Is there any city building game better than SC4?

[ironjaw 54]

First, and foremost, I want to thank each and everyone here at Simtropolis, admins, mods, contributors, etc. that have made this game the most amazing and enjoyable, ever! I can't believe that 2003 is so many years ago, with the 20th anniversary, 2023 upcoming, I do feel ancient but this game cheers me up, nostalgic style. 

I played SC4 in 2003 when as 20 year old I stood in front of a queue to buy it at a local game store. I still have the original game discs somewhere in storage. I spent many hours in front of PC laptop with a resolution of 800 x 600, such a tiny screen, while also reading the Prima game guide and searching the net for articles. And then when RH came out, I was overjoyed with the new release and again stood in a longer queue, this time to buy it. RH made such a big change. That is also somewhere in storage, after I had bought the game digitally both on the Mac App Store (disappointed), when I moved to the Mac, and Steam. Although, I've been playing on a Mac since, and am therefore not gaining the full experience of the mods, night mode, etc, as well the issues incumbent on Mac users, such as .exe files, I still love the game. NAM just breathes new life into this game.

So my question is to all of you still hanging around here, and keeping this game going from strength to strength, is there any other city building game better than SC4? Will this last another 20 years, I know I will still be playing this. Or am I just nostalgic?

 

[SIM-ple Jack 17,450]

43 minutes ago, ironjaw said:

So my question is to all of you still hanging around here, and keeping this game going from strength to strength, is there any other city building game better than SC4? Will this last another 20 years, I know I will still be playing this.

There are a lot of strategy games that look and function better, but SC has the addiction quality that's hard to match. The only other empire builder games on that level, for me, were Sid Meier's Railroad Tycoon and Panzer General, which became Panzer General Forever after a fan-based rehab of the game worked all the bugs out. I think the game will keep going because it hits the right notes for new players. Will it get re-made with fixes? It'd be nice.

[Cyclone Boom 17,031]

Of course, much of this will depend on personal perspective, but I do indubitably agree from my own personal perception that SC4 is the best game ever created. In terms of what "best" means though, I think that comes from the freedom and creativity it provides as a platform. The only end goal is defined by our imagination, which is what allows such open-ended potential for what we can create. Combined with an active community who share this same interest (as we do), it collectively leads to the best possible experience to enjoy SC4 in all its glory. Also to expand on what Maxis made by creating mods, lots, and BATs too. The addition of new custom content is what keeps things fresh, and provides each of us the choice for flavouring the city building experience to our own tastes. This I believe will continue to be the case for many years to come also.

Will SC4 be the best city builder ever? Only time will tell about that, since eternity is a rather long while. For as long as we wish though and as computers allow, we can enjoy it in the present and cherish these moments. I know looking back in say 20 or 42 years from now, I'll still have priceless memories of these yesterday times of today.

Also maybe someday we'll get our hands on the source code if it ever gets released...

[ironjaw 54]

I see, but the question beckons: what else is there that compares. I haven't really tried anything else. I did try  the new SimCity, 5 but that experience didn't last longer than 20 min and I tried twice, but gave up. it was weird, so I returned to SC4. Other than that I've heard about Cities XL or Skyline or something but never played it. The overall feel of SC4, the music soundtrack score, the NAM options, the mods and the addictive Youtube video tutorials, make the game relevant as it was back then, as now.

[TheMurderousCricket 5,085]

If you ask me, Tropico 4 could have well become one. I like the games that let me micromanage my economy and influence the lives of the individuals appearing on my screen. Tropico could do all that.

Tropico games usually have options for every possible building allowing you to influence maintenance type, resources produced, resources used to produce something, hotel room rates, health concerns one's clinics specialize in and many more.

But the problem is, Tropico games always come with a myriad of little problems and disappointments which simply "meh" the game for you after a few months. Here are a few of the top facepalms that Tropico offers:

1. Female residents undergo mandatory sex change operations after attending military universities
2. Labor camp inmates enjoy unprecedented longevity, living up to 430 years (a 293-year prison sentence suddenly makes sense, eh?)
3. After clearing some trees for logging, some trees regrow as 7000m monsters (time for revenge you axe-wielding mofos...)
4. Incestuous relationships between Tropicans 
5. And my personal fav:

• Build two tourist docks
• Eventually, tourists from the same family will arrive but some at different docks!
• They will then wait for each other to depart the island...
• ...indefinitely...
• ...forever...
• ...until they die...
• ...they never came...  

Long story short - no, there never was and never will be any better city builder. 

[Pakistani890 122]

Bro Basically if u want a better city building game after SimCity 4 it's Cities Skylines. No i am not saying SimCity 4 is bad it's the best city building out there and loads of new content, mods, props and textures keep this amazing game more amazing and fresh but only time can tell that that is SimCity 4 the best city building game out there

[SIM-ple Jack 17,450]

1 hour ago, Pakistani890 said:

but only time can tell that that is SimCity 4 the best city building game out there

The fact that you're on this site(one of many, I might add, worldwide SC4 sites) dedicated to this 18 year old antique-r, pretty much answers your question.

[Pakistani890 122]

5 minutes ago, SIM-ple Jack said:

The fact that you're on this site(one of many, I might add, worldwide SC4 sites) dedicated to this 18 year old antique-r, pretty much answers your question.

hmmm 

[ironjaw 54]

2022 coming up and SC4 is still going strong. How many remember standing in queue to buy this and RH expansion pack as physical discs or am I a dinosaur  

[City_Slider 2,716]

3 hours ago, SIM-ple Jack said:

Die Tatsache, dass Sie sich auf dieser Site befinden (eine von vielen, ich möchte hinzufügen, weltweiten SC4-Sites), die diesem 18-jährigen Antique-R gewidmet ist, beantwortet Ihre Frage ziemlich genau.

Perfect answer Jack ;-) See u soon on Board my Friend... Oliver

[Max4k 727]

Maybe in 25-30 years, but the way thing's are going with Micro-transactions,  I say no chance at all

[TheMurderousCricket 5,085]

13 hours ago, Max4k said:

Maybe in 25-30 years, but the way thing's are going with Micro-transactions,  I say no chance at all

Speaking of which, if the CoriBoom, Pegasus, Davide, Matt, Paeng et alia were on the original developer team, they would have all been millionaires by now and SC4 would still be DRM-protected. 

[ironjaw 54]

5 hours ago, TheMurderousCricket said:

Speaking of which, if the CoriBoom, Pegasus, Davide, Matt, Paeng et alia were on the original developer team, they would have all been millionaires by now and SC4 would still be DRM-protected. 

Is there any articles or information on those Maxis developers and/or SC4 development?

[monkeywater 910]

Only becoming a dictator and creating cities for real.

[Cyclone Boom 17,031]

11 hours ago, TheMurderousCricket said:

Speaking of which, if the CoriBoom, [...] were on the original developer team, they would have all been millionaires by now and SC4 would still be DRM-protected.

If Cori and I had our say, we'd make it an open source release.

 

5 hours ago, ironjaw said:

Is there any articles or information on those Maxis developers and/or SC4 development?

There could be others, but one site from Maxis developer Ocean Quigley springs to mind, detailing some interesting insights.

As follows:

Ocean Quigley's Projects  (Filtered by SimCity 4 article search)
 

[TheMurderousCricket 5,085]

And let's not forget Paul Pedriana - a significant standout in the Maxis team. Sadly, no longer among us.