I picked up Sid Meier's Civilization IV this week. And it comes down to this:
Is this really a game worth $1,000 to me?
My poor computer is too old. It's just not burly enough to handle this game. I can boot it up, I can go through starting a scenario. I can hear Leonard Nimoy's voice tell me about how the Earth used to not have any voids ("In the beginning, the Earth was without form and void"), and then I pretty much freeze up.
There haven't been any other games that have come out for PC in quite some time that I want to play. I don't foresee any other games coming out in the near future that I want to play, either. This is because 95% or more of all the games coming out are either First Person Shooters or Massive Multiplayer Online games. I hate FPSs and MMOs.
FPSs are all about who has the best sense of direction and knows the map. And of course, who has the best aim. Which is never me.
MMOs are just obnoxious. I long for the days of Ultima, when I got to be the savior of everything. The avatar. The hero of Brittania. The one and only. Not basket weaver #498. Or rat slayer #34,473. I have a life already that is at times tedious. I don't want a tedious online life to supplement it. I want to do heroic things. And I don't want to be at the whim of the "least common denominator" playing the game. I want my own world, one not messed up by other people playing.
The only other things I use my computer for are browsing the net, reading my e-mail, playing poker, and posting to this blog. I'm not editing movies. I'm not entering Photoshop contests. I'm not doing anything that calls for more processing power than I have now.
So... since they really aren't making PC games that appeal to me anymore, it pretty much comes down to buying a new computer just to play Civilization IV. And that brings me back to the question:
Is this really a game worth $1,000 to me?
I just don't think so.
5 comments:
Don't buy a new computer until your current one kicks the proverbial bucket. If you have such a limited set of favorite computer games, the new purchase might be frivolous. With the steady shift of game development to increasingly scary consoles, computers are becoming appliances, or so Apple wants us to believe.
Two comments:
#1 is that all hardware purchases should be driven by software desires. If you want to play it, upgrade. You're doing it the right way, looking at it like this, at any rate.
#2 is that I view my MMORPG as a world in which I have some control. I can kill things, meet people and make money. All of these may or may not be happening for me in real life. On days when my life is out of control, my level 60 warrior is not. YMMV.
I'm with you there. I am accumulating the components to build a new box (it seems to be a new male rite of passage) and then I might be able to run some of these (or watch a blue screen of death or black screen of oblivion - time will tell). But I don't have the time to get into games to the degree that I would upgrade for them.
Speaking of oblivion, if you want a huge world where you are the man (or the elf, or whatever), Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is out fairly soon. If it's anything like III, which consumed my life for about 6 months -- well, that's really all that needs to be said.
Problem is, I'll probably need to buy a new video card to run it. Which doesn't help your other problem.
There is a text config file in the Civ folder that you can edit with notepad or whatever, and lower down the graphics settings. Try that before you buy a new computer, Evan.
Also, if you get the expansion Beyond the Sword they also optimized and streamlined, and that might help too.
Lastly, they're making a console version of CIV4. ;-) Should be out in a couple months. I doubt they'll make Christmas but who knows.
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