I feel ______ about current the state of the game.

[gzckrg]

I agree with OP in general. I also purchased UE and I am very pessimistic. But my concerns are not mainly about the bugs or if the game will be shelved due to some reason as suggested by some people in the posts.

My main concern is that the game is BORING! and I don't think it will change. Because the game designer wanted to give us a 'very realistic' city builder.

Usually, trying to achieve realism in game is a trap because most of the time, you cannot build something very real. But you still force it so you end up something broken, uncanny and/or very boring. A bit unrealistic but still fun is easier to achieve.

For the 'realism' of the construction aspect of the game, I can say that the only mentionable 'fun' thing (that is also different or improved from CS1) is building roundabouts. I can talk about more details on this but it's not the main point I'd like to say here.

For the 'realism' of the graphics, they tried to do something that looks more real (than CS1) for the buildings, people, cars etc, with the expense of taking the fun out of it. But they ended up delivering meh looking and very boring graphs. This problem also got magnified by the poor optimization during the game launch. Some examples:

• Night: Is there anyone who enjoys the night in the game? I cannot built anything or I cannot enjoy just looking at the city because I don't see anything. It's real, ok, but it's very boring. And as far as I know they still didn't fix or even address this. So when I was still playing the game, I turned the night off. And this is a very simple thing that they didn't care to implement, because, they care more about realism than fun.... Or their idea of fun is extremely different than mine
• Citizen Design: They all look awful and their animation is also awful. When you claim to have a 'realistic' city builder, then you should have proper looking citizens. They also don't match with the rest of the art style. They really look like an after-thought.
• Backyard of the houses or the farms... No comment.

For the 'realism' of the simulation aspect, again they tried to do something very realistic. As far as I understand, the game simulates every single citizen and then the rest is built around it. But they could never do that properly (in the realistic way) they wanted. And even if they did, it wouldn't be that fun. Because REAL LIFE IS NOT THAT FUN . And this implementation results CPU problems when your population becomes bigger. So the game becomes slower and unplayable, and again 'kinda' real but very BORING.

For example, it would have been better if they do a bit higher level simulation like this:

• calculating how many people should do what and how long in one building. And then from there, assigning the tasks to random individuals in this building... This would still feel like a proper simulation but with much less CPU demand in bigger cities. See it's not exactly like real life, but you wouldn't know the difference anyway.

Same goes with the cars and citizens. They tried to make them too realistic with them breaking the rules, last minute lane changing etc. But when you check the game to see how cars actually behave, they start as very realistic, then they just stop acting real. They are in a deadlock, and they don't try to get out of that situation. Realism is only there to create problems, but not finding a solution.

Also, music and radio station is not up to CS1 quality. And it really bothers me. In CS1, the radio stations and the stupid commercials were really fun. In CS2, they are cringe and too repetitive. Of course this can easily be fixed, but I don't see that vision.

Ok this post is getting longer than I anticipated I can pinpoint so many other issues that gives me the reason why I think what I think. But I think in general, whoever did the 'game design', they did not do a good job (being generous here). And the whole game design needs a big change if this game will become something good at some point. And I don't think that will happen, because then it'll be a different game.

So I am sad

EDIT: I also have similar thoughts about the supply chain simulation. It's boring, it doesn't have any impactful gameplay effect.

 

[Lens888]

Because the numbers aren't positve at all.
Yes, they have recently gone up for two weeks (with the trajectory going down again), but we have to keep in mind from where they were coming.

CS2 has sold over 1.5 million copies, based on the success of its predecessor.
Of these 1.5 million customers only 0.5% are playing on average. The average over the past 30 days (which still include partially the relatively "successful" month of July) was 7,323. That certainly is nothing to write home about.

And the game with over 10,000 players is CS1, not CS2. At the time of writing this, the peak for CS2 was 8,766, whilst the peak for CS1 was 12,270 (both for the past 24 hours, but this isn't an exception but the rule). That means that CS1 still has 50% more players than what was supposed to replace it. 10 months past release date.
Not even to mention that CS2 did have some new content recently.

I am pretty sure that the CS2 numbers are way below expectations, again with the trajectory going down, not up. That would mean that CS2 is in quite some danger to be terminated at some point of time.

