Alpha Centauri 2

Other Games => Civilization Beyond Earth General Discussions => Topic started by: Buster's Uncle on April 14, 2014, 09:15:34 PM

Title: New BE stories
Post by: Buster's Uncle on April 14, 2014, 09:15:34 PM

...I encourage anyone with less duties making demands on their free time to look through these and start threads w/ summaries and quotes...

...

Civilization goes Beyond Earth, but not back to Alpha Centauri (http://www.pcgamesn.com/civilization-goes-beyond-earth-not-back-alpha-centauri)

Title: Re: New BE stories
Post by: Buster's Uncle on April 14, 2014, 09:42:36 PM

From GameCrate:
Civilization: Beyond Earth designers discuss inspirations, aliens, and more (http://gamecrate.newegg.com/civilization-beyond-earth-interview-developer-designer/)

There's an interesting passage about their literary influences...

Title: Re: New BE stories
Post by: BlaneckW on April 15, 2014, 01:45:35 AM

Not dystopian.  Well, "American Reclamation Corporation" is a good joke.  I don't think the United States will be around forever, except as re-founded federations.

Excellent article, by the way.  One of the few out there, I'd say, even if it's still not talking about gameplay much.

Title: Re: New BE stories
Post by: Buster's Uncle on April 15, 2014, 02:17:52 AM

A new one at Gamespot: Beyond Earth: The Alpha Centauri Connection (http://www.gamespot.com/articles/beyond-earth-the-alpha-centauri-connection/1100-6418924/)
-Interview with Greg Foertsch, Jerome Atherholt, and Mike Bazzell, who worked the art on SMACX and now BE.

Title: Re: New BE stories
Post by: BlaneckW on April 15, 2014, 02:38:02 AM

I like how all the screenshots were Alpha Centauri's and the question of whether it is it's spiritual successor is sidestepped.  But I'm glad he's getting something out of it.

Title: Re: New BE stories
Post by: Buster's Uncle on April 15, 2014, 02:45:01 AM

I did enjoy all the AC screenies for some reason...

I'm noticing, BTW, what a tremendous amount of love there is out there for SMACX among CIVillians previously unknown to me as fans since the BE news broke Saturday.  We're signing up a lot of new members who seem to be actual people, and it looks like AC is going to see a bit of a revival in the run-up to BE...

Title: Re: New BE stories
Post by: BlaneckW on April 15, 2014, 02:47:42 AM

It will see a revival after the release of BE when you get the people who are tired of games made in the vein of Angry Birds.

Title: Re: New BE stories
Post by: BlaneckW on April 15, 2014, 02:54:41 AM

Keep the articles coming, by the way.  I'd be glad to hear if they reveal a game which is complex in addition to "artsy."

Title: Re: New BE stories
Post by: Geo on April 15, 2014, 03:33:02 AM

What comes out most in the first two articles is how SMAC had a dark story already spliced in, but BE will let the player more or less decide how dark it's gonna be for his band of merry colonists.

Title: Re: New BE stories
Post by: Buster's Uncle on April 15, 2014, 03:34:44 AM

-Which, I daresay, means little or no story.

Title: Re: New BE stories
Post by: Geo on April 15, 2014, 03:37:13 AM

Then one needs to use his/her fantasy. ;yang;

Title: Re: New BE stories
Post by: Buster's Uncle on April 15, 2014, 03:47:31 AM

Why aren't you using your imagination playing ciV, then?

Title: Re: New BE stories
Post by: BlaneckW on April 15, 2014, 04:26:43 AM

Quote from: Geo on April 15, 2014, 03:33:02 AM

BE will let the player more or less decide how dark it's gonna be for his band of merry colonists.

I didn't get that at all.

Title: Re: New BE stories
Post by: Buster's Uncle on April 15, 2014, 04:28:31 AM

From AFP Relax News, a mainstream source, this turned up in the science news:  'Civilization: Beyond Earth' looks to the future (http://news.yahoo.com/civilization-beyond-earth-looks-future-163751043.html)

Title: Re: New BE stories
Post by: Geo on April 15, 2014, 11:17:45 AM

Quote from: BUncle on April 15, 2014, 03:47:31 AM

Why aren't you using your imagination playing ciV, then?

