Elemental: Chinese Fire Drill of Magic

[Jason]

<strong>[ Update ]</strong>

The launch for <a href="http://www.elementalgame.com/" target="_blank"><strong>Elemental: War of Magic</strong></a> probably could've gone smoother. The gold version, released online a day early due to retailers breaking the street date, left some people a bit confused. From Tom Chick at <a href="http://fidgit.com/archives/2010/08/elemental_in_a_world_of_dragon.php" target="_blank">Fidgit</a>:<blockquote>I don't mean to harp on this, but it's not an isolated instance of some weird under-the-hood bug. In its current state, Elemental is packed with these kinds of headscratchers. And my suspicion is that for every one of them I can see, there are even more lurking under the hood. There's no small amount of trust involved in playing a strategy game and letting the computer handle so many of the numbers. And when that trust is violated, it's incredibly discouraging. If I can't trust the game to do what it's saying it will do, I might as well go play Victoria 2.
</blockquote>And Tom Francis at <a href="http://www.pcgamer.com/2010/08/25/elementals-disastrous-launch-stay-well-away/" target="_blank">PC Gamer</a>:<blockquote>I&rsquo;m certain Stardock will fix Elemental. They may even keep working on it until it&rsquo;s as good as their last game, Galactic Civilizations 2. But putting junk like this in a box and charging money for it is not okay, however rapidly you try and patch it afterwards. It punishes you for being a fan, it punishes you for buying on day one, it punishes you for pre-ordering, and it punishes you for having faith that a great company like Stardock wouldn&rsquo;t ask you to pay for a game until it&rsquo;s fit to be played.
</blockquote>
Then there's been the forum complaints, primarily to do with the lack of random maps and seemingly unfinished state of the game, <a href="http://www.rpgcodex.net/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=27491&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=150" target="_blank">here</a>, at the <a href="http://forums.elementalgame.com/391353" target="_blank">official forums</a>, and in a <a href="http://www.quartertothree.com/game-talk/showthread.php?t=48528&page=82" target="_blank">Quarter To Three thread</a> that led to another entertaining Brad Wardell hissy-fit:
<blockquote>Also, to anyone, like you Ben, saying the game is like an "early beta" then well, please stay away from our games in the future. I consider it ready for release and if others disagree, don't buy our games.
</blockquote>Wardell later <a href="http://frogboy.joeuser.com/article/392474" target="_blank">apologized for this</a> and promised continued post-release support for Elemental.
<blockquote>I anticipate us putting out regular updates for Elemental for months or years to come based on player feedback, suggestions, and yes, bug reports.

I hope this offers some explanation as to the events that have come up. I sincerely apologize and feel terrible for the effect my forum posting on Qt3 may have had not just on our fans but also my team that has worked incredibly hard over the past 3 years to produce what we hope, is a game that you will enjoy for years to come.</blockquote>So where does that leave the game now? I have no idea as I haven't had a chance to pick it up yet, but I'm looking forward to hearing opinions around here after the first round of patching.

 

[Shannow]

I sincerely apologize and feel terrible for the effect my forum posting on Qt3 may have had not just on our fans but also my team that has worked incredibly hard over the past 3 years to produce what we hope, is a game that you will enjoy for years to come.

I hate that kind of false apology. He is not apologizing for his comments, which would mean, that he did/said something wrong. He is apologizing for the effect it had on the readers, which basically puts the blame on them for reacting the way they did.

Fucked up.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Death to Stardock death to Brad Wardell etc etc.

Have to admit I've been jerking off over all the retardo swirling around Elemental.

 

[Achilles]

I would appear that Stardock cannot into game launches. I'll give them a month to sort things out and release the demo. If at that point the game is good, I'll buy it.

However, Brad and Stardock really need to sort things out with launches. This sort of thing can wreck a company's reputation, especially after the problems with Demigod.

 

[Korgan]

I consider it ready for release and if others disagree, don't buy our games.

I just can't understand who could ever say something like this without intending to ruin his company. Was he drunk?

Several retailers broke the street date and we felt we needed to release our gold version to our customers who had pre-ordered from us as well as to our beta community that helped make the game the outstanding strategy game that it is.

That would be a very dumb move even if they were somehow unaware of the code's early beta state.
The blowjobs offered to Wardell after his apology are embarrassing to watch, too. Stardock's fans just ate it up and told him what a wonderful, level-headed person he is. Well, would it kill him to announce a month-long delay if you're all so understanding?

 

[Lightknight]

The only thing missing here is the quote of that asshat Tom Chick (sorry, but i wont dig last 20 pages of that thread to find it), where he basically said that everyone who reads HIS forum and lives to tell about what he read must fuck off. Clear signs of "forum supreme admin syndrome".

 

[Malakal]

Even worse than Paradox while making way less complicated games? Hmm...

 

[Zeros]

It was a messy release. I have been expecting this game for quite a while and was really shocked when I saw that Stardock released it - I thought it still had a few months of beta testing left.

But I do have the hope that they will try to fix the unpolish and bugs. My concern now, given their track record with GalCiv2, is that they have kind of an aversion for complex/deep gameplay mechanics. Just as GalCiv2's combat was really monotonous and dumbed down, so far I do not know if Elemental is going in a different way.

Maybe mods...

 

[MasterSmithFandango]

The plus is that it is ridiculously moddable. The minus is that it was released in a shitty state. Wait a few months before picking it up.