SimCity Goes Offline With Official Update

Allspice

New member
Mar 1, 2011
107
0
0
Good. I haven't played SimCity 5 since July, I have so many others to play I just never pick it back up, so I have no idea what the state of the game is. But I'm willing to give it another chance. If after this patch comes out I have fun playing, I'll buy the EP. The online thing was the main reason I didn't.
 

truckspond

New member
Oct 26, 2013
403
0
0
I like many others will be supporting this decision by buying the game once the offline mode update is out.
 

Charli

New member
Nov 23, 2008
3,445
0
0
It is done.

I am going to buy an EA game. For the first time in nearly 8-9 years. The curse is broken.

If only to get it through their thick heads that NOT dicking your customer = Money.

If they pull another stunt I think flagrantly flies in the faces of their legitimate paying customers in the name of attempting to and failing to trip up the 1% of people who are pirates. I'll sadly be back to square one.
 

Hero in a half shell

It's not easy being green
Dec 30, 2009
4,286
0
0


Well done. Now continue this momentum and develop games for the people you sell them to, to give your customers the best possible experience, up to and possibly including the point that it starts to hurt your own profit margins.

Make good solid games, provide good solid service, be a good solid company, and maybe you might make a game I consider worth £40 again.
 

Zipa

batlh bIHeghjaj.
Dec 19, 2010
1,489
0
0
As Graham and Kathleen said on Checkpoint today it is 9 months too late, and as for the mod thing if they really think that no one has made mods for Simcity until now they are in for a bit of a surprise.
 

BrownGaijin

New member
Jan 31, 2009
895
0
0
JenSeven said:
Now if only they allowed us to play it without installing Origin.
I wouldn't mind a Steam release.
"Now that it's on Steam we don't have to go through Origin" you say. I had this same belief until I found this disclaimer for "The Sims 3" during Steam's winter sale:

Online Disclaimer:
INTERNET CONNECTION AND ACCEPTANCE OF END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT REQUIRED TO PLAY THE SIMS 3 DIGITAL DOWNLOAD PRODUCT. ACCESS TO ONLINE SERVICES REQUIRES AN INTERNET CONNECTION, EA ACCOUNT AND GAME REGISTRATION WITH THE PROVIDED ONE-TIME USE SERIAL CODE. REGISTRATION IS LIMITED TO ONE EA ACCOUNT PER SERIAL CODE AND IS NON-TRANSFERABLE. EA ONLINE PRIVACY POLICY AND TERMS OF SERVICE CAN BE FOUND AT www.ea.com. YOU MUST BE 13+ TO REGISTER FOR AN EA ACCOUNT. INCLUDES SOFTWARE THAT COLLECTS DATA ONLINE NECESSARY TO PROVIDE AND ACTIVATE IN-GAME ADVERTISING FOR ALL THE SIMS 3 PRODUCTS PREVIOUSLY OR HEREAFTER INSTALLED.


EA MAY RETIRE ONLINE FEATURES AFTER 30 DAYS NOTICE POSTED ON www.ea.com/2/service-updates.
Yes, that's how evil EA is. Even if you buy the game on Steam you still register for Origin.

Andy Chalk said:
Better late than never, yes?
More like "Too little, too late" my good Mr. Chalk, though there are those that would assume that that's what you were getting at. Not me of course (wink, wink, nudge, nudge).
 

GundamSentinel

The leading man, who else?
Aug 23, 2009
4,448
0
0
Gorrath said:
Is anyone who is familiar with teh current state of the game able to let me in on whether or not the other problems have been addressed? It was my understanding that the game was broken on a fundamental level due to the way things like traffic worked. Is the actual game play now up to snuff to be worth the purchase? Thanks in advance for any information.
The core problem with SimCity was that the intention of Maxis was to simulate the actual complete traffic in the city, while at the same time keep it visible and real to the player.

So the premise is: within a set amount of time all the traffic in the city (say: a person going to work) must have completed its movements (after all, they have to get to work on time), but at the same time, the traffic has to be slow enough to be visible and interactive to the player.

