Anticipation
I love Civilization. Not just the thousands of years old collection of history, myth, bloodshed, and achievement that surrounds us every day. I mean, everyone should love that. I mean to say that I love Civilization the game, created by Sid Meiers back in the mists of the early computer age. The game that has, through three epochs, sucked months out of my life. And it's now on the verge of yet another life-draining assault with the release of the fourth edition Tuesday next.
As a rule, I do not eagerly await games. The only game in the last five years that I awaited at all was Ghost Recon II. (Which, for the record, bitterly disappointed me by removing everything I thought was cool in the first game and leaving all the schlock.) But today I feel a longing. A physical need to develop deep aches in the center of my back for not moving in hours. A desire to lose myself in a frenzy of virtual creation. A pressure to construct huge armies and smite the French. I feel a yearning to do all this; a yearning to explore with OCD thoroughness all the manifold changes built into the new game. New religions! New Leaders! New Wonders! How do they all fit? What hidden levers can I exploit to win?
And I'll do it no matter how much it pisses off Mrs. Buckethead.
Civ IV is tugging at my soul from its hidden lair in a non-descript suburban warehouse. That itch will grow stronger, more painful, more difficult to ignore over the coming days. Until next Tuesday. Should I even bother going to work? I won't get anything done that day. I'll just be sitting mournfully at my desk, calling my wife every few minutes asking if the package has arrived yet. Maybe I should just stay home and sit out on the porch until it arrives. That way I can be sure that the game won't languish unplayed for hours while I rush home from work. If I go to work, I know that that will be the day they schedule track maintenance for the yellow line. I won't be able to get home, and I'll start gnawing on my fellow commuters from the unbearable frustration.
Yes, maybe I should stay home.
I've put up a small timer in the sidebar to your right. Just so you can share - even if only a little bit – my pain. They say a watched pot never boils. But maybe if enough people watch, it will anyway.
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B,
B,
I played Civ2 for a total of about 15,000 hours my last 2 years undergrad. I've played Civ3 for about 4,000 hours since I bought it, I think 3 years ago. And by the by, I'm anxious now to get home to play a few more turns of a game I started just last night.
Do those seem like low-ball figures? They're small time. Consider the lengths I went to to play lowly Civ1 back in '92: I played at work, on a headquarters computer on Ft Hood, during lunch hours on the brigade sergeant major's machine. Oh, and by the way, there was no instruction book. I had to back engineer every icon, unit, mission, role, and capability, and how to make them do it- command, keystroke, and shortcut- by trial and error. And I did it.
I think those effectively demonstrate my Civ credentials.
Yet, I am realistic...fatalistic, mayhaps...about my life with Civ4. I'm just not going to have the extra $$ any time soon, and even if I did I'd prolly buy SOCOM3. I work too many jobs, and have too much other stuff going on in the Meatworld that being in charge of new virtual worlds will just have to wait.
I'm eager to read your review though, whether posted here or via electronic post.
Matter of fact, in Civ2 and
Matter of fact, in Civ2 and Civ3, I often save the same game at critical decision points, then go back and play each of them out as different games.
Sometimes that can get a bit trying at the micro level, ie "OK, what if THIS unit opens the new war against the Greeks, instead of the sea assault like last time", but can be great fun at the macro level: "What happens if I launch a nuclear attack against every other city on the planet?"