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[EuchreJack]

Anyone else suspect that Stardock only "creates" games that are really remakes of old games, usually of lesser quality than the original?

Etherlords is like Magic the Gathering, but the AI really didn't play well enough for the game to be compelling.
Galactic Civilizations is like Master of Orion, but the first game didn't have customizable ships, and the second had a lousy rock-paper-scizzors thing going with the weapons.
This is like Master of Magic.  But will it be worth the money I pay, or will I just be disappointed AGAIN.

[forsaken1111]

Anyone else suspect that Stardock only "creates" games that are really remakes of old games, usually of lesser quality than the original?

Etherlords is like Magic the Gathering, but the AI really didn't play well enough for the game to be compelling.
Galactic Civilizations is like Master of Orion, but the first game didn't have customizable ships, and the second had a lousy rock-paper-scizzors thing going with the weapons.
This is like Master of Magic.  But will it be worth the money I pay, or will I just be disappointed AGAIN.

Actually Galciv was a remake of an earlier version of Galciv wasn't it?

[inteuniso]

It is. The first galciv was made some time in the 90's.

[EuchreJack]

I would state how MOO predates even the first GalCiv, but MOO actually isn't the first 4X in space.

Dunno why, but Stardock games just leave me with a bad taste.  They seem to lack a certain charm.

For example, this a game where we play a magical overlord.  But will the game actually allow the player to feel like a magical overlord?  Honestly, I don't want a remake of Master of Magic.

Oh, and would someone for the love all that is good in this world re-implement the "advance turns until something interesting happens" feature from Master of Orion 2?  Seriously, that was perhaps the best feature in the entire game, but NOBODY has EVER used it since.  Sniff, I loved that feature...

[inteuniso]

Generally because you can do something interesting every turn in newer games.

I don't know if you feel like one; haven't played the game yet. You do get the power of one though.

Also, I love Stardock games and their charm. Obviously we must just think on two different levels.

[nenjin]

I think I get what he means; I don't appreciate Stardock games for their flavor to be honest. I appreciate the mechanics and the breadth of the mechanics. Like you said, lots of interesting things to do every turn, at least for the first few hundred. A conqueror's paradise. If they put some depth into the magic system, the city building and the troop design, I'll be happy. Making research semi-random already will already give game play a little more zest, rather than plotting the same old finite research paths.

The mod goodness is just icing on the cake, but it's the kind of icing that will keep me playing it for a while.

Elemental seems like it is taking itself more seriously than other Stardock games though, so maybe they'll be able to sell me on the flavor for once too.

[EuchreJack]

Perhaps I have been a little hard on Stardock.  Very well, I shall judge them from this game.

Stardock: Entertain me OR FEEL MY WRATH, MWAH MWAH MWAH!

[Lap]

Throughout beta I felt like this game was seriously missing something I couldn't put my finger on. I hope that the feeling will go away with further betas, but I have doubts about that.

There were also so many good ideas they came up with during the dev process that they cut out that are really saddening. A lot of good community ideas didn't make it in the game either, but I can't be too mad about that since most of them can easily be created through modding. I have a feeling that modding is what is going to make this game worth the money. Maybe when it comes out I'll implement random modular quest generation (not their simplified version) or some of the other diplomacy options that the community suggested.

[EuchreJack]

But how moddable will it be?

[Mephansteras]

It's supposed to be incredibly moddable.

[nenjin]

More like Holy Shit moddable.

Here's a new game play video that looks mostly fleshed out, what you could probably expect of the full game.

One thing I really disliked about the GalCiv end game was how many cities I ended up with that were totally redundant. With a core of 5 strong planets, and a few outlying ones for star bases and forward ship building...I could pretty much dominate the galaxy on normal. So all the extra planets and cities just became either a hassle to upgrade, or felt like dead game play by that point. Maybe a MP game would have been better, I dunno.

So I'm looking at Elemental and it seems the same thing can happen, or more so since you can freely start cities where you want. In the demo video he had already built 8? cities, somewhat haphazardly. Maybe that means you actually have more control...or maybe it means it can be even more bloated.

[lumin]

Here's another gameplay video, mostly in the cloth map.  Listen to the music though, it's actually a very long track and doesn't get annoying.

[nenjin]

FWIW, that video is over a year old and lacks many of the features you can see today.

[EuchreJack]

New reason to hate Stardock

No faith in their players.  If they have no faith in us, why should I believe in them?

[nenjin]

Wha? I don't get where your angst is coming from.