Sid Meier's Civilization IV®: The Complete Edition

I've been playing Civ IV for over 9 years now. It's a game that I will never stop playing. While I'll not get into criticizing the other games here, I'll just say that this is the best of the Civilization games and one of the best games of all time. What makes Civ IV stand out above the rest is the depth and complexity of its turn-based 4X strategy, unlimited playability, huge modding community (as well as active community in general), and its longevity based on an engine/graphics that will never get old. Civ III was a very good game as well, but really any Civ game prior to IV has trouble holding up graphically - not that that matters to a lot of people here - just saying. Civ IV is accessible, but is quite hard at first. For me, it took years to achieve a level of mastery and comfort to beat the high level (which I can begin to describe the difficulty there). Civ IV offers a challenge that is rewarding and satisfying, allowing a player to take bits and aspects of the game and practice and drill over time, then move on to the next bit. Continuing to push yourself forward to try to learn new things and reach great heights. But even so, Civ IV can also be played casually and at-your-own pace, even with a bit of historical or fantastical role-playing in mind. I can't begin to describe all the mods available for this game - from commonly used graphical/ui modifications used by the community to "kitchen-sink" mods that transform the game beyond what a typical expansion even achieves. You even have several successful fantasy mods that provides unlimited hours of entertainment. In fact, some of these original modders have moved on to high-level positions at major game developers creating their own new games. To be clear though, the base vanilla game (Beyond The Sword expansion is the final complete version) is extremely rewarding. Before one even touches a game changing mod, the base game offers unlimited hours of gameplay, challenge, and reward. Additionally, a vibrant community exists over on "civfanatics.com" that offers new and challenging ways of playing the game as well as discussion, including Games of the Month, Succession Games and a Hall of Fame. I highly encourage new and old players alike that are not familiar with civfanatics to join up. It's a great way to learn the game as well, with many folks willing to assist you with advice and strategies. Note that their are many other IV communities out there as well, including multiplayer types. IV offers several different types of multiplayer although the general MP rooms - now at Steam - are not as active as the used to be. However, Pitboss, Play-by-Email, Hotseat, and Lan games are still quite common and communities, including civfanatics, allow you to connect with folks Civilization IV is well worth the money no matter what you pay for it. Again, I've been playing over 9 years now with no end in sight. The number of hours I've played the game is uncountable.

It's Civ IV, of course this game is good. It's one of those games that is used to compare other games because this game is the pinnacle of turn based strategy. When people think of a better game then this one they will think about another Civ game. IV is the best in the series imo just because it has better AI then the new releases. Great job GOG for adding this game into your library. The expansions are in the game folder. If you try to start it from the GOG menu it will start Civ IV classic.

The 2kgame data collection section of the EULA is abit much for me.

The music, the animation, the quotes, the atmosphere, so much nostalgia. I don't know which is my favorite Civilization game from the franchise between this one and Civilization 2 / ToT. It plays well on Windows 10, I had to change the resolutions in the parameters in the game for widescreen, but no need to tweak it anything like other older games I download here. I bought it at discount 75% and don't regret it.

I'd like to get some things out of the way. Yes, I've played Civs 5 & 6; they make some interesting changes - but it is my OPINION that the AI is poorly equipped to handle 1UPT (unit per tile). Any human player with a modicum of strategy skill can out-war the AI. It's no fun if you win every time. The other common complain, CIv4's "stacks of doom": have the complainers actually played? Siege units/anything with collateral damage will obliterate stacks no matter how large. The AI doesn't even cram that many units into a stack, this is solely a human player thing. This complaint just sounds like sore losers who couldn't handle other human players cheesing them. This isn't the game's fault. When played against the AI things work pretty well. And while you could cheese doomstacks yourself there are plenty of other victory conditions than simply conquering. If you ignore every other way to play the game that isn't the game's fault either. Civ4 is a culmination of the earlier 3 games and has aged fairly well. Assuming you aren't a warmongering psycho, the AI actually reacts diplomatically reasonably enough - it's possible to keep them at arms' length, unlike in the later games where it seems the player is always dragged into large wars. Nope, in Civ4 you can hunker down in your corner provided you have reasonable neighbours while aiming for a different win condition e.g. be the first to space. One of the game's strong points is the modding community: it is well active to this day. There are great mods that enhance and extend the Civ4 experience. Better AI, revamped tech tree, more and improved civics and civs, etc. Many are integrated in larger mods too. Don't forget the 4GB RAM tweak, it helps overcome the game's 2GB RAM limits imposed by its 32bit roots and improves stability as well as shortens AI turn times. You'll find all these searching the CivFanatics forums. Good luck! And, just one more turn... Oh, it's 3am already.