SimCity 5 Disappointment-All

ZaneRockfist wrote:

Thanks for your thoughts, Mogg. I am interested in the game, but really quite wary of the DRM.

I will correct my statement from above. I guess in the beta there were two cities in the region available. The second had uneven terrain, which would have been fun to play with. I didn't see it was available and didn't get to play with it. I doubt that it would have helped to show how the regions worked together with the time constraint, though.

Here are few article to wet the appetite.

New Simcity is played with an irl city planner (wish the article was a little more in-depth)

http://www.thedailybeast.com/article...

A preview from PCGamer:

http://www.pcgamer.com/previews/simc...

EDIT: a few more:

EA is doing a 7 day "lets all be mayor" promotion lead up to the release. Each day they are showing a video of gameplay of a different type of city/region. I think it's live streamed and then archived. The first is "disaster city". It's 4 hours long.

http://letsallbemayor.com/en/event/d...

Also, EA posted an interesting interview between Ocean Quigley (creative director of the new simcity) and Will Wright.

Looks like SimCity is having another beta tomorrow, from 5-9pm Pacific Time, with the whole game unlocked this time. I might check it out to see how the always-on stuff will effect me, as that's usually the time of night that my connection drops to below 1Mbps.

It is good to see that they are opening the game so much to people. It shows they are at least confident in their product. I'll try it out! Thanks for the head's up.

Do the SC betas require a key to be able to access?

Lucky Wilbury wrote:

Do the SC betas require a key to be able to access?

Yes. The latest email says they'll send out keys tomorrow sometime.

IUMogg wrote:

EA is doing a 7 day "lets all be mayor" promotion lead up to the release. Each day they are showing a video of gameplay of a different type of city/region. I think it's live streamed and then archived. The first is "disaster city". It's 4 hours long.

http://letsallbemayor.com/en/event/d...

Yeah, there's also a voting aspect to what they do next. I think today's city is a gambling city.

So is Greenman Gaming the cheapest place to get this game right now? They have it for $60 but you get $7 cash back in 3 days or $10 GMG credit.

http://www.greenmangaming.com/s/us/e...

I bought the physical copy from amazon. You get $20 in amazon credit.

http://www.amazon.com/SimCity-Limite...

IUMogg wrote:

I bought the physical copy from amazon. You get $20 in amazon credit.

http://www.amazon.com/SimCity-Limite...

Is there a time limit on the $20 credit? I had a $5 one before but it only lasted a month.

Not that I've come across on those $20 credits. The $5 credit was a special meant for use in January or whatever.

I'm trying soooo hard to resist this. There just hasn't been a good city-builder (that I'm aware of) that has adequately scratched the itch since SC4. Other 'clones' just dont cut it and my will is fading. Hopefully I'll resist until after release so I can see the reaction on here before being sucked in.

Thanks. I am going to get it on Amazon then use the $20 towards Starcraft Pre-Order

TempestBlayze wrote:
IUMogg wrote:

I bought the physical copy from amazon. You get $20 in amazon credit.

http://www.amazon.com/SimCity-Limite...

Is there a time limit on the $20 credit? I had a $5 one before but it only lasted a month.

Not sure. I had a few that were timed, but usually they include that in the description and those are discounts on specific things. The ones I've had that were just general credits to anything on amazon weren't time restricted.

How to get the beta key?

I know I'll buy it, not day-1, but after a few reviews after release.

But having the full game unlock for a few hours would or might convince me again to speed up the buying process...

Manach wrote:

How to get the beta key?

I know I'll buy it, not day-1, but after a few reviews after release.

But having the full game unlock for a few hours would or might convince me again to speed up the buying process...

Preorders are guaranteed access to the beta. I won't be able to play tonight, so when my key shows up in my email I can send it to you in PM.

Will anyone else not be able to use their beta key tonight?

I hope to get a key. I got one for the last beta from my preorder. Haven't heard anything about this one.

I gave in and pre-ordered last night. And I'm a sucker for content, so I got the Deluxe Edition via Origin.

Haven't gotten anything about the next beta though, which is a little disappointing.

I'm still a little concerned about the city sizes, but I look forward to having other goodjers for neighbors.

deftly wrote:

I'm still a little concerned about the city sizes, but I look forward to having other goodjers for neighbors.

I was a little concerned, but I liked the way Will Wright described it in the recent interview vids as it changes the focus on the depth of the sim and not the breadth, meaning that it forces you to be more careful and deliberate. They also said that larger cities aren't out of the question in the future.

I think they released the 3 region maps. I think one if them had up to 16 city plots. I wouldn't mind joining in a gwj region though I'll probably play a lot alone. My only concern about solo play is the asynchronous city simulation, so your cities only progress when you are in that city.

I'm in just for the look on my 2.5 year old's face when i start sending in the fire trucks.

Origin... DRM... constant connection... I wish we did have a gameshow called "Ow my balls" and I would pay to see the head of the software publishing companies guest star...

