I can see that everyone so far with exception few DID NOT DO THEIR REASERCH

[Shinyshoes]

Ok so many bad comments have been posted and i'm a little dissapointed to, but if you had done your research you would have known what EA planned to do! this following comment goes to the minority of morones whom are complaining and scandalizing EA games having thrown constructive critizism and polite wording out the window.

NUMBER ONE: EA games is an international multi-million corporation, if any of you remeber MAXIS devloped this game not EA, EA simply bought Maxis and put a few people to work with them, the majority of designers on the Sim City team were originally on maxis and still are so be careful when you scandalize the enitre EA corportation.

NUMBER TWO: Again the various people whom have been down right rude and, frankly a little spoilt, (some of which sound like adults) have been very stroppy and inconsiderate to the number of weeks and months put into this game,feel free to ciritize the games mistakes but do it constructivley. The producer warned the entire community many months in advance that THIS WOULD NOT BE LIKE THE SIM CITY SERIES, they also stated some time later during a producer walk through that the orginal catagories HAD BEEN REPLACED, so thos moaning about the spirit of sim city being removed because the interface has changed need to get their facts right, MANY Were forewarned that this would be simplified.

NUMBER THREE: Again the minority whom seem to be the cause of this fuss have missed more explanation that was given over 4 weeks before release;
It has been simplified to a) appeal to a wider audience b) give less room for strategy and make more room for creativity , those whom are complaining about the "Patheticly easy money making" i suggest you make the City Difficulty "Challenging!", IF the sim city producers continued to make this game more complicated in order to please the spoilt few, less and less people would play, evntually only the oldest would get to particiapte and the younger generations would miss out. It has not been dumbed completely done, just simplified to make it more accessable those looking for hard stratergy play a different game. I imagine that now with a larger audience if the producers decide to continue this series which they probably won't because of the few very moany people posting large and horrificly rude comments on the boards, then the game would gradually get more complex!

For those whom would say i am newbie and have no appreciation for the previous sim cities you are wrong, I HAVE been playing since Sim City 3000 and i found that it became increasingly contricted as it went on, i think if (EA (maxis) decide to do another sim city like this (but more complex possibly reintorducing the region etc.) they would expect people like the ones whom have probably de-moralized the sim city team, to play a different game and stop wasting their stock on this game and let people with a wider prespective and decent amount of appreciation for their work, see all the angles of the game and play in many ways that they don't get bored as easily as some narrow minded trouble stirers.

I can see that many are upset or dissapointed, but thats no excues to say that you "HATE ea" or to be horrifically rude in a thread, be dissapointed but express this with dignity rather than with brutal savagry, oh and next time the people whom are being horrifically rude, research before you buy.

THIS DEFINATLY DOES NOT APPLY TO EVERYONE JUST A FEW.

P.S : you are making the boards a misery, please stop typing about how dissapointed you are.

[AcesOyster]

I can't wait till this forum starts being used correctly, well done for speaking out.

[Aaron]

So you know, Maxis did not develop this version of SimCity. EA had another studio (Tilted Mill) develop the game, so if people feel Tilted Mill are to blame for making a bad game, it's EA's fault for letting them run riot with a well established franchise.

I agree that people who don't like this game are those who were expecting something else though. I knew what to expect, and so I'm enjoying the game for what it is.

Still, I wouldn't like to see another version from Tilted Mill - this isn't how the SimCity series should continue.

[Aggression]

The game itself I find an interesting way of creating a Simcity game. Overall the game is good but, the only problem I have with the gameplay is how simple it is. I looked at some videos of it, and knew it was going to be simple, but not as simple as it is. The way they could have improved this I think is to actualy have the buildings being built and not just instantly put down, and money being taken out for repairs to damaged buildings.

On the other hand, the accessability of the game is riddiculas and by this I mean, what's with all the errors? This game is good but, it is obvious that it has not been tested properly! I have had three different errors each happening within 5 minutes of playing. Disabling my computer, this is not uncommon as I had this problem with The Sims 2.

People may be more interested in the game and like it more if there wern't so many crashes. As I have said before what if people do not have the internet? Patches arn't available anywhere else. The fact that the game had a patch released BEFORE the game was. Shows signs of a bad game. Thats also maybe why people are complaining.

[Calcius]

Good points made. The game to me looks like it would attract a typical Sims 2 player who had no experience of Sim City - nothing wrong with that.
What does bother me though is the technical issues I've seen across the boards here and on the U.S. site and so far those have prevented me from buying, although more positive posts have been made since.

