After 150+ Hours, My Thoughts on Cities Skylines 2

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Putting my 10+ Years of City Building Experience into digging deep to get all the secrets from the Cities Skylines 2 Developer Diaries and Developer Insights. Enjoy my Cities Skylines 2 Gameplay!
👓PLAYLISTS:
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- Cities Skylines - Final City (Vanilla 2023):
• Cities Skylines - Fina...
- Cities Skylines - Biffalo Countea (Plazas & Promenades 2022)
• Cities Skylines - Biff...
- Cities Skylines - Plazas & Promenades DLC
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- Cities Skylines - FIX YOUR CITY
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- Cities Skylines Green Cities: goo.gl/pB28pS
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"DISASTER STRIKES LONDON!":
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- Cities Skylines: goo.gl/iO3cjK
#biffaplays #citiesskylines #CitiesSkylines2

[@BiffaPlaysCitiesSkylines]

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[@marcosvfg100]

It would be beneficial if the game provided an option to plant mature trees at a higher cost. This way, it wouldn't be profitable for players to use these grown trees for the lumber industry but would serve as a valuable tool for city decoration.

[@lwood9210]

@@marcosvfg100 Good idea. As far as planting what is essentially saplings, I like it. It's another bit to watching your city grow up.

[@--_DJ_--]

@@kristoffer3000 I much prefer waiting ages for my "free healthcare" aka pre-paid healthcare.

[@pigcow1]

So sounds like a 7 out of 10?

[@--_DJ_--]

@@kristoffer3000 I don't know where you live, but the wait times for anything non-emergency are ridiculous in Canada. Bad knee? Give us 8-10 months, we will get you in to see a specialist. Then you get to wait another year or so to get any actual work done. There is a reason people with money often don't use our healthcare system. Somewhere in the middle there is a better system.

[@jonathanmarsh8119]

Something that would be nice to have in the game is a simple park creator for small to medium parks. So not like the full city park or amusement park in CS1, but just an easy way to create a park of an irregular shape in an area with a couple entrances and then lots of assets to add in there. It needs to count as a proper park with park maintenance interaction.

[@jdjenk04]

Would be cool if it functioned similarly to the farms and garbage where you place a park building/entrance and then drag the nodes to draw a park and then it populated with a path and a gazebo.

[@marcinus2000]

wait for parks dlc in 2-3 years from now :D

[@Blaze6108]

Irregularily-shaped things in general are definitely a weakness of C:S. It happens me so often that I have some holes in my road network or whatever, and I think - damn, wouldn't it be great to have a small walkable plaza here, or a bit of greenery - and sure, you can plop trees and props, but those don't actually do anything.

[@powerfulshammy]

If you like parks with different designs that you can choose already try Pocket City 2. I did not like City Skylines 2 was incomplete unlike Pocket City 2 which is complete right from the get go

[@Hizzey1896]

This, & more options for waterfronts like parks walkways piers etc are my 2 biggest wishes when it copmes to beautification

[@ManunKanava]

Hope that they will add the bikes later to the base game. Bikes are kinda important for realism.

[@MichaelAngeloo0]

Nah, you mean in DLC 😅

[@SuperMickyChow]

Gonna be paid for DLC, like everything else you don't see in the base game videos that content creators have been putting out. They're charging £70-80 for the full content release at launch, and will probably be charging £15-20 per DLC pack. They're going to milk the playerbase for every single penny they can, and in exchange you'll get a game that cost you over £200 and has fewer assets and mods than CS1 because they're not allowing Steam Workshop. This game will be a huge disappointment

[@cyrlangaming]

Possibly this will be added as Eco Friendly DLC :D

[@kwando472]

@@SuperMickyChow Yeah I just allkeyshop those dlc and get them for like 2-5 euro each.

[@SuperMickyChow]

@@kwando472 good for you. I'm pleased for you.

[@spacechoc]

I love the look of the intersections! Just so much better than C:S1!

[@sour.sparkleoffical2414]

Yes

[@TROPtastic]

Even with all the pale white paths on them? Or do you mean the general shape of intersections?

[@carstarsarstenstesenn]

@@TROPtasticI think they mean the shapes, which do look a lot better. But I don't like the pale lines, they make no sense

[@tonnerre27]

​@@carstarsarstenstesennyeah same hopefuly we'll have a mod to remove them

[@jimflask1164]

Watching people play it wrong makes me yell at the screen. I had to upload junctions to the workshop. Just hoping the poor sims could get off the road. Biffa is doing good work.

[@pimdegroot9656]

I liked your idea about an Amsterdam-themed dlc with bikes. We would need some canals too!! And a coffee shop landmark building 😉

[@tinear4]

Quays + bikes + more automobile and building styles == Nederlander DLC. Sounds like a plan! (fingers crossed…)

[@realeatham]

Quays, canals, bikes, new map theme, new maps new buildings for map theme, new cars = really big Netherlands dlc

[@MrDiCapricorn]

If CO adds bikes in a seperate dlc I hope they update the base game to have some basic biking infrastructure too, because having no bicycles is almost a dealbreaker for me (but let's face it, we're all going to end up buying CS2 any way, cause it's probably the best city building game regardless 😉).

