Civ 6, Civ 5, Civ 4. FIGHT!

[LCarlson]

I admit that I am just too lazy to uninstall Civ 6 now, but I sure do get the hankering to go back to 5 or even 4 sometimes.

I have vague feelings about what I prefer in each one, but I am sure some folks have more definitive comments to help me suss out why each one plays so differently. Also, why Diplomacy is still such a waste of time. ;P

Weigh in, which Civ grabs you, and why? Bonus points for fave civilization.

I still prefer Civ 6 just because of the volume of content.
My country of choice is England; I am in love with ships and have to force myself to vary my gameplay by choosing a giant landmass from time to time, hehe.

 

[jpishgar]

I'm torn between Call to Power 2 and Alpha Centauri!

Alpha Centauri had the most awesome narrative, with ideological aspects of each civilization thrown in to every little bit and part of the interaction. You knew Sister Miriam Godwinson meant to burn you with holy fire, and that Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang would let every one of his cities go nerve stapled it if meant beating you. The lore was heavy in that game, and I feel it holds up to this day.

Call to Power 2 has a special place for me, as it had those big honkin' leviathans at the endgame, and you could also just plop down improvements when you had enough points to spend.

Civ 5 and 6 pushed me away from the series a little - though I'm wondering if it was specifically because of the narration. What'd you think of the narrators?

 

[Maniac]

Two Words: Total War *drops mic*

Being serious I really did not like Civ 6, i picked it up on release and barely put more then a few hours into it, it felt kinda 'wrong' and feature incomplete compared to a complete collection of Civ5 with all the DLC.

 

[jpishgar]

Total War?! Pfft! If you toss in Total War, then you're dipping into tactical, and if you're dipping tactical strategy in here, you've gotta go XCom and even Mount & Blade. Total War is nifty if you don't mind the periodic interruptions of a more shallow map overview gameplay to micro unit formations and struggle with placement.

That said, I'm really, really looking forward to Humankind by Amplitude Studios. Their recent dips on Endless Legend 2 were pretty fantastic, and held up far better on replayability and immersion than Civ 6 did. If they can channel the best parts of Civ 5, the superb UI and narrative of the Endless series, and maybe throw in a little bit of Empire Earth 2 in there for good measure, I think we'd have a glorious time sink for the ages on our hands.

 

[Irongnomee]

Civ 4 will always be my all time favorite I probably put in over 1000 hours as it was pretty much the only game I played for a few years. I prefer Civ 6 to Civ 5 but neither of them captured me the way 4 did. I think most of my love for 4 comes from timing it was out at a time when I could spend my weekends doing nothing but playing 'one more turn' now I have a family to pay attention to and my weekends are my busiest time of the week.

 

[Varandil]

Trying to look at the question as objectively as I can, I think it's hard to argue against Civ 5 as being the best overall. There's many reasons why the biggest and best civ multiplayer community (No Quitters) sticks to that game. Personally, I think 5 and 6 are better than 4, probably giving the edge to 5 but I find it impossible to go back to now.

 

[jpishgar]

I will say that Civilization 6 had a better theme. Here's a trending redo. Sogno di Volare is no Baba Yetu, but it's pretty darned good.

 

[MindlessMe]

I enjoyed all three personally. I do have to say that I like the way city management was changed in VI. It adds a little more strategy to what you do with each city. When it comes to Civ, I have to go with Japan.

 

[mazz0]

I only play 6 now, and I don’t miss 5 at all, but I miss 4 a *lot*. There was something about the terrain in Civ 4 - finding a new really good bit of land was really exciting, which in turn made exploring exciting. In Civ 6 it seems like every bit of land is pretty good, so it doesn’t matter what you find, so exploring really loses its thrill. I also think the blackness of unexplored land in 4 added to that sense of excitement exploring.

 

[Gamegeneral]

I got into Civ at 4, and dumped a couple hundred hours in, but I think I put the most time into 5. I really liked the religious battles of 6 though, but I sucked rocks at dealing with it.

 

[Nighthood]

I was big into Civ V but I'm finally getting into Civ VI after realising that the game is genuinely fun if you switch the barbarians off. I dropped the game for two years because of those barbarians.

Also the red death mode is surprisingly fun for a battle royale gimmick. I usually avoid combat in Civ games but a pure combat mode is actually great.

 

[denixius]

Hello!

I will choose Civilization 3.

Cheers,

 

[Volley]

Civ V's got my vote. Just all around fantastic. I guess I've owned the game for a decade now and the replayability has been great. Great soundtrack as well.

 

[Hveðrungr]

Civ V.

I can't even look at a Civ VI screen without getting a headache from how cartoonish it is.

 

[Frindis]

Civ V here, but that is only because it is the only one of those you mentioned that I have played. It is pretty decent from what I have experienced so far.

 

[I Will Haunt You]

Civ IV, but only because I love the song Baba Yetu. I've never played a Civ game but Baba Yetu is a great song and is a part of video game history as the first song made for a video game to win a Grammy.

 

[Zloth]

I liked 4 and 5 a lot. I tried 6 (with no DLC) but I just wasn't getting into it. I should give it another shot someday... maybe...

 

[zSCHIZOz]

I have played 4 and 5, never 6.

Once all the DLC was finished, Civ5 became my favorite over 4. Never played 6 so can't say for sure that one is better than the other but I didn't see much reason to upgrade to 6 as 5 is near perfect.

 

[Pifanjr]

I have only played 6 a tiny amount before I got sick of the UI design. I want to be able to easily tell what I'm looking at.

I've mostly been playing Civ V because it's the version that my wife started with and really enjoys, but I very much dislike how you're pretty much forced to stick to 4 cities. I'm also not a big fan of the combat system, especially against the AI who just makes too many mistakes.

 

[Gvaedyn]

Endless Legend.

I'm being serious. The only 4X game I can truly enjoy. The factions, units etc are far more diverse and interesting, with unique mechanics. Civilisations basically just have a boost to one thing or another.

That said, I quite enjoy Civ 6 from what little I've played of it. Again, I find them hard to get into, but that's down to personal taste as opposed to the game itself.

 

[Alm]

I think I get most fun out of IV. Haven't played it in a while, but I prefer the 2D graphics and it was the format I grew up with.

 

[Jeff Kaos]

Civ 5 all day long. I've contemplated getting Civ 6 but there's just enough negative reviews touching areas I find important to keep me from pulling the trigger. And I keep Civ 4 on my system, and play it every so often, simply because it's narrated by Leonard Nimoy. But at the end of the day I'll stick with Civ 5. Maybe when I can get Civ 6 GOTY for $10 or $15 I'll buy it but until then I'm "Team Civ 5".