2792 Hours of Experience DID NOT Prepare Me for Cities Skylines 2

[@CitiesByDiana]

Subscribe for a 256 lane highway through your front yard - kzbin.info/door/oZ9LOmu2J3d6dex2l-Md1Q

[@fredashay]

I don't like games that make you unlock things before you can use them. That's not realistic. If you can afford to buy something, it should be available to you. But I'm gonna start by doing kind'a, sort'a what you did -- build a small town with some farms scattered around on dirt roads.

[@chinolewin3335]

thank u so much once again! love it!🥰😘

[@PunmasterSTP]

2^8? More like "Totally great video and editing, that is great!"

[@thomashenderson3326]

Why 256? You know that's not enough to fix the problem. When we expand to 257 lanes, we will truly solve traffic.

[@CitiesByDiana]

@@thomashenderson3326 258?

[@maxencefenoll9823]

Something about CS2 is that it's so... american. By being more realistic, it incorporated more soul-crushing features of real-life. Tho I am still very exited to start playing this very soon, it looks so cool.

[@CitiesByDiana]

Its not fully American until it gets a Walmart asset and 20 lane highways

[@TuomasLeone]

@@CitiesByDiana Someone needs to contact the Finnish authorities and ensure that lane man is not allowed to enter that country! By no means can he be allowed contact with the devs. lol

[@Nognamogo]

The parking lots on many of the low density residential are mildly annoying. I hope they make a japanese theme pack so i can create new-tokyo.

[@JimmiG84]

In Europe, it's very common for families to live in apartments, so the idea that families would demand low density housing specifically just seems weird to me. It feels like it would force you to zone swathes of low density car dependent suburbia whether you wanted to or not just to satisfy this demand. Same with demand for parking, which is apparently also a thing. What if you don't want to provide parking but instead make everything easily accessible by bicycle and public transport? You know, like most cities in Europe. The strangest thing is CO are based in Finland, not Houston Texas, so they should be perfectly aware of this.

[@Coffeepanda294]

@@JimmiG84 I suppose it's to set different groups apart, gameplay-wise, or to make some sort of progression from tiny flat to a larger apartment and then eventually a house when you have a family? But yeah, it's weird. And yes, parking demand should be based on number of cars. Then again I suppose it's a cultural thing irl, too. People in the West expect to be able to own, drive, and park their own private car, and if they can't, for whatever reason, they get unhappy and start asking politicians for more parking spaces.

[@twodollarstwenty]

Your storytelling and editing is next level

[@ShawnBuilds]

the legend himself

[@CitiesByDiana]

Thank you so much I'm so glad you think so 🥰

[@MicheBuilds]

THANK YOU for being completely honest about the pros and cons. 👏🏼 And I probably should thank paradox too for giving us a game where even pros and experts couldn't create story driven content, and where everything looks so grey, cold and generic 😕

[@CitiesByDiana]

Yep, I don't wanna fake hype but I also don't wanna bash the game. Id rather be fair and honest about everything up front. 🙂

[@curist8411]

hopefully the devs sees these kind of videos, hoping for the best in the full release@@CitiesByDiana

[@CitiesByDiana]

@@curist8411 the devs have for the most part been listening to our feedback and implementing things like the contour lines, which is promising and it's great that they're paying attention, really shows their dedication to making something we can all enjoy 🥰

[@Skyfoogle]

i'll take gray and generic over CS1's comically oversimplified scaling and cartoony architecture

[@Hannodb1961]

@@Skyfoogle Totally agree.

[@sticha2013]

This whole video was such a vibe. The honest and frank feedback on the game, the editing, and the music! Really enjoyed watching!

[@collectivefilmsco]

As a filmmaker and a gamer.... your editing/storytelling is top tier. Great job.

[@CitiesByDiana]

Ty so much 😊

[@GeorgeVenturi]

as a plumber I agree

[@CitiesByDiana]

@@GeorgeVenturi I love this comment 😆

[@JoyBuildsCities]

Really loved how your town came out and the direction that it’s going in. Starting over must’ve been hard but clearly it worked out really well.

[@CitiesByDiana]

Yep! It was definitely worth it

[@franciskuntzjm]

I know that everyone is going crazy lately for Baldur's Gate 3, Starfield, Armored Core 6, Payday 3, Lies of P..... but me, the game i wait the most for, for this end of year is Cities Skyline 2 😍 (and Alan Wake 2 a bit too)

[@MontseGaleano]

This city is super nice . What I don't like is about missing assets for detailing, props and nice trees, because without colored trees, and bushes feels plain, too much grey imo. What you did it's incredible! Congrats Diana! and thanks for showing us the nice and not that nice thing about CS2.

[@daltonbedore8396]

i hope its just a beta thing but i keep getting the feeling they stripped out a bunch of features we expect so they can sell them to us later 🤔 which would be dumb, because mods will make them available almost instantly if they dont give them to us at launch.