[@Merecir]

I fondly remember the canals assets/mod that was in the workshop years ago. So very nice looking in my cities. It would be awesome to have something like that in SC2 and for it to actually be working assets, with stuff like; cargo barges, water taxis and tourist boats.

[@mdhazeldine]

The lack of bikes is the biggest downer for me. However if they add it as a DLC and we get lots of Dutch features like bike lanes, bike and bike/ped paths, bike parking, underground bike parking garages, "autoluw" streets (where bike and pedestrians have priority and cars are guests) and nodal filters (where roads are blocked off for cars, but bikes and pedestrians can go through a gap) then that would make me very happy.

[@furkell]

Very disappointed that there are no bikes. I wanted to make a completely bikeable city 😢

[@DouglassThompson]

Vital role in public transit

[@predarek]

I'm going to guess the second DLC will be Amsterdam related and add bikes! Edit : I wasn't done the video, looks like it is a general idea everyone is having!

[@deltak5457]

@@predarek I could imagine that they come with such a DLC but as a free update - like bicycles generic paths might come for free, specific two lane bike paths and bike garages be part of a thematic DLC like that :)

[@predarek]

@@deltak5457 that makes sense! Bikes are also my main disappointment from what I see in cs 2 so at least hoping they come faster than later.

[@realeatham]

I made a reply on another comment, they could make a Netherlands dlc with new map theme, new buildings for map theme, new maps, bike stuff, quays

[@Duvoncho]

Really encouraged to hear what you say towards the end about the cities feeling more like they're alive. That's the thing I wanted the most from CS1. That ebb and flow that needs to be cared for and tinkered. Great stuff!

[@GaryFerrao]

Eight years since Cities Skylines 1!~ ❤ I remember fondly how sorely a good city planning game was needed at the time. 😌

[@Merecir]

And on release it did not have such basic things like night time or tunnels...

[@DarkownerMinimalist]

after the simcity 2013 desaster

[@USSAnimeNCC-]

I'm glad it came to console i never thought it would've happened at the time

[@keithrange4457]

​@DarkownerMinimalist ya, I still can't believe how bad of a dumpster fire EA made of such a glorious franchise. So bad that it will never recover. I know everything EA touches turns to crap, but I still can't believe it was THAT bad

[@exsnozer]

@@DarkownerMinimalist After that disaster anything wouldve been amazing. Just lucky CS1 actually kept development and we werent stuck with Cities XL or something.

[@jort93z]

I like the interior mapping they do on some of the windows. It really gives the building a lot more depth.

[@Merecir]

Needs more diversity though. Having the exact same color in every window does not seem realistic.

[@IneptOrange]

@@Merecir Seems like a deceptively simple thing to add to be honest, just a bit of noise changing the colour temperature of the windows seems doable. It's probably one of those tiny aesthetic changed they have yet to add

[@japes7]

The thing I will love the most is that areas will not just be made and forgotten. I will love revisiting and seeing the trees grown in and other improvements I can make, upgrading a road, looking at the housing needs, maybe densifying it. That's awesome that there can be a need for that instead of fill and forget.

[@daftwulli6145]

Wait who fills in areas and forgets to check on them for like 40 hours of playtime cause you where playing around with the 4 new dlc you boughgt in that time, till you start wondering why you have hardly any university educated people and you go back to that area which just so happens to have your university and realize you accidentally killed their only way to get electicity with a hastily installed subway station and that whole area of the city has been a ghosttown for like 39 hours. THat would never happen to me no sir and who claims otherwise is a filthy liar.

[@robinkijkindevegte4067]

The success of the game is going to be dependent on the modding community. If it will be a game that is as expanded as cs1 because of all the mods, it will do fine. If there isn’t that much freedom and the mods are limited this game is going to be a far less experience than cs1

[@BiffaPlaysCitiesSkylines]

I'm sure mods will go mad again 👍😁

[@erikaverink8418]

modders are also under an NDA , but i am sure they are working their but off.

[@removed7331]

the success of any game shouldn't rely on modders, one cannot make the assumption that the vanilla game is likely to fail, when one has not played it. Rather than relying on mods, the games replayability comes in the form of your own creativity. And sure mods would help with that, but the features already present and the assets we see, are more than enough for months of replayability, as long as CO keep adding stuff and incorporating content creator packs like in CS1, which they most definitely will, it'll keep people coming back and expanding or creating new cities.

[@keyrousse]

If a game requires mods to be enjoyable, I don't think it's a successful game. The more QOL stuff CO puts in the game so it requires fewer mods to be good, the better. Sure, being able to mod and put additional assets into the game is nice, but it doesn't make the game successful. C:S1 is the only game I use Steam Workshop for, and it's definitely not the only game I immensely enjoy.

[@violetdrone3606]

This is really the most important part. If the base game is good the modders have motivation to create interesting things. If the base game is bad, just like Crusader Kings 3, all the modders focus is set on fixing the game. The modding community is almost dead in there. The worst part is having to wait a week or two for all mods to be updated that you can't play without.@@keyrousse

[@PatricioINTP]

The one thing I want, and what I hope they do since a glob of DLCs/expansions are to be expected, is something like Streets of Simcity. For those who don’t know, when SimCity 2000 was out decades ago, it allowed you to drive around in different vehicles within the cities you make. It was both a stand alone and expansion for 2K (I think it was bundled with SC2K Urban Renewal Kit… don’t remember… decades ago…) and had gameplay missions typical of driving games, but I am okay with just driving around your city… … … … … and experiencing the horrendous traffic.

