Stardock's new game "Elemental: War of Magic"

[Ruprekt]

I think the particular thing I didn't like GalCiv is the brevity of the eXploration phase of the game.

 

[BethesdaLove]

It looks sterile. From the plastic, glossy gui to the plastic talking heads and plastic ships.

It plays sterile. Its a macro spreadsheet game without tactical fancy and a research tree from hell. At least without the last expansion.

It even talks sterile. Just read it. The language is not emotional enough. And forget the doodly doo "music". Funny note: MoM's spiritual sequel sound EXACTLY the same.

It lacks FUCKING epic and over 9000 and dirt and an Icewind Dale soundtrack.

 

[coldcrow]

What the hell?

Now people are seriously complaining about "soul" in a 4x space tbs. Just wow. Superior gameplay+AI > "soul" any day. I will take both gladly, though.
Reminds me of people like JarlFrank freaking out cause the unofficial patchmod for MoO3 had a funny title screen. Hypocrites.

On a related note: modded MoO3 > MoO2.

 

[MetalCraze]

What the hell?

Now people are seriously complaining about "soul" in a 4x space tbs. Just wow. Superior gameplay+AI > "soul" any day.

Too bad GalCiv2 gameplay sucks, eh?

 

[Ruprekt]

It's basically steamlined civ with apparently - not that I can tell - much superior ai.

I like exploring with my little space ships and putting defences on my planets and fings. I'm too stupid to get anything out of a better ai.

Plus the ship design in galciv2 seems pointless. It's purely cosmetic.

 

[mornick]

Wow, that's all really interesting.

Now, if all you Buck Rogers-wannabes would be so kind as to step in here: http://www.rpgcodex.net/phpBB/viewtopic ... 08#1291608


As for Elemental, it could do with some work, sure. I still have to admit I've enjoyed the hours (more than my girlfriend find appropriate) that I have already spent with the game. And that's in spite of bugs, poor performance and tactical battles that lack depth.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

YEAH BRO THIS SHIT TASTES GOOD BECAUSE I ASKED TH EWAITER BRO BRING ME SOME SHIT AND HE BROGUHT ME SHIT AND I EAT IT UP SO IT MUST BE OK RIGHT? LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLO

 

[Hoaxmetal]

Shut the fuck up, you aren't Blobert.

 

[kanenas]

It looks sterile. From the plastic, glossy gui to the plastic talking heads and plastic ships.

It plays sterile. Its a macro spreadsheet game without tactical fancy and a research tree from hell. At least without the last expansion.

It even talks sterile. Just read it. The language is not emotional enough. And forget the doodly doo "music". Funny note: MoM's spiritual sequel sound EXACTLY the same.

It lacks FUCKING epic and over 9000 and dirt and an Icewind Dale soundtrack.

Amen...We dont need no fluff in our strategy game

 

[Malakal]

What the hell?

Now people are seriously complaining about "soul" in a 4x space tbs. Just wow. Superior gameplay+AI > "soul" any day. I will take both gladly, though.
Reminds me of people like JarlFrank freaking out cause the unofficial patchmod for MoO3 had a funny title screen. Hypocrites.

On a related note: modded MoO3 > MoO2.

This soul is what brings gamers to the game. Its what made old games good, when we didnt have any fancy graphics it was the only thing stopping us from seeing those pixels for what they were. Some say its inspiration or innovative ideas or even superior gameplay but we can call it soul. And GC lacks it.

 

[dragonfk]

GTFO from Elemental lawn you little bastards!

Now...

There's a new updated for E:WoM.

Yeah, that would be all for today.

PS. One has to admit that they patch the game like crazzzzy people. Like Drog when he was respectable.

 

[commie]

I think the particular thing I didn't like GalCiv is the brevity of the eXploration phase of the game.

Brevity? If you just play a tiny galaxy then that's true. Also the campaign is structured to give you particular focused scenarios to deal with.

It's basically steamlined civ with apparently - not that I can tell - much superior ai.

