Would you recommend Elemental?

As is? No. Come back in a month, I would say. They're working on a great patch that is currently being open beta-tested that will push the game from being mediocre to quite decent.

Absolutely worth it in my opinion. Some bugs here and there but it was so excited by the features alone, i bought the retail collectors edition (that and i generally love game soundtracks). After playing for a bit, I am pleased but am also anxiously (but patiently) waiting for 1.1 to go live as it looks to have a lot of cool improvements. I completely trust stardock as i have though gal civ 2, sins and expansions and demigod. (for the latter two as a publisher as ironclad and gpg are involved respectively)

If you enjoyed Gal Civ 2 and you enjoy a fantasy setting with turn based strategy, go for it. if action games and console style fps twitch gameplay are your thing, you likely will not enjoy it imho. I am happy with my purchase and I actually don't have a lot of disposable income or free time similar to you as you said. all in all no regrets here personally.

Probably at this stage I'd say wait for 1.1 to go on general release once it's beta tested. 1.09 is not to bad some fun to be had, but 1.1 at least going by the still bugged beta is going to make it a great game, with future patches improving it even more. 1.1 also changes some big game mechanic which is why I say wait.

Sure....get it.  If you want to be a part of the testing and discussion about the game.

No.....wait.     If you want to play a finished and polished game.

This. 

I am not trying out the Beta, I know I would just be disappointed but I have time so I'm waiting, the Game definately has potential!

Not worth it yet. Give it at least a month then come back and ask us.

No, I can't recommend Elemental at this point.  Ask again in another month or few.

Once 1.1 goes live, assuming the devs handle most of the major issues that exist in the beta right now, I'd certainly recommend the game.  Ignoring the beta-related issues, I'd say 1.1 brings the game from a 6 to a low 8. With a little more work, I think this game is going to become a 'must play' for fans of turn-based gaming.  The potential is certainly there.

However, if you buy the game now you get the first expansion for free.  It might be worth it to buy now.  But if you're not sure, I'd wait until 1.1 goes live.

I would say get it at 1.1 it's definitely heading in the right direction. The thing about this game, is you can pretty much bank on it to be updated and supported for a pretty long time to come, eventually it will be fantastic.

However if you need something to play right now, I would suggest something else, but don't pass this game up in the long run.

I'd say wait before you get even 1.1; remember the state of the last "release" version of Elemental?  I would not trust the next release until there's been some time for players to verify whether or not the "beta issues" actually get eliminated in the 1.1 "release" version.

Stardock may claim to have learned from their mistakes, but those are currently words unsupported by deeds.  Give them a chance to prove themselves before you take them on faith.

Wait till the expansion comes out... that way you'll get a bug free game with a decent number of quests. 

By my standards, and the ones of the review magazine I read, It'll bring the game from a 4 to a 6. To get an 8, all aspects of the game need to be developed: magic (not just more spells but more possibilities; there are spells the engine can't just manage yet and that's a shame), quests (right now, it's not exactly Elemental's strong point), tactical battles (1.1 will have a basic, although usable, system. What needs to be done is to make it into a tactically interesting system).

I think February-March is when the game will start becoming a lot more interesting; I can't wait to see it happening, because I still believe in this game.

If buying now gets free expansion (not sure, I bought mine long ago so I don't check this), it should save you some money. Waiting for the eventual price drop may happen but apparently not anytime soon (or near).

I like the basic game and I'm loving the new changes. But if money could suppose a problem, like seems to be your case, I'd wait. But only because I suppose that you would prefer to enjoy a version of Elemental with more features and options from the moment you buy it. Once 1.1 hits our computers there will be a demo (shortly after it?) so if you haven't bought it yet, that would be your chance to give it a chance and see.

To the original question of the thread: yes (accompanied with a list of features and problems of the game so the target person can decide).

I'm with just about everyone else.  Wait... the game has potential but was released too early.  I haven't played it since the game came out and am just waiting for the 1.1 patch.

I say at least 3 months.  At least.

Thanks  for the enormous number of responses.

What I can say from the amount of people who replied is that there are many people who like/want the game to work.

Which to me isa good thing.

I will prob hold off till xmas paycheck. Perhaps we may even get a xmas sale (can always hope)

Flashman

Wait till 1.1 is finished, then get the demo.  Best suggestion as of now.

That will be after xmas I believve.

Recommending things is a good way to wind up as a tool for guerrilla marketers, exploited without pay, so I have a policy of not recommending things unless I get a cut.

As is, certainly not. 1.09 would still be a 5/10 in my book, while 1.1 looks like it could make it to 6/10. By mid 2011 this game could be reccommendable. Buying it now for the "free" expansions is, in my book, insane. There is no such thing as "free". (I would understand if someone were to write "without additional funds required", but "free" is far from the mark, since you will need to invest $50 as an initial investment. For those of us who struggled through beta and continue to give valuable feedback without monetary reimbursement, I feel the usage of "free" here to be a poor choice.)

To be perfectly honest, the game isn't very good.  Unless you are the rare, die hard fantasy strategy gamer that doesn't care about balance, tactics, or interesting world, factions, and gameplay, this isn't the game for you.  I've tried my damnedest to get he most fun I can squeeze out of the game, but the more and more I play it, the more I realize that each individual part of the game, is shallow and poorly done.  They are working to make changes, and I believe that eventually this will be a decent game.  That isn't today though.  I'm going to be playing it a lot, and posting my opinions on what could be done to make it more fun.  But the tactical battles are so fundamentally flawed in design, I will be amazed if they ever approach being good.  I would want the devs to start over, instead of making tweaks to the Tactical combat.  Completely new maps, unit placement, ranges adjusted, terrain effects, one action per unit per turn, units getting turns based on their speed AND each unit having a speed score not based solelyon equipment just to start.   Play Final Fantasy Tactics, play Brigandine, the  battles in those games were far superior than this game, and they were realsed a dozen years ago.

And although I know that 99.999999....% of the Universe disagrees with me, tactical combat in Elemental and MoM are really really similar. The differences aren't so great. But as I have already stablished that I have almost all the Universe against me in this, I won't bother pointing out the reasons.

Also: Final Fantasy Tactics combats (not a TBS) cannot really compare to that of Elemental or any other TBS. Seriously.

Why not?  why can't we compare a turn-based roleplaying combat to a turn-based strategy game?  Is that some rule somewhere?  Seems to me the concepts are pretty similar, you have units on a squared grid map, some are ranged archers, some are melee, some are magic users, they have stats, equipment, speed, movement, in fact, I don't see a reason not to compare them.  Do TBS get a pass on bad tactical combat for some reason?  Explain please.

You don't have you army limited by empire/kingdom management. You don't have enemies that can destroy/conquer your cities, limiting your resource pool, you cannot get unlimited random battles to farm and/or level up the dudes/dudettes, etc.

You can say that once in battle all those details doesn't matter but they do because how you enter that battle has been conditioned by far more elements than in the RPG. And balance is like quite different too. I doubt that anyone can find Farmers in FFT while in Elemental you can and can have them doing battle too.

imho

That's not a good argument, almost so bad I questioned if it even deserved a response.  I'm simply talking about the tactical battles themselves.  I'm simply talking about the battles.  Thats it.  I agree on a STRATEGIC level, the games are far different.  But I am not talking about that.

The battles are similar, but FFT does it far better.  The maps have meaningful terrain.  Units movement, speed and range play a role in tactics.  Those are basics of tactical battles, this game does not have that.