johnsy

What I really would like to know, Does public buildings, including the mass transit services (bus, trains, etc) require workers? E.g. like in Simcity 2013. Simulation-wise, this DLC should bring Cities: Skylines on par with Simcity 4 with its pluses and minuses. But not yet at Rush Hour level. Still, not going to deny it though, I can't go back to Simcity 4 after playing Cities: Skylines, no matter how unpolished the game is.

Can't say that. EA used to make great games back then, after 2003, they were all disasters. Another franchise ruined for the cash is Need for Speed series. The original game aims for simulation-like racing while still maintaining all the fun. Then the simulation part was toned down a bit in series by series after the first game, until it feels just right in NFS 4: High Stakes and then Porsche Unleashed, and finally Hot Pursuit 2. After that, it went down into Underground series just like SC4 to SCS: pure gaming by dumbing down. It is just a fancy graphic for depicting real world cars, excessive customization, and silly physics. Then suddenly in 2009, they decided to throw in the realistic version (NFS Shift) after the success of GT and Forza series. If anything embodies the true spirit of NFS, it is the Shift, not the continuation of its arcade siblings (Hot Pursuit). However, fans who jumped on NFS bandwagon nowadays are mostly from the Underground era, which undoubtedly attracted many new fans. And I see that some of them began denouncing the Shift series. EA has created a big gap within its major title fans. However, they are unlike SC communities, we are not going to jump into SCS or any other silly sequels EA trying to push. We are waiting patiently.

Bring back features of the oldies? It sounds like "old gamers" seeking respects from the "younger pros". I played many classic titles such as SimCity 2000, The Need For Speed (the very first NFS title), B&W, Contra I, II, III, etc. I watched so many classic cartoons such as the so worshiped G1 Transformers, back in my childhood. Hey, remembering all of those are just for serving my sentimental nostalgic needs. "The good ol' days" and stuff, nothing more, i moved on. The new James Bond movie is bad, the Transformers movies is so unoriginal, the latest C&C is such a shame for its predecessors, the later NFS titles are yada...yada...yada... it will never end despite how much we wept over destroyed franchises due to "commercially successful giant companies with seemingly brilliant ideas." Sure it is cool if the new SC could have the waterfall terraformed just like in the previous SC title. But come on, the graphics, the customizability, the simulations, the variables, everything is more complex nowadays. If you wanted to say that SCS is for lazy and spoiled new generation of gamers, i agree. And so do many other great titles out there. I would like to compare this with my other hobby, Flightsiming. SC community is by all means, no way to be compared with Flightsim community in size. Thus Microsoft could make its FS title a constant cash-cow by releasing newer titles every 2-3 years, leaving the time gap between sequential title for the community to develop ideas to be implemented in the add-ons or mods. The ideas will then be used to enhance the new title to be released. Sadly, ever since it took out the "life" out of Flight Simulator, that is, the "simulation" spirit, and categorized it into "game", the community support has unsurprisingly decreased ever since. Sure, game market is sweeter by projection, they are fresh, young, and got a lot of growth potential. However they are less dedicated and does not have brand loyalty as we do. Not long after the latest title, the FS:X is released, it invited huge amount of brand new young flightsim gamers, not flightsimers. Community message board are then filled with complaints, nagging, repetitive typical ignorant questions, unnecessary typical-gaming-competition that ended in fights, and a lot of bad stuff. It hinders the more loyal and dedicated hobbyist to return to the title. After the recession hits the global economy and Microsoft, they announced to stop this world's longest and oldest running legendary software title. Simply, it is deemed unimportant to their business anymore, in contrary to the X-box 360 games. EA is not alone in this, giant companies are usually very good at destroying franchises. SCS is nothing more than just a catastrophic way to utilize a hardly built franchise that is easily acquired by money. Simple rule, easy come, easy go. Another game with a "Simcity" title on it. EP does not always a sign of success.