CIV IV , is it worth it? » Forum Post by wasp660

psychoak

Join Date 07/2007

+225

I don't think I've heard anyone say Civ3 was better. Don't bother with the Warlords expansion, but BTS is definitely worth it, if not for the actual expansion itself. You need it to use the newer version of Fall From Heaven 2, a truly outstanding fantasy mod. I don't actually play Civ4, just FFH2.

In it's own right, without the mods... Maybe. I don't actually like Civ.

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I find Civ 4 to be, by far, the best Civilization game yet. I don't have any of the expansion packs, I'm eventually going to get the boxed set they were putting together, however it's a blast to play. It's slightly more simplified than Civ 3, however it's by no means dumbed down; just streamlined. I highly recommend it if you've enjoyed any of the previous Civilization games.

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Ryat

Join Date 06/2006

+429

Civ4 is a very good game and the add-on Beyond the Sword makes it even better. the Warlords expansion is meh

And you dont need steam to buy it. You probably could find a copy at Amazon or at some other on-line retailer

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I didn't play much of the sequels, but I agree that Civ 4 is certainly worth it.

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My 2 cents. I have Civ IV and the 2 expansions i still enjoy playing it.

But and a big but is i hate the spies. but you can now shut them off as an option.

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Just to echo what the other said, Civ4 is fantastic and so is the Beyond the Sword expansion. There is a new Civ4 complete edition that includes Civ4 with both expansion as well as Civ4 Colonization all with no DRM for around $40 which is a great deal.

Also Impulse will be selling Civ4 soon according to this post from Frogboy:

http://frogboy.impulsedriven.net/article/345012/Elemental_Civilization_4/page/1

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As far as expansions go, you should be looking for a compilation at this point. BTS is definitely the better of the two expansions, but Warlords isn't bad or something to avoid. Frankly I hated the medieval age until trebuchets were introduced in that expansion.

I've heard a couple people remark about how they didn't like Civilization 4. There's no question that it's not a clone of the earlier civilizations, and is its own game. Everything is slightly different from its predecessors. One of the biggest changes is that bigger isn't always better; a small and well-planned empire can be stronger than a huge sprawling one. I think a lot of people were unhappy with the fact that conquering a big empire in the ancient age didn't instantly translate into being better in every way. Personally, I like it, and think Civ 4 is the best to date.

Do gotta admit, however, that "the people are the heroes" is easily my most despised musical piece I've ever encountered in a game. Absolutely atrocious; I don't know who actually approved it to get into the game.

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Well then I am convinced to get it. Thank you.

What is the cheapest anyone has seen all 3.A little strapped on cash .

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They are now selling the ultimate (or complete - can't remember what its callled) edition of Civ IV, which has the game, both expansions and Civ IV: Conolization, which is a standalone remake of Conolization (an early Sid Meier game), and while not as deep as the main game, is still fun and addictive. Its about $35 on Amazon, or you might be able to get the 'old' complete edition (without Conolization) for less.

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I join in the lot and say that it's an incredible game, which I have probably sunk 100s of hours into. you should best get the complete compilation, bc that would by now likely be the cheapest way if you want the expansions also (though bts includes many of warlords concepts, just not the scenarios which were not that interesting for me anyway).

you can also check out a few of the mods once you got into the game. I played Rhye's and Fall and revolutions, which are both very good mod that make the game even more complex. you might also check out the final frontier mod that came packed with the game, if you like space tbs. it's not a full game and lacks a bit in complexity, but it's pretty different from the core game and for me it was quite fun.

oh, and beware any ai with agressive stamped onto it. especially monty and other religion nutjobs.

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Civ4 does have higher hardware requirements than Civ3.

http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/referrer/srtest is worth a visit if you have doubts.

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Some people will say that Civ 2 was better, or Alpha Centaurii, but in my opinion Civilization 4 is the finest turn based strategy there has been.

Civ 3 was a bit of a blip in the series by comparison. Not necessarily a bad game, but those stacks of workers set to automate clean pollution get dull.

