Sim City 5

[trip]

Anyways, I've got one more beta key from somewhere else, if anyone is interested just say so.

I'd kill for a shot at the beta if you still have that extra key.

 

I'm still excited. I may be forcing the hype though. Fingers crossed.

[Trund]

So I've played for roughly an hour now, and I must say I'm a little disappointed.

First of all the graphics are a little... well I don't know how to say it, it's way too colorful. I know you can change filters in the game, but honestly, the grass looks so unreal that it's not even funny anymore.

 

Then the map size. A lot of people are bitching about that one, and unfortunately I have to agree in this point. It didn't even take me an hour to fill the complete map. Considering that buildings and everything else is larger now the size is a complete joke.

 

The next problem with this is that you can't choose the zone density, I keep asking myself WHY? This HAS to be chooseable by the player. If you want to build a large city you always have to start with a crappy town? I mean c'mon what the hell.

 

This game doesn't really deserve the name SimCity, it should be called SimTown. I loved SimCity 4 but this game is just a downgrade in so many ways, and I didn't even play for an hour.....

[OysterBarron]

I'm not sure but I think the beta map isn't the largest size plot? Also I think the density of zones is defined by the high density roads witch aren't avaliable in beta. Also the type of density of house is effected by the placement of parks and plazas and general sim hapiness within an area. Don't quote me 100% I've only picked up this info from watching many videos of gameplay.

[Trund]

Even if the beta map isn't the largest, the largest will be the medium sized map of SimCity 4, which however will be filled much more quickly due to the extreme increase of building sizes. Well not only that, everything is just bigger.

 

Could be that it is. But in SimCity 4 you could choose the density to begin with. You could build nice cities that have a high density core and the outside areas will have normal little houses. But now you can't exactly build it the way you want anymore.

 

It's also a little silly how there is only one road connecting the outside world with your city, I mean what if you have 100k population, and one small road going outside of your town? That's a little unrealistic....

 

They should have taken a look at CitiesXL. If the game wouldn't have such enormous performance problems it would easily beat this game by far.

[kudoboi]

really enjoying this. but i don't really have any issues with the map size imo the map size is more than enough and if its not big enough then you can just create another town. about the grass are you serious you are complaining about the grass out of all things . no issues with the graphics either.. i actually love the vibrant filter.

 

only issue is that the goddamn beta is too short

 

[Trund]

You might think the map size is fine now, the problem is that you can't build a huge city. And if you build many cities in one area they will still be apart and not directly connected.

It's just a shame that they didn't put in LARGE or HUGE maps, I mean why do this? If people don't want large maps no one forces them to use them, but the lack of it just makes me so mad.

 

But it's typical EA. They're so sh*t nowadays.

[kudoboi]

You might think the map size is fine now, the problem is that you can't build a huge city. And if you build many cities in one area they will still be apart and not directly connected.

It's just a shame that they didn't put in LARGE or HUGE maps, I mean why do this? If people don't want large maps no one forces them to use them, but the lack of it just makes me so mad.

 

But it's typical EA. They're so sh*t nowadays.

i read from somewhere that the city size was because they wanted to simulate the city or something like that

[Trund]

Also, here is one of my other problems with the ridiculous building tool:

You can see that residential demand is very high, and I placed it there, yet no one is building anything because the game thinks that there's not enough area to build houses.

I mean c'mon, there's PLENTY of area. This literally forces you to build bigger than you had to in SimCity 4. I don't know who came up with this...

[trip]

Trund, thanks again for the beta key. Funny stuff - I just got an email from Maxis/EA with my beta key. So if anyone wants the one they sent me just let me know.

 

About to dive in to the game for the first time.

[Audiophile]

I still haven't gotten my code. I was in the previous beta and I also pre-ordered so I should have one.

 

As I understand it, anyone who pre-ordered gets access to the beta today.

 

I wonder if it's like the first one where they sent out keys at different times.

[Fnorg]

Trund, thanks again for the beta key. Funny stuff - I just got an email from Maxis/EA with my beta key. So if anyone wants the one they sent me just let me know.

 

About to dive in to the game for the first time.

I'd gladly take it off your hands, Trip.

[trip]

Trund, thanks again for the beta key.  Funny stuff - I just got an email from Maxis/EA with my beta key.  So if anyone wants the one they sent me just let me know.

 

About to dive in to the game for the first time.

I'd gladly take it off your hands, Trip.

Sorry. It went via PM as soon as I offered.

 

Sitting here waiting for the game to finish updating - taking forever. It looks like this beta ends tomorrow, so I want to get some quality time in.

[Trund]

I tried to fill pretty much all of the map, and it really is small, unfortunately. It took me around 40-45min to build this:

 

 

[Audiophile]

Just got my code!

[trip]

I'm enjoying it.

 

The map size (for now) is kind of small. Yeah, I know that isn't the first mention of map size.

 

There really isn't enough time in the beta play to get a full on feeling I think since it really rushes you - no time to relax and play around. SimCity is not a time management game so when they throw time management at you by restricting the beta to 1 hour of play it really changes how you approach the game.