[@DevynCairns]

I think it's tough to strike a balance between creating a game that is a challenge and doesn't have too many features that let you basically get around that challenge while also providing for people who are mainly focused on creating really attractive cities, where some temporary reality-breaking is the best way to go about making things look nice. CS1 was honestly way too easy as a game with the main exception being Industries DLC and the challenge of traffic management from it - but with all of the mods and assets it became an awesome sandbox for creating cool looking cities. CS2 appears to be primarily focused on making it more interesting as a management sim while also addressing some of the painful aspects of CS1, but I think that they went in a more realistic direction for how the game looks and got rid of some of the especially quirky things e.g. how nodes and terrain interacted means that with mods and assets it will absolutely surpass CS1 for making realistic, nice looking cities. Just going to take a while. I enjoy some of the gameplay aspects of CS1 but I absolutely play with mods like Move It just as a basic requirement because it's so tough to make things look nice without it, and TM:PE is just necessary to have traffic behave nicely and more realistically. Then there are some things I'm really hoping CS2 addresses, like the lack of any kind of traffic management tools for trains and how easy it is for them to just end up in an unrealistic deadlock.

[@Hannodb1961]

Very good comment. I think people need to understand that CSL is first and foremost a City _simulator,_ not a City _painter._ I get that some people are only interested in making pretty places and don't really care much for the management part of the game, and that years of mods has made it possible for them in CSL 1, but it needs to be kept in mind that this is *not* what the game intends to be. These things will surely become available later as the modding community comes in. As for me, nothing makes me loose interest faster in a content creator when they start plopping RCI buildings manually. Yes, it's prettier, but by doing that, you're no longer playing the simulation and just turned the game into a painter, and that is totally not my play style. I _want_ the city to respond to what I've build, either good or bad. I _want_ the challenge to get the city to look like I want _and_ have it work at the same time. Plopping RCI building is a cheat and a hack in my book, but to each his own.

[@DevynCairns]

@@Hannodb1961 it's funny that you mention that, because CS2 actually does have a version of ploppable RICO in the form of signature buildings, which still behave as normal RICO but also have other benefits. In that sense they are still thinking about people who want to be creative and have some more direct control over what things look like, without going totally in that direction

[@Hannodb1961]

@@DevynCairns Yes. I have very mixed feelings about the Industries DLC. One the one hand, I like the content and depth it ads to the city, but on the other hand, it is not the Mayor's job to place individual industrial buildings. I would actually prefer that zoning functionality gets expanded to the maximum extend. As in, you simply zone for school, and school related buildings come up to fill the space. As the demand for that school increases, so the buildings will become better optimized to use the space avaiable. Almost like airports and harbors used to work in SC2000. I thought that was really a step in the right direction, but unfortunately, no city builder explored that design choice further since SC2000.

[@DevynCairns]

@@Hannodb1961 yeah maybe to some extent. I would have fun setting FAR and height limits but maybe not everyone would haha I'm not sure about schools - I don't think they really come in and fill zoning as often as either cities (in the case of public schools) decide to put a school there and zone appropriately, or private organizations do the same and lobby the city for the zoning that would permit it.

[@DevynCairns]

@@Hannodb1961 actually one thing I would really have liked to see would be permissive rather than single-category zoning. i.e. rather than just a mixed use zone, you could have a zone that allows medium-density residential and commercial, and mixed use buildings would obviously be permitted but so would just standalone residential/commercial. usually in my cities I have to go and zone individual parcels because I want low density commercial and residential buildings and office next to each other rather than creating big districts of the same use, but it would be nice to not have to do that

[@nicholascooper945]

What worries me is that CS2 is going to be an "It's good... eventually" game. I really hope on release a lot of stuff that's griping people gets added in and fixed and that there's more effort put into the detailing side of things, I'd really prefer if CS2 was good on launch compared to "it's good with x mods and x DLC's but don't play it vanilla"

[@CitiesByDiana]

It's good vanilla compared to vanilla CS1 base game. In fact it's a huge upgrade. But we definitely need some mods and assets and they'll come but from the perspective of a detailer it's harder to make things aesthetic haha

[@kjj26k]

@@CitiesByDiana I guess it's just a bit disappointing that the wild success of Cities: Skylines didn't result in a more polished sequel. But, I am very glad the devs didn't just rest on their laurels and offer us Cities: Skylines 1: Again. This game will surely be in an incredible way in the coming years, let's just hope it does not cost literally $1,000.

[@chonkikage]

I feel like there are just so many things to keep track of. It truly feels like a whole new game and learning it takes a lot of effort. What you pointed out about the rail track restrictions being realistic is super cool, I am kinda glad it forces that (although tbf I haven't used that tool yet haha)

[@CitiesByDiana]

It definitely is a new game and that's a new set of challenges 😊 The rail thing is quite nice and a feature I really like because I often struggled to get rail lines to actually work in the first game 😆

[@fredashay]

@@CitiesByDiana Simulation games always seem to have a steep learning curve. _Project Hospital_ is a prime example of this! But I love them anyway!

