So how is Beyond Earth?

[Jeivar]

It's up on the Steam Holiday Sale right now and I was thinking of grabbing it. I haven't really played any other Civ-type games, but I am interested in humanity's future in space.

So . . . yeah. Basically, does it have any major annoyances? What is the main attraction of the gameplay?

[Hunter Noventa]

If you've never played any Civ-type games before it's good, but not the best place to get into the series really.

Do you have experience with other kinds of strategy games at all? I'd suggest waiting for Civ V to go on sale, and pick it up with it's expansions, as it's a much more complete game. Beyond Earth isn't bad, but it needs an expansion to find it's feet, so to speak, which is kind of par for the course with Firaxis since Civ 4.

[Jeivar]

I've played Rome: Total War and Medieval 2: Total War. Also Warcraft 2 and 3 back in the day.

[Hiro Protagonest]

Civ V is also on a daily deal for even less, so I'd just get that with expansions.

[CantigThimble]

I'm curious about this. I've heard the tech tree has greater flexibility which is something I'm interested in, as I often get bored in Civ V as the same decisions seems to continue to be optimal each time and there isn't a ton of variation between my games. Maybe I could inject some in by forcing myself to go for military before science.... but I just don't want to. So how does the gameplay compare?

[Driderman]

I'd recommend Civ 5 which is 75% off rather than Beyond Earth and it's basically the same game. Beyond Earth puts a sci-fi spin on some of the elements although I personally feel that most of the flavor specific to BE is pretty forgettable. It's not a bad game as such and if an expansion pack drops at some point I'll likely buy it, but all things considered Civilization is a lot better at being Civilization :)

[Mando Knight]

Well, here's TotalBiscuit's WTF Is... on it. I don't have Beyond Earth myself, but judging by his video, I'd have to agree that if you don't have Civ V already, go for that instead.

Or, if you need sci-fi in your 4X, I'd recommend considering SMAX on GOG.com.

[Winthur]

i hate firaxis take my opinion with grain of salt

My recommendation regarding Firaxis games nowadays is to not buy them until they're fully out of vanilla.

Basically it comes down to the fact that I hated vanilla Civ5 for its lazy application of mechanics and overall stripped-downess in comparison with Civ4 (even comparing both vanillas, I thought Civ4 was heavily favored) and immediately went back to the older titles. BE, in my opinion, plays very much like a reskinned Civ5 with some bonuses -- but IMHO Firaxis doesn't really test their games much lately regarding balance and other stuff. They no longer hire experienced Civ players in the community as testers, which worked well in Civ4. Expansion packs also double as massive fixes to the games, as a result.

Then again, I hear Civ5 got pretty okay with expansions.

IMHO, if you haven't played a Civ title before, get Civ5 with expansions or - my personal favourite - Civ4 with expansions. I personally consider the latter game to be the best installment, but I can't really go into an anti-Civ5 rant without going full neckbeard and it's not a bad game either way; it's mostly my strong opinion towards one preference over another.

And if you want a Civilization game that's specifically set in space and you don't mind the age, try Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, which is one of the greatest games of all time and a shining example of its genre. You can pick it up for much cheaper too. The characters in it are timeless, too. Some of the best video game writing in existence, and - judging from the promo art and all the stuff - ACs's leaders and civilizations sound more complex and interesting than their BE counterparts.

[Driderman]

i hate firaxis take my opinion with grain of salt

My recommendation regarding Firaxis games nowadays is to not buy them until they're fully out of vanilla.

Basically it comes down to the fact that I hated vanilla Civ5 for its lazy application of mechanics and overall stripped-downess in comparison with Civ4 (even comparing both vanillas, I thought Civ4 was heavily favored) and immediately went back to the older titles. BE, in my opinion, plays very much like a reskinned Civ5 with some bonuses -- but IMHO Firaxis doesn't really test their games much lately regarding balance and other stuff. They no longer hire experienced Civ players in the community as testers, which worked well in Civ4. Expansion packs also double as massive fixes to the games, as a result.

Then again, I hear Civ5 got pretty okay with expansions.

