Hello again ol' friend: Simcity 5 introduced

[fantom1979]

Instead of deflecting, we ask the higher-ups at EA to reflect on the following question:
When we live in an era marked by massive oil spills, faulty foreclosures by bad banks, and rampant consolidation in the airline and telecom industry, what does it say about EA’s business practices that so many people have — for the second year in a row — come out to hand it the title of Worst Company In America?

.

[kcchief19]

"Are we really the 'Worst Company in America?'" he asked. "I'll be the first to admit that we’ve made plenty of mistakes. These include server shut downs too early, games that didn’t meet expectations, missteps on new pricing models and most recently, severely fumbling the launch of SimCity. We owe gamers better performance than this. … But I am damn proud of this company, the people around the globe who work at EA, the games we create and the people that play them."

I can't even begin to count the number of PR boo-boos in this quote alone. First, he did a really nice job of counting off all of EA's failures, so at least we don't have to do that, we can just quote him.

The one good line is the "We owe gamers better performance than this" Then he proceeds to completely undermine that by taking pride in what they have done.

Customers want EA to take responsibility. They need to acknowledge their mistakes and fix them. They would like an apology. All we seem to get is arrogance and defense of something customers keep telling EA they don't want.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by kcchief19

I can't even begin to count the number of PR boo-boos in this quote alone. First, he did a really nice job of counting off all of EA's failures, so at least we don't have to do that, we can just quote him.

The one good line is the "We owe gamers better performance than this" Then he proceeds to completely undermine that by taking pride in what they have done.

Customers want EA to take responsibility. They need to acknowledge their mistakes and fix them. They would like an apology. All we seem to get is arrogance and defense of something customers keep telling EA they don't want.

It's just an awesome train wreck. I was just imagining what the equivalent would be if I was talking to a bride.

"Yeah, I have to admit that the failure to set up chairs for the wedding was an oversight. We definitely should have mowed the lawn sometime in the past month as well. We feel bad about forgetting to purchase champagne for the toast. And certainly, telling the mother of the bride to f@#& off was not the best choice of words, even if she deserved it.

Outside of that, we were extremely pleased with how the wedding went and we really hope you were too! We're even giving back the security deposit!

[finketr]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

Or Comcast or Ticketmaster

SI

or any of the airlines not named Southwest

[mckerney]

Well EA seems happy with SimCity 5 since they've started bringing one of its most popular features to other EA titles.

[Worst. Update. Ever.] EA Updates The Simpsons: Tapped Out With Origin Syncing, Deletes Some Players' Entire Towns [Update]

[Wolfpack]

Originally Posted by mckerney

Well EA seems happy with SimCity 5 since they've started bringing one of its most popular features to other EA titles.

[Worst. Update. Ever.] EA Updates The Simpsons: Tapped Out With Origin Syncing, Deletes Some Players' Entire Towns [Update]

Heh. I've been playing the Android version for a while now and it's a fun little game to kill time with. I knew that the iPhone users had the Origin feature, but now having seen what destruction it's wrought, I'm pretty sure I'll not sign up for that myself. I've still got my game in one piece and for the amount of time sunk into it (not to mention a small amount of money spent on getting a few premium items), I'd be really pissed if it got wiped out by this. Especially since they're doing a big event based on the Whacking Day episode right now.

[Blackadar]

I feel like kicking this a bit more.

You have to love the monitizaiton of the game:

The PA Report - Screw the game, SimCity has become a cynically brilliant advertising platform

In a nutshell, if you buy specially marked packages of Crest or Oral-B products, you get up to 5 new vacation spots for your cities which have substantial advantages in gameplay. What's next, buy a new car and get an "I win" button in Simcity?

[spleen1015]

Any updates on whether or not they have fixed all of these issues?

[CraigSca]

Kotaku had a small update yesterday...

EA Honestly Believes SimCity Has Been A “Success�

[Blackadar]

Originally Posted by spleen1015

Any updates on whether or not they have fixed all of these issues?

The short answer to your question is no and never. To be fair, there have been some improvements in stability and patches. By all accounts you can get on and stay on to play. Some of the more egregious issues have been fixed.

However, there are still a fair number of bugs that haven't been fixed and at this point I don't expect them to since they're now rolling out $10 DLC hot and heavy. But what is more serious is that the fundamental design of the game is flawed due to how the agent system is programmed. Until that is fixed - and I don't expect it to ever be fixed - it's going to be a rather limited "simulator". Between that issue and the tiny tiles (TT) for city spaces, it's never going to be a very good game. The updates are just putting lipstick on a pig.

[Young Drachma]

So finally acquired this even though it's flawed because playing 4 wasn't really getting it done.

