SimCity Vs Cities Xl 2012

[vietnam67 7]

I think that cities xl is better for the sole reason of the map size and better transport systems

[gc6164 36]

I voted for simcity 5.. IMO When I play cities xl 2011 or 2012 i don't get into it as much because once my city would reach 400,000 people or more it would start lagging so badly that its impossible to play, Also I don't really like the graphics and the music is terrible on it (no offence to the people that like it lol) ... I don't know what Simcity 5 will be like but I voted for it because my heart is telling me its going to be a good game, even though there is no farms, terraforming and no big maps....

[jrm541992 17]

Why are we talking about a game that isn't even out yet?

[vietnam67 7]

i was just wondering what the general theme of what people thought

  Edited October 3, 2012 by vietnam67  

[mapboy 106]

I have to say simcity. I've only played cities xl 2011, and I understand 2012 is almost the same. I really don't like the zoning in Cities XL and how we have to zone for different classes (that's not how it happens in real life...), also I found it a bit dull.

Although there are bits of SimCity I wish were different, I am still looking forward to playing it. The glassbox engine alone seals the deal.

[Zarpia 12]

I voted for Simcity because, let's face it, Cities XL lacks the simulations, which simcity have.

Sure, I don't like the tiny maps of the new Simcity but at least, with the Glassbox engine, it can give a more enjoyable gameplay

[Don Bananos 28]

I've voted SimCity (Its not a 5!!)

Simple reason: Glassbox Engine.

I really like what i've heard about the engine so far.

[cirugo 1,889]

Why are we talking about a game that isn't even out yet?

why don't we just shut down this whole forum then?

  Edited October 3, 2012 by cirugo  

[vietnam67 7]

I have to say simcity. I've only played cities xl 2011, and I understand 2012 is almost the same. I really don't like the zoning in Cities XL and how we have to zone for different classes (that's not how it happens in real life...), also I found it a bit dull.

Although there are bits of SimCity I wish were different, I am still looking forward to playing it. The glassbox engine alone seals the deal.

personally i love the zoning in cities xl because it gave you the option of four different zoning types; free, square, singe and linear

[VeritaScientia 150]

I have to say simcity. I've only played cities xl 2011, and I understand 2012 is almost the same. I really don't like the zoning in Cities XL and how we have to zone for different classes (that's not how it happens in real life...), also I found it a bit dull.

Although there are bits of SimCity I wish were different, I am still looking forward to playing it. The glassbox engine alone seals the deal.

personally i love the zoning in cities xl because it gave you the option of four different zoning types; free, square, singe and linear

Zoning by class, hmm, that sounds interesting to me, combined with the density-specific zoning from SimCity would give me the ultimate power trip. I try to plan my SimCities with low-density, low-income inner city neighborhoods, low density, medium-income suburbs, and some low-density, high-income outer suburbs.

[Curtis Klomp 3]

I voted for simcity 5.. IMO When I play cities xl 2011 or 2012 i don't get into it as much because once my city would reach 400,000 people or more it would start lagging so badly that its impossible to play, Also I don't really like the graphics and the music is terrible on it (no offence to the people that like it lol) ... I don't know what Simcity 5 will be like but I voted for it because my heart is telling me its going to be a good game, even though there is no farms, terraforming and no big maps....

How can you say about that lagging when you reach 400,000 people?

You never played SC5 so there is no sollution for.

And maybe SC5 shall have the same problem.

It's like SC4 falls out when your memory can't take the weight of the game

[nukeu123 307]

i vote cities xl

WHY? because like many of you, I have yet to play sc2013!

and i own cities xl 2011 on steam so....

-nukeu

  Edited October 3, 2012 by nukeu123  

[aparrot7 82]

Both Simcity and CXL are city building games- however they revolve around different things.

Cities XL: Focuses on graphics and realism. You can create amazing looking cities, that are some-what functional, and runs on a OK economic engine. Things like curved and free-drawn canals are possible with water roads or water plazas, free-form highways, dense-wall-to-wall cities using non-collision buildings. It gives you a huge amount of realism and freedom. However, the simulation is practically none. Your cities are stagnant, and eye candy. With NEXL mods- they bring some life, however the city is still rather dull on the simulation aspect. I find myself falling asleep when playing sometimes- if I don't have a clear goal on what to build that day. So the trade off is spectacular looking cities- even copies of real world cities, but dull gameplay.

Simcity: Focuses on simulation. You can see your city alive- interact with it. Garbage trucks, power plants, sims commuting, crime, pollution riots, etc. Your city has needs and you need to accommodate or ignore them- and everything you do has a consequence. You are able to build a city and see it grow and change overtime due to your actions. However, its harder to make a realistic city- however the new Simcity is much better at this. The graphics are much more cartoony- not necessarily in a bad way though. And its harder to recreate real world cities like Paris or New York, as its harder to get wall-to-wall buildings or specific buildings as simcity is more zoning based, while in CXL you have the option to plop any building that comes with the game- and overlap them with a mod. So overall you have an amazing simulation- but slightly less realistic look to your city.