Now the consequence of this is, traffic does not move fast enough for it to effectively flow through the city (otherwise it wouldn't be visible to the player). Result: as the city grows bigger, the traffic jams grow exponentially, basically blocking everything. And 'everything' includes services like the fire department, police, ambulances, garbage disposal and school buses. So yeah, the whole town goes to shit.

As far as I know, this has not been fixed (it wasn't when I checked on it last week) and I doubt that it will be fixed.
 

lacktheknack

Je suis joined jewels.
Jan 19, 2009
19,316
0
0
Chalk up a bunch of points for you, EA. Heck, this covers your point loss for the mod restrictions, and then some.

You're still going in the right direction! :D
 

Neta

New member
Aug 22, 2013
167
0
0
Andy Chalk said:
Modding is a big part of our studio's legacy* and we're excited to see what you guys create**
*[citation needed]

**"So we can steal it and then sell it for ourselves, as per our Terms & Conditions."

It's all very well and good finally making SimCity work offline, but what about all the other shoddily programmed and/or downright broken "features" of the game?
 

1337mokro

New member
Dec 24, 2008
1,503
0
0
The next step is removing city limits and just let us build all over the region map, making cities ourselves. "But the game is built around the regions!" yeah stuff it we all know the bullshit speech.

I only have one thing to say.

"Number one! Make it so!"
 

LegendaryVKickr

Senior Member
Jul 20, 2012
104
0
21
I might actually cave and buy this, despite my boycott of EA. I do want to support EA when it makes good decisions. They make bad ones so often I just don't buy anything they churn out, but when they do something right, I feel an urge to support it.

That said, it really could have benefited more from repealing the forced online nine months ago.
 

RicoADF

Welcome back Commander
Jun 2, 2009
3,147
0
0
blackrave said:
But isn't SimCity an MMO?
How can MMO work without constant internet, connection?

.

Alright, sarcasm aside, how hard was to make Singleplayer and Multiplayer modes from the very beginning?
I suspect that Multiplayer wouldn't be as popular though.
I actually think multiplayer would have been more popular if it had of been a choice. If people are told they can only go one way then most will reject it, compared to being given the choice, I'd say they'd have had better luck giving a choice.

About time EA, there was no excuse for the crap you were pulling, companies need to learn going always online is the dumb path.
 

DarkhoIlow

New member
Dec 31, 2009
2,531
0
0
So they pretty much took the crack and applied it thus making it official? Sure seems like it.

On the flip side, I was never interested in this series but I think the damage is done already and I don't see many people going back to it.
 

smithy_2045

New member
Jan 30, 2008
2,561
0
0
Too little, too late. I'm not going to reward EA for releasing a half-baked product 12 months ago, and eventually patching it into something playable by now.
 

Gorrath

New member
Feb 22, 2013
1,648
0
0
GundamSentinel said:
Gorrath said:
Is anyone who is familiar with teh current state of the game able to let me in on whether or not the other problems have been addressed? It was my understanding that the game was broken on a fundamental level due to the way things like traffic worked. Is the actual game play now up to snuff to be worth the purchase? Thanks in advance for any information.
The core problem with SimCity was that the intention of Maxis was to simulate the actual complete traffic in the city, while at the same time keep it visible and real to the player.

So the premise is: within a set amount of time all the traffic in the city (say: a person going to work) must have completed its movements (after all, they have to get to work on time), but at the same time, the traffic has to be slow enough to be visible and interactive to the player.

Now the consequence of this is, traffic does not move fast enough for it to effectively flow through the city (otherwise it wouldn't be visible to the player). Result: as the city grows bigger, the traffic jams grow exponentially, basically blocking everything. And 'everything' includes services like the fire department, police, ambulances, garbage disposal and school buses. So yeah, the whole town goes to shit.

As far as I know, this has not been fixed (it wasn't when I checked on it last week) and I doubt that it will be fixed.
Thanks for the reply. I am a big fan of Sim City, but just having an offline mode won't mean much if the game remains fundamentally broken. Perhaps if the modding community can fix some of these issues, I'll consider it. I appreciate the info!