Can I ask why people are hating on Simcity 2013?

[Morbx 16]

@Herdervriend

Here in the U.S. most trains/subways do not have WIFI yet.

New York City finally just put transmitters in place, so you can use your cell phones on the subway.

So yeah most of those people who complain about the lack of online on a train are Americans.

Amtrak has free WiFi on all of its trains. And those are really the only train rides long enough for a good game of SimCity. And remember that while there may not be WiFi around now, it a few years that might change completely. (Universal free WiFi, anyone?)

[Altus 111]

I honestly doubt a modern household computer is able to even process one city of the new SimCity without the servers, because I am sure the amount of calculations that are done because of the Glassbox engine must be huge for even the newest and most powerful PC processors to able to do by themselves without a serious drop in the frame rate. Even less if they added large-sized cities, which are four times bigger.

Even if that's not the case, not everyone is willing to get 1000USD worth of computer hardware to play just one game.

Thats a very common misconception that a decent PC will cost you 1000 dollars. I have a 400 dollar computer and can run any modern game without any issue. Also one fact that you must remember is that Maxis stated very early on that Glassbox is an extremely simple engine, and although it can do a lot and is doing a lot whilst the game is running, it does this in a very efficient and simple way, meaning it takes less of a toll on the amount of power needed to run the simulation, not to say that it isn't a lot, but it isn't some unachievable amount.

[pyanodon 218]

2. The lack of "content" in the new Sim City that you guys are complaining about....ever think of expansions? I guarantee you they will come out with a ton of expansions that will add a lot of content that you are all asking for such as subways, etc...

Yeah let´s buy an incomplete game and pay more for the completition. *cofcofunder/overpassescofcof* For me the lack of a true sandbox mode (until now) is a major con, followed by small maps and decorated with an almost no real statements for Mods as we know until now.

[KCJC 367]

The simulator is itself is simplistic and unrealistic, a problem further compounded by the ridiculous wastelands between city tiles. How would a city that seems to be many miles away from any other city immediately send fire trucks to it's distant neighbors to put out a simple house fire? First of all, cities that are far away don't tend to share services with cities that are as far away as the neighbors in SC2013 for things as routine as house fires. Secondly, even if they did offer to share those services by the time they got there the fire would be burned out. Then there's the notion that power and water always follow roads, which in real life is not the case. Then there the fact that agent based simulation is nothing new and revolutionary. What distinguishes this simulator from the simulator running a game like Tropico? We're being told Glass Box is revolutionary, while it's simply a rehash of old simulators and has serious realsim problems. And about the zone density being tied to roads, how is that realistic? That means that suburban beltway roads will now spawn higher density buildings where they don't belong. I could write a book with the problems I have with this game.

Oh, by the way, not everyone has perfect internet. Where I live there is only one ISP and my internet cuts out all the time randomly and they do nothing about it. So if I'm playing and my internet drops out for 20 minutes? like it does almost every day I lose all my work?

[Cyclone Boom 17,031]

It is important to remember that all people are entitled to their own personal opinions about the game. Essentially, the aspects you like, may not be what others necessarily agree with. For example, if you have a constant internet connection, this would not affect your ability to play the game. Some people, even in this day and age, may not always have this requirement.

Sure, there are some opinions that you may disagree with. Some who are quite vocal in expressing them. However they should be respected, as opinions can't be right or wrong.

[Xenocity 343]

2. The lack of "content" in the new Sim City that you guys are complaining about....ever think of expansions? I guarantee you they will come out with a ton of expansions that will add a lot of content that you are all asking for such as subways, etc...

Yeah let´s buy an incomplete game and pay more for the completition. *cofcofunder/overpassescofcof* For me the lack of a true sandbox mode (until now) is a major con, followed by small maps and decorated with an almost no real statements for Mods as we know until now.

ps: people stop quoting 50 replies together O_O plz

So are you saying every game that has DLC and expansion packs are incomplete games?

PC games have been getting expansion packs for decades.

Also are you calling Simcity 4 incomplete because it had Rush Hour expansion pack?

Or is Simcity 4 Deluxe incomplete without all the mods.