As for myself, I'm not voting because I haven't played the new Simcity. I'll vote then. Although, I'm super excited for the new Simcity because i'm longing to have a city that actually functions- unlike my CXL cities now- even though they look great.

[LillySatou 117]

Cities XL was so one-note I got tired of it pretty quickly. It also was riddled with bugs that never got fixed. Also its initial idea of a globally connected network of cities crashed and burned pretty early. I'd say it was a failure of a game.

I think SC5 will be a better game. How much better I do not know.

[jpjoe 29]

Guess which one I voted for...

Exactly.

[City Planner 121]

I honestly can't possibly judge between CXL and a game that has not been released yet.

I have definite reasons that I dislike CXL (static city being one of them)

But the more info that comes out about SC13, the more I feel they are going the wrong way with the game for the existing masses of SC4 players, it really does feel like they are making a SimTown more for a very very casual Sims player rather than for somebody that has played SC4 for the past 6 to 9 years and that's really a shame.

I reserve my vote for when I actually have the game in my hands, which may be a while since at the rate of which the info shows so far, I'm kind of thinking that the game will have to be on a super duper heavy discount sale before I'll pony up the money for this. I suppose things could change in the next few months but I doubt it, not to the extent of what so many SC4 player would like to see come out in SC13.

[Ocram's Razr 964]

I like Cities XL but SimCity 2013 looks promising. However, SimCity 2013 comes with a steep price. I will have to wait for at least a 30% discount and make sure there is no subscription fee.

--Ocram

[snick25 384]

CXL wins hands-down for me. With all the great mods out for the game now it certainly is a competitor to SimCity. SimCity may have an interesting simulation and premise but the tiny maps and unfortunate directions taken with regional play really make it less of a true city-builder.

[City Planner 121]

A lot of people I remember comparing Cities XL to SimCity 4, and from what I remember many said that SimCity 4 was the better game over the CXL franchise, with that in mind, perhaps we should actually be wondering SimCity V vs SimCity 4 instead of SimCity V vs Cities XL franchise. I don't know, just a thought because if people still consider SC4 to be a better game than CXL, then it seems we should be comparing what Maxis EA will come out with in SC13 with the game that people still consider to be the better game.

Yeah, I know, it's debatable on which is better SC4 or CXL, there are of course those that think CXL is better than SC4 and visa versa.

[flyer2359 92]

I'm not going to vote until SC2013 is released, but from my past experience on CXL, it wasn't really a simulation and I didn't find myself wanting to play it for hours on end.

[SoftcoreGamer 352]

CitiesXL is still being nursed and improved by very patient city-builders at Nation XL. All it takes is full-fledged official mod support, it will easily post as a threat to SC-Online. But if people are offered a new Simcity Offline... CXL won't stand a chance.

Most importantly: When Planet Offer shuts down, people still get to play the offline version CitiesXL.

What about SimCityOnline...? Just thinking about my cities being under the inevitable PERPECTUAL ALWAYS-ON DEATH THREAT of SERVER OBSOLESCENCE, gives me a headache...

  Edited October 9, 2012 by SoftcoreGamer  

[iowahawkeyedave 8]

CitiesXL is still being nursed and improved by very patient city-builders at Nation XL. All it takes is full-fledged official mod support, it will easily post as a threat to SC-Online. But if people are offered a new Simcity Offline... CXL won't stand a chance.

Most importantly: When Planet Offer shuts down, people still get to play the offline version CitiesXL.

What about SimCityOnline...? Just thinking about my cities being under the inevitable PERPECTUAL ALWAYS-ON DEATH THREAT of SERVER OBSOLESCENCE, gives me a headache...

Also what happens if something happens to the server that your city is on? Well, you get up, and go outside and relax and take a break from playing. Really don't think it will be all doom & gloom as all your posts make it out to be.

  Edited October 10, 2012 by Hamish  
Please keep the discussion about the topic, rather than each other.

[Cob92 360]

The only reason that SC cities look less realistic in terms of the buildings in them is because SC has no real architecture simulation. The simulator slaps down random buildings based on demand and desirability, and there is nothing that the simulator can use to determine where to put a rowhome vs a McMansion or a strip mall vs a downtown bar. If SC had an element in the simulation that would ensure architectural consistency within neighborhoods, it would be able to organically generate cities that have the realism of Cities XL cities. What we do in CXL is we simulate the architecture by hand, selecting individual buildings and placing them based on real-world examples.

