Your favorite CB series game

[Scott7]

I'm suprised no such thread exists yet... I see in other threads, people say that they didn't like Emperor as much as the others, or that they like the newer style better, etc. So I became sort of curious as to which is the most popular game. The one observation I have made is that no one seems to dislike Pharaoh.

As for me, my favorite is either Pharaoh or Zeus. They're too hard to compare for me to choose between them, they're like apples and oranges. Each appeals toward a completely different side of my personality. One thing that really boosts my opinion toward Zeus is the adventure editor. Unlike Pharaoh's scenario editor, Zeus's editor is just as much about writing a story as it is designing. I like that.

I like Caesar III a little bit less than those two. It's simply too old and hard to control compared to the others. Before I owned the other ones, however, I absolutely loved it.

My least favorite is Emperor, mainly because of the setting. I personally have zero interest in that civilization, and that can be quite important when it comes to City Builder games. Anyway, Emperor may be my least favorite CB, but I like it 10 times better than any non-CB games.

[Ineti]

The only city-builders I've played are Caesar III and Pharaoh/Cleopatra. I haven't seen anything released since then that interested me enough to pull away from P/C. :)

CotN looks like it'll be the one PC game I pick up this year.

[NeilV]

I still play Pharaoh/Cleopatra but my partner prefers Emperor as she says it was a slightley easer game to play Setting is not a big factore in the games we play but how the games play :cool:

[Azeem]

I liked Emperor because it was a very new setting. I tire of seeing the same old Mediterranean civilizations shown over and over again. Rome gets far too much spotlight. Egypt is always interesting, though. :)

[Cironir]

Pharaoh for me. It's the city builder that has attracted (and addicted) me more than any other. In fact, I still play it! :)

[Pecunia]

Tough choice, but Zeus and Poseidon for me: Greek mythology has always had my interest, and the way in which the mythology was integrated in the game is, in my opinion, wonderful.

Close second are both Caesar3 and Pharaoh: I can't decide which of those two I like most. Caesar 3 was the game which got me addicted to citybuilders, I played it through twice, and have (or rather, had, since I haven't played it for a year) a firm grip on the game and those pesky market ladies. I haven't played Pharaoh as much (but recently picked it up again), and if I manage to get through the whole campaign, it might become my favorite.

Emperor is placed last because the Chinese setting doesn't appeal me as much as the other three.

[NSymon]

Pharaoh all the way for me, I absoutely love that game and stil play. Just the thrill of watching your Egyptian city and building a pyramid or other monument is fantastic and brilliant. There were certain asepcts within Emperor that I liked, like building a wall around an area of housing so that you could contain everything within that area and not have people wandering off all over the place.

[Son of Moose]

For what it is worth, my personal favourite is Pharaoh. One of the joys of playing this particular CB game is the impressive array of truly mighty monuments that one can build. There can be little as satisfying as seeing ones large pyramid finally being "capped". It certainly takes an inordinately long time to achieve this ... but then is not patience a virtue? ;)

[I see that a near simultaneous post more or less matches mine word for word ... :D ]

[Scott7]

Hmm, moved. I thought this was TM related.

Anyway, I think it looks like TM made a good choice with Egypt for CotN. I think they should follow the same pattern; Egypt, Rome, and mythological Greece.

[dsmith]

I liked Emperor because it was a very new setting. I tire of seeing the same old Mediterranean civilizations shown over and over again. Rome gets far too much spotlight. Egypt is always interesting, though. :)

I agree with you Azeem. I really liked alot of the improvements in Emperor as well.

I really enjoyed all of the city builders quite a bit actually. The walkers in Caesar I struggled with and at times the monuments in Pharaoh can seem overwhelming...

[EmperorJay]

C3 is my favourite just because. It has the perfect atmosphere for me and the things Pharaoh improved upon were not too important to me.

[Hanarky]

I love Pharaoh and hate Cleopatra. I like Zeus and love Poseidon. So there is a tie and I voted for both games. Each one has its own charme to me. As said already, Emperor is just to foreign to me from theme to fully enjoy it and Caesar, hm, I do not like Romans, lol. Therefore I have it only played twice, whereas the other two more than I can count :)

Hanarky

[GillB]

Has to be Emperor for me. It's a bit easier than C3/Pharaoh, but played on very hard still offers a challenge. The graphics and colours are gorgeous ... we had a long beta so I'm only just coming back to it to play it properly and am enjoying it a lot. I enjoyed the MP too, except for the length of time it took. It was very hard to find a long enough uninterrupted gap to play.

