demagogue on 14/4/2014 at 09:28
Alpha Centauri sticks in my memory, but I played it more for the feeling I got playing it than the gameplay IIRC. There was a certain foreigness or alienation to it, everything was unsettling, I wasn't always or even often sure what was going on, but that was part of its personality.
I don't know if or how well it's going to survive the translation to streamlined either, since making things user-friendly is actually kind of counterproductive to a game that's supposed to make the user feel uncomfortable and alienated exactly to what they're doing. But if they take that part out, then it's not much different than Civ.
I'm okay with the title change, since "Beyond Earth" is honestly more obvious than "Alpha Centauri". I imagine it may also be a signal that it won't take up exactly the same tropes as AC, and maybe a middle ground between Civ and AC is what they're going for after all.
Anyway, the basic formula itself has always worked for them more or less in basically any form I've seen it, so I don't doubt it'll still be fun to play whatever they go for.
Edit:
Quote Posted by Yakoob
Agreed with Thirith, and I also hope they revise the gameplay from Civ5. I played it only once but felt it was a bit too clean and streamlined in places (like units auto-turning into boats) compared to Civ1/AC. Tho I haven't played any of the civs inbetween so maybe there's a midleground.
IMO they hit the sweet spot between personality and user-friendliness with Civ3, and that's the highpoint of the formula. Obviously since they're all variations of the same theme, this is probably more a matter of taste than usual though.
DDL on 14/4/2014 at 10:06
Ah, AC...where playing the Gaians meant you spent the first half of the game clearcutting all the native flora to build cities, and the second half of the game replanting all that native flora because research has now made it the best source of ALL THE THINGS.
Also, I quite often find myself reading the news and wishing I had a NERVE STAPLE* button to press...
*fyi: this is an atrocity, and will get you kicked out the UN. Unless...oh, you're president of the UN. Staple away, then!
faetal on 14/4/2014 at 10:08
I hope they're able to make the research projects as plausible in their extrapolations from current day knowledge as they were in AC.
Thirith on 14/4/2014 at 11:13
The Gaians: treehugging hippies - who, by the game's halfway point, use their army of mindworms to utterly destroy their opponents in horrific fashion.
Kuuso on 14/4/2014 at 11:51
This sounds great for a guy like me, who lost interest in Alpha Centauri because it's interface is a horrid mess.
Thirith on 14/4/2014 at 12:00
Your mother's interface is a horrid mess!
Am I doing it right?
Kuuso on 14/4/2014 at 12:29
Maybe, but at least someone was able to play her since I'm around. Can't say the same about AC.
WingedKagouti on 14/4/2014 at 12:44
As far as I'm concerned, people will be far better off if they approach Civ: Beyond Earth as a Civ game inspired by AC than as any kind of direct/spiritual successor. There'll hopefully be less impotent nerd rage that way when things inevitably turn out different than a segment had hoped.
SubJeff on 14/4/2014 at 13:22
I think its a shame there won't be a UN in this. AC got everything right.
The cutscenes and quotes were amazing. The Communist factions leader comes out with some corkers.
Slasher on 14/4/2014 at 13:48
Man, I started out playing the commie faction because I had no idea how the game worked and "free Perimeter Defense at every base" sounded okay.
