Is this game worth playing in 2021?

[laagamer]

I've been having alot of fun with Shadow Empire, which is great.

This game looks okay, but the reviews are terrible. And the DLC reviews are horrifying.

[th0ma5]

imo yes, even more so now as the game has improved over the years since it was released.

[KatArus]

Try the base game without ANY dlc. If it goes ok or you find something lacking, try adding Crusade and Mega Events and nothing else.

Turn off all victories except alliance, domination and influence.

Problem of this game is that developers have no solid creative core. They often used random 'fan' suggestions to make the game 'better' without accounting for the fact that a lot of vocal people on the Internet are morons or perverts that are loud on the Internet because everybody GTFOs them IRL so a lot of resulting 'content' and patch changes are of very questionable quality in both absolute and 4X sense and you saw that reflected in the reviews.

Ironically, I would suggest playing Galactic CIvilizations 2 Twilight of Arnor instead. It's economy system is a bit stupid, but that's it's ONLY real downside compared to this bloated mess. 3 is not a horrible game, but you'll have better timer playing Endless Space or Stellaris instead of it.

[Jorgas]

I'd also recommend Galactic Civ II over III.

[laagamer]

Originally posted by KatArus:

Try the base game without ANY dlc. If it goes ok or you find something lacking, try adding Crusade and Mega Events and nothing else.

Turn off all victories except alliance, domination and influence.

Problem of this game is that developers have no solid creative core. They often used random 'fan' suggestions to make the game 'better' without accounting for the fact that a lot of vocal people on the Internet are morons or perverts that are loud on the Internet because everybody GTFOs them IRL so a lot of resulting 'content' and patch changes are of very questionable quality in both absolute and 4X sense and you saw that reflected in the reviews.

Ironically, I would suggest playing Galactic CIvilizations 2 Twilight of Arnor instead. It's economy system is a bit stupid, but that's it's ONLY real downside compared to this bloated mess. 3 is not a horrible game, but you'll have better timer playing Endless Space or Stellaris instead of it.

Sadly, Stellaris stutters to much on my laptop, even though I love it. And I don't think I can run Endless Space.

Thank you for your opinion!

[BATTLEMODE]

Hi, I play Shadow Empire a lot, got about 400+ hours in the game and although GalCiv3 is nothing like it, it's a top tier game and definitely one of the better space 4X games now it's finished it's development cycle

[JC]

Some people like GCII more, I think a ton of the bad reveiws if you look at the dates were from way back. DLC these days is a hot button issue. Either it changes the game to much or not enough, and more often than not it's people complaining about the price.

Personally i think grabbing the full game is worth it, and if your budget requires a sale by all means grab it then.


That said GCIII does some things different/better, some stuff is just different and folks like the older way better. GCIII looks nicer, has a way better ship builder and i think over all the AI is better.

This is a good version for sure, but i also look forward to 4, I haven't put in enough time yet to really decide how much i like this version, but the ship builder alone is fantastic.

[J.C. Denton]

Game in current state is one of the best present 4x games for sure. In here you can expect pretty interesting macro and building and almost no tactics at all. If you are looking for better tactical fights you may want to try out Age of Wonders series. If you want something balanced - there are Civilizations 5-6.

While I really do love GalCiv 1 and GalCiv 2 I cant recommend them over GalCiv 3. They are just too outdated, and not really deeper or better.

Game had a lot of performance issues in the past, also a lot of changes in patches and expansions. A lot of veterans dislike changes. Thats how I can explain those reveiws.

Overall GalCiv is very classic 4x game with no tactical fights, very good building mechanics, decent to bad diplomacy and okayish graphics.

[Nylinth]

so for beginners and even veterans of galactic civ II I'd say this game is hard to rap your head around there are no good online tutorials. you really gotta rack your brain and examine everything in the Beginning to get a feel for what has to be done. I played my first game on normal huge map and found myself paling to everyone around me. And got annihilated. i reloaded that game knowing where things were and taking what knowledge i did gain and i'm now fighting above my weight class but just barely i am still technically out matched but being cleaver with strategic placement and Durable ships make a difference. i'm in a defensive war barely able to keep the ships flowing fast enough things are looking up but it's slow. I like it. but so much information isn't out there for the current version for tutorials even in game. a lot of underlying info that you got to trial and error out. i'm a slow expander as well so my struggle is my own fault but i've come to enjoy the game. also fielding a bunch of your own personal ship designs just feels good.

[Zeke45]

Originally posted by laagamer:

... the reviews are terrible.

