Civ IV complete $37 out 5/12, no DRM

[DaveSimmons]

Retail is $40, Amazon has it for $37 (ASIN: B0026EGO3A).

DRM-free:
http://www.2kgames.com/civ4/complete/

I've somehow managed to never play a Civ game. Is Civ IV the one to start with, or should I start with I, II, II or Alpha Centauri instead?

 

[Chriscross3234]

I'd say start off with Civ IV as it is, comparatively, more user friendly and still has a strong community backing the game up. I'd strongly advise going to Civ Fanatics for tons of strategies and info for newer and experienced players alike.

I haven't really played any of the early Civilizations except for Civ III, which apparently wasn't as good or didn't really improve upon Civ II as much as everyone would of liked. As for Alpha Centauri, if you really start to like Civ IV then I would strongly recommend this game to you. It will be a bit of a heart-break because it will leave you saying "Man, why didn't they include some of the features in AC in Civ IV, or better yet, why don't they make a ACII...".

BTW this is an absolutely great deal to have Civ IV + expansions + Colonization for only 40 bucks...

 

[NoWhereM]

I've got them all, I've been a fan of the series since it began. Civilization IV introduced serious changes in the basic economics of the game, mainly in the way the game calculates city income, aimed at forcing players to play the game in the way the designers thought it should be played. If you've never played before you obviously won't notice anything wrong, though.

Civilization IV is the best of the series graphically by far. I prefer the gameplay of Civilization III, but in large part that's because it uses the same basic economic formula that I'm used to.

I would have advised you to buy Civilization Chronicles, a compilition of the entire series through the original release of Civilization IV, but they've raised the price on it drastically since I purchased it. I got it for $29 shipped from Amazon.com, now they have it listed for $107 which is absurd. The original game was DOS, you really don't want anything earlier than Civilization III unless you get Chronicles.


Edit to add I hadn't looked before reading Chriscross3234's post, so I didn't realize Civ IV Colonization came with the pack you are looking at. I recall being really frustrated with the original DOS Colonization, but that addin makes that a pretty good deal.

 

[Mem]

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
Retail is $40, Amazon has it for $37 (ASIN: B0026EGO3A).

DRM-free:
http://www.2kgames.com/civ4/complete/

I've somehow managed to never play a Civ game. Is Civ IV the one to start with, or should I start with I, II, II or Alpha Centauri instead?

I have played most of them,my favourites are Civ4 Complete(playing "Beyond the Sword"at the moment on Vista x64, I got the retail version for £9.99) and Alpha Centauri, Civ4 has native widescreen support which is nice(even 16:9 res 1920x1080).

They are pretty easy to learn,so I don't think it really matters.

 

[Chriscross3234]

Originally posted by: NoWhereM
Edit to add I hadn't looked before reading Chriscross3234's post, so I didn't realize Civ IV Colonization came with the pack you are looking at. I recall being really frustrated with the original DOS Colonization, but that addin makes that a pretty good deal.

Yeah, this is quite a deal as Colonization has barely been out for a year and I believe it sold at $40 by itself.

I haven't played the DOS version, but I fell in love with the newer iteration of Col. When it was first released, there were many flaws with the game, basically making it next to impossible to beat. The game was still very fun and it put an interesting twist to the standard Civ formula. Checking on the newer patches that they have released, it seems like they have fixed the major problems with the games. I might go fire it up now....

 

[Via]

Alpha Centauri is one of my favorite games.

If you've never played a Civ game it takes some effort to get into, but once you've got it you'll be hooked if you like that sort of game.

I would go Civ2, then Alpha Centauri.

I only Played Civ 4 a little on Gametap (I thought it was pretty good but would have more relevance if you played Civ 2 first), and I really didn't like Civ 3 at all. Something just didn't "feel" right about that game. It was like an imposter dressed in Civ clothes.

 

[NoWhereM]

As I recall the hardest part of Colonization was that they actually designed the game engine to cheat when it was losing. It was like losing a tank to a warrior in the civilization games, but happening on a regular basis.

I don't have Civilization IV Colonization, I suppose I should try to find a copy cheap and see how it plays now.

 

[nakedfrog]

I think 2 & 4 are my favorites. I suppose my only advice would be to start a game at like 10AM on a Saturday. Definitely not any later than 10PM.

 

[acheron]

Civ 4 is great, and should be fine to start with. If you've never played a Civ game before, I'd start with the basic game, though, rather than adding the expansions in too. Civ4 + BTS is good, but maybe a little complicated if you've never tried something similar.

C4 Colonization is fun. The patch a month or so ago helped a lot.

If you do like it and want to go back and check out older games, then try to dig up Alpha Centauri (and the Alien Crossfire expansion if you can find it). I don't know if there's much point in checking out the older Civs unless you have the nostalgia for them, but Alpha Centauri is different in a lot of ways. Really hoping for a Alphacent 2 someday...

 

[erwos]

Originally posted by: NoWhereM
As I recall the hardest part of Colonization was that they actually designed the game engine to cheat when it was losing.

The most frustrating part of Colonization for me was that you were basically forced to scrap games in the late stages frequently, because it would only become clear in the late game that you were never going to have the strength to rebel and win. I never had a problem with the computer cheating so much as the odds being stacked against you in a crazy way.

Nothing wrong with that per se, but it's a little disorienting.

 

[sandorski]

Ya, starting with Civ 4 should be fine. Don't start with Civ 3 whatever you do, that one just pissed me off to no end. From the very first Civ there has always been a steep learning curve, but at the same time the games Lower dificulty levels were very Noob friendly. When I got the original Civ back in the early 90's(don't recall exact year anymore) I spent that evening just reading the big assed manual that came with it. The next day I Installed and still had little idea what I was doing. Had a lot of fun and learned more each day.

 

[BlueWeasel]

I've been wanting to get into the Civ series (complete n00b for this genre) and this looks great.

 

[Dacalo]

Do it, there are so many wonderful mods.

Go to CivFanatic and download Fall from Heaven II mod (fantasy inspired) once you get the game. It's pure awesome.

 

[CU]

Originally posted by: NoWhereM
It was like losing a tank to a warrior in the civilization games

I hated this in Civ III the only one I every played. It is what turned my off of Civ. Did they change that in Civ IV?

 

[sandorski]

Originally posted by: CU

Originally posted by: NoWhereM
It was like losing a tank to a warrior in the civilization games

I hated this in Civ III the only one I every played. It is what turned my off of Civ. Did they change that in Civ IV?

Pretty much, it can still happen if they've been promoted, but it's rare. That and the painful amount of time it took the AI to Move it's Infinite amount of Units is what made Civ 3 a POS for me. Towards the end of a Civ 30 minutes was not uncommon for the AI to finish its' moves.