I Played the VV1 and finally after I believe 2-3 months of playing, I finally solved all the puzzles. Now what? I prolly have 90 villagers, mostly children now since the elders have passed. maybe about 20 adults. anywho...why does it seem to take forever to solve the thing. you have to watch all day and it's annoying when you have to stop playing for any time. the golden child never ages and although maxed out on skill...you cannot breed him. But I notice that woman do come up preggo out of nowhere. which really is the best part, making them breed seeing the new child. It's obsessive. Now I have VV3 and although it's quite interesting..the length of time it takes for things to happen is rediculous. I think more should happen in less time. That would be good. I was going to try the VV2 but I just don't want to spend hours upon hours staring at the screen moving villagers around waiting for something to happen. These games need to be upgraded so they take less time for things to happen. Argh! I love the game, don't get me wrong...but sorta boring with all the time it takes.

Really? 2 or 3 months? I hate to say it, but I completed VV1 in about a week. Of course, you have to have a lot of people doing research on a regular basis in order to get the bazillion tech points you need. And I had the game on fast mode any time I was actually playing it, slow mode when I was away.

One time, I left a male villager in breeding mode while I was away, came back and had 32 children the same age! Guess he was a busy little beaver while I was gone.

Hmm....it takes 'sooo long' because that's how the game is played....I'm afraid if you want a more fast paced game you'll have to go elsewhere as this is a real-time game for people with patience!!

When the puzzles are completed you can keep your tribe going indefinitely, or you can start new tribes and play the game in a different way - buying the techs in a different order and seeing if it's better or worse for the tribe, playing the game on hard mode, or solving the puzzles in a different order.

There are endless possibilities for this game, but it never claimed to be a short or easy game....personally I Like the fact that it takes a long time, there's nothing more unsatisfying than getting a game and finishing it in a day and then saying 'now what?'.

I just wonder what you were expecting from the game - why do you think that it's a bad thing to be occupied for months by a pass time?

It's just how the game is. If it was a fast game, people would get bored with it more easily, and the game would be finished in a few hours! Virtual Villagers is a slow paced casual game, like taking care of a pet in real life. You can't jump straight into taking your dog to pet shows and training centres in the first day, you need time and patience, and it will reward you.
There are so many things you can do with this game, like breeding certain villagers to make a whole blonde haired tribe (VV2 and VV3), changing the game files to make your game suit you, and completing the collections/puzzles.
I love the fact that Virtual Villagers takes a while. At the moment I am running 5 tribes, 4 of them unfinished.
The game seems to go faster when you are having fun - remember that.

You know, it's kinda funny. I have some "core" games that can take me "all day" to play through. Then I have some really fast paced games where you're all done in a matter of minutes (an hour or so at most. Then, I have my VV games! (yes all three of them).

Now I've paid more (much more) for some of these games, and some are downright free, but the one's I consider the "best bang for the buck" are my VV games. When I've finished all the puzzles, I can either start over, or just see how long I can keep a tribe going. If I'm playing The Lost Children or The Secret City, I can try for all the collectibles. No matter what, there's always "something" to do!

I suspect that the main reason it took so long to finish your first game of VV, was a lack of knowledge on how to solve the various puzzles. That's ok, because we all started out in the same boat. I admit, it can get a tad exasperating waiting for a particular task to finish, or waiting to get enough tech points to advance to the next level, but I've NEVER gotten bored playing these games.

My suggestion is that you try to start a new tribe, now that you know more about how to solve the puzzles. I'm sure you'll be pleased to find the game goes much faster the second time around. By the way, of the three games, VV2 is my favorite! I think your depriving yourself of a real treat if you don't at least download the trial version.

I never played any single VV game more than a half hour a day, a couple times a day. Usually it's fifteen minutes in the morning, fifteen in the evening.

The game goes on while you're away, remember; if you leave for six hours and turn the game off, six hours of work still gets done. Why does anybody feel you have to BE there for it all? I still get a sense of accomplishment, coming back to see what my tribe's achieved.

Edit: This is in reference to this:

This is definately true for me as well!

I think what is most challenging about VV is that it challenges the player...in real life. There are parts of the game that aren't "instant gratification". There are parts that are slow getting to your next goal but this can cause creativity on the players part...there are other things to be done during these times...read a book, write on the forums, read fan fiction, create something for fan art, help other players...on and on.

I suggest during these 'down times', don't feel obligated to sit and watch the game:



I agree, that could be like watching water boil or grass grow! Don't torture yourself

and also, when you start a new tribe, the game is not the same because the villagers are not the same and they have different characters and behaviours!!