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I'll go against the tide and say that I didn't really care for Civ4. I think it was something about how random tornadoes kept wiping out my farms and cottages. Nearly a dozen times in a single age.

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if you want to get it off steam, i think you should get the 2k giant pack - its around $53, includes all civ stuff, prey, bioshock, freedom force(first one is great but old)

the pack of just civ stuff is $40, so i think it's well worth the price getting the giant pack

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Quoting wasp660,

reply 8

Well then I am convinced to get it. Thank you.

What is the cheapest anyone has seen all 3.A little strapped on cash

.

Besides Steam (which I also dont like) I guess the cheapest I've seen is from Amazon for $36.99 with free shipping.

http://www.amazon.com/Sid-Meiers-Civilization-IV-Complete-Pc/dp/B0026EGO3A/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1246729668&sr=8-4

Also It's a little confusing when shopping for this too because there are 2 Civ4 completes packages, one called "Civ4: Complete" that contains Civ4 with both expansions and the other is called "Civ4: The Complete Edtion" which also add Colonazation and is advertised as DRM free, which isn't as big of an issue since the last patch to Civ4: BtS removed the CD check anyway.

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Alstein

Join Date 07/2004

+55

Quoting Darvin3,

reply 7

As far as expansions go, you should be looking for a compilation at this point. BTS is definitely the better of the two expansions, but Warlords isn't bad or something to avoid. Frankly I hated the medieval age until trebuchets were introduced in that expansion.

I've heard a couple people remark about how they didn't like Civilization 4. There's no question that it's not a clone of the earlier civilizations, and is its own game. Everything is slightly different from its predecessors. One of the biggest changes is that bigger isn't always better; a small and well-planned empire can be stronger than a huge sprawling one. I think a lot of people were unhappy with the fact that conquering a big empire in the ancient age didn't instantly translate into being better in every way. Personally, I like it, and think Civ 4 is the best to date.

Do gotta admit, however, that "the people are the heroes" is easily my most despised musical piece I've ever encountered in a game. Absolutely atrocious; I don't know who actually approved it to get into the game.

GIven that BTS includes all of Warlods minus some official scenarios no one really cares for, it is useless- now. It wasn't useless at the time. Civ4 has some issues with the AI, but otherwise is a good game. I just don't think it handles intercontinental wars well, especially early and midgame. Also the AI cheats a bit too much for my taste.

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Here's a question- is Civ 4 a big enough upgrade to justify purchasing it since I already have Civilization 3?

I love the series, but I don't like wasting money unless it's a significant upgrade from what I've currently got.

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I like to think it is, besides the graphics upgrade, the complete simulation is more engaging then civ3.
And as said before, the BTS expansion REALLY makes it a closed deal.

It will give you hours, day, weeks, even month's of fun.
Plus the mods for it are nice aswell.

Pay Civ4 instead of 3 and feel good

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Quoting Darvin3,

reply 7

Do gotta admit, however, that "the people are the heroes" is easily my most despised musical piece I've ever encountered in a game. Absolutely atrocious; I don't know who actually approved it to get into the game.

I love "The People Are Heroes Now". It's one of my favorite parts on the Civilization IV soundtrack.

But that aside, Civilization IV is definitely a very fun game. If you know people who are interested in the same type of game, LAN Multiplayer is just extremely epic. Online multiplayer would probably take too long. But single player is very fun too, you can go all the way from the beginning of time to nuclear annihilation.

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Quoting SumoX,

reply 17

Here's a question- is Civ 4 a big enough upgrade to justify purchasing it since I already have Civilization 3?

Depends on your playstyle and much you like mods.

Civ IV added 3D graphics and reduced micromanagement in some parts, but also added new things, like more flexible government choices (you sort of do mix-and-match) and unit promotions (units get combat experience, which you can use to customise them), additionally, a lot of stuff was reworked in more subtle ways (culture, combat etc). Some CivIII players dislike CivIV, because they prefer the 2D graphics and because they like the extra micromanagement as fine tweaking. Personally, I like CivIV a lot, but I then I never liked CivIII a lot, I preferred Alpha Centauri and CivII over CivIII. CivIV, in my opinion, beats both because it sort of takes the best aspects.