IUMogg wrote:

Will Wright described it in the recent interview vids as it changes the focus on the depth of the sim and not the breadth, meaning that it forces you to be more careful and deliberate.

Umm... so instead of designing proper and engaging gameplay to focus on the depth of the sim, they slap in an artificial limit. Yeah... I used to drink from the Will Wright coolaid fountain. Then he conned me into buying Spore.

IUMogg wrote:

They also said that larger cities aren't out of the question in the future.

Of course, for $39.99. So much for focusing on depth.

MoonDragon wrote:

Yeah... I used to drink from the Will Wright coolaid fountain.

There wasn't koolaid in that fountain...

MoonDragon wrote:
IUMogg wrote:

Will Wright described it in the recent interview vids as it changes the focus on the depth of the sim and not the breadth, meaning that it forces you to be more careful and deliberate.

Umm... so instead of designing proper and engaging gameplay to focus on the depth of the sim, they slap in an artificial limit. Yeah... I used to drink from the Will Wright coolaid fountain. Then he conned me into buying Spore.

IUMogg wrote:

They also said that larger cities aren't out of the question in the future.

Of course, for $39.99. So much for focusing on depth.

No matter the size of the city it would be an "artificial" limit. And I don't think anyone (besides you) suggest the city size limit is a substitute for proper or engaging gameplay. I'm not sure how you would reach that conclusion based on that comment.

Your second comment seems to indicate that you are just here to troll. If you don't like the changes, then don't buy the game. If you want to explain why, then do so. Sarcasticly dismissing things with no explanation does no one any good.

Wow, the guys doing commentary on that Let's All Be Mayor thing are [em]annoying[/em].

IUMogg wrote:

No matter the size of the city it would be an "artificial" limit.

There are many different shades of "artificial." Allowing a large map, and making gameplay design prevent cities from ever growing to the region borders is a lot less "artificial" than allowing you to build a city that's 100x100 houses large (or whatever the actual maps are in this game). Please don't pretend that I'm the first person to make a comment about intentionally and overly limited size of cities in this game.

IUMogg wrote:

And I don't think anyone (besides you) suggest the city size limit is a substitute for proper or engaging gameplay. I'm not sure how you would reach that conclusion based on that comment.

By reading your paraphrasing of what Will Wright said. Specifically: "it forces you to be more careful and deliberate." So, instead of designing a game that involves more careful and deliberate gameplay, they limited the size of city maps to force you to be more careful and deliberate. How else am I supposed to interpret that?

IUMogg wrote:

Your second comment seems to indicate that you are just here to troll. If you don't like the changes, then don't buy the game. If you want to explain why, then do so. Sarcasticly dismissing things with no explanation does no one any good.

I thought I said all that needed to be said on that subject. I really don't see why I need to type more words to say the same thing. And calling me a troll because I made a point that seemingly criticizes something you're clearly a fan of doesn't foster conversation.

I'm on the fence about buying. Does anyone want to give away their beta key and help me decide?

I love me some SimCity, though I've been turned off my all the complexity added since SNESCity, so this one has me really excited. The videos and interviews make it sound great. On the other hand, always-online and EA Origin. Thinking of waiting for a Steam release, but if I'm tempted, maybe I'll get that Amazon $20-card deal.

I think the limiting of the city size is part of the design decisions. People have complained about it before, but that seems to be based on the idea of the mechanics of the past sim cities. I don't think anyone knows if it's an "artificial" restriction or a good design decision until we get time with the game. I was explaining why I think it might be a good decision through a comment by will wright. I think his comment could be read as space is a limited resource like money. Making players work with-in that resource restriction could be just as valid as any other resource restriction. I also believe that the tech limitations prevented larger cities, since every building/person/car ect. is actually represented visually in the game. It's not just numbers running behind an abstraction. That along with the processing in the cloud of the cities working together limited the city size.

The troll part was the referring to the idea that they are just holding back larger cities to charge $40 for them. Seems baseless and just inflammatory.

Does any one knows if its online DRM thru origin or thru the game?

Why am I asking? My pc sometimes think it doesn't have Internet access, and show it to me thru a windows network icon. But, in reality I do have access (web page work, steam, and almost everything else)... The Sims game goes thru its own software to log to origin, but when that happen the origin client itself refuse to connect, thinking I'm offline because the the windows notification...

I tried playing with my antivirus, and doesn't seem to be that.

Manach wrote:

Does any one knows if its online DRM thru origin or thru the game?

Why am I asking? My pc sometimes think it doesn't have Internet access, and show it to me thru a windows network icon. But, in reality I do have access (web page work, steam, and almost everything else)... The Sims game goes thru its own software to log to origin, but when that happen the origin client itself refuse to connect, thinking I'm offline because the the windows notification...

I tried playing with my antivirus, and doesn't seem to be that.

It doesn't matter, because you're a criminal if you can't maintain an internet connection.