(0:00) I got a chance to play both Civilization VII and Ara: history untold. (0:06) Hello again there friends and fans, Raptor here, and today I wanted to compare both Civilization VII from my visit to Firaxis Studios in Baltimore, Maryland, and also an Xbox event out in Los Angeles for Gamescom that allowed me to play Ara: history untold. (0:23) Now there's been a lot of talk here on this channel about Civilization VII, the many concerns that you all have of the changes from both 5 and 6, with the new release of VII coming up in February of 2025, and Aura, history untold, coming around the corner.
(0:38) A lot of people excited about that as well. (0:40) So I wanted to talk all things about Civilization VII today, and Aura, and then compare the two with also the thought of another game called, what, Metro Megapolis? (0:51) Megapolis?
(0:52) I always forget the name of that game. (0:54) But anyway, yeah, there's three big heavy hitters coming out soon in terms of the classic Civilization builders, not just Civilization, but going all the way back to the beginning of history, and being able to create a people who then of course can change and thrive and grow throughout. (1:08) And yeah, I thought it'd be interesting to break those down and my experience of those, (1:12) but also be mindful that I haven't played the third one yet, and I'm really excited though to (1:16) see what everyone else thinks and what it will be like when we finally get our hands on both, (1:21) and have plenty of time to put hundreds of hours in them, which is really truly (1:24) the only way to fully understand and grasp a game such as this. (1:29) Well, let's go ahead and talk a little bit further about Civilization VII. (1:34) Let's talk a little bit about Civilization VII.
(1:37) So Civ VII is coming out on February 11th, 2025, and this bad boy is going to be a whopping 70 bucks, and that's just like the standard edition, with the deluxe edition being almost a hundo, and there's even a founder's edition at $130. (1:51) This game, of course, will have all the things that you expect from a Civilization games in (1:55) terms of it being hexagon, 4x, historical, turn-based strategy, multiplayer, all those (2:00) things that you've loved of Civ games before is present, but one of the biggest things that at (2:05) this moment still remains unanswered for a lot of us, and while many of us have not been able to (2:09) even play the full game except for the devs, is what the hell will happen in this game.
(2:14) Now, many of you are calling this game quote-unquote, well, essentially just like Humankind 2, not even just a clone, but literally taking the idea of what would it be like if you were Society A, then Society B, or, you know, Civilization A, B, and then C throughout history. (2:32) Now Civilization VII will feature three different acts, if you will, or chapters that will bring people all the way from basically cavemen up to space times, like, you know, literally building like a space army, and that's what you would kind of expect for the time frame. (2:45) However, between each of those acts you'll be given the choice, or possibly forced, we're not exactly sure yet, to change from one civilization to another when you eventually get far enough.
(2:55) Now that makes sense for, for example, the British, right? (2:59) You know, the Romans basically made the city of London, which then formulated into many different cultures over time, and eventually we got the British, you know, Civilization, and then they went on to do other things like founding of America, and then revolutions. (3:13) Yeah, we all know history, but (3:14) basically what I'm saying is that, yeah, some of these cultures or civilizations totally (3:19) make sense to have multiple cultures who influence them and who they came from, but also when it (3:25) comes to being like the Chinese or the Egyptians, you might want to play as them the entire time, (3:29) because nobody really has conquered them, or what would it be like maybe to play as the Romans, (3:34) and then of course become somebody else? (3:36) How is that going to take place?
(3:37) Can you just suddenly become Japanese, or is there going to be history tied to that? (3:41) Well, it does seem like there will be history tied in some ways, depending on what you do on the map. (3:46) So, for example, if you're playing as the Romans, find a bunch of horses, and then at some point you'll be able to choose to be the Mongolians, because the Mongolians have the Golden Horde, and that of course had a lot of horses.
(3:56) I don't know, there's a lot of things that a lot of people pointed out that they're not entirely certain on, and or a little unhappy with, and calling it again, Humankind 2. (4:06) Now honestly, I think Humankind, in terms of trying that out, was a genius move. (4:10) A lot of people didn't really like that, but I'm really happy that it wasn't just another civilization type game, and tried to do something like that, but very very different.
