Is anyone else thinking this?

[Mr Saturn64 742]

What I've been thinking looking at the trailers and screenshots for this game, it's either going to be the best in the series or complete and utter garbage. Or it could be like the general opinion on SC Soceities (I kinda liked it) and just be for the graphics, nothing else. It could be great with all the new buildings, the more international styles, and better graphics. I usually don't care about graphics (my 2 favorite games of all time came out in 1998 and 1994), but in a city-builder, graphics are good. This is the genre where I think "the graphics are key to determining the general "is this a good game" in maybe a review.

It's something unpredictable (but in the end it's right. Love that song), but it comes out on March 5. My birthday's March 8. I'll be getting it on the 8th, so I'll just wait and see.

[ZrC 3]

My personal feeling is EA may take this game the way of "The Sims" depending on how successful it is. By that I mean pushing out a small DLC updates and calling it an expansion every 6-8 months. Also don't forget the small model update packs and charging $5-10 each.

[rahdintimelord 0]

I did the beta on Sat. and it was ok, but only an hour each time and lots of stuff locked for the beta. I don't think it looks real life like or as good as cities xl, but they go for simulation over graphics. Not sure if I am going to like it as much as sim city 4 or cities xl yet, just have to wait and see.

[Towel 76]

I just think it looks like it will be a good game ... Best SimCity? Well, that will be dependent on your perspective.

 

What I like most about this game, and in contrast to other city simulations, the game is about the simulation itself, the people in the city, as opposed to building a bunch of cities and roads.

[strokesboy21 11]

i don't really know how i feel to be honest i suppose im thinking outside the box and while at the moment i think well its not best thing ever i then look at the glass box and then think of the capability's it can hold. also in saying that im loving the whole watching my sims go through their day to day business and watching the garbage men pick up trash and just the general traffic going somewhere instead of just dissapearing mid way. 

[Linoa06 1,374]

Yeah, I'm thinking outside the box - it tells me of subways and trams and real highway mods and metropolises, not farmville 2.0 with DLCs if I even want to expand..

What next, a DLC to unlock population cap?!

[Ma8thew 77]

Yeah, I'm thinking outside the box - it tells me of subways and trams and real highway mods and metropolises, not farmville 2.0 with DLCs if I even want to expand..

What next, a DLC to unlock population cap?!

Just FYI, the game has trams in it.

[Evil_One 119]

Personally I think SC4 was too much City and too little Sim, SimCity 2013 is the other way around.

[MPleines 17]

I think this Simcity will be the best one yet. 

Sure, there are drawbacks and limitations, but overall the improvements will outweigh the drawbacks eventually, in the full game. 

Went back to SC4/RH for a while but there's too much tedious donkey-work there (water pipes being the worst).

[Mr Saturn64 742]

Yes,but all the stuff like No subways can be easily fixed, or maybe, as stated earlie, an update. Best Sim City. I don't know, this seems like the kind like Amis of 4 wi Soceities graphics and smaller details changed around.

[soldyne 111]

I think history will tell us how SC2013 rates in the series.  give it 10 years and we can ask that question again.  I don't think it will fail like SCS did (that was just a horrid mistake we all wish they could unmake).  if they do decide to use the business model of the Sims for SC2013 then I can't blame them.  it is a very successful model and I would be surprised if they did not try it.  if it can eventually grow into a game that allows people to re-create New York City, London or some other large metropolis with exacting detail like SC4, I think it will eventually become the successor that everyone wants, its just too early to tell.

[bergerrunner 41]

I think my thought process is similar to yours. I played beta 2 and not beta 1 since I gave my key away and my thought in that Sim City will be fun, but not $60 worth of fun(for me anyway). Meaning that instead of a game like sc4 where you can pick it up for 2 hours every weekend and have a new experience every time, SC will offer "limited time fun" as it stands today (or two days ago I guess)

[Sunfighter 186]

I think it will go like diablo 3. Initial strong release just due to namesake. A few months of fun. Then large portions of the population leave due to boredom//design choices.

