Civilization II - The Story of One of Gaming's Greatest Ever Sequels | Kim Justice

Sid Meier's Civilization was a PC legend by the time Civ II arrived, but it's rare for a sequel to be as influential as it is great -- Civ II is that sequel. This video explains its success: From Sid letting go of his own game, a look at Colonization, and a full analysis of this great game.
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0:00 Intro: The Eternal War
3:18 The Rise of Brian Reynolds | Sid Meier's Colonization
13:29 The Making of Civilization II
23:18 Why Civ II is one of the Greatest and Most Important Sequels
34:37 Firaxis, CivNet, Call to Power and Test of Time
Sid Meier's Civilization II is one of the greatest and most influential gaming sequels ever made, and Sid Meier didn't actually have too much to do with it. As incredible as the original Civ was, this game was in many ways the one that set out the future of the series, and made sure it was going to be around forever. This video examines the many reasons behind it's greatness -- the genius of Brian Reynolds, his first steps forward with Colonization, how trouble at MicroProse allowed his team to operate under the radar, the various follow-ups and scenario packs, and -- of course -- the almighty Multimedia High Council. Enjoy!
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#kimjustice #retrogaming #pc #civilization #civ2 #sidmeier

[@Kim_Justice]

What are your memories of Civ II? And most importantly, who's YOUR favourite High Council member? Please do share them, leave comments and give this video a thumbs up if you enjoy. :) Cheers!

[@bluespaceman7937]

My memories of Civilization II are highly colored by playing a lot of user-created scenarios, many of which put a lot of thought into adapting the game to portray different situations from both history and fiction as well as some impressive spritework too. That was great fun for quite a while. As for my favorite, it would have to be the military advisor, but Elvis is a close second. They're the ones I remember the most after all these years.

[@sargonsblackgrandfather2072]

I was twelve and convinced my mum to pay for one of those game subscriptions where you could choose like three games for almost nothing but you were obligated to buy a full price game every month. She relented, I got the three games and didn’t buy any games from the company again. Got threatening legal letters for years until they eventually gave up. The three games I got for free: Civ 2, Gunship 2000 and Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe. Really I wanted Gunship and SWOTL but once me and my friends installed Civ 2 we pretty much forgot about everything else. That’s how fantastic it was. Remember just not sleeping one weekend, just one more turn turned into it being pointless going to sleep at all lol.

[@TobiasRohde]

I was never a Civ II player, but I remember one evening when I played it as a test. And suddenly it was four o'clock in the morning and I was still sitting in front of the PC.

[@AudieHolland]

Playing all out Nuclear War and of course, the spy smuggling in a nuclear device is much, much more efficient in time and cost than investing in those stupidly enormous ICBMs which could be neutralized if the enemy constructed SDI (100% effective against nukes but it couldn't stop 'nuclear spies!' So I'd send a few transports filled with spies, hit a city, then the enemy would rush in more troops from the country side, I'd nuke them again, untill they ran out of units. Cleaning up all the radio-active fall out was rather arduous though... While you couldn't position your units on an ally's territory and declaring war then use them because they would be moved back to your territory again before they could attack, I constructed fortifications on an ally's beach. Kept a transport filled with marines nearby then after war broke out, I'd unload my marines into the fortifications I had built myself. Winning the game by conquering all your enemies wasn't much fun though. You always wanted to achieve the Space Race victory, or whatever the proper name. So I beat my opponents till they all occupied just a single city, kept carrier forces nearby or built airbases close to them on land, then I'd bomb them into the stone age every turn without ever conquering them. This was a rather satisfying fix for getting a Space Race victory because no other power would be able to complete their spaceship, if they had ever started to build one to begin with. Waging nuclear war was just a way for me to play silly games once in a while but I remember one time, a carrier of mine that also carried SLBMs (there were actual plans to have carriers be able to launch SLBMs some time during the 1970s or 1980s I think), was on its way to nuke my biggest enemy, when it just passed an ally's capital, let's say London, then suddenly the ally declared war on me! Onboard my carrier: -"Sir, we received a top priority coded message from base!" "Huh!? What does it say?" -"We are now also at war with our former allies the British!" "Goddamn limeys, nuke them before they do it to us..." -"All missiles launched, target wiped off the map." "Great! Set course back to base to rearm.