Second would be jointly C3 and Poseidon.

[Eddy]

Caesar III - enjoyed for the most part except the walkers who would calculate distances to warehouses and granaries based on a straight as the crow flies distance instead of ground distance. Hated mandatory intersections at granaries. Liked the setting.

Cleopatra - Loved it! The setting was great, the gameplay was good, walkers were fixed (in my eyes), and the music was outstanding. Graphics are pretty good as well, although not perfect. I liked the addition of roadblocks. The encyclopedia was obviously well researched and explained as much of Egypt as you liked. The small touches of humor added flair without being over the top. One irritation was having to essentially "lock" housing at a certain level because the nobles don't work. Either you had to place statues or deny the people jewelry. Loved the addition of monuments. Would have liked more beautification though and definitely didn't like how you had to "fake" the game into allowing plaza upgrades. I soon learned to build all the roads first, plant a single garden plot every three squares and at corners, and then wait a month, and then upgrade the roads to plazas. Why not just let me build the plazas from the getgo and charge more.

Zeus (demo only) - Too cartoonish for my taste. Didn't like gods and monsters walking through the street. If I were a teacher, I'd use this for middle school kids though because it would be entertaining while teaching. I did like the idea of competing in games and the various commerative monuments. To me, that gives me an incentive to reach goals rather than just "have 500 people to win". I liked the addition of more beautification structures. I harp about it, but I like to have variety in my cities instead of the same garden over and over and I especially like creating a work of art that I'd be proud to call my home. The addition of avenues and boulevards was great! Fell in love with the idea that a road connects labour. No more slummy single homes just to keep a factory district alive. It wasn't realistic though to have a factory all the way across the map from housing though. Loved the added diplomacy with requests and tribute.

Emperor (demo only) - I was skeptical at first, but am getting into it. The one big disadvantage is the setting. It is too foreign and remote for me. I just don't have enough knowledge of the land or its people. Liked the addition of decorative walls. Didn't like the gods wandering through the city. Hated the feng shui which seemed to have no rhyme nor reason. Loved the idea that you could bribe an enemy into not attacking. Attractive game.

CotN - conjecture only - This could be supreme. Advantage of having the setting. The idea that people now have needs that they meet themselves is exciting. I hated the unrealistic view that the shopkeeper comes to me. Strange. When I get hungry, I go to a vendor, not the other way around. Finally fixed. The idea that gods no longer walk the streets is a relief. I'm hesitant about some things though. Before it was "make the people like you", now it is "try not to start riots". I kind of preferred being the benevolent ruler. Also worried about the lack of money and using food instead. Does that mean if the crop is bad and the people eat the stored food in a granary that your kingdom goes broke? My biggest fear though is the switch to 3-D. I'm simply not used to it so I hope I can jump the hurdle. My concern is that I will be fighting with the controls instead of working with them.

[shellybell29]

ooh tough choices for me.

Ceaser III it was okay. its nice to play now and then but never got hooked into it. its a little hard due to the fact of no road blocks. *shudders8 Everyone was all over the place.

Pharoh/Cleo- I love this game. I truly enjoy this time period. Its a fun game to play. Although i get discourged due to you have to have someone to find someone to do the job. and the walkers tend to stray unless you dont have a roadblock. Even then some walkers dont go past the roadblock when you need them to. Also, some of the monuments take soooooooooooooooo longggggg and you have every other goal to move on but your stilllllll waaaaaaaaaittttttinggggggggg..it tends to drive you batty. I love the gods and what happens if you do not worship them properly.

Zeus/Posideon would have to be my all time favorite because its has mythology in it. I love the interaction between gods and mortals alike. Except when your getting cursed by the gods of coarse :D I love that you play a part in helping the hero complete their quests. I love the building aspect of the game. I dont mind the cartoonish aspect either. I just enjoy the game greatly. and its a little easier than Pharoh and Cleo. With the roadblocks the agora people will go through the blocks to get the goods they need. that was a welcome site. and the temples were fun to build and completing quests, and the gods. I just have fun with this game.

