Sim City 4

[lcjjdnh]

I know there's been threads on this before, but everytime I go to Best Buy, I'm always tempted to pick up the deluxe version of it. Is it worth it? I loved the the first three, but never picked up this one. The only thing I'm kind of concerned about is the whole regional building thing. Is there a way to build a metropolis without using this feature, or are you basically stuck building up a bunch of different cities in the region if you want a big city.

[Critch]

Single city still works fine, for me the whole regional thing never really worked very well. They had real problems with how time should run in regions and didn't really get it balanced properly for me. There also wasn't a feeling of it being a real region, all your hub cities would turn out the same. Regions just seemed to add loopholes to exploit.

Basically, play it single city and it's more of the same from Sim City 3. Add in the Rush Hour pack and it's better, more tools to monitor and help with traffic flow.

If you loved the first 3, 4 would be a good buy.

[CamEdwards]

anybody know if there are plans for a sim city 5?

[Critch]

I hope so.

Looking through the websites it doesn't seem like anything is in the works though. The original plans for Sim City 4 were very adventurous, full 3d engine allowing you do go all the way down to street level, but they were dropped as the early alphas were fairly unplayable. So they ended up making something much more in the style of previous versions, more of a Sim City 3 Plus than a real step forward.

Maybe the problems with moving the game forward have put them off new versions? Or maybe they're too busy rolling around in the cash generated from the weekly Sims expansion packs to bother with the Sim City franchise.

[Critch]

dola....

This is a bit mixed, new direction sounds nice, but dumbing down hints not so good:

GameSpy: Do you work on SimCities when new ones come out?

Wright: Right now we are not working on a SimCity. It's in early planning stages, not active work. We're about to come out with a new direction for it.

GameSpy: Can you talk about the new direction?

Wright: We haven't figured out what it is. SimCity kind of worked itself into a corner. We were still appealing to this core SimCity group. It had gotten a little complicated for people who had never played SimCity. We want to take it back to its roots where somebody who had never heard of SimCity can pick it up and enjoy playing it without thinking it was really, really hard.

If you played SimCity before, the last one was pretty fun. I mean, it wasn't really hard. But if you had never seen SimCity in your life, it's pretty complicated. Whatever the new direction is, it needs to be along those lines.

http://www.gamespy.com/articles/515/515914p3.html

[Draft Dodger]

Originally Posted by CamEdwards

anybody know if there are plans for a sim city 5?

does Charlton Heston like guns?

I could never get into 4. Not really sure why - SimCity is one of my favorite games of all-time, and it's one of the main reasons I bought my SNES as my first credit card purchase ever. Just kind of blah about 4.

[Coffee Warlord]

I was simply never able to play SC4 without running into insane financial difficulties. Always had a ton of problems making money.

[CHEMICAL SOLDIER]

Originally Posted by Coffee Warlord

I was simply never able to play SC4 without running into insane financial difficulties. Always had a ton of problems making money.

So very true. That and SC4 was a complete resource hog.

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by lcjjdnh

I know there's been threads on this before, but everytime I go to Best Buy, I'm always tempted to pick up the deluxe version of it. Is it worth it? I loved the the first three, but never picked up this one. The only thing I'm kind of concerned about is the whole regional building thing. Is there a way to build a metropolis without using this feature, or are you basically stuck building up a bunch of different cities in the region if you want a big city.

It works well for me, especially with the Rush Hour add-in. Simtropolis.com is a great place to get add-ons and other stuff that make the game 1000x better to play. It's better than all the rest, especially SimCity 3000 which was lacking a bit IMHO.

The regions are just connected and you don't have to connect them. But I like it and try to create different areas. It's seriously full of hours of gameplay in it and worth the purchase.

[AgustusM]

Originally Posted by Coffee Warlord

I was simply never able to play SC4 without running into insane financial difficulties. Always had a ton of problems making money.

yes - I would be very interested in hearing theories/stories of cities that "worked" financially. I really like the look and feel of the game but unlike previous versions, I can't seem to get any city to sustain itself economically.

I spend half of my time playing sim city holding down the shift key and alternating the "up" arrow and enter key over and over.

[CHEMICAL SOLDIER]

Has anyone ever seen their regions develop into a metropolis?

[amdaily]

I had no problems making money, but as someone who also only wants to work on one city, the pop up messages saying "there are benefits to being neighborly!" really got annoying after a while. I connected my city to empty lots, but still got the message. And although you could see the trucks driving out, I really don't think the eocnomics work right unless your city is plugged into a greater region.

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by CHEMICAL SOLDIER

Has anyone ever seen their regions develop into a metropolis?

I downloaded this one trainer cheat that gives you lots of money. It's not what I'd normally do, but I'm not a purist who plays to see the game work. I play to build dynamic vibrant regions. Some of my communities are purposely crime infested, some are farm areas and other are bustling cities.

