Sim City

[Rodster]

Actually my willpower has gotten better.

So no purchase for me even though I wanted this game pretty bad.

[dbdynsty25]

Son of a...Crysis 3 on sale for 40 on Amazon right now. Willpower crushed.

You're next Rod.

[Rodster]

[Leadfoot5]

[bdunn13]

My copy from amazon has not shipped yet.... sometimes canceling my prime membership has its rewards!

[bdunn13]

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2030197/ ... tures.html

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-575 ... -disaster/

seems similar to the release of spore.... I wanted spore but never purchased it b/c if the DRM.... Considering canceling my SC even though I want it badly.


Maybe they should have asked for $79 for the game.. less people would have bought it and it might of worked.... and their profits would be the same.

[dougb]

What a bunch of f*cking clowns EA are. Servers are down more often than up, so of course people are unable to play the game they purchased.

Doug

[bdunn13]

"it removed “cheetah speed,” the game’s fastest setting, instead downgrading to “llama speed.”"

http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidthier/ ... x-servers/

EA needs to start outsourcing their servers to amazon, google or microsoft.

Amazon also canceled their instant download..... and I am wondering if this is why my physical copy has not shipped yet.

The game playing on the slowest setting makes the game worthless.

I don't give two craps about any online feature.... let me play offline.. that is all I care about but they are worried about piracy and yet are going to drive people to try and find another way to play a game they legally purchased.

[FatPitcher]

I thought the region stuff was neat, but the forced interdependence is annoying. My biggest problem with the game is that it's SimDowntown instead of Simcity. You get 7x7 city blocks. What a joke, considering that most people play it to see huge of a town they can create (and then blow it up with disasters when they are bored with it). I've played the game for about 15 hours (took some doing, what with all the server issues) and feel like I've seen all the game has to offer.

Gameplay-wise it feels a lot like Tropico (some features were just ripped off entirely, I believe), but when you're always running out of room (which is not an issue in Tropico), doing the whole supply chain thing for resources, factories, etc. is just annoying, especially since your City Hall upgrades that give access to new buildings are tied solely to population, not to anything you're doing with industry/specialization. I have over 1 million simoleans and 100k or more coming in daily and have not even messed with most of the advanced buildings because my city didn't need them or have the space.

[Rodster]

That's what i've been reading as well that for all the internet BS requirements they had to make the game smaller for the player and made more simple to play. Wow guess I can add this to Diablo III on games I will skip.

[Macca00]

My biggest problem with the game is that it's SimDowntown instead of Simcity. You get 7x7 city blocks. What a joke.....

This has not been mentioned enough in reviews! You're totally spot-on, the city is f'ing TINY. For those who haven't yet got the game check out the screenshot I took below. The white dotted lines are the border of the city. THAT'S IT! THAT'S ALL THE SPACE YOU HAVE FOR YOUR CITY!!!!



I've been able to play again in the past 24 hrs and it is fun (the way they've automatically linked power, sewage and water to the roads is genius) but I wanted to create a massive sprawling city - you CAN'T!

Combine that with all the online problems and I'd stay away till there's a sale.

[Rodster]

That is shameful Macca. They forced an online connection for that bullshit? And the graphics don't look much better than SC4. Ugh what a mess. I couldn't pay for something like that no matter the sale.

[Danimal]

For you sim city people

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/03 ... ore-145728

Looks like Maxis and EA were lying about needing to be online.

[Rodster]

I saw that Youtube video and it confirmed it was all BS to hide the DRM. What I didn't realized was they gimped the size of the city which it looks like it can be a lot larger in size.

[dbdynsty25]

I saw that Youtube video and it confirmed it was all BS to hide the DRM. What I didn't realized was they gimped the size of the city which it looks like it can be a lot larger in size.

Ummm I bitched about that plenty. And others too. It is a huge deal especially to sim city vets.

[Macca00]

This game is a f'ucking mess from top to bottom.

Along with what Dan posted, there is a ton of problems with the AI, the path-finding and the zoning. I've played about 7 hours now and I'm pretty much done with this game.

