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submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by leigh to c/gaming@beehaw.org

Coming on October 24th… and this looks so good, I might finally upgrade my GPU. 😄

RIP SimCity, thank you for all you gave to gaming, but your time is even more over now than it already was.

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[-] Thrashy@beehaw.org 20 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

I got my money's worth from the original, but I have two major complaints about it that, from what I can see, the new game doesn't address:

First, the developer originally made transport games and that bias shows. C:S makes it incredibly hard to design a city that isn't car-centric, and gameplay in practice tends to center on optimizing car traffic at the expense of everything else a city-builder could be.

Second (and this ties into the first, to an extent) is that the game doesn't represent the passage of time, in a technological or societal sense. Real cities grow and change over decades and centuries, with decisions made in prior eras imposing informing and imposing restraints on those made after. C:S cities exist in a weird, timeless and anachronistic "now" from the start. This was something that classic SimCity games did well, at least in the context of an American boom town: as the years advance, so does the tech tree, opening up new mass transit options, cleaner and more efficient infrastructure items, and new kinds of commerce and industry.

Personally, I'd love a game in this genre that plays like SimCity but takes in the whole arc of history, say from from the Middle Ages onwards, so that players can start to appreciate how decisions they make hundreds of years prior can leave their mark on the city in the present -- for example, where a defensive wall gets placed during a medieval time of war leaves a mark of the street networks, and changes the way that that social classes distribute through the city and leads to a high-rent luxury district in a future era.

[-] prof@beehaw.org 11 points 2 years ago

Yeah, your first point is so true. I always wanted to build walkable cities and see if that would work, but without mods you're just missing the tools.

Even when modded to hell I didn't feel like my bike lanes or pedestrian walkways really helped to lighten traffic. My sims would rather wait a full ingame year in congested traffic to reach their destination, than just walk 10 minutes. 😵‍💫

[-] frogs@beehaw.org 10 points 2 years ago

There is definitely something to be said about the game tending towards being car centric. One factor for this not even directly related to transport that I've noticed myself a lot is the lack of proper mixed zoning, which can be a valuable tool of creating more walkable and public transport friendly cities.

I do like the idea of a city growing somewhat more organically over the years. I think it would also make it easier to not have one specific approach to transport being the objective best, because your earlier decisions would probably have some influence on that. It does sound rather hard to me though to find the right balance of how hard to deal with those historical restrictions should be.

[-] Thrashy@beehaw.org 9 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

On the one hand, if somebody wants to Haussmanize their Paris I'd say more power to you, the bulldozer tool is in the menu. On the other hand, some mechanic like Transport Tycoon's where local councils stop letting you build around them if you get too aggressive remodeling their town could be interesting too.

At the end of the day, though, I wouldn't want to take to much power or of the player's hands. Will Wright described those classic Maxis games as "software toys," and the freedom to mess around and see what happens is both part of the appeal and how games like SimCity came to seen as educational.

[-] Gork@beehaw.org 2 points 2 years ago

I remember those classics.

SimAnt, SimEarth, SimTower, SimCopter, Streets of SimCity. Those last two were particularly cool because you could import your SimCity 2000 city into them and fly or drive around in the city you made. I thought that was the coolest thing.

[-] Thrashy@beehaw.org 3 points 2 years ago

SimAnt has a warm, weird place in my heart, not least of which for the massive doorstop of a manual that it came bundled with, full of all kinds of science trivia about ants, including something like a very long term paper or a small textbook about them at the back! What a different era that was.

[-] Domiku@beehaw.org 1 points 2 years ago

I think someone spotted mixed zoning in the promo material, but we don’t have any real details.

[-] kurosawaa@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago

It's interesting how car centric it feels when their previous games focused entirely on building public transportation. In a lot of ways Cities in Motion 1 is more fun for me than Cities Skylines, building a better transit system in a static city almost feels like solving a puzzle in away rather than pursuing mindless growth. I hope they can capture that feeling again.

[-] Jentu@lemmy.film 15 points 2 years ago

I’m excited to watch smarter people than me play this game

[-] myk@beehaw.org 7 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Or dafter people. Looking at you Real Civil Engineer.

[-] TeaHands@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago

That's going to be my only option, my laptop can barely run the first one as it is!

[-] cybermass@beehaw.org 13 points 2 years ago

Don't pre order games folks, it's always a bad idea.

[-] ace@lemmy.ananace.dev 8 points 2 years ago

Well, looks like there might be another few hundred hours of city building in my future.

[-] rivingtondown@beehaw.org 8 points 2 years ago

I wonder how long this will take to catch up to the current game though in terms of content. There's, what... 10 expansions for the original plus a dozen content packs and music packs? It's almost as extreme as The Sims.

Might be hard to dive deep into C:S2 if your used to playing C:S1 with a large amount of the expansions from the last 8 years

[-] leigh 7 points 2 years ago

Maybe so. But I’ve watched a few other videos on YouTube today picking apart the new trailer, and it looks like the C:S2 base game will launch with several of the features that came later in C:S1’s life. I definitely wouldn’t blame anyone who chooses to wait and see based on their own gameplay preferences, of course! But I have a strong suspicion that many folks (myself included) will quite enjoy the new game even if the experience is less deep or complex to start with. 😄

[-] _MusicJunkie@beehaw.org 4 points 2 years ago

Mods and custom content are even more important to me. That will take time too.

Seems like the vanilla buildings don't look as goofy as in CS1 but custom content makes this game for me.