We're being told Glass Box is revolutionary, while it's simply a rehash of old simulators and has serious realsim problems.

Umm every Simcity is essentially a rehash of the original Simcity until Simcity 2013.

Realism is best reserved for Cities XL.

This thread is like walking into a thread about the next Nintendo game.

[Tianity 6]

Oh, by the way, not everyone has perfect internet. Where I live there is only one ISP and my internet cuts out all the time randomly and they do nothing about it. So if I'm playing and my internet drops out for 20 minutes? like it does almost every day I lose all my work?

I'm sure the servers will auto save every few minutes. Would be pretty dumb if they didn't.

[SonicXT 1]

Well, I for one am very excited by the new Sim City.

I was crazy about the game when I was in elementary school, playing at a friend's place on her SNES back in 1993 or 1994, I don't remember.

All I'm happy about right now is that the franchise finally has been revived.

I'm not going along with the community here, as for me Sim City 4 wasn't really enjoyable anymore. With the over-the-top modding, everyone was playing a different game and too much of it consisted of pressing TAB endlessly to place that road. Meanwhile, there was no way I could ever recreate anything that I've seen on these forums as no one is actually gonna upload their entire mods list. To me, the appeal of SC4 dropped when the modding scene became more active...

I'm just happy to start over on equal footing now. Especially after the failure of Cities XL that didn't live up to my expectations.

[Tianity 6]

Well, I for one am very excited by the new Sim City.

I was crazy about the game when I was in elementary school, playing at a friend's place on her SNES back in 1993 or 1994, I don't remember.

All I'm happy about right now is that the franchise finally has been revived.

I'm not going along with the community here, as for me Sim City 4 wasn't really enjoyable anymore. With the over-the-top modding, everyone was playing a different game and too much of it consisted of pressing TAB endlessly to place that road. Meanwhile, there was no way I could ever recreate anything that I've seen on these forums as no one is actually gonna upload their entire mods list. To me, the appeal of SC4 dropped when the modding scene became more active...

I'm just happy to start over on equal footing now. Especially after the failure of Cities XL that didn't live up to my expectations.

I agree. What scares me is if they don't sell enough copies. This new Sim City has tons of potential.

[Dewm 177]

People on here expect a a new Simcity to be able to match 10 years of custom user content right out of the door.

That isn't possible for the mere Simcity team to due the work of 100s if not 1000s of OCD users in less time.

Simcity 2013 is already leagues better than Simcity 4 Deluxe was in 2004 when it was released.

Watching Simcity fans complain is like watch LittleBigPlanet fans complain thta LBP2 doesn't have enough content to match LBP1

I would disagree. People on this forum at least for the most part (from what I've read) don't want 10 years of user content.. they want the new game coming out to have at LEAST the same features as the game that came out 10 years ago!

THAT is why all of the hate.

[Dewm 177]

Actually i'd say what they did to the transportation system simulation is a fair size overhaul compared to the previous games.

We get the new better traffic simulator that is more representative of real life instead of the Simcity 4 one that causes us trouble.

You are talking about how the traffic is represented visually. While that is definitely better, we have no info yet about how good the traffic simulator is. I notice that cars need to make U turns on the intersections and cannot cross roads directly. This is minor but think about how this might be a big problem if you have a 1 km road.

If you are taking about the transportation systems, base SC4: Rush Hour already has much more. We'll see if SC (2013) will get an expansion pack.

The roads now influence how the buildings develop, including their size.

The new zoning density rules are not necessary. If you look around the world, there are many cities like Budapest, Venezia (Venice), Dhaka, Mumbai, Manila, Lisbon, New York, etc. where there is no correlation between building size and road size. The new density zoning rules apply to cities in California.

This has kinda bothered me since I heard about it. I enjoyed building roads because I needed to release congestion (which is realistic)

This new view sounds like one of Obama's speeches, "you didn't build that!"

