Civilization VII

J Mysterio

Kind of surprised to see there isn't a Civ VII thread, so let's have one.

I mostly favour turn based games and strategy, and this has always been a favourite. Early indications are this will be very good indeed, though the wife may not like it.

It's landing Feb 11th, and I think 6th for early access. I'll be getting this on PS5.

It looks as though there will be three versions on launch: Standard, Deluxe, and Founders Edition.

https://civilization.2k.com/civ-vii/

EagererBeaver

5* reviews all over. Can't wait.

Will be playing on Mac though for the first time which makes me a bit nervous.

J Mysterio

I took the day off on Friday to play it 😂

First time I've ever done that

EagererBeaver

Have to qualify my comment. The reviews I read were all full of praise. The reviews I watched reckon it's highly problematic and needs a lot more work to make it as great as it should be.

J Mysterio

Issue seems to be lack of continuity through era changes. Personally, I don't like the sound of it (you change your whole identity?) but fingers crossed. But didn't Humankind do this? That was alright.

J Mysterio

Have not played quite as much as planned but initial feeling is one of disappointment. Have just about completed one play through and found a startling lack of depth and simplification of many systems. The AI is shockingly poor thus far, and found it very easy to dominate, to the point it has become somewhat boring already. I have also had several crashes, some of which have led me to just stop playing: the one more turn urge is not quite what it was before.

TheValeyard

Going to hold off and wait until two DLCs drop (which should be actual patches) bad see if the problems are sorted out

NeutralHandle

Potentially good game that should not have been released in current state.

I've played as far as about 25% into the exploration age, so approaching halfway through a game. Ran into a bug which prevented me from playing the way I wanted to play. A Mongolian civic doesn't work. It is supposed to compensate for the happiness penalty for having a lot of conquered settlements. This is important because the Mongols need to capture a multiple of the number of cities other civs do to achieve the military goals in their age. Reported it and asked them to fix my save file. Will hold off continuing until it is resolved.

There are other issues. You can lose important units as there is no way to cycle through them if they are not awaiting orders and you don't have a controller. The effects of age transitions are not made clear. You can't see how many movement points it takes to get anywhere without actually moving.

The AI is terrible, but that is pretty much expected with civ games, not something in a premature release.

Aside from all the bugs and issues, I do like the game. I like the structure and urgency imposed by the ages system. (They complete quickly and you need to move to complete your objectives before they do.) It also has a moderating effect meaning you can be more versatile with how you play and also you won't get so far ahead that the game becomes boring.

However I'm a bit annoyed by the issues. Not cheap and not a pre-release.