Overall reviews are mostly positive and recent reviews are mixed. I've seen some of my all-time favorite games go through periods of mixed reviews, and some utter garbage get "overwhelmingly positive" reviews on Steam. All the time.

Looking at a few of the recent neg reviews for Galactic Civ 3, some of them are dubious at best. A few likely don't have the attention span for RTS games in general. One "hardcore 4x gamer" complains that Galactic Civ 3 has "The Worst UI EVER." That's such blatant BS it's not even funny.

I'm a huge stickler for proper UI in strategy games (read my review for Endless Space). The UI in Galactic Civ 3 is rather decent. There are some typos, blank descriptions, and so forth, but aside from that, the UI layout, design, and accessibility are very intuitive and streamlined.

All that being said, I haven't really gotten into any strategy games for many years, but I decided to give this a go just recently, as I had acquired it on another platform maybe a year ago and it was sitting in my library. I started a large map on "normal" and have played hours every day, and am now approaching the Age of Ascension era and am poised to win the game.

Edit: the ship designer in this game is a large part of the fun. I can fiddle around with that feature alone for hours.

[laagamer]

Originally posted by Zeke45:

Originally posted by laagamer:

... the reviews are terrible.

Overall reviews are mostly positive and recent reviews are mixed. I've seen some of my all-time favorite games go through periods of mixed reviews, and some utter garbage get "overwhelmingly positive" reviews on Steam. All the time.

Looking at a few of the recent neg reviews for Galactic Civ 3, some of them are dubious at best. A few likely don't have the attention span for RTS games in general. One "hardcore 4x gamer" complains that Galactic Civ 3 has "The Worst UI EVER." That's such blatant BS it's not even funny.

I'm a huge stickler for proper UI in strategy games (read my review for Endless Space). The UI in Galactic Civ 3 is rather decent. There are some typos, blank descriptions, and so forth, but aside from that, the UI layout, design, and accessibility are very intuitive and streamlined.

All that being said, I haven't really gotten into any strategy games for many years, but I decided to give this a go just recently, as I had acquired it on another platform maybe a year ago and it was sitting in my library. I started a large map on "normal" and have played hours every day, and am now approaching the Age of Ascension era and am poised to win the game.

Edit: the ship designer in this game is a large part of the fun. I can fiddle around with that feature alone for hours.

Glad you're enjoying it!

[john_darkhorse]

I decided to get into a Sci Fi 4X game and picked up GalCiv 3, Stellaris and Endless Space 2. After a few weeks, I ended up going with this one. The others were good, but Galactic Civ just seemed to offer more, without a massive learning curve. I picked up all the DLC so that I would have access to most of the mods, which take the game to even cooler places. I have yet to find a more mod friendly game on Steam. It's currently top for 4x games for me, even beating my previous favs of Civ 5 and 6. (5 is starting to show its age and 2k is trying to kill 6 I think with their launcher)

[rdouglass1]

This game still has a Serious Problem with Progressive LAG Build Up as it is played.
With my Rotary Drive, It was almost unplayable. When I changed to SSD, it is Better, but still has Lag Build at some points in the game.

[john_darkhorse]

Interesting. I haven't gotten too far into the game, but I did notice that it does lag a bit if you add too many mods. (but it does still run, which is more than can be said for some games that aren't as friendly to those opting to use mods.

[rdouglass1]

Originally posted by john_darkhorse:

Interesting. I haven't gotten too far into the game, but I did notice that it does lag a bit if you add too many mods. (but it does still run, which is more than can be said for some games that aren't as friendly to those opting to use mods.

It is not just Mods... It is the Base game, and the DLC Content also.
Even with my 16 Cores, and my 32 GIG, of Memory, and 12 Gig of Video, it Progressively Builds Lag throughout play.
On my original Rotary Drive, it got to the point of being Unplayable. The SSD Helps, but is not the End All of Cures... I think the Constant NEED For Every Item to show on a POP UP is the Culprit in GC-III...? Info has to Flow To, and From the Servers Constantly to have those show up for each play turn.
Longest Hang for me now, is END OF TURN. (Waiting for that First Pop Up to be able to say "DONE".)

[-=Maure=-]

Originally posted by KatArus:

Problem of this game is that developers have no solid creative core. They often used random 'fan' suggestions to make the game 'better' without accounting for the fact that a lot of vocal people on the Internet are morons or perverts that are loud on the Internet because everybody GTFOs them IRL so a lot of resulting 'content' and patch changes are of very questionable quality in both absolute and 4X sense and you saw that reflected in the reviews.

LOL so true