Barbu, overall you find it "bof" ("meh" for non-French speaking people). I still have to try it once or twice, because we played with 2 more hill tiles and 2 less grassland tiles (error in the box, borrowed from the game library of my gf's company, and we found out too late to restart), and also because one of my friends got stuck in the middle right from the start and was bored all along...
All were beginners or almost.
Shabba, is stalemate possible/recurring in 4-player standard Catane?? I thought one would always manage to win (4/5 cities and/or some cards to go to 10 points).
I have already played Ticket to Ride once or twice: agreed, same kind of game, suitable for casual play, and quite fun.
I keep this thread as bookmark for the suggestion of games. The coop one sounds interesting.