I like exploring with my little space ships and putting defences on my planets and fings. I'm too stupid to get anything out of a better ai.

Plus the ship design in galciv2 seems pointless. It's purely cosmetic.

Actually ship design is not cosmetic as it still has an effect on the parameters of the ship, though of course without tactical combat it is abstracted.

There are simpler 4X games that do a good job of just exploring and setting up defences: 'Imperium Galactica II', 'Lost Empire' that you might enjoy. I actually like the very simple mechanics of Lost Empire for a change of pace.

 

[MasterSmithFandango]

Two major patches and a couple of hot fixes in the few days since launch... I'll give it to them, they're giving the game a lot of support.

 

[Korgan]

What the hell?

Now people are seriously complaining about "soul" in a 4x space tbs. Just wow. Superior gameplay+AI > "soul" any day. I will take both gladly, though.
Reminds me of people like JarlFrank freaking out cause the unofficial patchmod for MoO3 had a funny title screen. Hypocrites.

On a related note: modded MoO3 > MoO2.

You are part of the reason space 4X is dead, you fucktard. With a total rebalance and an AI overhaul, MoO2 would've been a better game than all the other crap combined. And don't get me started on how beautiful the hopelessly broken EoFS was. If there's no room for anti-orbital submarines, Gothic fortresses and insane rulers in your game, it's not living up to the genre's potential.

 

[forgotmypasswordagain]

Two major patches and a couple of hot fixes in the few days since launch...

yes because everything in the game is broken and everyone who has bought it is demanding they fix it
real admirable

I think GalCiv2 and MOO2 are fairly near:
GalCiv2's combat and ship design and tech trees suck, but Moo2 is a little simpler in terms of gameplay and the AI has problems; for me MoO2 wins just because the battles and factions are more fun and the strategic view is a lot quicker. Regardless of which of those two games is the better it doesn't change the fact that Elemental sucks though so.

 

[MasterSmithFandango]

Oh, I'm not playing Elemental right now. Figured I'd wait for a few more updates. It's definitely in a shit state right now, but there might be a good game in there somewhere.

 

[dragonfk]

Seeing as I can't start a new game( it hangs up during loading) with my ATI card I can see where all that rage comes.

 

[Zeus]

Seeing as I can't start a new game( it hangs up during loading) with my ATI card I can see where all that rage comes.

Could it be a firewall thing?

Elemental was locking up my computer. Turns out I had a problem where my software firewall detected a change (update) in the .exe, but during the loading (dragon) screen, you can't alt+tab out of fullscreen or even see the firewall notification. So now I just run it windowed once after each update, so I can see the notification and say, "YESH I TRUST ELEMENTALS NOT TO HAX!"

 

[MetalCraze]

This soul is what brings gamers to the game. Its what made old games good, when we didnt have any fancy graphics it was the only thing stopping us from seeing those pixels for what they were.

At the time those graphics were considered fancy.
Still really the direct competitor of GC2 isn't MOO2, it's Civ series. Because GC2 is just a clone of Civ IN SPACE!! As they p. much share the exactly same mechanics. But comparing GC2 to Civs would be even worse for the former (especially when comparing to SMAC).
But tbh if another 4X, EoFS, wasn't so broken it would totally dump both GC2 and MOO2.

Moo2 is a little simpler in terms of gameplay

Simple doesn't mean primitive and it doesn't mean bad. In fact MOO2's gameplay feels very smooth thanks to it.
I really tried to get into GC2, started it several times, tried to force myself to like it but in the end I was always getting back to MOO2 or Civ2/3. There is some sense of tedium about GC2's gameplay, like you are trying to love an excel spreadsheet.

 

[forgotmypasswordagain]

Simple doesn't mean primitive and it doesn't mean bad. In fact MOO2's gameplay feels very smooth thanks to it.
I really tried to get into GC2, started it several times, tried to force myself to like it but in the end I was always getting back to MOO2 or Civ2/3. There is some sense of tedium about GC2's gameplay, like you are trying to love an excel spreadsheet.