IMHO, if you haven't played a Civ title before, get Civ5 with expansions or - my personal favourite - Civ4 with expansions. I personally consider the latter game to be the best installment, but I can't really go into an anti-Civ5 rant without going full neckbeard and it's not a bad game either way; it's mostly my strong opinion towards one preference over another.

And if you want a Civilization game that's specifically set in space and you don't mind the age, try Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, which is one of the greatest games of all time and a shining example of its genre. You can pick it up for much cheaper too. The characters in it are timeless, too. Some of the best video game writing in existence, and - judging from the promo art and all the stuff - ACs's leaders and civilizations sound more complex and interesting than their BE counterparts.

If it has to be a Sci-fi 4X, Alpha Centauri is definitely a much better choice.

[OrcusMcP]

I'm gonna go against the prevalent negativity and say go for it. It's a good game that, while not great, is pretty likely to become great. And even as it is, it's a lot of fun on the higher difficulties. I think BE will have a lot of multiplayer potential beyond what Civ5 has, so if that's more your scene then there you go.

I think the main thing that makes Civ:BE feel weird right now is that it is lacking in texture. When you play a game of normal Civ, you have everything you know and recognize about history to inform you about what a pikeman is or what the pyramids are or who the Persians were without the game having to make it super explicit. BE doesn't have that implicit background, and they unfortunately didn't do enough to make the content explicit as you played. There actually is quite a bit of cool flavor in there but you have to dig kinda deep into the civilopedia to find it out. Hopefully that will change.

[CantigThimble]

Well, I did like civ V and I do like pretty games and interfaces (which is where alpha centauri lost me) so I might be the target audience. Well, I'll probably get it for 10-15 dollars if I can and otherwise not.

[Driderman]

I'm gonna go against the prevalent negativity and say go for it. It's a good game that, while not great, is pretty likely to become great. And even as it is, it's a lot of fun on the higher difficulties. I think BE will have a lot of multiplayer potential beyond what Civ5 has, so if that's more your scene then there you go.

I think the main thing that makes Civ:BE feel weird right now is that it is lacking in texture. When you play a game of normal Civ, you have everything you know and recognize about history to inform you about what a pikeman is or what the pyramids are or who the Persians were without the game having to make it super explicit. BE doesn't have that implicit background, and they unfortunately didn't do enough to make the content explicit as you played. There actually is quite a bit of cool flavor in there but you have to dig kinda deep into the civilopedia to find it out. Hopefully that will change.

I'm not saying BE is bad as such, I'm just saying that if the OP has played neither Civ 5 nor BE, Civ 5 has a higher discount and is the better game. So in terms of quality-per-dollar spent, I'd say Civ 5 wins out.

[Tengu_temp]

I'll actually go against the "if you want sci-fi, pick Alpha Centauri" opinion. That game might have some good flavour, but it really has not aged well in terms of interface or balance.

Beyond Earth is a good game, but if you haven't played Civ 5 yet, it's a better choice for a lower price.

[Artanis]

I'm gonna go against the prevalent negativity and say go for it. It's a good game that, while not great, is pretty likely to become great. And even as it is, it's a lot of fun on the higher difficulties. I think BE will have a lot of multiplayer potential beyond what Civ5 has, so if that's more your scene then there you go.

I think the main thing that makes Civ:BE feel weird right now is that it is lacking in texture. When you play a game of normal Civ, you have everything you know and recognize about history to inform you about what a pikeman is or what the pyramids are or who the Persians were without the game having to make it super explicit. BE doesn't have that implicit background, and they unfortunately didn't do enough to make the content explicit as you played. There actually is quite a bit of cool flavor in there but you have to dig kinda deep into the civilopedia to find it out. Hopefully that will change.

QFT.

Civ:BE isn't as good as SMAC, but then, nothing is as good as SMAC. If you stop comparing it to SMAC though, Civ:BE is a hell of a game. It takes Civ5 and, IMO, improves on it: it dials back all the things that Civ5 went a bit too far on while adding things that simply weren't possible with all the shackles that come with being Civilization. Is Civ:BE perfect? Hell no. But in my opinion, it has a better fundamental foundation on which to build than vanilla Civ5 did.

