I’m in love with the idea of Civilizations Online. Just the idea of playing in a big open world where each civilization can be built up and ultimately vie for control of the world sounds neat. Players can take on the role of workers to help build up and gather resources, or become a soldier to attack and defend.
Daydreams start to kick in at this point and I can see myself as a worker going out into the world and chopping trees, gathering ore, building farms, etc., to grow my civilization’s resources. I imagine it feeling a little bit like Harvest Moon meets UO meets Savage meets RTS.
Playing a soldier I can imagine taking squads of friends out to go harass the enemy civilizations. Finding their workers in a mine and wiping them out to have our workers come in and steal resources, go on bombing runs with zeppelins, or defend my civ against enemy raids. I’m creating this Planetside-esque map in my head where we are fighting for control of territory and building towers, cities, etc., all in real-time.
The entire game playing out as a MMO RTS/Strategy game paints this wonderful picture. I can see civilizations growing and advancing through various ages and ultimately having there be this cool showdown between a civilization still in the Bronze Age and another which has reached some sort of Industrial Age.
Will it actually be that way? I’m worried. Civilization Online is being developed by XL Games. Yeah, the same studio who made ArcheAge. Ugh. I also watched a few of these videos. Check them out.
[su_spoiler title=”Expand and watch Civilization Online Gameplay”][su_youtube_advanced url=”https://youtu.be/RkW2BibSeMw” width=”700″ controls=”alt” rel=”no” fs=”no”]
[su_youtube_advanced url=”https://youtu.be/GQYZCGk85nU” width=”700″ controls=”alt” rel=”no” fs=”no”]
[su_youtube_advanced url=”https://youtu.be/Yh2Gf-T41a4″ width=”700″ controls=”alt” rel=”no” fs=”no”][/su_spoiler]
After watching the videos I’m left with this odd feeling of the game being too zany and “let’s wear stupid hats” mixed with expecting to see Acme labeled everywhere. Very much a Battlefield Heroes vibe in those videos. The PvE looked dumb. Probably to the tune of, “Hello great Aztect warrior. Go forth and slaughter 12 boars for your empire!” And then you do it and earn resources for your team.
Reading the beta reports reveals that XL Games is using vulnerability windows for attacking enemy civilizations. There’s a narrow window in which it appears all of the conquest will take place. The rest of the time looks to be spend in “passive mode” where players can go out and PvE or build up their civilization’s economy. Windows of attack are horrible.
Building looked kinda cool. It’s dumbed down, which I sadly expected, but still being able to build anywhere is neat. In the video I saw people throwing pieces together and crafting stuff. Could have some potential. Like most games, I definitely lean more toward the guy who builds the towers and gathers the resources rather than the one who drives the tank.
I’m anxious for Civ Online to come to the western market. I’ll give it a try and see if it’s anything like the amazing game I’ve concocted in my head, or if it’s another missed opportunity.
Made by XL Games?
Is it F2P?
If the answers to these two questions are yes, my answer is No.
Games like this have intrigued me but have always been so few and far between. They always seem to leave so much potential untapped and this seems like one of the worst executions possible.
The problem with traditional online RTS games is it always feels like if you didn’t sign up on day 1 and are playing 23 hours a day you just get left so far behind it’s crazy. Something like this, a MMORPG with RTS elements would work because you join an established civilization rather than plopping your hut next to 100’s of other super empires.
A game like this could have tons of potential. I imagine someone even taking the role of a commander and they would get to look at a map in the war room for a traditional zoomed out view of the RTS world. Then they could give orders like exploring, building new settlements, attacking outposts, and defending resources. Then, rather than generic “Kill 6 boars” quests the game would generate missions based on the orders your commander gave.
That would be a game worth playing. I’ll pass on this one though I do look forward to seeing a review.
What I’m also worried about is how the player population is split into civilizations.
In a game like this it is important for civilizations to have just as many players.
Now imagen this game handled it like WoW did. Alliance outnumbering Horde by 3.5 times.
That would ruin the whole concept if population was the deciding factor, instead of effort and strategy.
A game like this needs a hard cap on players per civilization. 10k people on civilization A? then it gets locked until civilization B and C also gets that many players.
Another great idea and concept that will get destroyed by a terrible publisher.
XL GAMES?!?! the people who brought you crappy Buggy, hack fest ArcheAge?!? no Thanks.
Yeah… that’s what I’m afraid of…
How is it that just from the font of the word “Online” in the logo I can tell this game is not for me?
What its made by those that made archeage? That game has scarred me for life.
I really tried to like it… to no avail. There was just to much wrong in that game.
That kind of got me worried.
Will probably still try it though…