[@six_twentythree]

I remember this fondly!!! I was a little kid at the time and really enjoyed building cities with insane topography just so I could drive around on them haha. This would be a neat feature. The first person camera mods in CS1 were a little reminiscent of that

[@KittyNoo]

This was literally just in the base game of city skylines one on console

[@ethanandler4956]

@@KittyNooit was so funny to drive around in a donut van trying to navigate the windy streets

[@KatJustice97]

In a similar vein (not so much a wishlist, just another fond memory) you could import your SC2k cities into SimCopter and fly around them, putting out fires and stopping traffic jams and rescuing sims from drowning and theft. Seems like it'd be a little too complex to implement now, but I'd be all for it if someone did

[@benjaminlloyd-martin4339]

city advisors and a CO equiv to constant llama jokes lol

[@codelinx]

2:10 don't tell me that this release to CS2 is good enough currently. The PC stability and lack of polish is horrible.

[@TheSlazzer]

I've seen lots of creators painstakingly setting differently-sized, differently-themed, high-density housing squares to get more variety in what houses will end up being built. It would be nice if they would hire a few 3D artists - perhaps modders from CS1 - to do nothing but create 20+ different house models for each size of squares, so that there's a built-in high variety and one would have to look very hard to see two house-models repeat. It would add so much flavor.

[@clone1creator]

With the new announcement of no steam workshop support and terrible performance, the launch of CS2 will be a fiasco. I will hold off purchasing it until it is either in a better state or deeply discounted.

[@boomergames8094]

No steam workshop support is actually a good thing. C:S Was released on Steam and uses the workshop. Then, they added Epic store, Microsoft Store, Xbox, Playstation. If you buy it on Epic store, then you lose out on the Steam workshop. CS2 is going for multiplatform and multistore. So, moving the mod shop internal makes the experience for people who buy it not on Steam the same.

[@steampog]

Same here.. Not to crap on it but Paradox seems to still be in cash grab mode.. There will be 15 new paywalled-DLC in a few months, I'm sure, and this is precisely what I want to address.. I'm reasonably sure that CS2 doesn't support mods for the sole reason that they want the money those mods would get. Personally, I think allowing the MOD devs to get paid for delivering a quality add-on would be the way to go, but apparently that makes too much sense. Honestly, I'm just gonna keep playing the original and supporting the community we started.

[@Biome838]

Looks like a great game. I will personally buy it early on however i'm not expecting a perfect game. It's still very early on and of course there will still be some lacking aspects. But from what you have shown and what I have seen, CO and Paradox do listen and i believe with the updates and modding community the game will be uplifted beyond what it is right now

[@BiffaPlaysCitiesSkylines]

Couldn't agree more 👏

[@DennisHipp]

A good base to built on

[@daftwulli6145]

look here is a thing you need to keep in mind : they are getting a bunch of new players all at once with reelease and shortly after, and the game has to be simple enough for them so they can learn it all without being frustrated by too many options and an overload of info. So many options simply have to be mods you can add later once you got used to what you have and can start seriously optimizing it for how you play the game. From what I have seen so far this is already not easy to figure out for a new player. Anything more at this point would be too much. I get this might be frustrating for CS 1 players, but the game has to walk a tightrope between offering just enough for old players to love and not too much for new players. If you have never played wow , look up a high level raider doing their thing with 15 mods installed and you will understand exactly what I mean. Now 2 years down the line we are having a different conversation. Then the trickle in of new players is slow and you have a huge community they can find help that has played this game for 2 years and knows all the tricks. That is when you can give more options, though they will probably be mods and dlc, and that is ok, I love that I can play my way without having a million things I do neither need nor want. That made cs 1 great to me and many players.

[@mygetawayart]

If you have the chance to make it present to the devs, could you stress that we need fences back in the game? When they got introduced in the first game they became an invaluable tool to add a bit of extra detail and character to the neighborhood. City Planner Plays started using them as a way to divide up irregular residential lots and that absolutely blew my mind. They'll probably be introduced eventually but if you could make them think about it, we'd all be grateful.

[@doperwtje4916]

Oh! Amsterdam/Netherlands biking DLC would be soo good!!! There is so many great cycling infrastructure that would make an excellent addition to CS2! :)

[@melissat9586]

I really hope they add a line tool to the base game for planting trees. Nothing is quite as satisfying as perfectly lined up trees 😆 Overall, I am very excited for the release this month.

[@T33K3SS3LCH3N]

For the trees, I'd like to get a slider menu to adjust the age of naturally growing objects. Just ramp up the price in such a way that it isn't profitable to plant already mature trees for forestry. For people who don't want to deal with economy, there is a creative mode anyway.

[@sleepycatofthewhitegrove]

I think this is a great solution

[@TransportSimulatorNationTSN]

The one thing I really want in CS2 is the park DLC. To me that's one of the greatest DLC in this game

[@torstenwinkler8610]

I think at first we are going to build some certain "standard" cities and with a few updates and (later) dlcs we are going to have more freedom to build cities more to our specific liking. Kinda like we did with CS in the beginning ... It will be quite alright, I'm sure.

[@sirfoxington2258]

I just wanted smaller train stations. No massive buildings for each station.