My 'city' is just in state of equilibrium - I can't expand because I've already filled the insultingly tiny map, no one in my region will coordinate to build the great works, I can't even flatten land (they took this out of the game) so there's a strip at the top of the map that's just a waste of precious space. I just have to wait to make more money and then try and add some new buildings OVER EXISTING ONES since there's no space to expand. But the wait takes forever since they took 'Cheetah' speed out of the game.

Whenever there's a fire ALL the fire trucks go to ONE fire so if there are more than two fires at once then one building burns down no matter how many fire stations you have. Same things for police and ambulances. Then citizens b*tch and whine about services.

The zoning (or lack thereof) while initially seemed like a neat idea actually f's you over as time goes on. I tried to specialize my city in tourism so I needed to have high capacity roads to accommodate increased traffic, but once you do that it automatically means that any residential buildings that are by those roads become high density (whether you like it or not).

It's a mess and a shame because there are some good ideas but it's surrounded by crappy game design.

$60 misspent. Please avoid.

I think I'm going to wait for a Steam Sale and pick up Cities XL 2011 or something.

Way to go EA!

[Rodster]

Eurogamer wrote an article on how bad the AI traffic is in the game. They just randomly go off the beaten path or they'll bunch up at an intersection. That's why i'm glad I kept SC4 Deluxe.

[bdunn13]

I have read about what you guys are talking about.... I normally dislike amateur beta testers (mainly in sports games) but some of this stuff is crazy...

I did see yesterday where the path finding is being fixed or improved.


But yeah.. everything they have said so far has been to cover up the always online is for DRM only. A small patch could make this game work offline.

I got my copy in the mail Tuesday but I got a new SSD (my first) Wed.... .and I was going to wait until I got my SSD going like I wanted it as my boot drive... I still have not opened SimCity and am considering sending it back. Which really sucks since I really love this series.

I have 2 copies of SC 4 and I bet I still can't find one of them to play (since I have moved 3-4 times in the past few years).

Oh - at least my SSD goes from MBR to desktop in less than 20 seconds.. I actually love watching my PC boot now!!!!

[LAking]

What annoys me is that everyone just went out and bought this game no questions asked on release day. People have no will power. By throwing your money at EA you're justifying the use of always online DRM. Why did no one see this coming? Why did people ignore the city size limit? It was obvious this game was not going to satisfy the fans of previous simcity games but EA still sold a ton of copies, er licenses, on release day.

I refuse to buy this game. The only way I will consider purchasing it is if EA 1) squashes most of these major bugs 2) expands the city size limit drastically 3) lets you play offline. Until then, they aren't getting a dime of my money. I'm even tempted to just avoid EA games in general from now on. I don't even think it would be that hard. I don't play the kind of big blockbuster games that they make like MOH. The only EA game i've purchased in the last year is NHL 2013 and I might just skip the next version since it will likely be the last one on this generation of consoles.

[Macca00]

LAKing,

I think that's a bit unfair to blame the consumer.

Other games that need to be always online have had half decent launches (Star Craft WoL springs to mind) - sure I suspected that there 'might' be problems accessing the game on day one but I don't think anyone could have predicted server problems for over a week - particularly when it comes to a massive company like EA that was able to roll out an MMO with 'relatively' few problems a few years ago. Every game that has an online component usually has problems in the first day or two.

Also, I'm sorry I didn't check out extensive previews and developer diaries to check out problems with the city size. Also my apologies for not forseeing that there would be massive bugs with AI pathfinding and zoning. I guess I wasn't helped when I read a pre-release review like Russ Pitts' (who I've listened to on the Gamers with Jobs podcast) review that gave it a glowing 9.5/10

If I had of known everything I know now I wouldn't have picked it up, but to slam consumers for picking up the game on launch day is a bit unfair, particularly when it comes from a company who's other games (FIFA, NHL, Battlefield, Need for Speed, Mass Effect, Dragon Age, etc) most people would purchase on day one without a second thought. If those games have problems on day one then were those people who get them on the first day one 'asking for it'? Should we all wait a week or two before we buy a game to see if it screws up? Do you? If so, good on you - you definitely do have more willpower than most us do with our hobby.

