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From: JAB <noway@nochance.com>
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action
Subject: Re: Civ VII: OMG they're selling horse armor
Date: Mon, 24 Mar 2025 09:17:34 +0000
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On 22/03/2025 14:17, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
> On Sat, 22 Mar 2025 08:55:58 +0000, JAB <noway@nochance.com> wrote:
> 
>> On 19/03/2025 18:52, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
>>>> ...I'm beginning to think I'll stick with IV, V and VI.
>>> You're not the only one.
>>>
>>> Apparently fewer people are playing "Civilization VII" than are
>>> playing "Civilization 5" right now (and it's about half of those
>>> playing "Civilization VI").* It's not a good sign when a game released
>>> one month ago is being trounced by a game released a decade-and-a-half
>>> earlier.** And the publisher's intent to push monetizations hasn't
>>> made users any happier.
>>
>> You have to be a special kinda dev. to muck up the release of a Civ game.
> 
> The problem is, I think, that "Civilization" is essentially, mature
> software. Not the 4X genre, but the style of 4X that the
> "Civilization" games offer. Sure, you can upscale the visuals a bit
> but the formula is solved. If you muck around with it too much, then
> it stops being a Civilization game, but if you don't much around with
> it, then you give people no reason buy your newer version.
> 
> There are still a lot of things you can do with the 4X genre, but
> if you try to wedge those ideas into the Civilization framework,
> you're going to have problems. This is an issue the franchise has had
> since its inception, and its been struggling with it with every
> iteration. Sometimes they manage to make it work, but it's added
> overhead to every release.
> 
> Not every franchise needs to be extended infinitely, despite what the
> marketeers say.

It also add that unlike quite a few other IP's it doesn't have the 
option of keeping all the basic mechanics, making a new setting, add in 
some weapons (all based on the same archetypes) and finally tacking on 
what passes for a plot in these type of games. You can move Civ to space 
(Beyond Earth) but that's about it.