[@yarmgl1613]

mods soon

[@seekhearts]

i think the tree thing also makes you think about whether or not to destroy the trees to later need it for greenspace. makes you think about where your parks and spaces will be. but I think a toggle or make it more expensive to ship in full size trees.

[@samosborne4403]

CS2 seems both a great upgrade from CS1 but also has room to continue to evolve. Looking forward to how it progresses. Cheers Biffa for the videos to date

[@deltak5457]

Such games always *should* have some room for improvement imho to ensure they can adapt to whatever a community asks for :) features may be added or changed which is also a pretty good thing on the long run. You basically don't pay for a game but for a whole journey ;)

[@--_DJ_--]

@@deltak5457 If the journey didn't cost an arm and a leg for every new adventure, that would be fine. There is a difference between room for improvement and a game being void of the required content on release, with the promise of DLCs you can pay for later to make up the difference. They have had years of dev time, greed is the reason they leave "room for improvement" in CS.

[@deltak5457]

​@@--_DJ_-- Content required for what and requested by whom? That's pretty much subjective and from what I saw there is nothing left which is more than "nice to have" to create a working city with working economy in first place. On C:S1 also I didn't feel forced to buy any DLC to have fun on day one, instead I just waited for them to be in sale with few exceptions. On these exceptions I just found the price being fair enough for the content included. Saying the way CO handles the DLCs and C:S2 is "greed" is from my point of view pretty unfair as they already included many DLC features and even stuff the community wished for in C:S2. Especially when it comes down to C:S they always added core features for free - I know other companies (*cough - E.A.) have some different approach here. Over all you also have to remember that games (compared to all other software around) are really cheap compared to other fields when it comes to development in IT.

[@--_DJ_--]

@@deltak5457 CS vanilla with no DLCs isn't even recognizable compared to it's final form, and not nearly as much fun to play. Base game - $40 bucks. Fully loaded - $490... Sure... not greedy at all. None of the major updates to CS were free, what ones do you consider "core" that were free? They already have DLCs lined up for the release of CS2, if you don't think that is greedy, we have different definitions of the word.

[@deltak5457]

@@--_DJ_-- we sure have and that's good. I work in IT, so I know about pricetags and especially about work and people involved to create a finished product of such complexity. If you'd apply usual company prices outside of gaming here for such a long term support product you'd must add at least a 0 to the price you mentioned. Just my two cents - feel free to disagree as I won't go further into such discussion anyway.

[@V0r4xiz]

This video is a loveletter to CO/Paradox, C:S, C:S2 and your viewers and I loved every second of it. Your enthusiasm and love for the game and your profession oozes from this video. Thank you, Biffa, for so many years of sharing your love with us and here's to a long, long and enjoyable future with C:S2 :)

[@BiffaPlaysCitiesSkylines]

Glad you enjoyed it! 😉

[@petitscorpio8860]

22:50 the toggle is a good idea but what the devs can make to still have their feature working is make the looks a full grown tree but the wood income like a sapling

[@Merecir]

Or just make a new category of decorative trees that give no resources. After all, you do not cut down decorative trees in a city park for the resources.

[@asmoto755]

Man, I'm really really hoping that at some point we'll get adaptive irregular-shaped buildings that conform to the shape of the road. I mean, I get why everything is rectangular... but I still have this crazy dream of building a city like Vienna in Cities Skylines 😅 Anyway, I love your videos and am looking forward to seeing some brand new cities soon!

[@martymcfly88mph35]

Great suggestion and actually something I never really thought about before but yeah you're totally right 100%

[@Merecir]

They do not need to make them "irregular". All we need is buildings that can bend slightly along a curved road and special corner ones that can have angles other than 90°.

[@asmoto755]

@@Merecir I suspect you mean 90°? But yes, you're absolutely right, of course. We need bendy buildings and hinged buildings! Oooooh, just imagine the flexibility! How immensely diverse cities would look! 👀 (yes, I'm getting excited about non-existent features haha)

[@Merecir]

@@asmoto755 Of course... 90, corrected. I think they might need to overhaul the entire building system tho. To make them more procedural so the building 'bodies' are able to bend but still keep assets like windows in their normal scale on the facade.

[@harry24798]

@@Merecir I honestly thought this was what Skylines 2 was gonna be all about. What is the point of a new game all these years later, if the buildings are not procedurally generated to fit the landscape/roads. I also think it looks VERY underlwhelming visually. I have no idea how people think it looks good for 2023. I'm so disappointed.

[@BeMisty]

Nice video! I hope they'll add more decoration stuff (props, colorful trees/flower bushes) and the zone adjuster + prop line tool! 🙃

[@Dangerooman]

Literally all CS2 needed to win me over was the better traffic AI and the ability to branch offramps off specific lanes/general better intersection fine tuning.

[@aturchomicz821]

Ok Highway builder 😂😂

[@playbox12345]

Really excited for CS2! Two game changers for me are the improve AI traffic and the citizen needs. This really changes the game for me and now I'll have to completely rethink how I approach the new game when its released very soon. I would like to have a blue print mode for buildings to help when designing a new area. In blueprint mode, you can place buildings and the appropriate extensions but the building is not actually built. You would see the outline like in a blueprint so you can build around it. If you try to build anyhing that overlaps with the bluepbrint then the game won't let. Whilst you won't get the buildings benefits, you aren't buying it or having to pay for it when its not needed just yet. When you do need it, a pop would come up saying "Do you want to build for ?".

