956 Imagine.

I unwisely responded to a facebook request for Simcity Social. It’s really the worst kind of internet fremium game. It’s similar, however, to the SNES version of Simcity, in its simplicity at least. I was never much for The tax junk and what have you, but I liked doing the money cheat and just building my city however I liked. In my opinion, Sims games are better broken. Without some kind of cheat going the gameplay is a little too slow and stale, which sometimes strikes me as stalling the player to increase play time. That point is debatable for sure. In any event this exposure to Simcity again has caused me to want to play a real one that I don’t have to keep paying for over and over. Twitter and Facebook have been all but useless for deciding what version to track down. So I turn to you, dear readers, for advice. Some of you must play Simcity. What version is best, and why? Will they work on Windows 7? Educate me if you please.

Did I tell you guys I got Pokemon Conquest? I don’t think I did. Anyway, it’s super good. It’s very much like the Pokemon game I always hoped they would make. Each warrior can have a certain number of Pokemon, but you only take one into battle. 6 warriors can take part in a battle on either side. There’s a ton of warriors you can recruit and each one has a certain Pokemon who is their best match. So you not only have to catch them all, but catch all the trainers too. There’s a limited number of spaces though, so you have to take control of land to have more space for trainers. There’s also the matter of catching Pokemon and evolving them. There’s a lot to keep track of. You can delegate tasks to your subordinates once you finish micro managing, so you don’t spend all your time doing fiddly stuff, like fighting pokemon you already have.
The actual battles require other levels of planning because the various moves different pokemon have vary in range and area of effect. So if you are in a tight space long range moves can’t be used. It’s important to have a balanced team if you are going to a new place. That way you don’t end up with a group of guys who can’t attack anything.
One of the funniest things is that several warriors start out with Magikarp, and it’s just as useless as ever. So far they’ve only known Splash. Splash doesn’t even have an area of effect. It does nothing. Just like it always does. Some Magikarp have a decent support ability that increases energy for all surrounding Pokemon, but not all of them. So you kind of need to rearm those guys. Anyway, it made me laugh as a fan of the series from the start. Magikarp still sucks. XD I can only assume that Gyrados eventually makes up for that.

14 Comments

God I wish so dearly to hear what Happened to Nina. I’m guessing a car accident. But I can’t wait to hear the details, and also see her in a cheer leading uniform.

I also think before this comic is over, Reggie will gain at least some perspective and hopefully will reclaim his true name tag.

Sim City 4 had the most intuitive construction and planning system of the bunch, but the monthly upkeep cost was always just about the same as the monthly income, so the only way you could actually come out far enough ahead was to build a citywide slum with no real amenities. Plus trying to lay down bridges and other water-crossings will have you screaming in apelike fury until you hurl your PC out the window since it sometimes refuses to work for no good reason. Temperamental about location and elevation.

Give Sim City 2000 a try. It’s available online for free download and as I recall was pretty good. Sim City 3000 is a more detailed version, so if you like 2000 you can spring for the paid sequel.

I’ve really only played the original, for the same reason you like SNES: it’s simple.

I still have it, along with 2000, which I couldn’t get into because it was overcomplicated. I understood HOW to play it, but it was frustrating because you had to do more to accomplish certain tasks than the original. Overcomplicated.

Simcity 3000 was the best and the last true Simcity, anything earlier is good as well But 4 was far too reliant upon mini-games and a crossover with The Sims 2.

Crave buddy, I’ve been reading your comic here for over a year, and let me tell you, I love your comic, but the little blog blurbs are what keep me coming back! I don’t have much to offer in the form of the SIMS stuff (tho i too just accepted the SimCitySocial and can’t stop…) BUT as far as Conquest goes. OMG, I love it!
My favorite game in history was Final Fantasy Tactics for the PS1, I still have my Original Release with book and everything, so a Pokemon game with the same style play, Homerun in my book.
As far as Magikarp, yes, if you ever get him to evolve that Gyarados is AMAZING! But just so you know, the first 12+ hours of gameplay is pretty much just a tutorial! After you beat the final battle (well worth the wait) you unlock Story Mode, which, from what I hear is another 200+ hours of play. Yes, TWO HUNDRED!

As far as good SimCity games go, anything but Simcity Societies is good. I know that Simcity 4 works on Win7 ant they also have it available on Steam (if you use steam). I the older ones should work on Win7 if you are so inclined and can find them.

I’d definitely say that SimCity 2000 is the best of the bunch. It’s got a robust city-building experience without too much excessive clutter of the later games. It also comes with the “Urban Renewal Kit”, my favorite feature of the entire series, that just let you go in and build whatever you wanted for free, edit the sprites of individual buildings, and just do whatever you liked.

I also really enjoyed it’s compatability with two of the other games from the same era, Streets of Sim City and Sim Copter. Flying around the city you built in a chopper or driving around in a car blowing stuff up was just so much fun as a kid.

Ha, very true. I don’t think I’ve played a Sim game without either cheating or using the Urban Renewal Kit from SimCity 2000. I never really figured out what the Renewal Kit was supposed to be for…by the sounds of it, the thing is supposed to fix up your town a bit without the hassle of cost. However, it had EVERYTHING. You could build the land however you wanted and you had access to each and every building, street, and whatever else was in the game. My friends and I usually used to back then to build maps for our ridiculous stories ‘n such. I loved that thing.

I loved Sim City 2000, mainly because of a wonderful premade city they had. It was the king of cheats and is just the thing you’re looking for because you never had to worry about money (the interest rate on loans in that specific game was -1500% so you made money each month by having loans) and was the ultimate in do whatever you want. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to find that save game anymore, and the copy I used to play belonged to my first college roommate.

The SNES version was the best because you could choose to manage one of the disaster prone pre-made cities. Bowser destroyed my Tokyo many times. I’m still not quite sure what the proper response to a giant monster looking through a Japanese city for an Italian plumber or his Fantasy-Land girlfriend is supposed to be, but I got fairly good at directing traffic away from him…

Can’t imagine the store without him? I dream of it often but.. I guess it always helps to have a common enemy. There are few greater bonds than those forged in the hatred of one.

Leave a Reply to cixelsyD Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.