That’s all. Played Civ since IV and the boardgame-like nature of it meant that I’ve gotten a lot of friends and family into it as a means to experience video games in general.
Civ VII looks really bad, even if I haven’t played it myself. Systems upon systems that aren’t properly explained, that somehow feel both cluttered and less in-depth than previous entries. Three truncated games making up the segments of one larger game is lame, too. A bad solution to the problem of people burning out in the later eras.
Most of all, though, is the business model of it all. Civ already leaned into 4X DLC conventions which meant getting the whole package was an expensive endeavor, but at least, for example, Civ VI had just two major expansion packs. Civ VII is already drowning into microtransaction leader purchases.
And then there’s, just, the price. It’s obscene. Denuvo is devastating to see as it creates a lot of barriers to giving the thing a try. I don’t get excited for games any more, but Civ VII would have been one of them.
Anyone try it themselves? Anyone in love? Anyone feel like me?
Tbh, I think the only reason I got into 6 at all is because of the price going down enough over time. The DRM thing, Denuvo, based on what I’m finding about it is hot garbage (hurt the honest buyer so that you can try to stop some piracy, wheee capitalism and its obsession with punishment and control). The pricing and DLC scheme is straight out of Ubisoft/EA playbook, you could fool me into thinking it was being published by them. That alone is enough reason to give it a pass. But based on the steam reviews, it sounds like they failed even on the gameplay. Capitalism strikes again.
Good reason to enjoy older games for what they are while they are and avoid the major western publishers outside of that.
But yeah, my sympathies about the sorry state of it. There’s a reason I almost never buy new games anymore.