[@erikkarsies4851]

That it sucked on a 486DX40 and (after I'd got a better PC) when I had bought Alpha Centauri I've never played again (Did play Civ 3 to the bone which in some parts was a cut back version of v2) In other words... the review of Alpha Centauri will be worth the time also! And why isn't there at least a Graphical remake of that one... it's content was awesome!

[@TheCrazierz]

Things I miss in Civ 6 - being able to customize/name your civilization -list of ranks of wealth, education, culture, etc at certain intervals throughout the game. End game graphs, stats and rankings - real corporations/wealth victory -advisors to give you perspective - pops ethnicity, so even if you completely conquer a nation, they still keep their hatred and have revolt

[@MrDowntemp0]

If Civ I was Wolfenstein3D, Civ 2 was Doom.

[@orbitingdecay6797]

Great analogy

[@HardwareFahrrad]

There is NOTHING else that needs to be added to that comment. N-O-T-H-I-N-G.

[@lutfimakarim8258]

Does that mean Civ 3 is Quake?

[@matsv201]

What is catacomb 3d then?

[@MrDowntemp0]

@@matsv201 Another game

[@tuffasgong]

I still think Civ 2 is the best Civ game. It I think perfectly weighs depth of gameplay and playability without becoming overly obfuscated. Best memory was playing weeklong matches with my buddy over modem (Civ 2 gold save and continue) back in Jr. High.

[@haveanotherpinacolada]

This was my first ever PC game on my piece of crap windows 95 computer back when I was about 12. I was so addicted to it, I would fake being ill to stay off school so I could play it.

[@nanettemccrone25]

Me too. The reason my first boyfriend dumped me 🤣

[@markiv2942]

Why do you call that computer "piece of crap"? It still run these games for you when you were twelve.

[@haveanotherpinacolada]

@@markiv2942 Oh I loved it, but it was old and slow and not very good even back then.

[@jimmym3352]

Many great memories. Was one of my first PC games (not exactly sure if it was my very first). I was in the military at the time and grown up. But never owned a PC before (I started with Commodore 64). I really loved that even a dummy like me could design scenarios and modify existing ones to my liking. I couldn't design the art, but could easily download it from the internet or use existing art files. I enjoyed making my own WW2 scenarios back then.

[@sunnyjim1355]

We have all pulled such a 'tactical sicky'... at least you had smarts to do so over something worthwhile.

[@marijumanji]

Thank you random dude who worked at EB games who suggested this game to my clueless mum. Hundreds of hours of joy.

[@AxelQC]

It's amazing that Sid Meier created a game called "Civilization" while living in Hunt Valley, MD, yet he claims to have never heard of Avalon Hill's Civilization board game that was created in Hunt Vally, MD and had an annual gaming convention in Hunt Valley, MD, a small suburb of Baltimore.

[@eedaesung5555]

Let's get real. Good chance that Sid Meier lied and was/is always was full of shit. He stole the game. If he didn't it's possible the Civilization game would have never reached a larger audience, and would have never been the cultural phenomenon that it is. So, Yes Sid Meier is a piece of a shit for lying, but at the same time, he digitized a classic game.

[@AxelQC]

@@eedaesung5555 "The ends justifies the means."

[@medes5597]

It was created in Hastings, AvalonHill just licensed it.

[@user-uy4xx5xi5o]

N hmmm​@@AxelQC

[@DBagg-zz4ip]

From Sid's Memoir: "As a former employee at Avalon Hill, Bruce was of course aware of their Civilization board game, and we might have even had a copy of it somewhere in the MicroProse “Fun Zone” (also known as the break room)-but I had never personally played it before embarking on our project. This is not to say that my version of Civilization had no outside influences-far from it." He then goes on to credit Empire and The Seven Cities of Gold for inspiration.

[@Spacemutiny]

I once started a game of Civ 2 at about 9 in the morning and played until about 3am. Never have I ever marathoned anything that long again lol I also vividly remember buying it and while my mom drove me home I unfolded the sheet with all the units and was absolutely amazed.

[@FeelingShred]

I used to do long marathons like that while playing MAX Mechanized Assault Exploration (Interplay, MSDOS) another turn-based strategy game, hours would fly by

[@Spacemutiny]

@@FeelingShred I remember that game I don’t think I ever figured out how to play. I was too impatient with it but I remember it being a cool game.

