My Opinion of the Game: Busted, Broken and Buggy

from Elemental Forums

Sorry guys, but seriously? This is the release?

I had pre-ordered the game last fall, played some of the betas, and was waiting quite anxiously to play this game when I finally saw it pop on impulse.  I played it last night for about 2 hours. Honestly, I couldn't bring myself to play it any longer.  The game may be great but it really feels like I paid for a copy of the game to float Stardock for a few months as they patched things up and made it an actual game.  Yes I'm angry, I'm upset that this is what I got for my money. Slapping a 1.0 on this right now is like flipping me off after depositing my cash.

Sorry guys/gals, but this is not a game that needed to be released.  1.0 feels like Beta 1.0. Patching is the name of PC gaming but this is above and beyond what anyone would expect after parting with $50.

Having said that, here's what I think is good, bad, and just a waste:

Good:

Graphics-  Isn't anything mind-blowing, but they are stylized at least.  Does that whole WoW-ish fantasy thing so that’s good.

Bad:

UI - is a complete mess. Items are too buried and it is too easy to simply click away at the "end turn" button awaiting something to happen. Not enough feedback such as "Unit XYZ has moves remaining".  I guess the worst thing here is that nothing is obvious and hovering over things is a waste of time. That and the UI feels too small to me,

AI - granted I was on normal, but the AI was a joke.

Tactical Combat - looks terrible. And I can’t quite determine if it is a turn based movement, or a final fantasy style combat meter thing.  I see the action points replenish, but its turn based in terms of enemy turn/player turn. My sense is that it’s a turn-based game with the gauges refilling for flare?

Sandbox mode - hrm. It just lacks the compelling push forward that you have come to expect from the Civs, Gal Giv, MoM, et al. It’s a sensation that is hard to put a finger one, but its as if I just have no real desire to push forward.

elemental
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Reply #1 from Elemental Forums Top

Tactical combat - there's no turn order or anything, you select a unit, use up his/her/its actions. You can pick in any order you want. Then when the next turn comes, they get their actions back (gauge refilling). Each action consumes so many movement points. Weapons depend on attack speed and movement is 2 AP per square I believe.

It's not ATB like FF or the Charge Time/Wait Time system like in FFT or Tactics Ogre.



Unit portraits (on the left column) that have moves remaining will have yellow borders. They turn gray when they have run out of moves.


Hope this helps some.

Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top

I think that half of the problem with EoWM is the poor level of documentation about how this game is supposed to work. The manual was little more than a promo booklet. I suspect many of us non-beta players were stumbling through trying to figure out how things work. There are a lot of bugs and that makes it even more frustrating to figure out the game mechanics. 

For example My hero was getting one shotted in every combat when I first played. Well no wonder they arent given a weapon; figuring out how to get a weapon and they now to equip it was 30 min ordeal in itself. Another area such as how to be build mines and farms (seems fixed in 1.05) was totally unintuitive.. These are just a few examples.

It just is NOt ready for prime time. I suspect SD rushed it to beat the slew of AAA launches in the coming weeks. /sad panda

RAT

 

 

 

Groupy 2 - Organize multiple applications into grouped tabs on your Windows desktop
Reply #3 from Elemental Forums Top

No i am sorry, i am out of work just now, i bought Elemental because i'd read the drivel that is Mafia 2 and had opted to go with the company i TRUST and have faith in.   Now i woulda thought the lesson was learned with Demigod, but clearly not.

This might sound harsh but there was a BETA test for MONTHS and i am gettin a bit tired of PAYING to be a Stardock employee now ... there is some stuff that should never have passed Q&A like the missing rewards that i have now made 2 threads about with absolutely no reply.

 

 

*MINOR SPOILER* - Summon Stone Giant MISSING - After gettin the map and returning to the market you are told you are given 2 new spells, Lightning Strike and Summon Stone Giant .... the latter is absolutely non existant .... *MINOR SPOILER*

 

 

I am sorry i absolutely LOVE Stardock, i think that more games companies need a Brad Wardell but here in the UK it doesn't exactly help that we suffer tax on all games .... so i am paying MORE for a digital version of Ele than i would for a BOXED copy of Mafia 2 for example and i do expect that to be justified therefor.

 

I to am a great supporter of Stardock and i to am VERY angry, Civ 5 is round the corner and for the first time ever i might start exacting my right to get my money back.  Demigod should have been a lesson learned not repeated!

Reply #4 from Elemental Forums Top

Also, I recommend unchecking "Enable Auto Turns" in the options so your turn doesn't automatically end.  It's too hard to tell exactly when a turn has ended otherwise.

Reply #6 from Elemental Forums Top

i am gettin a bit tired of PAYING to be a Stardock employee now ...
End of quote

 

Dude has a point there.

 

I rather see it as i am paying Stardock to listen to me and do my bidding!

Makes me feel allot better...

Reply #7 from Elemental Forums Top

@ VR-Iron - Thanks for clearing that up. I had suspected that was what was going on there. 

 

@squeeky - LOL you can equip your guys with things? lordy. No wonder I had to run away and just cast at people.

 

@mtn - that is a good idea. I always used to do that in the Civs. will probably help me figure stuff out.

 

I think polishing up the UI is the first step to making this game palatable. More intuitive menus and something in the form of guidance. To totally jack Civ, maybe throw in advisers. I know that scribe guy shows up, but meh he's not all that handy.

Then I think the sandbox mode needs a hook to keep you moving along. space out the units more? add more functions for cities? I'm not quite sure. The tech goes pretty quickly unlocking various items which is nice, but for some reason I'm not obsessing over my cities as much as I did in the Civ series.  maybe they also need some visual feedback that shows you production for the cities (ala civ's resource production, 4 wheat, 2 irons, etc)

Reply #8 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting docbates7, reply 7
@ VR-Iron - Thanks for clearing that up. I had suspected that was what was going on there. 
 

@squeeky - LOL you can equip your guys with things? lordy. No wonder I had to run away and just cast at people.

End of docbates7's quote

Yeah The more I read the posts here, the more I am finding this game is screming for a tutorial or a tutorial handbook. There are soem deep elements that it takes a lot of face/desk contact to finally figure out even the basics the game.

RAT