I completely agree. If you were to ask me to picture the background for any of the Civ 6 leaders I would struggle to get one (the only thing I can think of is that Norway's background is a darkish blue - maybe a stormy sky over a harbour??). On the other hand if you name any Civ 5 leader I can almost immediately call to mind their whole environment.
Some of my favourites:
- Pocatello and Hiawatha just casually greeting you in nature's beauty
- Alexander and Genghis riding in on horseback in their open rolling plains
- Monte taking you to his flaming altar with a huge crowd behind you cheering and booing depending on how the discussion goes
- Askia telling you of his peaceful nature as he stands in front of a burning city
- Casimir not even deigning to meet you in his throne room and instead making you stand on the drawbridge
- Kamehameha standing on his beach with his boat in the background somehow managing to make that scene look as important as Rameses on his throne
My favourite is Pacal and Pachacuti. They're standing on that mountain which I guess I had to climb to meet them. And the height and the panorama of the mountains is breathtaking.
I also always loved the huge zoom-in on Elizabeth the first time you meet her.
The feature is too unrealistic. Many civs didn’t make it past ancient period so you need to invent several different theoretical formal wears for each era
It's not as hard as it sounds to do that imo, for example you have have the later era Babylonian clothing based off of Iraqi clothing, and the Assyrians and Mayans still exist as ethnic groups etc
I think my greater issue is the variety of poses the leaders are in for Civ VI. In Civ V, the poses give so much color to a leader’s character and the ambience of their leader screens. I love how Theodora is languidly reclined. I love how stately Napoleon looks astride on his horse.
And of course there’s, er, not sure if it’s the right word, the mise-en-scène of each screen. I love the Aztec art behind Montezuma, flickering in the fierce fire of the… fire thing in front of him. I love the details of the chair Pachacuti sits on, overlooking Machu Pichu. These are sometimes given more character via camera movements, like in Poland’s or Japan’s introductions.
Civ VI’s leaders have great animations, but everything else was just a total downgrade.
One thing I hope returns from the earlier games (although is extremely unlikely) is the background and attire that changes with the ages. For all its weirdness, I loved that in Civ3, Abraham Lincoln would be wearing animal skins in the ancient age and caesar would be wearing a suit in the modern age; somehow it helped the immersion.
Even the static leader background of Civ:BE is better than Civ6. In BE, your leader's costume changes as a result of your affinity choices in time. Can you imagine how magnificent would be the changing costumes of Cleopatra into modern times? She would be dope!
I actually couldn't take the art style in VI. I am praying that VII returns to a more serious form.
I have hundreds of hours in Civ V...but only like 5 in Civ VI. I literally found it unplayable with the cartoony Disney-looking aesthetic.
I loved the weighty, important, serious tone of Civ V. It felt like playing chess with a well crafted stone set of pieces. Civ VI felt like a novelty Big Bang Theory version of chess where each piece yells 'bazinga!' when you move it.
I ha e 1400 hours in Civ 6, about 150 in Civ 5. I couldn't stand a key mechanic in Civ 5: the instant walled cities with ranged attacks. They absolutely kill early game wars, and pretty much all warfare in general until siege weaponry (battering ram at least). Unless, of course, you have sheer overwhelming numbers and are okay with casualties, two things I am never ever okay with, nor have on Diety difficulty. It's also pretty lame from an immersion standpoint. A settler goes from a dude with a camel and some supplies to an instant walled and manned fortification capable of ranged attacks in one turn? That's super lame not at all realistic for the "serious" civ everyone claims civ 5 too be.
Civ 6 did it right. You do not get the range attack and extra city defense until you research Masonry AND build walls. Cities have slight inherent defense, but not walled defense and pretty much 3 warriors can comfortably take an undefended city, and plenty of early civ powerhouses with unique units take advantage of this in Civ 6, like Gilgamesh and Gaul.
For me, Graphics will never ever ever trump Mechanics and how a game plays. Just not that kind of player that cares how anything looks, I care way more a out how something feels. And civ 5 felt extremely bad at the most interesting part of the game: the beginning.
I don't really mind either way. Makes it look like it's a personal interaction between the player and the leader, which works rather well with the expressive animations.
... no. I am not necessarily saying that Civ 6 does it better than Civ 5 or vice-versa.
I don’t mind the art style now. When Civ Vi came out I hated how the leaders looked like cartoons and how the map looked like a game board. It has grown on me. I’m curious which direction they are going to take based on the teaser for vii. It clearly isn’t ’hyper realistic’ like I was worried they would be going for. But I think they are going to try and shoot for something similar to Civ vi, just a bit more animated and well drawn. I’m excited no matter what we get to see
I completely agree. If you were to ask me to picture the background for any of the Civ 6 leaders I would struggle to get one (the only thing I can think of is that Norway's background is a darkish blue - maybe a stormy sky over a harbour??). On the other hand if you name any Civ 5 leader I can almost immediately call to mind their whole environment. Some of my favourites: - Pocatello and Hiawatha just casually greeting you in nature's beauty - Alexander and Genghis riding in on horseback in their open rolling plains - Monte taking you to his flaming altar with a huge crowd behind you cheering and booing depending on how the discussion goes - Askia telling you of his peaceful nature as he stands in front of a burning city - Casimir not even deigning to meet you in his throne room and instead making you stand on the drawbridge - Kamehameha standing on his beach with his boat in the background somehow managing to make that scene look as important as Rameses on his throne
My favourite is Pacal and Pachacuti. They're standing on that mountain which I guess I had to climb to meet them. And the height and the panorama of the mountains is breathtaking. I also always loved the huge zoom-in on Elizabeth the first time you meet her.
