For the first time since I got sick and tired of WoM, I've sat down and spent hours on FE. Beta 3 is an incredible improvement, and the game is already fun - much more fun than WoM ever was. But don't stop here; there are a lot of things that need improvement. Here are some of my quick impressions:
1. Load times take forever.
2. The magical item selection is nonsensical. I said it in the WoM beta, and I'll say it here - and please, Stardock devs, pay attention: You need to have an Item Forge like Master of Magic. Look, this is a Stardock game. Customization is standard. I've spent hours designing my ships in Gal Civ. You have part of it, allowing us to design our own units, but this game will not be complete without the ability to design your own items. (Not to mention, it will give me something I can do with my demon horns and whatnot.) This wouldn't be too hard of a change, either change the techs where you would get magic items so that it unlocks potential enchantments, or drop those techs entirely, and unlock potential enchantments when you unlock spells. You could even require (or allow) that any caster who can cast a spell may enchant with that spell. I want to design my own items, give them my own names, etc.
Otherwise, it's like Sauron, getting ready to make the one ring, and finding out that he can't, because it isn't in the list. But he can buy all the Dragon Cloaks he can afford . . .
3. I'm totally clueless about how the food/materials work. I wouldn't mind some sort of quick summary about this when I settle a pioneer, or even when I look at the details screen. It might acually be there, but the city details screen is extraordinarily opaque. If I have to search for the information, I won't bother. It's a game, not a research project.
4. Do away with the current level-up screen for cities. I don't always remember what city is specialized to what, and as I never know ahead of time when I'm going to level up, I don't doublecheck first. Two things: First, allow us to do the city level-up when we want to. Put a button on the city details screen, or whatever, so that if I want to check things out, maybe revise my plan, or wait three turns to level up, I can. Second, integrate the level up options into the city details screen, so that when I make a decision, I know what buildings are in the city, what resources there are, how I've specialized, etc.
5. Both the city details and the unit details screen need to be completely reworked. They are very difficult to understand. A tremendous leap past WoM, sure; but nowhere where they should be. I'd recommend just starting from scratch.
6. I can't find a lot of things in the Homnomnom. A search function would be great. If there is one, a search function that I can find would also be great. I have no idea what spell mastery does (and by the way, it doesn't appear anywhere I can readily find it on the unit screen) nor do I have any idea about what injuries there are, and how they can be cured, etc. They can be cured, right? My d00d who got whacked by Ukbuk the Underdweller and picked up pneumonia isn't going to have pneumonia for the rest of his life, right? And if so, really? Really?
7. See number 4 for the unit level up screen. This isn't quite as bad as the city level-up screen, as at least I know what traits and such I got beforehand; but I don't quite remember what weapons I gave my d00d. And as that makes quite a difference, I'd really like to know. Incorporate this into the unit detail screen.
8. Speaking of screens that need to be scrapped and started from scratch, the Inventory/Shop/Trade and Equip screen. Hard to use, hard to understand, just bad all around. Equipping my characters isn't a joy; it's a chore. And maybe a little drag and drop? There is absolutely nothing intuitive about this page.
9. Lots of cities getting stuck at level 2. I know how to get out of it, but it is a pain and I don't like it very much.
10. Need some better mouseovers. I wouldn't mind more information on enemies, as it is difficult to figure out what they have, and how they are going to attack me. I'd also like to know what weapon my d00ds are using on the mouseover so I can quickly figure out what I want to do with them. Sure, I can memorize it or whatever, but that detracts from the fun factor.
11. Tactical combat is much better. But what is essential is allowing me to place my units before combat starts. This must be added.
12. Couple of the quests are bugged - on the scrap golem one, one of the golems was generated on a mountainside and that was it; also the game never noted when I whacked Bupkiss the Underbreather. I'll upload my save game when I get the chance. This, by the way, was why I stopped playing the game before I won.
13. I still occasionally get the thing where when I zoom out, I don't get the cloth map.
14. The game also seems to slow down as I keep playing it; exiting and then re-entering fixes the problem. It isn't a crash. It is a memory leak.
15. If you have a quicksave, you need a quickload. 'Nuff said; make mine Stardock!
16. By the way, it doesn't appear that there is much of a need for specialization, except where there are buildings that are one per faction. Outside of that, it's build everything you can, with no real limit. I have plenty of spaces to put buildings, and maintenance is pretty much nonexistant given the low cost of maintenance and the huge piles of gold I make per turn.
I think that's it for right now. If I think of anything else, I'll add it. It's a good game already, and actually fun to play - but there is much more that you can do before it will be great. And that's the point, right?