Hi Everyone,
I bought Fallen Enchantress when Beta 5 came out, as I had read it was the last beta and nearing completion. I'd like to share my first impressions of the game with everyone, as they might be closer to what a reviewer or a first-time player would think. In my opinion the game only feels about 60% done. It's like the foundation of a great game has been created but the world hasn't been filled out yet. I think it's a little bit scary that Beta 5 is the last beta because from a content standpoint the game feels like it has a long way to go.
I really enjoy some aspects, especially the way resources/improvements have been done. I'm most disappointed in the fact that the world doesn't feel alive. I don't play strategy games for a board game-like tactical experience, but rather because I feel strategy games provide an awesome naturally occurring story that changes with each new game. I think Fall from Heaven II was an excellent example of that kind of game, and I feel that Derek and the team are heading in that direct with Fallen Enchantress as well.
Here are the general suggestions I have (medium map size, challenging difficulty):
-Make more quests come to the player, and tie them to progress in the game world. This would tune rewards to the type of tech route the player was going, as well as allow for quests to continue coming in the later stages of the game. For example: If I've just completed an alchemy lab, perhaps have some mad scientist from one of my cities come to me with a quest. Similarly with other specialized buildings, like a command post unlocking possible weapon quests, and the conclave buildings unlocking special spell quests.
-Make sovereigns feel cooler. My sovereign is already quite strong, but I feel like sovereigns should be much more unique than champions. Perhaps give them more opportunities to unlock special mounts etc and possibly even tie it into the tech tree/quests. This doesn't have to necessarily make them stronger, but the abilities and items should be different from what regular champs have access to.
-Make more unique "locations". These could be similar to the wildlands but not as difficult. For example you might come across a ruffian camp in the desert only to discover the City of Thieves nearby. This area would have a few of the smaller camps and a quest/unique fight when you reached the actual city.
I've only played for 8 hours so I'm sure I'll have more suggestions as time goes on.
Balance suggestions
-Magic really needs to impact your score in a more meaningful way, especially since score effects other things like tribute and people going to war with you. For example, I had two really strong mages, and could wipe out the enemy armies with one blizzard, but my score was actually low. Is there a shard multiplier effect? Score should be effect by progressively larger amounts depending on how much of a particular shard you have. In that game all these scrub npc's demanded tribute from me and when I refused went to war with me, I had 4 people fighting me at the same time. And even after I had destroyed two of the enemy factions my score was lower than the tarth.
-There should be a rule built into not starting near a peninsula. It's hard enough starting there in a game with Navies like Civ, but in this game when you start there surviving becomes near impossible on a somewhat crowded map.
-Magic costs in general feel off, and I think costs relative to each other need to be reworked. No one is going to save 500 mana to decrease a cities unrest by 5%.
Bugs
-When you reach Mimbly's dungeon, and say 'I'll come back later', the dungeon moves and you get the riddle again. In one game I had 6 pairs of his boots, one for each champion.
-When I had two champions move onto two dungeons at the same time, and for one I selected 'I'll come back later', then the game bugged and every turn asked me if I wanted to explore the dungeon, even though my guy was no longer on that tile.
-Cities, boarders, and resources will almost randomly disappear/reappear on the strategic map. For whatever reason, quest locations and lairs seem more stable.
-When you build/upgrade an improvement, you don't get an announcement like you get for buildings, so sometimes I had cities with empty construction queues.
-Values assigned to various things in trades are inconsistent. One time the NPC had only a bit of metal, and valued mine higher, so by being crafty I robbed her of all her resources.
Sorry for the long read! I'm enjoying the game overall.