My largest city is around 160,000 people or so. I've had regions with over 2 million people in them, but that was on my laptop and those are gone now.

But I'm working on one currently with close to 400k people in total. I think that folks might enjoy it more, to download some stuff from Simtropolis. Seriously, I think that stuff will really improve your enjoyment of the game - even without cheating, as there are folks there that have a ton of tips to help you enjoy the game more.

[Young Drachma]

Dola-

It's helpful to play with the tax rates, too, as this can stimulate growth at times.

[Eaglesfan27]

This thread prompted me to purchase the Deluxe version on my way home. I haven't touched this series since playing the original on my roommate's computer a long time ago.

[CamEdwards]

i think you'll enjoy it. i fire up SC4 (deluxe edition) every now and then. it's probably the only non-text sim game i play on the computer.

[Coffee Warlord]

Heh. I have a feeling I might pick up Rush Hour on the way home and try it.

[Franklinnoble]

Originally Posted by CHEMICAL SOLDIER

So very true. That and SC4 was a complete resource hog.

Ditto. Never got into the game because of this.

[Passacaglia]

When I first saw this title, I thought it said "Sin City." Wouldn't it be cool to have a video game based on that movie?

[Eaglesfan27]

I'm very impressed with the huge amount of improvements since I first played this series a long time ago. I love the various mass transit options and highway development options. I can't wait to see one of my cities really become huge and start building high rise towers.

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

I'm very impressed with the huge amount of improvements since I first played this series a long time ago. I love the various mass transit options and highway development options. I can't wait to see one of my cities really become huge and start building high rise towers.

That is seriously the most fun part of the game. At least, for me. It's especially fun to build neighboring cities that are say, "feeder" cities or suburbs or whatever. The possibilities, especially for those of us that have played the older versions are immense and I think that's probably why the appreciation for it is there for people who know what it used to be like and all.

[Eaglesfan27]

Maybe it's just me, but I feel bad that some parts of my first city are full of poor tenants with relatively poor services. Meanwhile, I've built my first huge hospital and university and all of the rich people are flocking to it.

[Eaglesfan27]

A few hours ago I started building my first "truly big city" on a huge land mass. I haven't built too much yet and only have a few thousand sims, but I love the little details. For example, I just spent a few minutes watchings my sims play soccer. I spent another few minutes zooming in to watch them enjoy the tennis courts, the park, etc. In any case, I'm quite certain that Sim City 4 deluxe edition is going to be worth the 30 dollars I payed for it as I see myself getting many hours of enjoyment in the upcoming weeks. I think I've finally got a good working model for expansion of this first city and I'm looking forward to seeing it become truly huge.

[Young Drachma]

Hehe...sounds like you're getting into it pretty good. I too enjoy watching the Sims in their "lives" and often will drive around my cities for giggles checking out the different parts (which of course, I name like a real city.)

Weird, to be sure.

[Cringer]

I hope there is a SC5. I love SC4, although not on my computer right now. Like others have said, the fact it is a resource hog does suck big time.

I was disappointed they never came out with that Sim-neighborhood thing. It was supposed to be something in between SimCity and The Sims. I guess in the end they scrapped it and just took some of the things for that game and put it into The Sims.

[Critch]

Thanks to this thread, I came home and looked for my SC4 disks, discovered they'd vanished in our last move, then headed down Best Buy and bought the SC4 Deluxe pack. Not bad value for $29.99.

Time to build up Critchburgh and the surrounding towns again

[Cringer]

Originally Posted by Critch

Thanks to this thread, I came home and looked for my SC4 disks, discovered they'd vanished in our last move, then headed down Best Buy and bought the SC4 Deluxe pack. Not bad value for $29.99.

Time to build up Critchburgh and the surrounding towns again

Critchton, Critchville, Critchopolis, and Critchtonia?

[Critch]

Originally Posted by Cringer

Critchton, Critchville, Critchopolis, and Critchtonia?

You're familiar with the area, I see.

[finkenst]

does michael live there?

this makes me want to find my sc4 disk(s).

and maybe get the exapnsion pack

[Eaglesfan27]

You guys are giving me some great naming ideas: McNabbville, Westbrook City, Vincent Town. The possibilities are endless. I've been sticking with boring real names so far.

[weinstein7]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

You guys are giving me some great naming ideas: McNabbville, Westbrook City, Vincent Town. The possibilities are endless. I've been sticking with boring real names so far.

How about "Get Back to your FM Dynasty-ville"

Or "Trade me one of your eNFL WRs-town"

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by weinstein7

How about "Get Back to your FM Dynasty-ville"

Or "Trade me one of your eNFL WRs-town"

FM is actually loading up now (with some Tiger.. err US Open on in the background)

However, we'll never trade our top three WR's. Anyone else (except for McNabb) would be available for the right price.