 

 

Since the title is just SimCity and not SimCity5 I think we have to accept and be happy that it is a re-boot. I'm excited...then again, I'm easily excited.

[OysterBarron]

So just finished my first playthrough i love it. it's good to have simcity back. I trialed out having 2 big roads coming off my main region road and it seemed to help me alot in terms of traffic.

some of my houses started getting solar panels on the roof, i did have 2 wind farms fully upgraded!

Got my first 2 big commercial buildings!

Nice nighttime shot with my 2 wind farms in the background

And that was the end of my first city!

 

[JostVice]

Any of you guys in the second beta played the first? What changed?

 

Just want to see what i missed!

[Rewas]

Can't wait for this game. I hope it'll have a big size in the full release.

[Trund]

The game is surely not bad, but it's just not worth the money. 15-20€ yeah, that's okay. But more than that? No way.

While some of the new features are nice (like the agent stuff), a lot of the basic things were removed and that's a real shame.

 

I honestly don't know how some of you find the map size fine. If you're a SimCity fan you HAVE to be extremely disappointed about this, it's just a true game breaker.

 

You can clearly tell how EA had their hands in this. I love Maxis, and I know they can make amazing games, but EA honestly ruins everything they do nowadays.

 

In the end I blame EA for all this. They just want to force their online crap on the players and make them purchase extras at a later time, only so you can MAYBE, if ever, enjoy SimCity the way it should be, but for that you'll probably just have to spend tons of money in the end.

 

 

[OysterBarron]

Any of you guys in the second beta played the first? What changed?

 

Just want to see what i missed!

Well they implimented a new way of showing you how much room a zone will take up. Also I saw on sikcity forum that you could claim other plots of land to build on. But when I tried it would let me in but wouldn't give me anything to build with. Other than that I'm not sure as I wasn't in the first beta.

[trip]

I honestly don't know how some of you find the map size fine. If you're a SimCity fan you HAVE to be extremely disappointed about this, it's just a true game breaker.

Here is my hope on that topic:

We will be claiming other [nearby] regions and connecting them. In a way the cities will be segmented into smaller towns/cities. You still will be able to design out your large city, it will just be in chunks and not all available on screen at once. As well as have it's own separate government and whatnot.

 

Or they surprise us and the plots of land are way huge in the release version.

 

 

 

 

@oysterbarron and others - when I tried to claim another plot of land the game crashed back to the main menu screen and said Welcome ~Username~. I did it at the 10 minute left warning.

 

 

 

Still very much enjoying the beta and looking forward to the final release.

[Trund]

Here is my hope on that topic:

We will be claiming other [nearby] regions and connecting them. In a way the cities will be segmented into smaller towns/cities. You still will be able to design out your large city, it will just be in chunks and not all available on screen at once. As well as have it's own separate government and whatnot.

 

Or they surprise us and the plots of land are way huge in the release version.

Unfortunately that's the other problem. In SimCity 4 your cities were at least connected to each other, now your slots are far between, which makes it look pretty stupid. I mean the idea isn't bad with many cities and online mutliplayer blabla, but they totally forgot that SimCity is a SANDBOX game, where you should be able to do whatever you want, and that's NOT the case anymore.

 

And they already confirmed that there won't be bigger maps. They said however that it "could" come as additional content some day.

 

It's just sad how they removed the basic SimCity features. For a SimCity fan like me that's the worst they could have done.

[trip]

 

Here is my hope on that topic:

We will be claiming other [nearby] regions and connecting them.  In a way the cities will be segmented into smaller towns/cities.  You still will be able to design out your large city, it will just be in chunks and not all available on screen at once.  As well as have it's own separate government and whatnot. 

 

Or they surprise us and the plots of land are way huge in the release version.

Unfortunately that's the other problem. In SimCity 4 your cities were at least connected to each other, now your slots are far between, which makes it look pretty stupid. I mean the idea isn't bad with many cities and online mutliplayer blabla, but they totally forgot that SimCity is a SANDBOX game, where you should be able to do whatever you want, and that's NOT the case anymore.

 

And they already confirmed that there won't be bigger maps. They said however that it "could" come as additional content some day.

 

It's just sad how they removed the basic SimCity features. For a SimCity fan like me that's the worst they could have done.

I hear ya. I'm a fan going back to the beginning. There is nothing Maxis that I don't own...even all the weird ones.

 

I'll be forever optimistic. Heck, I even looked forward to Societies when that was the talk of the town.

 

Have hope. Look at this release as their starting point and don't let the EA aspect cloud you.

[Trund]

I suggest you to read my hate post in the feedback section in the simcity closed beta section.

It's called "Why SimCity? Call it SimTown!".

 

I think I hit the point pretty well.

[Crokey]

Thanks trip, you're a bastard for making me feel old, I had that exact floppy as well.

