Sythion

My question is why would you pick any spellbook or research magic at all when it's all going to be worthless by turn 100 anyway?

[quote who="Rabenhoff" reply="17" id="2752655"]Everybody is different. And the fact that Stardock is offering a very generous "refund" policy tells me that at least they do understand this ... even if not everybody on the forum does. [/quote] Ironically, their refund policy is technically not applicable to people who preorder more than 90 days in advance, since the 90 day refund window starts at purchase, and games are non-refundable until release. So far my refund is get

I'm asking for a refund on Elemental, and am confident I will get it (considering SD's reputation on such matters). I would like SD to keep in touch with me by email whenever Elemental goes through a major update. When I feel the game might have fun gameplay, I would like to purchase it again. Does anyone else who's gotten/getting a refund agree?

I disagree. I think Stardock is generally getting more leadway than any other company would get, because they have the respect of players and reviewers alike. They'll still have my respect, even after Elemental, but I'm not going to suger coat this: This is one of the worst games I've ever played from a balance/gameplay design perspective. Also, delaying the game would have resulted in a much different game, so long as people were able to playtest instead of system test.

Will there be an issue for someone who preorderd > 90 days ago?

Elemental is perfectly playable as a piece of software, but not as a game.

Well said, but I think the biggest step to making civ, adventuring, magic and diplomacy valid tech options is to make their beneficiaries not worthless. If getting higher level cities, gaining levels, getting higher level spells, or trying to up your diplomatic clout non-militaristically were not strategically retarded , maybe there would be a point to researching branches other than war.

fair enough :)

Wintersong, you can't be serious, can you? Do you actually think that it was not a mistake to release the game without testing it, and that it would not have dramatically increased the fun factor if this cruddy period where the game is finally being tested? You seem like a reasonable person, but again, you have no perspective. Edit: I do not think the OP's post was vitriolic at all.

1) Making champions not worthless. 2) Making dynasties not stupid. 3) Making magic not worthless. After all that, there might be a point to tech trees other than civ and war!

[quote who="HappyNihil" reply="3" id="2743979"] Quoting dragoaskani, reply 2 Wisdom = essence when creating a Sov. Are you sure? During sovereign creation it says that "wisdom determines the number of action points it takes to cast a spell" while essence AFAIK determines maximum mana. So is wisdom the same thing as essence and only affects max mana, or is it the same and essence affects both max mana and action points cost or

Thank you for the update! Always great to hear. :)

[quote who="Alonzobistro" reply="9" id="2743798"] Quoting Mivo, reply 6 I find it a little disheartening to see that every thread with a positive attitude gets dragged down by a discussion about the "issues". The topic started even wrote that his friend visited at his place and they looked at the game together. That should have provided a pretty good first hand impression of the game. Funny. You say "dragged down" by mentionning i

[quote who="Mivo" reply="6" id="2743752"]I find it a little disheartening to see that every thread with a positive attitude gets dragged down by a discussion about the "issues". The topic started even wrote that his friend visited at his place and they looked at the game together. That should have provided a pretty good first hand impression of the game. [/quote] Being dishonest is wrong, even if you're positive about it. :)

In regards to Magic Resistance and complexity, I believe a lot of people are confused because things simply aren't explained and aren't intuitive. For instance, I thought that I was just getting unlucky with my magic spells a lot of times, not realizing that armor was causing them to fail. In my case the game would have been LESS complex if Magic Resistance was added, because then I would at least know what is stopping my spells.

[quote who="Lord_Asmodeous" reply="106" id="2743682"] Quoting fatindian, reply 104 "If you try comparing it to the steaming pile Civ4" I bought and played Civ4 on release. You are really stretching comparing it to Elemental's release. Take off your blinders. I'm not wearing blinders. Civ4 on release was a nightmare. The only thing it really had over EWoM was that it didn't crash -- it did have a pretty

[quote who="TOWDrac" reply="70" id="2742831"] Quoting skunkpuppy, reply 53 They deserve every bit of criticism they get, and then some! Actually, they don't. As much as "fanboys" are lambasted, I'm here to expose unbalanced critics: Elemental is not bad. Elemental is very good and is riddled with problems from the launch, which was bad. [/quote] Actually, you're wrong there. I'll clarify. In terms of cool features, Elemental

[quote who="Jharii" reply="6" id="2738647"] Thin skin is not one of my problems. People know exactly what they are trying to stir up by expressing that the game is in some way "not finished." [/quote] Yes. They are trying to stir people to their honest oppinions of the game. Whether or not they slight Stardock in the attempt does not matter in the slightest. The way you've worded this shows quite clearly that your frustration isn't with useles

[quote who="kryo" reply="2" id="2738591"]Succession does indeed come into play when a player is defeated--if you've married a child off to another faction, they will inherit the cities and units. [/quote] Interesting concept. I'm having a tough time seeing how this can be used strategically though.

[quote who="Wintersong" reply="7" id="2738322"]I find amusing how many people, at the release of each game, complain about they paid for beta test at release. At this point, one would think that only idiots, ignorants or daredevils would dare to buy in release day (or preorder/prebuy). If at least those idiots, ignorants and daredevils where to assume their responsability for their decission... And I can understand that people that don't know Stardock (especially if they belie

I fail to see how saying "this game will be good when it's finished" is a pot shot? Grow some thicker skin and don't take things offensively. One of the great things about Stardock is that they are a company who can appreciate criticism, even if their fans cannot.

[quote who="DRavisher" reply="3" id="2735554"]I've had horses a couple of times, but they are pretty rare. I find this to be a good thing. It's nice to have resources that not everyone is going to have access to in a game, adds a bit of flavour. [/quote] It would be nicer if there were some cheap option, with more advanced mounts being rare.

Good suggestions all. In regards to the Technology, I think it's less about the technologies being bad as the mechanics behind them being bad. It's currently strategically stupid to invest anything in magic, adventure and diplomacy, except just a point or two.

Honestly, I can't advise getting Elemental in its current state. There's a lot of coolness to it, and bugs I can deal with, however the poor game design simple makes the game not fun beyond the "figuring out what makes it tick" phase. Until they smooth out the rough spots on this aspect of the game, I won't recommend the game to anyone. Haven't played FoH2. I did play a little FoH1, which was interesting, but had its own game design flaws too (as most mods do). :) I still beli

[quote who="cwg009" reply="19" id="2737902"] No no no. All the things you list are indeed balance issues in their own right, but that doesn't change the fact that there are big holes in the AI. If all of the issues you list as exploits were gone tomorrow, lots of players would still be able to walk all over the AI, although it might take a bit longer due to movement restrictions. Why? Because the AI doesn't do a good initial city rush to beat you to