this will temper your enthusiasm:

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/0...ears-for-this/

More SimVillage or The Simscity

Hurray for work VPN, downloading now. Should be playing in an hour or so.

I really want to play this, despite my reservations (go fucking die, EA). But it sucks I'm working out of town this week. Arma 3 alpha goes live too damnit.

Edit: wow, after reading that ars technica article, my fears seem to have been realized. Sounds like SC had more options and scale 20 years ago than in 2013. What a fucking joke.

You just know in a few months EA will be all, we listen to our customers, buy bigger lot DLC for only $9.99! Subways for only 19.99! Tunneling for $4.99! Terrain modification pack, $30 expansion with fun 'raining cats and dogs' weather system!

Sad because the backed sounds perfect for simulating a complex city, but I guess games can't be complex anymore because people are dumb. SC 4 and TTD aren't leaving my HD I guess.

Ok... now I am confused.

Is the game good, or is it a piece of crap?

Seems like it's mostly good.

http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/si...critic-reviews

You're absolutely never going to please everybody

My only complaint so far is the small city sizes. That's offset by regions though.

My biggest problem, and why I won't fork over $60, is the fact it's saved online rather than having the option to saving it to the HDD.

Constant internet connection sucks. I think I'll hold off on this now.

Is having a constant internet connection really that big of a deal in 2013? Even if your connection is spotty, it won't stop you from playing unless you've been offline for more than around 10 minutes at a time.

I say yes just because of travel and the fact internet goes out, sometimes for days.

Other than special exceptions like travel, military, etc., it shouldn't be a real problem. But really, it's the principle of the thing. It FEELS restrictive, even if in practice it isn't (exceptions excluded). There are also concerns about what happens if they decide to pull the plug, but I believe they'll get rid of that DRM at some point. If they want to keep selling it, they'll have to do it.

I have a question though about the connected thing. Is it possible to play the game "alone," entirely in your own game world? Or, do you have to have other players' cities around you?

I believe you can. I've seen reviewers note that the "Regions" setup makes sense in multiplayer but doesn't in single.

Yep, I'm playing in a "private" region right now. Just started my second city and I'm making my first city into a industrial empire of sorts and all my Sims in my second city commute to the first one for work. Keeps my second city all nice and clean. They get their power/water/trash/sewage taken care of by the first city too.

Of course now that the game is actually out in NA the game server seems to of died when I tried switching to my other city. Hurray!

edit: Restarting fixed it. Phew.

The pitfalls of online only is all too familiar. Hope EA can fix the problems.

http://kotaku.com/5988600/simcity-la...-server-queues

So what do you guys think, who have been able to play it?

Is SimCity online now? I haven't played since simcity 2000. It's kind of stupid for them to do an online save since EA is always shutting down servers for older games...

Edit: Nevermind, I actually read through this thread. I need to go install Sim Towers now. I loved that game...

I've played like 10 hours since around 8PM yesterday. I've only had one hiccup right at midnight, but it was quickly resolved.

Sim Tower is classic. If you have an iPad, pick up Yoot Tower, it's the same game.

Also, pick up Sim City 4 Deluxe if you've never played it. I'm sure 5 will be fun enough, but 4 is brilliant. And there are some superb traffic and highway mods that expand your construction options considerably.

I'll have to tell the kids that I need their ipad for work related reasons... I was actually playing the TRU facebook game a few weeks ago since it reminded me of sim towers (a really stupid version).

I'll have to look into getting Sim City 4 Deluxe as I would assume it's dirt cheap now. By the time I get around to playing Sim City 5, the servers will probably be down.

Your kids have iPads? Lucky sons of bitches.

They bought them with their own money. I thought it was a stupid purchase just like when they bought ipod touches... Too bad Yoot Tower isn't available on android devices.

Look for Droid Towers

If you picked up SimCity, feel free to add me on Origin (same username there as on here). I'm about to start up my first game of it now.