deanb Posted December 21, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 21, 2012 Nah they said something along those lines in the past. In the recent IAMA they did they'd said that it can manage with a hiccup for an undetermined amount of time (but roughly under a minute) until it kicks you off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vecha Posted December 21, 2012 Report Share Posted December 21, 2012 Yep. Not getting it till the release a patch to allow me to play it offline. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted January 18, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2013 http://www.simcity.com/en_GB/beta/info Beta sign ups. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted January 18, 2013 Report Share Posted January 18, 2013 They're having problems with the captcha on the simcity.com page when you try to log in, but if you go to origin.com and log in there then when you go back to simcity.com you're already logged in and it should work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted January 18, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2013 (edited) Yeah I had that issue. Starting checking myself for being a robot or not. Eventually got in. edit: A video of the tutorial http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-qw9cSI-7M Edited January 18, 2013 by Deanb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vecha Posted January 18, 2013 Report Share Posted January 18, 2013 That was such a flipping headache to get logged in and register. I had to go to another browser(from firefox to chrome) in order for it to work. Wouldn't let me log in on either the origin.com site or the best sign up page. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted January 18, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2013 Gotta say part of my apprehension with Sim City V and it's whole online DRM dealy-o is just how bad their log-in systems have been and what should be a simple process of signing up to a beta isn't helping. Also not helped in cleaning out my inbox past few days digging up my old Spore support emails. That was a fun journey into EA games and DRM. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jayc4life Posted January 18, 2013 Report Share Posted January 18, 2013 I signed up for the beta ages ago. Found out from their Facebook page that the beta is basically the same first hour of the game over and over again just to stress-test the DRM servers. So, I guess if any of you wants a beta key still, if I get invited I'll give you mine. Because after finding that out, being allowed in would only bum me out that the gameplay time is that short, and I'd likely have to download the same 10GB worth of game again when the final version comes out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vecha Posted January 18, 2013 Report Share Posted January 18, 2013 I signed up for the beta ages ago. Found out from their Facebook page that the beta is basically the same first hour of the game over and over again just to stress-test the DRM servers. So, I guess if any of you wants a beta key still, if I get invited I'll give you mine. Because after finding that out, being allowed in would only bum me out that the gameplay time is that short, and I'd likely have to download the same 10GB worth of game again when the final version comes out. I wouldn't mind taking it off your hands. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted January 26, 2013 Report Share Posted January 26, 2013 (edited) I've got a Beta key for anyone who wants it too. First to PM me gets it. Spork got it. Edited January 26, 2013 by TheMightyEthan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luftwaffles Posted January 26, 2013 Report Share Posted January 26, 2013 Thank ya much Ethan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jayc4life Posted January 26, 2013 Report Share Posted January 26, 2013 I signed up for the beta ages ago. Found out from their Facebook page that the beta is basically the same first hour of the game over and over again just to stress-test the DRM servers. So, I guess if any of you wants a beta key still, if I get invited I'll give you mine. Because after finding that out, being allowed in would only bum me out that the gameplay time is that short, and I'd likely have to download the same 10GB worth of game again when the final version comes out. I wouldn't mind taking it off your hands. Sent, check your DMs. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted January 28, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2013 So gave this a spin courtesy of bigdanhero. So here's some impressions of it: Sucks that despite Origin in current forum being around for over a year (nearly two?) they still don't have games integrated with it. So yeah 184MB download on Origin which turns out to be the download client for SimCity not SimCity itself (which is kind of large for an installer/downloader). I guess on the plus side it means you might not need Origin in order to play the game if it's running independently of it. As for the game itself it is pretty small compared to previous games so it's more of a SimTown that SimCity. The zoning works a lot like Caesar 3(and probably others) than the older SimCity titles in that you just zone of space (for free) and then improve the surrounding area to build up value and thus the buildings go from small shacks to big apartment blocks and presumably (you only get an hour) beyond. Apart from industrial as they'll always be negative value so they're always big factories (though maybe they change from big factories to shiny chip plants n stuff?). Money is tight, or at least buildings are severely overpriced. Affording stuff like emergency services and school takes a pretty long time. The module system is neat, and it's lucky zoning is free as it will eat away at the zones around the new modules. The menus are really nice, and so are the stats. Super simple to use and get info from. Especially neat is if you click the education buildings tool in the corner you get quick access to the stat overlays for education coverage and students in and out of education n so on. Same with all the building tools. Though sometimes the stats did feel a bit lacking and I can't remember what it was. Money wise it falls short. Apart from the aforementioned pricing differences there's no ordinances to pass anymore, which had some nice fine grained control. I don't mind losing the ability to run pipes and cabling, it was somewhat tedious in previous games . But it does mean you need to build utilities on road ways instead of in the middle of nowhere. Which I guess is a bit more realistic but with the smaller space given somewhat constraining since you can't plonk one in the middle of nowhere. Without neighbours you're kinda screwed too as extra income(and expenditure is to be more fine tuned through dealing