Civ VI - yay or nay?

[[VR] optimal_909]

So, after waiting a long time for a decent sale, I picked it up this weekend on Steam.
I started a marathon game and currently at 104 mins gametime - to be honest I am at odds whether to keep or refund it.

The graphics and art is neutral for me, but I prefer Civ V's. As for the rest of the assets, like when you discover a technology, all appear a bit flat.
Barely scratched the districts, which seems to be a nice feature.

Then comes the AI. It's OK if a Civ declares war that has denounced me two times, but then again why another that is friendly and praising me goes to war at the same time?
I refunded X-COM 2 for the broken AI (even though I spent 100s of hours in X-Com EU/EW) and it seems 2K is simply terrible at making proper computer opponents, hence comes erratic and cheating mechanics.

Is the mid-late game better, or are there any mods that fix at least the AI? No huge Earth map is also a letdown (I know, there are user created versions, but still). At the moment it just failed to induce the 'one more turn' magic.

 

[Ian Skippy]

There is a lot of added depth you may have missed, but AI remains pants. It either cheats at higher levels or siply offers no challenge. The game is immensely complex for an AI since the stack of dooms were banned, it wont be patched or modded.

There indeed are excellent gigantic maps of Earth, with a beast of a pc you can put all city states and civs on it in the correct places. I had a,marathon game where, playing as Arabia, I had little to no clue as to what happened on 90% of the map.

 

[[VR] optimal_909]

Well, if I'll give it another try, I'll start on an archipelago, so that at least no land invasion is possible early in game.

I always preferred Earth maps, so if there are gigantic ones, I'll go for it - I upgraded my rig to handle VR, so that should be no problem.

 

[Evanitis]

Civ IV is my favorite of the series. With that said... I preferred Civilization games when they were roughly the only titles in the genre. I'd pick other grand strategies these days unless I really insisted on going trough the entire human history.

I love the complexity of Distant Worlds Universe and Crusader Kings 2. I'd only recommend those to people who feel ED is simple, quick and easy to learn.

Europa Universalis and Hearts of Iron only focuses on a slice of history, but those are much more user-friendly titles. The latter also has a very promising Fallout mod I'm planning to play for a while.

And there is always Stellaris. I love the stories that emerge there, but it's a bit too streamlined for my taste. Almost as simple as a Civ game.

 

[[VR] optimal_909]

Thanks, some good points there.

The reason I'm inclining to Civ is that the basic mechanics are more-or-less the same in the series, so it very easy to pick up the new one. I tried Europa Universalis, and I desperately wanted to like Hearts of Iron, but the complexity and micromanaging is way higher... and obviously unfamiliar with a steep learning curve.

All-in-all I'm in a strange situation - on one hand I do like the slow pace of strategy games, on the other hand I just can give enough time and effort to get into a new one. Elite covers my main gaming needs, sometimes I also like casual titles (both normal and VR), but again sometimes I just like to kick back and stare the screen of Civ V (or games like Tropico) - that's where Civ VI should bring something new.

So I guess I need to bite the bullet and keep it.

P.S. Elite is a complex game, but got very complex lately with Beyond. For me it happened gradually, as I got into it 3+ years ago.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

I love each and every Civ with a passion, was completely addicted to IV.

VI is about the district distribution and placement. It's a little gamey, since after a few playthroughs you know which wonders to go for and to place your districts so future ones get the biggest adjacency bonuses. As Sleutel said, the AI has quite a few difficulties with the one (two) unit per square rule. I find it's even worse with naval units. Also I'm no fan of special unit spamming, but given the amount of religious fanatics the AI can send your way, sometimes, you have no choice.

But a subpar Civ for me still beats many other games by a landslide.

 

[jasonbarron]

My tastes run more towards the EU & Hearts of Iron franchises, but I have had a lot of fun playing Civ VI which is a bit silly in comparison, but totally worth checking out.

 

[Zak Gordon]

Civ IV is my favorite of the series.

By a country mile for my part. Out of all the games that Civ inspired (I was a fan/modder on the Call To Power games also), Civ IV (with the BTS expansion) is the best the series has ever been. Sure the Stacks of Doom can be a problem, and the python element does slow it down in the later stages (not so much on good machines these days), but it fit 'everything' you could want from a civ game in.

You have to look at the mods: Fall From Heaven II, Dune Wars (or whatever version it is now called) and A New Dawn. That later one i've been enjoying for the last month or so and it really makes a great 'vanilla' type Civ game, just with a bit more depth and refinement.

We will never see another civ game like Civ IV sadly but luckily the modders will keep making top class mods for it

So that would be a 'nay' from me. Why pay for a lesser game experience than Civ IV offers?

 

[Cmdr Eagleboy]

I have played hundreds of hours of all civs I think. My friend got into EU and ohh boy that's time sinker. Six game is definitely fun take on classic Civ formula, so yeah I enjoyed it. Love both Civ V and VI music. Incredible work.

 

[[VR] optimal_909]

Tried EU during a free weekend and then bought it.

Got dragged into a war and managed to get to assault an enemy county. Yet, when I was there, the two other suddenly made peace and I had to retire for whatever game mechanics. Haven't touched it every since.