Sid Meier's Civilization V: Initial Thoughts

About the Game (From the Steam Store Page)

 The Flagship Turn-Based Strategy Game Returns

Become Ruler of the World by establishing and leading a civilization from the dawn of man into the space age: Wage war, conduct diplomacy, discover new technologies, go head-to-head with some of history’s greatest leaders and build the most powerful empire the world has ever known.

Previous Playtime

350 hours

What Was I Thinking When I Bought This

I was thinking "This is a new Civilization Game. I should buy it." When it comes to this series, my reasoning really is that simple. However Civ5 does hold a special place in my personal gaming history as it is, technically, the first game I ever bought on Steam. I didn't know that, at the time, because my initial purchase was a retail box, but when I brought it home and tried to put it on my new computer, it told me I had to install this thing called Steam. At the time, it really annoyed me, though I guess you could say that as the years have passed, I've made my peace with it.

Expectations and Prior Experience

Three hundred and fifty hours. For a long time, I was planning on saving this for when I really needed a break from the blog as a whole. It was to be the "freebie" space on my metaphorical bingo card. Then I started playing Civ3 and Civ4, and my innate sense of order won't let me just skip it. Gotta clear out the whole series in one go.

Twenty hours of this game is nothing to me. I expect it will go by in a barely conscious blur, with me clearing 12 hours, easy, in one marathon sitting.

The most sensible use of this time would be for me to practice moving up to a higher difficulty. I've been coasting on Prince (normal) for awhile now, and only dabbled a bit with King (hard) when I was playing the scenarios. I think I could probably handle it. However, I was really counting on this game to be a kind of pseudo-vacation for me, so maybe I won't bother. It all comes down to whether I feel like stretching myself with a new experience or decompressing with something comfortable and familiar. The former seems for virtuous, certainly, but the latter has its charms.

For now, the question will have to serve as what passes for suspense around here, because I honestly can't decide.