I think it would be more worthwhile to focus on those issues than disenfranchised Sim City 4 players feeling dissapointed.

We just need to get those serious bugs fixed (and they are serious). Top-end PCs are experiencing them as well as the slowest compters.

[rickyh88]

Whoever you are representing shinyshoes, first thing first that you are wrong with it, MAXIS does not developed this lalalala, it is Tilted Mill that did it. DO YOUR lalalala RESEARCH BEFORE COMMENTING!

[rickyh88]

It Is Not The Game That I Complain, It Is The Money Not Worth Paying For!

[The Star Hermit]

Let's keep it friendly here folks.

Like nyaren I knew what to expect so I see it as a stand alone city game rather than Sim City 5 as such. Once a player accepts that then the game is just as enjoyable as any other simulator game, if that's the sort of game you like playing.

[logan1234]

hi

i would just like to say a few things. firstly after much time playing, much exploration, research, and many other things decent and civillised, i have to say with absolute certainty: this game isnt very good and i shall be selling it. further more, as yet another harsh blow to this game, i am actually buying sim city 4. thats right, i have just bought a top of the line brand new pc and several exciting games, and all ea's new release makes me want to do is actually go back in time and get a game which i never even owned at the time of its release. i am sure it will be much more challenging, more realistic, more intricate, and in some ways more visually pleasing. im sorry but i really do feel as though its the only thing to do. although this game is indeed good, it doesnt seem to square up to previous sim city titles.

the other things are largely related to this little forum societies that we all have going on around here. firstly, people need to have freedom of speech, that is why we are all on an internet forum. yet every time someone criticises this title in a very civillised way, EA's seamingly hired goons are around to sprout some propoganda which is clearly fishy. for a start, if this wasnt meant to be like other sim city games and so on as many have said, then why call it sim city societies. how do explain that one. i clearly see sim city within that title. secondly regarding peoples reports of crashes and the like: this game certainly has some serious flaws. we are not getting the help that we deserve as loyal customers, or if you look at it another way, the help we are litterally entitled to as paying loyal customers. i strongly believe that EA is stalling for time, they have not addressed the scs community in any way to appease the growing anger towards them. they have merely left us all hanging on without a word so that they can pretend that the vast majority are playing with no problems, when the reality is, even games mags who reviewed this game had crashes even then. and whenever too many people talk of these crashes and bugs, along comes another goon to report no crashes on his game and try and calm down all the fuss. if you wanna know the honest truth, mine really hasnt crashed in a while, but its no thanks to EA. i really dont rate their customer support very highly. they made a game for 10 year olds, and then when we email them for tech support, they treat us like 10 year olds. giving basic and highly generic system advice which sounds like its aimed towards someone who can barley work a dishwashing machine. its very upsetting that even when one emails them asking for more professional advice, they just ignore it, go into robot mode and spew the same repeated basic message again and again. in fact im starting to wonder wheather there are people at the other end of that email address at all, or if they could work a dishwashing machine.

Ali

P.s ( i genuinly am sorry for any offence caused, i just feel the people should have a voice. i know that there may be harsh reply's to this post, but remember everyone, see if u can spot if those reply's are clearly propoganda)

[Shinyshoes]

I agree, though my post may come across as that i might be restricting peopels freedom of speech, but jsut because we can speak what we want doesn't mean we have to throw constuctive critisism out the window, those people i referred to were, not only commenting about the game but shouting "i hate this game i bought a load of lalalala", that is what i would see as jsut being rude and hurtful, i appreciate that they are angry but theres not need for that!

[Calcius]

Originally Posted by logan1234

if this wasnt meant to be like other sim city games and so on as many have said, then why call it sim city societies. how do explain that one. i clearly see sim city within that title.

And the word 'Societies'. It's not Sim City 5, it wasn't sold as Sim City 5 - it was sold as Societies.
If it was called Simcity Alien Worlds, I'd expect a sim game about Alien Worlds, not Sim City 5 Alien Worlds.

Let's rewind and do a bit of game renaming.

Its a Sim game so lets call it Sim Societies.
But thats not completely accurate. Its about building cities.

Lets add the cities part: Simcity Societies. Notice there's not a '5' in there.

secondly regarding peoples reports of crashes and the like: this game certainly has some serious flaws. we are not getting the help that we deserve as loyal customers, or if you look at it another way, the help we are litterally entitled to as paying loyal customers. i strongly believe that EA is stalling for time, they have not addressed the scs community in any way to appease the growing anger towards them.