[@scpWyatt]

I’m crying happy tears at the Lane-Man cameo. I just excited for how an expert such as he will fix this clearly broken game with the inclusion of modest 16-lane residential roads and doing away with all of those unnecessary features like roundabouts or public transport 🤢

[@kimberlymj89]

I've purposefully avoided all content around CS2 until now because I try to avoid hype for games just in case. When I saw you did a video with it, I had a feeling you would accurately represent the game. I love your content and fair assessment. Super glad I waited to watch you first. Thanks Diana. 😁

[@CitiesByDiana]

So happy you picked mine to watch first, it means a lot 🥰 I did my best to be fair and honest without being too overhyped or bashing the game for no reason and I am glad people appreciate it.

[@brinedpickle]

It’s nice getting to see different play styles to get a well rounded view of how the game functions…or perhaps doesn’t 🙃

[@NoMercy8008]

I love your editing and your voiceover, your deliver is so golden sometimes 😹💛 Also like that you actually started over basically completely, I think to a certain extent it's important to show players that it's okay and sometimes a good thing to take what you learned and start again to build something you're more happy with ^-^ And since C:S2 really is a totally different game, i think that's what might be happening quite a bit for some players initially. I LOVE the music you chose for this video, it's great 🎶 Thank you so much for the video, much appreciated ^-^ ALL the best 💛

[@monkeytime9851]

Ivy Yardley just got spooked when she saw your giant face looking down on her. Of course she froze and did nothing. I would too.

[@CitiesByDiana]

💀💀

[@mkd1964]

It seems to me that trees are one of the biggest reasons your town feels "souless". I hope we aren't permanently stuck with baby trees that take years to grow. That, and the fact that everything just looks a little too pristine. Everything also looks a little monochrome as well. It's hard to pinpoint but the variety and depth of color is not the same as CS1.

[@dopamine261]

Thanks for being fair and honest, I guess it will be a few more updates and lots of mods, until we can make city that feels alive.

[@jimhall3810]

I'm hoping they add a mode for just building a city and skip all the management crap. I already have a job. Sometime you just want to play a game.

[@ShawnBuilds]

I love your honesty

[@canadianmooseplays]

Holy heck the build looks amazing! I cannot wait to see what you come up with for part three!

[@MartinWastlund]

First time stumbling on this channel when searching for some C:S2 gameplay, and instantly going to subscribe. Very wholesome build, nice music and storytelling, and you have a sense for geometry and framing of the built environment that aligns with mine. Love it!

[@CitiesByDiana]

Ty so much 😊 glad you liked it, hope you enjoy the channel

[@jaydeepmohile]

Honestly I haven't seen anything yet in CS2 which would make me go WoW!! Yes it is a definite improvement over CS1 but it is more a game which I would buy when it is on a discount rather than at launch price.

[@cut419ram]

Yeah, looks like we'll have to wait on the community to make CS2 great with mods and assets. Was afraid of that. The zoning tiles thing really gets to me and I wish you could assign building priority on streets so the building face the direction you want, and fits in the space between two roads that collide tiles.

[@Thuin8]

What I recognized watching people have trouble with the zoning: when creating a straight street segment and adding a new straight street segment to it, the exact place where the new street is snapping to the old one is determining if there will be a connected zone or not. Not 100% sure if that was part of your struggle with the zoning. :)

[@Coffeepanda294]

Thank you so much for this, good to hear an update on what it's like to play the game. Also, subbed.

[@e-bow]

I was prompted to comment (without starting a debate elsewhere), having previously forgotten 🤦‍♂. Enjoyed the review and it's good to see the difficulties you've had. Not good that you've had difficulties, but good you are sharing them. You know what I mean 😆 Thanks

[@flynngames4703]

I’m super excited to play CS2. My only confusion is that line tool is not apart of the base game. Just seems like that would be a no brainer. Love your content ❤️

[@CitiesByDiana]

I'm so sad they didn't give us a line tool, but maybe it'll come in due time 🥰

[@aj2587]

It's going to take a lot of time before they get this game to where mostly everyone likes it. Usually several DLC's address the issues and I have unlimited patience when it comes to this so I will wait and continue to enjoy the videos from my favorite creators and learn everything I need to learn and at some point I will get this one too 😊 Had to edit this to ask a question...if you had to put a dollar into a swear jar while doing all that tedious placing of the shrubbery how much money would be in there?

[@CitiesByDiana]

$42069

[@aj2587]

🤣@@CitiesByDiana

[@Geno5]

I am colorblind. I see color, I just have problems seeing shades. The big difference to me appears to be that a lot of the buildings are grey, does not seem to be a lot of color throughout

[@CitiesByDiana]

It is pretty grey, a lot of stuff looks better up close but it does feel a bit monotone sometimes

[@Geno5]

@@CitiesByDiana I really like how beautiful your cities are. I went through cancer in 2020 and suffer from side effects . I worked 75 hours a week before. Recently I took up cities. I have 200 hours and have purchased all of the DLC’s because of channels like yours. I am looking forward to Cities II, but I think I have hundreds of hours of enjoyment in front of me with cities original. Thank you for your videos.

