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[Mephansteras]

They're saying that a bunch of stuff that was going to be in expansion packs (that you paid extra for) is now going to be included for free.

[fenrif]

Spoiler:  A year of updates for free?! (click to show/hide)

So if I buy the game I get a years worth of content based on whatever hairbrained ideas I come up with? I want robocop to patrol my cities, and godzilla to occasionally fly down from space on optimus prime. I want every 25th turn to be "whacky hour" where everything is opposite. I want the game to make my computer emit a pleasant vanilla aroma as I play. I want it to be an MMO/RTS/FPS/TPS/TBS depending on the day of the week.

Also my definition of "a years worth (should that have an apostrophe? Looks wrong)" is one update every hour on the hour.

All kidding aside, it's a good move to focus on advertising their support record with patching and whatnot. Though they've chosen a really wierd way of doing it. Putting a hard cap of a year on it seems wierd, how long did they support sins and galciv for?

[Mephansteras]

I think they'll be supporting the game in general for a long time. What they're trying to say and what that ad says are a bit different from one another. But basically we'll get a bunch of additional content for the next year or so in addition to the expected patches and whatnot.

They really need some good marketing/sales people...

[GaelicVigil]

Neoseeker has a review up.  They've given it 9/10.

Elemental: War of Magic is an essential purchase, one easy to recommend because it's relevant to so many different types of gamers: strategy fans, RPG nuts, newbies, veterans -- it doesn't matter. Pardon the pun, but it's got all the elements of the classics you know and love -- fans of Master of Magic, Ogre Battle, Heroes of Might & Magic, Shining Force, and so on should find lots to love here, and find that Elemental earns itself a top spot on their game shelf. And with Stardock's commitment to the game (they're dedicating a year exclusively to updates and new content for it), you can be assured it will become a classic of its own.

I don't know who to believe anymore.  Is this guy serious?  I need to find out where he got the fun version of the game from.

[forsaken1111]

He compared it to Ogre Battle?

Was he on acid while playing?

[SeaBee]

First thing's first: Elemental is accessible, so if you're reading this, vaguely curious about the prospect of a PC strategy RPG but not sure it's quite for you -- it probably is.

This would be an excellent way to ensure anyone interested in RPG strategy titles will find themselves utterly disinterested within an hour.

I read the entire thing, including the glossing-over of the campaign (the review merely says that it's "short" and misses the "boring" and "bad" aspects), and by the time I finished I realized that, without a doubt, this guy is a fanboy of Stardock titles. 9/10 is not a reasonable score right now.

Elemental isn't fun right now. It's flat and uninspiring. Each of the races are the same, with minor stat differences (the ones that work, anyway). There is no excitement in the magic system like in Dominions 3 or MoM. There are no cool items with fun and interesting abilities attached. There is no sense of the epic here. Not for me. Spells are things like "+1 Food Production" and "Damage = 0 to IntValue" -- can't turn all my people into werewolves or create a gate to the underworld to gather demonic reinforcements by the legion.

MoM, Dominions 3, AoW:SM and HoMM 3 are still top dogs in this genre -- Elemental doesn't YET deserve to be in that company on the same level. Maybe in a year. But right now it isn't a 9/10 game, more like a 6/10 shell of a game.

Disclaimer: I wanted this to be good. Maybe it will be one day. With serious mods and serious developer attention, anyway; but this reviewer sounds like he already made up his mind on the game before he bothered to play it, even downplaying the "controversy."

AoW series is coming to Steam soon, though!

[forsaken1111]

AoW series is coming to Steam soon, though!

What?!

[nenjin]

My journo senses tell me that's a new reviewer. At least it seems like. To compare Elemental's tactical battles to Shining Force is about the most ignorant, shallow comparison I could have heard. The game resembles Ogre Battle when looking at from the cloth map, but lacks the charm, mechanics and depth of even that old of a game.

Oh well. I guess he has to have one or two supporters among the hordes of reviewers calling it more (or less) honestly. Still, I hate when reviewers use classic titles and just pair them with whatever the hell just recently came out. Those games stood the test of time to get the right to be mentioned. Elemental hasn't even the stood the test of two freaking weeks.

[forsaken1111]

I played the hell out of some ogre battles.

This? I have logged about 8 hours, and 6 of those were on launch day when I was forcing myself to try it in full, with the other two being after the most recent patch, to see if it had improved. (It hasn't.)

[ductape]

AoW series is coming to Steam soon, though!

What?!

right here:
http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1404513

lets all hope that AoW3 comes out someday, and it is not a FPS.

[forsaken1111]

Huh, well that's added to the guaranteed buy list for me.

I just hope Civ V doesn't disappoint me, that's my next game on the list.

[Bluerobin]

AoW series is coming to Steam soon, though!

What?!

right here:
http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1404513

lets all hope that AoW3 comes out someday, and it is not a FPS.

Oh heck yes. To both points.

[Deon]

Hmm, I don't know. The game auto-created about six different Archer versions. I always went with the latest/strongest ones. I wouldn't be suprised if it was just bugged. In fact, I expect it by now.

CAREFUL with auto-created units!!! Sometimes they have VERY low stats and sometimes they are a few attack/hp points higher than custom ones. It seems to be random, so it's better to reroll sometimes (load a save prior to a random unit being created).

They're saying that a bunch of stuff that was going to be in expansion packs (that you paid extra for) is now going to be included for free.

It's a bit funny to hear about expansion packs already, when 30-40% of content is bugged or working randomly .

[Urist McDepravity]

Wait, so are they saying we'll have to pay for them after 1 year?

Paid DLC is nothing new these days. All the big guys are doing it, why should SD miss all that fun?

[Deon]

Because I doubt that this game will have no bugs in 1 year . In its current state more than 30% is incomplete and other stuff is 50% bugged, so I doubt 1 year is enough.