Emperor-another one of my favorites. I'm intrested in chinese history. and I'm partly Asian myself i like the game. Instead of roadblocks ou can have gates which makes it a lot easier to get goods and keep the unwanted out. I enjoy the new features and the beautiful decorations. I do enjoy the monuments and new food products. I do enjoy animal attacking the humans except for the salmanders. They got on my nerves. I also like the god interaction. especially when they bless a building or capture an animal. Its truly a fun game for me.

With these games i'm easy to please :D

shell

[Nidien]

Cleo/pharaoh: very good games, still playing them!!
Zeus/poseidon: love them both, i love the gods and yes still playing them!! :D

[Josh]

CIII all the way, I admit its part nostagia, but I really love the culture of rome, I just think the marble makes a more beautifull city.

Yes its older and didnt have all the nice new features, but thats not the game's fault, it was just an earlier game, still my favourite.

[Bugsy]

As for me, my favorite is either Pharaoh or Zeus. They're too hard to compare for me to choose between them, they're like apples and oranges. Each appeals toward a completely different side of my personality. One thing that really boosts my opinion toward Zeus is the adventure editor. Unlike Pharaoh's scenario editor, Zeus's editor is just as much about writing a story as it is designing. I like that.

I could have written most of your post lol! I have a hard time choosing between them, but if I had to, I would say I like the nicer scenery in Zeus. More variety. Although, Cleopatra knocked my socks off watching them PAINT the heirglyphs inside the tomb. The Downside--placing the dang things!! I had so much trouble placing them, and was extremely happy to learn I could trap those scorpions with some well placed statues. No tower and wall needed to control them. Nothing annoys me more than hungry hippos snacking on my people either lol Although the dancing hippos cheat was hysterical. I love little eggs like that in a game.

What has impressed (haha) me through all of their games I have, is the attention to detail, and adding bits of humor here and there. Little things you have to sort of watch for. That's what makes this team truly special to me. They've kept my interest, in ALL the games. I still have all three installed, Caesar 3, Zeus/Poseidon, and Pharaoh/Cleopatra. But they all appeal to a different side of me.

I look forward to this concept of this game. People we can't completely control...we have coax into doing what we want them to, instead of just throwing a new marketplace at them, it will be more individual. I so cannot wait to play it, and dearly wish I'd been in the beta cause I'm so dang curious how it will all play out! :D

[Itsatrap]

Tough call here. For me, Emperor barely edges out Pharaoh, combining the control improvements of Zeus with Pharaoh's complexity. C3 was great, but the finicky walker control meant that cities were rarely stable. (Syracusae, anyone?) While I do like Zeus, the simplified resource system means it just doesn't have the late-game dynamics to hold my attention. However, the story element (resulting in phased city development) was a nice touch.

[Mosses]

The first question I have is why did you not put on your vote list Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom. You also did not mention Settlers or Stronghold. Both games I like better than then ones in the vote list. Caesar III was a lot harder to learn.

[Scott7]

Emperor is there. The other games were not included because they are not City Builder Series games. The CB series consists of:

Casear (1, 2, and 3)
Pharaoh (with Cleopatra expansion)
Zeus: Master of Olympus (with Poseidon expansion)
Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom

[donduk]

Ok, I picked Pharaoh/Cleo as my favorite. I'll list my ranking of the series and explain why. (Warning long post alert)

1. Pharaoh/Cleo. The first CB in the series I played. I got it off a demo disk, and not really knowing what to expect I loaded it up and played it. At first, I totally hated the game, mainly because I could not finish the last mission of the demo. After trying over and over, I still never finished the stupid mission, but I grew to like the game, and decided to buy it (as a side note, if I hate a game demo, I end up buying the game eventually :rolleyes: )

Pros: Of course I'm baised because its the first I played, but I think it is the most solid. Its difficult, but rewarding. I'm also an Egypt nut, so the atmosphere of the game is perfect. I also find the graphics to be quite nice, even for an older game. Overall, its just an excellent game.

Cons: Steep learning curve. Not exactly the easiest game for an average player to pick up and play (I think I would have been hopeless with the help of Pharaoh Heaven). Also, some of the aspects of the game are time consuming, such as monument building.

2. Zeus/Poseidon. I got Zeus after Pharaoh, and at first I really didn't care for it that much. I came back to it later and as I played through I found the adventure aspect of the game enjoyable (I hate having to look at a blank map every time I start a new map on Pharaoh). I also really liked the gods/monster/hero part of the game, I thought it kept things fresh and the player had to be alert.