I agree, simple isn't bad - I was just trying to sum-up the general complaints to be fair to both sides.

I tried to get into GC2 also - I was pretty stoked by all the prelaunch hype - but, yeah, it feels like a really "deterministic" game, where for example if you just put the "right" building down first, then build the "right" unit, then research the "right" tech, etc., you just can't lose, because it's all so overly balanced and statistical (due to the lack of tactical combat, no substantial economic model, no neat options for crews/captains to gain experience and skills, etc.) It's like you could almost win by keystroke macro, if the planets weren't randomized.

For 4X space games, I still like Space Empires V the best. It has a lot of problems - but it has even more cool options to do something daring with (ship design is great, awesome tech tree in mods, you can play any 'angle' you please and have a shot at winning) and that's what makes a strategy game for me. Otherwise it's all just spreadsheets - like GC2.

Brad Wardell's heart is in the right place, but the man simply hasn't an aptitude for design - his skill is in programming. He should handle AI coding and hire a project lead with a better grasp of gameplay.

 

[dragonfk]

Simple doesn't mean primitive and it doesn't mean bad. In fact MOO2's gameplay feels very smooth thanks to it.
I really tried to get into GC2, started it several times, tried to force myself to like it but in the end I was always getting back to MOO2 or Civ2/3. There is some sense of tedium about GC2's gameplay, like you are trying to love an excel spreadsheet.

I agree, simple isn't bad - I was just trying to sum-up the general complaints to be fair to both sides.

I tried to get into GC2 also - I was pretty stoked by all the prelaunch hype - but, yeah, it feels like a really "deterministic" game, where for example if you just put the "right" building down first, then build the "right" unit, then research the "right" tech, etc., you just can't lose, because it's all so overly balanced and statistical (due to the lack of tactical combat, no substantial economic model, no neat options for crews/captains to gain experience and skills, etc.) It's like you could almost win by keystroke macro, if the planets weren't randomized.

For 4X space games, I still like Space Empires V the best. It has a lot of problems - but it has even more cool options to do something daring with (ship design is great, awesome tech tree in mods, you can play any 'angle' you please and have a shot at winning) and that's what makes a strategy game for me. Otherwise it's all just spreadsheets - like GC2.

Brad Wardell's heart is in the right place, but the man simply hasn't an aptitude for design - his skill is in programming. He should handle AI coding and hire a project lead with a better grasp of gameplay.

Could you(or anyone else) elaborate on the state of SE V?

 

[Raghar]

It has bright moments. First it allows to make troops and allows to equip them with spears. A big honcho with magical lines on face and a spear. Yea baby it's something like a King of the Dragon pass.

The trouble is Elemental would need to be designed as a prehistory to modern age game, and it would require study of social anthropology.

It's still not late, they can fork it, make a social simulation that allows to do uga uga with bears, melting theirs brain and controlling them as a spirit bear that would devastate any opponent, and act as vector of vengeance when you will not be allowed to control them.

So far it looks like it has greater potential than Civ, however some design decision are in the way.

 

[Raghar]

Could you(or anyone else) elaborate on the state of SE V?

Try it.

 

[Trash]

GC2 was a spreadsheet game which lacked atmosphere and perhaps the most important ingredient of any kind of game, namely fun. I'm honestly rather dismayed to see how bad Elementals seems to be. Not exactly unexpected, but I really hoped otherwise.

 

[Lightknight]

A word from developer : http://forums.elementalgame.com/394104

May i draw your attention to this passage specifically :

To those reviewing the game: I would urge you to review the game prior to v1.1. I say this because v1.05 (the release day version) is the version of the game that was originally released and if that version of the game is considered flawed then my view is that Stardock should suffer the consequences for that.

The guy STILL refuses to admit that he shipped a flawed product. There is no cure for that. Not to mention that he retroactively claims that 1.05 is the version that was released. Seriously now...