Greetings!
I'm pretty far from a good net connection so I'll keep this brief
Let me say that I'm glad that most people seem to like the game. This message, however, is for those who are disappointed with Elemental so far.
Stardock is not just a game studio but it is also a publisher. What does this mean? Well, historically, the way it works is a game is released and if people don't like it, they're supposed to buy some expansion pack for it that "fixes" things that people thought should be in the original version.
We don't have to do that because we're both the studio and the publisher.
That means we can release free "expansion packs" for Elemental until such a high percentage of players love the game that only then can we discuss sequels or paid expansions.
Having had the opportunity to finally get out of the office for the first time in months has let me look at the game (and ahem, play the game for crazy amounts) of time from a new perspective.
I should also say that regardless of sales or reviews, our commitment to Elemental will not be affected. As some of you know, most of our company's revenue doesn't come from developing games. Even if the game didn't sell another copy, we would still continue our update schedule.
So what will be the concrete results of this?
1. In September we will release v1.1 which will be the first major revision to the game that takes into account the feedback we're getting from players. This will be a pretty substantial change. In particular, character creation, magic (think, shared mana pools),
2. We are going to go ahead and make a more traditional tutorial. I'm not a fan of tutorials but some of my grognard friends have had trouble figuring out the mechanics which means to me that we have to do something about that.
3. We are going to move Book 2: Magesa out of a future expansion pack and into the base game in a future "mega" update, likely late Fall.
4. As mentioned on the forums back in July-ish, we plan to make a new DVD gold master available to those with limited Internet connections later this Fall.
5. As discussed (I think) last Winter, I will be taking a sabbatical this Fall specifically so I can dedicate time to AI and modding so that others, long after me, can use the Elemental engine to create other things (you will need to know Python to really go crazy with it).
6. I will NOT be ceasing my postings on other forums. The guys on Qt3 and Octopus Overlords and elsewhere are my friends. I'm no more going to stop posting there then I would stop going out with my friends to movies and other "public places" where, heaven forbid, someone datamining my comments might find a "gotcha moment". Those people are my friends both on the forums and outside the forums. Interacting with you guys is a major reason I like making games in the first place.
7. To those reviewing the game: I would urge you to review the game prior to v1.1. I say this because v1.05 (the release day version) is the version of the game that was originally released and if that version of the game is considered flawed then my view is that Stardock should suffer the consequences for that. We appreciate the kindness and patience many people have shown. I just think game studios, including Stardock, need to be conscious of what they release and not expect to "patch themselves out of trouble". I do believe Elemental is, by far, the best game we've ever made but I also agree with most of the criticisms I've read too. The state of PC entertainment has changed since 2006 (when we released GalCiv II) and it is our responsibility to stay with the times.
In short, we love this game. And we love this community. We're not going to be leaving this game to work on some other game. We're with it and you guys for the long haul.
I won't be around to answer questions until next week so I hope this answers some questions.
By expansion you mean real game ? because what's the point of an expansion actually?
Expansion are to add content to a finished game.
I must agree, I was essing with the map creator and it crashed (I was busy making a BLANK map).. on a i7 975 15GB RAM GTX 295 mind you... I don't experience slowdownns that often but they do happen. But what get me is the crashes.. I really want to like this game but right now, its more buggy than Hellgate London, and that game was at least PLAYABLE and not crash prone, and it taxed more of the hardware. I just don't get it.. I keep trying to play the game, yet with the state its in, I wish I never bought it. I have been a supporter of Stardock products for years, since the late 90s, but with this game, you just might have lost a loyal customer, and I started buying games when you guys were connected to TGnet, where you had to purchase tokens. Before that was Object Desktop all the way, at least there you did/do a fantastic job. I still have some of the WinCustomize backgrounds.
I may not stop buying from you guys completely, since you guys did help me out by merging my two accounts a few years ago, but know that I have less faith in you guys now. Burn me twice, though, and you will loose a lot of support not only from me, but others as well.
