I've been (re)playing Civilization V. It is, in my opinion, still one of the single most fantastic games ever made. The depth of strategy available, the distinct ways in which you can win (Tourism/Science/Domination), the wonder bonuses versus a focus on empire building or attacking and dominating opponents with your army, etc.

I only take issue with the AI (Notoriously bad); both in terms of gameplay (See: unit pathing when trying to siege your cities) and diplomacy (The United Nations addition did not help - it seems to have just gotten worse. You will never, ever, ever see ownership of the UN change hands!). I also think the AI forgives itself far too easily for things like warmongering and what not, while it can continue to hate a player for this the entire game. What's more, the stream of denouncements that lead to more denouncements that lead to more denouncements can make the game feel isolating in the way it treats diplomacy (i.e. never bother cooperating, just focus on your tourism/conquering/science and win without ever making a friend). The way it conducts trade is also odd, and to be honest - bad. A luxury resource keeps the same value in terms of gp/5, even though happiness is far more valuable later in the game than it is early, whereas gold is completely opposite.

However, I maintain that despite my complaints, the game remains fantastic. Being able to replay the path of human civilzation, and meeting these fantastically impressive world leaders that ran empires we cannot even begin to comprehend the size of, behaving very much in accordance to their historical personalities, is just awesome. That feeling when you spawn next to Ghenghis Khan on one side, and Attila the hun on the other, where your heart just sinks into your chest, would never be felt if you spawned next to, for example, Byzantines and Maya.

Either way, I absolutely cannot wait for the new civilization. Beyond Earth removed a lot of aspects that make civ what it is, such as the recognizable world leaders, without really adding game mechanics that I liked. I sincerely hope that, for civ VI, they keep expanding on what Civ 5 accomplished, and leave this little expirement in a dark, unknown corner of their company history.

P.S.: Also, please let me "punish" enemy computers for their shitty behavior, like having all their troops on my border and blatantly preparing for an invasion, or the non-stop attempts to convert my cities to their religion, as they do to me.