[@FeelingShred]

@@Spacemutiny The game has a STEEP learning curve for sure. It's CommandAndConquer, Starcraft, Dune and even some 4X Master of Magic/Civ elements thrown into the package. Turn-based means that you can have meaningful choices, instead of spamming mouse-clicks. Also, a nice touch is that it is the only strategy game I ever know that doesn't have RandomNumberGenerator in it, everything in the game is deterministic so you know in advance if you will be able to attack an unit, or be killed, etc. The first couple of Campaign missions in that game did not represent very well what the game is about, in my opinion. The game has a bug where it can crash if your game lasts for too long and there are too many units in the map (CPU A.I. builds trash nonstop all over the map) So it means that playing defensive doesn't work since it will most likely lead to a crash. Use alternate savefiles as much as you can.

[@Spacemutiny]

@@FeelingShred I’ll have to revisit it

[@Hotlog69]

I used to marathon on the PS1. Yeah, it was that bad.

[@sfjp1]

Had this on PS1, me and my brother loved it. There where actually a few good startegy games on PS1.

[@tomalexander4327]

I must have spent thousands of hours playing Civ 2 when I was a teenager.

[@ryanrussell8262]

Same. I loved the WW2 scenario. Civ4 was a great sequel.

[@ikwilgeenkanaalzeur]

Loved that you could upgrade your throne room.

[@andrewhooper7603]

I want throne rooms and city screens back! Sigh, maybe when Civ VR comes out.

[@jackbrunton9833]

God, VR Civilisation would be incredible

[@DoctorEviloply]

This is so cool. Could you possibly do a documentary on Alpha Centauri? I'd love to see what went into making that game's unique faction personalities.

[@Whiteyy191]

If you haven’t seen it the mandaloregaming vid on AC is great

[@CarDietrich]

You didn't watch to the end did you?

[@jimmym3352]

@@CarDietrich He definitely seems to refer to SMAC. And it sure needs its own video. Awesome game. I love everything about it except maybe the graphical art concept. It's a little too dark for my tastes. It takes everything from Civ2 and makes it better. The wonder videos are outstanding. I love the wonder videos of Civ2 and SMAC actually. Yeah it's a product of its time to have multimedia like that, but I like it. The unit design concept is pretty cool, though I admit I stick to relatively few basic deigns for myself.

[@rayeasom]

SMAC was a great game. I’m sure it came between civ2 and civ3. It was a good twist on the game with unique leaders and factions on a different terrain with mindsorms replacing barbarians. In played the call to power series between civ2 and SMAC. I have to say SMAC outdid them all and paved the way for the updated Beyond Earth in 2014.

[@JohnnyProctor9]

I like how it's basically just a template for you to make your own custom scenarios with...

[@roythomson555]

I wish GOG would reissue this for modern machines - i'd love to play it again.

[@onomatopoeia7505]

@@HansLemurson Wow, how did I miss this patch? Thank you do much, it works great!

[@AaronOfMpls]

@@HansLemurson Thanks for linking to that! Maybe I'll try it later. (I hadn't thought of something like that, since Civ2 runs just fine for me in Wine on Linux.)

[@Seth9809]

Why not the Civ 4 version?

[@jimmym3352]

I haven't tried installing this game in years. I do believe it worked with win 95 and probably 98. Don't know if it worked with XP and later. Had a lot of fun with this game back in the day.

[@HansLemurson]

@@AaronOfMpls I initially got it for the compatibility, but kept it for the UI fixes. Also an optional fix to make the AI from the MG edition not irrationally hate you. Do the movies and Soundtrack work for you on Linux?

[@steelcurtain187]

This game warms my heart. One of the best all time

[@detectivesquirrel2621]

Civ 2 is one of my all time favourite games, both on PC and original Playstation.

[@UltraVibeProductions]

Ah, good old Civ 2... I think most PC gamers would have been hooked on this game for a while back in the late 90s. Excellent video presentation, I imagine it would have taken ages to research and compile all this information.

[@jasonstreet2835]

Kim, This is literally one of my favourite games. You're amazing.

[@stevenwarner9156]

Was heavily addicted to this when I was 11. My parents got me the Ultimate Civilization II Classic Collection for my birthday, and my dad often had to pry me off his Pentium Pro! Absolutely adored the game, but never got into the scenarios as I was rubbish at the main game. Need to rectify that! Thanks for this fantastic video.

