Hi there everyone,
I've been following the progress of this game religiously since I first heard about it (which was not long before release). I've always loved fantasy based strategy games, like Master of Magic, or even my recently discovered FFH2 mod for CIV4.
For someone like myself who likes these types of games.. is Elemental fun? Or if not yet, are people confident enough to recommend it for how they envision it for the future? The reason I am asking, is I saw the latest post by Frogboy stating that the new add-ons will only be free for people who purchase before October 31st. I guess the point of his post, was to convince people such as myself who are still sitting on the fence regarding making the purchase.
Can people give recommendations? I assume most people here have purchased the game already.. but I'm wondering if I am better off foregoing the free expansions and only purchasing in the future when I know the game is as good as most people hope it to be.
Cheers
Simon
Actually I think the point of his post was he they wish to reward those who have already bought the game and suffered the release problems as well as encourage new people to buy it.
anyway 1.09e the current version is very playable and pretty stable on most systems (very stable on mine) there is plenty of fun to be had, but the 1.1 changes are really going to improve this game no end.
I play the game now as is whenever I get the chance, at the moment it's a unique and interesting game but still has balance issues and is rough around the edges. However Stardock are improving it with every release and I would certainly recommend it to anyone now and frankly I would buy now if I where you to get those two free expansions I don't see how you can loose. I have never found Stardock to be the sort of publisher to abandon a game before it truly shines.
At the moment I'd rate it a good game with great potential but some balance and polish issues and in need of a little more fleshing out.
1.1 I think will make it a truly classic game with future free and paid expansions (for those who don't buy before 31 October) makeing it an all time classic, I certainly see that potential in it now.
Anyway bottom line it's your choice, but they spent years polishing GC2 for example and I'm not just talking about paid expansions so I can't see them leaving of on Elemental until it's widly recognised as an all time genre classic.
I asked the same question last week, and took the plunge and bought it.
I am enjoying the game immensely, although you can see that it is almost a barebones game at the moment. When i look at the ideas within the game i get quite excited and the prospects. It is very stable on my computer, not crashing once yet. I truly believe it will become the new benchmark for fantasy turn-based strategy games. And knowing that you will get 2 expansions free it is a win-win situation. Even if you decide the game is not for you at the moment, you know that when you come back to it in 6 months time it will be even better.
Given that you like FFH2, combined with the recruitment of Kael i would definitely suggest you get it, if not for immediate satisfaction, then for the game it will become. Trust me if you don't, you will end up paying for the 'gold' edition with all the add-ons later anyway.
As of this very moment, Elemental is a pretty good game with a few technical flaws - I don't have any, however I don't speak for everyone - and some balance issues. Insofar as Stardock's support goes, the only reason I can even play Demigod - a game developed by Gas Powered Games - is because of Stardock's work post-release. They're pretty much on the level, so you don't need to worry about that. They'll make good on their promise. If you need more convincing, head over to the GalCiv II forums and ask people what has changed from release. Make sure you've got some time on your hands to read it all though, it's a mind-boggling list.
Depends on the game you want I guess. I expect them to live up to fixing the messes, it's pretty much a guaranteed event. This isn't an idiot fan that thinks they're all wonderful people either, I'm a pessimistic realist. Even if they're all assholes that don't give a damn about you, Stardocks gaming career is over if they screw their loyal fan base. They're not EA, they can't give an entire franchises customers the shaft because of their bottom line and do anything but sink themselves for a decade.
If you're looking for deep economic mechanics ala settlers or something, yeah... Not really here. Same deal on combat. It's not going to stay a suck fest, but it's definitely not going to be Total War style real time combat either. If you like mid 90's combat systems it's already your game.
We'll probably get something deeper, but there haven't been any indications that they're going for simulation based underpinnings like it looked early on. If you want simpler systems, your game has already arrived. Reading the latest rants and discussions will paint a rather accurate picture of where the game is at, particularly the dev journal postings.
Thanks for the feedback guys.. something to ponder (soon though!)..
On the tactical combat system:
I have to emphasize it's turn based, it isn't real time and there are no plans to make it so, at the moment it's ok but fairly shallow which is a pity. However it does seem post 1.1 stardock plan to work on that, but psychoak is correct don't expect Total War type combat they toyed with realtime early on but it was dropped long before release in favour of turn based combat which many of us (myself included) thought was more appropriate in a turn based stratergy game.