[peaco344 5]

My 2 cents (ignoring mods for now as the state of modding in SC is unkown):

Cities XL

+Large cities

-Simulation by spreadsheet (everything is simulated generically, automata are used )

+Can build city exactly as desired

-Economic model seems unstable, cashflow can change dramatically for seemingly unknown reasons

-Demolition/redevelopment is a major pain in the butt

-No emergent gameplay (no zoning as such, once a building is there you have to remove it to build something else)

-Utilities feel somewhat disconnected from the rest of the city

+/-Transport options look good at first, but sometimes is executed badly (highway placement anyone?)

+Bus transport is customisable (but it ends up feeling like a poor mans version of cities in motion)

-No real connection to outside world other than trading (which has no visible effect other than economic effects)

-Offline

-Game seems unreliable, crashes and unreliable saves (I always seem to load a city and find the last save didnt work properly)

-Cities seem to feel static and not lived in

-No terraforming

SC

+Every sim and car is simulated, you can seem them move in real time (no more automata)

-Cities smaller (though I personally used the medium city in SC4 mostly)

+/-Transport options dont look a lot different to CXL (at least to me, not identical but a similar number of options)

+Region play

+/- Cloud based (emotive subject for some, but personally Ill be able to play on my pc and then tablet while im on the move)

-Internet required at all times (sometimes mine drops out)

+Emergent development (SC has a changing skyline over time that XL seems to lack)

+Modular civic buildings

+Region play, inter city travel (which is simulated properly as well)

-No terraforming

On balance SC seems the winner to me, but I can see why others would dislike some of the SC changes. Also, there are a lot of unknowns in SC, but these will hopefully clear up between now and release.

[maaxime 0]

I don't like simcity 5 ! Cities xl 2012 is the best game in the world!

[CXLMachine 17]

I don't like simcity 5 ! Cities xl 2012 is the best game in the world!

I wouldnt say that.....a game that crashes randomly is not the bestest best game in the world. Its botched. though it does hold me over well enough

[MegaCitySim 68]

Cities xl is buggy and leaky, but it is still fun and playable. My answer to the topic question is, I don't know how bad or good SC13 is going to be, but based on what I've learned so far, I'd just say I will not trade Simcity's legacy sandbox features (especially transportation design) for close-up look on sims and cars.

[Moonraker0 193]

CitiesXL is still being nursed and improved by very patient city-builders at Nation XL. All it takes is full-fledged official mod support, it will easily post as a threat to SC-Online. But if people are offered a new Simcity Offline... CXL won't stand a chance.

Most importantly: When Planet Offer shuts down, people still get to play the offline version CitiesXL.

What about SimCityOnline...? Just thinking about my cities being under the inevitable PERPECTUAL ALWAYS-ON DEATH THREAT of SERVER OBSOLESCENCE, gives me a headache...

Also what happens if something happens to the server that your city is on? Well, you get up, and go outside and relax and take a break from playing. Really don't think it will be all doom & gloom as all your posts make it out to be.

You don't seem to understand how important people's cities are to them...

Cities XL is worthless to me, as it won't even run on my PC at all, and the devs have announced that they won't fix the problem that affects me.

I also like the way in which SimCity zones fill up the space along curved roads completely by changing their shape and size, as opposed to Cities XL's square ones that have gaps between and behind them a lot of the time (which need to be filled by park areas/trees).

One thing I do like about Cities XL is the way in which bus routes are created by the player, while in SimCity they're auto-generated. The auto-generating always bothered me in SC4, since I was trying to visualize how the routes should be when I placed bus stops and wondering if they'd be set up like I wanted them to.

[Screwballl 196]

CitiesXL is very close to what SimCity5 should have been (except we still need the city edge by edge in the regions, not spaced out).

CXL on a PC that can handle high graphics, looks massively better than the new SC does.

i hope these images don't come through too big or too small...

Realistic CXL:

versus cartoonish SC:

Not to mention the other comparisons:

CXL at 10x10km versus 2x2km per side with SC (and only max 4x4km with SC4)

over 1000 buildings in CXL versus ~300 in SC, mentioned in the interview

counting road styles and transportation (without mods), CXL ranks in around 16 options, SC4 with 12, and SC with 8.

SC4 has terraforming, CXL has custom maps available (although much more difficult to do),and SC will have none of this.

There is no way SC will compare to SC4 or CXL except by the "Sims" and EA faithful that believe EA/Maxis can do no wrong...

[snick25 384]

The biggest problem with CXL is the lack of dev support. If this game only had some more capable people working on it, the lag problem would probably be fixed and the game would run better. There are workarounds, however, and I have it running smoother and faster now than it's ever been, and that's with hundreds of mods installed.

"SimCity"? Don't get me started. The devs, with direction from EA, took what should have been a sure-fire home run and turned it into a SimCity Social knock-off. It doesn't deserve the SC title IMO, as you can't build cities. SimVillage, better yet, SimVillage Online, would be more appropriate.