[@Awesomes007]

If I could ask the devs one question, it would be, are you pulling telemetry and analyzing it to improve the game? And, if you are, please share some of it with us.

[@tinkmaster1054]

The dev diaries and content creators' input have been super helpful to me in setting my expectations. I'm immensely excited about this game but now I know it works differently (and a lot more realistically) than CS1, and that it's basically a massively upgraded foundation that CO can build on in similar ways that they did in CS1. Lots will be missing between the two at launch but I can't wait to see what CO is going to be building on this new, rock-solid foundation, and I'm excited to get to be a part of the journey!

[@JoeDecker]

As always, a really thoughtful and informative take. Thanks! I'm quite hyped to have CS2 myself, and am glad to have some reasonable expectations of what I'll be seeing at first.

[@BiffaPlaysCitiesSkylines]

Thankyou 👍

[@dijikstra8]

It's encouraging to hear that some creators were below minimum spec and could still play the game. I would also expect recording in itself to place extra load on the GPU (the compression especially), which most people don't have to bother with.

[@nickbellomo3362]

With what the devs and the community has done for the first game and it being on PC and console was just amazing. Especially for this sandbox game for console. I know they had their work for the second game had to take to such a big upgrade to the game. What made me love this company is they was still giving us content as working on this. Can't wait to see what they come up with the console version.

[@Runelee1]

Honestly the lack of toggle for growth of trees is the most confusing design decision to me. It's similar to CS1's dirt meter in that it's a "realism over fun" decision that adds an artificial barrier with no benefit to the player. Knowing how that went I'm surprised they went with this idea for trees. This plus lack of brush or line tool means my first city will probably look like 70's Houston lol. If they wanted realistic growth times for logging camps they probably could have just worked that into the specific fields for them.

[@Arjay404]

I think it's totally fine that they are asking full price for the game, were getting a full game in return so we should pay full price. When it comes to CS1 they were unknown and unproven, so pricing their game under full price made sense because people were more willing to give it a try and you also expect less, but thankfully for them and for us, it turned out that they were good at making this sort of game, so that gamble paid off 100 times for both CO/PI and the players.

[@EnderPlayerTV]

oh boy, the graphics are not better at all!

[@SShiJie]

As a Mass Transit guy, I can't wait to build my public transport system inspired by my country's system (Singapore). I really wanna make CS2 content, I have the PC, the recording software, now I just need a good editing software,maybe capcut. It's one of my dreams to create CS content for others to enjoy :D

[@pontushaggstrom6261]

Someone wrote on the steam forums "This is the most expensive powerpoint presentation I've ever bought"

[@johncbayliss]

I'm very excited. As with pretty much all Paradox games, its going to be a bit of a journey - the first expansion pass certainly has me very interested and shows where they're aiming to take the game.

[@nopropaganda20]

As I know, it is not a Paradox game, its a Colossal Order game. Paradox is the publisher.

[@user-sd1cr1wf4l]

I think the best thing is that theyre making a powerful base game so that updates and dlcs can be amazing and have a good ground to stand on and well optimized. Code-wise.

[@jonathanmarsh8119]

All I can say is that the amount of technology and work put into this game it is amazing that it even plays. CO has done an amazing job at ensuring that everything is playing with all of the calculations going on in the background. Just simple things like seeing a car doing a three-point turn to avoid a traffic accident is amazing. I just hope that they have build a very stable platform for creating DLCs and mods so that the DLCs can come out quickly as smaller packs and then maybe bundled later.

[@darkwoodmovies]

A correction: on their official Twitter, CO said they're NOT making the console versions after someone tried to blame them for the delay. They said it's being independently ported by a third party.

[@raphaelnikolaus0486]

Idea for the trees: Maybe the game could show you the full-grown tree while placing (instead of its full-grown range) and only place the sapling. And as per prop-line: maybe extra grid-lines alongside or between roads or so could do the trick?

[@g-hmd]

I know it was a throwaway comment about there being a Netherlands/Amsterdam dlc but that could be an interesting concept for future content to be country based. Obviously we had an idea of this with Railroads of Japan and Africa in Minature content creator packs but making similar things on a larger scale would be cool.

[@tylerboothman4496]

I read that as "Neanderthals/Amsterdam"

[@the_gasolineaddicts]

Hearing the devs listen to feedback says a lot for games, it's soo important even if it means providing answers to questions. People I believe expect too much, being restricted to console I am grateful for what we've been allowed. Disappointed yet understanding for delaying, in the end, players should be happy aiming for a better game. A good bottle of wine takes time! Gr8 vid Biffa, thanks for all you do, Cheers n Chills! 👽🍻

[@kevininpualsphotoclass]

I think full grown tree should be allowed at a price (while sampling are free) full grown tree gets planted in cities all the time in real life

[@RS-pb2se]

Good idea

[@benjaminthompson8359]

I also have faith that CO will continue to improve and develop the game over the years. We've seen what they did with CS1 for over eight years.