[sterlingice]

I love the SC series and I want to play everytime I fly in a plane (and get that view from the air). Maybe I should try out SC4 at some point. SC3000 seemed really similar to 2000 with a graphics update but it sounds like SC4 is a bit deeper.

SI

[Coffee Warlord]

SC4 is just *hard* in comparison. Rapid fire expansion in this game is essentially impossible. You will go broke almost immediately.

You absolutely have to be very methodical, plan way in advancel, and expand very, very, very VERY slowly.

[jbmagic]

i never got into sim city when i try it before.

i understand you build things, but what the point to the game? how do you win?

[Eaglesfan27]

Building things and seeing them run well is the point. (or not so well if you want to be a sadistic power.)

[sterlingice]

Well, the budget has always played a little loose in SC. Sure, you can get yourself in trouble if you get stupid, but you could run a city comfortably and still expand pretty quick. I don't know if it's the same as SC2000, the last one i played extensively, but technology needs to be adjusted for time- ie subways start out expensive but 20 years later become cheaper to make as the technology becomes cheaper, for instance. That way you don't have to sit there and go "freeways now or subways 20 years from now" which isn't a realistic choice.

SI

[JPhillips]

Building things and seeing them run well is the point.

And then destroying them in a volcanic deathfire!

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by jbmagic

i never got into sim city when i try it before.

i understand you build things, but what the point to the game? how do you win?

There's no "winning" the game in the traditional sense of winning a game, tho in the original you got prizes for your town when it reached certain population and civic goals. I know this is possibly giving it too much credit- but asking this is like asking "how do you win at art?" By making one that sells for a lot, creating a lasting legacy that people will know you 200 years later, etc?

SI

[jbmagic]

after reading this thread, i probably go out and buy the sim city 4 deluxe and give it a try.

sounds like the game is challenging and fun. Seems like there a lot of strategies involved too.

[Coffee Warlord]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

Well, the budget has always played a little loose in SC. Sure, you can get yourself in trouble if you get stupid, but you could run a city comfortably and still expand pretty quick. I don't know if it's the same as SC2000, the last one i played extensively, but technology needs to be adjusted for time- ie subways start out expensive but 20 years later become cheaper to make as the technology becomes cheaper, for instance. That way you don't have to sit there and go "freeways now or subways 20 years from now" which isn't a realistic choice.SI

As far as money management goes, it's nothing like the previous versions.

Monthly expenses on public service items are extremely expensive, which is the prime limiting factor. If you want to expand residential, you have to be making enough profit to cover the added expenses of public service, which gets eaten up quickly (education being by FAR the most expensive).

[heybrad]

Having read this thread and having played the older Sim Cities, I went out and got the Deluxe Edition this weekend. I'm having a blast so far. There is so much more detail in this version.

[lcjjdnh]

I ended up deciding to buy it while at the mall today. It ended up working out pretty well, as I got the strategy guide too, thinking it was $10.00 only to get to the register and realize it was 1 cent, so it was a pretty nice deal to get that and the game for $30.00.

[Emiliano]

Mmmh... I might pick up this as well. 27 Euro the Deluxe Pack on Play.com.

[Eaglesfan27]

Tonight I decided around midnight that I was going to play for a half hour or so before bed. Well, it is 4 AM and I've been happily playing for 4 hours. I find it hard to keep my budget balanced. I add more residental areas to raise tax money, but as I expand we need more schools, a new hospital, a new bus system, etc.. Challenging but so much fun

[sachmo71]

Who's still playing?

[Emiliano]

Originally Posted by sachmo71

Who's still playing?

Not me, because I still have to buy this game. Maybe, if I read some interesting stories I'll finally decide.

[Emiliano]

DOLA

I finally got this game today, found it at a very cheap price (15 €) at Feltrinelli, big Italian book/cd/dvd chain.

I gotta say, I'm really impressed with it. I played around a little bit, created my first city (easy difficult setting): a lot of fun! This game is really amazing. I'm a true fan of the whole Sim City series since the days of the first one on my old 286 but the last I played was 3000, I think, and I had completely forgotten how much I like this type of game. The taxes part is just... wow! Hey, I know the game is 3 years-old, but still...

So, back to sachmo71's question: who's still playing???

[Young Drachma]

I play it, not as often as I used to..but I do play. There are all sorts of things out there, like downloads and sites you can check out that have great things to enhance the game - silly things like McDonalds and Wal-Marts - as well as more substantial things.

It's enjoyable and really engrossing.

[Young Drachma]

simtropolis.com

great resource, i couldn't remember the name. but..yeah.