Can't find any threads about this game, so I'll start one up.
Anybody playing with the Cities XL demo? (EU version, runnable in the US, available here. Requires a website registration to run, and the demo account lasts for seven days. A US demo is to be out on September 8th, it sounds like, and it's possible it might have some fixes over the EU one.) It's a SimCity-alike, from Monte Cristo (who also made City Life).
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I wonder why no one does skyscraper or arcology sims anymore? That was a fad for a while.
Hm, I guess I missed the concept that it was an MMO-ish game. That doesn't appeal to me much at all. I just like to build on my own terms. How is the single-player aspect? It looks like the demo was a limited time thing.
A tiny bit surprised there isn't more interest in the game. When I heard about it certainly seemed to have possibilities, but not sure it's something I would pick up.
I'm so desperate for a modern city-sim that I'll probably buy this as soon as it's available and damn the reviews anyway.
I probably won't play the pay-for online thing though. I can't imagine getting $10/mo worth of entertainment out of doing so.
A tiny bit surprised there isn't more interest in the game. When I heard about it certainly seemed to have possibilities, but not sure it's something I would pick up.
Sim City with a subscription fee isn't all that appealing to me.
I saw a trailer where they show someone texturing and assembling a building. Can you do that, or was that just a developer tool?
Yeah, I get the appeal from their end to get subscriptions and communities and online sharing and blah blah blah. Doesn't do squat for me though and it makes me worry that the single-player experience will be gimped to try and get people online.
What little I've seen from their videos is sexy.
Can someone confirm if the game will have a single-player aspect and it's not just a glorified demo? I downloaded the demo for my wife and she loved it, but there's now way we're paying monthly Euro charges to enable trade and a couple of lousy new skins.
Tangent: The Sims 3 store stuff is ridiculously overpriced. I refuse to buy any of it unless they bring it down substantially. I haven't even used the SimSpaceBucks the game comes with yet.
On-topic: I really wish CitiesXL was going the free-to-play with microtransaction-premiums rather than a subscription model. It's really dampened my interest in it. I love what Runes of Magic has done for the mainstream MMO space. I've bought diamonds for the game to get a mount and some goodies because the play value I've gotten out of the (otherwise fully-featured and still free) game more than justifies the occasional payment for premium goodies.
I really wish CitiesXL was just a game. A complete one. Like SimCity. Why does a definitively single-player experience need to be an MMO?
I really wish CitiesXL was just a game. A complete one. Like SimCity. Why does a definitively single-player experience need to be an MMO?
So they can milk you for additional content. They are trying to slap service contracts onto single player games as a one time product purchase.
Tangent: The Sims 3 store stuff is ridiculously overpriced.
Agreed. In my personal estimate their content is at least 50 times more than what I'd be willing to pay for it. And yes, I really meant to type 50.
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Thanks for the in-depth write up. I looked at this game before, with only mild interest. But now I'll keep a closer eye on it.
I really wish CitiesXL was just a game. A complete one. Like SimCity. Why does a definitively single-player experience need to be an MMO?
This.
Hopefully those days aren't gone forever.
I actually like the idea of a pseudo-mmo SimCity style game, where your city is part of a nation of cities on a server with an interlinked economy and so on. That's honestly a pretty awesome idea.
I actually like the idea of a pseudo-mmo SimCity style game, where your city is part of a nation of cities on a server with an interlinked economy and so on. That's honestly a pretty awesome idea.
It is. But is it a $10/month awesome? I don't think so.
Micro-transactions would be a much better model, I think.
LobsterMobster wrote:I really wish CitiesXL was just a game. A complete one. Like SimCity. Why does a definitively single-player experience need to be an MMO?
This.
Hopefully those days aren't gone forever.
What turns me off is the lack of mass transit options in the single player. You have to pay extra for trains & planes.
I don't know if I can get over that. Maybe someday...
What turns me off is the lack of mass transit options in the single player. You have to pay extra for trains & planes.
SC4 shipped without avenues, one-way streets, ground-level highways and elevated rail, among other things. All of that came in the x-pack. I was fine with paying for the expansion (even though it should have been in the original game.)
But a monthly fee for mass transit? No thanks.
Farscry wrote:I actually like the idea of a pseudo-mmo SimCity style game, where your city is part of a nation of cities on a server with an interlinked economy and so on. That's honestly a pretty awesome idea.
It is. But is it a $10/month awesome? I don't think so.
Micro-transactions would be a much better model, I think.
Don't forget, I already advocated that as a better model for CitiesXL in this thread. I'm just responding to the complaints of making the game an mmo city sim instead of single-player.
In "my head went all weird on me" vision:
It just occurred to me that a not-very-good-graphics version of the multiplayer of this is something that people would have shelled out $6 an hour for back in the late 80s to early 90s.
$6 an *hour*.
Yeah. Too bad it's 2009.
Anyone actually get this? Are you *required* to sign up for the monthly fee at start?
Anyone actually get this? Are you *required* to sign up for the monthly fee at start?
I'm interested in this question too.
Anyone actually get this? Are you *required* to sign up for the monthly fee at start?
I thought this was still in beta or something, for some reason. Since it seems to be commercially available now, I'd really like to know this too. I'm not interested in paying their monthly fee thing.
Anoyne have any feedback on the SP? What's going on with this game? I've been hankering for a simcity style game lately.
if none of us are trying it...
Somebody has to have bought this.
The only 'reviews' I have seen have been impressions from the Simtropolis Forums. Most of the impressions say it has potential but still needs a lot of work. Too bad.
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