[@okbye_toni]

Would love to see a “decoration trees” section in the tree menu so you can use those as full grown trees but then they don’t actually contribute to the forest industry amount of wood. Probably what the vanilla game should get in the first update

[@Musical.Holmes]

I forget when I first saw this channel... but it was not nearly at 700k subs... Good job Biffa! Now I am watching and you have hundreds of thousands of subs, sponsors, merch. It is great to see the growth and I'm so glad that your hard work is paying off for you. You're great! Look forward to seeing more!

[@ToadieZzz]

Very well-reasoned video, boss. Spot on with your points and I especially agree with the feel of your closing statements. We've got such a solid foundation to work with here - can't wait to see what both the devs and the community do with this moving into the next few years.

[@lwood9210]

Great video Biffa and it addresses some of the biggest concerns that people have who are worried about being able to play the game. Thank you.

[@stevekluth9060]

Thank you for the comments on bikes. I think not having bikes is my biggest disappointment but I'm good as long as it's in an early DLC. OTOH, I'm thrilled with the industries inclusion in the base CS2 though I'm sure I'll buy an industries DLC should one come out. I completely agree better lane direction control is still needed but there's none in the vanilla CS so I can't complain about its limitations in CS2. I'm looking forward to seeing what new cities we'll get for other climates/biomes such as desert and tropical. Overall, I'm loving the way everything looks and feel CS2 will be even better than CS1.

[@wmopp9100]

"I dont need betterhelp" - "you have spent over 100 hours watching a guy fix virtual traffic jams" "fair point"

[@BiffaPlaysCitiesSkylines]

😅

[@lhohenstreet]

It makes me wonder how much of the small detail oriented stuff they left out because they were counting on the mod community to fill those gaps.

[@BuckMasterNorm]

It would be cool to have ATV and UTV trails and a place to make cottage country.

[@WASH3D]

Already pre-ordered, after enjoying CS1 as much as I have, it was a no-brainer to see the decade later update.

[@BlazingsNL]

It must be so hard for the devs to make this successor. Leave things out from CS1 and people will complain they miss it. Put everything in + new stuff and what do you have left for DLC. Is traffic as big of an issue in CS2 as it was in the first game? Or will we no long be seeing Biffa fixing traffic in the future.

[@Bigfilmguy]

Thanks for such an in-depth overview of CS:II. Like many others, I've been watching loads of vids and it's nice to hear that you have some concerns about the base game. Ironically, this is actually what convinced me to pre-order the game. I've seen a few vids where the creator has expressed their concerns, but hearing them from you made realise I'm not going to getting CS:I with new graphics, it's a whole new game. Yes, it may take some time, but sooner rather than later, this is going to be a *great* game, not just an *ok* game.

[@Dilabun]

CS2 and CS2 coming out in the same month

[@ronaldverweij4284]

Just on a final touch of my probably last much modded CS1 city. I cant expect CS2 to be just 100% to my liking like my modded CS1 now, but I am sure it will be in the future. Not been reading much about how realistic population will be, and probably interaction with sims. But yes,I definitely will buy the game. Thanks for your comments and looking forward watching more of your CS2 vids.

[@scottsfowler]

I'd like to see mini games inside CSII (prob as a dlc or a standalone game with integration into CSII) where you can play a sims or GTA style game within your city and level up as mayor or as a citizen with education, employment, life tasks to complete. That would be amazing and add tons of depth to an already deep game

[@CitySculptor]

Can’t thank you enough for this video. The context that you provide around this new game and what to expect right out of the gate is invaluable. Thanks again for testing, teaching, and informing. Can’t wait to dive in! Cheers!

[@IIMurphaII]

The more I've see of the game, the more reservations I have. So much so, I'm thinking it might be worth cancelling my preorder. When CS1 came out, I found it quite bland and lifeless, and never enjoyed it. Left it dormant in my library for well over 5 years. Not until many DLC and awesome community mods later, did I find I actually enjoyed it. I'm starting to worry CS2 is the same...

[@garion333]

Not too late to cancel!

[@CaptinFonz]

Perhaps an expansion will be something that allows you to build neighbouring cities in the area outside of the map. Ie you build a city in, then create the next area and build that, so then you have "something" that the external links are coming from Add this to the idea that some maps are southern hemisphere and seasons are accurate to the location and calendar we could then end up with people being able to slowly over the next 8 years make an entire globe

[@scorch527]

It's kind of funny that you're suggesting a feature SimCity 4 had 20 years ago. It's sad to see how far backwards we've gone, even though I think this game in itself is a step in the right direction.

[@tonyschulz3558]

The only dev diary I haven’t seen is the weather one. Im keeping that one separate and will come back to it after I start playing. I’m incredibly excited to see how building our new cities goes, given how much has changed

[@SteveBedard]

Like in CS1 there is too much ads on buildings. They should make a feature where WE can place ads the way we want in exchange of money from companies in our city.

[@NinaFelwitch]

What I'm missing is the district specializations. I loved making entertainment districts in CS1.

[@simongeard4824]

The mechanism was kind of crap in CS1 though... districts and areas were a blunt instrument which tried to do too much, and the resulting buildings didn't fit nicely into the existing zoning model anyway. I suspect that in this version, the equivalent will be done through zoning... instead of zoning generic commercial and tagging the district as "entertainment", I think you might just zone as entertainment-commercial, and be able to put different specialisations in close proximity (e.g. bars next to hotels) within the same district. That would be consistent with what we've seen of residential zoning, where there are more than one type of zone satisfying the same low/medium/high density requirements.

