Opinions on Galactic Civilization 3?

[Kalmah]

I want to try this game. I remember playing Galciv2 years ago and liking it. I'm seeing a lot of reports of bugs. Most of the reviews that I'm finding are ~6 months old. Has the game been patched up to fix the bugs since then?

Stardock has started giving me the impression that they aren't able to deliver what they plan for in their games.

Since it's on Steam sale right now, it would be a good time to buy it..

 

[nurturedhate]

It's a solid game. I put in quite a bit of hours into it. I can get a little repetitive towards the end of games and it doesn't have quite the depth of games like Civ V. I remember playing less than $20 for it though. I'd say it is worth $15-20. YMMV.

 

[XavierMace]

If you like GalCiv2, odds are you'll like GalCiv3. I was in since the original Alpha, I never found it to be as buggy as people make it out to be, even in beta. By the release date, I wouldn't hesitate to call it very solid from a stability point. I don't recall getting a single crash or hang with the release version nor do I recall much in the way of glaring bugs. Most of the complaints I saw were from people who didn't meet the minimum system requirements or were sitting at the minimums. They aren't joking with the requirements, check them out before buying.

I wouldn't necessarily say Stardock doesn't deliver on what THEY have in plan. I would say Stardock often doesn't deliver on what their customers have in mind. Brad (aka Frogboy on the forums) is VERY enthusiastic when they announce a new product. That spills over into their fan base. That enthusiasm causes the fan base to have to have very high expectations. There were many threads on the forums back in alpha of people whining that "I expected it to have feature X" purely because they wanted it, not because Stardock made any mention of it. With a few exceptions (I'm looking at you Fallen Enchantress), Stardock is VERY consistent with what you get with their games.

+ Continued patch support after release
+ Developers that actually listen to their fans
+ Some level of mod support
+ Solid gameplay

- Artwork/graphics is very MEH, mostly the UI.
- Not much new from a gameplay perspective.

Plus the typical Stardock humor/jokes which you either love or hate.

 

[JTsyo]

Played through it and enjoyed it but couldn't keep going back like I could for Civ5. I like the 3 types of weapons and defense, makes designing your fleet a bit more interesting. Though not having any input during the battle is a minus in my book but that's the way the GalCiv games have been. The only other complaint I have is the AI, though I haven't tried a game after they improved the AI.

 

[nurturedhate]

The more I look at this game in hindsight the more I REALLY DISLIKE their DLC method. Charging $5 for a new race. Charging $5 for some new random events. Charging $5 for a new planet class.... This stuff feels more like what should just be included in standard patches or at least put into a single DLC for $5.

 

[Kalmah]

Thanks for the info fellas.

 

[TidusZ]

I got only about 35 hours out of it. It's a good game but it really needs a full expansion or two which still don't exist. The $5 DLC are a waste of time otherwise. I'd say hold off until they release a full size expack for it, if they ever do, and get it on sale then. If I could sum up galciv3 in 2 words it would be untapped potential. The ship building is really nice (put a bunch of engines on your ship and they can move 20 spaces in one turn...), the hex building system is pretty good, and having my ships look like star trek ships is a nice bonus.

If you haven't played Endless Legend I'd recommend that instead. 200 hours and counting. It's a similar type of game and IMO the best 4x to date with a great UI that makes learning the game painless.

 

[Sulaco]

I just bought the game as well over the STEAM sale.

I was a big fan of GalCiv 2 and its expansions, but held off buying GalCiv 3 at launch after hearing some negative things about it.

Decided the Steam sale price was too good to pass up, and hopefully some patches and updates have fixed some initial issues.

I haven't played it much at all yet. When I finally get a real game going I'll post back some impressions.
I'm most concerned about diplomacy and AI interaction; something I feel is grossly neglected by most grand strategy games these days. Even the vaunted Civ 5, which I've had since launch, had WAY, WAY too many serious AI and diplomatic issues for me to take it seriously. That's been improved now, obviously, but people forget for about the first 2 years of Civ 5 being out it was a joke in that regard. It took two major expansions and however many patches to really address some of those problems.
So I'm not willing to throw GalCiv III under the bus just yet for having a few issues out of the gate.

 

[Ranulf]

Eh, I like the game well enough. It is better than galciv2 overall. I am not a fan of civ5, I much prefer 4 and I'd rather play galciv3 than civ5. I'd say its definately worth $20-25 if you're into 4x space games. I do wish I'd held off simply because the pricing has dropped a lot this year. It was on sale for $35 on the summer steam sale just after it came out at $50.

I picked up Endless Space during the fall sale, not played it yet though.

 

[Danwar]

i made the mistake of buying GalCiv 1 hoping it would be a succesor to the good old MoO2. I wasnt. It was a good game but never got the urge to play it again after the first game i won.

a few years later

i made the mistake of buying GalCiv 2 hoping it would be a succesor to the good old MoO2. I wasnt. It was a good game but never got the urge to play it again after the first game i won.

a few years later

i made the mistake of buying GalCiv 3 hoping it would be a succesor to the good old MoO2. I wasnt. It was a good game but never got the urge to play it again after the first game i won.

Good games but i never got into the whole rock/paper/scissor combat system. Good ai though.

 

[Denithor]

i made the mistake of buying GalCiv 1 hoping it would be a succesor to the good old MoO2. I wasnt. It was a good game but never got the urge to play it again after the first game i won.

a few years later

i made the mistake of buying GalCiv 2 hoping it would be a succesor to the good old MoO2. I wasnt. It was a good game but never got the urge to play it again after the first game i won.

a few years later

i made the mistake of buying GalCiv 3 hoping it would be a succesor to the good old MoO2. I wasnt. It was a good game but never got the urge to play it again after the first game i won.

Good games but i never got into the whole rock/paper/scissor combat system. Good ai though.

You do know there's going to be a new Master of Orion, right? In the works now.

 

[Danwar]

You do know there's going to be a new Master of Orion, right? In the works now.

what?! awesome!

 

[Denithor]

Yeah, I about crapped when I saw it was under development. Sticking very close to roots, all ten races, research trees, etc. I spent many, many hours on the original MoO back in my college days.

masteroforion.com

I think there are also details on Pre-Release/Alpha/whatever on Steam. Have no idea on release date or anything though.

 

[Danwar]

man its been ages since i played Moo1 .... once 2 came out i never looked back.

hard to get excited about a game that i have barely any memories of... (MoO2 was that good... it totally blew the 1st one away in my mind.)

i remember liking the first one though, so its great news!