Pros: Adventure aspect is great, the hero/monster/gods is entertaining. The game is also very light-hearted (some of narrations are hilarious).

Cons: As a citybuilding game, its just not hard. Building the city is really not the challenge, dealing with all the drama going on in the story is the hard part. Keeping a Pharaoh/Caesar city supplied is tough, in Zeus it is rather simplified and too easy (its the only one I play at Hardest difficulty, the rest I play at Hard).

I really had to debate this one, but here goes...

3. Emperor. I really wanted to rank this one as the worst, but I don't think I can (I'll explain further down.) As much as I wanted to like this CB, I can't. Main problem with it is the fact that its just...not...fun. I might take some flak for saying that, but I really feel that way. As a CB, it suffers the same problem as Zeus: not hard. However, Zeus had its adventure aspect to counter that, Emperor doesn't. Now, I don't have a problem with the culture like many people mention, I think it had alot of potential. It just wasn't really taken anywhere; the goals are redundant, the pace is too slow, the heroes are annoying, the feng-shui is silly, and its too simplified. I was dissapointed overall. I'll finish the last campaign eventually, un-entusiastic as I may be, just to say I finished it.

Pros: Excellent graphics/music, easy to understand, alot of potential in the culture.

Cons: See above. In summary, just not enjoyable.

4. Caesar III (demo) Ok, I know I kinda trashed Emperor, so you might expect me to destroy Caesar III. Actually, I can't say its that bad from what I played. The main flaw is that I came into it waaay too late (a month ago). I'm really too spoiled by all the features of the new games to really enjoy this one. I appreciate it for what it is, and I know alot of people like it. Its just a bit too clunky and unpolished for me.

Pros/Cons I only played the demo, so I can't give a fair rating in this.

Well that was long, but thats how I feel about each one. Overall, the series has been one of the best I've ever played, and I eagerly await whats to come.

[tobing]

My all-time favourite is Pharao/Cleopatra. For the reasons I'll not go into details here, as I have explained that in other threads already, some time ago.

In general, the liking or unliking of these games is very much a matter of taste and personality. All of the games are really good in what they are, but their main goals are a little different as are their possibilities of control, so that makes 4 unique games in this series, and for each single one there is a good reason to like it or to not like it.

[imhotep3147]

Pharaoh/Cleo is the one that started it all for me so I have to give it it's proper due. But I love the other ones all as close seconds along with Tropico's 1&2 among a few others. :D
Great idea for a poll BTW, I'm glad someone did it.

[krclark]

Man, this is a tough call for me. I love all of them, just for different reasons.

Emperor has some really nice graphics, and much improved (my opinion) handling of farms. Plus I love the culture.

Zues/Poseidon deals with my favorite mythology, in a very irreverant manner. It was nice to see a game that was challenging, but did not take itself too seriously.

Pharaoh/Cleopatra was a huge change from Caesar III, including so many improvements that I could not possibly list them all here.

But Caesar III is still my favorite. It is one of the hardest to master, and it is the one that got me hooked on this type of game. If I had not loved this one so much, I probably never would have looked at another CB game.

[Josh]

I would like to take the time to admit something.

I never bought Zeus.

After trying the demo having the gods walk around like that turned me off so much I just couldnt buy the game.

[Eddy]

Don't feel badly about it Josh, I was turned off by the comic book nature of it.

[EmperorJay]

I admit.. I was turned off by the cartoonish look too but I also admit that I've really enjoyed myself this week with Zeus :) , I've come to like it. I still like it least but a lot more than before.

[shellybell29]

You should give it a try. I love the game myself. I'm a huge mythology fan. Even though its a bit cartoonish its still a great game.

Its like Zelda and the Windwaker. There was no way in heck i was gonna play that game. I mean is i turned it off in my mind because it was way to cartoonish in my book. I was so used to Zelda Orcania of Time and Majora's Mask. The look of those two were so awesome and to see this cartoonish style for windwaker. I said nope..nuh uh. not gonna play that game.

I got Game Cube with the Zelda pack. I played the demo of Windwaker and I admit it was awesome.

Give Zeus a chance and you'll find out that you'll be surprised to.