with neighbours than the ordinances I guess. So if you're playing on your own you've got a region with which to develop, you can't run an independent city. Which iirc was a complaint Monte Cristo had with CitiesXL in focusing a bit too much on the MP side of things with resource trading. I think it's why buildings cost so much, you wouldn't build all of them. You'd build power station and your mate would build a rubbish tip, and you trade services, instead of building everything yourself. Oh and PC gaming wise: there's no singular low/medium/high setting so was fun toggling all that stuff (not that a modern game shouldn't auto-configure on launch anyway) and there's no control sensitivity either which I guess is good the towns are small as it's really fucking slow dragging around the town. There's no like "you're at the edge so lets whip you around super fast". edit: I forgot. In the feedback bit at the end they ask how you'd buy it and one of the options is used. lolwut? edit2: Forgot this part too, meant to mention it in the menu section. As you get a better city you can build better buildings and it has pop-ups to alert you to this "successfully petitioned to build town hall" and so on. Well it said I could build casinos, and the tutorial there is a las vegas like city you're neighbours with. But I couldn't find the casino in any of the menus. I don't know where specialised buildings were to be stored, if at all. Didn't seem like you could build the IRL buildings either (but given the £65 version of SimCity has "british/french/german set" I assume that's DLC now) edit3: So back on how it installed. Uninstallign it from within Origin opens up the "Programs and Features" control panel. Who the fuck is coding Origin? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vecha Posted January 28, 2013 Report Share Posted January 28, 2013 I couldn't even get on the game when I wanted to. Had to wait until I had some free time Sunday for it to work. Didn't alleviate my fears that I'll be renting a game, not buying one. All on their terms. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted January 28, 2013 Report Share Posted January 28, 2013 Beyond my normal dislike of always-on DRM, there's the fact that EA has shown a willingness to turn off servers for games that are just a couple years old. I can't buy this game which requires their servers to be online when I have 0 trust that they'll still be on in 5 years. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toxicitizen Posted January 28, 2013 Report Share Posted January 28, 2013 Beyond my normal dislike of always-on DRM, there's the fact that EA has shown a willingness to turn off servers for games that are just a couple years old. I can't buy this game which requires their servers to be online when I have 0 trust that they'll still be on in 5 years. Exactly. For me to put up with always-on DRM, I need to not be afraid that the servers are going to shut down in a few short years. For example, I'm not the least bit worried about Blizzard pulling the plug on Diablo III. But EA have a history for pulling this kind of crap. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted January 28, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2013 Yeah, it's a bit of a stickler when it comes to EA games in particular. Until they can show that the game will be around for as long as you've got it on your PC then it's likely to remain a non-purchase for me whether the game was good or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luftwaffles Posted January 28, 2013 Report Share Posted January 28, 2013 Yeah, the DRM is a 100% dealbreaker for me. The game is good, but it's not enough of an improvement over 4 to warrant the $60 price tag and the danger that it'll go away in a couple years. Thanks but no thanks. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vecha Posted January 29, 2013 Report Share Posted January 29, 2013 The sad thing is the outcome only has two potentially shitty conclusions.A.) Millions buy it, reaffirming to EA that DRM isn't so bad to deter consumers.orB.) It flops. No more Sim City. Ever. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted January 29, 2013 Report Share Posted January 29, 2013 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted January 30, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2013 http://www.simcity.com/en_US/blog/article/simcity-sandbox-mode So there is a Sandbox mode of sorts where you can "cheat" and destroy at whim and so on so forth. They've sure taken their time in bringing it up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jayc4life Posted January 30, 2013 Report Share Posted January 30, 2013 http://www.simcity.com/en_US/blog/article/simcity-sandbox-mode So there is a Sandbox mode of sorts where you can "cheat" and destroy at whim and so on so forth. They've sure taken their time in bringing it up. GameInformer mentioned it in their preview a few days ago, but yeah, if they announced this way back in June/July when everyone was really in panic mode over the DRM, they'd have won a few people over rather than quietly slipping it in the back door like this. Always-Online should be just for the network regions and global economy, but you're limited to classic SimCity/Sandbox mode offline. Anyone with half a brain cell would see this as the ideal solution. Granting access to new features by gating them behind a network connection rather than restricting core elements by locking them in would certainly be more encouraging to an "on the fence" customer such as yourself and Ethan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted January 30, 2013 Report Share Posted January 30, 2013 Always-Online should be just for the network regions and global economy, but you're limited to classic SimCity/Sandbox mode offline. Anyone with half a brain cell would see this as the ideal solution. Granting access to new features by gating them behind a network connection rather than restricting core elements by locking them in would certainly be more encouraging to an "on the fence" customer such as yourself and Ethan. So much this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. GOH! Posted February 4, 2013 Report Share Posted February 4, 2013 Late to this thread, but I just want clarification; if I want to play SC5 without dealing with multiplayer, must I turn on cheat mode (AKA sandbox mode)? Or can I just start working on a private region and never have to deal with the social aspects? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted February 4, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 4, 2013 From what I understood of the blog post on sandbox, it still works in multiplayer. So it's jsut a case of making a private region and controlling all the cities in that region. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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