 

It will be extremely important for them to expand the maps as its the biggest limiter to creativity right now. And thats what simcity is about really, sandbox creativity. It is pretty much what keeps people playing. If they plan on selling stuff on their little store then they are gonna have to keep the people playing. Right now I see it as like giving a person the opportunity to paint, but then only giving them a notecard to paint on. Sure the Picassos could probably do some amazing things on that notecard, but the average joe will be pretty limited. They will do a few grids, marvel for a few times at the circle roads they make. Maybe a few squiggly roads...then what? theyve reached their limit. I dont think the resource mechanic will hold their attention very long. Great works wont take that long to do by the looks of it. Nor will the simulation itself hold their attention, yea it will be fun to watch the ants go about their business, but thats not playing a game, thats watching...and the novelty will wear off extremely fast.  Ultimately we are all here to play a game, and watching little cubes being made at a factory or puffs of smoke from a smokestack or little sims doing their animations ISNT as important as maxis seems to think it is, i dunno why they focus so much on that stuff as they do in their trailers, it just wont hold the players attention long enough to make a store viable.

[Ma8thew 77]

I think it will go like diablo 3. Initial strong release just due to namesake. A few months of fun. Then large portions of the population leave due to boredom//design choices.

 

It will be extremely important for them to expand the maps as its the biggest limiter to creativity right now. And thats what simcity is about really, sandbox creativity. It is pretty much what keeps people playing. If they plan on selling stuff on their little store then they are gonna have to keep the people playing. Right now I see it as like giving a person the opportunity to paint, but then only giving them a notecard to paint on. Sure the Picassos could probably do some amazing things on that notecard, but the average joe will be pretty limited. They will do a few grids, marvel for a few times at the circle roads they make. Maybe a few squiggly roads...then what? theyve reached their limit. I dont think the resource mechanic will hold their attention very long. Great works wont take that long to do by the looks of it. Nor will the simulation itself hold their attention, yea it will be fun to watch the ants go about their business, but thats not playing a game, thats watching...and the novelty will wear off extremely fast.  Ultimately we are all here to play a game, and watching little cubes being made at a factory or puffs of smoke from a smokestack or little sims doing their animations ISNT as important as maxis seems to think it is, i dunno why they focus so much on that stuff as they do in their trailers, it just wont hold the players attention long enough to make a store viable.

The little animations were there in Simcity 4. The difference now is that the animations accurately represent what is going on in the simulator. In Simcity 4, they were purely aesthetic, but now you can actually learn something about your city by looking at them.

[Sunfighter 186]

I think it will go like diablo 3. Initial strong release just due to namesake. A few months of fun. Then large portions of the population leave due to boredom//design choices.

 

It will be extremely important for them to expand the maps as its the biggest limiter to creativity right now. And thats what simcity is about really, sandbox creativity. It is pretty much what keeps people playing. If they plan on selling stuff on their little store then they are gonna have to keep the people playing. Right now I see it as like giving a person the opportunity to paint, but then only giving them a notecard to paint on. Sure the Picassos could probably do some amazing things on that notecard, but the average joe will be pretty limited. They will do a few grids, marvel for a few times at the circle roads they make. Maybe a few squiggly roads...then what? theyve reached their limit. I dont think the resource mechanic will hold their attention very long. Great works wont take that long to do by the looks of it. Nor will the simulation itself hold their attention, yea it will be fun to watch the ants go about their business, but thats not playing a game, thats watching...and the novelty will wear off extremely fast.  Ultimately we are all here to play a game, and watching little cubes being made at a factory or puffs of smoke from a smokestack or little sims doing their animations ISNT as important as maxis seems to think it is, i dunno why they focus so much on that stuff as they do in their trailers, it just wont hold the players attention long enough to make a store viable.

The little animations were there in Simcity 4. The difference now is that the animations accurately represent what is going on in the simulator. In Simcity 4, they were purely aesthetic, but now you can actually learn something about your city by looking at them.

 

Accurate to what exactly?

[BravoGreenONE 120]

I think it will go like diablo 3. Initial strong release just due to namesake. A few months of fun. Then large portions of the population leave due to boredom//design choices.

It will be extremely important for them to expand the maps as its the biggest limiter to creativity right now. And thats what simcity is about really, sandbox creativity. It is pretty much what keeps people playing. If they plan on selling stuff on their little store then they are gonna have to keep the people playing. Right now I see it as like giving a person the opportunity to paint, but then only giving them a notecard to paint on. Sure the Picassos could probably do some amazing things on that notecard, but the average joe will be pretty limited. They will do a few grids, marvel for a few times at the circle roads they make. Maybe a few squiggly roads...then what? theyve reached their limit. I dont think the resource mechanic will hold their attention very long. Great works wont take that long to do by the looks of it. Nor will the simulation itself hold their attention, yea it will be fun to watch the ants go about their business, but thats not playing a game, thats watching...and the novelty will wear off extremely fast. Ultimately we are all here to play a game, and watching little cubes being made at a factory or puffs of smoke from a smokestack or little sims doing their animations ISNT as important as maxis seems to think it is, i dunno why they focus so much on that stuff as they do in their trailers, it just wont hold the players attention long enough to make a store viable.