Shell

[NeilV]

I have it but never played it beyond the tutorial/first mission :o so i never picked up the exp for it

[Tarquinius Superbus]

Caesar: hooked from the original.
---
Parcere Subiectus et Debellare Superbos

[Traxia]

How can you vote Pharaoh over Zeus and Emperor. No more labour walkers.... hellooo....

[Keith]

How can you vote Pharaoh over Zeus and Emperor. No more labour walkers.... hellooo....
In many cases, that's exactly the reason they prefer Zeus and Emperor less. Caesar and Pharaoh/Cleopatra were more difficult games to master.

[Traxia]

Yeah but labour walkers weren't exactly sensible. Everyone got entered into the labour pool, all you needed was a house or 3 on the road and bob's your uncle.

What I didn't like was that if you had a high unemployment and you built a load of industry to solve this, the jobs wouldn't register until a dude walked past a house, and the house wouldn't get filled because of high unemployment...

[Keith]

For those that understood how the walkers worked it was no problem at all. Knowing where a walker was generated from his "home building" was 90% of the battle. After that it was a piece of cake.

All you had to do to to get industry up and running quickly was to build one lone tent somewhere along the path past all that industry. Once it was occupied the labor recruiters had a source of labor and the industry started to function.

Otherwise, you had to keep a closer eye on your unemployment level and deal withit before it became a problem in the city.

[EmperorJay]

I'm with Keith here, labour seekers were not an annoyance at all, those market ladies on the other hand... ;) .

[Traxia]

Oh yeah the bazaars being detrimental to the buildings next to it... and it took me years to figure out how to stop them buying luxury goods...

[Josh]

I realize how you could say walker workers were rediculous, especialy since industries of hundreds of labourers could be filled simply by having access to one shack with 5 people inside.

But it would have made sence if every labourer had to be within distance of where it worked... Something tells me this is more like what we are going to see in COTN, since every person counts, so now we actualy have to make sure the bricklayer lives near the workplace, etc.

[Nero Would]

I voted for Pharaoh/Cleo.

Caesar III was my first city-builder and it has a special place in my heart (in fact I would probably be getting ready to go back and play it again if CotN wasn't coming soon).

For me, Pharaoh lost none of the good points of Caesar III, and added some more, such as monuments, flood plain farming, gatherers (hunters, wood cutters, reed gatherers) and better controls (roadblocks, bazaar orders, etc.).

Zeus added more good points, such as the campaign structure, the enhanced interaction with other cities (requests, gifts, raiding, invading), more resource gatherers, more flexibility (e.g. choosing which sancuaries to build). But for me, it dropped too much of the complexity of Pharaoh, there were fewer types of house, fewer services required by houses, industry did not need to be anywhere near houses (I would have settled for a simple rule that said there must be an occupied house within X tiles for a building to be staffed).

I don't feel I have done Emperor justice yet. I enjoyed playing it at first. Then I spent a long time trying to work out how farming worked only to find out there was a bug in the harvesting routine. The patch that fixed the bug was a painfully long time being released, and that was discouraging. Still, the game was perfectly playable even without the patch, and I'm really not sure why I stopped playing. The strange thing is that I have read similar comments from several people who weren't able to stay interested in Emperor but can't say why. I think I owe it to Emperor to give it another try.

But Pharaoh is still number one for me .... Until November, I have high hopes for November.

[Azeem]

Caesar II was the one CB that got me into the series. I was annoyed with CIII (and almost didn't buy Pharaoh because of it) so it's my least favorite and one that simply sits on the shelf, collecting dust. However, I absolutely enjoyed Pharaoh, Zeus/Poseidon, and Emperor equally.

[Josh]

You mentioned all the good things about all the other games, but the addition I felt was best in emperor was the ability to attack, raid and demand tribute. It felt nice to finaly use my armies for something other than sitting around on defence.

[Traxia]

It took me ages to get into Emperor. I think the fung shui put me off...

But it's worth it once you do. Shame that no expansion was released really...

[Lannes]

Caesar II was the one CB that got me into the series. I was annoyed with CIII

Same here.

and almost didn't buy Pharaoh because of it

Same here, except for the "almost" part.

So, for me it's "none of the above".

Lannes

[tobing]

...fung shui put me off...
I thought that Feng Shui was a nice addition.