(4:19) So, a big round of applause for Humankind for trying something different to allow you to be different cultures at any time, and really mixed it up for multiplayer. (4:26) But when it comes to Civ, is that something that you like? (4:30) Do you want to be the whole civilization the whole time, or maybe be different leaders?
(4:33) Yeah, it seems like it'll be kind of broken down by an actual civilization, rather than going from Leader 1 to Leader 2 to Leader 3. (4:41) You'll be, well for example, somebody from Egyptian history the whole time, whether or not you choose to play as the Japanese. (4:47) So there's a lot of ways where I think these games are trying to mix it up, and mix cultures together, in order to try to create replayability, and do so with like an RNG type rarity, or some sort of a, I guess, a way broader platform of all these different modifications.
(5:04) Now, of course, nations at their base level are all different, because of course, the Romans and the Egyptians may have chariots, and the Japanese and the Mongolians may be better with swords, or with arrows, and that type of thing. (5:15) So they all, of course, are supposed to have their rock-paper-scissors, and that's what makes these games good, or fun, or whatever you want to call it. (5:24) Anyway, I think the game looks good.
(5:26) I certainly appreciated the kind of attention to detail, and trying to be a diorama. (5:30) That's what they said they were going for, and tried to pay attention a lot to train layouts, and different types of scale models. (5:37) And so some of the models in the game look good, and things are displayed where they're almost like a playing piece on a board game.
(5:43) And that's kind of cool, with then, of course, the leaders being a little bit more animated to show anger. (5:48) I think it's kind of a clear move that they were trying to maybe grandize this a little bit, and show that, you know, when leaders are mad, they'll cross their arms. (5:56) Very, very much like the Sims, when they try to convey things more through body language, than through language.
(6:01) And of course, you know, they may be using the actual languages, but I'd bet that most people playing Civilization VII, or any game, probably aren't an expert at both, well, Chinese, Egyptian, and maybe, you know, five other different sub-languages that were in those locations, or those, you know, spoken by those people at those times, you know. (6:21) So anyway, I'm saying that I think that at least looks cool and on par for me, but I really want to know what everyone else is thinking and feeling about that. (6:29) Another great feature of this game, by the way, for Civilization VII, is you can finally go up rivers.
(6:34) You can now navigate up rivers, and down rivers, if you want to. (6:37) So you can go, of course, across maybe a large lake or an ocean, and then all the way to somebody's capital, if they don't necessarily defend their, well, their rivers. (6:45) That could be a complete threat for invasion.
(6:47) So that's rather cool, and certainly something that a lot of cultures did in order to, yeah, get up river. (6:53) And even with them going up river, perhaps they can be destroyed by a natural disaster. (6:58) Civilization VII will have natural disasters.
(7:00) In fact, when I was playing at the Firaxis event, where I got about three hours to play, which again, as many people have pointed out, I continue to mention that I've only had three hours, so I want to make it abundantly clear that nobody really got a second longer than that, and nobody really has played too much. (7:15) I played with a bunch of other creators, we were all in solo games and enjoyed our time, but everybody had about three hours, which isn't even enough to get through the first act. (7:24) So everything that you've been hearing is really only just kind of an experience of a very, you know, one nation of the game, or one civilization of the game, for a very short amount of time.
(7:33) So it's really hard to get a full feeling of this, but I did find it quite interesting that there is going to be disasters, but how many and when they will occur, I'm not sure. (7:42) But it's a very interesting thing to possibly settle near a volcano and have your city be threatened by that, or perhaps an invading force could be destroyed by maybe a tidal wave or a monsoon. (7:52) I mean, it's happened before, where giant rough storms have wiped out entire navies and invasion forces.
(7:58) So for Sid Meier's Civilization VII, I certainly think that what I've seen so far is fun, is different than VI, maybe even better than VI, but many people think is worse. (8:10) Now, for all you watching, if you've watched this far, do me a big favor, and I plan to make more videos on this, and this certainly would help to continue the discussion on this one. (8:19) Of the recent Civ games, of the newest one we all haven't played yet, Civ VII, Civilization VI, or Civilization V, what one is your favorite, or what one interests you more?
