Will you buy Simcity 2013?

[MPleines 17]

Would have purchased immediately, if not for the online requirement. I don't mind this in itself if it's well implented and supported, but I will have to look at the forums for a couple of days first if it really is, just to make sure people are getting a smooth online experience without connection problems, server breakdowns or slow response times...not unlike waiting to see if a new program doesn't have any show-stopping bugs really, but the server-side element is yet another potential bug's nest on top of that...

Oops, just realized that here in Europe, the game will be released a few days after the U.S. release anyway, so I will probably buy as soon as available after all ;-) !

[Herdervriend 46]

I will certainly buy the game. But it will take some time before I will do that.

[USA_Pride 49]

SimCity is one of my favorite games, and I have pre-odered it.

I noticed though, that they've pushed back the release date to March now. I'm a little bummed, but I'd rather wait than buy a game that isn't finished *cough* Cities XL *cough*.

[mitsos 12,950]

under these conditions .....no.i 'll not buy ever again a game that is a lot worse than the previous one. it happened with f1 2013. i have the sense that SC4 is unrivalled. the companies stopped listening.i believe that i have the power,we have the power to change that. nowadays all is about profits.so i will not buy it

[Xenocity 343]

under these conditions .....no.i 'll not buy ever again a game that is a lot worse than the previous one. it happened with f1 2013. i have the sense that SC4 is unrivalled. the companies stopped listening.i believe that i have the power,we have the power to change that. nowadays all is about profits.so i will not buy it

It is better compared to the original release of Simcity 4 (not the Deluxe Edition).

Simcity 4 Deluxe Edition is vastly over rated.

Simcity 4 Deluxe Modded Edition took 10 years to get the game you claim is "unrivailed"

So yeah no game can rivial a game that been modified by the fans.

Maxis already tried the whole give fans what they want and not worry about proift... This is why Maxis went Bankrupt allowing EA to buy them out.

Companies exist only to make profits, catering to every whim their fans have leads to bankruptcy.

[Cob92 360]

As for your second point, people do not play Simcity to recreate realistic cities, they never have.

People buy these series to recreate real cities and to make realistic cities:

• Utopia
  
• Tropico
  
• Ceaser
  
• Anno
  
• City Life/Cities XL
  

You play Simcity to produce your dream city provided the city is not based on realism.

You do realize Simcity has been known as the kiddy city game compared to the competiton for almost 25 years?

So if you want to play a realistic city building game, Simcity is not for you.

I disagree with the last part of your post. A lot of those titles aren't really suitable for creating realistic cities or recreating cities either. Anno is more about trade and putting together puzzles of cities together to optimise output to support said trade.

Caesar is arguably a reasonable simulation of Roman City Building.

Tropico is more of a "let's oppress the populace for ****s and giggles while trying to convince the US that we aren't." Game. I like it, but I wouldn't say it's used to recreate realistic cities.

I have not played Utopia and so cannot say anything about it.

To argue that nobody has ever used simcity to recreate actual cities or to plan out realistic cities is just wrong, as many of the documentation (the manuals) for the games indicates that a lot of research into urban planning theory was undertook during the development of the series. The developers even bothered to provide several real world terrains for aspiring city builders to construct their cities upon.

Parts of this very site are evidence that people use this game to create realistic cities, such as the SimCity 4 forum which contains the subforums of Architecture and Urban Planning Concepts subforum, not to mention the large amounts of mods that have been created for the game to enable to create more realistic cities.

The main emphasis in SimCity has been the mostly-accurate simulation of the workings of a real city, not the creation of a 1:1 scale model. SimCity has been used in non-game contexts because of its realistic simulation above all else. If anything, SC2013 cuts right to the core of what the SC series was originally intended to do, and as this game grows we'll end up with a better SimCity for a new generation, one that more accurately simulates cities than its predecessor was capable. Don't forget, it took a decade for SC4 alone to reach the feature depth that it has today, and that doesn't even include all the improvements added to statistical SimCity with each successive release.

