24 Hours of Gameplay. Must Read!

Board_Marshal · March 11, 2013

I would hope that people posting the same problem over and over again
are at least as much "I want the game to fail" as it is those who are
demonstrating that its not an isolated incident and Maxis needs to
address the problem or declare it working as intended. Catchin22, I'd
assume you'd agree that given the sophistication of the new Glassbox
"agent" system it will take quite some time for people to a). figure out
the basics, b). learn the nuances, and c). become proficient enough to
spot strange behavior and point them out to Maxis with suggestions for
improvement. Given that so much is going on simultaneously it is my
opinion that its just going to take time to determine if all the
gameplay elements make for a long term, enjoyable game. I believe too
much of the fun, at least right now, could be attributable to how new
and exciting it is but that it will eventually wear off and then we'll
get down to brass tacks.

I also believe
(opinion) that trying to make SimCity2013 fail as a means of making a
"anti-DRM" statement is very sad. I'd bet its likely that those
persons don't care about the quality of SimCity2013 or it being
successful, in which case you'll never convince them otherwise because
they're not debating with you in good faith, their minds are set and
their motives less than pure. You may consider that constantly
cheerleading for the game (server stuff aside) only causes the people
with bad intentions to step-up that much further and stronger. I'm
willing to be wrong though.

Catchin22 · March 11, 2013

I don't think any of the glitches being minor will make the game less
fun to play long term. If anything people will get over the fact that
they have to destroy a school to get it working again. Right now it
seems too many people are taking things too seriously instead of
thinking about the game being a toy model city, having fun with it. So
what if your fire services or PD or medical aren't working 100%
correctly? You just destroy them and make another, even if it's costly
you should be making WELL above enough to afford to do that. That's not
to say that things don't need fixed or couldn't be better, but they are
still minor.

Where it may get really frustrating down the road is
the competitive nature, the leaderboards. If those issues don't get
fixed and occur for some and not others, that could be a real put off.

Linoa06 · March 11, 2013

It actually does, in fact, many cities are typically built on a few types of industry. (This CAN explain the boomtown sort of effect you see in Simcity, I was told).

Board_Marshal · March 11, 2013

Having to destroy a school to get it working again seems kind of
crappy. Will people put up with it?, sure, but on sheer principle
they're going to be upset that such behavior is being required of them
by the developers, especially on a AAA title.

And I'd be careful to regard SimCity as simulating "toy" cities.

You'd
think that since almost everybody seems to want to play the game on
their own I don't think many people care about the leaderboard or
competition stuff. If there's anything that Simtropolis has taught me
it's that people just want to make cool cities and show them off, who
cares about "scores".

Catchin22 · March 11, 2013

Sorta crappy to blow something up and build another, sure,
a big deal, no. When I have a few million in the bank it's nothing to
destroy a building and make another and it takes maybe a minute to do,
tops. It's not as if this stuff just keeps occurring over and over every
5 minutes either. In 24 hours of game play I think I had to blow up one
school... once.

Typically I don't care about scores either. I
have NEVER liked achievements either, could care less. This game turned
that around for me. I think mostly because of the small city sizes. I
find it extremely challenging and I love a challenge. So I think it
really pushes me to make the most of my city, to use every single pixel
of space, to come up with the BEST layout I can. Doing that, I hope to
top the leader boards and if I don't, I know I did something wrong, so
that challenge will remain.

In the future I hope they have larger
map sizes, but I don't need them now. Right now I have the challenge of
making use of every bit of space, when the larger map sizes come
rolling out I'll be ready for them.

MeiTeiSho · March 11, 2013

I believe after ten years this is still a really dynamic comunity. EA say they spent ten years working on it, i think it's more like 2 years. I took it on friday. Couldn't play for 3 jours. Then, on a tiny map i started a mining city, then an archology. My minerals never arrived to the place. So i produced for nothing, my mining ressources are empty, water supplies too, and so i can start over or change spécialisation.
70€ is not yet worth it.
The graphics are brilliant, mining etc is nice , wind is cool...Bring that on sc4 ok. Keep the bugs, DRM , tiny maps, ...

