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Anyone playing Cities XL that has info to offer?
I played the beta and I actually kind of enjoyed it. It could be that I enjoyed it because I hadn't played any sort of city builder in so long and it was fun being back in that sort of game again. I'd like to hear the opinions of people who are playing since release. How's the online aspect? Is the community developing into a fun group? Thanks in advance for your input/insight.
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Unfortunately the game is a huge mess. It shipped too early and Monte Cristo's greed is now getting in the way of the game being any fun at all.
My biggest problem is that the single-player game has been gutted to get people to pay the monthly fee for the Planet Offer online mode. Resource management in the single-player game is almost impossible once your city starts getting big. The tutorial even mentions that the single-player resource management is really expensive so you should sign up for Planet Offer and start trading with real people...
If you do fork over the monthly fee you don't really get anything beyond the single player game except for resource trading with other players and a chat box. There is no co-operative play, you can't watch or participate in another player's build process, connections to different cities don't really do anything so online play is pointless. Unfortunately Monte Cristo has stated that all future additions to the game (such as a mass transit system) will only be available for the online portion of the game so solo players who have no interest in onine gaming are screwed.
My other big beef is that Monte Cristo closed down their official forums at the end of the beta program when it became clear that the game was going to have a horrible launch. They are directing people to join the forums at simtropolis.com but the moderators and admins over there don't allow any negativity about the game to be posted and they are silencing and banning anybody who isn't a fanboy.
It's sad because the game engine is really nice. The structures look fantastic but there's just no real game there. After SimCity 4 no city builder should ever launch without things like region play, mass transit, budgeting tools, and a framework for community mods but Cities XL has none of these things. The fact that they have written off any players who paid for the game but don't want to pay a monthly fee is a huge reason to give this game a pass. Hopefully Monte Cristo comes to their senses and turns things around but I'm not holding my breath.
Thanks for the heads up. I was tempted to give it a try but will give it a miss for a few months now.
Seems that very few MMO's can make a decent launch nowadays.
Yah thanks for the heads up. I figured I'd be sitting on the fence with this one to see how it pans out.
So...it looks like they made no significant changes to the blueprint system from beta. Shame. We really had hope that they would do something to it when they took it "offline" just a few weeks before the end of beta. Consiering they never told us "why", or what their plans were, I guess I shouldn't be surprised.
If live goes the same way as beta, the blueprints will lose their luster in about three weeks. Waste of a system, unless they change it, IMO.
Oh...and a shame that they didn't do any Halloween events either. Really thought that community team would get on top of events. Ah well...maybe they'll do something for thanksgiving.
Is that nasty memory leak from beta already fixed? Really drove me away from the game to see a few weeks later beta ended. was really wondering how they could release it that soon.
Hey guys: here is just to say that we launched the first official content pack today (with the medieval buildings and so on). I hope you enjoy it. FYI-The trade system has been seriously improved over the past few weeks and you are free to say what you will on Simtropolis.com. Matthew, our English Community Manager finds criticisms on a regular basis there, as well as kinder words too. But we definitely don't want negative opinions to be "muted". Criticism is actually good,as long there is some degree of truth behind it
Anyway: hope you enjoy the new buildings and maps
Wanna play?
http://kingoffights.mybrute.com/
No offense Michael, but the comments regarding the simtropolis forums aren't exactly forthcoming.
1) MC has no official connection to the forums at simtropolis, a fansite. It does not fall under any "jurisdiction" nor were Matthew and/or Gregory made "moderators" on the forums. MC has no say in who/what/where/when/why post content is "edited" by the simtropolis staff. So, while your philosophy may be to allow harsh criticism as long as it is truthful, that doesn't necessarily mean that is the philosophical position of the simtropolis staff.
2) It would be hard to claim to know what the philosophy of the mods on their forums are considering their reasoning for edits is usually vague. Examples include, "Edited for derogatory bashing.--Liv CXL Forums Moderator", and "Edited for inappropriate comment.--Liv CXL Forums Moderator". Could those posts have violated other moderation rules? Sure. Could they have been harsh, but truthfull, criticisms of the game? Yes, possible. But the reasons are too vague to tell. Assuming that moderating only happens for good reasons is a bit misleading.
3) Matthew has only posted about 70 times over on those forums (compare that to the old official forums and it's not even close), and many, many of those posts are information drops or updates. A glance through his posting history doesn't suggest he's involved in active discussions about controversial issues (as he was in the official and beta forums). More often, it's comments like a fix is on the way or sorry you didn't get your disc. Yes, he is there, and he does post...but I don't know many mmo players that would consider his interaction a healthy post-release relationship with the game company.
Again...just thought I'd point out some respectful disagreement for the few folks who stop by these forums. No offense meant to you Michael at all.
One last thing: I noticed you didn't comment on the blueprints. Is it fair to say that the system recently released IS the same system that got shut off in beta, without any changes? If so, any chance we'll get an answer at some point about HOW that system is supposed to add to the competative or cooperative nature of this "mmo"?
Just curious.
thats bull... any dissenting opinion is locked or deleted over there. it has been for a long time.
Apparently I can't warn the devs about a website promoting a hack of th game. It's against the EULA for mmorpg.com. So, I guess the game will just has to suffer with the cheat. Sorry MC folks. You'll have to just know that its out there, it works, and its screwing with your rep. Hope that's enough.
Way to go, mmorpg.com mods. You saved this game from....something. Congrats.
That'd be frustrating, but look at it from another point of view. If you posted it to the forum then you're spreading knowledge about the exploit. Try sending the information through a PM.
From the citiesxl.com website:
"End of October, we also activated the Blueprints system: twice a week, currently on Sundays and Thursdays, you have a chance to win a Blueprint on your profile page, which you can then activate to build an impressive Megastructure in your city.
But you can also share them with others, and some players have obviously been very active requesting Blueprints, as we’ve seen cities with no less than fifteen Megastructures already built or under construction."
Let's see...blueprints that are handed out randomly/regularly as opposed to "rewarded", no real trade system for them, no cooperation necessary for completion, interplanetary trade, and the ability to build them several times on a planet means they aren't "special" or "rare". All the problems we testers identified in beta before they were "shut down". No change.
Is it any wonder the players are getting bored/uninterested in this system, just as the beta testers did? This system should be a major piece of the MMO gameplay, inspiring competition and cooperation amongst the planet's cities...instead, it's just a mechanic for denying buildings to solo players in an attempt to force them to sign up and pay the monthly fee. Shame on you MC.
Or, to sum it up more succinctly: 15 major world Landmarks in A SINGLE CITY, less than ONE MONTH after release!!!!!!! Ludicrous!
Heh...and it just gets worse. Heard that there's a bug in the game right now that speeds up the Blueprint building process. One person reported completing 8 Megastructures in one city, in JUST ONE DAY! Again, this is the blueprint system that was taken offline in beta a few weeks before launch with the HOPE that it would be retooled. Instead, it comes back in the same state...and breaks in just a few short weeks!
(I even heard the devs were totally unaware of the situation, and had to be informed by players)
Also, it looks like the city building community over on Simtrop is starting to get frustrated with MC's policy on modding. Apparently, all the times MC discussed how strict it would be went over some people's heads. If only they some of them had been more active on the old CXL site forums, where it was made quite obvious that MC was not going to even have a DESIGN DOCUMENT for modding by the time of launch, they wouldn't be so shocked at the current state.
Pay for this one at your own risk folks.