The little animations were there in Simcity 4. The difference now is that the animations accurately represent what is going on in the simulator. In Simcity 4, they were purely aesthetic, but now you can actually learn something about your city by looking at them.

Sumcity 4 limited? Really? Thats why there are 32 editions of the NAM, Stex, plex, and whatever other ex is out there. And before you say this isnt vanilla, im going to say who cares, maxis provided tools early on and if they wanted a game to be as expandable as sc4 they should have confirmed modability like yesteryear post haste.

But you know what was sc4 vanilla large maps and adjacent cities. But we wont see that now. Everybody just has to have their sticky little fingers on this march 5th. If consumers had enough patience to force ea/ maxis' hand this map size issue would be fixed tomorrow.

[Ma8thew 77]

 

I think it will go like diablo 3. Initial strong release just due to namesake. A few months of fun. Then large portions of the population leave due to boredom//design choices.

 

It will be extremely important for them to expand the maps as its the biggest limiter to creativity right now. And thats what simcity is about really, sandbox creativity. It is pretty much what keeps people playing. If they plan on selling stuff on their little store then they are gonna have to keep the people playing. Right now I see it as like giving a person the opportunity to paint, but then only giving them a notecard to paint on. Sure the Picassos could probably do some amazing things on that notecard, but the average joe will be pretty limited. They will do a few grids, marvel for a few times at the circle roads they make. Maybe a few squiggly roads...then what? theyve reached their limit. I dont think the resource mechanic will hold their attention very long. Great works wont take that long to do by the looks of it. Nor will the simulation itself hold their attention, yea it will be fun to watch the ants go about their business, but thats not playing a game, thats watching...and the novelty will wear off extremely fast.  Ultimately we are all here to play a game, and watching little cubes being made at a factory or puffs of smoke from a smokestack or little sims doing their animations ISNT as important as maxis seems to think it is, i dunno why they focus so much on that stuff as they do in their trailers, it just wont hold the players attention long enough to make a store viable.

The little animations were there in Simcity 4. The difference now is that the animations accurately represent what is going on in the simulator. In Simcity 4, they were purely aesthetic, but now you can actually learn something about your city by looking at them.

 

Accurate to what exactly?

Accurate to the simulator. When you can see 8 sims waiting at a bus stop, that means there are 8 sims waiting at the bus stop. When you can see 5 sims running around a park, that means 5 sims are currently visiting the park. In Simcity 4 the animations were related to activity but they did not have such a direct link to it.

 

 

I think it will go like diablo 3. Initial strong release just due to namesake. A few months of fun. Then large portions of the population leave due to boredom//design choices.

It will be extremely important for them to expand the maps as its the biggest limiter to creativity right now. And thats what simcity is about really, sandbox creativity. It is pretty much what keeps people playing. If they plan on selling stuff on their little store then they are gonna have to keep the people playing. Right now I see it as like giving a person the opportunity to paint, but then only giving them a notecard to paint on. Sure the Picassos could probably do some amazing things on that notecard, but the average joe will be pretty limited. They will do a few grids, marvel for a few times at the circle roads they make. Maybe a few squiggly roads...then what? theyve reached their limit. I dont think the resource mechanic will hold their attention very long. Great works wont take that long to do by the looks of it. Nor will the simulation itself hold their attention, yea it will be fun to watch the ants go about their business, but thats not playing a game, thats watching...and the novelty will wear off extremely fast. Ultimately we are all here to play a game, and watching little cubes being made at a factory or puffs of smoke from a smokestack or little sims doing their animations ISNT as important as maxis seems to think it is, i dunno why they focus so much on that stuff as they do in their trailers, it just wont hold the players attention long enough to make a store viable.

The little animations were there in Simcity 4. The difference now is that the animations accurately represent what is going on in the simulator. In Simcity 4, they were purely aesthetic, but now you can actually learn something about your city by looking at them.

Sumcity 4 limited? Really? Thats why there are 32 editions of the NAM, Stex, plex, and whatever other ex is out there. And before you say this isnt vanilla, im going to say who cares, maxis provided tools early on and if they wanted a game to be as expandable as sc4 they should have confirmed modability like yesteryear post haste.