When SC4 hit the market we had 2 types of 2-lane road, elevated highways only, and our mass transit was limited to subways, buses, and heavy rail. There were no avenues, no El-Rail, no monorail, no ground highways, no one-way roads, no trams, no RHW, no canals, no custom airports, no underpasses, no overpasses, and none of the library of custom buildings we had today. And let's not forget the commute time limitations that would make Sims complain about driving more than 5 minutes. If anything it was a much more limited game than SC2013 will be, and look what it has become a decade later.

[annlou 8]

I have been put off buying the game as folk are saying there is no terraforming. I was hoping that stuff would be added to the game, not stuff taken away. Nope, I won't but the new Simcity and will stick with the old that i love so much, unless of course everything that is in the older game is also in the new.

[USA_Pride 49]

SimCity is one of my favorite games, and I have pre-odered it.

I noticed though, that they've pushed back the release date to March now. I'm a little bummed, but I'd rather wait than buy a game that isn't finished *cough* Cities XL *cough*.

Whoa, whoa. I just read a bunch of the topics here and I'm seeing no mass transit, no terraforming, and a lot of other missing things. It looks like they're taking the CXL route of jamming everyone into a mutliplayer MMO thing. Yuck.

I'm canceling the pre-order. I might still buy it, but I'm going to let other people find out the short-comings.

Also, it's nice to see people are able to express negative opinions here. That wasn't allowed back in the day when CXL came out.

[Ocram's Razr 964]

Cities XL 2011 has bus and metro/subway and has code (hidden) for heavy rail. SimCity 2013 has shuttle buses, light rail, and heavy rail (both passenger and freight, the deluxe edition has high speed rail as well). What SimCity 4 and Cities XL (and even Tropico 4: Modern Times) has that SimCity 2013 will not have (at release) is subway/metro. The features SimCity 2013 has makes me want to purchase it but my economic situation will prevent me from paying more that $40, and I have to replace the old components on my PC with new ones that I have bought (and newer ones I need to buy) first.

--Ocram

[P*Funk 12]

The main emphasis in SimCity has been the mostly-accurate simulation of the workings of a real city, not the creation of a 1:1 scale model. SimCity has been used in non-game contexts because of its realistic simulation above all else. If anything, SC2013 cuts right to the core of what the SC series was originally intended to do, and as this game grows we'll end up with a better SimCity for a new generation, one that more accurately simulates cities than its predecessor was capable. Don't forget, it took a decade for SC4 alone to reach the feature depth that it has today, and that doesn't even include all the improvements added to statistical SimCity with each successive release.

When SC4 hit the market we had 2 types of 2-lane road, elevated highways only, and our mass transit was limited to subways, buses, and heavy rail. There were no avenues, no El-Rail, no monorail, no ground highways, no one-way roads, no trams, no RHW, no canals, no custom airports, no underpasses, no overpasses, and none of the library of custom buildings we had today. And let's not forget the commute time limitations that would make Sims complain about driving more than 5 minutes. If anything it was a much more limited game than SC2013 will be, and look what it has become a decade later.

You're of course assuming that they're going to let us achieve this without spending in time $100+ in DLC. First thing anybody thinks when they see heavy emphasis on an online component is a clear indication that they're going to push for DLC as the focus moving forward. The problem with DLC is that it tends to have a much looser standard and as such you have to decide which part of it you want to use, but you also come into the problem of compatibility in this online aspect. Can you really play with your friends if you don't buy everything? Thats the genius of day 1 mappack DLC with shooters.

I believe I read that they're not shipping with mod support either, which scares me. Is that going to be a DLC addon? Is that maybe just going to become a phantom feature that gets lost in the inevitable budget shrinking that comes with any game release?

The problem with this title is assumptions. Wide open modding possibilities create a clear future for a game with a strong community, but with nothing promised yet who knows what you'll get. Its a lot to invest $60 in. I can wait for a mod pack, and if I dont like the mods out there make my own. If we have gimped modding capability we might never get what we wanted.

