For all the Pre-Order gamers out there...

[Gunnarr]

Lincoln also said: "One should not always trust quotes that one finds on the internet."

I have read a very lengthy biography on President Lincoln and he did indeed say it...

Another interesting about Lincoln, is someone witnessed Lincoln pulling children on a wagon, but while he was pulling it he was also reading. He was so distracted by the book, he didn't notice one of the children fell out and was crying. What a nerd

 

[nyah]

I preordered both, I just hope I can play Atilla before Skylines releases 8D
Then again I did put quite a bit of time in Rome 2 at release

I pre-ordered Rome 2, but considering the state of that game on release there's no way I'll be buying Atilla. When it comes down to under £10 then maybe.

Skylines... maybe. It depends on how much cash I have this month, but I'd like to buy it.

 

[Miwi]

I've decided that this is a much more trustworthy group of developers, and so pre-ordered the deluxe version. I do not mind being wrong for that price. Double that, like SC5 was, and it is a different story. I guess a better way of saying it is, "I believe in them as I used to believe in Maxis before SC."

I don't know where did you gain the trust in developers. I lost my trust with release of CiM2. The game was not ready at release, and never was finished, not even the most obvious bugs where fixed until today. And here I believe I see a deja-vu. At least from optical aspect the game appears not being ready, all left to the almighty modders.
And if I see that a "Deluxe" version which basically has 5 more buildings than the normal version should cost 25% more I see the direction... cow melking.
Although... if I see the repetition rate of buildings in the preorder trailer, maybe the 5 buildings more sum up to 25% more buildings than "Standard" version

 

[Imsvale]

It's not that "computers can't run simcity" that was a bunch of lies that maxis told to justify their always-on DRM. Different companies use different engines that work differently. I also don't know that there were any real problems with performance for simcity were there? They just made small cities.

That was the early excuse for always-online DRM, which was quickly proven to be bs. But the problems ran much deeper than that. It's not that computers couldn't run the game in that form; they obviously could. But that was within the constraints set by the engine and its parameters (e.g. timeouts for sewage "delivery"), as well as the city size. Much of the pathfinding was dumbed down immensely to improve performance, and that I think is the main reason they couldn't justify doing larger cities. Either they break pathfinding completely, or performance goes down the drain. Twice. They had painted themselves in a corner, and that's why they couldn't solve it. Computers are not ready for 1-to-1 simulation of people (and it wasn't just people) in a city builder without huge sacrifices that many of us cannot live with.

With Skylines they have the chance to rectify this blunder. Don't screw it up.

 

[RovertYU]

It is my first time to preorder a game through internet.
CO earns my trust as i have seen two ways communication between players and developers.

 

[Greygor69]

Everytime I feel about ranting about Steam I just sit back and think of Stardock and Origin

 

[charlesnew]

It is my first time to preorder a game through internet.
CO earns my trust as i have seen two ways communication between players and developers.

yeah, I agree. I have finally made the decision to preorder, and I am exited. I'm sure it will be better and more worth it than SC5.

 

[Engioc]

Once this game is released you wont be seeing much of me around these forums. Not only because I'll be busy map editing and then building my city....but because I fully expect these forums will be overrun with people ranting and raving about all the problems it may have on launch day.

I posted on the GTAnet.com forums going over my thoughts on what most forums look like in the first few days/weeks after a game is released. So I'll quote myself here (no doubt a lot of this applies to the CXXL forums right now ):

During the development of a game, forums go through a really strange life cycle of events that continually repeat over and over again and is partly the reason I rarely visit them.

Specifically I'm going to run through what accounts for the 99% of posts you'll read here and on any other forum during the life cycle of game development.

Prior to the announcement of a new version of [insert game]:

When will it be announced
Wishlist: I wish this [FPS] could be more like [City Builder]....Reply: Your a ^&&%$#
Wishlist: I'd like to see [controversial feature] added....Reply: They'll NEVER do that because its just too controversial
bitch and moan about how bad the last version was
last version was so bad I'll never buy another game from [insert developer]
Why is it taking so long to announce it....I hate [insert developer] because they never communicate properly with fans and treat us like sh*t


Once [insert game] has been announced:

When will it be released
Why cant you give us a date
Why cant [insert developer] communicate with fans better so at least we know whats happening
I hope its not going to be like the last one
Why does [insert developer] always treat their fans like sh*t, [insert developer] is much better
I bet its going to be delayed because [developer] don't care about their fans and always delay


Once a firm date has been announced:

It's taking too long, I'm going to go and play [game] instead, screw [developer] they treat their fans like sh*t
When will it be released
1 day later: When will it be released


Announcement game is being delayed:

I hate [developer] they always do this and treat their fans like sh*t
I bet its because [platform A] is crap and cant handle it as well as [Platform B, C, etc] can
When will it be released
I bet it will be delayed again, [developer] always do that

Finally released for consoles:

I want my money back
I hate [developer] they treat their fans like crap and their games are crap anyway
I'll never buy a [developer] game again
Wow this game is amazing, I love it.....Reply: your just a [developer] fanboy so go f yourself
When will the PC version be announced
There will never be a PC version because its a dead platform and there is too much piracy, and my [console] is better anyway so you should buy one and love it too
Mr Gamer: Why cant they just announce a PC version, then I would stop complaining
[developer] always treat PC fans like sh*t
Mr Rumor: It's OK everybody I know someone who screws someone who has a best friend who knows someone who works at [developer] and although I can't tell you who what how when where there will be a PC version because my friend told me so and its going to be awesome, trust me
We discover it now includes [controversial feature] that some claimed would NEVER be done


PC version announced:

When will it be released
What will the specs be
Mr Gamer: Why cant they give us a date when it will be released, if they did that I'd stop complaining
[developer] really treat PC fans like sh*t
I hope it will be better than the last version
I hope it won't be a $%^&* console port like the last version
I bet it will be delayed

PC version delayed:

{developer] don't care about PC fans, why do we always have to wait
That's the last straw, I'll never buy a game from [developer] again



1 day before release:

It's taken too long and I cant wait any longer, I'm not buying [game] any more because [developer] clearly doesn't care about PC gamers


PC version released:

I want my money back
[game] [feature] is crap and [developer] obviously doesn't care about PC gamers and always make sh*tty ports
[game] is so broken it will never be fixed because its not just bugs but serious underlying issues that are too hard to fix and I know because although I've never produced a single game in my life I still know how its done, I didn't say I was an expert, I just know everything
Mr Gamer: I'll never buy a game from [developer] ever again......Reply: Suckers, I knew it was going to be crap so I didn't buy it, I'm playing [game] instead, maybe I'll get it when it hits the bargain bin
How did it end up with so many serious unfixable problems when they already delayed it
Mr Gamer: Fondly remembers how previous [game] was so much better than the new one despite the fact he/she made all the same complaints during that games development


A few years later:

Mr Gamer: repeats all of his previous statements in order and buys the next version despite his claims he would never buy a game from [developer] again


The above can be seen on any forum on the internet today, gamers are such a great logical group of people aren't they. Of course like all gamers on forums I know everything I've said is 100% right, because like all gamers on forums I'm always right and you are always wrong.

And this is how these forums will look on day one of release too, it'll gradually fill up with posts about being deliberately lied to by CO/Paradox, cheated, wanting refunds....its just so typical I will be amazed if it doesn't end up like this.

 

[Person012345]

Why is it taking so long to announce it....I hate [insert developer] because they never communicate properly with fans and treat us like sh*t

Why cant [insert developer] communicate with fans better so at least we know whats happening

We never had these. Because the developer did communicate. We had one or two posts saying they didn't listen, because they didn't add every single thing that one guy wanted, but there was never any real complaints of lack of communication.

I've also not seen the "I want my money back" type posts in any quantity for games that are actually good.

 

[Kanimir]

Thanks for reminding me to avoid this forum after release, lol! Im serious, no matter how good this game is gonna be, there WILL be bugs and there WILL be things people won't like, and they are gonna be the most visible because the rest will be enjoying the game.

 

[Person012345]

Thanks for reminding me to avoid this forum after release, lol! Im serious, no matter how good this game is gonna be, there WILL be bugs and there WILL be things people won't like, and they are gonna be the most visible because the rest will be enjoying the game.

They didn't add flyable jets and didn't let you go around shooting terrorists.

The backlash will be fierce.

 

[TotalyMoo]

They didn't add flyable jets and didn't let you go around shooting terrorists.

The backlash will be fierce.

Honestly (I hope) we've been pretty open with not being able to act on too much feedback from the community prior to launch. Showing the game and getting people talking =/= making the exact game they ask for. If we wanted that we would have had Early Access or at least a beta.

 

[Couq]

A lot of the frustration appearing on forums post game-releases is mostly made up of misunderstandings of the game functions, it can typically be explained to the people voicing their worries.

I especially foresee a bunch of integrated graphic card users to be coming for technical aid, and people with computers too slow for the game to run properly. Those need advice on upgrading their computers or buy entirely new ones.

 

[Nolfy]

I did pre-order this game too. I expect some bugs and hopefully they can be squashed quickly. It is also clear that the balance of the game needs to be adjusted over time (gameplay can be easy or to difficult to do or players find new ways to play the game which weren't expected). If you have doubts about this game then simply don't pre-order.

We have seen the dev diaries, the youtubes, the forum posts and we know a bit what to expect and what not. That is more info than you get from a lot of other publishers/developers. For example i know the day/night cycle that will come in the future will be more cosmetic. I would have loved to see less people working during the night and sleep instead. Really big chance that this won't happen, because the simulation is intended to function differently with other ideas in mind. The same goes for real-time speed or "normal" speed so that i could see the peoples walk "normal" in the cities instead of very fast. When i play these games i often switch the speed.

