Stardock,
I had high hopes for this game. I purchased it looking forward to a great campaign mode (one to rival the old Warcraft games) and after completing Book 1... it ends!
I completed book 1 in 8 hours. This is a lot of money for only 8 hours.
When will the other books be comming out?
How long do I get "free" updates? If book 2 takes forever to come out, do I need to spend more money?
I understand there are other modes and toys to play with... but I expected a solid campaign mode... pleae let me know that I have some good time to look forward to... and somthing soon
Thank you.
There's going to be new content written over the next year. Elemental is a bit different than most games that get released. I think Brad has this organic idea about the game where what was released is more like a starting platform that is intended to grow over the next year into an epic release. Other game companies can't do this due to the game being their primary income stream. In Stardock's case, they get their revenue from other areas and it funds the development of this game.
Think of it this way, you pay once, and you keep getting a bigger and bigger game but without the monthly fees.
I was a little bit disappointed when I first played Elemental, but after the updates you can see this game evolving into a classic! There is still lots of work to be done to get the core game to perform correctly. I'm excited about every update, almost as if the game I purchased is getting released every other week. As long as Stardock keep supporting this IP I feel I made one of the best purchases this year. I'd rather have it unfinished and in my hands today, rather than wait til February 2011.
I like jigglestick's attitude on the subject.
They said the next major update in the fall (which isn't far away)
i agree with jigglrstick as well. the latest update made a lot of improvements, but still every so often i get to a point in the game, (durring a battle, multiple units moving on map at the same time, etc...) where the game just stops running entirely.
Dont get the wrong idea, it is ALOT better that it was just out of the box with the memory leak, but there are a few bugs that still need to be addressed.
im running the game on a DELL Studio XP 15 with an intel Centrino 2 prossesor, using windows Vista.
Yes thats the intuition i have for this game, from being a long time stardock game/software user. Even though i must say the game in its present state is disapointing I have faith stardock will make something great out of in in due time.
Don't get me wrong, I have been a very happy user of Stardock software for many years now. I love the GalCiv games. I am feeling a bit let down by the short gameplay. Maybe I didn't read enough about the game... I didn't realize it was based on episodic content.
With that being said, I don't think Stardock will leave us hanging... I'm just hoping it will be sooner (rather than later) that we see some more of the storyline unfold.
What I was REALLY hoping for was for someone from Stardock to see this post and reply back to us... something along the lines of "it's comming really soon"
So is does anyone have anything they would like to see in the game? I know there are a couple of things I would really like to play with... for example... I don't think there was only one d@!$)#... (censored so that we don't spoil it for anyone who has not finished book 1)
I think Brad has this organic idea about the game where what was released is more like a starting platform that is intended to grow over the next year into an epic release. Other game companies can't do this due to the game being their primary income stream. In Stardock's case, they get their revenue from other areas and it funds the development of this game. Think of it this way, you pay once, and you keep getting a bigger and bigger game but without the monthly fees.
I guess I just don't quite understand the logic behind Brad's 'organic' idea.
A game that is this low on content is simply this low on content. This isn't an MMO that is expected to have new stuff added fairly frequently, it's a regular game, 'organic idea' or not. What this really says is more that they didn't finish the game and released it anyway with the intention of possibly adding onto it as time goes by, but that simply means they didn't finish the game before release.
To expect the gamer to buy the game, play it for 8 hours or so and then shelve it until the next episode comes out is a strange and way out there idea, it makes no sense to me what so ever to tell the gamer they must wait until the next episode.
If that is really the organic idea of it, that it will 'grow' over time, then charge me appropriately for what is done now, and then I'll pay some more as the game grows. Giving all the money up front only says, we're charging you full price for an unfinished game with a promise that there will be more to come later on down the line. Promises are all good and well, and some people (like Mr Wardell) we trust more than others, but they are still nothing more than promises, if even that.
Yah, sorry but to me all this organic idea means is they didn't have the full content of the game ready at release. If Stardock is doing so well that the other areas that they operate in are footing the bills for their gaming development, then there would be no reason to release the game without more content already included. No matter how Mr Wardell would try to spin it, it still boils down to a game being released with less than enough content.
The only way that I could see this episodic type of system working might (*might*) be if the 'episodes' were released at least one per week, so as to keep the player interested and having the next episode by the time that the average gamer is done with the first one. Obviously there is no way to try to produce new episodes at the rate that some gamers are able to burn through the content in one afternoon, but work for the average gamer, that might only play 2 hours a night means having the next episode ready by the next 7 days.
I like Stardock, I always have, even way before they ever decided to do Impulse, but this just sounds like some indie company put this together and couldn't finish it by a deadline release date and released it anyway with the promise that they would be adding onto it to make it episodic by the time they were finished.
When I pay $40.00 for a game, I expect it to be full, and complete, and then I'm not opposed to giving them more money to buy future episodes or expansions, or DLC if you wish to call it by another name, not something that is only going to give me 8 hours in a campaign out the door for $40.00
Straight up, they should have charged appropriately for what was delivered, and then charged more for the new content for those that want it, but I imagine that works out in the favor of the gamer and not startdock, for when they take too long to deliver on that content people stray and they don't return. So it behooves Stardock to get the full price now and maybe give more content later on. To expect the gamer to wait until the Fall (beginning, middle end?? only time will tell) isn't episodic, it's imbicillic, most gamers will long have since moved on, and left with a really bad taste in their mouths.
Sadly for Stardock and Elemental, other forums are full of people that are spouting off how the game had one of the most failed launches and content in the last decade. Seeing those kinds of posts don't make people want to run on down to Impulse and pick it up, which in turn means less sales, which in turn means less desire to work on it to add on to it in the end.
Sorry if that ruffles anybody's feathers, that's just the way that I see it.
In case you guys were wondering a possible timeframe for book 2, I found a post from FrogBoy in the v1.08 thread:
http://forums.impulsedriven.com/396523/get;2772618
Looks like it may be a Christmas release.
Thanks for the info. I was about to buy it, but seems like it's better to wait and see...
I agree completely, except on the 40 dollar part. This game is 50 bucks anywhere you look and not at all worth it. The graphics are far out of date. The animations and look and feel is bland. Not to mention the fact that the combat system worked, then it didnt, then it did and now its sorta working.
The fact that after one update the AI never defended there cities. I mean what were you thinking releasing something like this? And then charging 50 dollars for it? I was really looking forward to this game, but if this is the kind of thing Stardock will release then I will no longer purchase from them. Ive put in alot of money to this company because I love how they do things.
This release though has definitly burned me. I mean full retail big name game price on this? I know there are alot of fans out there, and I was one of them until I played the game. It has potential. But that is all. And potential isnt worth a full fifty of my dollars.
Monty
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