[fantom1979]

I have been following the Simcity discussion on reddit. To this point, I haven't seen anything that makes me want to get it. But the fact that I am still checking Simcity threads should tell you that I am still interested.

[Draft Dodger]

I don't think I would ever pay money for it. I feel really strongly about rewarding EA for that steaming pile

[FLC28]

Since they announced that there will never be larger cities due to the engine being limited, I think I'm done with it too. Such a shame.

[frnk55]

I passed on it which surprised me but I'm glad I did. Small cities ruins it for me. I can see myself buying it if it gets down to 5 bucks which won't happen for years if that.

[DaddyTorgo]

Yeah - building small "cities" is stupid, let alone with the documented agent problems.

If it was small cities it should have been "Sim Town" not "Sim CITY"

[KWhit]

Originally Posted by fantom1979

I have been following the Simcity discussion on reddit. To this point, I haven't seen anything that makes me want to get it. But the fact that I am still checking Simcity threads should tell you that I am still interested.

This game truly is a steaming pile. It's not just the small cities thing, either. Their underlying simulation is broken. The most important strategic component of the series - balancing the Residential, Commercial, and Industrial zoning needs of your city - is completely borked. Not to mention traffic, which also is still terrible.

Seriously, stay away. It's terrible.

[Bonegavel]

I keep checking this thread to see if a miracle has happened (ie, the game becomes worth the purchase) but it appears this will never be. Oh well.

Are my memories of past Sim City's clouded by time? I tried playing SC 4 a few years back and I remember it being an extremely mediocre experience and I didn't play it more than a few hours before retiring it for good and I remember thinking that I couldn't wait to see what they could do for SC 5. They may have had the same realization early in development and found that more of the same was boring and outdated.

I think for this kind of game to be fun for me I would need it to be a lot more hard-core and I don't think that would appeal to very many. I want a full sized city with the potential for major sprawl or not. Maybe even an endless landscape like Minecraft.

[Mota]

Sim City 5 is like one of those Home Inspector shows. You have this beautiful house that you found and bought. You're so proud of it. Then you realize it has leaks. So you call the home inspector and he tears the thing apart to find you have a ton of rot in your house and that the foundation is crumbling. So much that you almost might as well tear the place down and rebuild from scratch. That's Sim City 5. I played 10 super fun hours when I first got it, and then started wonder WHY this was happening and WHY I couldn't do this even though I fulfilled the requirements. Then I discovered it's not me, it's the rot. And there's no fixing it.

[Young Drachma]

SC4 was a game for nerds made by an indie studio still linked to founders intent. SC5 is mass market gaming by a major game company that gives zero fucks.

Plus, SC4 with Rush Hour expansion wasn't that good. It took all of the add-ons that were added over the years that made the game so awesome for ages well after the game had grown stale.

[finketr]

Originally Posted by Bonegavel

I keep checking this thread to see if a miracle has happened (ie, the game becomes worth the purchase) but it appears this will never be. Oh well.

Are my memories of past Sim City's clouded by time? I tried playing SC 4 a few years back and I remember it being an extremely mediocre experience and I didn't play it more than a few hours before retiring it for good and I remember thinking that I couldn't wait to see what they could do for SC 5. They may have had the same realization early in development and found that more of the same was boring and outdated.

I think for this kind of game to be fun for me I would need it to be a lot more hard-core and I don't think that would appeal to very many. I want a full sized city with the potential for major sprawl or not. Maybe even an endless landscape like Minecraft.

*twitch..twicth*.. minecraft... endless...

anyway, i seem to have the same experience with SC4 which i started getting back into. I seem to remember it much more fondly, but I guess it was the first three that I enjoyed the most... Ahh, arcologies..

[Vince, Pt. II]

I played the ever-loving hell out of the original and SimCity 2000. Took both 3 and 4 for a spin, but wasn't really impressed. I'm not sure if it's because my tastes changed or what, because by all accounts 4 was a great game.

[Draft Dodger]

Same for me, Vince. Loved 2000 but never could get into the newer ones

[fantom1979]

I think I spent more time download mods for Simcity 4 than actually playing it. I spent hundreds if not thousands of hours playing the original and 2k.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

A nine month review of SimCity 5. Brutally honest. Amazing that the GIF at the start of the article can portray so many things wrong in so short a clip.

Nine Months Later And SimCity Is A Bust

Update 12/20/2013

On March 5 of this year, the latest iteration of SimCity made its grand debut, stepping out onto the PC gaming stage in grand fashion — and then fell flat on its face in front of the entire world.

Stop holding your breath for an official offline mode for the new SimCity. It doesn't seem like you'll be getting one, perhaps ever.