(8:31) Even though VI came out, do you still play more of V, or did you move on from V to play more of VI, just because more of your friends have it? (8:38) What is the deciding factor, and what game are you playing the most, and why? (8:42) And or, if VII comes out, are you going to drop all the previous ones entirely, or will you just stay on Civilization III, for example, I guess.
(8:50) I don't know. (8:51) Anyway, I'd like to know more about everyone's thoughts. (8:53) I think the game looks good, feels good, but I can't tell you what any of the major things of this game feel like yet.
(9:02) They brought us in to play a game, and then only let us play the first act, where the biggest concern from everybody is what is going to happen between Act I, II, and III, and what other cultures will we get over time, or civilizations, and will there be multiple leaders, maybe with different modifications to them. (9:18) I mean, obviously, many people from Chinese, Egyptian, Japanese, British history could be used to modify the leader and give different perks and things at different points in history, so it'd be very good to see that. (9:30) But anyway, I want to know from you what you think, and now let's move on to Aura, History Untold.
(9:38) Now, Ara: History Untold is really right around the corner, coming out on September 24, 2024, so we're less than a month away for this one, and this game really looks great, just like with Civ, really on par with a lot of its appearance and its delivery of a natural world, and will be available for $59.99 at launch. (9:57) That'll be the pre-purchase price, which maybe possibly will adjust, but there's also a pre-order edition at $62, and then of course, a premium edition at $71. (10:07) So there's some discounts there, and also some other bonuses that you'll get just like with Civ.
(10:12) Now, it breaks down the differences between both the games on Steam, so make sure you check that out if you're thinking about it at this moment, but again, also use code RAPTORIA at checkout if you get any of these games to support the channel, as it really does help to, well, support the channel. (10:28) So thank you very much for doing that. (10:30) Now, this game is being made by Oxide Games and being published by Xbox Game Studios, (10:35) which surprise, surprise, is why they flew us out there, and with this game, (10:38) I had a different experience, playing for only about an hour with some of the footage that you (10:42) have all seen on the channel before, and by the way, some of it is a little weird, (10:46) they used HDR and were trying to balance that, so it'll look a little different, (10:49) so if you see some color changes between this game and Civilization VII, just know that Aura (10:56) and Civ probably look way better than they actually do in this video, because of course, (11:00) well, differences between editing and rendering and compression, etc. (11:03) But anyway, look, this game was a lot of fun, and I got an hour to play myself, and then an hour to basically watch the dev play and stand behind and watch, you know, them making decisions and then asking him, why did you do that, what are the tactics here, and just ask basic questions about the game. (11:19) Now, the folks at Aura History Untold are going with a different approach, a classic approach, an approach that many of you had said that you wish that Civilization VII was taking.
(11:29) Aura History Untold, just like Civ, is going down the whole three-multiple-act route, and will have nations that will get knocked out if you don't hit certain goals by certain milestones in time. (11:41) Now, in my video, I showcased only eight of the nations or so that were available during the Gamescom demo, but there's going to be about 30 or 40 different nations, like for example, the Russians and other leaders that just weren't featured there, or really societies that weren't featured there. (11:57) So take what you see with a grain of salt, especially because this is a preview version and we're still a month away.
(12:02) And the same goes for Civ, with it being over six months away, a lot could change. (12:06) But getting back to Aura, I think the world looks incredible, and it's very important that you rush ahead and optimize quickly. (12:14) Civ might be kind of an ever-changing game, but I think Aura is a game that really is important to optimize in, and try to get a lot of optimization going quickly as possible, as well as multiple cities, playing a little bit more strategically.
(12:26) Now, this is a game that is turn-based, just like Civ, but it's not hexagon-based. (12:31) It's more of these large regions that then have zones within them, and then you can also conquer, as the longer your city is there, more regions around it. (12:39) Now, Civ kind of works that way as well, where the longer you have a city, of course, you can then build your granaries and such, and then build settlers to build more cities.
(12:47) In that game, you can no longer have builders, and in Aura History Untold, it's kind of the same thing. (12:53) You can choose where to build things within certain zones after a certain period of time and build them over turns, but when it comes to settlers, they work both the same. (13:01) These games are very similar in that way, where developing your city and giving them everything they need is what the city will then use to then develop things that you order, rather than building builders and telling them to go out to build a structure to benefit the city, or maybe something like a fort or something along the way.