The simulator is itself is simplistic and unrealistic, a problem further compounded by the ridiculous wastelands between city tiles. How would a city that seems to be many miles away from any other city immediately send fire trucks to it's distant neighbors to put out a simple house fire? First of all, cities that are far away don't tend to share services with cities that are as far away as the neighbors in SC2013 for things as routine as house fires. Secondly, even if they did offer to share those services by the time they got there the fire would be burned out. Then there's the notion that power and water always follow roads, which in real life is not the case. Then there the fact that agent based simulation is nothing new and revolutionary. What distinguishes this simulator from the simulator running a game like Tropico? We're being told Glass Box is revolutionary, while it's simply a rehash of old simulators and has serious realsim problems. And about the zone density being tied to roads, how is that realistic? That means that suburban beltway roads will now spawn higher density buildings where they don't belong. I could write a book with the problems I have with this game.

Oh, by the way, not everyone has perfect internet. Where I live there is only one ISP and my internet cuts out all the time randomly and they do nothing about it. So if I'm playing and my internet drops out for 20 minutes? like it does almost every day I lose all my work?

^my thoughts exactly 100%

[Mithrik 562]

The simulator is itself is simplistic and unrealistic

Oh, I didn't know that simulating every freaking single sim in your city was unrealistic, that completely changes my way to see the world now.

/sarcasm

[Mr West Ed 4]

Well for one, they are only giving us tiny spaces to play in, and they are all separated by long distances in the region view meaning creating a realistic city is impossible. This was apparently caused by the always online functionality they added in, the main purpose of this functionality is DRM meaning they sacrificed major game play components for DRM. If that doesn't put you off nothing will.

Actually this isn't entirely true.

It is much easier to run the stuff on the server side due most of the indepth calculations and simulation portions than trying to program it into self contained program.

Since they made it server based, they were able to ensure the it all works well without having another Simcity 4 problem.

Maxis has openly stated they wanted to do a Simworld/SimNation for Simcity since the release of Simcity 2000: Network Edition with a full online mode.

So this no surprise.

Most computer games now have a form of always on DRM including Steam!

Even if the reason behind always online was that they wanted to recreate Simcity 2000: Network Edition, and not DRM (No way I'm buying that) the always online has obviously put major limitations on what they can do in terms of scale. You take away the online, and your able to match SC4 in terms of scale.

You are right. It's like they wish to improve upon the game but when they revamp the game they take away all the features that made the game in the frist place. Case in point. CSS (Value) reworked this game (now called CSGO) and it's not to say there have been improvements, but they take away the fuction to set the BOT up in offline mode example money weapons and the such. Hell I have spent hours just setting up and playing the God mode and teraforming in SC4 just before actualy playing the core of the game. I tell you folks the new version of SCxL cant even compare to SC4. And all because of this online multi player BS. Look it's a game we Can Have Our Cake And Eat it too. End of Rant.

[Halen Of Dania 350]

Well for one, they are only giving us tiny spaces to play in, and they are all separated by long distances in the region view meaning creating a realistic city is impossible. This was apparently caused by the always online functionality they added in, the main purpose of this functionality is DRM meaning they sacrificed major game play components for DRM. If that doesn't put you off nothing will.

Actually this isn't entirely true.

It is much easier to run the stuff on the server side due most of the indepth calculations and simulation portions than trying to program it into self contained program.

Since they made it server based, they were able to ensure the it all works well without having another Simcity 4 problem.

Maxis has openly stated they wanted to do a Simworld/SimNation for Simcity since the release of Simcity 2000: Network Edition with a full online mode.

So this no surprise.

Most computer games now have a form of always on DRM including Steam!

Even if the reason behind always online was that they wanted to recreate Simcity 2000: Network Edition, and not DRM (No way I'm buying that) the always online has obviously put major limitations on what they can do in terms of scale. You take away the online, and your able to match SC4 in terms of scale.

Actually they wanted to make it so every city would interact with each other like they do in real life.

Even if you removed the online portion, there is no guarantee of Simcity 4 in terms of scale.

You want Simcity in full 3D with 2012 graphics you have to do one of the following:

1. Reduce the size of the region
   
   
2. Increase the spec requirement making the game run on high end PCs.
   
   
3. Keep it 2.5D and forgo most of the graphical advancements.
   

It takes a lot of power to render all the buildings, roads, cars, sims, etc... in full 3D in 2012 graphics.