The game has been out a few days.
No software company can possibly come up with a miraculous bugfix in days.
Do you think they are really pleased with a bunch of technical problems after months of work? No. There will be fixes.

and whenever too many people talk of these crashes and bugs, along comes another goon to report no crashes on his game and try and calm down all the fuss.

Well, I'm not a goon and I haven't had a crash or a bug yet. I don't even have a top-line PC.
Truth is, those that don't have crashes and play fine won't usually come online to say "My game works".

they made a game for 10 year olds

Yes, and ages upward from that. They've made an extreemely accessable game. It's not possible to please everyone and thats a tried and tested fact.

I understand you're not happy but I'm my opinion, its not a lalalala game, its not Sim City 5 and thats my free speech.

And I'm not a goon.

[Aggression]

Originally Posted by Finn

They've made an extreemely accessable game. .

Accessable game? You call three errors in a day an accessable game, I'm sorry but, for you it is and if you haven't suffured any game issues then lucky you. But, I assure you there are loads of people out there having problems with this game. It isn't accessable if everytime you go on it you get an error message or a complete stuff up of the computer.

Just in interest what graphics card have you got?

[Calcius]

Hi Aggression, believe me I've bought games that crash and I've been totally ****ed off so I'm not knocking anyone who has game bug issues.
It sucks I know all too well.
Pacific Storm Allies is a great game I've been waiting to play for months -its sitting there - and the UK version is totally screwed up,.

I can't understand why I'm not crashing - I have mid-range specs and some crash reports I've seen have better pc specs than mine:

Win XP
Pentium 4 2.8Ghz
2GB RAM
Nvidea Geforce 7600 GS

I have dot net framework 2.0 installed - don't know if that makes any difference.

[Aggression]

Ah that maybe it cause I can't remember ever seeing that being installed at any point on my computer. Maybe its the dot net framework 2.0. But, I still don't understand, because I've got Nvidia Geforce 6150 card and am experiencing these crash issues wierd.

[Spartan117.halo]

This will give you an idea of how im gonna pwn your ***

[Removed]

[tomichacide]

Agreed.

For a City Buildr I find it to be a pretty good one. I've seen a lot more realistic cities (mainly because of the fact that you don't need to glue every building to a street) in Societies than I ever saw in any other sim city, and I've been playing sim city since day one on the super nes.

Agreed also on the title, Mario Kart isn't the same as Super Mario, anyone surprised? Jesus, I mean they've been doing it a lot recently, I thought people would have caught on: Sims 2 not the same of Sims Life Stories, nor My Sims... I mean, I would have understood if it was people moaning that Sims2 on Ds has noting to do with Sims2, the title is the same caracter for caracter unlike SCS. (Not SC5)

For the Crahes I've experienced some, but I remember strugling to play on games like Diablo, Dungeon Keeper and other because I couldn't afford a better PC... SCS has Autosaves!


@ Logan1234

Are ou really that sceptic that you would assume anyone not agreeing with you is on the pay role at EA? Seriously, Ea has been going on since 1982, I don;t care how much cash they have under thier materresses, they wouldn't have much left if they paid everyone you paid them a compliment i the last 25 years!!

[hermandup]

Shinyshoes, of course people will be upset and express their major disappointment with feeling. The producers of this game, which is EA, needs to know what they did wrong and the more quantity of people complain, the harder they'll hear. It's business.

You're right, it's mostly the SC fans that complains and you're right, EA did announce prior to release that the game is going a different route. All of this is fine, but the SC fan base have been asking for the next version of SC for such a long time and I believe EA can't go wrong in supplying that need, for EA and the fans. I mean, just imagine if all the thousands of complaints were praises!! The success of the next truly SC installment will spread like wild fire, causing more users to buy it.

Good software caters for most users, novice to advance. Societies only caters for a small portion of users and definitely not SC fans. So yes, there will be MANY loyal disappointed fans out there and they will express there feelings with passion, and that's how it should be.

You'll never please everyone, but with this amount of disappointment, something surely must be wrong?

[Mike London]

Originally Posted by Shinyshoes

Ok so many bad comments have been posted and i'm a little dissapointed to, but if you had done your research you would have known what EA planned to do!

From Eurogame's review:

Societies doesn't stumble just because "it isn't SimCity". Fresh takes on old concepts should always be welcome. It stumbles because it's a generally unsatisfying patchwork of a game, dragged down by inconsistent gameplay, outdated design and weirdly implemented ideas.

And they don't even seem to have experienced the frequent crashes and freezes that many others have.

[Shinyshoes]

Excuse me but YES I HAVE experianced crashes, the point of this thread wasn't about technical issues it was about quality and the expectations of many SC fans!