(13:16) Now, this game looks incredible for its ability to spawn a bunch of people on the map, on roads, and then, as we saw in the trailer, there's a lot of little cars and modern buildings too, so the modern cities look incredible. (13:28) For Civ, they kind of, I don't know, they look certainly like Civ, so there's a difference here, where I don't think Civ is trying to improve upon anything, but maybe trying to do different things, as where Aura is trying to be the best game that it can be. (13:40) I think, really, Aura is a game that is a first try for this developer, and they've been in development for about seven, maybe eight years, and it looks like they're doing a good job of getting a lot of feedback from the community and trying to have mods right after its launch.
(13:57) At the launch, the game will have, of course, all the civilizations that you would, well, see featured, but then they want you to make whatever you want and eventually have a map editor too. (14:06) Now, I don't know if Civ will have that either, we didn't get a chance to see that, (14:10) but I think both games need to at least have multiplayer, a map editor, maybe a culture (14:14) maker if you're going to mix them together, like in the example of Civ 7, or if you want to make (14:19) your own, like in Ara: History Untold, that's a really cool way to be able to share those things, (14:24) and that's something that Ara plans to do.
(14:26) But again, the game looks lush, vibrant. (14:28) I think the combat is a little, it looks like it could have been different, but it looks better than Civ? (14:35) Maybe not.
(14:36) It definitely is different than Civ, and they're trying to do something that's (14:39) cool, but I don't know if they really fully pulled it off, but I believe with Civ, they're (14:43) trying to go equally active on like, like a 33% thing on like a cultural victory, like a science (14:49) victory, military victory, or some other type of like diplomacy victory, you know, they're trying (14:54) to balance all of those three major things together, like through warfare, not through (14:58) warfare, like diplomacy, or like by building a science victory, you know, a culture victory, (15:03) some monuments, that kind of thing. (15:05) But in Aura, it's all about prestige and building monuments, (15:08) and there is of course the chance for war, and when you conquer a enemy, you can take over their (15:14) city, or if they get eliminated by not being able to advance to the Bronze Age, if they're at the (15:19) bottom playing so poorly that they get wiped out, well then they become, their society crumbles, (15:25) they become rebels, and you can go in there and conquer all the ruins and take all their stuff (15:29) with a little bit less of a fight. (15:31) They're just barbarians at that point, and that's amazing. (15:33) Some (15:33) of the cool things here I would have loved to have seen in Civ, honestly, and I can see why (15:40) everybody was so concerned about that game, and Aura I think is, yeah, doing some big things that (15:45) I think Civ should have tried long ago, but again, going back to what we mentioned about Civ V, (15:50) you know, that was five attempts in, and now they've had two more, and I think they're trying (15:54) to mix it up as where Aura is trying to completely make a new experience. (15:58) So again, going Civ VII versus Aura History Untold.
(16:03) Well, first of all, let's talk about this in a business sense, right? (16:07) Aura is coming out in just less than a month for $59.99, which is less than Civ coming out for about $70 in February, so more people will have time to play Aura History Untold when it launches on September 24th, and then Civ will be launching around mid-February on February 11th. (16:25) Now, in that time, I suspect that a lot of people will want to try this game out, especially because this is going to be on Game Pass.
(16:32) Now, because so many people will have a chance to play this game for quote-unquote free, because they've already got Game Pass, so no additional cost to them, the amount of people who might try out a game like this when they also had the chance to play, I think, Civilization VI being on Game Pass before, this could be a very cool thing for Aura. (16:51) Now, Aura, in my mind, does remind me a lot of Rise of Nations a little bit, and just a splash of Empires, as where Civilization VII really reminds me of just Civilization. (17:03) Civilization (17:03) has made such a pillar for itself, where it's very much its own thing, that really you could (17:09) almost only for the longest time compare Civ to Civ, but now with Humankind, and with Old World, (17:15) and with Aura, History Untold, and many other 4X games coming around, and even games that are kind (17:20) of adjacent to this, like Victoria, and also Hearts of Iron, I feel like a lot of players (17:24) will kind of loop them all together, even though some are turn-based, and some are real-time, (17:28) there's still a lot of things to compare with each other, and I feel like this isn't as much (17:32) of a niche genre as it was, and so the amount of people who might try to take this one for a spin, (17:38) and or play it on its own, without even really thinking much about Civ, or just playing it (17:43) because it's free, or something like that, is huge.