I don't think anyone on this board would be happy if they had to buy a more powerful computer to run this game.

And you makes a good point there. Let's face it people, not all games will run the way you want them to look if you have a lower end PC. And Raising the system requirements is not the answer. Basically this brings us back to the point that is almost insane. Let's look at the stuff here: If you have the original requirements run at a decent pace with no troubles your looking at about 1GB RAM or a bit more, 10 to 12 gb's in HDD space and at least a 1gb GPU (video card) and a good sounds card. To bump up a reasonable system requirement not only defeats the purpose of having casual gamer's play the game since most casual gamers do not want to spend hundreds of dollars upgrading there PC for a game that should run on lower end systems.

[simMayor84 111]

to get back to the main topic, im not hating on this game, im just strongly disliking it. sc13 is turning out to be a very resitricted game in terms of what came out before. every game (not societies) came out with more features and grander scale than the one before it. but this game seems to want to take more and more control out of the player's hands and try to sugarcoat it with the devs saying "but its gona be so much fun!!" im sorry but if you have to justify your features to me, then it doesnt sound very fun at all. case in point, the new multiplayer feature which allows players to trade resources with friends along with other interactions. this is just fine, IF IT WERE AN OPTION. i prefer a single player experience in which i dont have someone i dont know or have any idea of their experience level to fiddle around with my creation. i dont know about you but i dont want some 10 year old who doesnt know $%&^! about how to maximize a city's or region's potential ruining my experience by sending pollution my way or ruining my economy. also, the always online feature is just plain crap plain and simple. at least add an offline option, but again, this game is all about restriction. and what happens when ea decides to pull the plug when the game isnt turning a substancial profit? um sorry but the the game you paid good money to play whenever you wanted can no longer be played, thanks for your money sucker!!! i could rant for days about whats wrong with this game but these are my main points, player restriction, small scale, no options to play the game you want to play. no thanks but i will stay with my modded sc4. i still find plenty of enjoyment with that beautiful game.

[Xenocity 343]

People on here expect a a new Simcity to be able to match 10 years of custom user content right out of the door.

That isn't possible for the mere Simcity team to due the work of 100s if not 1000s of OCD users in less time.

Simcity 2013 is already leagues better than Simcity 4 Deluxe was in 2004 when it was released.

Watching Simcity fans complain is like watch LittleBigPlanet fans complain thta LBP2 doesn't have enough content to match LBP1

I would disagree. People on this forum at least for the most part (from what I've read) don't want 10 years of user content.. they want the new game coming out to have at LEAST the same features as the game that came out 10 years ago!

THAT is why all of the hate.

Actually most of users here have expressed very strong emotions about not being able to use modded content from the get go.

Simcity 2013 again is already leagues better than Simcity 4 was in 2003 (Simcity 4 was a bug ridden glitch fest, with minimal features).

Well for one, they are only giving us tiny spaces to play in, and they are all separated by long distances in the region view meaning creating a realistic city is impossible. This was apparently caused by the always online functionality they added in, the main purpose of this functionality is DRM meaning they sacrificed major game play components for DRM. If that doesn't put you off nothing will.

Actually this isn't entirely true.

It is much easier to run the stuff on the server side due most of the indepth calculations and simulation portions than trying to program it into self contained program.

Since they made it server based, they were able to ensure the it all works well without having another Simcity 4 problem.

Maxis has openly stated they wanted to do a Simworld/SimNation for Simcity since the release of Simcity 2000: Network Edition with a full online mode.

So this no surprise.

Most computer games now have a form of always on DRM including Steam!

Even if the reason behind always online was that they wanted to recreate Simcity 2000: Network Edition, and not DRM (No way I'm buying that) the always online has obviously put major limitations on what they can do in terms of scale. You take away the online, and your able to match SC4 in terms of scale.

Actually they wanted to make it so every city would interact with each other like they do in real life.

Even if you removed the online portion, there is no guarantee of Simcity 4 in terms of scale.