MeiTeiSho · March 11, 2013

The great vision i have is that i paid 70€ for the deluxe version of an unfinished , not working game, sold with "french building set" which includes 2 buildings, and that most of the enthusiastic people say don't worry, they will fix every thing in dlc's and we will be glad to pay. The game is not even ours, because if EA decides tomorrow to close Maxis because the game is note selling well, servers will be closed down and we'll have nothing to say.

BLANKBLANK · March 11, 2013

I bet every city on top of the leader boards will be absolutely oddlooking and have no style or coolness at all. Leader boards don't encourage creatively they merely encourage competition and optimization; two things which stifle creativity. Plus I bet leader boards would in no way at all indicate the 'perfect city', say for instance someone is king of land value, the reason why? Most of his city is covered in parks!

Catchin22 · March 11, 2013

I bet every city on top of the leader boards will be absolutely oddlooking and have no style or coolness at all. Leader boards don't encourage creatively they merely encourage competition and optimization; two things which stifle creativity. Plus I bet leader boards would in no way at all indicate the 'perfect city', say for instance someone is king of land value, the reason why? Most of his city is covered in parks!

I don't know, maybe. My city had big population and was cool looking. I'm not sure what the leader boards all entail anymore anyhow since they are offline. Either way it will be fun to see, and a challenge.

azxcvbnm321 · March 11, 2013

I'm willing to give this game a chance though I admit I've been very critical of it from what I've seen. I have a few questions.

Was your region play bugged? There are numerous reports of being unable to trade resources or trades disappearing. If that is the case, this game is unplayable due to the design which requires trading.

How is the pathfinding? The Glass Box system was sold as a feature that tracked every sim, even every drop of water and bit of power. The fact that sims don't "know" where they came from is inexcusable. If the result is that pathfinding is worse than the modded SimCity4 with NAM (thanks modders and community), then it was pointless to use Glass Box. Computers today are on the order of 10x more powerful than they were back in SimCity4's days. That kind of power could have been used to improve pathfinding and traffic which are the most important factors in a game like this.

I'm not concerned about DRM and the server problems will probably sort out, but the flaws I pointed out above ruin the game in my opinion and I'm not going to buy it until I see a very very deep discount. I did buy Cities XL for $5.99 just as a comparison.

Catchin22 · March 11, 2013

Bugged region play is likely due to server issues, not so much game issues. I would expect those to sort themselves out after more server updates / patches. I haven't had much problem trading resources but I have had an issue exporting goods. Tonight I noticed in my city that I was losing money, I spend 75k or so a month in the red, I make money via my exports... well they weren't exporting. I deleted all my ports and put them back, seemed to fix it for a bit, then back to the same thing again. I ended up going bankrupt, had to start a new city.

So I started another city and sent funds to my main city. Went back in and checked my Trade Layer, I noticed all my delivery trucks were stuck on the interstate, some getting into a loop. That caused my trades to become too slow to make money. Part of that fault is mine for running the city so far into the red that I couldn't afford to have a wait time for delivery trucks. The other problem is essentially coming into the city it looks like a 6 lane highway but really it's 4. So really, from any one direction there is only 1 incoming lane! Definitely not enough!

Pathfinding for the most part is just fine. What you mostly see in complaints is over exaggerated, people making specific conditions that don't really exist in a city grid layout. Yes there are issues but I haven't noticed anything personally beyond some bus services doing stupid things that ruin the game at all.

As far as I am concerned the biggest problem is traffic outside the city coming in.

xfalcon12x · March 11, 2013

Charizard is right, catchin2 does not listen. I don't care how great the game is. That is not what we arguing about. it is the simple fact that they forced DRM upon us the don't want it. how are you going to play this game in 10 years from now if you don't like the newer version in the future? that's right you can't. I don't have a beta copy I have the real copy and I bought it $60(big mistake) on trust of simcity 4. I know SimCity 4 didn't come with all the bells and whistles, and they came later. that is not the point. the point is I overpaid for a product that has no offline service indicates to me when and when I cannot play this game. I cannot play this game when I travel between New York and Pittsburgh on the train. it is a shame it could have been a good game it has the potential, but what happens when all your cities are lost because there's a online server failure, or again want to play can years from now. I'm sorry but it's wrong. trust me I want to go play the game now but it's just not worth it all my data will be lost anything in the future when the servers are stable I still have the possibility that they have a server crash I will lose my cities. you still haven't told us how you're going to deal with these issues that were asking you. instead you keep going on how great the game is. it is and it isn't but it's not 60 dollars great. for true Sim City fans, don't purchase this game unless they add offline mode. wait until it's on the 10 dollar bargain rack and by that time the server shall be improved.. I'll never make this mistake again now I know why PC game section in the store is so small. at this time they have killed another good game.

