Questions for you Civ V players

[AZgreentea]

I was considering buying the game, after reading a few reviews, but I have a few reservations. Yes, I have read about the "balancing issues" but thats not a big deal to me, per se (I'm a loyal fan, one of the only game franchises that still exist that I am loyal too).

My reservations are thus:
1. DLC. I read that some of the civilizations will be available only as DLC. How does this work for Civ V? I have games from GOG.com and Apezone.com, but those are whole games saved as executables. I dont want to buy content from a company that may disappear someday (even it if is Steam. Game companies are not eternal, and then they end up on GoG.com). I really prefer having a hod on the data and not relying on a provider (DDO being the exception since it is an MMO). Even the DLC I got for NWN is saved as an executable on an external storage drive.
2. Do you think the DLC will end up in the bundle packs or expansions? I like to buy as efficiently as possible, and I normally end up waiting until Civ ends up as a "complete" edition. I rarely get in on the ground floor of games, for this reason.

I think that covers my main hangups. I was wondering if there was a demo version of the game floating around out there.

[TheSavage]

It's Civ, there will be at least 2 expansion packs for it...

I bought it a few days after it came out, and I'm pretty "meh" on it. I've played every version of Civ ever released (Civ1 on a 286? Oh yeah...) and it really just didn't have that "awesome, I'm playing the new Civ game!" feeling to it.

So far it looks like the only DLC is fan-created (I will say, their mod system is fantastic... Browsing user created mods from within the game is pretty sweet). I'm sure that'll change eventually, but the Civ modding scene has always been pretty robust so there are already a lot to choose from.

I'm no fan of having to have Steam running (or even installed), but I suppose there are pros and cons to it.

I bought the hard copy of the game BTW.

From what I understand there is a demo available, but I haven't played it, nor do I know where to get it.

[Vandas]

The game is very obviously unfinished, it lacks some simple expected features like the ability to turn off unit cycling. I've ragequit games several times because it's forced me to move units to the wrong spot (as I click on another unit and try to move it while it auto selects a unit on another battle front, on the other side of the map) causing me to loose wars or reload twenty turns. This in particular makes playing the game a chore, trying to move one battle group while ruberbanding across the map to another nonsensicly every time.

There's a lot of cheap tricks, like putting you worker units on resources of AI's with open borders so their workers can not improve them because of 1upt.

If you decide to get it, be aware you are not getting a finished game, it doesn't just lack polish.

Second, I do not encourage playing Civ 5 while not paying to do so. Without income, the game will die, and it has a ton of potential. As it is updated and moded it will be fantastic, waiting a year is a viable option. That said, I can fully understand someone purchasing the game via Steam and then just pirating the game -there is a skidorw cracked version that works perfectly. Their decision to release via Steam is pointless, it does not handle DRM. There are working cracked versions, Steam as DRM achieved nothing other than turning off a lot of players. I have no dsire to have Steam on my computer.

I'd might even understand pirating the game and buying the stream of DLC that will come out since it's not full expansions, just a civ(s) they designed then left out of the game to sell on the side for additional profit. It's greedy and insulting to all of the Civ fans who have supported the company for a decade like few other customer bases have. Or, buying the game and just getting the inevitable modded replacements for excluded Civs.

[AZgreentea]

I have absolutely no intention of pirating it. I dont think I have pirated stuff over the net since I was in high school, I kinda grew out of it right around the time viruses started spreading quickly across those networks and the RIAA went all "Super Lobbyist"

I get the feeling I should stick with Civ IV until some expansions and bundles come out. I really hate the idea of dropping that kind of cash on a "meh"/unfinished game.