[@tesoulx]

Try freeciv, the opensouce project

[@stevenwarner9156]

@@tesoulx Definitely will! Thanks for the tip. :)

[@AudieHolland]

Here's my 2 Cents on how to win *Colonization:* *1.* Search and destroy *most* of your European competitor's colonies at the start (I mean capture them, buy as many cannon in the motherland); *2.* Give the natives muskets, horses, buy land instead of taking it, make expert missions - the natives will deal with most invaders, making them an extra defense against those frustrating enemy units that just infiltrate without declaring war and never wish to leave; *3.* Keep Rebel sentiments under control because your European rivals will try to declare their independence first, lowering your final score; *4.* To attack other units, use cavalry only - if they get defeated, they still have their muskets so pull them back and give them new horses; *5.* To keep the supply of horses to the frontier lightning fast, use horsemen to move them, instead of trying to move them in slow wagons; Breeding and sending horses as horsemen to musketmen is the key to winning wars. Cannon are good only for sieges. Resist the urge to try developing multiple major colonies at the start. Just focus on making one as big and lucrative as possible, keeping the others as 'single colonist' settlements that just provide resources to the main colony. Later on, when you have more colonies with 2 or 3 colonists in it, send a specialist carpenter and build lumber mills in all those colonies, making every basic colonist as productive as a 'specialist' carpenter when building things. After becoming more and more proficient at beating the game, try not to wipe out all Expeditionary Force landing parties. At one point, if you have many forts, fortresses bordering the ocean, the Expeditionary Force may run out of ships to land more troops, dragging the war out untill they can land troops again. Never hold 'Boston Tea Parties.' There's just no point in your motherland boycotting your colony. Just pay the damn taxes, you'll be able to get back at them in the endgame, turning most landings into Early Modern 'Omaha Beach' massacres. If you are 'too succesful' and don't know what to do with multiple or even many 'spare colonists,' just 'park' them somewhere inland. Also, if you're in a war with a rival power and it's going well, you having a superior number of forces, try to broker a peace every other turn but try to get as much money during from them in turn during peace negotiations. After the enemy governor has paid you a few hundred or even thousand, just attack them again the next turn, broker a peace deal again the following turn, get some more money from them, etc. etc. This way, the enemy is literally paying for your forces' siege of their colony. When they have no more money to offer for peace, it's time to capture them.

[@count69]

I played the Rise of Rome scenario once and as part of my long term strategy I was allied with the Seleucid Greeks which lasted the entire game. Unfortunately Antioch was one of the objectives I needed to win the game. I was unable to complete the game because of the close alliance had been in place so long it was impossible to break! I tried invading Antioch, but they just repaired all my troops. And I couldn't starve them because friendly troops don't stop city square production. I tried breaking the treaty but they just refused to go to war with me! I was left unable to capture Antioch.

[@aruan7sp]

Civ II is still my favorite of the series, I always keep a copy on my PC to play it from time to time, great video.

[@alanciux]

Me too

[@charlesfollette9692]

Many hours spent on this one growing up, would still play today.

[@pokedude104]

civ 2 was the first PC game I ever played. I grew up watching my dad play it as far back as I can remember. I still play it semi regularly and I'll probably never stop playing. None of the other new games feel the same or scratch the itch I have to play CIV like 2 does

[@joev8106]

Thank you so much for making this video. Civ ii feels so forgotten these days but its still perhaps my favorite game of all time. Good to see that other people still appreciate this

[@Benjamin.Jamin.]

Another great video Kim! Thanks. My main memory of CIV2 was playing on a really awful laptop I was given. It couldn't save the game... So I'd have to play the whole thing in one sitting or hope it didn't crash when I left it on :0

[@behemothemperor]

This is a fantastic documentary. Some of my earliest gaming memories are of playing the original Civ, and it still squeezes one more turn of my life to this day. Really enjoyed learning some of the behind the scenes stuff you went over. Awesome vid, earned a sub :)

[@barneybay6070]

I am so very grateful for your channel, it allowed me to explore the history of video games before I was even born, thank you !

[@terrythe2dmaniac71]

As amazingly thorough and entertaining as ever, really enjoyed this video.

