Running off topic since the Civ series was mentioned…
I’ve played a few games of Civ 7 and I quite like it. Everyone in the fanbase seems to hate it, but for me, it’s the first mainline Civ game that’s felt like a proper 4X since Civ 2. I forget Civ 3, I was still mainly playing Civ 2 in that era, but by Civ 4 the series had evolved into a game series that is more for the current social internet fanbase, but not so much me anymore. And I had similar issues with Civ 6, that the game seemed to be mainly about building few cities, exploiting those resources with growing efficiency, and try to avoid expansion and war as much as possible for most of the game… until it was time to complete the game… if going for a military victory. But, if your main joy is the building and exploiting, I can understand the shifting focus to the expansion and exploration as much as the exploitation might not be as appealing… the extermination element is still not what it was in the earliest Civ games, I’ll admit, but it won’t crush your progress to wipe out an enemy… especially minor civs (if you want to smash them). The reason extermination isn’t preferable in Civ 7 has more to do with the carrot of keeping them around than the stick of everyone will want you dead for eternity.
There are some relatively impotent appendages in Civ 7, like religion… I think it was Civ 4 they started it, and they still have yet to make it anything more than a giant grindy headache. Luckily, skipping it after grabbing some initial benefits (like capital or first time conversions to get relics) doesn’t make much of a difference in play. I have read suggestions from the more sane fans that this could just be a placeholder until a later expansion revamps and replaces the system… Paradox Games tends to be good with religion, so a good religion system isn’t beyond comprehension.
Sorry, way off topic…
…I just like talking about Civ.
I describe myself as a little dose of toxic masculinity.
