SimCity 5 - Launch Discussion

[Sephiracle]

Polygon updates their review score from a 9.5 to an 8: http://www.polygon.com/game/simcity-2013/2630



Good to know some media outlets care about what they're doing.

Anyways, this seems like it would be an incredible game to play a month from now when they upgrade their servers.

EA should be glad that's all it dropped to. Being one of the largest gaming companies out there and them not preemptively having the hardware to handle the load at launch is ridiculous.

[llDemonll]

Good to know some media outlets care about what they're doing.

Anyways, this seems like it would be an incredible game to play a month from now when they upgrade their servers.

They don't though. Diablo 3 still has 10/10 and it's still not a great game. it's a good game, but not a 10/10 game. Polygon is just doing this so that they "are the good guys" because readers can think "oh look, this review site 'hasnt' been corrupted by bribes from big game companies, etc., etc."

Gaming these days is score from 7-10. the first 1-6 aren't used. It's sad, because a 7/10 game should be the average score that games are receiving, and 9/10 is the average score they're receiving.

I was excited for this game, but unless EA can update the city size, I won't be buying it.

[MerinPally]

I'm jealous, I have to wait until Friday being in England

And even then, I may not be able to play as the university blocks certain connections to online servers so may not be able to play until easter, at which point it's competing with Starcraft and WoW (and maybe some revising...) so not only will I fail my exams but I'll be spread thin!

[Wilian]

They don't though. Diablo 3 still has 10/10 and it's still not a great game. it's a good game, but not a 10/10 game

Gaming these days is score from 7-10. the first 1-6 aren't used. It's sad, because a 7/10 game should be the average score that games are receiving, and 9/10 is the average score they're receiving.

I was excited for this game, but unless EA can update the city size, I won't be buying it.

Didn't you get the memo? Every single game is the best game ever released.

[Nerraw]

5½ hours until mine unlocks, but I won't be able to play for 21.

[Badpaladin]

Gaming these days is score from 7-10. the first 1-6 aren't used. It's sad, because a 7/10 game should be the average score that games are receiving, and 9/10 is the average score they're receiving.

Most games they review are in the 6-8 range, with only a few getting below a 5 or at 9+ scores. If their general consensus is that Diablo is a modern classic (essentially their definition of 10/10), then so be it - but they don't jack up scores for publicity.

[SirRobin]

EA should be glad that's all it dropped to. Being one of the largest gaming companies out there and them not preemptively having the hardware to handle the load at launch is ridiculous.

But financially it makes a lot of sense and is still what I figure Blizzvision did with D3. Pay for the infrastructure to handle the launch day rush? Or pay for the infrastructure to handle the traffic volume a couple of weeks after? A significant percentage of launch players will no longer be playing by then anyway and since they already paid? Well then, at least how I imagine the suits figure it, fuck 'em.

[Simca]

Anyone else having issues with your Delivery Trucks not exporting goods to the global economy?

Not sure if a bug or server issue or if I'm just being bad and doing something wrong.

[Wafffles]

They don't though. Diablo 3 still has 10/10 and it's still not a great game. it's a good game, but not a 10/10 game. Polygon is just doing this so that they "are the good guys" because readers can think "oh look, this review site 'hasnt' been corrupted by bribes from big game companies, etc., etc."

Gaming these days is score from 7-10. the first 1-6 aren't used. It's sad, because a 7/10 game should be the average score that games are receiving, and 9/10 is the average score they're receiving.

I was excited for this game, but unless EA can update the city size, I won't be buying it.

Seriously? So if they review a game well they're corrupt, and if they review a game poorly they're corrupt? In that case, heck yeah they ought to take the money and hand out 10/10 reviews, at least then they get something out of being admonished for every word they write.

As for the scores, I agree they're inflated, but then again you have to remember that there's a whole underbelly to the gaming market of truly awful games. If you gave a 5 to Diablo 3, perhaps a fair score compared to other top tier games, what are you going to give for "Justin Beiber's Sing Along Adventure" or "Bratz Malibu Shopping Zpree". Regardless of its ultimate success, Diablo has very attractive graphics and plenty of content to entertain you for awhile; compared to the very worst of the games out there that get released for $9.99 and pray some clueless grandmother buys it for the kiddies, it deserves better than a 2 or 3.

