Sim City 5

[Grooveriding]

 

[KentState]

I was actually able to get in and play on the US East 1 server for about 2 hours last evening. Was able to completely fill up one area and start on a second region. So far the game feels really restrictive with the area sizes.

 

[blurredvision]

I played for a couple hours last night around the 8pm-10pm EST time frame, while you guys were in this thread bitching and moaning about how it is unplayable. I'm on US East 2.

Really fun game, runs better than the first beta. For those who actually bought it and are playing, what do you recommend when starting out a city as far as roads are concerned? Do you try to save cash and build only the smaller roads, then upgrade later on? Or are you starting out with 4-lane traffic light roads?

EDIT: I'm also still looking for a couple of friends to start a region with. Origin tag is blurredvision81.

 

[Wyndru]

Aside from the DRM and regarding gameplay, everyone keeps mentioning over at the ST forums that there is a reason this game wasn't named SimCity5...it's not really a new game in the series, it's just a new Sim game in general, just like SimCity Societies was a couple of years ago (although to be fair it wasn't even maxis who developed that).

I don't know what's so hard about continuing a game series using what has succeeded in the past, it's seems these days game devs/publishers always feel the need to completely modify everything each release. And usually not for the better.

 

[Phobic9]

I played for a couple hours last night around the 8pm-10pm EST time frame, while you guys were in this thread bitching and moaning about how it is unplayable. I'm on US East 2.

Really fun game, runs better than the first beta. For those who actually bought it and are playing, what do you recommend when starting out a city as far as roads are concerned? Do you try to save cash and build only the smaller roads, then upgrade later on? Or are you starting out with 4-lane traffic light roads?

EDIT: I'm also still looking for a couple of friends to start a region with. Origin tag is blurredvision81.

When I start a city, I usually plan the layout using dirt roads and gradually upgrade as the city progresses. I try to plan based on where I want my "downtown" area to be so I'll focus on upgrading the land value first then the roads. I learned pretty quickly that spending all your money on roads usually causes me to have to triple up on bonds since I don't have money for nearly anything else.

When the game/servers actually let me play, it's actually pretty fun. I'm looking for some people to play with as well. I'm on North America East 2 and I think I have some cities on West 2 as well.

My origin ID is Voxx99 if anyone wants to add me.

 

[JJ24]

EDIT: I'm also still looking for a couple of friends to start a region with. Origin tag is blurredvision81.

add me "Reshals42" is my origin tag
Ive been playing on the US East1 but don't mind changing, im not terribly attached to Failville, Crisistown, or Whateverman I've made so far...

I usually make one of the 4 lanes off the main highway into my land area... I use this as the main boulevard and then branch off with low or medium density roads only for starting out... Has worked okay for me so far, though I am far from an expert at this city building stuff LOL....

 

[SpatiallyAware]

Ok I got a few hours in last night, and the game is fun. I exited, then tried to reconnect and couldn't so I went to bed. IE the servers or whatever are still having problems, so if you get in DO NOT leave your city.


The city sizes do seem small but it's playable. I was able to completely fill my square in 2 hours, at ~25k population. I understand the game mechanics "want" me to make a new city and connect them, I get it.


I am still absolutely BLOWN AWAY at the number of "fake / shill" EA users on their forums. Seriously at least 30% of the people on that forum right now are obvious EA shills trying to cover-up how bad the game is.

I know we all read this crap all the time, but this is it for me... I am never buying another EA product. I don't care how good the "former franchise" was, or the hype behind the game, or even if it's 'online only' or not. I'm done with them.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

http://harding.ae/simstat/#.UTnueFd7fAM


Server status URL.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

http://forum.ea.com/eaforum/posts/list/9344615.page

Check out that thread.. Such a perfect example of the EA shill accounts.

Someone posts a question and a problem, and username123453645 replies with how they should purchase the DLC add-ons.


This is friggin hilarious. I can't believe none of the higher ups at EA are stopping this.

 

[Stuka87]

I was able to play yesterday with zero issues. No server disconnects or anything. This was on US West 1. Even tried joining and quitting a few times when I was done for the night.

Blurred Vision: I start out with medium density roads. Gotta save up a bit more, but saves money in the long run, and allows your industry to expand unimpeded.

 

[Stuka87]

http://forum.ea.com/eaforum/posts/list/9344615.page

Check out that thread.. Such a perfect example of the EA shill accounts.

Someone posts a question and a problem, and username123453645 replies with how they should purchase the DLC add-ons.


This is friggin hilarious. I can't believe none of the higher ups at EA are stopping this.

Pretty sure you are seeing spammer accounts, as none of the post you have linked have any usernames like that.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

Pretty sure you are seeing spammer accounts, as none of the post you have linked have any usernames like that.

Yes, they're EA spammers trying to get people to buy DLC.

Did you even read the link? Read the first and second post of the link you just quoted......

 

[Soundmanred]

Pretty sure you are seeing spammer accounts, as none of the post you have linked have any usernames like that.

MassEffect2_296105537204

 

[SpatiallyAware]

EA servers are still PACKED with people unable to login in, "server disconnect" errors, etc etc etc


And the EU was released today as well.




Should be an interesting weekend.

 

[redrider4life4]

I was able to play this morning with no issues, but I am not sure how the global economy region sinking is working right now. The maps are small, but that was what they wanted, they wanted people to book regions that worked together not one big city with everything.