[@oliverschlesinger6744]

I loved the sound of the Howitzer unit, with it's subtle delayed animation and destructive impact. Thinking of it, artillery units were insanely overpowered.

[@papperstejp]

Totally agree! Howitzer was (is) my favourite unit! :D

[@hpholland]

Howitzer could move twice which was a revolution for artillery class units. Artillery and cannons were just too vulnerable

[@tbone2646]

"Thinking of it, artillery units were insanely overpowered." - welcome to the first world war!

[@KasumiRINA]

​@@tbone2646 add drones and it's true today. Drone warfare is just extension of artillery, the gods of war.

[@amysantee]

What an amazing history! Thanks for putting this together.

[@richardhaiku]

A really interesting video, thanks Kim. Civ in its various iterations is one of the few games I will go back to again and again :) A follow up video that covers interesting facts about all the other Civs up to the most recent would be great.

[@jacob_swaggerz]

Hi Kim, found your channel recently and have been binge watching! I love your documentaries on games and studios as you are so in-depth and interesting in how you address the story and history of the game/studio, and your choice of content to cover (Psygnosis or Team 17 for example) is really interesting as they aren't often covered. I'm not sure if you already have done one but I'd love to see you cover Shiny Entertainment. Keep up the great work!

[@davidcarmedy9253]

One of your best yet Kim. I’ve been watching your channel since the very early days and it’s great to see how far you’ve come. Superb. PS if you ever fancy doing on video on command and conquer, that would be great. The skirmish mode on Red Alert 1&2 took up many many hours of my youth.

[@RainaEmms]

I still listen to the key seven "songs" from the soundtrack all the time.

[@RyanDanielG]

Love these Docs by people like you, Another Boring Topic, and the Nerd. Y'all really put time into them and it shows! CHEERS!

[@elizabeth_noir]

Great video as always. Playing Civ II for the first time in 2020 is what finally got me into the series. I just wanted to shout out this Civ2-UI-Additions mod which not only patches AI aggression in Multiplayer Gold Edition, but enhances the UI adding turn counters and worker countdowns.

[@astonmikedelgado]

You cover some of our favorite games. Thank you for making your content , hopefully one day we can get you on our podcast and pick that wonderful brain of yours. Have a great week and keep up the great work

[@doberman2yk]

This is just what i wanted. Fantastic stuff as usual kim :)

[@jamesaitchison9478]

I love Civ II, i spent many days/nights/weeks playing that classic...good times. Great video Kim 👍

[@crossfire7474]

Hi, thanks for sharing this video. It is an informative insight on the history of Civ II.

[@Wiggins773]

been meaning to watch this for a while V interesting documentary and well presented too

[@RETROCENGO]

Great game, great review/history lesson, this man deserves much more subscribers for sure

[@sunnyjim1355]

I simply don't have the words (nor can find the emoji) to express how stunned and delighted I am to find this absolutely brilliant and thorough appraisal of this classic game.... There has to be some kind of Internationally recognized award for this kind of excellence, right? Idk, like a Nobel Prize or at least a Knighthood? Fantastic work here, I loved it so much. 😍

[@bryanmitchell5811]

This was one of my favorite computer games as a kid. I would spend hours playing through the game-the scenarios, cheat mode, and even went through the games files to watch the FMVs for the wonders. I was always fond of the science and foreign advisors from the High Council. Keep up the good work and stay safe! : )

[@TheSultan79]

Probably one of my all time favorite games played many hours on it till the wee hours of the morning also got to play multiplayer a lot with it and loved the world war 2 scenario

[@fulmarmusic1413]

I think I was 10 when I first played it. The little icons are bringing those old vibes!

[@IceFire9yt]

I just want to say that Civ II was perhaps my favorite game as a kid. I played so much of it (even if I wasn't that good at it, I could still have a tone of fun on the easy difficulties). By the way, the soundtrack is amazing. The Shining Path and Augustus Rises are great, and I love how those songs were implemented in Civ 4 (which also had an amazing soundtrack).

[@Radditz68]

Thanks for talking about Colonization, it's by far my favorite title from micro/Sid

[@bobrogers4019]

I played this for the first time in about 2006 and was addicted to it. I have not played it for years, and played it again after watching Kim's Twitch stream on it - and I was completely addicted to it again playing it until about 4 in the morning (just one more turn!). it's fascinating how every game is different. I remember playing it the first time and being amazed at the sudden appearance of alpine troops!