[@CitiesByDiana]

@@Geno5 oh I'm so glad you found a nice game to play that you enjoy 🥰 and sorry you went through that ,I hope everything is well for you now!

[@edwardmiessner6502]

Your mention that the city is so... soulless reveals a big drawback to CS2. Everything about it, even the European theme, just feels American and suburban. So much so that the Euro theme just creates a nowhere land.

[@CitiesByDiana]

Yeah some parts of the euro theme look nice but others do feel very similar to the North American theme

[@TuomasLeone]

Thanks for this honest look at the game! I think overall it's a good thing that this is a *different* game, and is more complex. They'll clearly be a learning curve both for players and the devs, but I think it will be well worth it. It's a new game that has the promise to provide entertainment for years, just as CS1 did. Can't wait to see what comes next with CSII.

[@CitiesByDiana]

Agreed. The key thing about this is it's DIFFERENT. It feels different and plays different and even feels like it's geared at a slightly different AUDIENCE than CS1, but it's a fun challenge nonetheless. 🥰

[@ertiikus]

Hopefully when they implement props, things like benches and vending machines will be functional instead of purely aesthetic like in CS1. Definitely see pros and cons in this new installment but overall it seems like a huge step-up from the first game, so I'm excited none the less :^)

[@FoxrosePettipaw]

I think the way I approach building in CS2 is different than in CS1. CS1 I kind of just sprawled while I noticed in CS2 I'm thinking more intentionally about where I place things, where I plan neighborhoods and how I redevelop areas that became inefficient with the growing city. I think maybe it's the smaller tiles, reminds me a lot of city boundaries in real life. Often cities expand through purchases or annexes of undeveloped plots of land so you often end up with a patchwork of development. The bigger tiles in CS1 had benefits but often resulted in massive sprawl and odd scale issues. My cities in CS2 now look way closer to real life cities you'd see in satellite maps. Overall, very impressed with CS2 despite the obvious faults which can hopefully be patched in the next few months

[@flobiish]

I don't know if you noticed, but it doesn't automatically vary, or even rotate the plants you're placing down. It probably will before release though. I'm sure people are complaining. Especially detailers.

[@Awesomes007]

Fantastic! Thank you so much! I hope the release this month is just a big first step toward something much better. Seems like it’s possible.

[@jimmio3727]

I like how you're like "the first game is better; don't bother". I agree. Should have just updated what they already had.

[@CitiesByDiana]

Idk if I would straight up say the first game is better. CS2 is DEFINITELY better than vanilla base game CS1 for lots of reasons, but the highly modded CS1 I usually play is more my speed right now.

[@riffzifnab9254]

Thanks for the unvarnished review. We play city builders differently, but it was refreshing to hear another perspective. Best of luck, and I hope they make detailing easier, you really went through it in this video. (:

[@DerickZ28]

As excited as I am, I appreciate your constructive criticism and hopefully they make some changes. One thing I've thought from the beginning is the color looks washed out or bland. I get they're going for more realistic, but it just has a "grey/cold" feel to the color scheme.

[@Kevik70]

I'm kinda vibing with the more realist theme CS2 is going for.

[@DerickZ28]

@@Kevik70 I'm definitely down for more realism, but the color scheme still seems washed out and grey. Just my opinion.

[@Kevik70]

@@DerickZ28 I'll have to pay a bit closer attention to the buildings. CS1 was too vibrant for my tastes. I think a few community assets will help CS2 quite nicely.

[@brucer2152]

Now that you mention it...I think your right. It all seems very precise. It's not messy...it's less organic...but it's still organic...if that makes sense. And YES , a prop line tool would be great and the ability to place gown tress. I mean in real life you can practically buy grown trees for your yard. It's pricey, but doable.

[@Viriusadles]

I think they should add the "Move It!" mod. So you can change the altitude of building and placement etc.

[@Son.of.Raidon]

Thank you for showing me my thoughts about this game feeling a bit soulless are justified Im confident that on release or at the very least after some updates it will start to feel more along the lines of that homely feeling we get in 1

[@calencor]

i love how you just gave up on the quay behind the school cause thats how frustrated i feel with my cities and making quays

[@NeverwascooL]

Ive noticed that Cities 2 really requires more future planning and less reactionary plopping thaf i used to do i Cities 1. I think the biggest things i miss are being able to assign when roads start and end and being able to delete zones from roads completely. Id love that the zone clutter could be semt away with I key like some menus. That being said, after losing 6 hours of progress and having to rebuild back from that i realized planning first and then executing leads to me baving a much more fun time with the game and looking forward to expanding to my first maxed out city

[@markf9138]

The thing about Ivy sitting around doing nothing all day is why this game needs the option to walk around as a citizen in 3rd person free roam (like the console version of CS1). Without that option you have 0 control on what path the random citizen is going to take. CO please listen to this feedback and reintroduce that feature so players and content creators can showcase (and visit) their cities from.the perspective of a citizen.

