Simcity 4 vs New Simcity: Why I came back

[Andersen 7]

Hi everyone, I haven't been on here for months. Largely due to my ADHD gaming habits. lol

 

Anyways, I am back playing Simcity 4 again, and once again I can't put the game once I get started. There is something about the mechanics of the game that just keeps me hooked. Don't get me wrong, I think the new Simcity has potential, it's just many of the features that were promised are still not available and I am still a little angry about the launch. I am also upset that the city plots are so small! I mean common seriously I feel like I'm playing a 3d version of Sim Town not Sim City. I'm just being real practical here lol. I like playing Simcity 4 because it's difficult, it's a sandbox, I can do whatever I please with the terrain, I can create rivers and oceans. It is my creation. I guess I just prefer to have full control over my city/region and not have it be so limited. Also, Simcity 4 looks more professional as a city building game and well thought out.

 

Anyways hello again. I hope to stay connected to some of the people on here.

[AcronShinra 60]

And don't forget all that tons of custom content!

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Welcome back.  Do try the new NAM 31.1 if you haven't.  Still a few frogs, but the NAM team is promising 31.2 soon.

[Andersen 7]

And don't forget all that tons of custom content!

 

 

 

Lol, I know there is so much on here, it would take me a lifetime to get it show in one city

 

Welcome back.  Do try the new NAM 31.1 if you haven't.  Still a few frogs, but the NAM team is promising 31.2 soon.

 

Thank you sir! NAM is the best thing that has ever happened to Simcity. 

Right now I working on a region with no addons, to see how much I remember playing. I got lots of brown buildings lol.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Is your version workable for custom content?  What is the version of the SimCity 4.exe when you hover over it with your mouse?

[Andersen 7]

Is your version workable for custom content?  What is the version of the SimCity 4.exe when you hover over it with your mouse?

I think so, I downloaded the deluxe edition off of Steam, it seems to run stable enough.

[Indiana Joe 1,752]

Steam provides a fully-patched game; you're good to go.

[Andersen 7]

I forgot to mention, that I got simcity 2000 to work for windows 8.

[docj101 100]

I had let SC4 collect dust for about a year.  The release of SC2013 had me excited enough to build a new PC for it's release.  I picked it up launch day got my 20 hours of fun from it.  Then disgusted with the new game I got SC4 running again.  SC2013's failure is also what got me playing SC4 again.  I now think there might never be anything better then SC4 for city building!

[Bdub01 201]

I think it's ironic that it took the release of a new sim city to get more people to play SC4. There have been so many new peeps here either coming back to, or picking up for the first time SC4!!!

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

You can always, eventually, tell the difference between true gold and dross.

[AcronShinra 60]

I think it's ironic that it took the release of a new sim city to get more people to play SC4. There have been so many new peeps here either coming back to, or picking up for the first time SC4!!!

 

All that fuss I heard about SC2013 failed launch and lack of content has made me curious about SC4, especially since I had original copy that was added loooooong time ago to PC gaming magazine (not touched even once!). And because I am person who loves custom content (Morrowind/Oblivion anyone?) first thing that I googled was "SimCity 4 mods". Few minutes later I had become Dr. Vu's faithful servant *inserts badly acted diabolical laugh*

[Prophet42 1,503]

I don't plan on leaving SC4 anytime soon.  I was excited at the news of SimCity 2013 coming out.  But after reading the reviews, watching the launch from a distance, and the fact I despise not being able to play offline and save locally, I think I will stick with SC4 for a while longer (probably a lot longer).

[Andersen 7]

I feel like I got suckered into buying the new Sim City. Little did I realize the disaster that would become of the Simcity servers. EA did a great job advertising for a product that didn't do 100% of what they promised. Sometimes I wonder if Maxis would have been better off going out of business. I sure wish Will Wright kept the company. If he was leading the Simcity team, I'm the sure the game would have been a lot different. At least I still got my SC4.

