I'm more and more impressed with all the things you've improved over FE. If FE had 20 things wrong with it, you've nailed like 18 of them. Great work across the board!
A Fantasy strategy game with AI
AI = Artificial Ignorance.
Stopped playing FE months back, only because of the poxy warmongering AI, it simply spoiled the game for me, but I must now give it another try and see how it has progressed.
Well this is the LH boards so I don't think any of this pertains to vanilla FE. AFAIK Stardock said LH would be taking it's own path.
This. Is. Awesome!
One of the remaining weaker parts of FE/LH is the UI. Some parts of it are too old, needing a graphic update, or could have some things adjusted to making using/understanding info better. This is wonderful news. I can't wait!
This is great news... UI was one of the remaining issues from FE to address... and Civ V is the standard when it comes to clean and crisp user interface elements. Thanks again!
I just want to justify saying LH is the best strategy game I have played by comparing it to the other big names in the fantasy TBS genre. I think what people liked the most about these games is something that LH could focus on a bit more and steal everyone's hearts, especially people who get annoyed at rough edges.
I think what is making LH work so well now is that it has more game elements than any other strategy game I have played, and they are accessible and user-friendly. Deep tech, spells, heroes, quests, goodies, resources, wildlands, events, diplomacy, designable and upgradeable units, as well as upgrades to all player resources. (Edit, so much stuff I didn't remember it all) Not to mention the world as a hostile actor, that just isn't in any other TBS I have played (at least to a remarkable level). This game is hands down a far better strategy game than any other fantasy TBS.
Dominions 3: Other games use far less and are less user-friendly, Dom3 comes to mind. Dom3 is hardcore though, I got in to it for a while, but it is just too complex (not in the good way, it was plumbing through hundreds of pages of manual to figure out how something works) and so abstract you really need to use your imagination way too much. The whole god candidate thing was an amazing part of the attraction, a lot of the other stuff was just a lot of work. Take that ego attraction out of the game and I wonder how many people would want to play it.
Master of Magic: MoM gets adulation for being awesome years before any other big fantasy TBS was available, but it is fairly empty and slow compared to LH. I think nostalgia is involved with its place. But it did really make the wizarding element personal and immersive, and that made up for a whole lot of stuff that wasn't as much fun. The spells and how they made a big deal of it with cut-scenes is pure immersion. The game played like a stripped down early Civ though. That's why I think sovereign leveling and a little ego love there would steal the thunder of that game. A little more sparkle and dazzle around the sovereign would hit at people's egos, and that kind of fun is deep and spreads over turn after turn, immersed in the idea of a wizard gaining power to rule the world.
Age of Wonders: AoW series really did the wizarding element well too, and had very neat tactical battle graphics. Not balanced at all, and tech and upgrades were there but not that involved, but the game was carried by the ego fun of the wizard you were using. It had a cool story, cut scenes, and champions that basically rocked the world. Units were there but blah. People get attached to individuals, so I really loved overpowered champions that ripped the map up. It was shallow though, because heroes were so overpowered they were one man wrecking crews with all the empowerments you could give them.
So LH is the most complex and accessible of all of these, it plays way better than any of these. How in the world you got so much to work together so well is a feat I am floored by. I think the only weak part that makes people notice the rough edges so much (and every one of the above games had huge rough edges, except AoW 2 and Shadow Magic were pretty polished) is that leveling and power acquisition for the sovereign and heroes isn't rpg immersive enough to get that long-lasting ego immersion fun. Who cares if some small part has a bug when you are having such a blast? Some bells and whistles around magic, having every level something to look forward to, and making something more explicitly unique about the sovereign would increase the fun factor way out of proportion to its implementation cost.
I agree with Trojasmic, this game is really good now. I'm one of the bastards who voted 'fair' in all the dev journal polls. Now I would vote 'excellent'.
I finished my first game with 0.50 with a Master Quest victory. At the rates the patches are coming, I'll just wait a few patches and have another go!
Also hoping Heavenfall will port Stormworld into LH so I can try that out, too.
And the boundaries between fantasy and science fiction are as firm as "Q." smile
Finally getting some time to try out the latest betas.
You know, I liked Fallen Enchantress. It was a good game. Unfortunately, after playing Legendary Heroes, I don't know if I'll ever play FE again. LH is just that much better for me.