Catchin22 · March 11, 2013

Boohoo! No DRM was forced on you, you know why? YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO BUY IT. If the game goes offline in 10 YEARS you know what I am going to do? Not care, move on with my life, realize I got 10 freaking years of game play for $60! ONE year would be enough entertainment per dollar. You should have known what you were buying and if not, that's too bad for you. Next time read the requirements before you buy.

xfalcon12x · March 11, 2013

I bought it not knowing that offline was not an option.. YES I made that mistake trusting that they would have produced something better than simcity 4. I was wrong!! All the new simcity has is better graphics with less options. Like someone said in a early blog it should be called simtown. I'm just trying to warn people not to make the same mistake and wait until its on the $10.00 bargin rack. . Congrats if you like over paying for a product and getting less, I guess there is a sucker born every minute. You haven't told us what happens if a server loses your cities after working on it for a year??????, or once they retire the server, they make you settle for a piece of crap game like sim societies!!! The only reason why simcity is back is because of the demand from simcity4 and its reputation.. I know your answer would be simple, just like you, " build a new one". Well some of us did not play for those reasons. We played for more of the urban design and its endless ability for modd community to create building and changing the design over time. I don't care to do any of the challenges that you say there is.. Go play sim 3. Many other people feel the same. If can't understand everyones upset, and you can only see this from your point of view. Well that make you very self-centered person and your review means even less to everyone. For you to tell people to over-pay for something just because your opinion says its great, despite what the majority experienced or feel. Again makes you self-centered and sound like a corprate troll who's only concern is Profit...

Boohoo! No DRM was forced on you, you know why? YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO BUY IT. If the game goes offline in 10 YEARS you know what I am going to do? Not care, move on with my life, realize I got 10 freaking years of game play for $60! ONE year would be enough entertainment per dollar. You should have known what you were buying and if not, that's too bad for you. Next time read the requirements before you buy.

Charizard is right, catchin2 does not listen. I don't care how great the game is. That is not what we arguing about. it is the simple fact that they forced DRM upon us the don't want it. how are you going to play this game in 10 years from now if you don't like the newer version in the future? that's right you can't. I don't have a beta copy I have the real copy and I bought it $60(big mistake) on trust of simcity 4. I know SimCity 4 didn't come with all the bells and whistles, and they came later. that is not the point. the point is I overpaid for a product that has no offline service indicates to me when and when I cannot play this game. I cannot play this game when I travel between New York and Pittsburgh on the train. it is a shame it could have been a good game it has the potential, but what happens when all your cities are lost because there's a online server failure, or again want to play can years from now. I'm sorry but it's wrong. trust me I want to go play the game now but it's just not worth it all my data will be lost anything in the future when the servers are stable I still have the possibility that they have a server crash I will lose my cities. you still haven't told us how you're going to deal with these issues that were asking you. instead you keep going on how great the game is. it is and it isn't but it's not 60 dollars great. for true Sim City fans, don't purchase this game unless they add offline mode. wait until it's on the 10 dollar bargain rack and by that time the server shall be improved.. I'll never make this mistake again now I know why PC game section in the store is so small. at this time they have killed another good game.

Anya · March 11, 2013

Sorry...I've played this for about 24 hours now myself (granted, some of that is time that I was stuck at server issues) and do not feel this game is an improvement of SimCity4 or even that good viewed as a stand-alone. I created an account just to voice my opinion as an avid SimCity fan since the age of ~8.

The AI is horrendous...you can see this in your own original post, where you can't figure out why you drop from 240k to 115k pop. Sims will sit on a crowded street for DAYS, only to have more sims eagerly jump on that same street. People who commute out of your city basically disappear. This causes businesses to have no customers, so they shut down, then people have no jobs, so they move out. Or fires burn your cities down and/or crime/epidemics destroy your population as city services cannot reach them.