[@stevie_caldwell]

Great vid. I’d love to see a video exploring the whole history of Sim City. Bloody love that series.

[@ricochetpig]

Kim’s done a Sim City video now

[@veganmonter]

In the words of the Attitude Advisor: Thank you very much!

[@hpholland]

Rome and WW2 scenarios were just so fun. I played them both dozens of times

[@9ElevenGamer]

How utterly weird, I was playing this just 3 days ago.

[@keyalpha1]

That was a good video, really brought me back.

[@TimChuma]

They had to audition dozens of Elvis impersonators for this game. I can remember buying this as my 21st birthday present which means I have been playing CIV games half my life. "Will you defend our city with haystacks my lord? Build city walls first and other improvements later!"

[@LuderSatan1]

Of all the Civilization fans ive talked to, almost every single one list this game as the best civilization game... But I am one of the few, that prefers the 3rd one. I just love all the small things introduced in that one: using artillery as artillery, the ability to make colonies, the ability to draft citizens into soldiers, the idea that you cant capture enemy workers and make them slaves, that you can make these slaves to be part of a city (making a multi-cultural city) and that you can make an army of 3 - 5 units.

[@nanettemccrone25]

I loved the music in civ 3. When I suffered insomnia in my teens I played civ 3 to death.

[@FedralBI]

I agree. I loved Civ 3. The changes were perfection.

[@GeorgeMonet]

Nah I can't stand Civ 3. It takes away everything great about Civ 3 and focuses solely on the mechanics alone. But the mechanics should be just a tool and not the end goal. So it looks terrible and has no heart.

[@lukasbosina301]

I recall a mod or scenario for civ 3 where our computer needed about 15 minutes per enemy turn. Was still fun but I prefer CIV2. Though Civ 4 with all expansions is probably even better.

[@clearsmashdrop5829]

Civ3 didn't last very long on my hard drive. But one thing I wish stuck around in Civ4 was being able to bombard features. I remember having fun using a battleship to destroy mines along the coast of my enemy.

[@HansLemurson]

Excellent summary of the history!

[@zoompt-lm5xw]

Great memories! Thanks

[@motorb1tch]

18:30 : in civ 1 a battleship had a 1:18 chance to die to a settler and a 1:9 chance to die to that ancient phalanx. it was MUCH worse then the 99:1 chance you spoke about. anyhow: civ 2, yes. insanely great game. it also aged so very very well because it scaled so well with any resolution and had a flexible ui.

[@lynxharpthorn7764]

I was about 12 when I played civ 2. It was amazing and the advisors were so cool. I enjoyed the historical videos you got to see when you built a Wonder.

[@mediocrefunkybeat]

My Dad bought us Test of Time when it came out. My brother is still (over twenty years later) an obsessive Civ player and it had a big impact on our childhoods. One of the few things we could do together without getting into a scrap!

[@paulwallis7586]

I first encountered Civ 2 in its dressier, Test of Time form. Spent thousands of hours on it. Never read the manual, learned it as played, and got up to 300% civ rating. It's one of the most playable strategy games I've ever seen, to this day. No clunkiness, no ponderous mechanics, etc. No over-emphasis on things like religion, unlike Civ 6. The maps are fun and challenging. Should reboot it as a "definitive edition" for modern OS with upgrades as required. It really is the most flexible strategy game of all time, and fabulous for its off-world tech and units. A lesson for designers for centuries to come.

[@HansWurst-dk6pp]

I knew that Sid Meier later just supervised a few games with his name, but I never knew he wasn't the lead designer of Colonization and Cvi2. Very interesting and informative video!

[@K0RETA-QUEBEC]

2024 and this game still as this sweet spot i cant find in any other game, even on board game i cant go better than going back to this master piece

[@mementomori8791]

Pirates, Railroad Tycoon and Civ. I’ll raise an altar to this man. I’ve lost hundreds of thousands of hours to his creations.

[@swr3603]

I love the gameplay loop in colonization so much I hope someday there's the possibility of a game with it in a different setting which doesn't turn historical horrors into fun

[@murkyseb]

Very interesting, good work

[@MrKenichi22]

Civ 2 was my first Civilization Game back in 2001, from a cheep bin purchase at best buy. This was an excellent Video. Kim, You did justice in your review of Civilization 2, I apologize for the pun, but I spent many years of my life playing this game and your video was excellent. Thank you, Kim Justice.