No such thing. I look at the, and I see darkness! Oracle.... Ceresa!
With LH I'm finally enjoying the game a lot (which is great after the WoM debacle), but I wouldn't call it a masterpiece. At least not yet. If they put the time and money in for a hell of a lot of bug fixing, balancing, AI improving, improved game pacing and just overall polish it might get there eventually. Still, it's a huge improvement over where things were when this series first launched, so kudos to the Stardock team for that.
Yes, it certainly had the potential to be a masterpiece right when the beta started, but Stardock has just not given it enough time to become so. I do think they are releasing it early.
I have the same feeling. At the start of the beta I was very positively impressed, but this impression has gradually fallen down during the process.
I´m currently playing FE (bought it less than a month ago) and i´m enjoying it a lot after i did some tweaks (modding) to adapt it to my tastes (i like slow tech progression with fast production times) - thanks to the comments on this thread i decided i will buy LH too, but will wait until a couple of patches is released after the "official" relesase of the expansion, so any rough edges get smoothed out...
Thanks.
I am really enjoying LH, and I am so glad Stardock is putting great effort into improving it. I also appreciate that FE remains as a standalone game on my computer, so I can go back and play old mods, etc.
For the next expansion or sequel, I would like to see naval power - shipyards, embarkable coastlines, tactical naval battles, pirates, sea monsters - "Release the Kraken!" - and more. Allow the heroes and units on the ships take part in naval battles. Especially with large maps, naval power would add a new level to the game.
^ That would be pretty awesome, Pneuma ^
As for the naysayers: I still think this game is the most fun I've had with a fantasy 4x game. Ever. Maybe it's not perfect and maybe it needed more time to have things fleshed out, but it's still fantastic. Perhaps with the final, paid expansion, they will take the time to smooth everything out.
And please, fix diplomacy with the next expansion. Make it a dynasties and diplomacy focused expansion and add sea warfare. You'll have yourself a near-perfect game then.
I enjoyed fallen enchantress. It's was a good game. This is a great game.
Indeed a masterpiece! It's the number one fantasy strategy for me, as GalCiv2 is easely the best space strategy, and Europa Universalis 4 will be the best historical strategy game of all times.
Yet alot of potential, like for instance naval features (and dare I say multiplayer fun). But even more potential isn't a negative thing, it's a token of quality to the game design. Other masterpieces, like the civ games for example, always have endless potential for more grand features. It only makes me want more, and being excited for more, more, MOOOORE expansion packs!
I'm not sure where we'll go after Legendary Heroes. I guess it depends on sales.
I do know there's a lot of DLC plans (loot, maps, spells, equipment, etc.). But in terms of the overall direction of the Elemental universe, that remains to be seen.
Right now, we've been fortunate enough to get some amazing talent that's on board ready to do whatever comes next. We've got Dorian (who was largely responsible for the general look of Civ V), Tom Symonds, who did a lot of the Civ V modeling and of course Soren who designed Civilization IV. And that doesn't include Jon (Shafer) who is working on his own game but generously provides help and feedback regularly.
I would imagine Legendary Heroes is going to be the definitive edition of Fallen Enchantress with what comes after being sometime in the future and being as different from Fallen Enchantress as Fallen Enchantress was from War of Magic.
It is very sad, that important parts of the game like additional items, spells and quests will be sold as DLCs. I guess that the DLCs are the reason why not many new items, spells and quests have been included in LH. I thought that Stardock was one of the few developers who sells complete games, but i was wrong.
They do; It's just that they sell you the complete game in parts.
You know they've given away for free copies of both FE and LH to everyone who bought WoM right? I've gotten two free games from them, something unheard of in this industry, and they have a lot of respect from me for it. Frankly, they deserve some money from me at this point. This is one time that I won't feel ticked off about having to buy DLC.
Please tell me you were joking here.
You think you are entitled to unlimited new magical items, quests, equipment, maps and anything else they come up with even after release? WOW.
i think it's reasonable to charge a bit of money for additional (and entirely optional) content. they have to make some money after all. it's not like DLC is super expenive - the map pack cost like 5€/$ or something. in my country, you don' even get a box of cigarettes for that. if it rekindles the fun for a few hours, that's money well spent.
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