Sim City is a special case because even if zero 'hardcore' gamers picked this up it would still sell millions because it's a mass market title so I don't think my purchasing this game has had the effect of encouraging the adoption of always-on DRM - a place where, unfortunately, I think this industry is going anyway. Steam, the best thing to happen to PC games in a long time IMO, is basically always-on DRM - if your internet cuts out unexpectedly and you try to log in you can't and you can't play any of your PC games., whether they have an online/multiplayer component or not.

[LAking]

It's less about foreseeing the problems and more about simply supporting always online DRM. I'm not blaming the consumer for the problems that EA is responsible for. I'm saying that if we want to prevent always online DRM from becoming standard practice we have to let the publishers know with our wallet. All people seem to do is complain on message boards but they still go out and buy the game.

And Steam is different. If i'm in the middle of a game and the Steam servers or my internet cuts out I can still play the game. SimCity doesn't work like that. The game will stop after a 20 minutes grace period. That's a load of crap. What happens when EA decides it's not worth keeping the servers running for this one particular game? You can no longer play the game that you payed for.

Here are my thought summed up in a more well written form:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/20 ... ly-broken/

[Macca00]

It's less about foreseeing the problems and more about simply supporting always online DRM. I'm not blaming the consumer for the problems that EA is responsible for. I'm saying that if we want to prevent always online DRM from becoming standard practice we have to let the publishers know with our wallet. All people seem to do is complain on message boards but they still go out and buy the game.

And Steam is different. If i'm in the middle of a game and the Steam servers or my internet cuts out I can still play the game. SimCity doesn't work like that. The game will stop after a 20 minutes grace period. That's a load of crap. What happens when EA decides it's not worth keeping the servers running for this one particular game? You can no longer play the game that you payed for.

Here are my thought summed up in a more well written form:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/20 ... ly-broken/

Hey brother, I agree with you - the always-on DRM is a load of crap but I didn't know that was the case with this game, it was just a side-note in Russ Pitts' review. I just bought EA's line that the game needed to be online to function because of gameplay reasons. That's my bad for believing them at face value. It would have helped if the people that are paid to write about videogames asked a few more questions before the game came out.

Also, while you're right about Steam not kicking you out while you're playing a game, I've had it happen before one evening that when I came back from work the internet was out and I couldn't play anything on my Steam library until it came back on - that is a pile of crap and yet there's not nearly as much outrage about that.

My hope is that this DRM debacle scares Microsoft enough that they ditch any of their, rumored, plans to make the next XBOX require an always-on internet connection to play games. If it still does require an internet connection then I think I might skip the next MS system -something I couldn't have fathomed a month ago.

[bdunn13]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/19/techn ... .html?_r=1&

Interesting timing I guess.....

I still have my copy unopened on my nightstand... leaning towards sending it back.

I started playing SC4 2 days ago and still love it. First time in a few years I have had to force myself to go to bed.....

[Macca00]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/19/techn ... .html?_r=1&

Interesting timing I guess.....

I'm actually surprised he didn't fall on his sword when The Old Republic tanked (relatively speaking).

I also re-started playing SC4 yesterday! You're right, great game and a better than the current one (which, to be fair, they are now patching regularly).

For those that did buy and play the new one, EA are offering a free game for your troubles - you can pick ONE of;

Battlefield 3 (Standard Edition)
Bejeweled 3
Dead Space 3 (Standard Edition)
Mass Effect 3 (Standard Edition)
MOHW (Standard Edition)
NFS Most Wanted (Standard Edition)
Plants vs. Zombies
SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition

It's only if you're activated your game by March 25th and you have to claim your game by March 30th.

Dead Space 3 is probably the best value since that's currently a full price game. Seeing Sim City 4 on that list gives me a good chuckle.

[bdunn13]

Mailed my copy back to Amazon yesterday without even opening it..

The weird thing is I applied for the RMA last week and they(Amazon) said I would get a credit when they received the game back... and I got an email last night saying I had been credited.... but there is no way they have the game in their hand yet.