Basing the entire player base of Steamcharts will not be good for your math as the game is sold across 4 or 5 different outlets plus is on Gamepass.

Steamcharts seems to be causing more issues than it's worth especially for those that are upset with certain games. All they see is Steam numbers and forget the rest

 

[ProfessorHornbuckle]

Basing the entire player base of Steamcharts will not be good for your math as the game is sold across 4 or 5 different outlets plus is on Gamepass.

Steamcharts seems to be causing more issues than it's worth especially for those that are upset with certain games. All they see is Steam numbers and forget the rest

This person has made it very clear that they are comparing the Steam numbers for CS1 to the Steam numbers for CS2. The other platforms are completely irrelevant to the conversation. On steam, X amount of people play CS1. On steam, Y amount of people play CS2. Those are the two numbers being compared.

 

[Lens888]

So basically saying I like your old stuff better than your new stuff, tho if we didn't have new stuff that grows over time into old stuff. Gamers have no patience anymore nor remember when those old games came out they too had issues.

Tho in saying that this whole pre order and get this and that plus play a week early then those that do get a game that feels rushed and is only half there have reasons to say please explain. That's exactly why I don't pre order anymore nor get my hopes up, sure I might miss out on some tourist attractions but at least I'm not going in upset and bitter, once that happens it's extremely hard for developers to win back trust. Take that and think hard about it Paradox, and all these other studios that don't push back against deadlines and think that early access is good for the game. It's the complete opposite and makes the most loyalist feel like testers.

I liked the games idea and how pretty it was at launch and wasn't stupid by buying before trying, used Gamepass for 2 games to demo for 10 bucks, liked CS2 but knew it has a long way to go (like a year) before it's really ready to start being played and the economy update even with its broken issues is showing some hope, the other game was Forza Motorsport 8 and that was DOA, will never recover, wrong team working on it and outsourcing most work to 18/6ers so it's like a patchwork quilt stiched together.

With some more time CS2 will overtake CS1, I just wish there was better water physics so when I fail at a city I can send in a Tsunami or burst a dam before I go again

 

[CosmicSea]

Basing the entire player base of Steamcharts will not be good for your math as the game is sold across 4 or 5 different outlets plus is on Gamepass.

Steamcharts seems to be causing more issues than it's worth especially for those that are upset with certain games. All they see is Steam numbers and forget the rest

doesn't matter if its sold across other outlets when we're comparing steam numbers to steam numbers for CS1 and CS2, or looking at overall trends with steam. The trends themselves are not going to be that much different between platforms at all. Steam is the largest sample size by far of people playing the game.

Also, steamcharts do not cause issues. Deceptive marketing and underperforming gave development companies cause their own problems.

 

[Lens888]

doesn't matter if its sold across other outlets when we're comparing steam numbers to steam numbers for CS1 and CS2, or looking at overall trends with steam. The trends themselves are not going to be that much different between platforms at all. Steam is the largest sample size by far of people playing the game.

Also, steamcharts do not cause issues. Deceptive marketing and underperforming gave development companies cause their own problems.

I hear you and Steamcharts are a valuable (and trusted) wealth of information, if only all suppliers were as transparent. I also noticed that since the update that unfortunately broke some rather important factors of the game the last months charts do not look very good indeed!, however it's to be expected with change comes unforeseen bugs, the last thing CO want is for exactly what has happened and I'm not posting everything is great but from experience after seeing how CS1 changed the city building genre for the better I have faith that it will be resolved and the longer it takes is probably for the better so it doesn't happen again.

The player numbers on Steam are positive if I were to compare against another triple A game that's barely getting above 500 on a good day, CS2 is around the 7000 mark which speaks volumes to me. The base is there, the community is there and the modding scene is alive, the latter means you can still play the game maybe not as you expect but it's running and I'm sure given the time the issue will be ironed out and CS2 Will be an epic game. Atm I'm just playing it as a Transport Tycoon style game whilst waiting for the fixes to drop.

It's better to be optimistic than pessimistic if it's a game that you know you like.