Why do you assume I don't? :P
I mean, a few games ago my Roman Empire even became autocratic! ???
While I should have been building up in Rome so all other cities would have shorter construction times!

Title: Re: New BE stories
Post by: Buster's Uncle on April 15, 2014, 08:19:13 PM

Interview with Sid at Gamespot:  Discussing Humanity's Future with the Father of Civilization (http://www.gamespot.com/articles/discussing-humanity-s-future-with-the-father-of-civilization/1100-6418922/)

Title: Re: New BE stories
Post by: Buster's Uncle on April 16, 2014, 02:38:22 AM

From IGN:  Firaxis Revisits Alpha Centauri With Civilization: Beyond Earth (http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/04/12/firaxis-revisits-alpha-centauri-territory-with-civilization-beyond-earth)

Title: Re: New BE stories
Post by: Buster's Uncle on April 16, 2014, 03:21:18 AM

Did anyone else catch, in that last, that it says no tech trading?

Title: Re: New BE stories
Post by: BlaneckW on April 16, 2014, 04:35:25 AM

Quote from: BUncle on April 16, 2014, 03:21:18 AM

Did anyone else catch, in that last, that it says no tech trading?

Don't think of them as techs, think of them as class levels.  Beyond Earth has three classes.  You do quests to raise your level in the class.

Title: Re: New BE stories
Post by: Buster's Uncle on April 16, 2014, 04:50:26 AM

No class trading?

Title: Re: New BE stories
Post by: BlaneckW on April 16, 2014, 05:08:31 AM

Quote from: BUncle on April 16, 2014, 04:50:26 AM

No class trading?

Maybe they will branch them in an expansion.  I doubt that would make me want to play it, unless, again, these "branches" have as much depth as Alpha Centauri.  It's not a tech tree, it's Majesty: The Fantasy Kingdom Sim a "tech web."

However, I am reminded of another game I haven't played in quite some time, by the name of Diablo 2.

Title: Re: New BE stories
Post by: BlaneckW on April 16, 2014, 05:41:31 AM

To be perfectly honest with you, I don't get the impression that it's even really a strategy game.  It's a sort of Mars landing sim based around quests.  If that's what you want, get it.  I wrote a review earlier, but I no longer consider it fair, because it was a review based on it being a strategy game, comparing it to Alpha Centauri. 

You could probably remove the game from Alpha Centauri 2 candidates, though I think we should keep the subforum somewhere on the off chance we grab people off google and for relfection.

Title: Re: New BE stories
Post by: Buster's Uncle on April 16, 2014, 05:48:04 PM

A Will Miller podcast interview recorded at PAX East:  PAX East 2014: Civilization Beyond Earth Interview (http://ippodcast.libsyn.com/pax-east-2014-civilization-beyond-earth-interview)

Title: Re: New BE stories
Post by: Buster's Uncle on April 17, 2014, 02:11:42 AM

I'm juggling a million balls right now, and I should mention that a majority of links I'm posting have been shamelessly stolen from Lorizael, self biased and Aeson at 'poly.  http://apolyton.net/forumdisplay.php/381-Civilization-Beyond-Earth (http://apolyton.net/forumdisplay.php/381-Civilization-Beyond-Earth)

If you're looking for BE news at any other Civ forum, look there - it's the best combo I know of of new stuff and not 15 million over-excited aspies burying what you're looking for in chatter. ;b;

Title: Re: New BE stories
Post by: Yitzi on April 17, 2014, 01:10:05 PM

Quote from: Geo on April 15, 2014, 03:33:02 AM

What comes out most in the first two articles is how SMAC had a dark story already spliced in, but BE will let the player more or less decide how dark it's gonna be for his band of merry colonists.

The SMAC story isn't "dark" so much as "complex".  Yes, it has darkness; it also has light and nobility, and at the end, those are the aspects that win out.

By forcing you to choose between your humanity, technology, and a place within the new world, BE is going to be darker than SMAC(X), which allows you to choose all three in a way that lets them support each other, ever was.

