SimCity 5 Disappointment-All

Scratched wrote:

Turns out the internet requirement is at startup only, plus origin.

Yep, I just read about that at RPS. Still, I think I'll wait until it I see it for half price before buying it. I reinstalled SC4 and played it for an hour or so. It holds up rather well.

Thread title and OP updated.

I think I'll wait to pick it up on Steam. As I posted on Facebook, I look forward to the Steam release that comes mostly DRM free.

Turns out the internet requirement is at startup only,

99% as bad. If your internet is down, it's down, and you can't play a single player game. Ridiculous.

Malor wrote:
Turns out the internet requirement is at startup only,

99% as bad. If your internet is down, it's down, and you can't play a single player game. Ridiculous.

It's not a trend I'm going to support, but at the very least "third party efforts" have a chance to make a playable fully offline game if it's not an essential code ingredient to the gameplay.

Scratched wrote:

Turns out the internet requirement is at startup only, plus origin.

Okay, I'm back in. Not great still, but if I put up with that for BioShock I can put up with it here.

Just so you guys know all of those multiplayer components can be turned off (at least that's what I've read) so you can play an entirely single-player game if you want to. (Which of course makes the whole mandatory web connection even worse, but whatever.

At least Steam games can be run in offline mode. (Usually; sometimes Steam can be a Female Doggo about not letting you run in offline mode.)

Switchbreak wrote:
Scratched wrote:

Turns out the internet requirement is at startup only, plus origin.

Okay, I'm back in. Not great still, but if I put up with that for BioShock I can put up with it here.

For Bioshock it was internet check at install time with limited activations, and disc check at launch. I soon fixed that so I've got a backup that I just extract out and doesn't need the disc.

Quintin_Stone wrote:

At least Steam games can be run in offline mode. (Usually; sometimes Steam can be a Female Doggo about not letting you run in offline mode.)

Yep, some publishers don't bother or don't care when they push them through to Steam. Annoys the heck out of me that Valve doesn't require them to list that an internet connection is required on their store pages.

Yonder wrote:

Just so you guys know all of those multiplayer components can be turned off (at least that's what I've read) so you can play an entirely single-player game if you want to. (Which of course makes the whole mandatory web connection even worse, but whatever.

I guess it just depends on how gimped the game is when you "opt-out" of multiplayer (I personally had not read that but if you have a link to that info it'd be appreciated). For example, from what I've read about Anno 2070, some essential structures/bonuses are lost when you lose your 'net connection.

If you can truly play your city/region totally offline with all the features intact, then I might be back "in" for this.

It is way, way, way to premature to say if this is going to stick or not, the game isn't even scheduled for release until next year, and there will likely be delays between now and the actual release. I'm waiting to see what happens in the next 12 months, and in the meantime I'm still excited at the prospect of finally getting a new SimCity.

Quintin_Stone wrote:

Limited Edition is $60. So does that mean there's a Regular Edition?

The Regular Edition is limited. After those sell out, you have to buy the Deluxe or Mega-Sexy versions of the game.

Wolfen Victrocious wrote:

I think I'll wait to pick it up on Steam. As I posted on Facebook, I look forward to the Steam release that comes mostly DRM free. :)

It's a game made by Maxis, which is owned entirely by EA. The chances of it showing up on Steam are pretty small.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

It's a game made by Maxis, which is owned entirely by EA. The chances of it showing up on Steam are pretty small.

The Sims 3 begs to differ. I think they confirmed the game will be available on other sites, but I imagine they mean the regular edition and probably after release. Presumably you'd still need an Origin login. Steam availability probably depends on how their DLC pipeline works and if they've put their handbags down.

shoptroll wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:

It's a game made by Maxis, which is owned entirely by EA. The chances of it showing up on Steam are pretty small.

The Sims 3 begs to differ. I think they confirmed the game will be available on other sites, but I imagine they mean the regular edition and probably after release. Presumably you'd still need an Origin login. Steam availability probably depends on how their DLC pipeline works and if they've put their handbags down.

The Sims 3 has been out for three years now. A better direction to look might be games like Mass Effect 3: available everywhere but Steam because it requires Origin to activate and run. It seems like EA has been pulling the Half-Life 2 trick with all of its major releases lately, and I doubt that SimCity 5 would be any different.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

It's a game made by Maxis, which is owned entirely by EA.