The main issue with this is I was in a region where I was exporting oil/processors/metal for large profits, but when the servers crashed none of this was working. I made 500k in about an hour of actual gameplay at llama speed then once all the server issues started sims wouldn't commute, my profits from exporting globally weren't working, I went from a 2k/hr profit in my city to -10k with no workers or tourists. I ended up going bankrupt and just had to abandon the city.

This makes me really nervous to actually try a city that isn't completely self sustaining because you lose hours of your time and the map area isn't big enough for a self sustaining city with massive profits.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

And that right there is by far the biggest issue with the game.

Everyone says ignore the server issues, just keep trying again, just make a new city.


Well... Part of sim city is being 'attached' to your city... Wanting to make it grow... It's part of how you get involved in the game.

And you cannot do that. I have also lost 2 cities that were doing well, one due to time shifting the other just disappeared.



This whole thing is ridiculous. I'm still on the fence about just buying sim city 4 and dropping the entire idea of actually being able to play this game.

 

[exar333]

Couple of observations:

1 - reading this thread has been pretty eye-opening. Aside from some specific shills posting here, it is pretty clear the launch has been a disaster. Between three people I know that got the game on launch day, only one has been able to play more than about 1-2 hours. That's REALLY bad.

2 - this doesn't even compare with the D3 launch. I think D3 had a lot more gameplay issues at launch that were patched and Blizzard is still working on (drops, difficulty, missing features, etc) but it was mostly playable for folks. There was some downtime, and a little waiting the first few days, but it was OK. The AH was really the worst, but that is secondary to me over actually playing the game.

3 - I have a copy of SC5 on delivery today from Amazon. Apparently got delayed due to snowstorms here, but maybe that was a blessing because if I got this 2 days ago, I probably would be more frustrated than I am now. Anyway, trying to decide if I should install and see if I can play, let it sit for a while and then try it out, or just flat-out return it and maybe get it at a later time when I can get an offline hack or something.

I consider myself a pretty big SC fan. I played all SC games, except 4 (just didn't have time around when that came out) and it sucks to see this type of launch. My brother, on the other hand, is a HUGE fan and has spent hundreds of hours on probably every SC game. He is really bummed and had the game downloaded right at launch and still has yet to play more than 5 minutes before either a crash or a server timeout. Wondering how long he will go until he is fed-up and shrugs-off the whole franchise.

Congrats to EA for managing to shed dedicated fans to a franchise for over twenty years, in just days after a new game launch. Seriously, that takes EFFORT to work that hard to turn loyal fans against you.

This is why I find myself more and more dusting-off old titles and playing them. We are well on our way to building a 'dark gaming decade' where no one will play the games that are released now in the future, because of both quality and accessibility.

 

[CPA]

EA servers are still PACKED with people unable to login in, "server disconnect" errors, etc etc etc


And the EU was released today as well.




Should be an interesting weekend.

EU players having same issues.

 

[Regs]

I see the creative directors vision quote: "Real cities don't live in bubbles, real cities are connected to each other."

Then shouldn't this be Sim World then? Maybe he over shot the scope of the game.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

Couple of observations:

1 - reading this thread has been pretty eye-opening. Aside from some specific shills posting here, it is pretty clear the launch has been a disaster. Between three people I know that got the game on launch day, only one has been able to play more than about 1-2 hours. That's REALLY bad.

<snip>

Get your tinfoil hats ready.


I flat out don't believe the people claiming they've had no problems since day 1. No way, no how. The EA forums are full of people paid by EA to specifically say over and over that it's "just fine, just be patient and try again! It's an amazing game so don't give bad reviews! I have had 0 problems connecting!!"


Every night I have attempted to connect and reconnect, countless times, and have been able to play the game only twice, maybe three times.

Every day at lunch I've tried to connect, just to see if it would, and have had NO luck.


This is across every NA server.

I think we have a bunch of people, here included, who are paid by EA to spread misinformation regarding this game.

 

[Grooveriding]

 

[Nintendesert]

Get your tinfoil hats ready.


I flat out don't believe the people claiming they've had no problems since day 1. No way, no how. The EA forums are full of people paid by EA to specifically say over and over that it's "just fine, just be patient and try again! It's an amazing game so don't give bad reviews! I have had 0 problems connecting!!"


Every night I have attempted to connect and reconnect, countless times, and have been able to play the game only twice, maybe three times.

Every day at lunch I've tried to connect, just to see if it would, and have had NO luck.


This is across every NA server.

I think we have a bunch of people, here included, who are paid by EA to spread misinformation regarding this game.

That's ridiculous.

 

[exar333]

Love this.

 

[Sid59]

i'd kill to find my install files/keys for SC3K, such a good game.
I'll probably wait out for a sale on the game or until server issues are resolved.

Aside from the annoying always-online connection, the gameplay looks great. I played a few hours of Tropico4 to see if it was worth the buy, i couldn't do it.

 

[Regs]

Aside from the DRM and regarding gameplay, everyone keeps mentioning over at the ST forums that there is a reason this game wasn't named SimCity5...it's not really a new game in the series, it's just a new Sim game in general, just like SimCity Societies was a couple of years ago (although to be fair it wasn't even maxis who developed that).

I don't know what's so hard about continuing a game series using what has succeeded in the past, it's seems these days game devs/publishers always feel the need to completely modify everything each release. And usually not for the better.

Didn't the original creator of Sim City, Will Wright, try to sue EA/Maxis for taking his ideas when he "left" the company? I was always under the impression that all intellectual property and trademarks belonged to the publisher, but this might be a special case. In either case, Will Wright burned a lot of bridges in his career.