I can play it for about three-four hours straight without crashing. After that, the game sometimes crashes with an out of memory error. All i have to do is to start it again and load the autosave which takes 30 seconds tops. While i wish this wouldn't happen, it does not make the game unplayable in any way.
If it meant having the game in a much better state and better condition upon release, so the game sells through the roof, should've been Feb. 2011 then...
Wintersong , it's just that i like when you quote me
Spot on... Very hard to re-build momentum lost at release time.
Everybody need to destress : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maAyfcO-X3k !! Enjoy
This is not a troll. I've asked for a refund for the game. The game, to me, is unplayable and completely unenjoyable. I do not have a weak system, most games maxed out hardly tax my rig at all. This game brought my rig to a crawl. I didn't buy this game to play it like a board game, zoomed out Stratego style. I don't like FPS so low that animations look like slide shows, if they even occur at all. Constant crashes from memory leaks, regardless of whether they happen early or late in the game, are extremely annoying. Add in save/load game bugs that decimate damaged units and those crashes are doubly annoying. Janky mouse cursor, a difficult and boring UI, extremely bland mechanics (magic and combat) as well as character customization, non-functioning AI and huge imbalances in gameplay, not to mention the myriad other "little" bugs, have made me one unsatisfied first time customer that will definitely be reluctant to purchase another Stardock game. I am not happy.
Nice. I like the Pretenders.
i would rather play what i have now, than wait till February. i would hazard a guess that most of the problems that we are seeing now will probably be ironed out by the end of September. this will give me oct, nov, dec, jan to enjoy the game, i just don't see the problem here.
I second that! I have the LE box sitting on my desk; a brand new game I've been waiting for months, and I don't even feel like playing it because the tactcial combat is so primative and simplistic. I was soooo close to returning this game. But after reading this post I am now thinking I may keep it.
I suppose if any company can support and patch up a game, it's Stardock, but like a poster above wrote, I still can't beleive it was released in this condition in the first place.
Ah, that's a great song. Gotta love The Pretenders.
Maybe the explosion itself can explode and we'll get an implosion?
(Probably also depends on how much stuff is fixed between now and then, and if we're talking about a $40 expansion or a $10 Entrenchment style micro-expansion.)
No, it is still irrelevant. The game is released. People are on both sides of the argument whether it was ready or not. It all does not matter anymore. The goal is to move forward. Now, if you want to accompany the claim with WHY you believe that it should not have been released, feel free to share your criticisms. But just offering up a "this game is unfinished" is a completely moot point.
side note - I picked up your book. I got it for the extra campaign download primarily and for the hope that it might help me get immersed in elemental. I'll be posting a review on amazon once i finish reading. At the very least, I think having a novel coming out at the same time as elemental is a good idea. Another level for immersion and connecting with the game. Good stuff.
Oh - and on the whole unfinished game, etc, debate - here's my take. I personally would have preferred that I did not preorder this game or even buy it at launch. I'd think that it is undeniable that the game needs some work. I personally would have been MUCH happier buying the game in about 3-6 months after launch because frankly, I put up with ALOT of pain with Demigod (GPG's game but published by SD - and I'm pretty sure SD had quite a bit of influence in many of the design decisions) - Demigod its quite possibly one of the most detailed, impressive games out there - graphically speaking, I honestly can't compare it to any other game at this point. Its far prettier than SC2. But its innards are a bit screwed. But I digress. At this point in my life, I really would have preferred a more polished gem than waiting for the diamond to come out of the rough. I support SD. They are a great company. I support the often "chest on my sleeve" Brad. They are getting more experience with every game release and as time goes by. I accept that the game needs some work. I see the potential - as I'm sure most of you do. I'm not at all happy that the game needs more work and I feel I am much better off spending my time doing other things outside of elemental, but that is the situation. I keep trying a game from time to time, but currently find myself annoyed with the slowdown and late game crashes (these tell me its time to quit playing - so thanks, i guess). Do any of you honestly doubt that the game won't become significantly better in the future? I'm sure it will based on their track record. Anyway, I bought the game and am very much looking forward to how things develop. I'm "trying" to swear it off until the next patch.