This also manifests in the supply chain. Wanting to build a great work that requires 100 metal? Your factories produce 200 metal an hour? Awesome! Leave the game on "cheetah" speed for 2 real-life days, come back, and it might be close to filling the order. That's because your metal mysteriously disappears on the freight trucks or gets consumed by things that don't actually use it.

Budget issues...once you get a large enough city it is next-to-impossible to have any sort of positive cash flow due to the grossly inflated operating expenses of city services. You HAVE to use the specializations, exporting your goods off to some make believe global market (only to find your home-town end users never get the resources first); or you can try tourism/gambling but you better have a bunch of other towns in your regions. This is such an easy fix...either all of our towns are socialist regimes, or they need to start charging sims to ride the bus/trolley and use the hospitals/higher education facilities. Cities don't build mass transit out of the kindness of their hearts: they try to keep it at break-even based on charging passengers for use.

Map sizes are laughably small. You are either pigeonholed into creating have-it-all cities that are totally self-sufficient (creates problems with bumping the edges as you scramble to fit it all) or you have 1 of each type in your "region"...Also your "region" is really only the 3 closest cities. You cannot trade goods or personnel between the region in its entirety.

The population required to supply the workforce (by the way, what kind of city only has 10% of its population in the workforce despite tons of open jobs?!) for any meaningful city is beyond cumbersome...all those extra people require more services (compounding budget issues), create more traffic (again exacerbates the AI), and eventually self-cannibalize as businesses collapses, jobs are lost, people move out.

With total disregard to always-online DRM and the single worst launch of any game ever, this is a laughably bad game.

Maps too small

AI is terrible

Fiscal challenges insurmountable

Traffic problems unsolvable

Bottlenecked city "creativity"

Region is actually a few subregions

This will be in the bargain bin by Christmas, and servers will be down within 5 years, if that. During that time, they will nickel and dime you to buy "features" that should have come standard.

Edit: Also, education system is ridiculous. You build a lower school, then a high school, and things are going well. Add a University and it consumes ALL students (because 6-year-olds go to University, amirite?), so your primary schools are draining your budget without any notable advantage. But remove those to save money, and your sims flip out. Also, you could have 100% of your sims going to university, but tech level won't improve unless you have a community college...those Associates degrees are so much better for high-tech jobs than Bach of Science, right?!

I'll wait for CitiesXL 2014, thanks.

mikeyb66 · March 11, 2013

As someone who doesn't own the game I can give a whole list of reasons why I haven't but I think it can pretty much be summed up by -

"I'm on a 60 minute wait"

Catchin22 · March 11, 2013

Server maintenance. Took them 7 hours to take a server down and upgrade them. No idea why they didn't just build a better server and move the data over to it having only 5 minutes downtime. I think they should outsource to a company that knows what they are doing. Still, not even remotely enough reason to not buy and play a great game.

macvirt · March 11, 2013

Give it a few months.

Anya · March 11, 2013

Server maintenance. Took them 7 hours to take a server down and upgrade them. No idea why they didn't just build a better server and move the data over to it having only 5 minutes downtime. I think they should outsource to a company that knows what they are doing. Still, not even remotely enough reason to not buy and play a great game.

It's more than enough reason to not buy and play a terrible game.

Catchin22 · March 11, 2013

Server maintenance. Took them 7 hours to take a server down and upgrade them. No idea why they didn't just build a better server and move the data over to it having only 5 minutes downtime. I think they should outsource to a company that knows what they are doing. Still, not even remotely enough reason to not buy and play a great game.

It's more than enough reason to not buy and play a terrible game.

Have you purchased it, or are you just another anti-DRMer making negative posts? It's not even remotely a bad game, no matter how much you wish it to be. It's hands down the best SC I have ever played and has huge potential for expansion making it even greater. It's quite possibly the best game I have EVER played outside of the SC series, I will be sure of that after all the server / latency and AI issues are fixed which I am 100% confident they will be.

mikeyb66 · March 11, 2013

Server maintenance. Took them 7 hours to take a server down and upgrade them. No idea why they didn't just build a better server and move the data over to it having only 5 minutes downtime. I think they should outsource to a company that knows what they are doing. Still, not even remotely enough reason to not buy and play a great game.