Title: Re: New BE stories
Post by: BlaneckW on April 17, 2014, 01:47:45 PM

Quote from: Yitzi on April 17, 2014, 01:10:05 PM

The SMAC story isn't "dark" so much as "complex".

Apparently some people are bothered by the "dystopic music."  I think they're just looking at it the wrong way. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkxvA0j4SEs (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkxvA0j4SEs)

Quote from: Yitzi on April 17, 2014, 01:10:05 PM

  Yes, it has darkness; it also has light and nobility, and at the end, those are the aspects that win out.

I'm fairly sure it's the lazers that win out.  But maybe you can have the light and nobility post lazer victory.

Quote from: Yitzi on April 17, 2014, 01:10:05 PM

By forcing you to choose between your humanity, technology, and a place within the new world, BE is going to be darker than SMAC(X), which allows you to choose all three in a way that lets them support each other, ever was.

We can always make more humans if we need them.

Title: Re: New BE stories
Post by: Yitzi on April 17, 2014, 07:55:41 PM

Quote from: BlaneckW on April 17, 2014, 01:47:45 PM

I'm fairly sure it's the lazers that win out.

No; while some games (actually, nearly all MP games because offense is overpowered without modding) end up with conquest victory, the standard SMAC story ends with Transcendence by the Gaians, who at some point have overcome their "pristine world" approach and switched to a healthier "avert this tragic cycle" approach.

Title: Re: New BE stories
Post by: thorn on April 17, 2014, 11:03:43 PM

I have never thought of Alpha Centauri as 'dark'.  ::)

Title: Re: New BE stories
Post by: Buster's Uncle on April 18, 2014, 04:35:29 PM

From GMA news: 'Beyond Earth' takes 'Sid Meier's Civilization' off-planet and into the final frontier (http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/357203/scitech/geeksandgaming/beyond-earth-takes-sid-meier-s-civilization-off-planet-and-into-the-final-frontier)

Title: Re: New BE stories
Post by: Buster's Uncle on April 18, 2014, 04:36:14 PM

The BE Wikipedia article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilization:_Beyond_Earth (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilization:_Beyond_Earth)

Title: Re: New BE stories
Post by: Buster's Uncle on April 18, 2014, 08:31:47 PM

From Technabob: Sid Meier’s Civilization: Beyond Earth Lands This Fall (http://technabob.com/blog/2014/04/16/sid-meiers-civilization-beyond-earth/)

Title: Re: New BE stories
Post by: Buster's Uncle on April 18, 2014, 08:33:39 PM

From Metro: Sid Meier’s Civilization: Beyond Earth is Alpha Centauri spiritual sequel (http://metro.co.uk/2014/04/14/sid-meiers-civilization-beyond-earth-is-alpha-centauri-spiritual-sequel-4698319/)

Title: Re: New BE stories
Post by: Buster's Uncle on April 18, 2014, 08:40:35 PM

From Space Sector:  Sid Meier’s Civilization: Beyond Earth Announced (http://www.spacesector.com/blog/2014/04/sid-meiers-civilization-beyond-earth-announced/)

Quote from: Lena Brenk, Producer at Firaxis Games

The new systems that are implemented here give this game complexity. I know our fans [are always] afraid of us dumbing something down. This is not dumbed down.

...

Folks, the thing is, our curiosity fades slowly, but not as slowly as new developments tend to turn up.  I would love to have some help looking for articles...  If someone besides me was looking/posting, and that drew someone else into looking/posting, and so on, we'd all end up knowing a great deal more.

Title: Re: New BE stories
Post by: BlaneckW on April 19, 2014, 06:50:48 AM

The "new systems" give it complexity, i.e. the old systems or even main parts of the game don't necessarily have complexity.

Title: Re: New BE stories
Post by: Buster's Uncle on April 19, 2014, 06:56:16 AM

"The new systems that are implemented here" - I can't safely assume that it's true or anything -much bull always gets talked in promoting a new game- but I don't think she meant what you said...

Title: Re: New BE stories
Post by: BlaneckW on April 19, 2014, 07:04:03 AM

She could have said the game has complexity, but she didn't.  She knew what she was doing.