[@CitiesByDiana]

I have wanted first or 3rd person free roam since I started playing CS1 and there used to be a mod for it but it was REALLY rough and buggy....it would be the absolute best. I'd also love the option to spawn any vehicle or citizen model and create a set path for them to follow. Would literally revolutionize content creation.

[@thomashenderson3326]

I cannot believe the lack of a line tool for landscaping. And... while I like the improvements, there seems to be quite a bit of finicky jank in every preview I've seen. I can only hope modders fix a lot of these issues. I cannot imagine how bad this vanilla experience will feel on console if (as is probable) they don't have mods there. Also: Am I the only one bothered that it feels like COG is releasing a game 100% reliant on the free labor from hobbyists to complete it via modding?

[@noahgeerdink5144]

I actually really like that service buildings are a realistic size now. Like really, you are telling me there are 15 hurses in this single apartment-sized crematorium?

[@kearseymorton2078]

So many different ways to play this game: you can choose to run a realistic simulation of a city or you can try to build a little town as esthetically pleasing as possible. The latter does not appeal to me much, I am more into trying to grow the city fast from a village to a megalopolis with all the ugliness that comes with it. But it is great that the game lets you pretty up things to max if that is your thing.

[@JPEaglesandKatz]

Top Video editing / narration, love it.. And love what you created.... I'm a cs noob and your video is inspiring.

[@crunchstick1277]

Like everyone else, I just couldn’t wait for the game to be released and once it was it felt different from the previous Cities’ games and I was a bit disappointed, probably more humiliated. The greatest challenge before even playing seemed to be how much it drained my computer’s resources at startup. My computer is a monster and it was the first time I witnessed it run all 7 fans. Luckily the developers addressed that issue fast and now my computer doesn’t sound like it’s getting ready for take off. Secondly, the game loads much faster than the previous version and maybe it’s because the game remains vanilla and while I miss Workshop I don’t miss the errors that came with it, so the game can update and not effect or clash with any custom components. All in all, it’s got a learning curve but one I think I can live with and appreciate a more precise game.

[@mathewrobert706]

At this present moment, im just not sold on CS2. It feels so bland and 10 steps back from what CS1 has become. I hope the modders can make it good over time, otherwise ill just have to stick with CS1

[@seriphyn8935]

10 steps back from CS1? CS2 has homelessness, SIX residential zones, MIXED USE, traffic accidents, economic simulation by citizen, resource management, and so on. C:S1 you can have 100% unemployment in a city of over 100,000 people and nothing happens. There is nothing to it; it's just a specialized 3D modeling tool.

[@xOzymandias]

This somehow reminds me of Rocksmith. No one plays the new one, everyone just stuck with the first one because of the content created by the users. I really feel like most diehards will go back to CS1 shortly after release

[@Jean_Mi]

Thank you for this introspection I don't understand how today, a game can be released with such deplorable graphic quality. I expected at least graphic quality like in Satisfactory, TF2, Desynced, Planet Zoo, etc. I will wait at least a year before buying it

[@ringgeest11]

While I'm enjoying the increased power of some of the new tools like the Road tool, I cannot help but feel that they really dropped the ball in some other 'obvious' ways too. The zoning not matching up well, the lack of a line tool for props, paths not being able to connect to parks and such, maps again being an absolute pain in the ass with their weird elevations. Like I get that the elevations are more realistic this way, but if the game cannot handle it all that well, then i'd rather have flatter and plateau like maps.

[@CitiesByDiana]

Yeah I hope these things come with updates and patches but it definitely feels like a miss right now to have trouble with terrain and zoning

[@ringgeest11]

@@CitiesByDiana Absolutely. They hired modders when they started on CS2 that did and still do some of the road tool mods if I remember correctly. Indicating that they were actively looking at what modders came up with to improve the gameplay. Yet now it also looks like they have stopped looking at them the moment they started actual development as well. It is still about a month till release so I have a bit of hope left that CO is able to listen to these critiques and get them into the game on if not soon after release, but I would really like it if they said as much.

[@Kevik70]

This was a problem is CS1 as well. A lot of elevation changes that made a mess of things. Custom maps were the way to go really.

[@ringgeest11]

@@Kevik70 yeah exactly, which is why it's dumb it is still an issue in cs2

[@Kevik70]

@@ringgeest11 To be fair. Any amount of elevation change makes things a bit of a pain for making cities. The vast majority of youtubers in CS1 and CS2 start projects by bull-dozing everything flat anyways. Devs gave us tool to make doing that easy so we can craft the maps as we want them to look.