Exactly. They haven't got a clue what they are doing.

Also, I don't like the cartoon graphics.

Anya · March 11, 2013

Server maintenance. Took them 7 hours to take a server down and upgrade them. No idea why they didn't just build a better server and move the data over to it having only 5 minutes downtime. I think they should outsource to a company that knows what they are doing. Still, not even remotely enough reason to not buy and play a great game.

It's more than enough reason to not buy and play a terrible game.

Have you purchased it, or are you just another anti-DRMer making negative posts? It's not even remotely a bad game, no matter how much you wish it to be. It's hands down the best SC I have ever played and has huge potential for expansion making it even greater. It's quite possibly the best game I have EVER played outside of the SC series, I will be sure of that after all the server / latency and AI issues are fixed which I am 100% confident they will be.

Scroll up 2 posts. I absolutely have bought and played it....your mantra of "You don't like it b/c you haven't bought it!" is quite old by now. There are enough people who have played it for a considerable amount of time and do not like it.

And I don't care at all about DRM, I didn't even know what it meant until a few days ago.

I understand you obviously like it quite a bit...I dislike it quite a bit. I wouldn't go so far as to say it is the WORST game I've ever played (though you claim it is the BEST...), but I definitely rank it as one of the worst, most unfinished, most bugged simulator games I've ever played.

http://www.reddit.com/r/SimCity/comments/1a0taq/compiled_list_of_suggestions_and_bug_reports_to/

Board_Marshal · March 11, 2013

Server maintenance. Took them 7 hours to take a server down and upgrade them. No idea why they didn't just build a better server and move the data over to it having only 5 minutes downtime. I think they should outsource to a company that knows what they are doing. Still, not even remotely enough reason to not buy and play a great game.

It's more than enough reason to not buy and play a terrible game.

Have you purchased it, or are you just another anti-DRMer making negative posts? It's not even remotely a bad game, no matter how much you wish it to be. It's hands down the best SC I have ever played and has huge potential for expansion making it even greater. It's quite possibly the best game I have EVER played outside of the SC series, I will be sure of that after all the server / latency and AI issues are fixed which I am 100% confident they will be.

I hope you notice that you malign everybody on the other end of the spectrum who offers just as much support for their opinion as you do for yours. That would be considered hypocrisy. Perhaps a better approach would be to write "I think the following things are really good, cool, awesome: a,b,c,d" which is valid but without declaring the game "the best game ever" which is clearly a matter of opinion that carries no more weight than somebody else's opinion that its "the worst game ever." Try and focus on specific aspects which are "good" without making broad, sweeping statements about the game. If you want to declare it the "best game I've ever played" then great, that's valid but you can't declare the game, as a whole, good by fiat.

I'm trying to help you by having people who disagree with you focus on your points a,b,c,d which can and should be discussed rather than your detractors focusing on how your being unnecessarily "pro" SC2013 as though your motive is your a paid shill of EA. Or you could go on this way and make no progress but to piss people off, which is your right but not very good for your argument. Just sayin'

site400 · March 12, 2013

Server maintenance. Took them 7 hours to take a server down and upgrade them. No idea why they didn't just build a better server and move the data over to it having only 5 minutes downtime. I think they should outsource to a company that knows what they are doing. Still, not even remotely enough reason to not buy and play a great game.

It's more than enough reason to not buy and play a terrible game.

Have you purchased it, or are you just another anti-DRMer making negative posts? It's not even remotely a bad game, no matter how much you wish it to be. It's hands down the best SC I have ever played and has huge potential for expansion making it even greater. It's quite possibly the best game I have EVER played outside of the SC series, I will be sure of that after all the server / latency and AI issues are fixed which I am 100% confident they will be.

Scroll up 2 posts. I absolutely have bought and played it....your mantra of "You don't like it b/c you haven't bought it!" is quite old by now. There are enough people who have played it for a considerable amount of time and do not like it.

And I don't care at all about DRM, I didn't even know what it meant until a few days ago.