With the mod scene alone you can have a great time just not one that let's you complete every aspect right now.

Credit where it is due and I'm new to the forum so haven't really gone past page 5 to understand your frustrations since day one but coming back after the Economy update (bugs and all) it was a definite CO are on the right track. As for comms from them I'd rather they spend the time sorting out things as making promises never end out well nor setting dates for fixes, they will come when they do, if that's not good enough just think Rockstar and any info they give out!

CS2 isn't going to be shelved just like CS1 wasn't, We just need to be patient and stay positive.

 

[CosmicSea]

I hear you and Steamcharts are a valuable (and trusted) wealth of information, if only all suppliers were as transparent. I also noticed that since the update that unfortunately broke some rather important factors of the game the last months charts do not look very good indeed!, however it's to be expected with change comes unforeseen bugs, the last thing CO want is for exactly what has happened and I'm not posting everything is great but from experience after seeing how CS1 changed the city building genre for the better I have faith that it will be resolved and the longer it takes is probably for the better so it doesn't happen again.

The player numbers on Steam are positive if I were to compare against another triple A game that's barely getting above 500 on a good day, CS2 is around the 7000 mark which speaks volumes to me. The base is there, the community is there and the modding scene is alive, the latter means you can still play the game maybe not as you expect but it's running and I'm sure given the time the issue will be ironed out and CS2 Will be an epic game. Atm I'm just playing it as a Transport Tycoon style game whilst waiting for the fixes to drop.

It's better to be optimistic than pessimistic if it's a game that you know you like.

With the mod scene alone you can have a great time just not one that let's you complete every aspect right now.

Credit where it is due and I'm new to the forum so haven't really gone past page 5 to understand your frustrations since day one but coming back after the Economy update (bugs and all) it was a definite CO are on the right track. As for comms from them I'd rather they spend the time sorting out things as making promises never end out well nor setting dates for fixes, they will come when they do, if that's not good enough just think Rockstar and any info they give out!

CS2 isn't going to be shelved just like CS1 wasn't, We just need to be patient and stay positive.

Sorry buy this just screams of toxic positivity. You think it's good for them to take longer? How is that gonna help when they haven't shown anything to support that they will get much done with more time. The more time that passes, the more people that move on to other games and lose interest. Those are potential asset or mod creators too.

The frustrations with the lack of communication coupled with the lack of essential features, namely the ability for people to create and share assets, is missing almost a year after release. How can you expect people to stay positive when it takes the developers a month (if not more) to fix a regression bug that they introduced in the economy patch.

I don't know how you can have so much optimism about the economy patch when it literally broke the simulation for the majority of people? I don't have any motivation to play the game anymore except to test out new mods occasionally. All the buildings look the same due to the lack of content and the inability to download and use custom assets. Simulation is broken and it's not even fun as a city painter right now. Every time I try to play cs2, I end up going back to CS1.

Given the lack of communication and progress, I'm afraid that this will become abandonware.

 

[Civ5rako]

The player numbers on Steam are positive if I were to compare against another triple A game that's barely getting above 500 on a good day, CS2 is around the 7000 mark which speaks volumes to me.
(...)
CS2 isn't going to be shelved just like CS1 wasn't, We just need to be patient and stay positive.

Yes, the numbers do speak volumes. But not in favor of CS2.

The comparison to other "AAA" titles is moot as those are of completely different genres and based on at which title you may be looking, do have considerably more competition in their market niche than CS2 has.

Fact is that since Christmas last year there hasn't been a single day at which CS2 would have had as much players as CS1 had. It is losing to its predecessor. And the trajectory is going down, not stable and even not to speak of it going up.
All of that 10 months past release.

And no, we don't "need to be patient and stay positive". Many have paid for the game almost a year ago now and still it isn't nearly at a state which was advertised. We as the playerbase in total have every right to complain and request that we get what we assumed to have paid for. It is about time.

And lastly, it is players like you who give gaming companies the incentives to act like they do. They are releasing unfinished, next to broken games although they don't hesitate to cash in the money. And then there are even people who are literally defending that kind of action.
You have paid money for a game which doesn't deliver. And frankly, based on your own words, you have asked for it. You incentivise companies to deliver late, if at all, and in a bad shape.