[@ZGreenGaming]

And yes, detailers have been ignored as hell … why ?! i guess for money from console…. and this growing trees it is so annoying…. cities in real life don’t always plant small saplings… thats why we have tree nursery for ….

[@sahilchopra4260]

People prefer to build their houses facing older roads rather than new ones. Thats why you are facing difficulties while zoning.

[@jas_creates]

Thank you for this video and your honest review and critiques! There does seem to be a lot of hype and I totally understand them wanting to market the game before release, however, it can be good and bad. People can be so excited with high expectations and then disappointed when they actually play! I am so disappointed in what the buildings look like and why everything looks so muted and desaturated. I hope they bring colors back and more interesting architecture in. I’m still very excited about the game though.

[@Cyberzonion]

I will probably wait for a long time to try Skylines II. I want to wait for it to be fleshed out a bit. Also not ready to give up the first one yet.

[@unclemikeyplays]

Even though I'm really NOT a detailer, I still hope they add some bits and bobs, like a line tool, either before release or not long afterward. I can understand that props might take longer, but it would still be good if they can get to that kind of thing quickly.

[@JeffereyBerger87]

I have been, let’s say, inhaling CS content since I discovered CPP about 6 months ago. I found this video in Joy Builds Cities’ CS2 video roundup for today and absolutely love it. The style, the tone, the delivery, the pace-just all excellent. I am excited to be able to dive head first into another creator’s backlog! 🤘🏻🙌🏻

[@JeffereyBerger87]

Oh and I almost forgot-the music is A+

[@CitiesByDiana]

Oh ty so much I hope you enjoy the wild ride that is my channel 😉

[@tortellinifettuccine]

this game seems like it's doing some good, but a lot of bad. I am getting more Sims city vibes from this than actual city skylines, and it just seems..unfinished, like basic auto-fixes and features that were in the previous don't seem to exist here. It's like road anarchy is the default, and you can't turn it off. That just sounds awful honestly, and not worth the ridiculous amount of effort required. I know, thanks to some super detailed cities I've made. I am honestly really sad about this, I really wanted a new city simulator that does what cities skylines does but doesn't need mods(except for assets obviously.) It's a shame this seems more like a poorly made permanent modded version of skylines, rather than its second version.

[@StanHowse]

"Fighting with the tools".. Is about how I'd sum-up CS2..

[@stevekirkby6570]

Great vid Diana - you point out quite a lot that needs to be improved. And your having to re-learn your building somewhat. I just finished watching Overcharged Egg's part II and he seems to have a better handle on it; probablly because you come from a detailing aspect (which needs to be fixd here!) but Egg comes at it more from a civil engineers perspective. First thing he did was spending ages preparing the land sites and putting in flat areas and terraces. Then his road network and trains seemed to fit much better. I think the game looks a lot less forgiving - and in this regard, preparation seems to be the key, much as in real life. You don't want to build on sloped areas unless unavoidable. Having said all that, I echo your concerns regarding props and prop line tools, and how the zoning works - or doesn't! Keep at it - always loved your builds, so lets hope you find a happy place with this game.

[@harald9693]

Nice Storytelling, and nice video, really wants me to get a hand on this game soon! Just a few words to the comparison CS1 vs CS2. I think what made a city alive and you were able to identify yourself with the city in CS1 was the mods (this opportunity to thank all you modders who did a great job to make the game not only a clicker and need-fulfiller, but a toolkit and playground to build ... everything) in CS1 base game it was also just need fulfilling and plugging holes, the soul of the city came when it got possible to modify the city on your needs. It will come, and i think it will come quicker than in CS1, because lots of the things we spent hours in CS1 are already covered in the game mechanics out of the box. We just have to wait, and as the mods come, we can put a soul to the city again. This said by someone who has 2K hours in CS1 ;)

[@daltonbedore8396]

if you had got lane-man to say "just one more lane, mommy. please?" that would have sent me flying

[@MurdaRam]

I believe zoning follows the oldest road. So if you place a road and then another perpendicular and then another parallel it will follow the first road up to six tiles and then try to follow the perpendicular and then the parallel which is why you were getting funky zoning grids

[@CitiesByDiana]

Yeahhhhh we had a tool on vanilla CS1 that they added pretty recently that addressed this and made zoning much easier, hoping they add it to CS2

[@rafareuson]

I don't know how i ended up here but the way you do your videos are so good and relaxing. It's so so good.

[@CitiesByDiana]

Ty so much 😊

[@t.635]

omg new subscriber here. love the video and love the music! would kill for a tracklist of this episode 🙏

[@souljunkee]

The way you describe not feeling connected or invested and just doing things to hit metrics. I feel the same about adulting. 😅

[@dannyholloway2007]

I respect you a lot, along with city planner plays, you have the most straight forward relaxing content. I became addicted to building round circular city layouts on the first one. Traffic always scores at least a B, even an A sometimes, and you do not have to go crazy with mass transit. Also, my roads never have four way stops, only left or right turns. I usually just start with a large round about at the center and build out from there. I would be interested to see how well that works in this game.