[Keith]

The thing about the feng shui in Emperor is that you do not have to pay that close attention to it. As long as the majority of the buildings you place on the map had green placement ghosts, your city was "auspicious." If you wanted "perfect harmony" you had to make sure all buildings were green. I never played for perfect harmony, and I had few problems with my cities that were abnormal in nature.

Forcing me to place everything harmoniously would have put me off. So I think they got the balance on feng shui usage just about right.

[tobing]

Keith: True. For some fans of Emperor the reach for perfect Feng Shui is an additional challenge, and being not easy to achieve it is always possible in the original missions. When BJ built his 'Rise of Kai Feng' he put special attention to this, so you can play this with perfect Feng Shui also. But as you said, it's just an additional challenge.

[Traxia]

Oh I didn't say it was bad and I really enjoyed Emperor. It's just that when I first installed it, it put me off.

[Kokopelli]

I briefly tried Pharaoh lastnight, but lately I have been playing a lot of Anno 1503. As I am more familiar with that title and its predecessor, I would have to place that as my favorite CB game. At least untill CoN is out. :cool:

[Cironir]

I played Anno 1503, and while it was a decent game, it wasn't as polished as the Impressions Games. Tough that's highly subjective. :) In essence, it was "more of the same", where as CotN actually promises to start a completely new era of city building. But that's why we are all here ... :)

[Son of Moose]

Cironir:

where as CotN actually promises to start a completely new era of city building. But that's why we are all here ...

I really hope that this will be true --- that CotN will indeed be both evolutionary as well as revolutionary. :D

[Cironir]

I really hope that this will be true --- that CotN will indeed be both evolutionary as well as revolutionary. :D

That sounds terribly biased, but I actually don't doubt it. I liked The Sims, but something seemed to be missing (and it's not just the cat ears of the girls!), and I always wished I could learn more of my citizens in Pharaoh et al. The marriage of the two genres seems very promising to me, almost like a dream come true. Like you, I haven't seen the end product yet, but juding by the information available so far, CotN seems to become a milestone game that we will remember in a decade. Few games achieve that. :)

[Son of Moose]

Cironir:

Yes --- the combination of Sim and CB is indeed interesting. I think that we have all seen and possibly even tried all the latest CB/RTS games (like Anno 1503, Medieval Lords, etc, etc).

While I quite liked the complexity of Anno 1503 (which seems to be lacking in Medieval Lords --- according to ? your earlier report), all these games appear to be somewhat derivative. The gameplay options might have minor variations and some might be more complex and more developed than their competitors but essentially once have seen one of them ... (Therefore I totally endorse your earlier comments).

Certainly (from what we have seen) CotN certainly seems to be totally different to these other games. Therefore we should indeed be excited ... :)

[Kokopelli]

Please do not get me wrong, while I enjoy Anno1503, I am anxiously looking forward to what CoN will bring to the table. I too anticipate this will be an excellent game offering some revolutionary gameplay and not simply repackaging the regurgitated b.s. in a shiney new box and engine and calling it "new."

[Son of Moose]

Kokopelli:

simply repackaging the regurgitated b.s. in a shiney new box and engine and calling it "new."

Precisely --- this is exactly what most of the devs seem to be doing at present!! :(

[Dckw]

Emperor, I guess I like it because I am a Chinese.

[Felix VonHauson]

Pharaoh and Cleopatra by far. After Zeus, it just got too easy without the walkers :) I really like the presentation of Emperor though, but the simple difficulty of Pharaoh makes it near and dear to me.

[Anguille]

I voted for Emperor...the music is great, the pace of the game is fine, Farms are fantastic...i just love it :o

My second favorite is probably Caesar 2....yes, just because of the province management and the military aspect. For these aspects, Caesar 2 remains the best of all the CB games. It's also the only CB i finished yet.

Caesar 3 was great but after 6-7 cities i got stuck in one campaign and stopped playing. I was just fed up and other games attracted my attention.

For some years i stopped completly and didn't buy neither Pharao (i had no motivation to play Caesar 3 anymore so why a new one) nor Zeus (too cartoonish).

I started again with Emperor and then i bougth Pharao Gold and Zeus/Poseidon (had to order Poseidon online...gee i am lucky someone was still selling it :D ).

Now i have played most of Zeus (love the stories) and a lot of Emperor. Pharao is scheduled next year, after CotN, but i am really looking forward to it.