[@GodEmperorOfShorts]

All my memories of Civ II came from watching my friends dad play the PlayStation port in the early 2000s, and a little bit later playing it occasionally when I was at their house.

[@GetUpTheMountains]

I absolutely loved this game. One of the first that glued me to the computer for more hours than I care to admit. I ended up making scenarios for it at Apolyton's Scenario League and tried my best to make Captain Nemo style WWII scenarios. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. I met alot of people at Apolyton. Miss those fellas.

[@No-jb6fy]

My friends kept playing the original Civ so that was it!

[@H1Guard]

The online Civ community was tight-knit back in the day. It was the reason I started using the internet. I had previously been sporadically active in the dial-up BBS world. I was an organizer for Civ3 as an early member of the Civ2 forum Apolyton. The Civ3 team actively encouraged brainstorming and feedback on Apolyton and one other large forum (name slips my mind). Several members were chosen to collect, edit, and summarize ideas. My topic was transportation. I haven't been on Apolyton for years. I know that a server crash a decade ago wiped out many archives of those years. Sadly, Civ3 was a major disappointment. The game went a completely different direction. No resentment here, just nothing like what many people wanted as a revision of Civ2. Call to Power 2 did take some Apolyton ideas to heart. Civ4 was better, but my computer couldn't run it. I kept playing Civ2 until the monitor for my old XP desktop died, then we moved and I didn't have a place for a desk/office any more. I might drag the old XP out and see if my buddy can help me port it to a VM...

[@GetUpTheMountains]

Apolyton was the best. Long live the Scenario League! Are you thinking of CivFanatics for the other, far less cool Civ site? What was your username?

[@Lauren94twitch]

30:00 love the singing

[@LegoBattletruck]

This was one of my first games after getting a PC. October 1996 as I recall. I played civ on the Amiga. How many hours I lost to this bad boy I will never know

[@Mintcar923]

It’s been a while since I’d played this one so I’m not sure if it holds up compared to the newer versions.. But back in the day it was my GOAT.. I don’t recall ever being as fascinated with any game as I was with this. Funny thing was initially when the first one came out and my friend demonstrated it I was thoroughly bored! I’m glad I gave the series another chance.,

[@jimmym3352]

I probably wouldn't play it now days. Graphics aside, it would drive me crazy when the AI would put cities in what I considered "my territory". There was no real solution to this. SMAC helped a bit by having faction borders, though AI civs could still put cities right near the border and push the borders back. And then there was the OP'ness of howitzers. I still absolutely love wonder videos and the advisor though. Thankfully both can be found on youtubes.

[@jannegrey593]

I still play the game and adore it. Even though I also love Civ 4 and 5 with expansions.

[@HENCEtheWEATHER]

One of the best video you have ever made. =)

[@Rikk_Mercenari]

While in its vanilla form I enjoyed the game, where I found years of continued play was in the scenario builder and in drawing the new units to be used in those scenarios I created. Off the top of my head I remember a Napoleonic one, a magic fantasy one, a modern warfare one etc and some others. Up until Civ 3 and its scenario builder overtook my time, and played that one until Civ V. Those were some great times

[@ghostlypresence5362]

A game I remember in much better graphics than it ever was. I'm always shocked when I see how it really was, my young imagination filled all the gaps.

[@johnathanwalker8395]

Colonization was my favorite game for a really long time. Even competing against King's Quest and Eco Quest. And I spent many many hours playing RR Tycoon and Civ 2

[@TheHolywhippet]

My sister really liked the video high council advisors. She was always dissapointed that later editions never included them. What I seem to recall about Civ 2 was the horrible pathfinding. Ordering units to travel over long distances would sometimes see them moving back and forth between the same two tiles. Still, it was a good sequel to a great game.

[@poco_a_poco_music]

Never played it. Always wanted to. So I guess my only real memory of this is reading the back of the box while I worked in Electronics Boutique in Manchester. Great video as always Kim

[@darrinwebber4077]

I had a game once... . I landed my starship on same turn as I captured last city and last opponent as date turned to 2020. But somei happened. A glitch The game continued scoring and playing. Me against the barbarians. No opponents. It was awesome. But... Of course... I saved game but a roommate borrowed my card and wiped out the game. I was so pissed. Greatest game I ever played... Maybe.

