Civilization and Zelda

The best video games ever made are The Legend of Zelda and Civilization. I say this not simply because I have played countless hours of both games, though I admit my bias but because of their impact on video games.
I used to get Nintendo Power magazine and for years after it came out The Legend of Zelda remained in the number one spot of video games. Even after Zelda 2 came out.
I love finding secrets in a game. Looking for that last hidden thing, even if it has nothing to do with the actual game is fun. I'm the guy who had to get his Atari out when I heard there was a secret room in Adventure, so Zelda was addictive, and even today there are people making new maps for the original Zelda you can download. I've done it and the game is every bit as addictive as it was when it came out.
Civilization is even worse on the addictive scale though. I can stop playing Zelda and go to sleep. The game will still be there in the morning. The only way to stop playing civilization is to stop, save the game, take the disk out of the computer, uninstall the game and lose the disks so I can't reinstall it.
This is on my mind because I'm right now reinstalling Civilization 4. Unlike Zelda which has good sequels but nothing to challenge the first Civilization has improved. This is mostly because they have kept the basic game play the same, adding only depth and width.
Civ 4 Colonization was a problem when it came out because it took me back to the days i lost playing Colonization back in the day, but even worse is Fall From Heaven 2.
Fall From Heaven 2 is a mod for civilization 4, and if you're a fantasy fan and a civ fan I'm warning you now, don't download this game.
Really, forget you've ever even heard of it because it will overtake your life. The problem is that while there are as many races in this game as it civilization every one of them plays differently. There are elves which can build towns and farms on forests and dwarfs who get a bonus for hording gold, and Orks who must pillage any city they take, but start the game at peace with the barbarians.
So, until another game takes over my life i'll be playing Civilization 4.