Look at the lack of terrain modification. Is this going to come with the future mod capabilities? Will this forever be lost?

I think in a modern EA driven paradigm you can't take anything for granted. EA has wrapped up prematurely as many projects as its pushed forward post release, and the online requirement indicates that the future of this product lies entirely within EA's desire to support it. Whats to stop them from killing the online support, thus killing the game itself, just to motivate you to buy the next iteration? Or just killing it because the sales suffer?

I preferred games when the future was clearly in the hands of the community. I also trusted developers do good work in expanding the game. Lately DLC is just as likely to be useless fluff as it is to be something that drives the game into a greater standard of polish and completion.

Lastly you can't overestimate the dangers of EA's desire to target the casual audience. Its not just enough to make the game run well without needing to understand complex game mechanics, but I find that people react poorly to the sense that a game is beyond them. People want to feel like they can accomplish everything, often without needing to really put much effort into (preferring time as the measure of their effort, not actual concentration). People want to zonk out and still feel like they've achieved something. That threatens the depth of a game because if thats who they really cater to then it puts the real nerds out in the cold.

I'm a wait and see person, but the online only aspect in particular shuts me off. Even without that though I fear this will be a diminutive cousin to its elder siblings of past decades.

[Mayor of Tempest Lake 34]

* Only if EA / Maxis removes the online only component / map size constraint

and terraforming, and fixing that loose definition of "City" in "SimCity".

[ItsShane 18]

Yes, I'm very excited for it.

[Zukunftstraume 220]

Well, since I only have a Mac that can run such a game, I'll have to wait a bit. If the release comes out before my school semester is over, I'll still wait until June or so. Either way, I'm still planning on buying it. I'm sure the lack of a God-mode, customizing regions, and the empty space between cities for unabsurd-realism purposes will be addressed with patches over-time.

If not, EA will find themselves in a repeat situation where the Simcity fans feel betrayed and abandon the newest SimCity extremely quickly and go back to SC4.

Online play isn't even that bad of an issue, it's not like a slight disruption will boot anyone from the game. Of course if a player ends up being disconnected for too long, that's a whole different story. I did with Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3 and didn't mind too much.

[JohnnyV84 1]

I think this weekend's beta will do a lot in determining whether or not I purchase the game. After doing research, and watching the developer videos, I will say I'm extremely excited for this game. The prospects of individual A.I for citizens will hopefully come through, providing fresh and unforeseen scenarios in the game. I'm also stoked at the aspects of creating "themed" cities, allowing you to expand exactly what you want to create a city for. I'm torn on the online only aspect of the game, but I do like the idea of regions and working together with others to trade resources and utilize teamwork to thrive.

My only reservation, and one that will either turn me away or not is map size. Which we'll really be able to experience firsthand this weekend during the beta.

[joshsam 3]

Yup i will buy it now. I've seen enough. Should be hours of fun.

[anandus 15]

I was highly skeptical, but after playing the demo for a few hours I'm convinced a pre-ordered it.

[LillySatou 117]

the demo seems to have changed a lot of people's minds... but i still can't convince myself to drop $60 when the beta is missing a ton of features and there's no guarantee that maxis will do anything about the city tile size.

normally i pre-order games for franchises that i love without hesitation. but since day one i still have the same concerns about simcity , and even after playing the beta they haven't gone away.

there are a lot of great things about the demo. but too many bad things as well.

[Asakha 15]

I won't buy it... Just like Spore, we were promise so much to get about nothing.

And stop dreaming about mods... If it's online only, it means no mods like NAM, but only aesthetics... Or something that most be EA approved (don't forget, if it seems to exploit a bug, banned from all EA games !) I'll just get NAM 3.1 and keep playing SimCity4 !

[Azurespecter 506]

There is a confirmed sandbox mode, "for those who don't want to deal with leaderboards." I have high hopes for modding.

