Feedback on Great People & Great Works Mechanics - Loss of Immersion and Historical Context

[fallow sonnet]

Dear Civilization VII Development Team,

While I appreciate the intent behind streamlining systems, I feel the current simplification of these particular mechanics has gone too far and significantly diminished the game's immersion and historical richness compared to previous iterations (notably Civilization VI).

My main concern is the loss of tangible identity associated with Great People and their creations:

1.Anonymity of Great Works: I can no longer see the specific names of the Great Works (paintings, writings, musical compositions, etc.) being created. This removes the connection to real historical art and culture.

2.Missing Visual/Audio Samples: Previous games featured evocative excerpts of these works – a glimpse of the painting, a passage of text, or a musical snippet. Their absence makes the Great Works feel abstract and forgettable.

3.Reduction to Numbers: The combined effect of these changes is that Great People and their Works now feel primarily like generic stat boosts or "numbers on a stick." The soul, the historical narrative, and the sense of wonder in interacting with these iconic figures and their creations have been greatly diminished.
These elements were crucial in making the Cultural Victory feel meaningful and historically resonant. They transformed Great People from mere game mechanics into memorable events that celebrated human achievement.

I strongly urge you to reconsider this approach. Reintroducing the names of specific Great Works, visual/audio excerpts, and clearer identification of individual Great People would restore the depth, immersion, and educational value that many players cherished in previous Civilization titles.

Thank you for your time and consideration. I remain a passionate fan of the series and hope to see the richness of its historical tapestry fully realized in Civilization VII.

[brazen pike]

My feelings on this subject are a bit different, if I may share them..

"Great People" are changed in 2 ways compared to 6:

Firstly "Leaders" are in many ways the new "Great Person System" where any Great Person can be selected by any Civ. But now you do it right from the start of the game, and this Great Person is actually pivotal to your entire playthrough instead of being 1 cog in your machine.

Secondly, the Civ-specific "Great People" are the replacement of the "unit type" from 6, because having a unit that does some splashy 1-use effect is fun.
BUT I would not compare them 1-to-1 with the Great People of 6.

I would argue that the Leaders do much of the heavy lifting of telling stories about Great People (in fact I would argue they are much more fleshed out than the Great People in 6). The Civ-specific ones don't have as much depth to them.

The "civ specific great people" have about as much historical context provided as the other unique units. While the individual Great People don't get any flavour -- they could add some more flavour here.. I'm not sure many people even know how to find these pages mind you... there's a bit of a "discoverability" issue -- eg did you know that Han China has 2 uniquely named Great Works

I'd say look at it more holistically. Instead of "Great People in 7 vs Great People in 6" and look at it more broadly, like.. how much does 7 tell you about great people. Not "how much does the great people mechanic tell you about great people". Just because they shifted around where and when they do the storytelling doesn't mean it's not there.

I see a lot of "solution based" feedback where people are presuppositioning that Civ 7 is worse because it's not Civ 6 "plus". They can (and should) cut back on certain mechanics/systems if they feel it is served better in a different way -- eg "Leaders" instead of "Great People" as their key vehicle for talking about people.

And if you look at it that way, there's already plenty of story-telling in the game, it's just buried in the civilopedia and not very "discoverable".

(I didn't know each of the Great People had a different model. That's actually kinda cool. In 6 they are all identical. Eg Ada Lovelace is a Great Engineer who has the same model as Leonardo da Vinci. BUT they get their own civilopedia entries in 6 with more historical context, so you win some you lose some...)

[slate island]

I think Ada had a seperate model due to being female

[brazen pike]

Ah, my mistake then! That's good 👍

[thin yacht]

I don't think this post is trying to suggest a Civ 6 "plus" approach. At least from my point of view, the critique is that anonymisation, of relics/codices/unique units and etc, distances the civ/leader from their history. Without making any gameplay adjustments, just adding back in some history would make them feel more immersive.

[proven zephyr]

I don't see the problem that much with Great Persons, but I fully agree on Great Works.

[slate island]

What do you mean anonymization of Unique Units
I get the part with great works