[@CitiesByDiana]

Ohhh yes! So you can still build pretty good massive roundabouts in this game, I tried hahah The prebuilt ones are small so you've gotta make the big ones the old fashioned way. 😎

[@breadbeard6722]

What I noticed is that roads their markings and the overlay for worn out parts of the road look a lot worse than in the first game. Specifically at junctions. It often it looks like something you'd maybe see in a mod or as a result of a mod that allows you to place roads more freely

[@Skclassified]

Thanks for the criticism I wanted to buy C2 on console but I might have to pic it up on PC for quality of life mods the community will make

[@CitiesByDiana]

Honestly, PC was a generally better experience for CS1, not that I haven't seen some console players make magic happen, but I definitely recommend PC for these types of games in general if you're able to.

[@wuvme9354]

can we at least appreciate how Diana select songs for the background music? it always good and majestic song!

[@Geno5]

I am an amature compared to most CS1 players. Although I purchased my first PC game in 1990 and have played numerous city building games, I only have 400 hours on CS1. I purchased CS2, downloaded it and watched it crash on my first launch. I started playing the game after I rebooted my system. The game is different and I do not know if that is good. When I say different when I build a road it feels like I am just aiming and hoping for the best. CS1 feels more accurate, you will see what I mean when you play it. Performance…. Not to jump on the dead horse, but yes performance is an issue. I mean a real issue. I have a system less than 18 months old with some pretty good hardware. I am a pilot and I purchased the laptop for MS Flight Sim and I get great performance. I normally upgrade every 3 1/2 years. I am going to purchase a new system to play this game… crazy, but I am now retired and I am catching up on some gaming from while i was a way working 😂 With all that said… I agree about the heart of the city. I do not feel connected to my build. I did mention to Diana that I am colorblind. I see colors, just not all shades. This game seems pretty monotone. Lots of grey, tans, brown… earth tones. NEED MORE COLOR! 😊

[@LievenSerge]

I am new to your channel and have to say that your narration and the editing is on point. Very refreshing and fun to watch.

[@CitiesByDiana]

Ty so much 😊

[@PunmasterSTP]

There's no way I can play CS2 in the near future, but watching your videos is the best substitute! It's nice to see things I almost certainly wouldn't have known about otherwise. Here, here 🍻

[@cynvision]

I think CS2 shows that devs don't play their own game during development. Personalization and convenient detailing has to come back in. I was excited for this release but feel I'll be watching more streams until the game improves. Plus my old computer would meltdown.

[@zengrath]

I'm happy to hear that cities skylines 2 is harder. I honestly think city skylines 1 is too easy and ends up just being a creative sandbox then any kind of challenge. Though having a challenge or more difficult gameplay my stiffen creativity for those who just want to build a good looking city. I wish games like city skylines had difficulty levels to allow all playstyle, like a casual option for more laid back building, a normal balanced one, and a difficult/challenging mode that makes it difficult to manage a city successfully without understanding and utilizing all the mechanics. I do hope they are able to fix some of the complaints i've seen.

[@GlennNakamura]

Noticed in a CPP video, that you can name trees. Perhaps this is an opportunity to do a flora biography once the seasonal tree mechanics are fully fleshed out. This could also be used to demo how long it takes to grow trees. (Romeo & Juliet with Tchaikovsky in the background?) Sorry if this idea is too crazy, but if anyone can turn garbage into gold, it's you. Keep up the great work! (Btw, I wouldn't be surprised if you already had this planned. haha)

[@wednesday4evashine848]

i soooo appreciate your honesty. these were my feelings the moment i saw how the "DETAILING" aspect of the game played out. my enthusiasm for CS2 dropped. fantastic graphics without the detailing?? makes no sense. then i watch this video. now i'm almost just flat-out MAD at the game!! LOL . welp... we still got a few more weeks, soooo...

[@Kevik70]

I am pretty sure most of the detailing in CS1 came from mods and content creators. We will just have to wait for things like that.

[@wednesday4evashine848]

@@Kevik70 i hear ya

[@Kevik70]

@@wednesday4evashine848 Heck the devs can focus on the core aspects of the game probably because they know content creators are going to go crazy designing things to make cities more unique.

[@wednesday4evashine848]

@@Kevik70 this is true, but i know a majority of vanilla/console players were always begging for certain "mods and assets" to be included in the CS2 base game, so that they can be able to "build freely/creatively" too, and seeing that thats not the case, yet AGAIN, its upsetting. and subbing to mods and certain assets is ALWAYS A RISK. i know they wanna let content creators go crazy, but giving the fans what they ask for is also paramount in the end.

[@Kevik70]

@@wednesday4evashine848 Not a dev but I figure they have a lot to juggle around with to make a game. Still I'm pretty happy with what I can see with road tools. I'll probably want a bit more control over the lanes eventually but it's a good start. Too many features and tools scares the casuals after all.