 

Yes kiddies, that's called a floppy disk, in the olden days that was the bees knees, the fact you could store 1.44 MEGA-bytes of data on a disk... pfff, that was a total findmuck. But that one's a SD Floppy so you'll only get 756k

[OysterBarron]

I still have to disagree with some points. There maybe some old sim city features missing but In terms of new features the cons get out weighed imop. Plopables that you can expand, fully city/town simulation, town specializations better education management thanks to bus stops. I mean yeah the ability to link up your citys is a downer but they are all connected via one road and most with a train line running through them. You are still free to create a train/road system to your liking within your town. As for town gaps it isn't a biggen for me considering in any sim city I spent my time within the city itself and the edges of the map was just nothingness so now being able to see your region while in city mode is a bonus.

[kudoboi]

 

The game is surely not bad, but it's just not worth the money. 15-20€ yeah, that's okay. But more than that? No way.

While some of the new features are nice (like the agent stuff), a lot of the basic things were removed and that's a real shame.

 

I honestly don't know how some of you find the map size fine. If you're a SimCity fan you HAVE to be extremely disappointed about this, it's just a true game breaker.

 

You can clearly tell how EA had their hands in this. I love Maxis, and I know they can make amazing games, but EA honestly ruins everything they do nowadays.

 

In the end I blame EA for all this. They just want to force their online crap on the players and make them purchase extras at a later time, only so you can MAYBE, if ever, enjoy SimCity the way it should be, but for that you'll probably just have to spend tons of money in the end.

15 to 20? thats even lower than some of the prices for a indie game. this is a triple A title so the prices would still be a standard triple A title price. you could get it 2 years later at maybe 20 bucks but i don't see them changing the price anytime soon. i also don't understand why you blame EA for the map size. the map size has to do with the game engine. the only way they will ever be able to have larger maps is change the entire game engine to something new or delay the game until there are more powerful PCs to handle it. DLCs are also common nowadays so this shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. you don't have to pay for DLCs to enjoy the game. even with the beta limits im enjoying this alot.. even possibly more than simcity 4 etc

[OysterBarron]

I think i found a bug unless i was being really dumb?

 

 

[Trund]

 

15 to 20? thats even lower than some of the prices for a indie game. this is a triple A title so the prices would still be a standard triple A title price. you could get it 2 years later at maybe 20 bucks but i don't see them changing the price anytime soon. i also don't understand why you blame EA for the map size. the map size has to do with the game engine. the only way they will ever be able to have larger maps is change the entire game engine to something new or delay the game until there are more powerful PCs to handle it. DLCs are also common nowadays so this shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. you don't have to pay for DLCs to enjoy the game. even with the beta limits im enjoying this alot.. even possibly more than simcity 4 etc

Meh, 15-20€ will be reached after a month or so. I already see the keys being sold for ~30€ online, so it's just a matter of time. I even got BF3 just two weeks after release for 15€, mostly because the game was being critisized so much that the price fell nearly immdiately.

The same will happen with this, because no one likes this must be online crap. Not to mention that the servers already messed up really bad last night, I don't see why this should be different on release. After all the goal of this beta was to test the server, so I'd say it pretty much failed it.

 

Why can't the game engine run it? The game engine can run a huge region with 4-5 or more medium maps? So it could easily run a region that only has 2 huge maps. It's just a stupid excuse they made up, I mean there's always something you can blame it on. It's not like this game suddenly has completely amazing graphics that we've never seen before, or anything like this. So they are either lying to us or they the engine was coded poorly (which I don't think because the beta ran absolutely flawless).

 

I blame EA because they always push games to get them released as early as possible. Most of the games that are released under the EA name are just crappy nowadays, well for the last few years already. The game is supposed to be released in 18 days and they have serious problems still, just look at the beta forum.

 

There's also origin, and the forced online. All of these things are clearly coming from EA. Just look at Ubisoft and Anno 2070, it has the same crap and people still complain because nothing was ever fixed. It's funny how developers don't learn from mistakes, but in case of EA that's understandable: All they care about is quick cash, quality doesn't matter to them.

 

But like I said before, the game itself isn't bad actually. The new things are really nice, but there are just things you can't mess with if you want to call it SimCity, and most of the things that made me play SimCity 4 even many years later are missing now. After playing the beta I know that I would play this game for maybe a few weeks, and then never again, simply because the freedom you have in it is just not the same as it was in the past.

[OysterBarron]

Why can't the game engine run it? The game engine can run a huge region with 4-5 or more medium maps? So it could easily run a region that only has 2 huge maps. It's just a stupid excuse they made up, I mean there's always something you can blame it on. It's not like this game suddenly has completely amazing graphics that we've never seen before, or anything like this. So they are either lying to us or they the engine was coded poorly (which I don't think because the beta ran absolutely flawless).

 

 

It's not the game engine that is limiting it. The new simulation engine witch is new and hasn't been used in a game before is the bottleneck. It can only support so many agents witch are the entity's that communicate with buildings and shift the data about in order to simulate everything. I don't doubt for a minute that the Game engine couldn't handle a massive city it's just that the simulation engine has some catching up todo.

 

Like Trip said although it's not exactly like a new new simcity it's more of a reboot of the franchise, yeah it isn't quite there yet but give it another couple of years maybe and they will have more experience using the Sim engine and will hopefully be able to push it further.

 

It certainly isn't the worst simcity ever and for most simcity fans it's a breath of fresh air for the series exspecially if you can see the potential that it does have!