as I know. Then you've got a bunch of people who don't care to obey the rules of any regional style whatsoever and simply build whatever they please. There will be non-Western cities when people decide that they want to build them.

Well that actually explains a lot. Although I'm sure you know there's a lot of that in SC4 as well =P.

[Hanno 16]

I've read this on wikipedia:

This version of SimCity will be the first to feature online play since Maxis's SimCity 2000 Network Edition,[1] allowing for a single region to house many cities from different players, although the option for a single-player region will still exist.

SimCity will require players to be logged into EA's Origin service to play the game. An active internet connection will be required every time the game is launched, though a disturbance to the connection during gameplay will not interrupt the gameplay

If this is true, then this is a whole let better than I thought it was. Having to be online everytime you start the game is highly annoying, but at least it's not half as bad as needing to be online THE WHOLE TIME - which is what I thought it is.

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

For those that would like to continue the online / origin discussion please do so here:

Thread closed.