[@tendergremlin]

those rail yards look like an improvement and I like seeing what looks like some different body types for the cims. hello devs if you’re reading this, please fix the issues with zoning breaking constantly. WHY is that so much worse in cs2?

[@CitiesByDiana]

Yes I like the cims a lot but they definitely need to...rethink their fashion choices sometimes they look like randomized townies in the Sims 4 hahah

[@tendergremlin]

@@CitiesByDiana ok I kinda love that

[@mrmaison4924]

Thanks for the journey! Feels like I just played a session with you. Thumbs Up!

[@GlennNakamura]

Thank you Diana for your honest appraisals and your creative and whimsical content. Did I notice an attempt at a biography? Always gets me when I see your cavalier attitude as you partially/totally destroy your cities! hahaha I'm a noob. Only been playing since May, caught up in hype over CS2. Only recently started using mods and custom assets. Have pre-ordered CS2. I have a couple of questions. 1. When you BD your cities, do you get a refund? Game Anarchy has spoiled me. 2. I have followed your recommendation about BDing all the trees and props in large areas b4 building to reduce processing loads, but because of the long growing times in CS2, would you recommend to leave all existing trees unless you are sure to build on top of them? 3. After CS2 is released, will there be any reason to play CS1?

[@CitiesByDiana]

Great question, as far as I can see you do get a refund for deleting stuff. I do think there's lots of reasons to still play CS1 after CS2 comes out to be honest First and foremost: ASSETS. The sheer number of custom buildings available for CS1 will take YEARS to reach parity in CS2, and likely WONT EVER get to that point. Certain mods like Procedural Objects will NEVER be put into CS2 because they're so niche but so so useful for aesthetics and detailing and generally for city painter style play CS1 is by far superior and will be for awhile. For city management style play, CS2 wins out for sure.

[@ZGreenGaming]

I think that stuff they spent time on like more realistic seasons or growing trees took away from what they should have been doing…. adding move it, intersection marking tool , find it and ploppable stuff like props and similar….

[@monkeytime9851]

I like how you approach it as much as art as as game.

[@CitiesByDiana]

It is and has the potential to be art. Some hardcore "gamers" may disagree but that's the beauty of the CS franchise - it's many different things to many different types of players. 🥰

[@MrMorton2u]

Great video! I will temper my expectations and bring my patience. I'm sure it will be worth the wait on console, right?

[@Bluetangg]

Things look quite gray. Seems just lacking in color except for those crazy bright basketball courts!

[@danopticon]

It seems likely, if parks’ walkways won’t connect to pedestrian walkways, that in CS2 we are still a long ways off from building a working car-free city (as opposed to just cosmetically kludging together the appearance of a car-free city), does my intuition more or less match your assessment of the game so far?

[@CitiesByDiana]

yes and no. While it does require a bit more up front planning to build a car free city, it IS possible. I built one in a TikTok exclusive video and it was decent. But without bikes it does feel weird.

[@Paulovlyra]

This vid is a lecture. Thank you... And the city is looking great.

[@DudokX]

Personally I am glad they went away from the city painter and more into an actual management game. The scale feels much better and it looks the cartoon graphics are gone as well. I wouldn't worry too much, I think mods can turn a management game into a detailer sandbox, its much harder the other way around. But I would love if they added things like mayor elections, public worker strikes, citizen petitions, NIMBY movements and tools to politically maneuver around them. It would be exciting to build a city in a hurricane prone areas and prepare your city for it. Or be in an epicentre of protests and get to decide how to respond.

[@CitiesByDiana]

I kinda like the protests and NIMBYs idea haha

[@WizzardofOdds]

It didn't look like the sims interacted with the playground and skate parks like they did in CS1.

[@kjj26k]

Just as when Cities: Skylines 1 or Planet Coaster came out, the Release of Cities: Skylines 2 is helping find a bunch of really cool creators.

[@ianwhitworth3264]

Another great video, I sure do like your mix of voice and music. Looking forward to the next episode.

[@richieep]

Always great to see Lane Man Larry.

[@rerun3283]

Great video! I'm really hoping modders can fix this game.

[@flobiish]

Ms. Diana...have you paused at 22:42 yet? The, um, textures on the, um, denizens are really, really detailed in close proximity to the camera.

[@CitiesByDiana]

💀

[@flobiish]

@@CitiesByDiana lol

[@RS8XB]

3:41 congratulations you created Albuquerque New Mexico

[@CitiesByDiana]

💀💀💀💀

[@Bariudol]

This game needs the Cities XL flood tool for parks

[@brodemonz]

I feel a bit turned off on CS2. And now that they've delayed the release for console,Im gutted. The only thing i can takeaway from it is, by the spring time,that gives them plenty of time to work out the bugs. Im just sad i wont be able to play it. Gaming PCs are not cheap and i am financially unable to go that route.