 

[ClemiMD]

The next patch/update will blow our minds – be it in a positive or negative sense. I am curious.

 

[Lens888]

Sorry buy this just screams of toxic positivity. You think it's good for them to take longer? How is that gonna help when they haven't shown anything to support that they will get much done with more time. The more time that passes, the more people that move on to other games and lose interest. Those are potential asset or mod creators too.

The frustrations with the lack of communication coupled with the lack of essential features, namely the ability for people to create and share assets, is missing almost a year after release. How can you expect people to stay positive when it takes the developers a month (if not more) to fix a regression bug that they introduced in the economy patch.

I don't know how you can have so much optimism about the economy patch when it literally broke the simulation for the majority of people? I don't have any motivation to play the game anymore except to test out new mods occasionally. All the buildings look the same due to the lack of content and the inability to download and use custom assets. Simulation is broken and it's not even fun as a city painter right now. Every time I try to play cs2, I end up going back to CS1.

Given the lack of communication and progress, I'm afraid that this will become abandonware.

Far from toxic positiveness, got a 10 year ban on another forum for calling out basically what some here are doing, that was the Forza Forums if you were going to ask.

I'll call it as I feel and not planning on going down the negative track here as I honestly feel that work has been done in getting the game to run with less resources plus the economy update made the game more challenging >insert your frustration here<

As for Communication that seems to have dissolved across the entire gaming industry and it really doesn't worry me that much anymore as things will get done when they are ready.. then we are told about them. Times have changed, do I like it.. not really but what's the point in asking for a time frame on a fix for this or that when the devs are still wondering themselves. We fixed this but that broke and now we are trying to get that working w/o causing this other really annoying thing that we know the community will jump on so best just test and test again before we drop the update/hotfix instead of a notfix.

Game boots up, Game runs for 12 hours without a single ctd with mods galore running, is it what you were sold to believe.. that's debatable, did you pre order? If so that's on you!

 

[Lens888]

Yes, the numbers do speak volumes. But not in favor of CS2.

The comparison to other "AAA" titles is moot as those are of completely different genres and based on at which title you may be looking, do have considerably more competition in their market niche than CS2 has.

Fact is that since Christmas last year there hasn't been a single day at which CS2 would have had as much players as CS1 had. It is losing to its predecessor. And the trajectory is going down, not stable and even not to speak of it going up.
All of that 10 months past release.

And no, we don't "need to be patient and stay positive". Many have paid for the game almost a year ago now and still it isn't nearly at a state which was advertised. We as the playerbase in total have every right to complain and request that we get what we assumed to have paid for. It is about time.

And lastly, it is players like you who give gaming companies the incentives to act like they do. They are releasing unfinished, next to broken games although they don't hesitate to cash in the money. And then there are even people who are literally defending that kind of action.
You have paid money for a game which doesn't deliver. And frankly, based on your own words, you have asked for it. You incentivise companies to deliver late, if at all, and in a bad shape.

Players like me that give the gaming companies the incentives to act like they do, Please

If only the lastly came after that sentence.

Some games, No, Most if not all games these days seem to ship half baked and there's no shipping involved!, there's not even a plastic case anymore and you think I'm cool with this, the entire gaming industry has gone digital yet the prices have sky-rocketed and since 2020 there hasn't been one single game that I've actually sat back and said Yes in a Jeremy Clarkson voice.

Let's not get off on the wrong foot here, I'm liking the game for what I'm doing with it and no it's not to be taken out of context. Some people aren't happy but I am! And I'll be even more happy when those tents leave my parks and the tourist dont use them as cheap accommodation. But for now I'm off to create another traffic jam that will give me countless hours of fun trying to fix!

 

[ClemiMD]

I'd rather have a halfway playable Cities Skylines 2 than one that I'd have to wait many more months for.

 

[Civ5rako]

Players like me that give the gaming companies the incentives to act like they do, Please

Yes, you do.

From an earlier posting of yours:

We just need to be patient and stay positive.

Since you claim being fine with what you've got for your 129$ in full knowledge of the state of the game, good for you.

