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I'm finding that the game can get a little dry after an hour or so and some of the UI and bugs can build up frustration and I need another game to play to balance this one out.
What do you play when you need a break from Elemental?
I'm playing Batman Arkham Asylum. It's the perfect counterbalance to elemental.
They seem great so far. I downloaded the demos. Makes me wonder if there's a lot of games like this that I'm missing out on...
League of Legends. I was in the closed beta and never got back into the game until awhile before the release of Elemental. I wasn't expecting the release version of Elemental to be so disappointing, but at least I have something to do until Civ V is released.
I shelved Elemental after this whole debacle. I'm waiting to try it again after this magical patch they claim will make it fun (or at least playable on my x64 PC)
So I'm playing the following with all my game time now (most were suggestions by friends or other forum members in response to my complaints about Elemental - ie "Well if you want lots of depth .. try this ...)
-> Dominions 3 (so ugly it reminds me of the D&D Gold Box games I grew up on - but I enjoy it and get that "one my turn" feeling I don't get from Elemental)
-> AoW:Shadow Magic (interesting .. fun tactical battles .. not really a huge fan of the HoMM-style worlds though, I like more Civ style setups)
-> Mount & Blade: Warband (another rough indy game .. I find it fun once in a while, got it direct download after playing the demo ... like Elemental, it is a game where I have my fingers crossed they'll add a patch and it'll just explode on the fun-o-meter)
-> X3:Terran Conflict (big space game with 1st person flying and a complex economic system ... I don't like tactical space games, but this style is fun)
Hmm .. also tried out Torchlight, Eschalon: Book II, Avernum 6, King's Bounty: Armored Princess, Dawn of War 2 (through Steam), and Star Craft 2 all within the past 6 months or so. Those I haven't touched in a while. The only one I was really saddened by was SC2 ... it just felt "meh" to me, I don't play it multiplayer so I had high hopes for the campaign, the couple MP games I tried weren't my kind of thing ... I'd rather play with a couple choice friends (they didn't buy SC2 yet) than random strangers.
I'm pretty flighty with my gaming tastes though, few things keep my attention for very long periods of time. A friend of mine keeps talking about playing her copy of Elite from 20+ years ago. Maybe I have gamer ADD.
Seriously considering MoM actually. Maybe Master of Orion or Sid Meier's Colonization, I'm in a "wtf why can't gamedevs even give us simple clones of old classics without the infuriating UI and compatibility issues" kind of mood right now.
Heck at this point I'd be happy with even some identical clones (-the UI and maybe with better graphics) with good mod-ability and an active community.
Huh, it used to be League of Legends for me too, had no idea there was so much overlap between it and Elemental's fanbase - they aren't very similar games.
Lately been getting back in touch with my tactical FPS side, however (Red Orchestra, and its mod Darkest Hour). Sticking with the theme of "something as different from Elemental as possible," I guess.
There is a "modern" clone of Colonization 
(based on the Civ4 engine)
SM's Pirates
Dawn of War II
Civ 4 complete<--- gave up on, weird no growth bug that manifested itself all of a sudden.
Sim City 4: Rush Hour
PS3
Red Dead Redemption
What ever gamefly sent me that week
Wildmana modmod for FFH2 ... Lately a little bit of worms reloaded just for fun and EVE online.
Set aside MoM after some rollicking campaigns. Fired up the original Divine Divinity, Gothic 2 (w/NotR expansion), Alpha Centauri, and Kohan with a few hits off Homeworld 2. Yep, it's the end of summer and I'm in an oldskool state o mind.
I dunno if I read in this thread but anyways I'll second:
Din's Curse
This is just fantastic! Hack and slash with no crap and tons of random item/dungeon/monster spawning. Less visually appealing than Torchlight but way more fun IMO.
Also for those interested, grab the latest 1.007 beta patch after install and this mod
http://www.soldak.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2266
I'm really looking forward to the future of this developer
I just gave Titan's Quest: Immortal Throne a shot with the Underlord mod... holy crap, that's a workout
Right now, DQ 9, Age of Wonders, Warlords 3, and Starcraft 2 (not that I'm any good - I just play against the AI)
Played the original M&B a fair bit. The vanilla game was indeed a bit bland, but it really shone in mods (graphics, setting or gameplay), but looking at their forums it seems not all modders made the transition.
Bought Borderlands yesterday, I must admit it is a lot more cheap fun than I first thought! If you like Diablo like loot and mindless roaming/killing you should give it a shot! The balistic system is quite good, for a game that tries to link weapon performance to character level (initally bullets are quite slow).
7/10, add +2 if you're blessed with some likely minded friends, because Multiplayer is VERY fun!
There was definitely a wave of modders that didn't jump to the newer version, and many who did, and went on to concentrate on tinkering with the MP aspects of the game (I don't play MP games with random strangers, so I never tried it). Since the games are pretty much identical except for the MP aspect, I can see why many didn't want to shell out $30 for a half-arsed "expansion".
There are supposedly some good, solid, total-conversation mods in the works for Warband though, that'll change gameplay and give players a new map, etc. I'm waiting for some neat ones, and still having a pretty good time with a lightly-modded version of the vanilla software.
I only paid half as much for M&B as I did Elemental, so I can forgive more problems (plus M&B has never actually crashed on me), though it is the first game I got that people actually said to me, in the forums when I complained (Elemental being the second) that if I had an issue with gameplay being broken, I should just wait for a mod to come out. That is where my open distaste for "theres a mod for that" (i.e. "just shut up and download a mod if a promised feature is broken") responses began.
Those S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games rock!!!! I played all of them to conclusion and then free played after completion. Lots of fun.
Psychonauts - it's just great!
Civ4, Plants vs. Zombies, Eufloria, SoasE and from time to time a little Amnesia, but it scares the shit out of me.
Mount&Blade: Warband using the 1257AD mod at home, and Native with my netbook, waiting for Sword of Damocles to get closer to release to try that for Warband
Morrowind with the netbook
Master of Orion 2 on both
Will probably buy MoM on GOG after I post this so I can play it on the netbook.
I've been checking out Bioware's new DLCs that they've released for Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age.
Also just bought Mount&Blade: Warband, really good game (but yeah, I agree, a little rough around the edges).
Victoria 2 (also waiting on a patch before I play this one again)
The Guild 2: Renaissance (maybe I just have a thing for buggy games, okay? 
)
Besides bioware and maxis, I've been checking out a lot of indie gaming scene
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