I understand you obviously like it quite a bit...I dislike it quite a bit. I wouldn't go so far as to say it is the WORST game I've ever played (though you claim it is the BEST...), but I definitely rank it as one of the worst, most unfinished, most bugged simulator games I've ever played.

http://www.reddit.com/r/SimCity/comments/1a0taq/compiled_list_of_suggestions_and_bug_reports_to/

I'm pretty sure Skyrim has this game beat when it comes to the amount of bugs. There are so many bugs that modders released unofficial patches. Take a look at this bug-fix list: http://www.iguanadons.net/Unofficial%20Skyrim%20Patch%20Version%20History.html. Quite a difference when compared to the Reddit post.

Point is, there isn't a single game released today that isn't riddled with bugs. Its pretty much expected with any game release that there will be big patches to fix everything that is wrong (http://www.gamefront.com/files/game-patches). To single out this game as one of the worst is dishonest.

Although, you may be right in saying its the worst simulator game, but that's because there haven't been any simulator games released in years. Well, except for maybe Minecraft, if you classify it as a simulator. But, jeez, they even have their own bug-tracker website (https://mojang.atlassian.net/browse/MC)!

Mr_Maison · March 12, 2013

Why is this thread still open? Its obviuos what's going on and on.

Catchin22 · March 12, 2013

Server maintenance. Took them 7 hours to take a server down and upgrade them. No idea why they didn't just build a better server and move the data over to it having only 5 minutes downtime. I think they should outsource to a company that knows what they are doing. Still, not even remotely enough reason to not buy and play a great game.

It's more than enough reason to not buy and play a terrible game.

Have you purchased it, or are you just another anti-DRMer making negative posts? It's not even remotely a bad game, no matter how much you wish it to be. It's hands down the best SC I have ever played and has huge potential for expansion making it even greater. It's quite possibly the best game I have EVER played outside of the SC series, I will be sure of that after all the server / latency and AI issues are fixed which I am 100% confident they will be.

I hope you notice that you malign everybody on the other end of the spectrum who offers just as much support for their opinion as you do for yours. That would be considered hypocrisy. Perhaps a better approach would be to write "I think the following things are really good, cool, awesome: a,b,c,d" which is valid but without declaring the game "the best game ever" which is clearly a matter of opinion that carries no more weight than somebody else's opinion that its "the worst game ever." Try and focus on specific aspects which are "good" without making broad, sweeping statements about the game. If you want to declare it the "best game I've ever played" then great, that's valid but you can't declare the game, as a whole, good by fiat.

I'm trying to help you by having people who disagree with you focus on your points a,b,c,d which can and should be discussed rather than your detractors focusing on how your being unnecessarily "pro" SC2013 as though your motive is your a paid shill of EA. Or you could go on this way and make no progress but to piss people off, which is your right but not very good for your argument. Just sayin'

Except there aren't as many people who have not played the game boasting about how great it is, see the difference here? It's not "the other end of the spectrum" it's a whole other spectrum of Anti DRMers who want to bring the game down. Yes, the are plenty of people who have played who dislike the game, have issues with it etc... but they are drowned out by a wave of negativity.

Most people, who even have issues are unreasonable in them, a ton of the issues are PEBKAC. Normally, had this anit DRM / Server problem wave of negativity not existed the issues with AI or other glitches would have been minor, those playing would simply figure out a way around the issue or figured out THEY were the problem, THEY were doing something wrong. Instead everyone's on a huge negativity hype, tolerances have been dropped significantly. Typical Human behavior, it's not hard to see how we are related to chimps.

Server maintenance. Took them 7 hours to take a server down and upgrade them. No idea why they didn't just build a better server and move the data over to it having only 5 minutes downtime. I think they should outsource to a company that knows what they are doing. Still, not even remotely enough reason to not buy and play a great game.

It's more than enough reason to not buy and play a terrible game.

Have you purchased it, or are you just another anti-DRMer making negative posts? It's not even remotely a bad game, no matter how much you wish it to be. It's hands down the best SC I have ever played and has huge potential for expansion making it even greater. It's quite possibly the best game I have EVER played outside of the SC series, I will be sure of that after all the server / latency and AI issues are fixed which I am 100% confident they will be.

Scroll up 2 posts. I absolutely have bought and played it....your mantra of "You don't like it b/c you haven't bought it!" is quite old by now. There are enough people who have played it for a considerable amount of time and do not like it.

