StanislausBabalistic

Yeah, that zoning is a real killer. I don't quite get what it's going for; are you just zoning street frontage or something? Much preferred the SC4 system which was both more realistic and much more useful (actual lots, for starters). And tying density to street type is just ridiculous. I really don't understand what they were trying to do with that one. I had incredible amounts of wasted space when zoning for industry, especially. I mean overall, the design concepts on display here were incomprehensible. Has the dev team ever considered how a city is actually built and managed? I found it much harder to lay down a grid of streets than I'd expected...maybe a firmer snap-to is in order? I laid my grand boulevard coming off the highway and then some perpendicular side streets, only to realize that my 5th Avenue had somehow become more of a Broadway when viewing isometrically. Not as intuitive as I'd hoped. But mostly, as others have stated, I felt entirely like I was playing SimSuburb. If this is more or less all we get, it's like players are forced to design every city like Albuquerque or Olympia, Washington, or Buffalo (and here I was worried we'd be locked into Phoenix. Ha! Phoenix is much too large geographically to be reproduced in SimCity). Overly broad streets, mid- and low-rise buildings, entirely car-centric, and no sense of place whatsoever. None of the cities of the east coast - let alone those of Europe - are reproducible here. It was going to be for the lack of transit anyways, but after playing this, I know that I'll stick with SC4.

Except for subways.

Right, but that's not even the point. Watch the video again and look at what's missing. It's core features, it's the DNA of the game itself that has been changed for the worse. And no amount of modding will restore the features that have been cut between SC4 and SC2013.

Whenever anyone suggests that the exclusion of subways is okay because the city scale wouldn't support it, do these same people consider that maybe then the problem is that the cities aren't large enough? [Removed]. Each problem begets another one and it's hard to trace it back to a single one. This game is just unequivocally massively flawed to anyone who wants a complex, sophisticated, and large-scale city simulator. People talk about the NAM and the RHW etc. as if their existence (or lack thereof) is what people are whining about in previews like this video. But the absence of those mods, and farms, and proper zoning, and large tiles, and terraforming, and self-made highway/rail connections, and everything else like them is far more important. These are core features of SimCity4. Not created as mods, not released as expansion packs, but built into the game's functionality from the very start. Nothing we've been shown indicates in the slightest that we'll get any of these back in an expansion or otherwise. Definitely a missed opportunity.

Well, seeing as the whole point of this post was to address precisely what new information was or wasn't revealed in the interview [spoiler ALERT: like, none], is it any surprise that there are mostly complaints? Look, the real problem is the lack of confirmation one way or the other. Not knowing is the hardest part of being human; even a simple "no" would give us closure one way or the other. But also, if you're not really into the negativity, maybe it would be wise to stay away from boards that discuss the new SimCity, as clearly negativity is the dominant reaction surrounding it.

Not a lot of new information revealed in the Gamescom interview with Jason Haber, and some straight-up dodging-the-question on those aspects we're most concerned with. Not to mention the interviewer's absolute lack of real citybuilding experience, gushing about Origin preorders robot-shaped cities and placing superheroes all about. Questions are cleaned up where necessary; answers are transcribed from the video feed and abridged. What kinds of public transport will be in the game? "We've got a lot of things ... We have some light rail in the city; it's gonna be a key form of transport in the city ... bus system ... a bigger train system that will help you on a regional level ... lot of features we're not talking about today." Also as part of the answer to another question, he talked about new transport data layers that include info like distance to walk to a station for the sims, etc. Will there great power generation projects like hydroelectric dams and nuclear power stations that generate electricity for your region? "Yes there are... I don't think I can answer that one, sorry." When playing with others in a region, will we be able to have more than one city? "Yes, and you can play an entire region alone..." One of my friends said he heard there wouldn't be any disasters...is that true? "Nothing to worry about...there are disasters." Are there new ways to update our buildings? "You can open up your buildings in a building editor ... add additional functionality ... inspired by Spore ... but these come at a cost." To which cities did you look in designing the buildings? "We looked all over the world... Some of the citysets have been really impressive." Will there be seaports in the game? "I don't think we're going to talk about that one today, sorry." How have you guys solved the traffic? In SC4 the traffic just took the shortest path without considering the most convenient way i.e. highways and so on. Will the traffic consider these things? "Glassbox really makes traffic exciting...Sims will go to where they're needed...traffic's a big challenge in this game...And again, that public transport option's going to help you a lot when you get to bigger cities." What are the different roadtypes? Street, road, avenue, highway? Is it possible to build roundabouts? Is it possible to build traffic lights manually? "Street, road, avenue - those are all there. And again there's the light rail running down the middle. As for roundabout, I'm not sure if we have proper roundabouts right now, I mean, not that we wouldn't someday. You can draw curvy roads and they're really amazing. With those curvy roads you can do lots of things. You could probably simulate your own roundabouts with that...We know we have lots of players who really like to optimize their space, so we actually have guides to place them, to keep the optimal distance between them." Is there still zoning like in Sim City 4? All the trailers show single buildings being planted. Do you still zone residential/commercial/industrial areas? "Yes, I can assure you: everybody out there, there is still zoning in SimCity. It's a big part of this SimCity...R, C, and I." And then a bunch of nonsense on video recording, screenshots, and llamas. Other takeaways: Regions function differently from the larger World. He couldn't comment on the possibility of watching a friend's city in the same region The foreign tilesets look good but their growth in your city seems predicated on their proximity to the appropriately themed landmark (e.g., near the Eiffel Tower, Brandenburg Gate). And of course your preordering it. A whole lot of meh, except, I suppose, for the light rail.

Now that there's at least a pretty solid hint of ground light rail and/or streetcars in SC2013, I find that my dark mood as to the game's prospect has lightened. Ever so slightly, but...

If we're allowed to be honest... I just don't see how it will be possible for Cities XL to reach even a close approximation of the immediate playability that SC4 had when it first came out. And sadly, all the patches in all the world won't fix the core game mechanics...

So far, absolutely no problems from a technical standpoint with Cities XL on W7 Build 7600 64-bit.

yellowzx5, blahdy is doing the most accurate recreation of anything I have ever seen - the Zakim Bridge in Boston, by the old Fleet Center/TD Banknorth/Garden or whatever company owns it these days. It's actually quite astounding - just run a search for "Big Dig" in the forums and it will be the first result.

(I think he's kidding) At least, I hope he is. I mean, did any of you see Nicole Kidman in that movie?!?!?