(17:46) But then, for the people who really are (17:48) disappointed by Civilization VII, these are comments that I've gotten from all of you, (17:52) that you want to play Aura, not because you're really mad at Civ, but because you're not really (17:57) sure about Civ, and I'm the same way, where we don't know how the hell this chapter system is (18:02) going to work, and we don't want to be forced to do anything, we want options, and Aura certainly (18:06) seems to allow us to do that, with the typical ability to capture, or be friends with the other (18:12) enemy, or possibly friendly tribes, or cultures, and aside from the combat, I have nothing really (18:20) to say about Aura, negatively, other than that, you know, it just seems like something that will (18:25) be confusing, and I think some people will want to have changed, and for the first time entry, (18:30) I think that they could possibly do something, where they could change this after launch, (18:34) and just say, hey, we've got a lot of good feedback here, we're willing to do that. (18:37) The (18:37) amount of passion from the developer that I was talking with, to not defeat, or be the (18:43) Civilization killer, or for Civilization to be humankind too, I almost said humanity, (18:48) yes, humankind too, if I said that, I meant humankind, people are talking about Civ being (18:54) humankind too, and I think I'm okay with that, with the option to be other cultures, based on (19:00) maybe a scenario, or the option to do it during a game, but any sort of force thing, where hey, (19:06) you know, I know you really like the Egyptians, but now you got to be the Chinese, it's like (19:10) a little force, and hopefully that's not the case, but yeah, all things Aura seem to be very strong, (19:16) in terms of it's pricing, it's time, and with a lot of the hype of Gamescom still being a thing (19:21) in about a month, and people talking about Civ 7, Aura's really sitting in a good position.
(19:26) Now, (19:26) remember, in just a few days before Ara comes out, Memorialopolis will come out, (19:31) and that's another game that we'll play here on the channel, and I don't want to share too (19:35) much about it, because really, it's like right here, I haven't played it, which would be unfair (19:39) to Aura, and which would be unfair to Civilization 7, because I've played both of those games, (19:44) and I've played Civilization 6 before as well, so, you know, up until this point, (19:49) I've played a bit more Civilization, and other Civilization games before Aura, so really, (19:55) I've had my hands on all those, but not Memorialopolis, so we'll talk about that a little (19:59) bit later.
(20:00) Let's talk about Civilization 7 now. (20:02) So, I think there's going to be a tremendous amount of feedback from these videos, that the developers are going to be really paying attention to. (20:10) They know who were at their studios.
(20:12) They're watching you. (20:13) No. (20:14) All these (20:15) other creators that I was there with, a great group of people, by the way, very kind folks, (20:18) a lot of people that you watch, very nice, and very passionate about Civilization, (20:22) because it's been around for a million years, asking the developers questions that you would (20:27) probably ask, because we're all gamers, and we're going to wonder the same things, (20:30) and then when we get back to release these videos previously, many of you brought up some great (20:35) questions that we did that we still don't have answers to, and other things that we didn't (20:39) think about that the developers are clearly reading in the comments section, and they'll (20:42) be doing the same for Aura, History Untold, especially with that military aspect, and some (20:46) of the other cool things with like wild animals being on the screen that you have to defeat, (20:50) it's like enemy armies or whatever that you can get bonuses from. (20:54) Again, another great kudos to Aura, but with Civ, trying to do something like where they're basing all of their decisions on actual history, being like, well, not all cultures were around forever, and some of them were conquered by others, is a little interesting. (21:10) It really makes you wonder at what point your nation will be more challenging to play.
(21:14) Obviously, they're going to have to go through all three acts for the Japanese, for example, because Japan could be around during the ancient times, or times of antiquity, because of course they're around now, but maybe you could get a bad draw. (21:27) Playing a weak nation at a weak time could really frustrate players who really care, and want to go into, you know, multiplayer, and don't want to be at a disadvantage because of a dice roll or something like that. (21:38) We need to know a lot more about this game.