[SirRobin]

Meh... About the only review site I would trust would probably have to be a nonprofit and even then my tastes and the reviewer's could differ dramatically.

[Valeron]

Is there no offline option for this game? Is every game coming out now forced to always be connected? Ugh. I always sort of liked the simcity series but I'm not sure if I'll get this one if you have to always be on a server to play.

[Kazdum]

Got to play a bunch last night. Its fun. Had a blast. I just feel like the city plots are too small. They need to be about 7 times bigger.

Its small for a reason.
The focus of this simcity is the muliplayer, you play with friends and make a region that competes with other regions.
Its like WoW, you city will be the tanker, the other will be the healer the other the dps, if you had a big city you would not need others, now you can either focus on producing ore, or whatever, and then trade for other stuff, you cant have a huge developed city, because you will always depend on others, wich sucks, because if you friend stops playing you region will suffer because hes city wont produce anything.

[Sephiracle]

But financially it makes a lot of sense and is still what I figure Blizzvision did with D3. Pay for the infrastructure to handle the launch day rush? Or pay for the infrastructure to handle the traffic volume a couple of weeks after? A significant percentage of launch players will no longer be playing by then anyway and since they already paid? Well then, at least how I imagine the suits figure it, fuck 'em.

The problem is that if they only did this every so often it would make financial sense. However, since EA does this for literally every game they release people have grown weary of it and refuse to buy anything EA on release or just right after.

I would buy Simcity immediately but since EA owns Maxis I'm not going to touch it for probably at least a month down the road, and by then Bioshock will be out and I'll be busy playing that, so who knows when/if I end up buying it.

I still remember buying C&C3:TW and not being able to do co-op vs AI custom matches without the game suddenly 'desyncing' at random points in the game. It took them in the neighborhood of 6+ months to fix an extremely easy to replicate game breaking bug.

[Samoflange]

Anybody else experiencing the 'time freezing' bug where you can still play but most animations are frozen and is there a workaround? I can't place anything down when it happens, cars are frozen on the road, but some construction sims still animate, but the building is frozen. I'm getting this constantly after 10-15 min of playing and when I restart the game and go back to the same region, my work is completely undone and I have to start from scratch again.

Also before someone suggests it, no it's not the pause button.

[SirRobin]

Is there no offline option for this game? Is every game coming out now forced to always be connected? Ugh. I always sort of liked the simcity series but I'm not sure if I'll get this one if you have to always be on a server to play.

Nope, its EA's D3. Not everyone does it though. Even with online Steam, there are plenty of single-player games that I can play "offline." Just "certain" publishers and developers are pushing it as part of larger strategies. One of the reasons I don't buy their games anymore.

Used to like SimCity too. I'll just wait for an indie to do it better.

---------- Post added 2013-03-06 at 01:31 PM ----------

The problem is that if they only did this every so often it would make financial sense. However, since EA does this for literally every game they release people have grown weary of it and refuse to buy anything EA on release or just right after.

I would buy Simcity immediately but since EA owns Maxis I'm not going to touch it for probably at least a month down the road, and by then Bioshock will be out and I'll be busy playing that, so who knows when/if I end up buying it.

I still remember buying C&C3:TW and not being able to do co-op vs AI custom matches without the game suddenly 'desyncing' at random points in the game. It took them in the neighborhood of 6+ months to fix an extremely easy to replicate game breaking bug.

At least from EA's viewpoint, I just don't really see this as a problem. Whenever a game doesn't meet their goals they just purge the studio that made it, and then milk whatever they can from the suckers still willing to pay. The fact that EA is still huge is a pretty big hint that its been a money making strategy for them overall.

As long as plenty of folks are still willing to like it enough, or fall for the hype, to buy at launch? I don't really see any reason for EA to change their m.o. Yeah some of us wise-up and stop falling for it anymore but as long as most, well, don't? Keep playing that funky music white boy(John Riccitiello).