[Tuscan 20]

I knew it would be a disaster the moment they said "Online Only" back in early 2012. They liked to call it "the evolution of gaming", but us true fans knew exactly what it REALLY meant for the future of SimCity.

 

They became so caught up in combating piracy, maximizing profits, and telling us how we should play the game, that they forgot what SimCity is all about.. "letting your imagination run wild". This is something that SimCity 4: Rush Hour can offer, and something that SimCity 2013 cannot, at least in it's current state. I think this is why people continue to come back to SimCity 4 despite it beginning to show it's age. 

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

SimCity 4 Deluxe has turned out to be the Vintage of this game genre.  It is improving with age.  Let us hope we'll be able to keep it going no matter what happens to the underlying platforms.

[Cob92 360]

The truth is that with each new city builder game, SC4 ends up winning by default. SCS was not even a true SimCity. Cities XL lost due to horrible performance and flat simulation. SC2013 appears to be losing due to a lack of game depth plus enough bugs to last a lifetime. The longevity of SC4, in my opinion, says less about the strength of SC4 than it does about the inability of the gaming industry to produce a true next-generation modern era city simulation game.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

^ Game building of any kind is a long, tedious process.  This group has been at it for several years now, and since all the work has to take a back seat to RL, it is going to take a long time.  There was some acceleration earlier this year, but we are now on hold waiting for the designer to get on with it while not losing his day job.  There is also a pause waiting for our trademark application to pass through the U.S. Patent office.

[Mr Saturn64 742]

I came bvack to 4 after 15 minutes.  If they added singleplayer, I'd play as much, mayeb more, than 4. 

[Andersen 7]

^ Game building of any kind is a long, tedious process.  This group has been at it for several years now, and since all the work has to take a back seat to RL, it is going to take a long time.  There was some acceleration earlier this year, but we are now on hold waiting for the designer to get on with it while not losing his day job.  There is also a pause waiting for our trademark application to pass through the U.S. Patent office.

 

Ok, so I want to touch something that I think is really important, here it goes. Something I've felt.

 

I am verily disappointed that Maxis, took it's own prized franchise name "Simcity" and used it when there efforts didn't match up with expectations. Sure the developers worked and had a lot of fun doing it, but at the end of the day the product ultimately failed in almost all categories across the board. The new "Simcity" is not a Simcity at all, it is a modified version of Simcity societies. If they wanted a product that matched the quality that SC4 has given, the makers should have given some deep thought on what Simcity is suppose to portray. A city with complexity, lots going on, elaborate road networks etc. Again, I want to stress that they used "Simcity" in vain! Deep down, Will Wright must be sick that his own creation is being trampled on like a person at rock concert... If that makes any sense lol. 

 

It is a complete waste, an absolute complete waste of money, marketing and time for what they have done. 

[Tuscan 20]

The City Simulation genre has been plagued over the past decade by poor design decisions by "high ups" who do not appear to understand their audience or SC for that matter. That's all the problem is really.

All it would really take to make a legendary sequel to SimCity 4 is:
 

* A decent modern engine like Glassbox

* The 3D graphics of SimCity 2013

* A traditional single player OFFLINE sandbox mode

* SimCity 2013 features + bring back all the SC4 features that were removed!

* Regions / city sizes atleast the same size as SC4

* User-friendly mod support

* Someone leading the dev team who understands his/her target audience, and SC

 

That's all it would take to make a new king of city building IMO. The online mult-player mode should be a bonus feature which could even be included as a part of a future expansion or DLC, but not an essential core feature of the game, This is a fatal mistake that both Monte Cristo and Maxis have made now. 

Please, someone in Maxis or another dev company, read this post and then read it again!

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

^ I just sent you am invitation to join the Boomtown group.

 

We won't be using anything as simplistic as glassbox.  We will not be SC 5.  This is a new concept based on the old experience.  How do you like the idea of cities whose boundaries can be adjusted?