I bit the bullet

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/9553042

Should have waited for CIV 5 it will be awesome...and work

The only problem with CIV 5 is it will just be another Civ, the video doesn't make it look appealing to me.

No even in it's somewhat poor current state I'd rather play Elemental.

For me, Stardocks Elemental trumps Civ5.   

I watched the Civ 5 dev preview last night and wow it looks amazing... but I have to agree with econundrum1.  While watching the video I got the feeling of "been there, done that".  I played Civ 1 and 4 to death, and to a lesser extent 2 & 3.  20 years of playing Civ and I can honestly say I've played enough Civ for this lifetime.

On that note, I probably still will pick up Civ 5 sometime in the future, as 4X games are so rare.  I don't understand the one or the other mentality that I've read in the Elemental review comments.  Get both.  If you can't afford it, wait 6 months or a year.  There still will be little choice of 4X games in a year's time.

I'm having fun as well and it also will be fun to track changes in time. Not to mention that I'm a huge fan of turn based games and there are not many launched in recent years....

I also bought it to give little support for further development

It has been mentioned in other topics but let me repeat. usually discovering new games gives me a lot of pleasure. With Elemental it will be many times, not only once

Agree as Civ V is just another repeat of Civ I. Civ II is best anyway so I don't know why people want to throw good money away on yet another rendition when they probably haven't even beaten the top difficulty in the others with all ai's on the map.

To OP good for you for getting Elemental. At least you are getting something NEW and INNOVATING it is money well spent in supporting Stardock as they will make the game what most want it to be. A great SINGLE PLAYER experience. <grin>

For anyone still sitting on the fence (like me), Amazon has some good deals for Elemental new in box for about $29.

....and yet another topic turned into "Civ5 vs EWoM"!

and EWoM wins hands down yet again. <laffin>

I'd be happy with both; despite historically being a one game gamer.  steam is the only thing preventing me from getting Civ5.  My finances are currently limited, but I would have fit both games into my budget eventually.  More power to those who will play both... just hope that your patronage of a steamworks product doesn't empower a monopolic steamrolling of the gaming industry ;~p 

I've seen most of the previews of Civ 5 and despite everyone telling me that *this* is the one with -major- changes, I still don't see it.  Civilization 5, at it's heart, is still Civilization 1 with more bells and whistles.  It's still a linear romp through the same old history that we've seen before: Settlers, Workers, Phalanxes, Knights, Musketmen, Infantry, Artillery, Nukes, Space Components, bla, bla, bla.  It is getting really, really old.

Units now fight alone on hexes...big deal.  It's still the same BS that I've seen over and over again, only this time it's Steam only and the controls are going to be severely handicapped and optimized for consoles.  Maybe I'll buy it in a few years when the full version comes out (read: all the expansions).  Thanks, but no thanks, I'll pass for now.

Elemental offers something fresh and new, not seen since Master of Magic.  There is real tactical battles, quests, role-playing, marriages and dynasties, heroes and villains, fantasy stories, rich modding tools, and so much more.  I'm willing to invest in new, fresh ideas, even if the road is a little bumpy and less trod.  I am done investing in worn-out repeats.

While I'm desperately trying to get a refund and Stardock is having nothing to do with that despite the fact that Mr. Wardell himself said the game is in such shape that they are refunding people's money when requested to do so.

I like the potential of Elemental, and it can be fun, but it's too broken/unfinished/unrealized at the moment. Maybe a year from now?

Well, why bite the bullet and buy something that you know isn't finished and will take months to complete, when you could just buy great games now and buy Elemental later when it's something worth buying?

You do realize that Elemental is just another civ too?  Start with nothing, build an empire, win by diplo, conquest, science, etc - sound familiar?  It's civ, or the basic 4X formula, just a different wrapper, and in the case of Elemental, it's a ripped up, broken, incomplete, and simplistic wrapper.

Elemental is supposed to be a spritual successor to MoM, or at least be similar to it.  Does that mean Elemental is "just another Mom" and not appealing?  Err, guess not.

IMO, every element of Elemental is simplistic - there isn't one thing about it that is compelling.  Mostly human units/leaders in a fantasy game.  Simplisitc units.  Simplistic magic and spell system.  Simplistic city/empire building.  Poor UI.  Poor in-game info.  Poor AI.  Poor tactical.  And so on.  It's hard to find one thing about Elemental that really grabs you.  The game does oddly have a "one more turn" vibe even with it being a shell of a game, and you know SD will bust a move and improve, but it's just not the game it should be yet and you can only hope that some day it gets there.

I love Stardock.  I consider GalCiv2 (to be SD's best game, Elemental is nowhere close, not by a longshot, sorry Brad) to be on par with Civ IV, and Civ IV is one of the best 4X of all time.  Elemental is nowhere near the quality level or gameplay level of Civ IV or GalCiv2.  Not even close.  Maybe some day.  Why play a prototype til some day?  The state of Elemental is nobody's fault but SD's - it didn't have to be like this.  Civ 5 will instantly be at or beyond the Civ IV/GC2 level upon release.

Why play a prototype and a shell of a game when you could play what will be one of the best 4X games ever now, and come back to Elemental when/if it reaches the potential and state we all hoped it'd be in and hope it some day reaches?

I could just as easily be raving about Elemental if it was worthy of such praise. 

Civ 2 is good but no where as good as civ4. Everyone is intitled to an opinion but your statement is wacko my friend.

Elemental is basically might and magic + civ. I mean none of these games are really innovative are they? They just improve on the cores and if they are decent introduce new concepts that add to the core of the genre such as religion in civ4.

I mean seriously is there much difference between elemental and something like Alpha centuri beyond a touch of RPG/magic for champions/soverigns in elemental?

Listening to people talk about how they'd rather play Elemental than Civ V crack me up.

Its okay, I loved elemental at first, but as the novelty has worn off I have a hard time bringing myself to play it. I hope a few patches fix that. At least I have civ 5 to try out next week. Hopefully its polished a bit better then ewom was at release hehe.

Can't wait for Civ5. Bored to death of Elemental.

Only it crashed during the stream and looked somewhat boring.  Anyways.

That is evil.  You make me cry.

Wow.  Just, wow.  One more week.

Why did this get to a Civ 5 vs Elemental thread?

It's a pretty natural comparison.  There is a lot of overlap in the group of players to which both games appeal and the release date of Civ V is rapidly approaching.  From my perspective, we've been cruising around the lake bailing water out of our boat for the last 3 weeks.  Next week we come across a yacht filled with bikini-clad models.  You better believe I'm going to go check out the yacht.  Maybe it has a leak as well, but I'm damn sure going to go find out.

So what?  I play more then one game at a time...maybe I'm a bit different.

I love steam myself.  Just started using impulse and like it a lot, but  I think steam beats it out in features.  Not to mention I have a pretty big friends list on steam.  I definitely wouldn't buy something just because it favored the most popular form of digital distribution.  Might as well not use google then.

I wasn't criticizing your opinion.  I tend to really sink my teeth into games, and have trouble changing gears in the middle.  At least, that's how it works when it comes with complex strategy games, which is just about all I play.