I hear that EA is the worst company in America!

Quintin_Stone wrote:

I hear that EA is the worst company in America!

It's true! Just look at how they completely milked the Guitar Hero franchise into the ground. And now they're trying to do the same thing with Call of Duty and Assassin's Creed!

Quintin_Stone wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:

It's a game made by Maxis, which is owned entirely by EA.

I hear that EA is the worst company in America!

And to prove it, they are pointing the finger at companies they think are worse (big tobacco for instance), rather than saying to themselves "Ok, we need to do better".

Yeah, laugh it up guys. It's downright hilarious how gamer-focused EA is. From their product distribution, to their customer support, to the way they help the industry grow by supporting small studios and giving them a chance to make the same game over and over again or die. Or in some cases both. Oh, and while you're at it, add multiplayer to your single player game. Our charts show us that gamers love that sh*t.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

available everywhere but Steam because it requires Origin to activate and run.

Origin account for activation + running the game shouldn't block a game from Steam. Alive: Madness Returns, Warp and Gatling Gears require an Origin account and those made it on Steam without trouble.

I'm not expecting it to show up on Steam for pre-order, but I think it's too soon to determine if it will or will not appear on the service.

BadKen wrote:

Yeah, laugh it up guys. It's downright hilarious how gamer-focused EA is. From their product distribution, to their customer support, to the way they help the industry grow by supporting small studios and giving them a chance to make the same game over and over again or die. Or in some cases both. Oh, and while you're at it, add multiplayer to your single player game. Our charts show us that gamers love that sh*t.

\

I'm going to presume this is more sarcastic than serious, and is written from EA's PoV.

As for SimCity, I love how it looks, less so that it's tied to Origin.

BadKen wrote:

Yeah, laugh it up guys. It's downright hilarious how gamer-focused EA is. From their product distribution, to their customer support, to the way they help the industry grow by supporting small studios and giving them a chance to make the same game over and over again or die. Or in some cases both. Oh, and while you're at it, add multiplayer to your single player game. Our charts show us that gamers love that sh*t.

The Comedian is laughing, why aren't you?

I recently read an article that said they are going to do Steam Distribution but it will require a Origin login. Which makes sense considering they want you to use their service while expanding their audience.

To get a better look at this in motion now, a few more recent EA games that do go to Steam require you to at least have an origin account and login in to play the game while opening it through Steam.

I don't like hating on EA because I like some of the stuff they do but things like DRM and Origin are just kinda rubbing me the wrong way.

I actually wouldn't mind doing an Origin login - I have an EA Games account. The only thing I would balk at is installing their malware.

MeatMan wrote:

Economic Loop Video

I'm not sure I buy into the the "basic" economic simulation they are using. It seems very proximity driven, and I hope there is "advanced" economic simulation somewhere in there.

I drive by lots or potential employers within my field everyday and even more if you count every business as a employer match. Hopefully it ends up weighing some factors like education and some random variability into it. I also think the wake up call should come from the residential areas with a normal wake up distribution centered on a time like 6 or 7 based on employer type rather than what seems like a ring spreading from economic centers that would seemingly trigger the nearest homes first.

Regardless, it was interesting to see in action and easier to criticize than create.

clever id wrote:

...
I'm not sure I buy into the the "basic" economic simulation they are using.

This didn't look much different than what SC4 did when you started a new city. I'd be stunned if education, pollution, traffic congestion and all the rest weren't factored in somehow.

Don't get too hung up on real-life parallels. SC4 favored an idealized New Urbanism approach that forced you to keep the R,C and I zones fairly close together unless you used a trip extension mod.

Enix wrote:
clever id wrote:

...
I'm not sure I buy into the the "basic" economic simulation they are using.

This didn't look much different than what SC4 did when you started a new city. I'd be stunned if education, pollution, traffic congestion and all the rest weren't factored in somehow.

Don't get too hung up on real-life parallels. SC4 favored an idealized New Urbanism approach that forced you to keep the R,C and I zones fairly close together unless you used a trip extension mod.

Which even then I'd have the few odd cases where a guy half way across the city would work at a plant on the outskirts. So if they keep to the Sim City 4 ideals mentioned here, I think we'll be in for a treat. Even more considering this means trains, buses, and other transportation will really start making a difference in the city where in SC4 it didn't matter that much.