Depends on who you ask. I say yes. The game still has a ways to go, but it's much better than 1.0 was. Game mechanics changed, and stability is better. However, some people still have crashes. Also, if you buy before Dec 31, you get the first expansion pack (which will include the change to initiative based combat ala Final Fantasy Tactics).

Yes - it hasn't reached the promised land yet but worth the investment.

Yes.  The game is quite good and is only getting better.

And, if you purchase the game before 31 December 2010, you will receive one expansion for free.....which only guarantees more bang for the buck.

I also had doubts about jumping in when I did (about a week ago) and all I can say is that I am really enjoying this game.

Q: So what convinced me to buy when I did?

A: Frequent input coming directly from the developers themselves and the overall positive, constructive, atmosphere on the Elemental forums.

-.-

If you enjoy boring games that have little in the way of personality or charm, yes. Otherwise, no. Do not buy Elemental.

i would say you can buy it and look at it like a investment you will get the first expansion for free

the game is better now with 1.1 but still the AI is very very bad exept that the game can be fun

In summary, buy it but don't play it.

Yep.  I'd definitely buy it.  It's going to be a great game.  But for now it's in the "fire it up each patch for a couple hours" camp.  1.1 is a long way from 1.09, which was a long was from 1.0.  I can only imagine how good the expansions will be, especially with Kael's influence as a designer.  So I'd so, buy it now so you get the free expansion, then play it later.

Well you can try it out I suppose. Best to buy it now with the promise of future free expansions before the 20th I believe. I don't think stardock is hurting for cash and the core game is starting to make a lot of progress so expansions should be worthwhile.

Game isn't that great yet but Stardock is working hard on it and I'm optimistic about next year, though idk if I'll have the patience

The fact is, there are far better 'imagination boosters' out there - even among games published this year - and that's not the market Elemental is trying to appeal to. So as things currently stand, the game attempts to succeed at its stated goals and fails, but is getting better; and kind-of-sort-of succeeds on levels that are really beside the intended purpose, and will probably rely on the community to fill in there.

Do I recommend it? Hard to decide. If you want something you can start playing now and enjoy, I'd go with no. But if you're in love with the baseline concepts and trust the improved Stardock team with the execution, and have a large amount of patience for current quirks and issues, then yes. This game is for you.

I say yes just based on the improvement we've seen so far and knowing that it will continue well into the future. I'm having fun playing the game right now as it is and I think I've had only 1 crash since 1.1 Getting in on the first expansion is a great deal as well. The game is not perfect, but nothing is. If you're the type of person who's going to get all up in arms about the game not being polished and perfectly balanced then you should wait. If you want to play a reasonably entertaining game with a lot of features and are interested in watching it continue to grow and evolve into something better all the time, buy it now.

These reviews are too lukewarm for me.   I'm going into Dragon Age now--no lukewarm reviews there.

I would say no.  When I first bought the game, I became a beta-tester.  I put the game down for over 2 months, then came back and I still feel like a beta-tester.

By the way, in my current game, I just quit playing because the Tower of Sorcery doesn't apply any benefit (it just states on the pop-up info card that it costs me 3 gold a season to maintain).  I tried building it anyway, just incase it would give me some tech research points.... but no, it didn't even show up on the map after being placed or built.

I think I will leave the game alone for another 2 1/2 months.

This is a very good description of what the game does best right now, actually. It's a big sandbox, and you get a lot of sandbox options, and if you like playing in your sandbox, Elemental is a good buy now.

For those that want a super detailed and challenging 4x game, it isn't there yet.