You want Simcity in full 3D with 2012 graphics you have to do one of the following:

1. Reduce the size of the region
   
   
2. Increase the spec requirement making the game run on high end PCs.
   
   
3. Keep it 2.5D and forgo most of the graphical advancements.
   

It takes a lot of power to render all the buildings, roads, cars, sims, etc... in full 3D in 2012 graphics.

I don't think anyone on this board would be happy if they had to buy a more powerful computer to run this game.

And you makes a good point there. Let's face it people, not all games will run the way you want them to look if you have a lower end PC. And Raising the system requirements is not the answer. Basically this brings us back to the point that is almost insane. Let's look at the stuff here: If you have the original requirements run at a decent pace with no troubles your looking at about 1GB RAM or a bit more, 10 to 12 gb's in HDD space and at least a 1gb GPU (video card) and a good sounds card. To bump up a reasonable system requirement not only defeats the purpose of having casual gamer's play the game since most casual gamers do not want to spend hundreds of dollars upgrading there PC for a game that should run on lower end systems.

It has nothing to do with "casuals"!

Very few people on this forum alone would be willing to shell out money for a decent gaming rig to play Simcity 2013.

I mean you could build said computer for even less, but very few people know how to do that.

People on here would be claiming Maxis screwed them over by not letting their computers run the game.

You actually the lowest graphic card you can run it is an ATI Radeon HD2x00 (256MB card)

But many people will be disappointed when they get the game and find out their PC is not good enough.

[GamingGod81 2]

Here's my LOGIC... Let Sim City come out... Lets ALL play it, THEN make remarks on how it is... YOUR all making rash decisions before the game is even done.

[Hoipus 292]

I'd be able to accept SimCity 2013 as an alternative take on the franchise if they didn't insist on forcing people to use their servers to play the game. It's not that I don't like playing with other people, it's that I don't like worrying about whether the game will still work in 2 or 3 years after I buy it. It's my only major beef with this game, and I will not put any money towards it until I hear an assurance, from the developers, that the game will be able to be played offline or that they promise to patch out the online requirement once the online servers get taken down.

It's even possible that by the time the servers do get taken down, the average PC would be able to do all of the simulation on it's own, rendering their marketing speak inaccurate.

[Urban Cartographer 601]

I actually do not hate the upcoming SC2013. However, I do hate the fact that it has forced online. As many others have said before me, what if it turns out to be unprofitable? No more SC2013! I want to build my cities for decades to come. I do not want to be restricted by trolls or a global marketplace. 2km by 2km is rather small for a city size, especially with inexplicable gaps between cities.

If the online restriction were lifted, then I would actually want to play SC2013 (but minimally tolerate playing it).

[cirugo 1,889]

the answers are all over this forum if you care to read them.

[Cob92 360]

I'm not going along with the community here, as for me Sim City 4 wasn't really enjoyable anymore. With the over-the-top modding, everyone was playing a different game and too much of it consisted of pressing TAB endlessly to place that road. Meanwhile, there was no way I could ever recreate anything that I've seen on these forums as no one is actually gonna upload their entire mods list. To me, the appeal of SC4 dropped when the modding scene became more active...

My sentiment is similar, yet slightly different. I found, after a point, that the benefits of modding my game were diminishing in terms of added fun factor. I am one of those few people who plays SimCity for the gameplay (one of the reasons that I never could completely embrace CXL), and a lot of custom content is good mainly if your desire is to spend time meticulously modeling a realistic city. Nothing wrong with that at all; this is a game and we are all free to enjoy it in our preferred manner. But for someone like me who simply wants to build a metropolis while playing against the simulation, spending 2 hours creating an authentic airport or 1.5 hours creating a highway junction isn't very enjoyable at all. Sure I love the flexibility that those things offer, but after a point, I spend so much time doing those things, pursuing aesthetics over function, that hardly any of my time is spent actually building the kind of city I want.