(21:40) All the time (21:40) that we had with this big decision like this isn't enough, and that, I think, is why there's so much (21:44) concern about Civilization VII, with a lot of people not wanting to be forced to change nations, (21:51) wanting to see a little bit more difference from VI, and being a little bit more quote-unquote (21:55) realistic like V, with a lot of people also saying that they're more interested in VII (22:00) because they know it.
(22:01) This game has been around all one through all the way VII now, well VI that people played, but VII, and most people, I think, are going for that because of brand familiarity. (22:10) Now going back to a poll that I hosted just a few days ago on my YouTube channel, many of you had voted, and many people, a massive majority, said that they're going for Civilization VII. (22:21) Even though Aura is coming out in less than a month, and even though Memoriopolis is out in a few days, it looks like all the hype and excitement is around Civilization VII.
(22:30) Again, going back to what I said about the navigable rivers, and differences to how some of the systems will work for leaders, and for Aura having something along the lines of Paragons, which can be kind of random as well. (22:45) Like, for example, Otto von Bismarck can pick a Chinese leader who was very good at making paper, and thus has an advantage with books, and then an advantage for making great works, or triumphs, or whatnot for that. (22:57) Civilization kind of has the same thing with picking different nations.
(23:00) Again, both games are trying to do something where they're trying to mix civilizations through time, as if explorers or people traded knowledge, except instead of just trading the knowledge, you're trading a scholar, or something like that. (23:12) And those types of things happen, where they'd share knowledge, or great builders, or people would go to other countries to build things, or to build weapons, or to bring their expertise. (23:21) So that's cool for Aura, but I wonder how that's going to work for Civilization.
(23:25) It's so fascinating. (23:26) Both games are yet so different, and yet so similar, but in such a different way. (23:32) It's like saying this game has chocolate and peanut butter, and this other game is peanut butter and chocolate.
(23:37) I don't know. (23:39) It's amazing. (23:40) So I still want to have these talks and discussions with you all, because I really want to figure out what everybody is still thinking as we get closer to Aura's release and after, and then what everyone will feel right before Civilization comes out.
(23:52) Will Civilization have some delays because of community feedback about the nations kind of being a little bit more pushed towards certain ways, and that they're trying to do things quote-unquote historically, which works for some nations, but not all? (24:05) I don't know. (24:06) Anyway, I want to read all of your comments on this, and we'll continue to take polls on games like Aura, History Untold, and also Civilization VII, and we'll do so probably after the release of Aura and Memorialopolis, and then right before the release of Civilization VII, as that still is going to be a heavy hitter at a high price.
(24:23) But regardless, I don't know. (24:25) Some people are (24:25) probably completely unfazed by any of this, and they just want to play another Civ game, (24:29) no matter how different it is, and some people may never play a Civ game again and want to try (24:33) out something new, which is totally fine, because again, games like Humankind, Old World, and many (24:38) others have been around that really have been interesting and very well done, and I want to see (24:43) more of it. (24:44) All right, everyone. (24:45) Well, leave your comments down below.
(24:46) Let me know what you're feeling, what you're thinking, what you like about Aura, what you dislike, or the same about Civilization VII, or do you want neither of these games and you want to just play Memorialopolis, or maybe that Inzoi character creator that everybody's playing, like that Sims game that, who knows, maybe it'll knock off the Sims. (25:02) I don't know. (25:03) We'll see.
(25:03) Anyway, thank you very much for watching. (25:05) Let me know what you think. (25:06) I want to read them, really, so please do comment down below.
(25:09) If we get any extra keys for Aura, History Untold, or Civilization VII around their developers, I would love to play with all of you. (25:17) So, as a giveaway for the future, if it happens, please do comment down below, and we'll try to figure out a way to do giveaways. (25:24) This is months away, but I would love to do it so many of you get to play and or remember.
(25:29) Aura will be on Game Pass and Civilization. (25:32) I'm not sure. (25:33) We'll see.
(25:33) But anyway, thanks again for watching, and I'll see you all next time. (25:38) Bye.
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