Yours portly has been unusually busy lately, and woke up this morning realizing he had not scheduled anything for today!

So, with a bit of a time crunch, I figured I’d share about what I’ve been doing with the little bits of spare time I have in the evenings:  playing Civilization VII.

I wrote a detailed post about my “Initial Reactions” to Civ VII on Saturday.  At that point, I’d spent about five hours with the game, and completed the first of its three “Ages,” the Age of Antiquity.  The “Ages” concept is not entirely new to the Civilization franchise, but it’s implementation in Civ VII is totally unique.  Instead of a change in the tech and civics trees, and maybe some cosmetic changes to buildings on the map, the “Ages” in Civ VII see players changing civilizations.  Players also can move their capital city and adopt new policies unique to their new civilizational identity, while still retaining policies from their glorious past.  It makes for a very cool blending of cultures.

I’m still in my first game, and just entered the “Crisis” phase of the Exploration Era.  The Crisis Phase represents a shifting of values and norms as your civilization transitions from one era to the next.  Players can turn the option off, but I find it’s pretty interesting, and accurately reflects the rise, decline, and fall of empires.  In this particular crisis phase, the bourgeoisie merchant class is exerting more influence as old hereditary monarchies wane in power.  That seems pretty fitting for the slow transition to the Modern Age!

Right now, my leader is Benjamin Franklin (leaders stay the same for the entire game, while the civilizations they lead change, which makes for some interesting and fun blends), and my civilization is Spain.  Once I hit the Modern Age, I should have the option to play as the United States, since Franklin is my leader.  If I take that option, I’ll have played as Rome in the Antiquity Age; Spain in the Exploration Age; and the United States in the Modern Age.  However, while playing last night, I unlocked Siam (by building four temples).  Wouldn’t that be a wild transition?  Rome to Spain to… Siam?  I already find the leap from Spain to the United States interesting, but it has some historical basis:  large chunks of the Southwestern United States once belonged to the Spanish Empire in the New World.  But Siam?  Whoa!  That kind of incongruity is hard for yours portly to pass up.

Regardless, I am enjoying the game immensely.  The user interface (UI) is bad, and there is a lot of visual and written information missing from the map and the Civopedia, but I am getting used to that.  Watching some YouTube videos has also helped explain some game mechanics.

One of my buddies started playing Monday evening, and his assessment really struck me; to paraphrase, he said, “This game is one that will require 100 hours of playtime to learn.”  He said that as a good thing, and I agree.  Civ has always been immediately accessible to new players, but the fun is learning the depth of the game.  You can have fun playing the game without knowing or understanding all of the mechanics; you can even win.  I have always found the journey of Civ games more compelling than the destination.  But uncovering all those juicy mechanics is also part of that journey.

Other than Dr. Girlfriend, Civ VII is all I can think about while I’m at work.  I’m trying to get as much done as possible during the day so I can binge Civ VII at night.

That tells me everything I need to know right there.  This game is awesome.

Now… just… one… more… turn.