The only problem with CB games is that they take so loooong. It's great, but it's hard to finish the campaigns while other great games are released.

[Son of Moose]

The only problem with CB games is that they take so loooong.

Actually, I must admit that I am looking for THE GAME where I can be immersed for hours slowly building my city (empire) ...

I am really looking for a game with both scope and depth ... :D

[Dnisis]

I started with CII. and liked it very much.

When CIII came out I got it right away, and loved it.

When Pharoah and cleopatra each came out, I was right there. They were fantastic.

I got Zeus and Poseidon as soon as they came out. The scenery and other additions were great, but the game was too easy, finished all of it in about 2 weeks.

I still was enthusiastic about the series and when Rise of the Emperer came out, I got it too. It was fantastic in a completely different way, a different culture but fun.

I have enjoyed replaying most of these after finishing the first time. They all are good in many ways, but also have their quirks. I have a hard time trying to decide which one I liked the best, because I like them all in their own way. Reading about CoTN has gotten me all excited again and I think it just may be the ultimate in the series. I hope it isn't too much like the sims, because I hated that game.

Edit:
In the years since Emperer came out, I have tried many other games, such as sim city, Tropico I and II, Stronghold and crusader, and several others. As far as I am concerned, none equal the playability of the city builder line started by Impressions.

[Kars-T]

I palyed those games starting with ceasar II if i remeber right. Was far too difficult for me back than and i tryed several times before i understood how all was ment. The last one Emperor rotmk is imo the best because it ereased any error of the old ones and gave great features. I like china and i still play it from time to time which i wouldn't do with pharao or ceasar as there are too many things bugging me and emperor is running great! I liked Zeus very much but it seemed like for children after playing pharao first ;)
But it had nice graphics and so,e great new ideas like the (eh how do you call them in english) trade sites for every city which where great because it was a bit strange where those caravans did go in ceasar III as far i remember :)

[sitearm]

Found this thread huntin' around... good one!... Can still vote, too!

Obviously, CotN is the current best city.society builder game, but before that, obviously, 'twas Emperor Rise of the Middle Kingdom!

* ducks behind virutal ramparts... :p *

[Raccoon_TOF]

Definitely agree that CotN blows all the rest out of the water.

As far as gameplay, I agree with Emperor, though I have only played it on a friend's computer and no longer have access to it. Still, it got my vote.

However, I think Pharaoh/Cleo had the best flavor and draw to play for me, though as far as actual preference for historical periods/locale of those offered, Rome is indeed my favorite. One of the reasons I still have the original Caesar installed (yes, the original, not III).

[theirgrandma]

Well I started with Caesar 1 and that was my introduction to cb games but never reallly liked the constant warring thing that went with that era, so tried the other Caesar's and liked them but not loved them. When Pharoah came out I was in heaven and could go a totally different way. The monuments went up slow, but laboreres pulling those slabs would have taken a long time in real life anyway so understood that part.

The Editor on Pharoah was ok but when Zeus came out I was in heaven again, because I loved the story maker ability of the editor and had a great time making my own adventures as I liked to make it next to impossible to have the surrounding areas like you unless you earned their respect so the bribe function came in with me a lot and I got a LOT of monuments for bribing the countries and taking care of a small problem without actually fighting which was one part of it I did not like.

I know in my mind that all of those periods were violent and conquest was constant but I was never one to like the fighting aspect of it as it seemed to close to real life for me so I stayed away from that but with the Zeus addition of bribe them at the gates you could say I used lot of money. Emperor I still play also and have to say it was a different culture to learn about as I knew nothing about the people and am finding that my ignorance of those people is not something i am proud of but thanks to the cb games I am finding I am learning a little at least. The feng Shu and city rating is difficult at times but what thing worth doing ever came easy.

All of these games are still on my pc even the caesar games and I play them faithfully. COTN now I have the demo for that, but not sure I will be getting it as I never liked any of the Sim games and not too crazy about the demo. But that is the beauty of the games they all appeal to a different style.

Lorraine aka their grandma

[NanaBanana]

WOW... I can't believe I missed this thread! Of course, I wasn't haunting the forums until the beta started sooooooo....

Zeus holds a special place in my heart. It was the first beta I ever participated in. Consequently, it's the first CB game I was ever able to finish all the way through.

