It was twenty years ago this week that I started playing the Civilization series. I remember it well as I got enough birthday money to buy a copy of it. I played and played and I discovered something fascinating – the birds start to sing in south eastern Michigan at around 4:30am.
The game changed my life. Civilization was the first “4X” game I ever played and I’ve been hooked every since. It inspired me to become a game developer. Two years later, Stardock was incorporated (while I was still in college).
So here’s you to, Sid Meier. Game crack dealer to a generation. Thank you! The single greatest game of all time by the greatest game designer of all time.
Oh what memories.... of playing this game in a dorm room closet. That's where our computer was.
i've never had as much fun gaming as I did with the original civ
o o oSo here’s you to, Sid Meier. Game crack dealer to a generation. Thank you! The single greatest game of all time by the greatest game designer of all time.
Can't argue with a shout-out to Sid Meier and/or the Civilization franchise ... Brilliance really !
Fascination, Mind-bending, Consciousness-altering, Addiction ... the stuff Dreams are made of ...
Here is a shout out to Brad for GalCiv2 which lead me to try out Civ! So thank ya Sid! Thanks for sleepless nights and sometimes getting me worried about classes... jerks! It was worth it!
Later this week Gods and Kings! and days later MODS!
Game unlocks at 12am... GOD DAMN IT NO! I HAVE CLASS A 9AM NOOOOOOOOOOO!
CIV IV is the best game ever made. CIV V I didnt even buy. A real letdown (I read for hours upon hours in the forum about CIV V, before deciding). I have played all versions of CIV but CIV V.
All hail Sid!
Funny. I rather disliked the scale change from Civ 3 to Civ 4. I spent hours playing Civ 2 and Civ 3 (Fav game all time) but found civ 4 to be amazingly boring. Sid Meier is an amazing game creator though.
@ Hawawaa. Try Space Empires 5. Its similar to Civ II Test of Time but you design your own units and there is way more flexibility than in Gal Civ.
Civ was my first crack as well. I was a bit younger than Frogboy though. For me, the game was part education, learning about different types of government rules, technologies (talk about well-written encyclopedias... at least that's how I remember it), and learning English as well. Also to recognize different national anthems.
So Frogboy, did it destroy "your" life?
It has to be said that the Civ games have created the 4x genre.
The best game of all time award has to go to Alpha Centuari. I must have spent 1000s of hours playing that game and still have it installed.
And with that, I think I'll pick up Gods and Kings today!
This brings out the memories.
CIV was amazing! Then I found Colonizations, off of the same gaming engine by MPS. That was awesome! Then I found Master of Magic by MPS. I was speechless. MPS kept getting better and Better and BETTER!
Then MPS disappeared....
WHAT!!!
Sad to say, they went belly-up or was bought out. Thankfully, CIV didn't end there. CIV II was put out. That game was incredible!
I thought we were done there. Civ III was released with great expectations, but I really felt that game missed the boat. I think Fraxis thought the same because it sure didn't take long before they released Civ IV in all it's glory!!! WHAHAHAH!!! BEST GAME EVER.
Icing on the cake, Fraxis then revamped Colonizations for the Civ IV platform!! Could it be true....could the next thing to happen be a revamp of MoM? Well, we all know the answer to that....Colonizations must not of sold as well as they had hoped because no MoM II was released...
Rumors and more rumors.....each one ending in disappointment. No one dare tackle MoM II. And then....Stardock came.....they're not calling it MoM II.....but it sure is PRETTY close.
Let's hear it for Fallen Enchantress!!!
ps. Notice how Civ 5 doesn't even enter my story. Reviews didn't even come close to Civ 4.....that AND you NEED steam to run it. Pass.
Enjoying Gods and Kings, Celts are awesome! (founded Monty Python), man religion is powerful. Yes I did manage to get 6hrs of sleep. Needed a coffee to survive class. Next week hopefully Vanilla (VEM) mod is up and running. Nice to see they did take some ideas from VEM wish they took more but that's always the case as more and more stuff gets added to it.
I suppose the original Romance of the Three Kingdoms was my gateway drug. Civilization cemented my habit. Thanks Sid.
My start was Romance of the Three Kingdoms also, around 20 years or more. I was obsessed with it, played every game about the time, and reading the novels. I got into Civ and Alpha Centauri later and that sealed what my true genre I loved, TBS.
Seems like its been longer than 20 years but I suppose that's about right however my real introduction to 4X TBS games was Reach for the Stars by Roger Keating and Ian Trout on an Apple IIe in 1985
Imperium Galactum was my gateway drug. I played it so much I literally wore out the floppy disk. I miss my C64. Civ certainly has gotten plenty of play time too.
I went from Apple II trek to the Gold Box games on a PC and the original Wasteland. I loved MOM and I think Enchantress is a worthy continuation of those classics. I only wish they would add Kali and some necromancy to give death magic some real teeth.
I always thought that was Lord Xia I was looking at
Here's to Civ. I'll never forget my first Civ 1 game. I was on an Earth map, playing as Greece, and wouldn't ya know Germany would start a massive, free-for-all-war in the Ancient era. I was hooked instantly; I was deep into WW2 at the time.
Alpha Centauri remains definitive. Sure the graphics are aged, but it provides a unique, unmatched gaming experience.
Picked up Gods and Kings today. Religion is a nice change, LOVE the addition of the Byzantine Empire.
Great thread. Civ 1 was the reason I bought my first IBM based PC.
Loved all the Civs with Civ 3 and Civ 4 being my favorite.
Civ 5? No thank you. It's terrible and a waste of money, glad I never bought it. Only way I'll pick it up is when all the DLCs are out and the whole package is at least 80% off on Steam for like $10. Even then I probably won't get it because they killed the series with 5 (IMO).
Its too bad you let bitter and entitled forum posters sway your decision. Civ V wasn't great at launch but it sure is now. People will complain about anything on the internet.
There was this crazy old indie game that I played back in about 1990?
It was a 4x with no AI, so you had to multi-play it.
It had all sorts of crazy sci-fi races combined, like the Borg, and you and all your friends took turns issuing orders and then ending your turn.
Combat was kind of interesting, it basically played like Gratuitous Space Battles, where the 2 fleets just met up on the opposite side of the board and started pummeling each other as the drove towards each other...
I wish I could remember what it was....
Then once CIV came out we were all hooked on that... though I thought nukes sucked. I expected an entire city to be annihilated.
Weirdly we didn't get into Warlords until after CIV.
CIV also introduced me to the way American politics worked.... hrrmmm... here comes the good ole' USA's diplomat, at least they are a democracy... what, they just changed to a republic and declared war! How come I cant pull that crap!
Lord-Orion is VGA Planets the game you are trying to remember?
for me Civ went downhill after Civ 2. That was the version I had most fun with. I hate HATE the cartoon style of the later civs. Why couldn't we have more serious looking avatars for the leaders? Such a turn off.
Yes it was. Thanks
I could have swore we played this before CIV though, and ver3 seems to have better graphics then what I remember.
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