But you know what was sc4 vanilla large maps and adjacent cities. But we wont see that now. Everybody just has to have their sticky little fingers on this march 5th. If consumers had enough patience to force ea/ maxis' hand this map size issue would be fixed tomorrow.

When did I say Simcity 4 was limited? Anyway, Maxis took several months to release the lot editor, and a year to release the BAT. Modding was something that the community worked out, and it was not supported or explicitly encouraged by Maxis. They did not provide any help whatsoever (indeed the data files are encrypted) with the dramatic modifications in the NAM. They have taken literally years for the community to reverse-engineer. The idea that Simcity 4 was an open, modification friendly nirvana is revisionist fiction.

[Linoa06 1,374]

Yeah, I'm thinking outside the box - it tells me of subways and trams and real highway mods and metropolises, not farmville 2.0 with DLCs if I even want to expand..

What next, a DLC to unlock population cap?!

Just FYI, the game has trams in it.

I was referring to Simcity 4. I played the demo back in Cologne last year though. (Okay, it was very limited, but it gave me enough to ponder, or was it the immense endless waiting with all the little kids.)

[MandelSoft 2,775]

Yeah, I'm thinking outside the box - it tells me of subways and trams and real highway mods and metropolises, not farmville 2.0 with DLCs if I even want to expand..

What next, a DLC to unlock population cap?!

Just FYI, the game has trams in it.

Yeah, but only integrated in 6-lane avenues. In SimCity 4, you have a whole separate network for the trams, called Ground Light Rail. It also can be combined with other road types...

[Linoa06 1,374]

Yeah, I prefer the SC4 system.... 

[Ma8thew 77]

 

Yeah, I'm thinking outside the box - it tells me of subways and trams and real highway mods and metropolises, not farmville 2.0 with DLCs if I even want to expand..

What next, a DLC to unlock population cap?!

Just FYI, the game has trams in it.

Yeah, but only integrated in 6-lane avenues. In SimCity 4, you have a whole separate network for the trams, called Ground Light Rail. It also can be combined with other road types...

SimCity 2013 has off road trams, but you can't put stations on the off-road sections. This is beside the point, because Simcity 4 does not have a separate network for trams. That comes entirely from third-party content. Even the elevated rail was only introduced in Rush Hour.

[Mr Saturn64 742]

And if SC13 sucks, the DLC will have us covered

[Zukunftstraume 220]

What I've been thinking looking at the trailers and screenshots for this game, it's either going to be the best in the series or complete and utter garbage. Or it could be like the general opinion on SC Soceities (I kinda liked it) and just be for the graphics, nothing else. It could be great with all the new buildings, the more international styles, and better graphics. I usually don't care about graphics (my 2 favorite games of all time came out in 1998 and 1994), but in a city-builder, graphics are good. This is the genre where I think "the graphics are key to determining the general "is this a good game" in maybe a review.

It's something unpredictable (but in the end it's right. Love that song), but it comes out on March 5. My birthday's March 8. I'll be getting it on the 8th, so I'll just wait and see.

 

There's no such thing as a middle ground anymore? If anything I wouldn't picture it being a complete disastrous failure or an absolute success, I'd picture it being definitely somewhere in the middle margin.

 

But that's just me, I might be under or over-estimating the creativity/attention-span of their new target audience.

My personal feeling is EA may take this game the way of "The Sims" depending on how successful it is. By that I mean pushing out a small DLC updates and calling it an expansion every 6-8 months. Also don't forget the small model update packs and charging $5-10 each.

 

Wow, now I feel stupid for not thinking of the Sims... Makes perfect sense! With a large amount of expansions like the Sims, seems perfect for EA to milk even more money out of us.

 

If one of those expansions features a God-Mode/Region-Editor or the fix to the region-view, that's when I'll buy the game... Until then, I'll just watch everyone's reactions to the vanilla version.

[memedoug85 36]

Yeah, I'm really mixed about it. I've played both BETA's and was into Classic on PC, 2000 and 4... When 4 came out it was a shock to the system for me. Took a few months to get into it, but when i did I was hooked, still am!

 

I think with the new Simcity they're looking for the same impact as 4 if not bigger. Simcity 4 introduced The Sims and gave it more of a realistic view. Neighbour connections were and have always been a very important part of the game. They've taken that to the new one. 

 

My final opinion will be made after ive given it a good go for a couple months. I'll wait to see what the region sizes are and how close cities are in that region. I'm waiting to see what sort of customization there will be in the game. If it turns out like The Sims and expansion packs come out once every year i'll be upset. I only like one or two things out of those pack usually....