[Ocram's Razr 964]

I changed my vote from "Yes!" to "Only if EA / Maxis removes the online only component / map size constraint," which is a virtual "No."

--Ocram

[Duvad 26]

Yeppers.

People saying the game doesn't appeal to 'real'/'true'/'hardcore' SimCity/4 fans aren't actually fans. Own and played every SC for almost two decades now and I can't wait for the new one. Small cities is certainly a downside at this stage but the actual city planning and simulation is far, far better than SimCity 4. I've said it before, but I might as well say it again since everyone else likes repeating themselves: the simulation behind SC4 is trash in this day and age, even with NAM and modifications with Z's simulator tool. So many bugs and constraints with the games simulation that I can no longer stand actually playing the game, not to mention the poor optimisation and dated graphics. Many people who still play SC4 appear to simply load up SC4 for mayor diaries/show us your photos and have no concern for city planning and simulation, which is, you know... what SimCity has always been about, and evidently agree that SimCity 4: the game isn't great in this day and age.

Bottom line, as far as a city simulator game SimCity 2013 is miles ahead of SC4 at this stage. If only the limitations on cities and regions weren't so apparent.

[Hoipus 292]

That's a lot of generalisations, Duv

[Securion 3]

Will buy it as soon as I know the DRM wont screw with me while playing.

[magicrobbie 77]

only if EA will give us

offline singleplayer

larger city tiles

cities side-by-side

terraforming

map creator

ability to control zoning density

full moddability

[StoNe220022 159]

only if EA will give us

offline singleplayer

larger city tiles

cities side-by-side

terraforming

map creator

ability to control zoning density

full moddability

I just voted a "No" - been holding off from voting but the demo released kinda was the nail in the coffin.

I think what you have there is a solid list and one of them should be very easy to implement...and that is make roads have two options 'upgrade road' and 'upgrade density' and both be independent.

My top 3 would be city tile size, adjacent cities (continuous sprawl), and zone density control.

I'd even settle on the lack of modding, no terraforming (as long as there were large quantity of maps), and always online (as long as it can be patched out at a later date based on server popularity / stability). I've already settled on buildings being spaced out and grass baked around the perimeter of a supposable downtown skyscraper, settled on no highways or subways, settled on lack of industry / commercial diversity (hotels, office, shopping, farms etc...), settled on a newer game handelling parks not as well as an older game in the genre - CitiesXL

...but you know what, you have to draw the line on what it is that you will settle for; and this game crossed that line for me :/

[Scruffy_Bunny 2]

I'm not going to buy the game unless I get 100% offline SP or some kind of offline SP patch..... I Really Love SimCity but really? Online only? Geez! What's next? "Sims 4 browser game?" ...... Please Remove Online Only!!!

[Toretto_007 1]

i'm a big fan of this saga, but i think buy it months after the release, maybe one year...depending too how pc resources it will need because i have a laptop and i don't think it support the full especifications tu run, i'm 26 years old and i will keep playing simcity games if the circumstances let me do it.

 

Greetings fan community...and sorry for my bad english ;P

[WiiGoGetter 65]

I am not buying simcity 2013 for these reasons in no order

-No terraforming

-Small city tiles

-Gaps in the city tiles

-Cant make city connections

-Gaps in blocks

-No placeable highways

-No density controll other then the roads that touch it

-Ugly bridges

-No saving cities on your disk

-DRM

-Cost

And above all no signs of mods

[libellibicus 396]

my answer to the initial question raised in this thread is........."NO"

[cshmech 30]

I changed my vote from "fix the map size and online-only issues" to straight up no. They need to take this game back to the drawing board.

Nicely said.

I will Never buy this game in the form its gonna be released in march 5. They said "real cities don't exist in a bubble". But the SimCity exists in a "square shaped bubble with a constant area!". I need to have more region play.. You cannot have a packed 2km x 2km city, with no man's land a feet away from border.. Where were the brains of the devs?