C3 got me hooked, but those bizarre bazaar ladies drove me crazy and I never could get them to work right, so finishing some scenarios was impossible. Pharaoh, well it's pretty much the same problem. Although roadblocks were introduced, it was hard to use them in certain places because they were undesirable. After so much devolved housing, I kinda lost interest.

I loved Emperor and the feng shui challenge. My personal goal was to have perfect feng shui in every city. I almost succeeded too.

While I do love CotN, I have had a hard time getting back into the game since the beta is over. I guess reading some of the posts here about the problems that were being encountered kinda stopped me from getting involved again. But, since patch 2 is out, maybe I will give it a whirl. :D

[sitearm]

* pollbump *

What is your favorite CB game?

(Poll by Scott7 from a year ago... still open for voting by newest forum members who haven't voted yet)

[MarkDuffy]

HaHa!

C3 was LAST

Zeus and Poseidon

I can't believe I never voted in this one! :eek:

and before the evil Forces of Princess Merepatra strike, the results to date:

Caesar III ................. 20 ..... 17.39%
Pharaoh and Cleopatra 59 ..... 51.30%
Zeus and Poseidon ..... 27 ...... 23.48%
Emperor ................... 32 ....... 27.83%

Multiple Choice Poll. Voters: 115. You have already voted on this poll

What? Multiple choice for your favorite? lol

EDIT: Upon reading the posts, many knew the poll was multiple choice. The poll is tainted. :(

[Pecunia]

HaHa!

C3 was LAST
Which may be explained by the fact that the poll was started over a year ago. I leave the reasoning up to you, though :p

[Thucydides]

[
What? Multiple choice for your favorite? lol


I agree with you Mark. Its a little bit hard to have a poll for a favourite when you can vote for several games! With this in mind I will start a new poll, with perhaps a broader base...

[MarkDuffy]

Which may be explained by the fact that the poll was started over a year ago. I leave the reasoning up to you, though :p

No one played C3 last year? No C3 lovers here before they found out they didn't like COTN?

Nope, Pecunia. C3 lovers need to explain why they placed so low in the poll.

I am not surprized by the results.

You?

[Pecunia]

No one played C3 last year? No C3 lovers here before they found out they didn't like COTN?

Nope, Pecunia. C3 lovers need to explain why they placed so low in the poll.

I am not surprized by the results.

You?
No surprise here either. I wouldn't search the answer in the C3 corner though. The most interesting thing is that Pharaoh/Cleo scored so high. If you map the results (minus the pharaoh/cleo one) against the games' release dates, you'll see a rising line, which is IMO quite normal. My explanation why Pharaoh/Cleo scored so high: last year, most people around here were Egypt "lovers" as you say it, eagerly awaiting the cotn release, thus they liked Ph/Cleo best. However, this is just my interpretation of this data, which may be entirely wrong.

[imhotep3147]

I don't know......I didn't like CIII as much as Pharaoh/Cleo (or even Zeus for that matter) because the game wasn't as "friendly". By that I mean that it wasn't as visually interesting, it didn't have a large amount of scenarios to begin with, and I didn't find it had much replayability beyond initial completion of the game. That being said, I do realize that it was the oldest of the CBs listed therefore the graphics and such inthe newer games were predictably better......but it just didn't grab my attention the way that Pharaoh did. Personally, it has nothing to do with a love of Egypt but as Pecunia pointed out, it should be taken into consideration those who actually were voting in this poll. :D

[vic_4]

No surprise here either. I wouldn't search the answer in the C3 corner though. The most interesting thing is that Pharaoh/Cleo scored so high. If you map the results (minus the pharaoh/cleo one) against the games' release dates, you'll see a rising line, which is IMO quite normal. My explanation why Pharaoh/Cleo scored so high: last year, most people around here were Egypt "lovers" as you say it, eagerly awaiting the cotn release, thus they liked Ph/Cleo best. However, this is just my interpretation of this data, which may be entirely wrong.
I think Pharaoh was 7freed from th hassles of C3, while more innovative and complete than Zeus and Emperor, so I was not surprised of the results.

[Robert Roy MacGregor]

I liked Caesar III the most.

At that time, I really had much free time so I really thaught it was nice to spend hours thinking of how to build the ultimate city.

Pharao and Zeus were both easy, I completed them and stopped playing them within 3 months :cool: