For everyone who has Elemental whether you love the game, hate it or somewhere in-between we now have a poll up to see how the community at large feels.
https://www.elementalgame.com/journals
What happened to "this may be my last post for a bit"?
Go get some sleep already.
Have only had about 6 hours to tinker with it, but I like what I see so far; I see that you (Brad) caught some serious flack today...mostly B.S. as far as I'm concerned. I think Stardock is a fantastic company with a great commitment to its products & fans. Keep up the great work, and don't forget to get some rest!
Thanks for all of the hard work.
Sincerely,
Jason Barron
Wish there was a poll option for "its alright , but needs a few more patches".
Exactly my thought.
EDIT: I voted that I was dissatisfied with it. That was my closest feeling.
The game needs polished. It will get polished, but it shipped with quite a few rough edges. It seems like SD was trying to hit a date.
Those are really bad and vague choices. You need a "I like it but it needs a lot of work" choice.
I second this, I voted but i was looking for this lol.
Yes, I can't vote in that poll, since it lacks the obvious option: "I cannot recommend Elemental at the moment due to bugs and balance issues, but it has the promise to be a classice that I'd recommend to everyone without a huge ton of work."
I'm already addicted.
Plus there is not a lot of good games on the market to detract me away from elemental.
Basically, I love it!
Started game against 2 easy AI on small map after spending a few hours trying the game out. My first serious match (against easy). I began to build my city up, noticing a Fire stone along a border with one of the AI. I rush a pioneer out and build a settlement near it. At this point I have no war tec, and little tactical magic.
4 turns later he goes to war with me - of course I'm not ready for this. I build 3 measly peasents (galciv2 AI would rarely attack me with anything good)
I see a unit heading towards my forward town. I take a glance and it appears weak. I lose the town. My main city has a stack of 10 peasants. That'll teach him. I marched them to my town - as they walk closer, I begin seeing more purple units heading to it. The 10 peasants I sent out are decimated.
Serious time here, this is a huge insult to me. I shove my town into full scale soldier production - 3-group of Advanced Scouts. When I have 6 of them I send 4 off to war, in hopes of capturing the town. Halfway between my city and the lost town I notice some enemy units approaching my lightly defended city. I lost.
Big 2 problems : Magic doesn't feel too unique (copy paste descriptions), and was a pain learning it initially. And the AI is too good.
It's too early for me to vote. I do feel it needs some patches. Yet, it's not horrible either. I'll definitely be playing it the next few weeks trying to get a feel for it.
I want Elemental to do well. I love TBS games and Stardock.
I haven't participated in the poll because none of the responses feels right for me - I've been looking forward to Elemental forever and now that it is here I like what I see and I know it'll improve over time. I won't recommend it just yet but I anticipate doing so after it has been tweaked a little more.*
*A better manual, one that explains what to do a little more than the current PDF version, would go a long way to making it more recommendable. I felt pretty lost when I first started on the pre-day-0 version and it wasn't until I hit this forum that I worked out what I was doing wrong. Even though the Internet is ubiquitous in all our lives and blah blah blah many of the people I might recommend Elemental to are going to expect to be able to play a game after reading the manual.
That pc gamer editor was close to slander by taking the comment out of context.
I'm disappointed with the state at release but overall I think this game has alot of potential. It needs time to mature I guess. And I think a little more time pre release would have been alot better. Given that time I think it could be a classic game that I play for years to come. Sadly there was no option for that.
Let me put it to you this way.
I've built a massive world. I've populated it with tons of resources, but there are TONS of monsters so you need actual armies just to keep your kingdom/empire from being consumed by them. I've modded in 21 different Minor Factions. Each with their own ruler. And they vary, some are good, some are evil.. some are fallen some are men..
Now that I've updated my Nvidia Drivers to 258.17 or whatever .. I'm not getting the white screen of death. And find myself, genuinely having a blast! Trying to figure out how to reduce the monsters spawning in the world... and then some damn adventurers release more monsters into the wild. Gaaah!! It's great!
The only thing I'm looking to do in the future is, have more traditional D&D fantasy races to encounter.. as I suggested waaaay back in the earlier beta's.
So ... I chose I love it.
I'm having so much fun, it's addicting, and I have to tear myself away from the game.. and it's NOT easy! And this isn't one of those I've consumed it and am done games.. this is one that I'll be Swan Diving into.. with my skin made of diamonds.
And in a sense my world is a proof positive concept for lots of resources.. on a gigantic 14x14 map. Not overbalancing the game. (So far.. I'm only 213 turns into the game.. but it's a blast!)
Now just need a logo Editor to create logo's!! And assign them easily to factions and minor factions!
Hey Brad & Company there! You've done a great job.
PLayed about 9 hour and I honestly cant get enough of it, LOVE IT!
If you check my record I have "Sins" and "GalCiv" registered with stardock that's why I brought this game even though I know it won't be prefect but Stardock will always polish it.
To my surprise....this game is still very much in the beta stages.
I am running an Alienware machine and I can play most games without problem but this game actually gives me a "Out-of-memory" every 2 hours.
I can forgive most issues [because I know it would be patches to improve] with gameplay but memory issue is too much for me.
It is fun, and it is addicting. I recall at one point when you were debating the august or feb release, and thinking "damn, id hate to have to wait. Wish i got in on the beta". Well, this is essentially me not having to wait, and for all that your still fixing it up, im loving it. Plus it gives me stuff to look forward to, with the updates, mods and such. Its a little frustrating now, but not broken. I'll play it now, for what it is now, and i'll play it in the future for what it will be then. Im sure i'll be wasting plenty hours in front of my computer with this.
yes darkseed, there is a pretty serious memory leak. I dont have alienware, but my asus G1s is pretty good about games, and mine crashes every 30-40 minutes. Sucks that i enjoy the game so much i keep getting drawn back for "just one more turn".
Refund would be great ! waist of time ,totally frustrating.
Damn blockade -ruined my campaign . stuck
That was a great post by Brad, huh? Damn, people can be really brutal. In the end, it's just a game.
I do hope only registered owners can vote in the poll and not just anyone who creates a Forum account? If that is the case, too open to Trolls.
I like it and will recommend Elemental. But a month from now, this game is going to be amazing.
Could be great if the developers grew a brain and made it playable .
Games shouldn't be this frustrating
Love it. It's not perfect, needs some balance work here and there and a nice, long bug-squashing session, but what we do have is simply incredible.
Won't load for me. Trying to be patient but I'm currently pretty disappointed that I can't even play it.
I'm underwhelmed. I'm sticking with the game, not because I've put money into it, but because I truly feel that it will be improved. Hell, look at the last 2 patches. But at this point, it feels like half a game:
Things more-or-less up-to-snuff:
*Cities. I think they will benefit from some greater options over time, but right now they're solid.
*Diplomacy. Again, solid, but could use some love down the line.
*Research. Works well, is fairly varied. But again, would be vastly improved with some love down the line.
*Quests. They aren't terribly balanced, but I find them worthwhile.
Things that simply aren't where they should be:
*Magic. It's in the title, but it feels like an after thought. Elemental "schools" essentially all play the same. Spell choices are extremely limited, and in the end most have an identical effect. Spell damage is far too randomized. Utility spells have such negligible bonuses I usually don't touch them. I could go on.For a game about magic, the magic is... boring. Give it some character. Give it some "Oomph."
*Champions: Early on, their bonus abilities make them an asset. Later on they're much less useful. They can achieve some potent Attack and Defense ratings with later equipment, but giving them hitpoints only when I "waste" a level on it means they don't seem to scale well past the mid-game. They also aren't very differentiated or unique. Again, there's a lot more to it than that.
*Economics. Early on this works well. Every Gildar, Material, ect is crucial. About mid-way through a map, though, I achieve such a huge surplus that they lose any value. The exceptions seem to be crystals and horses, though, which so far have been extremely rare in my games. This needs more balancing, likely by readjusting bonuses from buildings and town levels.
*Children. See champions.
*AI: Improvements are forthcoming, but at the moment, there isn't too much to the AI. They seem to have two responses to a state of war: Train the most numerous party it can, and once it is done, send it (alone) at the enemy. Over and over. Or do absolutely nothing.
*Did I mention Magic?
*The Campaign. Most people have reverted to calling it a tutorial, and that in itself shows it's weakness. Add to that that it explains almost nothing about the game or mechanics, and the even the tutorial moniker begins to wear thin.
I like Stardock, and I've enjoyed the games you put out, and I'm enjoying Elemental. But it still feels like a beta. I simply can't recommend this game, as it is, to my friends without feeling guilty. Please, please, take the criticism on these forums seriously, and work with the better suggestions proposed by your fans and customers. And really give Magic a lot of love.
Love this game and I am excited to see what it will look like in year. I played MoM for 10 years before finally giving up on it and there were never any updates to that. Tears are forming in my eyes thinking back and remembering forward.
Thank you Stardock and thank you Frogboy for once again bringing meaning to PC gaming.
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