For sure i willl but i think i will give it a few more weeks:)
You cant make a second first good impression.You cant erase negative reviews(wholy justified or onl;y partly).Imho thi siwll bite so badly ewom sales, even if it gets ironed out in future.Those reviews wont disppear from net.People will bump into them , and maybe not into the latter good ones, if they appear.
Good post Brad and nice to at least partially own up.
I'm still not sure that you guys have quite got your head around what needs to be done, in that I don't think it is the bugs that are the real problem (the bugs are important sure but really just a smokescreen), the real problem is lack of depth and gameplay balance.
But there are enough people around who are going to harp on about that same point that hopefully this will become your number one focus.
Well, for me, the game is not choppy at all, all animations/movement works just fine. That's on a computer that's about 1.5 years old, so no bleeding edge. I don't get any constant crashes either, the game tends to crash with an out of memory error but only after i've played for several hours straight. Damaged units bug on reload is regrettable but not game-breaking. UI is not difficult for me, i was nursed by the games coming out in the 90's, THAT was difficult ui. The magic and combat mechanics need a lot of work, but they are functional. Same with character customization. AI is functional, not particularly challenging but functional. And the worst of imbalances can be avoided by just not using them until they get fixed(zillions of rings superheroes etc.)
Plop all,
i imagine it's hard to to know i'd like to ask anyway.A fix/patch in september ok.A more precise date maybe ?
I think it would be better to release small patch by small patch, have customer reports etc... than a big one, with again lots of complaints, problems etc... going with it.
I dont like the word 'beta' phase (well hmm it's kinda the state actually), wouldn't it be better to fix problems 1 by 1 and have feedback than making a huge fix that will again overflow the forum with rants for sure ?
Well i dont know, i am no programmer nor developper,it's just a fair question.
Regards.
As I don’t want to write much by fear of being too flaming/offensive/rude, I’ll just quote :
The game can be played but after a few days its limitations come screaming and biting. If it must become the worthy successor of the other great fantasy games, it should at least have most of their basic features which made them great. It sorely lacks them even though they were discussed in detail during the beta.
Wait: it IS the beta now, an early beta: fun but cumbersome and totally incomplete.
Stardock Team, make no mistakes, we are still here with you but sometimes people blundering just need some kick in the nuts.
Constructive criticism shall follow...later.
I can see that my Diablo2 release anecdote was pretty flimsy.
Thanks to Nick-Danger for some perspective.(you can't give karma till you get karma, right?) I hope none of my comments offended anyone who was in the know.
If I was involved during the beta phase, and then saw the game like this, I wouldn't be posting much at all.
I try not to stick my head out during a storm.(when I know wtf is going on that is)
I would still be enjoying the game, and just waiting to see what Stardock does. And that is my position now.
I was around for GalCivII, and the excitement of the SoaSE release, during those times Frogboy/Stardock made a strong impression on me. It's still strong now, and I await the next few weeks.
Well, I for one really enjoy the game and am having a good time.
I’d rather be playing now than have waited a couple more months of improvements.
SD is very good at releasing updates and improving their games.
EWoM has a lot of potential and will grow into it. Everyone wants the new, perfect MoM, but even that had a lot of bugs on release and still does.
Enjoy the game and be part of improving it and not just criticizing….
Concerning Diablo 2, I was probably one of the people you saw complaining on the forums because I was one of the many whose CD ROM drive was incompatible with the DRM on the disc, so the game would crash during launch. I had to swap my newer 32x drive for an older 8x one just to play the game, which I thought was an absurd demand for a piece of software. Diablo 2 also had a "day 0" patch and a 2nd patch released within the first week to address several show-stopping bugs. And most recently, StarCraft 2 had a "day 0" patch and a follow-up patch within the first week to address several critical issues, including one serious bug that could literally destroy your video card (as in you would need to buy a new one), so this whole notion that Stardock is doing something unprecedented with the release of Elemental is nothing but a myth.
I think the devs abandoned this forum.
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