[@papagrounds]

Let's see you again in "after 2k+ hours" so we get some educated thoughts about CS 2 😁

[@BiffaPlaysCitiesSkylines]

See you in 5 years 🤣

[@pfeilspitze]

2:40 "The base game is amazing; I can't wait for mods and DLC to make them good" -- Uh, so not really amazing yet, then?

[@Merecir]

Separating trees into different categories seems like a no-brainer. 1) Natural trees that grow into resources. 2) Decorative trees that you can plop down fully grown (Also for on roads with trees).

[@jetswift]

Thanks, Biffa. I was actually losing interest in CS2 (various reasons and concerns), but you've swung me back into looking forward to release.

[@LoganAlbertsChannel]

Don't get caught up in the complaints

[@sunfxded]

what were ur concerns?

[@jetswift]

@@sunfxded just looks a bit grey and square, very bleak, I think. Visually not stimulating. Then there's the spec problem, will my PC handle it.

[@jetswift]

@@LoganAlbertsChannel I don't think I was caught on complaints, mainly cos there aren't that many that I had seen.

[@dostillevi1123]

A heavily stocked workshop that Paradox is throwing away and replacing with Paradox Mods, with it's whopping 128 mods for Cities: Skylines. Features of which include no ability to filter by popularity within a timeframe, and no great discoverability.

[@BiffaPlaysCitiesSkylines]

You've mistakenly thought that all the CS1 stuff will work in CS2 when it won't as its a new game. 👍

[@clone1creator]

I think the point of the message is that the Steam Workshop is a more straightforward and widely used modding platform with an established history of working well. It provides an easy way to access mods without mod loaders, etc. Clearly, features are lacking with the Paradox modding platform and it will not be done in time for release. @@BiffaPlaysCitiesSkylines

[@dostillevi1123]

@@BiffaPlaysCitiesSkylines Do you feel that Paradox Mods is a comparable platform to Steam mods? I feel like it lacks many features and won't have the reach that the Steam community does. I don't think the modding community will thrive on that platform the way it has on Steam.

[@feflechi]

Different gameplay mechanics, a more dynamic city and it seems a more solid foundation with new things to learn sounds great ! Thank you Biffa for your professional and passionate insights 😉

[@tmg7476]

Fixes and improvements should be free. That's like repainting a house or fixing the plumbing. Enhancements that change the game (switching out the tub to a hot tub) or add new functionality (a new room) can be put into DLCs which I then decide if I want to buy or not. But there are a lot of things early release video creators are mentioning which should come through free updates. I don't use a lot of CS1 mods but do use thousands of CS1 assets. CS1 has had some very very talented people whose work has added tremendously to the game. I support some through Pateon. Frankly, without their assets, I would not still be playing it. I hope that CO and Paradox realize that this pool of resources has really defined CS1 and do not hinder efforts for CS2. The fact that it is still murky worries me.

[@tmg7476]

@@thephantomchannel5368 I have contacted a few asset makers. The desire appears to be there but there are worries.

[@alandunwell5052]

Biffa love your vids mate, my concern atm is that I am a console player…. Well not just that, but currently on CS2 everyone’s builds feel very similar. They look almost identical, I worry that it is because of the modular type service buildings mean we have to place less individual ones is actually going to hamper creativity? Like currently if I build a water treatment area I will use 5-10 service buildings and no 2 areas are the same. I just worry that especially with the lack of assets you mention that creativity is going to be down on CS2. What are you thoughts on this?

[@BiffaPlaysCitiesSkylines]

I agree we need more of everything, and I'm also sure we'll get at some point 👍

[@angelob2383]

Does anyone know how the beaches look? In CS1 making a nice looking beach was immensely difficult because it would never gradually decline into the water, or it would just shift the water up and start floodig.

[@FlyingHawkic]

I think the short answer is that there are currently no beaches. Have not seen it in any of the videos.

[@devononair]

Some sort of beach creation DLC would be cool too. In CS1, my beaches are basically regular parks, with strange concrete paths running along the beach to get some sort of footfall. It would be great to actually make a working beach where people are sunbathing and playing volleyball and so on. You could even include shark epidemics in the disaster pack! Hahaha

[@marcoa.2585]

The Beach Property DLC is announced and comes soon. It is part of the deluxe edition.

[@BlueHawkPictures17]

I will push back on the "Bikes will be DLC" narrative. Although I do think there will be a DLC that may explore light personal transport options like ebikes and scooters, it will likely comr alongside a free update which will very likely include bike paths and cycling more broadly.

[@nilsw7428]

I preordered the Deluxe Version. I grew up with Sim City 2000. This is just mindblowing. CS1 I loved a lot too and played around 600h. Hope the Performance is better. I have a high end PC with a 4090 and 64GB RAM. CS1 slows down a lot after the City is large...

[@hie104]

It seems really weird to me how when you upgrade a road to have trees or grass on the side, it does it one by one and i’m surprised you didn’t mention it in this video. I mean I love the fact that you can have it on only one side and interesting you can change this and still not have dedicating turning lanes 😂

[@BiffaPlaysCitiesSkylines]

You can drag and do as many roads at once as you like 👍

[@hie104]

Cheers for clearing that up mate, love your vids!