 

[Engioc]

I honestly think CO are doing a great job, but lets face it, expectations are really high for many people here and no matter how good the game is on day one some people are bound to be unhappy with some aspect of the game.

Personally I'm prepared for an imperfect game. C:SL is the first of the series, and all games have their flaws anyway. Even my favorite games of the past, when you look at them now its easy to find things that could of made them even better, that's just how it is. I just feel that gamers have become an incredibly impatient lot, some game forums are worse than others I'll grant you that, but I still expect C:SL to get is share of haters in that first period after the games is released and I'll be very surprised if we don't get at least one of two people going as far as wanting refunds or making stupid statements about not buying CO/Paradox games again....it kind of makes me laugh sometimes how childish people become about these things, as if a game is life and death if its not as perfect as they'd hoped.

btw....
speaking of games not being perfect on the first attempt....I really wish those folks over at Nitro would get their act together (maybe Paradox supply some money) and give us an EIC2, CoTA2....those games weren't perfect either but they showed plenty of promise, looked like something they should be working to build upon. I love Port Royale, Patrician, Venice, games from Kalypso, but I liked the approach we got from Nitro as well....any sorry I guess that doesn't really belong on the C:SL forum.

 

[charlesnew]

Once this game is released you wont be seeing much of me around these forums. Not only because I'll be busy map editing and then building my city....but because I fully expect these forums will be overrun with people ranting and raving about all the problems it may have on launch day.

I posted on the GTAnet.com forums going over my thoughts on what most forums look like in the first few days/weeks after a game is released. So I'll quote myself here (no doubt a lot of this applies to the CXXL forums right now ):




And this is how these forums will look on day one of release too, it'll gradually fill up with posts about being deliberately lied to by CO/Paradox, cheated, wanting refunds....its just so typical I will be amazed if it doesn't end up like this.

Yep, I might not be spending that much time on these forums after release. Once everything has calmed down, then I will start looking through it again.

 

[Comrade Chaos]

Sorry, I had to giggle at the 'waiting for youtubers to play it' comment. If I want to watch some idiot who doesn't know what he's doing or knows the first thing about the game, I'll play it myself.
Hopefully there's a tutorial(?)

Yeah, cuz there's no city builder guys who have 50+ part video series on Simcity 4 on YouTube who will try Skylines...

 

[Greygor69]

Yep, I might not be spending that much time on these forums after release. Once everything has calmed down, then I will start looking through it again.

Of course here it will be Paradise Island compared to the Lord of the Flies setting on Steam

 

[tetrismaster]

I have no desire whatsoever for the deluxe edition pre-order bonuses, especially that soundtrack. But to support CO and Paradox, I'm buying that anyways. Off the Paradox website too (not steam).

 

[Hannodb]

If you pre-order a game which suddenly decides to come out, then please dont rant in forums at the very first day. From the start, this game has been campaigning with hate of SimCity. SimCity tried something by simulating everything but current PC's cant handle this. They failed but then suddenly Paradox hyping this game to the skylines by saying every populist things. Last dev diary screenshoots (that huge city) has only 65K people living in. It may not cover every aspect of your desired city building game. Devs find out this technical diffuculties too and given up on some features. Not to mention dlc craziness! In the end be carefull. Dont pre-order just wait 2-3 days.

I know what I want. When it come to games, they fall in two categories for me

1 Meh...boring...pass! (That is like 99.999% of all games)
2 I COVET THAT GAME!!! (the rest) (I don't covet often, so when I do, I do it properly!)

I saw Simcity Societies, and viewed it a a COLOSAL step backwards. Never bought it.

People complained about issues regarding Cities XL prerelease. They complained that it is "broken", but it did not convince me. I was hyped by playing a city builder that is gridless, and has a free camera. That has been a burning desire for me for years. I bought a new computer specially for this game,and preordered it (I think??) I also bought a couple of its "expansion" packs without watching any reviews. In the end, some major disappointing failures killed it for me, but I never regretted the choice I made.

In the beginning, I was hyped about SC2013. Everything looked great. Then I heard about the always-online requirement, and I was on a war mode. I never bought the game - which was hard at first - but I felt vindicated as the complaints came in. Frankly, I felt that people who bought this game deserved to be disappointed. EA's weasel practices in this game was well known, and in buying such a game anyway - you only encourage the bad practice in the gaming industry.

With Cities:Skylines, I've seen hours of actual gameplay footage. The amount of pre-release exposure this game had is amazing, to the point where I can confidently say its WYSIWYG. Frankly, the features in this game is unbelievably amazing. It combines everything that worked in both CXL and SC2013, and improved on it, and the things people complain about in these forums - it would be nice if they were "fixed", but they really don't bother me in the least. I have bought a new gaming machine just for this game, and preordered the delux version. I know (enough) what I'm getting, and I can assure you - there is no way in hell I will be disappointed with my purchase. That is a solemn promise!