...but then, I'm weird. So YMMV, grain of salt, etc. etc. etc.



tl;dr: If you can only buy one, buy CivBE before Civ5 unless Civ5 is on a big Steam sale or some such. If you can get both (due to, say, a big Steam sale or some such), then for the love of all that is holy, get both



(Disclaimer: I haven't had a chance to get online in two or three weeks, so I have no idea if Steam is doing a big sale at the moment, much less what is on sale and for how much. That should change by this time tomorrow though.)

[tensai_oni]

Civ:BE's fluff isn't as good as SMAC, but then, nothing is as good as SMAC's fluff.

FIxed that for ya.

SMAC has great atmosphere, background and tech/wonder descriptions you can sink into, it's also a rarity in being a 4X game with an actual plot and a good one too.

But in terms of gameplay it's really outdated. Old timey city spam and resource crawlers to build wonders in one turn. That didn't age well at all.

Only two things SMAC has over BE mechanically are the ability to make your own units and mechanics for dealing with aliens.

On the other hand if you want to play only for mechanics, Civ V is strictly superior if you play with all expansions. The question is, is a balance of modern mechanics and a 4X science fiction feel that wasn't in the franchise for over 10 years worth it?

Having sunk many, MANY hours into Beyond Earth, I'd say yes.

[Driderman]

Beyond Earth is a good game, but if you haven't played Civ 5 yet, it's a better choice for a lower price.

Maybe you've missed it on Steam but right now you can get Civ 5 + both expansions for less than what Beyond Earth is selling for, at the discounted price.

Of course, I guess Beyond Earth might be better if you play it first since it won't seems a pretty basic reskin of Civ 5, for the most part. I think my main issue with BE is that the parts that aren't ripped directly from Civ 5 seem superfluous and/or badly designed/balanced. And some of the parts that are ripped from Civ feel like they were ripped from maybe the Vanilla version, before all the tweaking and patching. So if you cut out all the questionable content of BE, it's pretty much just Civ with other colors and other names, and less optimized.

[Vitruviansquid]

I played all the Civ games since 3 and recently tried to get into SMAC from GoG.

I've played a lot of retro games in my time, but I found SMAC just way too complicated a game on way too old an interface.

[Tengu_temp]

Maybe you've missed it on Steam but right now you can get Civ 5 + both expansions for less than what Beyond Earth is selling for, at the discounted price.

That's what I meant. Civ 5 with both expansions is cheaper than BE, and it's a better choice for someone who hasn't played either game.

[darksolitaire]

One more vote for Civ 5 complete edition. Beyond Earth needs expansion to catch with Civ 5.

[Driderman]

That's what I meant. Civ 5 with both expansions is cheaper than BE, and it's a better choice for someone who hasn't played either game.

I was probably tired cause I read it as "Beyond Earth is cheaper and a better choice for someone who hasn't played either"

[Winterwind]

I think in midst of the whole Beyond Earth vs. Civ V debate the OP's question regarding the main draw of this sort of game in general has been kinda lost. So I'll try to address that instead.

To me, the main draw in that sort of game lies in that you have something of your own - your very own empire, civilization, call it what you will - that you help grow and grow, from infancy to greatness, and it never ceases to get grander throughout the game. Every time you found or conquer a city, research a new technology, build some new buildings, or even construct a wonder, you know that your, your very own empire just got a little bit more amazing. Once you're a few turns into a game, basically no turn goes by without one or several of those things happening, so you have a constant string of smaller and bigger rewards trickling in, which is the direct cause of the all-too-famous "just one more turn!"-syndrome. The fact that you are doing all that while directly competing with other civilizations - be it militarily, racing them for resources and land, trying to get those wonders before they do, spreading your religion over theirs or making those city-states like you more than them - adds a note of excitement and test of planning and tactical skills, and the resulting blend is tremendously fun.

[Hiro Protagonest]

I think in midst of the whole Beyond Earth vs. Civ V debate the OP's question regarding the main draw of this sort of game in general has been kinda lost.

Well the daily deals have certainly passed by.