Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[nenjin]

Bumpity bump. The game will be releasing at the end of this month, and having been following the beta posts it seems like it's shaping up quite nicely. Modding and writing scripts and stuff, as they demonstrate it, looks almost stupid easy too.

[forsaken1111]

Where did you find a modding/scripting demo?

[nenjin]

Well, less a demo and more pages and clearly written script.

http://forums.elementalgame.com/390375

The first journal entry. I haven't written anything script-related since....NWN, but that's simple enough even I can tease out the instructions.

[EuchreJack]

You'll have to let us know how it plays, and if it has any long-term replayability.

[Heavenfall]

I really hope the AI gets a good upgrade... it's not been impressive so far. Their AI guy has many years of experience with that stuff, but he also has a ton of other duties pre-release. The last month was supposed to be "dedicated" to AI upgrades. They've clearly stated (and it's obvious in-game) that they have decided to go down the "difficulty on AI means it cheats" road.

Also curious, I'm not sure I understood all of it correctly, but the digital release and the retail release will be different versions. Presumably the digital release will be more up to date (with retail purchasers having the option to download the update(s)?). Obviously the retail release has to go gold at some point. Still, I wouldn't buy a retail copy without an internet connection for this game. Previous games GalCiv 2 and Demigod (stardock was just publisher + they did netcode) were both horrible at launch. Sins of a Solar Empire was a lot better at launch, though. They do like to work on their titles post-launch, no doubt. That's part of their business idea to improve the product for (registered) purchasers, instead of putting a ton of DRM in there.

[nenjin]

IIRC, you need an internet connection period, just for the first-time install verification. Beyond that, the boxed version will never dial home afterward. The choice to update or not is up to the user who buys the boxed version. As I understand it, with the digital version, it will automatically patch and update just like Steam does (i.e. without your express consent unless you change your options.)

You'll have to let us know how it plays, and if it has any long-term replayability.

I can say, right now, your mileage will vary. I've played two games of Gal Civ 2. One epic, 20 hour game and one 4 hour game to get my feet wet.

Good as it was, I didn't have any compulsion to go back and try a new race combination, or a different overall strategy. And like Master of Magic, and Heroes of Might and Magic, I don't have any real compulsion to play those more than once either. (Well, HoMM anyways. MoM is almost worth it because spell use is so restricted, and there are two open planes to play on.)

So maybe that's me, or maybe that's the genre. But Elemental has a real SP campaign, apparently, in addition to the sand box. And all the mod features. (The map making particularly will eat up a ton of my time.) So, for me, I know it's going to be good for more than one sand box game where I see all the features, bend over the easy difficulty AI and call it good. Others that don't enjoy modding may not find it so. It all comes down to the RPG mechanics, and how much you can cram into one single game.

(As an aside, this has always been my issue with 4x games. When you dial the difficulty down to easy, you usually can see/do/experience every facet of the game, just with more or less bonuses here and there. That doesn't make for a lot of replayability in my book; I don't need a second play through just to see what a Fireball is like at +100% mana, or what city population growth is like at -20%, ect...)

I'm hoping between Races, Factions and Map features that get generated, Elemental offers a lot more real choices than say, MoM or Gal Civ. And therefore more replayability.

[EuchreJack]

After beating the easy AI and exploiting the unbalanced spell system in MoM, I never felt the need to play that game again.  So if they're not interested in good AI, then I'm not interested in their game.  A pity, considering that if Stardock actually cared about the AI, they could make a great one.  Well, I really would not be surprised if they decided not to bother with the AI in a nostalgia game.

And, perhaps the AI will be challenging even on easy level.  It's been known to happen.

[nenjin]

According to frogboy, the AI has kept getting pushed back in lieu of other things. The game goes gold today, and then it's on to the Day 0 build...which he describes as "tweaks, balancing and polish." Whether that includes the AI or no....*shrug*

We’re supposed to go gold this week and we’ve been burning the midnight oil. Once we go gold, we can move to the day 0 version which is, as far as I’m concerned, the “release” version. There won’t be much difference between the two other than AI. But frankly, if I had my way, none of you would be able to play the game and it would all be just AI vs. AI. they prefer it that way…

Take that for what it's worth. 

[EuchreJack]

Dunno what that means, honestly.

[forsaken1111]

I think he means that if he had his way, the AI would be good enough to play the entire game itself and there would be no room for you. You would just slow it down.

[Ioric Kittencuddler]

I think he means that if he had his way, the AI would be good enough to play the entire game itself and there would be no room for you. You would just slow it down.

I believe that is what is called a joke.

[forsaken1111]

I think he means that if he had his way, the AI would be good enough to play the entire game itself and there would be no room for you. You would just slow it down.

I believe that is what is called a joke.

You found me out. I am exposed.

[Nilocy]

I'm not entirely sure if you guys know, but official release date is teh 24th of August 2010. Also, release trailer. http://www.elementalgame.com/launchtrailer

[Heavenfall]

Now THAT is a rubbish trailer! 

I'm so excited... hope they release a day or two early =)

[SethCreiyd]

I just got some Stardock spam about this.  Color me excited.

With a vast storage of lore developed in collaboration with publishing giant Random House, Elemental ensures that every game is a completely new experience.

I really wonder how that will play out.