[@jasperzanjani]

I can still hear the tabla drum loop that plays in the main menu

[@hizzaddinno394]

That civ2 soundtrack takes me back to my youth.

[@JamRocksJamrocks]

I played this game for the first time when I was 7 and I’ve been so nostalgic about it recently I just want to play it so bad

[@Anoldergamer1971]

That's the game that finally got me to switch to a Pc computer from my Amiga. I litterally bought a computer for THAT game. So many hours played on it

[@rayeasom]

I remember buying this game the day it came out, then bought the expansion scenarios, battling aliens was great. It was a massive update and upgrade from the original game.

[@jeankepler8081]

I'll never forget the first time I saw the counselors during anarchy

[@Holammer]

The eternal war bit at the beginning sounds like the backstory to every two bit planet in the 40k universe.

[@onomatopoeia7505]

I love the story of how the original pc which ran Civ 2 non-stop was in a basement, and eventually failed and caught fire because of a water leak. And regarding any gameplay stories... too many to count. And I still play Civ 2 today, on my own on an old Win98 pc, or Civ Gold when doing multiplayer. Favorite advisor? Mmm, either Science or Military. I simply love how enthousiastic they become when you concentrate on science or war respectively.

[@craigdavidson5613]

I am a huge fan of the Civilization series. I even purchased a package set of Civilization III & IV from my local EB Games many a year ago. The ironic thing was that at that same sale, at that same time, at that same place, they were also selling Civ IV in a lesser package without the Colonization spinoff. Given that the Civ III & IV pack had Colonization, and came at a cheaper price than the other set, it was an obviously good deal I went for.

[@SputnikRSS1]

There is one reason I always go back to Civ 2 as it is the best in the series for controlability. There is no need to use a mouse so you can fly thru turns just using the keyboard and shortcuts. Yes the AI was annoying at times and the diplomacy was pretty broken but the game just plays so much better than all its succesors. If they could remake the game update the graphics fix the AI and diplomacy leaving the original controls it would be glorious. Let me stack a thousand units if I want and give me the giant maps.

[@holotori_senior_admin_teno]

I played sooooooooooooo much Civ II back in the day. It was the first game I ever had on CDRom and we were all amazed at the videos and such. Also had the Fantastic Worlds disc for the game, and I don't think there's been a Civ since with quite the fun variety of scenarios and such as there were on that. Sure, these days you can just download mods and such if you want such things, but it was nice having a collection of pre-curated ones on hand to try. I especially loved the Civil War scenario, Rise and Fall of Rome, X-Com, and the Master of Magic ones. I'll admit, having gone back and played it more recently, it's quite glaring missing a lot of the quality of life and ease of use stuff later games introduced. But Civ II does still hold up well enough, and it's music and soundeffects and such still have a lot of nostalgia. Oh, and favorite advisor was either luxury-Elvis or politics-lady. Depending on the age I was. ---------------- Side note, played a lot of the original Colonization as well. Still play that one actually, since the "updated" Colonization just isn't as good.

[@mariothibau1070]

Amazing take on the history of gaming. As being born in 1992 i recall all of this one of a kind historical games, that mark the first generation of PC gamers.

[@eateroftheworlds]

I love your videos!

[@lunaticpunter3560]

Oh boy! What an amazing memories...the scenarios created by the public were great! But i love too another microprose game...colonization, what a fantastic game. The mechanics are great, profound and gives a unique atmosphere of that times! All in all, sid meyers was a genius! Thanks so much to give me and my generation, wonderful times!

[@deku812]

Civ III released a month after 9/11 so it had a weird sort of alignment where a game about making your own history released alongside one of the biggest world changing events for the 21st century. It also in many ways laid the framework for 4,5,6 and is really to Civ 4 what Civ was to Civ II. I know your video sort of dismisses looking at it , at least in your next video, but it is worth a look at Civ III and beyond in a future video.

[@laalki80]

30:56 Wonder how the Bronze Age Sioux knew who to blame for that magical flying log that went BOOM xD

[@TheAsharedhett]

I had no idea there were interactive court leader scenes in Civ 2! :O I started playing with 3 and thought the Zoltar leader heads were supposed to be an innovation at the time. This looks way better lol.