[@klackers]

The graphics look like they lack a lot of texture. The roads look like they're made of plastic. I think its the reflections? I just looks really bland and flat (no not the terrain, just the overall experience and I assume my mentality towards the game after 20 hours of gameplay... I'D BE FLAT AS).

[@HiddenMissive]

Can they PLEASE make the weather cloudy and rainy during a tornado? It looks ridiculous until they do. Trust me. I live in Texas.

[@ravee-eh4dd]

Please I don’t want to see a clear sky with a tornado even a dark sky would be easy to do

[@Saberg]

I ended up upgrading my PC to an RTX 4070 with an 850 power supply this week. I am ready for CS2!

[@mrdriver2988]

For the tree concern I think having a ghost mode for the trees would be a better solution, so when you place down the saplings you can also see what the full grown tree will look like. And in cinematic mode all the trees are fully grown.

[@stevengalloway8052]

I hope my computer will be able to handle this game.... 😏

[@user-wq9mw2xz3j]

Its very fair to compare it to how cities skylines is now with dlc's and mods because it is launching now, not 8 years ago, and it's also asking the price of it. Some great things but many things are far too bad imo to even be released, even some quick fixes such as grass, road and other ground textures.

[@alank3174]

Looks like a ton of fun, I cant wait after playing years of cs1!

[@NytesMusic]

For me personally, I'll play it on PC Game Pass first and buy it on steam when the mods and assets become available

[@TheTLLRS]

Mods makers have access to the game already. That will be the big surprise

[@CallMe_Ohio]

I am onboard the hype train for this, whistle at the ready. I had a few different games i wanted to play but this one was my first choice, and i went right in for the expansion pass. ❤ All thanks to Biffa + his play throughs, thank you!!

[@Draigthedragon]

It might not be fair to compare the fully realised CS1 to the brand new CS2, but it is what most consumers will do. We've got the first game, all of its DLCs and dozens of useful mods and we're considering whether to buy the new game that doesn't have all of those things.

[@carriegarrisonvos4433]

There is a part of me that is sort of glad my computer has had issues (still working on it) and I haven't been able to play some of the games I really love. It's kept me from being really addicted to things in CS1 so learning CS2 will be something I feel is just continuing my education of the playing of the game. Newb basically 😁 I truly hope that they will listen to those of you who use assets etc that would be missed very much. It looks like a wonderful game and I look forward to it once the computer is fixed, but I learn thru you and OC so much and I look forward to learning more!! Great thoughts on CS2 🤩

[@saladinbob]

I'll tell you what I believe is a missed opportunity. Procedurally created maps based upon the longitudinal/latitudinal co-ordinates. Imagine if you could have put co-ordinates in and the game would have created a map based upon the real world conditions based upon those co-ordinates. It would have freed up an enormous amount of development time and given us some phenomenal variation in maps.

[@beardedshotgun9666]

Would love to see a video overlook of all the maps so we can start planning our own citys

[@Xegethra]

One thing I always wanted for the first game was putting monorails over any kind of road. I don't know what transport options are available in this game, but if they do end up having such things like monorails or overground trains, I'd want that ability to place them along any road, no matter it's type.

[@redheads604]

2 major concerns: 1) performance Recommending a 3080 for 1080p performance is ridiculous and a huge red flag this game will have optimization issues. A 3080 can run cyberpunk at 4k, so it's absolutely insane for a cpu heavy game to require 3080. it's a worrying sign because CS1 also had optimization issues. I'm not taking shots at Biffa, but of course he's not gonna run into performance issues when he is running a 4090, which the vast majority of us don't have. The choppy framerate and poor anti-aliasing is quite apparent in videos from other content creators. 2) reliant on mods and DLC spams It's Paradox game so you know there will be numerous DLCs. The issue is that none of the DLCs in CS1 actually fix core issues within vanilla. It relied on heavily on mods to fix it for them. It inspires no confidence that CS2 might thread the same path again. I think there are lots of things that CS2 greatly improves on, such as the road tools, but some of the questionable design choices just feels likes it's taking 2 steps forward and 1 step back.

[@shaneintheuk2026]

It’s been interesting watching three different creators of videos about the game and seeing how you each react. My takeaway from you and City Planner Plays is that the game play and simulation are a massive step forward and as the game matures it will just get better. Few Candy has highlighted how poorly the new game caters to detailers. Personally I think the lack of support for detailing is unsurprising as detailing was never intended to be part of CS1 but was added by mods. Once CS2 is modded or updated the opportunities for detailing will explode.

[@p3rran]

For console players, this is a big win. It's just unfortunate that we must wait longer!

[@ret715]

Speaking of console, will there any variety of multiplayer/crossplay on CS2 - on console or PC? This is a title I need a mouse and keyboard for, but a buddy of mine avoids his PC like a frightened grandparent.

[@notgotaclue4809]

What id love to see is military expansion. So a grow able army base, navy base and air base with specific industries attached etc. So you could create sprawling cities with a base attached or a satellite base etc.

[@martymcfly88mph35]

That's actually a cool idea I haven't seen floated before.. I like it

[@doujinflip]

I simulate military bases with fenced-off industrial areas with no public transit (or a couple bus lines at most), since much of the look is warehouses while the traffic are trucks and personal vehicles