[-] Pyr_Pressure@lemmy.ca 7 points 2 years ago

Really hope it's less frustrating trying to build highways and onramps/off ramps. Always killed me trying to do that in a visually pleasing way.

[-] Wilshire@beehaw.org 6 points 2 years ago

That looks amazing. I hope traffic AI is significantly improved.

[-] Gork@beehaw.org 1 points 2 years ago

Or at the very least, multithreaded optimized. My frame rates tend to drop dramatically once the traffic bogs down the 1 CPU that it decides to unload all of its pathfinding on.

[-] srpwnd@lemmy.one 5 points 2 years ago

Is there any word on macOS or Linux availability?

[-] Forkk@beehaw.org 3 points 2 years ago

It'd be very surprising if they omitted it given the last game had support for both pretty much on day one from what I can remember.

[-] srpwnd@lemmy.one 2 points 2 years ago

That is why I'm asking. But the Steam page currently only shows Windows compatibility and requirements. I'm on macOS now but don't want to miss CS2 :(

[-] max@feddit.nl 1 points 2 years ago

On twitter they mentioned Xbox, PlayStation. (?), and PC support. With “no further comment for now” on MacOS compatibility.

[-] srpwnd@lemmy.one 2 points 2 years ago

Damn, that's no good news for me.

[-] max@feddit.nl 1 points 2 years ago

I feel you. I’m switching to a MacBook for my away-from-home needs and I’m bummed out that I probably won’t be able to play when away from home. Perhaps they’ll add it after launch or maybe it works well with the emulation tools available. Fingers crossed!

[-] pimeys@lemmy.nauk.io 3 points 2 years ago

Would be surprised if it didn't work with Proton...

[-] steffo@fedia.io 1 points 2 years ago

Just like the original...

[-] Mogster@beehaw.org 4 points 2 years ago

I played a lot of the first game, but like lots of games of this type it kind of lost me with the endless DLC releases. It would be nice to start over with a fresh game, and it does look cool.

I remember seeing the original go up against the most recent Sim City, and it's still unbelievable to think how badly EA messed that one up.

[-] Profilename1@sopuli.xyz 4 points 2 years ago

Cautiously excited. I won't preorder, of course, but I'll keep an eye on it once it's out.

[-] hismajesty@lemmy.world 4 points 2 years ago

Great another DLC hell coming. Ppl never learn.

[-] lemann@lemmy.one 11 points 2 years ago

They need to keep the lights on somehow...

Usually I don't have a problem with DLCs unless the company is visibly taking their customers for a ride like EA. In my eyes at least, Paradox has a track record of providing a solid base game with full mod support

There's also the option of 🧲🚢 if that's more your thing lol

[-] handtasche@feddit.de 6 points 2 years ago

You also don't need to buy the DLCs if the base game is solid. There is no multiplayer mode generating peer pressure and with mod support you are set.

[-] P1r4nha@feddit.de 2 points 2 years ago

At least the base game is solid.

[-] leigh 1 points 2 years ago

Or there are some people who enjoy the game, want more, and are willing to pay for its continued development. If you don’t feel the base game will give good entertainment relative to its cost, then by all means take a pass on it. But the DLC is totally optional.

[-] PauliExcluded@beehaw.org 3 points 2 years ago

I didn’t see bikes or bike lanes in the trailer. I certainly hope those are in the game. Other than that, it looks awesome. I’m looking forward to it!

[-] lemann@lemmy.one 2 points 2 years ago

Previous base game has dedicated bike pathways, as well as roads with painted bike gutters, so safe to say those would make a return in the sequel

[-] PauliExcluded@beehaw.org 2 points 2 years ago

Biking and bike lanes were added in After Dark.

New transportation options: Bikes and dedicated bike lanes and bike ways let citizens opt for a faster alternative to walking. Bus lanes can be used to help the public transportation run smoother.

[-] Luminance6716@lemmy.one 3 points 2 years ago

Between this and starfield I need to build a new desktop….

[-] SevFTW@feddit.de 3 points 2 years ago

Oh some of these new build features look really nice! I’m actually kinda hyped

[-] erre@programming.dev 3 points 2 years ago

As a console player, I'm excited that there appears to be features coming that used to only be available using mods.

[-] divinegrilledcheese@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago

A few days ago I reinstalled the first Cities: Skylines and had a blast! I can't wait for the sequel.

[-] lvl@beehaw.org 2 points 2 years ago
[-] amortized_cost@beehaw.org 2 points 2 years ago

awkward silence

[-] Durango807@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 years ago

Really hoping most of the features from the first game and it's DLCs are in this one. I picked up 90% of the DLC and basegame on a humble bundle charity thing for like $60 last year but I know people have spend like $500 on this game.

Hopefully CS2 has enough content to keep people happy and the DLC can be bought on a good sale.

[-] ycnz@lemmy.nz 1 points 2 years ago
[-] Brunbrun6766@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago

This looks fantastic. I am very excited for this release. At the same time, how much content will we be seeing at launch y'know? Will I have to wait 7 years for an airports DLC?

[-] Noah@lemmy.fmhy.ml 1 points 2 years ago

Hoping for more train related build options. I want a city train dangit

[-] setInner234@feddit.de 1 points 2 years ago

I played a lot of cities: skylines. I'll definitely keep an eye out for this one.

[-] nailbar@sopuli.xyz 1 points 2 years ago

I really hope they team up with another studio that makes FPS and/or driving games.

[-] diluc@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 years ago

It's sucks that I gotta buy a new laptop. Even playing with few mods and assets it can't handle CS anymore.

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this post was submitted on 11 Jun 2023
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