It's also fair to say at the moment the game is in need of some fleshing out but they seem to be heading in the right direction there and I would say there is more than enough to make it genuine fun at the moment.
It's certainly more Masters of Magic than total war, so it does depend what you like.
Anyway I would suggest you follow psychoak's advice read dev journals on 1.1 and beyond and then decide if you like the sound of what they have in store for the future.
Of course you can always wait and then buy the game and two expansions seperatly later if you think it's to big a risk at the moment. But as I say Stardock don't have a track record for abandoning their games after release so as long as you like turn based I don't see you can loose in the long term.
It is a fun game, worth the money!
When i first played the game, what caught my interest first up is making use of terrain bonuses for my new cities, then the treasures that you find on the map are fascinating, especially level 2 and higher, and for me, remain the top area of interest in the game! Then character development is extremely interesting as well.
It is not all good tho, but despite all the other problems people have complained about, there really is only a small number that bother me....
A ) The worst problem of all,,, I have actually found myself cringing to run the game when i get home and have time to play simply because of this one problem..... The game is supposed to automatically scroll thru all the idle units with movement points on the map, but once you start having larger numbers of units it constantly stalls and then you have to manually scroll thru all the units to find ones that haven't moved yet, then to add insult to injury, it makes you scroll thru all the units that already have move instructions! Then you get all confused trying to remember what all these units are doing, if anything, arrrghh, horrible!
B ) Once you have claimed all the significant resources on the map, further empire development becomes a bit of a chore, it is not enjoyable like in other games such as the civilization series. This is because there is little reward for your efforts to build new cities, they don't give any tangible benefit to you except sit there and require your attention to be wasted on them from time to time.
C ) They way combat plays out has the effect to reduce the significance of character development (I'm looking at you 'squads').
I'm going for it personally, I haven't bought it yet but have been lurking here often, and I really think once 1.1 comes out it will be a truly awesome 4X, plus getting it before the month ends and grabbing the 2 free expansions couldn't hurt.
Somewhere in these forums, you can find a thread called, "Your Elemental Scorecard." The idea behind it was that someone took 1000 points, and distributed them, semi-arbitrarily, throughout the features of the game, giving each individual area a score, and tallying the total at the end.
I took the scorecard and used it as a basis for writing a full review of the game. I'll save you the trouble of reading it, as it's pretty damn long...
I gave it a 34% score. 342/1000 to be exact.
I then went on to say that I don't think of Elemental as a 34% game, not because I'm a Stardock fan, (Which I am,) or because I'm a Fantasy Genre fan, (Which I am,) but because, somehow, despite all the flaws, Elemental is a game that is greater than the sum of its parts. Rather than, metaphorically speaking, feeling like a broken game with bits and pieces scattered on the floor, it felt more like it had many cracks and rough edges, but nothing that some TLC wouldn't fix.
If you haven't checked it out yet, read the Gamers Bill of Rights, which Brad "Frogboy" Wardell, CEO of Stardock, created. Stardock does a damn good job of adhering to the Rights outlined in that Bill, and the fact that they continue to support Elemental, despite how broken it was on release, can tell you at least two things.
1. They can't afford to -not- support it.
2. They actually play their games, and give a crap about making them Quality Titles.
With all that in mind, I would say it's worth taking the plunge, simply on the basis that you'll get Expansions for free. You may tire of the game after a little while, but with 1.1 on the horizon, I doubt that you will, and even if you do, it will take a good deal of time. Took me a whole month, and that was back when the game really was broken to hell and back. And I came back. You will too. After you get tired of the problems and step away for a month or three, the bug will bite you, you'll come back to like 10 new patches, and you'll have the same feeling I did of wonderment and awe at how much progress they've made with the game, and you'll get sucked in all over again until you hate yourself so much for it you can't stand it. =P
My final recommendation:
Buy, if for no other reason, then to support Stardock, who has a commitment to making excellent games. And they will make Elemental an excellent game.
I second that.
The Stardock Elemental team is working hard on version 1.10 : it will be the beginning of the game's excellence.
Most games are dropped by producers once they made their initial profits.
Stardock will work on this game each & every day, for at least the next 300 days -- without any concern for profit maximization.
YES!
2. They actually play their games, and [care] about making them Quality Titles.
Here, here!!! Very well said, and I fully agree!
Very well edited! 'Twas the true spirit of that post anyhow.
I brought the game 3 weeks ago. Honestly, when I first started playing it, I was beginning to question my purchase. The game grew on me and now I can not get enough. I love the artwork and atmosphere.