And I don't care at all about DRM, I didn't even know what it meant until a few days ago.

I understand you obviously like it quite a bit...I dislike it quite a bit. I wouldn't go so far as to say it is the WORST game I've ever played (though you claim it is the BEST...), but I definitely rank it as one of the worst, most unfinished, most bugged simulator games I've ever played.

http://www.reddit.com/r/SimCity/comments/1a0taq/compiled_list_of_suggestions_and_bug_reports_to/

And your post is a good example of people who have played it yet failed to figure the game out. Most of what you're complaining about is solvable. The game isn't going to hold your hand and do everything for you and make your life easy. If you don't like strategy and challenges it's not for you.

UltraGIR XL · March 12, 2013

Gyah, I'd be much less upset if EA's anti-piracy paranoia wasn't so apparent with this. It's a delicate balancing act, and they're really leaning tool far over on the "evil corporation" stereotype's side.

I mean, at least open up the content for sandbox mode to allow the folks like us here to really perfect the game. I mean, looking at SimCity 4 10 years ago compared to today, one gets the impression that it's an entirely different game, provided that they've kept up with all of the major mods out there.

It's just... I feel betrayed, after playing this game. They've dumbed everything down far, far too much; it's just like Societies, in a lot of ways, except much prettier. And in a lot of ways, there's an even more bitter taste left on my tongue-- TiltedMill was an outside company; there's no way they could have done SimCity wholly right. But this is Maxis, and given that company's history, and its influence... well, all of this is inexcusable.

I will not "rally" behind this game as the author suggests. No, the forced online feature is, among the other gripes, the single-biggest dealbreaker I've encountered. To rally behind this game is to legitimize this cancerous practice, which is already metastasizing across all of PC gaming. Those who truly wish to do so will always find a way to steal the content. The industry, whether it be gaming, music, or film, has been out-innovated at every turn, and will continue to be. In the process of fighting a futile battle, though, companies like EA will lose their previously-dedicated fanbases, and in the end, gain nothing of value.

Will SimCity be able to pick up the slack? Probably. But I'll be damned if I'm one of the people responsible for its success.

Anya · March 12, 2013

Server maintenance. Took them 7 hours to take a server down and upgrade them. No idea why they didn't just build a better server and move the data over to it having only 5 minutes downtime. I think they should outsource to a company that knows what they are doing. Still, not even remotely enough reason to not buy and play a great game.

It's more than enough reason to not buy and play a terrible game.

Have you purchased it, or are you just another anti-DRMer making negative posts? It's not even remotely a bad game, no matter how much you wish it to be. It's hands down the best SC I have ever played and has huge potential for expansion making it even greater. It's quite possibly the best game I have EVER played outside of the SC series, I will be sure of that after all the server / latency and AI issues are fixed which I am 100% confident they will be.

Scroll up 2 posts. I absolutely have bought and played it....your mantra of "You don't like it b/c you haven't bought it!" is quite old by now. There are enough people who have played it for a considerable amount of time and do not like it.

And I don't care at all about DRM, I didn't even know what it meant until a few days ago.

I understand you obviously like it quite a bit...I dislike it quite a bit. I wouldn't go so far as to say it is the WORST game I've ever played (though you claim it is the BEST...), but I definitely rank it as one of the worst, most unfinished, most bugged simulator games I've ever played.

http://www.reddit.com/r/SimCity/comments/1a0taq/compiled_list_of_suggestions_and_bug_reports_to/

And your post is a good example of people who have played it yet failed to figure the game out. Most of what you're complaining about is solvable. The game isn't going to hold your hand and do everything for you and make your life easy. If you don't like strategy and challenges it's not for you.

Yes...the thousands of people posting about game-breaking bugs and unfinished content are all wrong and simply aren't equipped for a challenge, but you are.

I can - and have - made perfectly functional cities that generate profit via the specializations (see the complaints about TV manufacturing), 225+ populations that do okay with traffic by making perfect grid layouts, sticking a streetcar on every block, and force-alienating income classes by distinct "neighborhoods". However, this is not fun or creative to me. "You must do x or it fails" or, better yet, "You must do x or you will encounter the game's plethora of bugs and design failures".