If you like going into every detail and tweaking stuff here and there and find 3D graphics to busy (or to heavy on your machine), you'll probably dislike CivIV.

Furthermore, CivIV is heaven for modders, basically everything is moddable - but it's more complicated to mod, because you can actually change the game engine code. This, however, also means that there are very excellent mods out there (mainly on apolyton and civfanatics).

If you get CivIV, I recommend getting Beyond the Sword as well (skip Warlords, apart from the scenarios, everything is in BtS as well) - or get one of the complete sets. It adds a lot of stuff (better espionage, some extra civilisations, great Firaxis mods, some balancing, warlords, extra wonders) and a lot of mods rely on it, if you're into that thing.

Cheers, LT.

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Get the Complete Edition, it's DRM Free and a great value. Or go with Steams 2k Huge Pack which also looks great http://store.steampowered.com/sub/1764/ (I already have most those games so not a deal for me). But seriously, if you hate steam, just pick it up the complete at amazon or something.

I purchased Civ IV the week it came out and did the same with all the expansion packs. I am still playing the game with friends online via direct IP all the time. They just released a patch for us old timers which removed the CD requirement. It scales nicely in terms of difficulty, has an active online community complete with Mods and maps and other goodies. The Scenarios are a great way to go too. It's a great buy for strategy gamers.

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I'm bored to death of it myself at this point, but I would highly recommend it to any gamer.

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There are also a number of excellent mods which totally change the game, such as fall from heaven and rhys and fall, which further extend the replayability.

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I played the original Civ way back there, then Civ 2 which was really by Brian Reynolds who later started Big Huge Games that produced Rise of Nations. Civ 3 I really liked about up to the Enlightenment, then I usually restarted. Civ 4 with the expansions is a huge improvement, IMHO. Colonization is coming up to speed finally, I think. Might give it another whirl.

But, check out civfanatics and you will see that Civ 3 and Civ 2 are still played by many.

Rise of Nations seems to be pretty dead, sadly. Played offline with the Pause control bound to the middle mouse button click so you can in effect play it as turn based, I still like it now and again. I wouldn't pay more than a few dollars for it these days, though.

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Quoting wilebill,

reply 24

I played the original Civ way back there, then Civ 2 which was really by Brian Reynolds who later started Big Huge Games that produced Rise of Nations. Civ 3 I really liked about up to the Enlightenment, then I usually restarted. Civ 4 with the expansions is a huge improvement, IMHO. Colonization is coming up to speed finally, I think. Might give it another whirl.

But, check out civfanatics and you will see that Civ 3 and Civ 2 are still played by many.

Rise of Nations seems to be pretty dead, sadly. Played offline with the Pause control bound to the middle mouse button click so you can in effect play it as turn based, I still like it now and again. I wouldn't pay more than a few dollars for it these days, though.

nor would you have to. I found a dirt cheap copy of it, 6.99 € for both core and expansion. definately worth that. also, I agree on the pause thingy. for a game with this much content, it just played too fast, units died too fast and so on. sure, you could play around with speed options and tech costs, but then units would move slooooooww. this, I think, is a big, big point where sins has done much better. it is just slow enough to allow you to breath and think, battles aren't over in seconds and so on. now, if only there were something else to do except fighting and preparing to fight ...

on topic: recently dug out civ iv again. still a blast. the map and mod I'm playing really makes it nice. it is a bit like continents, but with a few smaller islands thrown it, a bit more clustered landscape and in some ways quite irregular (like a big continent linked to a smaller one with one medium sized far off and a series of large islands again isolated). with the revolutions mods, it feels quite natural. a bunch of larger factions and many smaller nations that rose during the game from barbarian and independent states. god, I love this game!

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