And this is on 3PM on a Thursday, with all of these features disabled. I can't even imagine what this weekend will be like.

going the way of Oceanic Flight 815

What are they doing with all the servers they turn off every year?

Are we approaching biggest release debacle in PC Game Release history territory here?

Loudest maybe. But every big server-based game goes through this crap.

I don't think Loudest either. I had no problem with the Diablo 3 launch but people made that seem like the end of the world.

I just hope these companies re-evaluate always-on. Not having the option to play a game like this offline is idiotic.

Yep, what bullshit. You can quit the tutorial though.

Stupid DRM online bs effing EA hate you so much die die die

If people keep buying, and on day 1 no less, they have no reason to re-evaluate.

Wow... a lot of people are pissed....

I'm glad I decided to pass. The game is developed as if it's an MMO, but it clearly isn't one.

I can live with the persistent online connection (as I do with Diablo III), and the city size, while a huge disappointment, is tolerable, but the inability to save and load/reload my city whenever I want, is, to me, a non starter.

The only non-starter for me (literally) is not being able to log on to a server to play.... dumbest thing I have ever seen in a game.

I saw the 60$ price tag and declined. I was going to get this eventually, but maybe not so far. Just hearing the crap you people are going though is a massive turnoff.

It's a shame it's marred with these issues, because it really is a good game. It CAN be a great game, only time will tell. This launch though... not good. This weekend is going to be BRUTAL.

And THIS is one of the reasons why I questioned if this game really required an internet connection to play.

This game can be played offline, yet you're required to have an internet connection (not always possible - especially if commuting) and you're also at the mercy of the servers.

I'd be pissed spending that much money on a game that you should be able to play offline, but can't because the servers are down. At least with an MMO it's understandable - online is integral to the gameplay.

I really hope they lose a shitload of money on this monumental stupidity.

Amazingly, the servers were stable enough for me to create a new city. It needs some work, but so far it's pretty solid. I've been digging the circular road layout, but I had to deviate from this a bit more than I wanted just due to the size restrictions.

Yup, and this fiasco has made all the game's questionable design decisions so clear. The small city size has nothing to with how complex the backend simulation is and how it taxes your computer. In fact it sounds like sim AI is basic and even broken in some ways. It was simply to limit the amount of data being sent back and forth between your game and the server to calculate the region interactions, which are server side. Why else would disabling cheetah speed reduce the server load? I'd bet money the game was originally intended to allow you to build freely all over the region at once, or that was at least an option offline. I mean really, they expect us to believe this crap is more complex than ROller Coaster Tycoon or any number of complex management games that were popular over a decade ago? Just awful all around.

Still trying to join your region flashburn, but the server has been full every time I tried to play tonight.

I looked into this game yesterday because I really liked all of the old simcity games. I clicked on this thread and watched the video in the first post. I immediately wanted to buy it. So, I went to Amazon and saw that it is getting 1 star. And after reading the reviews on there and in here, guess I won't be picking it up anytime soon.

On top of that, I can't even send an invite because the in game friends list is server specific and you won't show up on it until you play on that specific server. There are also friends list issues right now where that list is lagging quite a bit (3+ hours) and not showing the correct status of people.

I'd wait a week, and check back with us. It's definitely worth playing... once the server issues are worked out.

The frustrating thing (beyond not being able to play) is that if you disconnect once you're playing in your city, the game continues on while it tries to reconnect in the background. Which means that offline mode is not only possible, it's built-in! You just can't get into your city unless the server is up.

I'm pretty sure when your disconnected though you can't go to region view and all the resource sharing/commuting is disabled as well.


Oh, and they turned off resource sharing/commuting last night and never mentioned it. One less feature!

By the time they're done disabling features the only thing that will work is the tutorial.

You are a bit too optimistic. I'm thinking only the launcher will work by the end of the weekend.