But others do expect to get the advertised content in exchance for those 129$. And they have been waiting for that since more than 10 months now.

Again, there is no reason for "being patient" and staying positive.
Literally more than a million of customers have spent money and haven't got what they expected. They have every right to be impatient and negative and they should be, as only their vote with their wallet will make companies change course and deliver quality.

With your attitude though the "Beach Property Pack" for instance would still be a full priced DLC.

 

[cdub8d]

Yes, you do.

From an earlier posting of yours:


Since you claim being fine with what you've got for your 129$ in full knowledge of the state of the game, good for you.

But others do expect to get the advertised content in exchance for those 129$. And they have been waiting for that since more than 10 months now.

Again, there is no reason for "being patient" and staying positive.
Literally more than a million of customers have spent money and haven't got what they expected. They have every right to be impatient and negative and they should be, as only their vote with their wallet will make companies change course and deliver quality.

With your attitude though the "Beach Property Pack" for instance would still be a full priced DLC.

I have no idea why people have such low expectations for games. It really is part of the reason the industry is so bad atm. CS2 is underwhelming as a sequel. The best thing about it is the road builder mod. They can't even get the asset uploader working.

 

[Lens888]

Yes, you do.

From an earlier posting of yours:


Since you claim being fine with what you've got for your 129$ in full knowledge of the state of the game, good for you.

But others do expect to get the advertised content in exchance for those 129$. And they have been waiting for that since more than 10 months now.

Again, there is no reason for "being patient" and staying positive.
Literally more than a million of customers have spent money and haven't got what they expected. They have every right to be impatient and negative and they should be, as only their vote with their wallet will make companies change course and deliver quality.

With your attitude though the "Beach Property Pack" for instance would still be a full priced DLC.

I'm happily playing the game and getting enjoyment out of it, probably should forget about bothering to post here as I get the message, if you're not throwing your toys out of the sandpit this place is not for you.

 

[CosmicSea]

I'm happily playing the game and getting enjoyment out of it, probably should forget about bothering to post here as I get the message, if you're not throwing your toys out of the sandpit this place is not for you.

This place is for anyone who owns and wants to discuss the game. It's not that it's not for you. It's that you need to realize that while you're enjoying and perfectly happy with the state of the game, many of us are not. In fact, judging by the fact that the majority of the top topics are about people's gripes with the game or CO's communication, and the generally negatjve/mixed reviews, you're in the minority.

 

[ProfessorHornbuckle]

This place is for anyone who owns and wants to discuss the game. It's not that it's not for you. It's that you need to realize that while you're enjoying and perfectly happy with the state of the game, many of us are not. In fact, judging by the fact that the majority of the top topics are about people's gripes with the game or CO's communication, and the generally negatjve/mixed reviews, you're in the minority.

Yeah, Almost every active thread is about people being upset with the state of the game and the lack of communication, updates, or patches.

 

[Splorghley]

There are two separate key problems with the game: it is broken, and it is bad.

The patches are focussed on fixing the brokenness (though it's two steps forward one step back, as they keep introducing new bugs too). But the more playable the game gets, the more I look around and think: yeah, but this game is actually just... pretty bad. I don't want to play this game.

I have no confidence in this improving. At the current glacial pace of work, the budget will run out long before this game gets good.

I've been sold janky products by Paradox before, but the release of CS2 has been on another level. If Victoria 3 needed more time in the oven, then CS2 hasn't even been put in the oven. CS2 is still proofing on the windowsill, while the oven pre-heats. And Paradox are shamelessly hawking it now, as though it's crispy and delicious.

Don't think that this isn't affecting my future purchasing decisions, Paradox.

 

[Potoroo]

• Citizen Design: They all look awful and their animation is also awful. When you claim to have a 'realistic' city builder, then you should have proper looking citizens. They also don't match with the rest of the art style. They really look like an after-thought.

Sorry, but I have to pull you up here. CS2 citizens have the best, most realistic teeth in the UNIVERSE!

 

[tweety80]

Sorry, but I have to pull you up here. CS2 citizens have the best, most realistic teeth in the UNIVERSE!

And even trash cans are rendered inside... :d