Am I the oddball fan who likes Beyond Earth more than Civ 5? And is there anyone else who feels the same way?

[Prince Jude of Nohr]

Note: Reposted from Civ 6 thread, as that thread was locked.

Make no mistake, on paper Civ 5 is the better game by far. But I can't help but enjoy Beyond Earth so much that it takes up more priority in my mind than V; I personally really, REALLY enjoy the emphasis on Civilization customization and affinities, and I feel the immortal leaders (via SCIENCE!) and the random world generation (exoplanets) makes a lot more sense now. Plus, it's all newly-written material, and I had a lot of fun reading up on the lore behind BE's world.

Am I the odd Civ fan of the bunch by feeling this way? Civ 5 IS the better game, but I can't bring myself to enjoy it as much as BE.

[D3bs]

I think you may be in the minority group for this one but glad you are having fun; it's horses for courses I guess.

[Dragonrubi]

I think is different, gamers are annoying people hard to please, rarely fair they become haters or fanbois.

When i heard the comments of this game i was expecting something really ugly, when i tried it i find it entertaining, mediocre with GOOD IDEAS (many of the things OP mentioned), but not excelling in anything. Yet it was a pleasant surprise from the hysteric hating comments i have read, it just needed more content.

Now with rising tide i find it very fun, i do not compare it with CV, i have played it many hours but found BE RT a very fun and refreshing different game.

Nostalgia: the game is very good but gamers are unfair hating it because "Is not like Alpha Centauri" or “is not a Civ V game but in space” (and in their days games like those Alppha Centaury, Rome 1 TW... had a lot of flaws and received also a lot of flak but nostalgia makes to forget that)

Sadly I think that hating wave made the producers to abandon it, AAA had become each day more expensive and they will not waste money in something that the community has considered a FLOP.

[PrivateHudson]

Of course, sci-fi setting in itself and creative freedom that it grants are a big advantages of BE. Another question is how well developers have harnessed this freedom. It seems, they struck the awkward balance between traditional Civ elements and new mechanics like affinities and tech web. Unfortunately, this balance had not satisfied completely nor Civvers (where's my religion?! etc), nor SMACers (hey, affinities are all the same?! etc).

[Heyub, C.S.]

I find most of the complaints I hear about civ:BE are comparing them to civ V, and this is likely what has lead up to your post. I find it interesting you say that civ V is the better game. To me this says you don't really compare it to civ V. I think that is what puts you in the minority more than anything else. I think that Civ:BE came out too similar and too soon to civ V and so it appeared as a competetor to civ V.

I am curious though, I first got civ V without any expansions and it was a very disappointing experience. I think if I had to compare base civ V to civ:BE I would've taken civ:BE in a heart beat.

[Prince Jude of Nohr]

Originally posted by Heyub, C.S.:

I find most of the complaints I hear about civ:BE are comparing them to civ V, and this is likely what has lead up to your post. I find it interesting you say that civ V is the better game. To me this says you don't really compare it to civ V. I think that is what puts you in the minority more than anything else. I think that Civ:BE came out too similar and too soon to civ V and so it appeared as a competetor to civ V.

I am curious though, I first got civ V without any expansions and it was a very disappointing experience. I think if I had to compare base civ V to civ:BE I would've taken civ:BE in a heart beat.

Agreed. I actually had more fun with Vanilla BE than RT, believe it or not. I really like how they handle diplomacy better, there weren't any annoying water gimmicks, and there are some mods that only work with the base game that make it all the more better. (Long live the Nordic Union! And long live the Japanese Empire!)

But yeah, on paper, Civ V IS better than BE. That doesn't stop BE from being something I enjoy more, nor does it stop me from not comparing two fantastic games. =)

[Ariatiki]

Well, you're not alone, anyway. I've got the full Civ V with all the bits and pieces of DLC, and I can't stand to play it anymore. About a thousand hours into it, and, well, it has reached the end of its potential for me. BE/RT is a breath of fresh air with some new ideas. If I want a dose of turn base empire building, this is the game I click on. Haven't had as much time as I did with Civ V, so I don't have the huge hours totals that V got, but chances are that BE/RT will be satisfying all my Civ desires for years to come.