My plugins folder contains dozens, if not hundreds, of custom buildings, and I use custom road textures, custom highway textures, NAM, CAM, SPAM, and a number of automata mods to improve upon a game that I have been enjoying since grade school. Yet my game is still very much recognizable as Maxis's SC4, not because I haven't been able to get enough CC to change it, but because I wish it to remain SC4 at its core. My fun comes from trying to beat the traffic jams with a better road grid, or trying to raise the standard of living in my city by investing in education and healthcare, or trying to grow a gleaming CBD without plopping all the major towers. That's why this new SC appeals to me. Admittedly, it has sacrificed a number of features that we had gotten used to, such as 4x4 city maps and contiguous regions. However, I think that the gameplay advances will make up for the loss of scale, and, more importantly, this game lays the foundation for a new, superior generation of SimCity games. Imagine seeing SimCity 2 or 3 released later in this decade, layering years of new features on top of Glassbox's agent based simulation. After all, the first line of SimCity games took us from a simple, top down game with one-size zones and small maps to the SC4 that we all know and love. Who knows for sure where the next generation of SimCity will go? I choose to follow Maxis here, because my only real alternative is to just keep playing SC4 for the rest of my life. After a decade of it I'm ready to see what Maxis can cook up next.

Besides, if I really want to make a giant sprawlville to admire, I can always just fire up CXL.

[Dewm 177]

People on here expect a a new Simcity to be able to match 10 years of custom user content right out of the door.

That isn't possible for the mere Simcity team to due the work of 100s if not 1000s of OCD users in less time.

Simcity 2013 is already leagues better than Simcity 4 Deluxe was in 2004 when it was released.

Watching Simcity fans complain is like watch LittleBigPlanet fans complain thta LBP2 doesn't have enough content to match LBP1

I would disagree. People on this forum at least for the most part (from what I've read) don't want 10 years of user content.. they want the new game coming out to have at LEAST the same features as the game that came out 10 years ago!

THAT is why all of the hate.

Actually most of users here have expressed very strong emotions about not being able to use modded content from the get go.

Simcity 2013 again is already leagues better than Simcity 4 was in 2003 (Simcity 4 was a bug ridden glitch fest, with minimal features).

Well you can say what you want, but the forum speaks for itself.

Sure some people may have expressed that they wanted modding right form the git-go.. but all you have to do is look at the top threads in this forum.

Issues with Origins

issues with the lack of transit and networks

issues with terraforming (well the lack of)

issues with map size

issues with none-continues maps

etc..

So like I said, you can say what you want... but the forums speak for themselves.

[thehandyman 11]

I feel like this topic should be closed. Basically a lot of people wanted SC4 with better graphics and more game mechanics. 10 years and they didn't deliver. Of course there will be a major upset. If you're a game company and you can't satisfy your fanbase, there's no questioning it, it sucks to be you. It's as simple as that.

[RRtexasranger 45]

Actually they wanted to make it so every city would interact with each other like they do in real life.

Even if you removed the online portion, there is no guarantee of Simcity 4 in terms of scale.

You want Simcity in full 3D with 2012 graphics you have to do one of the following:

1. Reduce the size of the region
   
   
2. Increase the spec requirement making the game run on high end PCs.
   
   
3. Keep it 2.5D and forgo most of the graphical advancements.
   

It takes a lot of power to render all the buildings, roads, cars, sims, etc... in full 3D in 2012 graphics.

I don't think anyone on this board would be happy if they had to buy a more powerful computer to run this game.

The fact that Glassbox has to simulate every single person individually is what is keeping making the cities so small, not the 3D graphics. Cities XL has huge regions capable of holding several million people, but it is much more like SC4 in terms of how it simulates its citizens. Simcity 2013 cities are so small, it doesn't even look like there will be in limited access roads like we saw in SC4. Constructing a highway network was one of my favorite things to do in SC4, even without mods.

[fiver 306]

Mine is not "hate" just disappointment because I expected more and better. And always-online is no-no.

[snick25 384]

the answers are all over this forum if you care to read them.

Well you can say what you want, but the forum speaks for itself.

This and this.

I'm sorry but this is a sorry excuse for a thread. I think it's pretty darn clear why many are frustrated with the way this game is turning out.

I'd also like to add that for $60, the player should at least have access to their saved cities on their own computers. Instead, EA will have control over them on their servers, which they've been known to shut down at whim.

[CaptCity 4,893]

This topic is wandering all over into areas that have dedicated pinned topics. Please use them. Thanks.