My first gaming memory may not have been of civilization, but it certainly rings the most true in my mind. A number of years ago, my parents sent to to a Georgia State University summer camp. Along with learning to play Magic: The Gathering (4th edition era, iirc?), I was also introduced to Civilization and I was hooked. The next Easter, I asked for and got Civilization II. Of any single-player game, that one easily has taken up the most of my lifespan. I still fondly remember those days of playing as the Americans with Beethoven's Ode to Joy going off every time I did something good. It was also when I got introduced into heavier music, particularly Nine Inch Nails and their supreme album, Pretty Hate Machine. For those reasons, I also equate Ode to Joy and NiN with the Civ series. I know they don't exactly go hand-in-hand, but hey, if one of the best covers ever is Johnny Cash's version of NiN's Hurt, inconsisties in musical tastes are welcome in Zealeus Land.
All of this has been brought on by my trying another crack at Civ4 this weekend. On Monday, my first comment to Charlie was, "Dude, I fell off bandwagon. I accidentally installed Civ4 again and ended up playing like 10 hours straight on Monday." There's a reason that when you retire, Sid Meier asks, "Just...one...more...turn?" And damn if it isn't hard to just play one more turn. Just one more conquest. One more city. One more spaceship component. That's the beauty of the entire Civ series: There are so many aspects to keep a player engaged.
I've gone through many Civ phases. I've gone through the phase of just playing as England, having 5 peaceful cities, and managing to whoop up purely through technology and spaceship technology while the NPCs wilted away their resources on warmongering. Recently, I've been going through the conquest phase. Build up a few dozen attack units and go nuts. Then, there's the aspect of world domination through influence. You have religion to worry about. I love it, and that's why I keep coming back. Consider most games: How much variation can you create between gameplays? Depending, it can very from minimal to a lot. The later is why I love Civ. So much variation in every game.
My first gaming memory may not have been of civilization, but it certainly rings the most true in my mind.
A number of years ago, my parents sent to to a Georgia State University summer camp. Along with learning to play Magic: The Gathering (4th edition era, iirc?), I was also introduced to Civilization and I was hooked.
The next Easter, I asked for and got Civilization II. Of any single-player game, that one easily has taken up the most of my lifespan. I still fondly remember those days of playing as the Americans with Beethoven's Ode to Joy going off every time I did something good. It was also when I got introduced into heavier music, particularly Nine Inch Nails and their supreme album, Pretty Hate Machine. For those reasons, I also equate Ode to Joy and NiN with the Civ series. I know they don't exactly go hand-in-hand, but hey, if one of the best covers ever is Johnny Cash's version of NiN's Hurt, inconsisties in musical tastes are welcome in Zealeus Land.
All of this has been brought on by my trying another crack at Civ4 this weekend. On Monday, my first comment to Charlie was, "Dude, I fell off bandwagon. I accidentally installed Civ4 again and ended up playing like 10 hours straight on Monday." There's a reason that when you retire, Sid Meier asks, "Just...one...more...turn?" And damn if it isn't hard to just play one more turn. Just one more conquest. One more city. One more spaceship component. That's the beauty of the entire Civ series: There are so many aspects to keep a player engaged.
I've gone through many Civ phases. I've gone through the phase of just playing as England, having 5 peaceful cities, and managing to whoop up purely through technology and spaceship technology while the NPCs wilted away their resources on warmongering. Recently, I've been going through the conquest phase. Build up a few dozen attack units and go nuts. Then, there's the aspect of world domination through influence. You have religion to worry about. I love it, and that's why I keep coming back. Consider most games: How much variation can you create between gameplays? Depending, it can very from minimal to a lot. The later is why I love Civ. So much variation in every game.
Now, I must go play just one more time.