Last night I decided to play Civilization V after they recently patched it to see what was fixed. For God's sake, 2K still has not fixed the rivers! While playing I found myself missing Elemental.
While Elemental has a few bugs and did lockup once on move 202 (Grrrrr), I am excited to see developer active with the community. The forums are full of people making ideas and suggestions and Stardock is actually listening. There is a video released showing a demonstration of a multithread version of Elemental that made my jaw drop and they are still committed to a true 64 bit version.
Get it now! Not for what the game is, but what it will become!
My first impression of the game the first time i played it - very easy to get into, no problem understanding the basics of what is going on around the place, that impressed me - almost shocked me! I started off doing the campaign, it is more like a tutorial than a campaign, so it perfectly suits new players! I found the game interesting from the very first moment i started playing it - this is quite different to the majority of games which usually make it a bit of a chore getting started and it takes a bit of time to ignite your interest in the game.
The only people left on the board are people who actually still play this (fanboys) and those that like watching car crashes. I'm the car crash guy. Don't bite the bullet. There are better games to spend your money on.
Well yes,,, it should be blatantly obvious that this being the forum for the game, that the majority of people here will be players of the game! And there probably are better games out there to spend your money on, but i did not find and or buy those games, i bought this one and i am happy with what i got for the money.
Its worth it. If only for the modding community and their projects. the base game is fun too.
zehdon, I would have suggested that it was an udder moron,
romantiq, as you have stated that you like this sort of game all I can suggest is that even back in the beta2 when I bought it ( and this is when it was to quote frogboy' VERY UNFUN' to play), I did get some fun, in fact enough that I tended to squeeze more time than was reasonable to play the BETA before the graphics/spells/effects improvements were added, and at present I would rate it a LOT MORE fun to play than C&C3(which to me is the LAST c&C I will ever buy) and I found that the C&C3 demo was more fun that the full game inspite of having all of the preceding versions of c&C
harpo
I think so, especially with all the free bonuses you'd be eligable for.
Thanks ZehDon for quoting this "to give .... stupidity". Ya see, Normally I don't read every post, but I usually read ones with quotes, and then search for the quoted post. Assuming they have had some thought put into them.
I appreciate you looking out for us folks who don't read all of them, if not for you I would not have seen Solidsmooky's very accurate post. Judging by your +93 karma or whatever it is, I assume you made some "cool map", or did some "lame faq/beginner guide" etc. No matter, anyone with +93 on a games website forums is DEFINITELY a fanboys. Personally I don't like car crashes, I hate watching them or driving through them, I have no patience for slow traffic... And have never been called a fanboys. (if forums were popular when MoM was out, who knows... but since they weren't my reputation is intact)
I would caution solidsmooky though, there is a 3rd category of people still "left on the board". I am one of them. A 4x strategy fan who keeps waiting for Stardock to fix the errors they made since day 1, and support a game company (such as stardock) that USUALLY turns out great games, and doesn't require DRM. (oh yeah, for the record, I never in my life stole a game, program, or even a song.... but I hate DRM, because in reality it only punishes suckers like me. Puts undue restrictions on a software program, that I am too ethical or lazy to bypass, like if I wanted to install on my second machine, make back ups, run offline etc... And the people who steal software/games will always be able to bypass ANY frikkin copyright garbage a company puts on their games. So again..... only suckers like me are hurt by DRM)
PS. I am such a sucker, and SOOOOO Lazy I tend to buy multiple copies of a game. Like Sins. I bought it when it came out, so no expansions. Played it to death, then when the "trinity" package came out, I bought it all over again. Heck, ask stardock. My impulse account still has both copies of games listed, and always wants me to update both. LOL. So not only do I not steal, I am so lazy I buy some games twice. (AOE3, Diablo2, Sins, etc...)
If you get it, buy it at Wal-Mart, it's only $39.96...
Personally I like the game so far. There are a few bugs in it, and the champs are not that great (although I always take Janus, or whatever his name is, and make him a hitter not a spell caster and he does fine), and I am STILL trying to figure out the food thing, but I will eventually get it. Otherwise I like the game a lot and enjoy it a ton.
-Gizmet
I bought it well after release - no surprises or disappointments as I went in aware of the problems and I am prepared to journey upon the long road ahead. It should be an interesting ride
If you've read about the game and know roughly what you are getting into and have the patience to allow Stardock to work on it, then yeah, I do not think you will be disappointed.
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