There are things I do definitely like about this game, but the number of deal breakers is too large. One of the most glaringly obvious is that you have RCI, but the I (so, about 1/3rd of the game) is totally pointless. Industrial's interplay between Commercial and Residential is supposed to be freight, but many people have shown via repeatable instances that freight does nothing *at all*. You can have just as successful (or unsuccessful) city if you ignore Industrial altogether. The only thing Industry consistently gives your city is Air pollution. Working as intended?

You are entitled to your opinion, and I am glad you are enjoying it. HOWEVER, the enormous majority of people do not like this, and with good reason. It is disingenuous to simply brush aside all of their legitimate concerns (and, no, not just DRM). This is similar to the fanboys insisting SWtOR (another EA product...) was great; yet barely a year later their playerbase has dropped by 85%. Do 15% like it? Sure. That doesn't make it a good game though, that just means they happen to have tolerated it enough to like it.

Catchin22 · March 12, 2013

"Yes...the thousands of people posting about game-breaking bugs and unfinished content are all wrong and simply aren't equipped for a challenge, but you are."

Absolutely. Because they are doing one of two things.

1. Repeating OTHERS words, OTHERS problems without experiencing themselves.

2. Expecting the game to behave like SC4

Since people were already engulfed in frustration over server issues they haven't the tolerance or game time to figure this game out.

It's obvious because those of us who have played it extensivly now can read through every single one of those negative posts and see PEBKAC.

"There are things I do definitely like about this game, but the number of deal breakers is too large. One of the most glaringly obvious is that you have RCI, but the I (so, about 1/3rd of the game) is totally pointless. Industrial's interplay between Commercial and Residential is supposed to be freight, but many people have shown via repeatable instances that freight does nothing *at all*. You can have just as successful (or unsuccessful) city if you ignore Industrial altogether. Working as intended?"

Yes, working as intended. You're continuing to show the glaring problem of not understanding the game. This is NOT SC4! DO NOT PLAY IT AS SUCH. This is a new game you need to learn. Each of R C and I are important, some more or less than others depending on what your city is doing. Freight does indeed ship and do things, if you can't ship freight you wont have a happy Industrial base and you will lose approval rating.

Catchin22 · March 12, 2013

They didn't have to bring the game back so I don't feel like I am owed anything really. I enjoyed the past releases that I paid for, that was all I was owed. I have more of a problem with return policies today, I think it's too much of a gamble. During and before Beta I said numerous times the game was dumbed down, it was aimed towards soccer moms and zynga fb game players. I was totally wrong about that, this game takes WAY more planning and brain power than SC4 ever did, it's not even remotely a comparison.

You can dislike DRM all you want, but maybe it would be best for the people who hate DRM to complain about Piracy just as much, for once. A company needs to protect its assets, it's hard work. People need to be paid, it's a business. We could turn this country into China instead if you want, then what kind of quality of content will you get? You might find yourself working in a job outsourcing to another country that honors and values IP rights.

Besides that, this game is primarily an online game. Had this been a single player game, built around single player and only single player with this sort of DRM I would have been more upset. Still I would have honored their right to implement it to protect their business, and if I didn't like it enough, I wouldn't buy it.

The only thing I am annoyed about are the server issues. They have been mostly fixed but there are still issues. For example today my city encountered some sort of error in processing it, so I had to roll it back, the roll backs aren't usually far back, a few minutes it seems, 20 minutes maybe? Not that big of a deal, but this time the city didn't come back yet. I don't know if it will or not.. I suspect it will it may just take awhile.

24 Hours of Gameplay. Must Read!

121 posts in this topic Last Reply March 12, 2013

Highlighted Posts

Board_Marshal 104

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Catchin22 299

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Linoa06 1,374

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Board_Marshal 104

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Catchin22 299

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

MeiTeiSho 4

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

MeiTeiSho 4

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

BLANKBLANK 4,414

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Catchin22 299

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

azxcvbnm321 17

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Catchin22 299

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

xfalcon12x 8

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Catchin22 299

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

xfalcon12x 8

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Anya 3

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

mikeyb66 31

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Catchin22 299

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

macvirt 361

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Anya 3

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Catchin22 299