Civ VI... I'm not going to buy until it ends up in a "Complete pack" at 80% off in a few years. And even then, only if I'm finally getting tired of BERT by then. I'm still hoping that they'll give us even one more good DLC for BE.

Actually, scratch that. For my empire building inclinations these days, I'll be playing Alpha Centauri. It runs better, plays better, and actually lets me build huge sprawling empires that the Civ series hasn't let me do since Civ 4. And I love all the lore and cool quotes it has.

[Ava4WSO]

Hmm. i just like the SF theme of BE/RT much more than "regular" Civ ... and that you can get along with the aliens (unlike barbarians from Civ V) is a bonus for me.

Also the affinities give you 3/6 (optically) different endgame units - that's so much nicer than seeing the same Missile Cruiser/Carrier/Destroyer/Nuclear Submarine fleets over and over again.

[Sabertooth]

Don't feel so bad .I like this game alot also .My christmas wish is that they start working on it and come out with DLC .After all when civ 5 came out it was'nt as good till they added all the DLC.

[skausmaus]

Half agree. I don't compare BE/RT to Civ games, but to Pandora:First Contact or the legendary SMAC. In my opinion BE/RT is the best of the planetry sci-fi 4Xs, but only by a whisker.
SMAC has an internal consistency and is well written, but looks awful. I'm not prejudiced against older games just because of graphic improvements - it's always about the gameplay - but the choice of colours etc. really grate on me and the UI needs working on.
Pandora tries hard with it's research tree ideas, customisable units and it looks very pretty, but ultimately feels like a homage to SMAC without the depth.
BE/RT just wins it for me as I love the complex interplay between initial strtup, affinities and virtues that truly allows you to play the game the way you want to. However the RT diplomacy fix is a disaster. Not in itself but because it does not allow tailored diplomatic optionsas well. It's "take this unnecessary and unhelpful agreement or watch our relations plummet". Very annoying. Also it is near impossiblke to create a human/alien nirvana. Destroy or enslave seem to be the only options. Very realistic in terms of mirroring human colonial history, but frustrating if you want to work with the aliens.
Nevertheless BE/RT has that just one more go feeling nailed and if I must compare to CIV 5, probably more than CIV 5, because of the continous sensation of exploration and wonder.

[RotherHans]

Another wierdo here agreeing.
After a decade or two of playing CIV games, I practically cannot stand the franchise anymore.
CIV6 doesn´t interest me at all because it´s yet another CIV, with some added "new" bells&whistles. Yet everything is still kinda the same.

BE (+expansion of course) offers some very refreshing ideas and an actual continuation to the dreaded "start in a hut".

[light5_fl]

Honestly I enjoy both this game and Civ 5, I tihnk the only games I honestly didn't care for was in the franchise was Alpha Centuari(which likely put me in the minority in regards to that game).

I like the idea of starting what is in esssense a new civilation in space and driving the direction of that civilation. I like exploring the planet and dealing with the aliens which manage to be almost as threatening as the barbarians from civ II.(Which mades me remember how I much miss the advisers from that game,)

[Anyndil]

I love this game, haven't finished a single session of Civ5 since BE came out.

[joey.like.a.baby.kangaroo]

I keep trying to get into it. But in the end BE is meh. techweb is random and nonsensical, aliens attack constantly for no reason, foreighn powers attack you for defending yourself against the aliens. Allies declare war at random, but that's been a failure on behalf of the Civ code monkeys for ages. What really bugs me is the psudeo intellectual fake quotes. I mean the mythocal llama bit was funny but most of them are just stupid. Maybe it'll make since in a few months when I try playing again :(

[TechnocraticSyndicalist]

I do love beyond earth, I don't see why people don't want the timelessness of listening to music while mindlessly hitting keys and options in a space game, I'm addicted to stellaris, civ beyond earth and galactic civs 2

[joey.like.a.baby.kangaroo]

galac civs is cool too, but it also has that problem with traties and allies being basically meaningless.