SimCity 5 closed beta 2 this weekend!

[Nintendesert]

For anyone that didn't get to play last time here's another chance. It is again 1 hour so that sucks, but it at least lets you play the game and see if you like it. There are preorders out there for $20 off, preorders are bad usually but at least here you get to experience the game and see if it is worth it.

 

[lozina]

Does it have any additional content over the previous beta?

 

[imaheadcase]

Does it have any additional content over the previous beta?

The introduced longer wait times to join.

 

[lozina]

The introduced longer wait times to join.

Awesome.

I like to see more wait times, server downs and network errors when trying to play a single player game :biggrin:

 

[Nintendesert]

Would it be wrong to post the FAQ?



From reading through it it's a stress test for their servers, a lot of bug fixes, tweaks and optimizations based on previous beta feedback. It's only 24 hours this time too!

I'm going to play now and see how it feels compared to the other build.

 

[KaOTiK]

Weird, I can't launch it. Went to update it and it error'd so I uninstalled it to do a reinstall and it wont let me now, booo!

 

[techie81]

Pre-ordered but no key yet...

 

[lozina]

I had no problems launching the game, no wait or anything.

The tutorial is a lot more fleshed out than I remember it.

After lunch will try a 1 hour sandbox game see what is different

 

[lozina]

Oh nice they show the DEPTH of zones now when you are placing them!

 

[dlock13]

I had a blast playing it.

I need to get more city managing under my belt because as I was playing, I lost..... about 15 houses due to fires thanks to my backed up roadways.

Traffic + fire =

But other than that, I thought it went really smooth.

I had a problem getting in at first, but a quick close and change of the server, and I was in.

Great game. I'll probably be preordering it very, very soon.

 

[KentState]

It seems that a lot of people are having problems playing the beta. Hopefully EA gets their stuff together.

 

[lozina]

Havent been able to play since earlier today and I've been trying many times.

It just gets stuck on the city loading screen after I hit Play from the game's main menu. It just endlessly cycles through game tips and those little messages like "Reticulating Splines"

No error message or sign of anything gone wrong. Just endless loading screen

Really sucks

 

[pcslookout]

So far really enjoying the game. A lot of fun. Actually making money as a Mayor in this game now! I put all my graphic details on ultra and high with everything. Runs very smooth.

 

[lozina]

The loading screen issue has resolved earlier and I got to play a full hour. Reached 35k pop. I dont really notice any difference in this beta except the zone depth, traffic seems to be higher, and the pop needs seems to have increased (because I needed larger capacity on school, hospital, water, sewage, etc... than I last remembered)

I even had to place a second school cause my first one was maxed out.

 

[Plimogz]

Awesome.

I like to see more wait times, server downs and network errors when trying to play a single player game :biggrin:

Ah yes, PC gaming sure has come a long way since the time when I could be amazed by Doom on a friend's computer, grab the shareware floppies, install them at home and be playing it on my PC by dinnertime.

 

[pcslookout]

The loading screen issue has resolved earlier and I got to play a full hour. Reached 35k pop. I dont really notice any difference in this beta except the zone depth, traffic seems to be higher, and the pop needs seems to have increased (because I needed larger capacity on school, hospital, water, sewage, etc... than I last remembered)

I even had to place a second school cause my first one was maxed out.

Nice.

Do you think you can reach higher than 35k population in an hour ?

What settings do you run Simcity 5 at ?

How do you make all your money?

Also do you run it in Cheetah mode to make money faster ?

 

[Skel]

I didn't have any issues getting in. I was a bit frustrated on how little I was actually able to do in it though. Once I hit a plateau there wasn't anything really left to do other than watch it roll and complain how I needed better roads that weren't available.

 

[linthat22]

Should I wait for this or get CitiesXL?

 

[Wyndru]

Ugh only 1 day, and it's already over. I keep missing these.

 

[paperfist]

So those that played in the beta, are cities now really, really small compared to SC4? I read a comparison last night and it focused on this aspect pretty heavily. It also said that regional cities that you build aren't even connected.

 

[Kalmah]

Should I wait for this or get CitiesXL?

CitiesXL is a good game in my opinion, but it's unplayable. Once your city gets to a decent size it lags. It's single-threaded and runs like absolute horseshit. I like the game though.

This is me running with a 3.2ghz core 2 duo. E8400. Maybe a new processor can handle it but it runs like shit for me.

 

[Ketchup]

Got the email as we were visiting my parents this weekend. Still ran pretty well on my parent's machine (should have since i built it, lol); Well, once it finally stopped getting stuck on the server (I guess) and actually loaded the game. Ran fine today though. Comparing it to the older versions, I like it so far. It is great being able to zoom in so closely, and how doing things that should work actually do work (always had issue with water and electricity working in 3000.) Having said that, I worry that this game will be too easy to excel in, which could possibly take away from the strategy of it all, but only the full game release will say if that is a valid concern.

 

[Wyndru]

Having said that, I worry that this game will be too easy to excel in, which could possibly take away from the strategy of it all, but only the full game release will say if that is a valid concern.

I haven't played the beta yet, but based on what I've read this is a concern that a lot of SC4 fans have. I'm hoping that it's more involved than what people are saying now. The challenge and micromanagement of a large cities is what the SC franchise has been all about (and regions in 4). The lack of this was the main reason that SCS was a failure right out of the gate (although even tilted mill said it really wasn't a true sim city game).

They have a poll going over on simtropolis if people will buy the game, and it's not looking too good (only ~40% of the voters said they have already bought it or will buy it as is). Granted this is a small survey of people, but everyone has the same reasons for not wanting the game...the always online requirement and limited city sizes.

It looks great visually, but I hope they don't let the eye candy overshadow the functionality and depth of the game.

It's too early to make judgements though, so I'll shut up now

 

[RockinZ28]

Got in on the second beta.

Thought it was quite enjoyable. Did not experience any loading/connection issues etc. whatsoever.

Traffic seemed overblown though for sure. City with like 10k people has traffic backed up the ass on many of the streets using the medium density roadway or whatever it was called. Added a bunch of buses and bus stops and didn't seem to alleviate it much.

But yes, city size is very concerning. I didn't play much of SC4, but a good amount of 2 and 3, and in those I don't think I ever spent enough time to fully cover an entire map with buildings.

I'm a pretty slow builder, just like to sit back and manage small areas at a time, watch stuff develop. But in my third play through of the 1 hour beta, I was able to cover ~66% of a map with stuff. Few hours and I'll easily be out of room.

So that's pretty disappointing if it turns out that's the limit. Won't be able to build a monster metropolis with millions of sims.

 

[power_hour]

Do you need to register your Facebook account to play this? Not sure I want my friends and family knowing I stayed up all night playing SimCity ;-)