Weeks of connectivity issues, cities founded and lost, games started with groups of friends with joyful intent left involuntarily abandoned — it was a bad scene. And once the connection problems began to clear up, savvy players began uncovering uncomfortable truths about Maxis' ambitious city simulator. The advanced artificial intelligence wasn't quite so advanced. Traffic patterns were broken. They discovered the game's least appealing feature — its always-online requirement — wasn't the necessity we'd been told it was.

The entire situation was an embarrassment, and not just for EA and Maxis. Attentive readers will note that I did not participate much in our SimCity Disaster Watch stories. I felt awkward even speaking about the game.

Yet I did play. With each major update — we're on nine at this point — I hopped back on, testing out changes and tweaks, fiddling with fresh content, hoping my remaining concerns over the game would be addressed, its lingering problems mopped up.

That did not happen.

Every major game update has brought fresh problems. Traffic patterns are fixed, but suddenly sewage starts overloading. Cheetah mode temporarily breaks, slowing the game to a crawl. Maybe education isn't being reported correctly. Maybe entire cities are becoming unusable. Just look at the Update 9.0 issues forum post on the official website to witness the endless parade of stupid little things that have been getting fixed and unfixed for months.

The simulation aspect of SimCity is in a constant state of flux, thanks to those annoying little issues. While the number-crunchers grit their teeth, more creative players like myself sink deeper into despair.

Yes, new content has been released since the game launched, giving us more objects to place and play with. What we have not gotten is more room. Cities size limits are reached far too quickly, and there isn't much room to be creative with our layouts.

I want to build sprawling city-scapes that stretch for as far as the eye can see. I want to merge with my fellow players' creations, forming a majestic, co-op megalopolis, instead of simply occupying the same map, like some amped-up Facebook social game.

The recently released Cities of Tomorrow expansion introduces MegaTowers, allowing players to build multi-zoned, multi-functional super structures — like having a SimTower in your SimCity — but that's a $30 fix that doesn't quite give me the freedom I yearn for.

I am disappointed in SimCity, and nothing Maxis or EA has done since launch has changed that. I know there are players who somehow manage to embrace the game with all its flaws, but I am not one of them. I'd go as far as to say that my 2013 would have been a much happier one if I'd never played SimCity.

[FLC28]

sad, but true
I gave up a long time ago on it.

[flere-imsaho]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

A nine month review of SimCity 5. Brutally honest. Amazing that the GIF at the start of the article can portray so many things wrong in so short a clip.

Yeah, read that yesterday and it's definitely an excellent summary. The very last sentence is a real doozy, to be honest.

What's even more amazing, however, is that it's not EA's biggest failure of 2014, as it appears Battlefield 4 will take that award.

[DaddyTorgo]

Contrasting GameStop stories - to be amusing.

I just went into another GameStop as I was shopping to play the PS4 FIFA demo. Had the salesguy there tell me that Battlefield 4 was great on the PS4.

Almost died laughing. He won't be getting a sale from me.

[Blackadar]

Heh, EA finally decided to do the "impossible" and give the new SimCity an offline mode.

https://mobile.twitter.com/simcity

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too fucking too little too fucking too late

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by Blackadar

Heh, EA finally decided to do the "impossible" and give the new SimCity an offline mode.

https://mobile.twitter.com/simcity

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too fucking too little too fucking too late

Even with that the game is still fundamentally broken though from what I've heard - and frankly that only highlights the fact that their claim of the simulating being so complex (or whatever word they used, you know what i mean) that it needed to be always on was just more bullshit.

[Neon_Chaos]

Hahaha. Sigh.

[FLC28]

I think the only thing which can bring me back to the game is bigger land plots, but they have said that is never happening.

[jeff061]

Bigger land plots is the hold up for me as well. I'd even deal with the online requirement and the shoddy sim engine if it had bigger land plots.

[flere-imsaho]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

Even with that the game is still fundamentally broken though from what I've heard

Originally Posted by FLC28

I think the only thing which can bring me back to the game is bigger land plots, but they have said that is never happening.

Yes. While there are many issues, this one is the most damning. Essentially the "agent" system which operates everything, has trouble functioning correctly as cities get larger (even within the current tiny land plots). To use a simple example, if you have your power plant on one side of your city, producing sufficient power for your city as it grows, past a certain size the power "agents" will time out as they attempt to cross your city, meaning part of your city won't have power. This problem can, and does, affect every aspect of the city.

Which is the main reason why plots won't get larger.

It's a shame, really, because most of the UI layer is done really well, and the art is terrific. But the simulation is utterly broken and clearly cannot be fixed. You can absolutely have fun playing the game, but the longer you play it, the more you get those immersion-breaking moments that keep you from enjoying it, and eventually make you hate it.