Best Civilization iteration

[1eyedking]

Which Civilization game floats your boat?
The very first one? Fond memories about CivNet, eh? What about Brian Reynolds' take, Civilization II? Or was it when Soren Johnson began working on the series that your interest grew bigger? Civilization III or IV, then?

BONUS Time Parallel
Which one(s) do you loathe?

BONUS Kool Kodex Koins
Why? :andhaira:

 

[Gold]

Where is Alpha Centauri?

Excluding the obvious choice, 2 then 4 then 1 then 3

 

[Zeus]

Master of Magic? Everyone derisively says it's just "Civilization with magic", so, it must count. *grins*

 

[1eyedking]

Civilization only. Adding an Alpha Centauri option to a 4X TBS poll is the Codex analogue to Final Fantasy in <s>RPG</s> every GameFAQs poll.

 

[Gold]

I wouldn't call it a "Final Fantasy in a GameFaqs RPG poll." It has always felt as a sequel to Civ 2. Personally I played the heck out of 1 and 2 as a kid. 3 had some pretty awful flaws. My main beef with 4 was the move to 3D, my computer at the time couldnt run it and even now my new computer chokes on huge maps near end game.

 

[Reject_666_6]

I've only played 3 briefly, 2 briefly and 4 extensively, in that order. 4 is my favourite out of those.

Why? Because they finally made the squares' borders match rivers on their edges.

 

[1eyedking]

To me it's CivIV. The AI has a definite personality à la Alpha Centauri (though not as charismatic), diplomacy and tech trading is much more fun than in CivIII and with both expansion packs installed there's a lot more variety than in CivII.

I, however, absolutely hate the art direction turn the series took. The fucking bland, generic, blasé cartoon style that is so unreasonably popular nowadays is a definite turn off and I can completely understand people not playing the game because of it.

3 had some pretty awful flaws.

Such as? My main grudge with III is the corruption system and the initial, always monotonous landgrab rush.

It has always felt as a sequel to Civ 2.

What the...? Research is entirely different. There's aliens. Troop production is a entirely different process. There is no historical value. No nations. Lots of sci-fi stuff. Aliens. Goddamn sister Miriam. Are you fucking kidding me? Niggers are still in, however.

 

[Metro]

I've played them all except the second starting way back in the day when it was DOS based. The series has held up amazingly well and -- at least PC based (not counting Civ Revolutions) -- they only improve with each new version. The introduction of culture in Civ 3 was a huge addition to game play.

I will say, though, that I preferred the Civ 3 scenarios more than the ones that came with Civ 4. Yes there is a modding community but really good scenarios are few and far between. Good scenarios prolong the life of the game for me as I find that when playing a 'normal' game that I inevitably get bored at the modern age unless you declare war on everyone else... at which point the game fundamentally changes.

 

[mondblut]

Test of Time II.

 

[Satori (original)]

Never played 1 as it seemed like a dumbed downafter having played 2. Enjoyed 2 on the PSX and beat it as a kid so I'm not too sure of it's difficulty but I was definately engrossed; 3 kept me occupied for a while although something was definately missing; played 4 for one game then uninstalled due to blandness so in order of favourite

Alpha Centauri>2>3>4>1

 

[Reject_666_6]

Never played 1 as it seemed like a dumbed downafter having played 2. Enjoyed 2 on the PSX and beat it as a kid so I'm not too sure of it's difficulty but I was definately engrossed; 3 kept me occupied for a while although something was definately missing; played 4 for one game then uninstalled due to blandness so in order of favourite

Alpha Centauri>2>3>4>1

What blandness? Art direction? Graphics? It improved on III in every other way.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Civ 4. Civ 2 used to be the best, but the new shit beat it.

 

[Satori (original)]

Mainly due to the fact that I felt that no soul was put into the game, of course this is subjective so opinions shall differ but it just didn't offer the same feeling that the others did. For me atmosphere and heart triumphs over technical superiority.

 

[Reject_666_6]

EXCUSE MY FAGGOTRY, but I thought that Leonard Nemoy's intro and tech quotes were pretty heartfelt.

 

[L'ennui]

I played the second one a LOT, the third one a bit and the fourth one a bit as well. I'd have to say that with all the expansions/new shit added to Civ IV, it looks to be the most complete title so far. I don't like the graphics all that much, but they don't detract from the overall game experience either. They just don't add anything.

 

[OSK]

4 > 2 > 3

…I've never played the first.

 

[Tardvapor]

4>2>1>3

No soul in 4? Really?

Ba na yet to ye tuliet binguni yet to yet to yaminu! What languange is that anyway? And the tribal bit from the ancient era is fantabulous. I liked the look of the units and terrain as well.

 

[Gold]

In 3 there was no benefit to expanding off your starting continent. SM:AC felt like a sequel to Civ 2 (I did play it after civ4) because it feels like the narrative extension to a Space Race victory. Honestly the added elements: living planet, diverse AI personalities are only wonderful additions to the typical 4x experience.

 

[GarfunkeL]

In 3 there was no benefit to expanding off your starting continent. SM:AC felt like a sequel to Civ 2 (I did play it after civ4) because it feels like the narrative extension to a Space Race victory. Honestly the added elements: living planet, diverse AI personalities are only wonderful additions to the typical 4x experience.

Wel probably because IT IS a sequel to Civ2! The original colony ship is sent from Earth by the winner of Space Race. GAAARGH didn't anyone read the nice novel they wrote before game release which explained all that?

Anyway, Civ2 since it did everything right that Civ1 did but had more everything as well. Civ3 never impressed me that much and Civ4, while being good, didn't hook me the way Civ1/2/AC did

 

[Emotional Vampire]

Civilization only. Adding an Alpha Centauri option to a 4X TBS poll is the Codex analogue to Final Fantasy in <s>RPG</s> every GameFAQs poll.

Spoken like a true consoletard who liked Civ IV.

 

[Seldon]

This Poll is missing a few options.

 

[Trithne]

Personally, I like Civ4 for the way it reworked health/happiness and the extra types of tile upgrades. Hate the combat in it though. Stack-of-doom is even worse, despite them saying they were trying to get rid of it. Also like any Civ game that does away with individual city-unit support.

That said, SMAC is still the best one, hands down.

 

[MetalCraze]

Alpha Centauri is teh best one. After this game Meier started to slowly go down the drain with Civ3 looking like a mess and Civ4 being a mediocrity full of gimmicks. So Civ2 is a Top2.

 

[Insane Psychic]

3 and 4, simply because of the strategic resource system. Those two finally gave you a reason to go to war apart from stopping opponents getting the space race victory.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

I haven't played Civ 4, so I voted for 2.