SimCity 2013

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Is anyone else playing this? If you're like me, you've been waiting 10 years for it.

So far I am enjoying it immensely. It's tough to get a good read on it because the reviews are really biased and dumb. Let me explain what I mean by "biased and dumb."

First of all, as has been widely reported, SimCity had what has been rightly described as the most disastrous game launch in many years. Due to the games troublesome always-on DRM requirement, Maxis and EA's servers couldn't handle the load on launch day and caused catastrophic system failures, which took them well over a week to sort out, and are still being optimized. Rightly, everyone who bought the game in the first week was understandably pissed.

The problem with the reviews is so many reviewers focused so heavily on the launch problems and bashing EA for their DRM policy that they let it skew the reviews for the overall game itself. Few reviews carried the utterly sensible caveat of "once the system bugs and server issues are addressed through patches, the problems I'm now complaining about will be a non-factor." Most reviews I've read about can basically be summed up as "Great game, buggy launch! 6/10!" Which is just stupid. They should review the game when it is running as intended, which by this point is the experience of most people playing it. If a game truly deserves a 6, then it deserves one on launch day as much as it does a year after launch. I guess what I'm saying is, take the reviews with a grain of salt, and if you want to buy, maybe wait another month or so when it's properly patched. I've also heard there might be a price drop before summer, so there's that.

I bought it a week after launch, and dealt with few server problems at all. Even running perfectly, the game has some flaws – but minor ones, and nothing that can't be addressed in patches. The core game itself is fantastic. If you loved SimCity 4, I highly recommend this one.

Anyway, I was hoping to open up a dialogue here if there are other players so we can swap strategies.

 

I usderstand what you mean. But keep in mind that most reviewers, even those who just host youtube channels are interested in completing the reviews shortly after the game launches, which makes sense, because most fans of the series are going to want to purchase it in the early going. While it should not skew their overall score of the game, you can't help but get bad press in an instance like this. Yes, the review should be based when the game is running as intended, but that's problematic in a case when you can't get the game to run as intended - or run at all for that matter.

I also heard that EA is trying to do right by their customer base by offering a free game to those who purchased SimCity within the first week of its launch (provided you also register your copy at the time you make the request). They are offering several titles including some relatively new and popular ones, like Mass Effect 3 and Dead Space 3. I believe the deadline for making the request is March 25th, so if you bought it in the first week, you can get a free game out of it DR.

 

Yeah, I was aware of all that. That was a nice gesture. I thought they would offer old crappy games, but it's their marquee titles. The only problem is I already own 2 of them, and while I really wanted to play Mass Effect 3, I wanted to via PS3, not PC. But still, a nice gesture. But about the reviews – I submit that if a 6/10 game has a 10/10 launch, it doesn't deserve to be averaged to an 8/10 overall score. The opposite is certainly true, and any game should be judged independently of its launch or DRM, but on the playing experience itself.

Anyway - we can start another thread for that.

I wanted this thread to be about the gameplay itself. Anyone here playing yet? Maybe we could start an SP region!

 

I keep debating on getting this. On one hand, I really, really, really hate the fact that I have to be online to play this. I could understand if I needed to be on the first time for activation and whatnot. Forced online connection for single player games is still a crock of ****. I get the piracy aspect - stop putty out rushed, *****y games with horrible launches and less people will be tempted to pirate. I sure don't like putting down $60 for a game I'm not sure that ends up being all of those things(thanks D3!!!) Maxis employees have already been quoted saying that it wouldn't be too difficult to make it playable as a single player standalone. I also hate it because it means that when EA wants me to move on to the next game they can just....kill the servers. And now I can't do anything with a product that I legally purchased an am supposed to "own".

On the other hand...I absolutely love the Sim City series. Spent countless hours on it growing up.

I'll probably buy it....because I loved Sim City(1-4). It will probably be $10 when I do buy it though.

 

I won't play because I do my utmost to stay from anything with the EA logo on it. EA are pure evil, most producers and publishers are evil but EA takes it to another level.

 

From the game play I have seen, I am somewhat disappointed in the size of the city you can build. I go back to the old days of SimCity, when the size of your cities could grow to gigantic proportions. Here, not so much, or at least it doesn't appear to be so based on the gameplay. And I understand the concept is that there are many players building their cities simultaneously to yours, and that you can generate trade and the like between cities. It just seems odd that now, years later, when compters have processors that greatly exceed what was around for prior SimCities, that the actual size of your cities appears to be smaller.

 

I agree on the city sizes. I've only built a handful of cities so far, but I'm always bumping up on my city borders. I think they did this to encourage creating complex regions. I imagine this is something that will be addressed via a patch or expansion at some point, as this has been a common complaint.

On avoiding games with the EA logo on it – while I understand it, I find this pretty silly. Missing out on some of the best games being released today to somehow stick it to EA for being "evil" strikes me as cutting off your nose to spite your face. I don't care who publishes a game. I care that the games work as intended by the developer. I'm as troubled as anyone by the practices EA insists on – DRM and microtransactions being the most irritating – but I've never considered either to be that bothersome, and EA has generated so much bad press and ill will recently over both that I'd bet money on a receding of both trends in the coming years. Besides – the advent of Kickstarter-funded games (like Project Eternity) will turn out to the be the Napster to the game industry, forcing mega-publishers like EA to adapt or slowly collapse. So play the games you want to play – EA will be brought to heel whether you boycott them or not.

 

There are plenty of good games without the EA logo on it and if we keep buying products they have done their best to destroy what is there to stop them from keep doing so?

If EA published a game I really really wanted to play I would buy it but they haven't in a long time. I gave the Dragon Age games a chance and although the first was ok, the second was awful. I also played the entire Mass Effect trilogy, games which could have been so much better especially the third one. Playing Fallout: New Vegas now and have logged 44h and it basically just keep getting better. So much to do, so much to explore and well, it and other Bethesda rpgs really make their EA counterparts look bad.

 

Fair enough. I completely agree that EA's influence ruined Dragon Age II, and I've been consistently disappointed in Bioware since their acquisition. Haven't played any of the Mass Effect games yet, save for the first hour of the first one. Dead Space III was a very good game, but a disappointment. Whether you can lay blame for this at the feet of EA is certainly a case that can be made.

Anyhoo – let's start an "Is EA the demon cock?" thread if we want to continue this. I really did intend for this to be a SimCity topic.