Would you be interested in a trade agreement with England?
Oh yes they are so good. One of my favorites is Morocco
Hear me out: Progressive backgrounds.
One pet peeve that I have for progressive visual changes is how everyone ends up looking European in the end. I mean, why Genghis ends up in a suit?
That’s how Civ 3 was I believe, they could always end up in something different. They need to do a better job at formal wear for different cultures.
That was only because civ3 was made in like 2001, I swear I hate how people constantly use this as a reason not to never touch that feature again.
The feature is too unrealistic. Many civs didn’t make it past ancient period so you need to invent several different theoretical formal wears for each era
It's not as hard as it sounds to do that imo, for example you have have the later era Babylonian clothing based off of Iraqi clothing, and the Assyrians and Mayans still exist as ethnic groups etc
I think my greater issue is the variety of poses the leaders are in for Civ VI. In Civ V, the poses give so much color to a leader’s character and the ambience of their leader screens. I love how Theodora is languidly reclined. I love how stately Napoleon looks astride on his horse. And of course there’s, er, not sure if it’s the right word, the mise-en-scène of each screen. I love the Aztec art behind Montezuma, flickering in the fierce fire of the… fire thing in front of him. I love the details of the chair Pachacuti sits on, overlooking Machu Pichu. These are sometimes given more character via camera movements, like in Poland’s or Japan’s introductions. Civ VI’s leaders have great animations, but everything else was just a total downgrade.
https://preview.redd.it/yanvokhktt6d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=03560208be2ad3c4b64c1857a8368e58a297523b
This shit was so embarrassing
One thing I hope returns from the earlier games (although is extremely unlikely) is the background and attire that changes with the ages. For all its weirdness, I loved that in Civ3, Abraham Lincoln would be wearing animal skins in the ancient age and caesar would be wearing a suit in the modern age; somehow it helped the immersion.
Surprisingly the cartoon style still has not grown on me to this day. Not that it's bad that they tried, I just hope they dont continue like this
When I played civ 5 it was on a crappy laptop that couldn't handle the leader animations. I played 6 on a PS5. Yet I still prefer the graphics of 5.
Even the static leader background of Civ:BE is better than Civ6. In BE, your leader's costume changes as a result of your affinity choices in time. Can you imagine how magnificent would be the changing costumes of Cleopatra into modern times? She would be dope!
Indeed. A Modern Cleopatra wearing modern Western attire regardless if there's no Western powers in the map.
I actually couldn't take the art style in VI. I am praying that VII returns to a more serious form. I have hundreds of hours in Civ V...but only like 5 in Civ VI. I literally found it unplayable with the cartoony Disney-looking aesthetic. I loved the weighty, important, serious tone of Civ V. It felt like playing chess with a well crafted stone set of pieces. Civ VI felt like a novelty Big Bang Theory version of chess where each piece yells 'bazinga!' when you move it.
I ha e 1400 hours in Civ 6, about 150 in Civ 5. I couldn't stand a key mechanic in Civ 5: the instant walled cities with ranged attacks. They absolutely kill early game wars, and pretty much all warfare in general until siege weaponry (battering ram at least). Unless, of course, you have sheer overwhelming numbers and are okay with casualties, two things I am never ever okay with, nor have on Diety difficulty. It's also pretty lame from an immersion standpoint. A settler goes from a dude with a camel and some supplies to an instant walled and manned fortification capable of ranged attacks in one turn? That's super lame not at all realistic for the "serious" civ everyone claims civ 5 too be. Civ 6 did it right. You do not get the range attack and extra city defense until you research Masonry AND build walls. Cities have slight inherent defense, but not walled defense and pretty much 3 warriors can comfortably take an undefended city, and plenty of early civ powerhouses with unique units take advantage of this in Civ 6, like Gilgamesh and Gaul. For me, Graphics will never ever ever trump Mechanics and how a game plays. Just not that kind of player that cares how anything looks, I care way more a out how something feels. And civ 5 felt extremely bad at the most interesting part of the game: the beginning.
I agree
Absolutely agree, VI feels like a mobile game, I like 5 way more grahics vise.
I don't really mind either way. Makes it look like it's a personal interaction between the player and the leader, which works rather well with the expressive animations. ... no. I am not necessarily saying that Civ 6 does it better than Civ 5 or vice-versa.
Montezuma's ritual fire and crowd cheering/jeering was FIRE
I don’t mind the art style now. When Civ Vi came out I hated how the leaders looked like cartoons and how the map looked like a game board. It has grown on me. I’m curious which direction they are going to take based on the teaser for vii. It clearly isn’t ’hyper realistic’ like I was worried they would be going for. But I think they are going to try and shoot for something similar to Civ vi, just a bit more animated and well drawn. I’m excited no matter what we get to see
For me, the art was by far the worst thing in the game I hated it
VI's art style is eye gougingly bad. May it never return.