[Sephiracle]

At least from EA's viewpoint, I just don't really see this as a problem. Whenever a game doesn't meet their goals they just purge the studio that made it, and then milk whatever they can from the suckers still willing to pay. The fact that EA is still huge is a pretty big hint that its been a money making strategy for them overall.

As long as plenty of folks are still willing to like it enough, or fall for the hype, to buy at launch? I don't really see any reason for EA to change their m.o. Yeah some of us wise-up and stop falling for it anymore but as long as most, well, don't? Keep playing that funky music white boy(John Riccitiello).

EA wouldn't see it as a problem, they've reached a point in their corporation that their decisions are made purely on the shareholders and the studio and the people that work in them have no pull in those decisions.

I understand in the big picture me not purchasing the game may in turn have a studio shut down or people lose their jobs, but I'm not going to pay for a game I'm going to have issues even trying to play. Games don't need to be perfect, but they do need useable, and that's not what EA cares about any more.

The only way I can change the culture of a company I have no stake in is to prove it by not using my wallet.

[SirRobin]

EA wouldn't see it as a problem, they've reached a point in their corporation that their decisions are made purely on the shareholders and the studio and the people that work in them have no pull in those decisions.

I understand in the big picture me not purchasing the game may in turn have a studio shut down or people lose their jobs, but I'm not going to pay for a game I'm going to have issues even trying to play. Games don't need to be perfect, but they do need useable, and that's not what EA cares about any more.

The only way I can change the culture of a company I have no stake in is to prove it by not using my wallet.

Oh I agree completely. I'm not supporting their behavior with my wallet anymore either. Fortunately there are still lots of options out there for us PC gamers.

[Frozenbeef]

two days to go :P i hope it's a smoother launch here lol :P

[Edge-]

EA wouldn't see it as a problem, they've reached a point in their corporation that their decisions are made purely on the shareholders and the studio and the people that work in them have no pull in those decisions.

I understand in the big picture me not purchasing the game may in turn have a studio shut down or people lose their jobs, but I'm not going to pay for a game I'm going to have issues even trying to play. Games don't need to be perfect, but they do need useable, and that's not what EA cares about any more.

The only way I can change the culture of a company I have no stake in is to prove it by not using my wallet.

Mass Effect 3 says hi. Fan outcry works. Fans created a shitstorm about the ending, it ended up across gaming news sites everywhere, EA/BW responded with the extended cut DLC.

Jim Sterling did a pretty good video on why "whining" is actually more effective than boycotting. Check it out, it's worth a watch.

[furriusmurrius]

I wish Maxis wasn't working with EA in this age of DRM nonsense. This has to be the sloppiest and most unplayable launch of what I remember as a single player experience in my life. I played D3 at launch. At least when you got into D3 you weren't scared that 15 minutes later you'd experience any of a list of magical day-ruining bugs. I got this game yesterday at around 11am. In the last 26 hours I have -

Been entirely unable to even launch the game
Had dozens of issues joining a game with a friend of mine due to the Origin server not recognizing that either of us were online
Built a town for 20 minutes only to have the game crash and lose all progress
Not just lose progress in a town, but lose the town entirely and be unable to rejoin that particular region because someone had already claimed the plot of land (I.E. me, I claimed it.)
Sometimes I CAN get back into a town I started and crashed from, but the game thinks I am visiting now so I am unable to build or anything remotely considered gameplay
After building for a while I am informed I have budget issues, and the game goes into a secondary time freeze like described above - I can't build, place, remove, bulldoze, a single thing. Animation loops but no progress is made. And yes, it's not on pause.

Honestly, what a bummer. Had huge high hopes for this game after watching a few beta videos on it and a friend and I were super excited to build symbiotic cities, even if the DRM annoyed us, if it worked, we would deal with it.

As it stands currently I am giving it a day or two more before I attempt to get a refund.

Oh, and just to see if Origin was having issues in general I bought the Germany DLC, half expecting some sort of error message. Nope. Worked like a charm. Maybe if I install a coin slot on my pc I can feed it quarters to keep my progress after playing for 20 minutes.