incredibly disappointed and requested refund

[chico]

First game as Rome with Caesar as leader and I found Greece. The leader of Greece was Isabella of Spain. I just cant.
On top of it the ugliest UI I have ever seen on a PC game plus all the unknown and uninspiring leaders. Big mistake to order the founders edition.
Really thankful for Steams refund policy.

[Yglika]

If Isabella feels Greek who are you to tell her (him/it?) otherwise? :-) Besides, after the era swap you would be Caesar of Mongolia and she will probably lead Russia, so what? :-) Be tolerant a little. ;-)

[Kayne]

"First game as Rome with Caesar as leader and I found Greece. The leader of Greece was Isabella of Spain. I just cant.". This is exactly why I'm steering clear too. I'm one of the OG, from Civ I (on a b/w apple laptop no less), and the bedrock of the series was you start with a leader/civ and that challenge is to "stand the test of time".

[strategic_panda]

The real problem here is the existence of pre-set nations and leaders.

A civilization's appearance and traits are shaped by geography, geopolitics, and cultural context. But this system completely ignores all of that by allowing civilizations to be switched and separating leaders from their original nations—resulting in total chaos.

It feels like a half-baked idea, as if a group of students came up with it as a joke and then got carried away.

If they truly wanted to implement this system, they should have had the courage to completely abandon predefined nations and leaders.

But the Civ development team lacked that courage.

And the reason is simple: marketing constraints.
By just tweaking leader names, nation identities, and a few parameters, they can sell highly profitable DLCs.
There’s no way they’d give up on that.

[Larkis]

Originally posted by chico:

First game as Rome with Caesar as leader and I found Greece. The leader of Greece was Isabella of Spain. I just cant.
On top of it the ugliest UI I have ever seen on a PC game plus all the unknown and uninspiring leaders. Big mistake to order the founders edition.
Really thankful for Steams refund policy.

Could you please say, why do you preorder a game without informing in ANY Way about the game?

[Jun]

Why is Isabella commanding Greece???? Can someone please enlighten me!?

[Neurone]

I think a simple option to fix the leaders for the first era based on their original civilization when you start the game would be nice.

[von_krysiak]

Yeah I didnt like the idea of civ swapping and unlocking leaders but its not the biggest thing that made me refund. The entire concept of Civ "continuity" is gone. Stuff gets reset each era, city states disappear, your units as well. Then they force you to "explore" - you gotta play the game they want you to play...overall its very meh

[Martin]

Must admit the starting civs are underwhelming and most of the leaders are a joke. Add in all the nerfed movement speeds until you get your generals upgraded, which takes AGES to do.. you have little to no choice but to goto war.. just to get enough xp to get a semi decent general, want 2-3 no chance.. not enough xp.

But I don't give up so easily.

[raymartbd]

I hate the change too. Really should've just made the leaders changeable after death. Ala Europa Universalis. Maybe even adopt some of EU's intermarriage and advisor system. And then once you change gov't ideologies. you change the system too based on which ideology you picked. That would've been cool!

They'd have to iron out the details sure but I'm sure they can come up with something. Same on the issue with unique units.

[Адепт Пивной Росы]

So, let me understand you in the right way.
You buy a game which main selling point was civ swapping and you are whining about civ swapping?

This no only to the author of this discussion, but to everyone above.

It's literally the premise of the game and knowing that you buy a game and complain? It's like being in a BDSM adult movie while you not into acting, BDSM or even adult.

[Larkis]

Originally posted by Neurone:

I think a simple option to fix the leaders for the first era based on their original civilization when you start the game would be nice.

You can allways select who you want to encounter. The Leader and the Faction. Having it randomised is your choice

[Larkis]

Originally posted by Martin:

Must admit the starting civs are underwhelming and most of the leaders are a joke. Add in all the nerfed movement speeds until you get your generals upgraded, which takes AGES to do.. you have little to no choice but to goto war.. just to get enough xp to get a semi decent general, want 2-3 no chance.. not enough xp.

But I don't give up so easily.

You have the leader for ages. Sure it needs ages to level them. :D

[ethandestruct]

Originally posted by Jun:

Why is Isabella commanding Greece???? Can someone please enlighten me!?

OP is playing during the Antiquity Age, and Spain is only available during the Exploration Age, so Isabella went for the closest Civ, geographically(well, technically the closest Civ geographically is Rome, but as OP was playing as Rome themselves, Isabella was forced to go for the next best thing, which was Greece).

Had OP played long enough to get to the Exploration Age, Isabella likely would have changed civs to her native Spain.

[Lenny]

Originally posted by Адепт Пивной Росы:

So, let me understand you in the right way.
You buy a game which main selling point was civ swapping and you are whining about civ swapping?

This no only to the author of this discussion, but to everyone above.

It's literally the premise of the game and knowing that you buy a game and complain? It's like being in a BDSM adult movie while you not into acting, BDSM or even adult.

That pretty much sums it up, but hey, if they like their realism, they can keep fighting with Teddy Roosevelt in the Middle Ages against India.