 

Lots of opinion on this game but i dont want to chat about it too much until it comes out..... Just like the world was before forums

[memedoug85 36]

I think they've got all the right ideas but just a bit jumbled... Honestly, the original Simcity on PC was all about residential, commercial and industrial with police fire a major focus. 2000 introduced terrain and it really pulled me into the franchise. It also introduced parks as more of an importance. As well as rewards like mayors houses and stadiums. Simcity 4 pulled it together nicely. Didnt push the boundary but expanded to the point of what was demanded... It really is a shame that there wasnt Simcitys in between 4 and this one. Maybe this one should be called Simcity 13 or something.... Let them come up with 5 - 12 later when computers can handle it

[frdrcklim 139]

I'd rather wait and see here. I'm sure some people played Battlefield 3 here and I'm sure people are aware of the Battlefield 3 premium edition where the vanilla game comes with the expansion (and future expansions). Also, an older example is SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition.

 

I'm not saying that this is always the case (Sims 3), but there are cases when EA either brings down the price significantly in less than a year or so, or add the upcoming expansions with the same price tag.

[nhgriffith 179]

I think they've got all the right ideas but just a bit jumbled... Honestly, the original Simcity on PC was all about residential, commercial and industrial with police fire a major focus. 2000 introduced terrain and it really pulled me into the franchise. It also introduced parks as more of an importance. As well as rewards like mayors houses and stadiums. Simcity 4 pulled it together nicely. Didnt push the boundary but expanded to the point of what was demanded... It really is a shame that there wasnt Simcitys in between 4 and this one. Maybe this one should be called Simcity 13 or something.... Let them come up with 5 - 12 later when computers can handle it

I guess that's one take on it.

But 2000 had always been my favorite. I never had as much fun playing SimCity 4 (regardless of the number of mods) as I did playing 2000 when I was younger.

And just the limited "beta" experienced I had with 2013, that felt more like the fun I remembered having while I played SimCity 2000. And it should... the game is labeled as a "reboot," and maybe that's why I'm so excited about it (as SC2k being my favorite) while the SC4 hardcores around here are extremely opposed to the game.

[Randall_Lind 19]

It is no Simcity 4 for sure. I really do think cities size is way too small. I also think the buildings don't reflect population. If EA goal was to make it simple I think it maybe that. However it would bore me because you could never make any awesome big city. They should rename it to SimTown.

 

I do like the data information and the circle road tool.. I also like how you can expand certain buildings. However  I don't see myself buying simcity 5 or stopping playing simcity 4

[Mr Saturn64 742]

It kinda seems to me, not to sound pessimistic, but it seems like this forum is looking mainly on he downsides to the new game.

What I've been thinking looking at the trailers and screenshots for this game, it's either going to be the best in the series or complete and utter garbage. Or it could be like the general opinion on SC Soceities (I kinda liked it) and just be for the graphics, nothing else. It could be great with all the new buildings, the more international styles, and better graphics. I usually don't care about graphics (my 2 favorite games of all time came out in 1998 and 1994), but in a city-builder, graphics are good. This is the genre where I think "the graphics are key to determining the general "is this a good game" in maybe a review.

It's something unpredictable (but in the end it's right. Love that song), but it comes out on March 5. My birthday's March 8. I'll be getting it on the 8th, so I'll just wait and see.

 

There's no such thing as a middle ground anymore? If anything I wouldn't picture it being a complete disastrous failure or an absolute success, I'd picture it being definitely somewhere in the middle margin.

 

But that's just me, I might be under or over-estimating the creativity/attention-span of their new target audience.

My personal feeling is EA may take this game the way of "The Sims" depending on how successful it is. By that I mean pushing out a small DLC updates and calling it an expansion every 6-8 months. Also don't forget the small model update packs and charging $5-10 each.

 

Wow, now I feel stupid for not thinking of the Sims... Makes perfect sense! With a large amount of expansions like the Sims, seems perfect for EA to milk even more money out of us.

 

If one of those expansions features a God-Mode/Region-Editor or the fix to the region-view, that's when I'll buy the game... Until then, I'll just watch everyone's reactions to the vanilla version.It seems like there is a middle ground, but there's reason to say this is highly innovative and well thought of, and there's equal reason to say that this is a "nothing to it but graphics" game.

[cirugo 1,889]

Personally I think SC4 was too much City and too little Sim, SimCity 2013 is the other way around.

I love that!  Too much Sim and too little city!