However, Maxis did previously publish the fact that not all of your population would be simulated. Computing constraints or something. Maybe the visual city size and number of buildings do correspond to the larger pop. figure?
There's on one problem with the "Computing constraints" argument...the city simulation itself is happening on our machines, not theirs. So unless they made this to be played on toasters (or phones), I'm not sure that's a valid statement.
I have never owned any SimCity game. I played an early version, probably in the late 90's to early 2000's, might have even been the first one. All this talk made me think that I could have fun with the game, so I bought 4 deluxe with the expansion through steam. I have 23.5 hours in the game and I just bought it March 8. I played last night until 2:30am.
My lord, what a mess. Every day, it just keeps getting deeper and deeper.
Damn glad I didn't buy this game.
0
BlackHawkBible music connoisseurThere's no place like 127.0.0.1Icrontian
My $0.02
I purchased the game to play with friends and that is what I've done. The little time I have played it I have enjoyed and that's enough for me. Does it suck that it needs to be always online? Sure, but I'm always online anyways. Does that mean that in the future the game may be unavailable, yes. Can also happen with Steam and everybody has already spent all of their money with Valve so I don't see what the uproar is about. Whatever. Color me apathetic.
5
JBoogalooThis too shall pass...Alexandria, VAIcrontian
2 pennies from me...
All the tech craziness aside, it's money I spent on a game that has provided me with more hours of fun than a brief $60 time at a bar down the street could. Is this the best use of my money, no. Is it the worst, not by a long shot.
Can also happen with Steam and everybody has already spent all of their money with Valve so I don't see what the uproar is about. Whatever. Color me apathetic.
Except that
1) Most Steam games, in my experience, can be played in offline mode and 2) By my understanding, Valve has said if Steam were going away, they would likely make the games available for offline play, which may not be a guarantee but it's better than you'll ever get out of EA.
Plus Valve didn't lie to you about the nature of its DRM, versus constructing their entire PR/marketing strategy around a concept that is a huge fucking lie.
Price point two cents. I tend to try to lean toward a $.75/hour of gaming to mean I got my monies worth and it has held pretty solid so far.
Skyrim was something along 70 hours, I paid 45 bucks I got around ~$.64/hour, it was a good game. SimCity is around maybe 24 hours and I paid 47 bucks for it, I have got around $2/hour, and I am pretty much bored of it already, it isn't worth the cost to me.
Price point two cents. I tend to try to lean toward a $.75/hour of gaming to mean I got my monies worth and it has held pretty solid so far.
Skyrim was something along 70 hours, I paid 45 bucks I got around ~$.64/hour, it was a good game. SimCity is around maybe 24 hours and I paid 47 bucks for it, I have got around $2/hour, and I am pretty much bored of it already, it isn't worth the cost to me.
That's generally how I value games as well. Hopefully, Maxis releases patches for content (i.e. the broken casino end-game) instead of shitty attempts at fixing their broken DRM
With that measurement, even at $20/ TF2 is the best value game I have. Civ 5 is a close second. I have a lot more hours in it than TF2, but it cost about $80 after the expansions and DLC and such.
That said, I think $.75/hour is a very tough mark to hit, and not every game can be judged just on how long it took to finish. I got through Bioshock II in about 20 hours, and paid about 50 bucks for it, but that was still 50 bucks well spent because I loved the game.
In fact: The older I get, the more I appreciate games that tell a good story and don't waste a whole bunch of my time doing it. Of course, simulators, intended to have strong replayability are a different animal.
It is a tough mark to hit a lot of the time, but I rarely buy full priced games for that reason. I also find myself buying more and more indie titles.
I only bought SimCity because it was on sale when I got it, and I have always liked SimCity titles. I feel the game CAN be very fun and very worth the money, it just isn't right now. There are a lot of areas that can be opened up for some really amazing gameplay (Sims + SimCity anyone?), I just hope they don't DLC the every living crap out of the game and actually put some thought into it.
I've got it, personally I'm loving it. There's been some minor AI tweaks from the launch (Not all of my firetrucks are going to the same house now which is cool) and I'm actually able to make some cash from the casinos (Just need to drum up Commercial and culture, wait for tourists to start showing up, take note of their wealth class and points of congregation and build accordingly)
I wish building density functioned a little better but not much I've found to complain about. Sure always online sucks for those without strong connections (Or server issues though those are mostly fixed now) but I haven't noticed any issues on that end.
I've played it about 17 hours so far and I'm still enjoying it. Endgame might be different but so far I just build a new town or two to support the original.
Maybe we could have the thread split so that the people who are playing it can actually discuss the game, and the people who want to complain about the DRM concepts behind it and related issues can do so there.
Most of the complainers are those who did not purchase. Ryan offered his criticism as a purchaser. I like Mr. DeGruven's suggestion, but the DRM concept guys may be done at this point.
Comments
That's awesome.
Damn you guys {shakes fist}
Damn glad I didn't buy this game.
I purchased the game to play with friends and that is what I've done. The little time I have played it I have enjoyed and that's enough for me. Does it suck that it needs to be always online? Sure, but I'm always online anyways. Does that mean that in the future the game may be unavailable, yes. Can also happen with Steam and everybody has already spent all of their money with Valve so I don't see what the uproar is about. Whatever. Color me apathetic.
All the tech craziness aside, it's money I spent on a game that has provided me with more hours of fun than a brief $60 time at a bar down the street could. Is this the best use of my money, no. Is it the worst, not by a long shot.
1) Most Steam games, in my experience, can be played in offline mode
and
2) By my understanding, Valve has said if Steam were going away, they would likely make the games available for offline play, which may not be a guarantee but it's better than you'll ever get out of EA.
Skyrim was something along 70 hours, I paid 45 bucks I got around ~$.64/hour, it was a good game.
SimCity is around maybe 24 hours and I paid 47 bucks for it, I have got around $2/hour, and I am pretty much bored of it already, it isn't worth the cost to me.
(Orange Box came with the video card I bought in '07)
That said, I think $.75/hour is a very tough mark to hit, and not every game can be judged just on how long it took to finish. I got through Bioshock II in about 20 hours, and paid about 50 bucks for it, but that was still 50 bucks well spent because I loved the game.
In fact: The older I get, the more I appreciate games that tell a good story and don't waste a whole bunch of my time doing it. Of course, simulators, intended to have strong replayability are a different animal.
I only bought SimCity because it was on sale when I got it, and I have always liked SimCity titles. I feel the game CAN be very fun and very worth the money, it just isn't right now. There are a lot of areas that can be opened up for some really amazing gameplay (Sims + SimCity anyone?), I just hope they don't DLC the every living crap out of the game and actually put some thought into it.
I wish building density functioned a little better but not much I've found to complain about. Sure always online sucks for those without strong connections (Or server issues though those are mostly fixed now) but I haven't noticed any issues on that end.
I've played it about 17 hours so far and I'm still enjoying it. Endgame might be different but so far I just build a new town or two to support the original.
Now that I am posting, I have not purchased the game nor have I complained about it.