Some Beta 4 first impressions/suggestions

from Elemental Forums

First, Beta 4 is much more like a game than any of the preceeding beta's.  It really is amazing how much can be done in a week, and that is a real testiment to the moddability of the game engine.

Now for the concerns.

The world doesn't seem "alive" yet.  It certainly is more alive than it was before, but there needs to be a bit more to do.  I think that interactive quests (ie quests that come from player or NPC created structures instead of random buildings) would help here, as well as more realistic NPC's and more events.  A lot of times I just seem to be continuously clicking end turn.

Second, it strikes me that nearly all NPC's are hired, dead, or hostile to you by 100 turns in.  There should be NPC's spawning (preferably from settlements... after all they should be coming from somewhere), and NPC's should get progressively more expensive to maintain as well as hire as they increase in level.  They should also not all be hireable.  Having a large number of NPC's going around doing their own thing and influencing events throughout the game would be nice, and add to immersion.  Really, there should always be more champions not aligned with nations than aligned.

Third, tactical battles.  Right now there is very little tactical about them.  Backing soldiers off a ways (or at least giving someone the option based on the initiative of the respective leaders) would be very helpful, as would more tactical "choices" (ie clear use of terrain, clear effects of morale, formations, etc).

Fourth, city specialization.  I like it.  A lot.  I would like to see more opportunities for a trading state though.  Caravans need to be protected, and if you focus a city on trade that should dramatically increase the contribution that city is making to your economy (I think this would go a long ways to making the one city strategy viable).

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Reply #1 from Elemental Forums Top

i agree on npc parts, i ve made a thread on ideas about it, imo some champion should just be at inns waiting to be hired (so you could put a "spawn" of champions inside inns too)

 

i also agree on the bad feeling about too much spamming next turn

 

also there are too few wandering monster and ai is still too much passive (sometimes they declare war now but still with a single sovereign im able to take any of their town)

 

what i dont agree about is the general improvement

magic is still too far behind, many spells seems just a copy with different animation , many spells seems totally useless, the system is not fun often since you  just spam 10 fireballs in the first 2 turns

 

the imbue is still not fun and most champions are useless

 

combat is slightly improved but miss a lot of "flavor"

 

items are bad and boring, would really like to see some mage item

 

progression of sovereign/champions is bad and not fun

sovereign just take essence over essence, there is no choice, nothing matters like essence, champions are just nearly useless unless you imbue them and then spamm essence on them too, otherwise they are just weak warriors who cant lvl up cause they are weak and cant even cast good spells

Reply #2 from Elemental Forums Top

These are all good points. From the short time I've been able to play Beta 4 before crashes I do think the game-play is improving a lot. While the instability is causing me frustrations I can see I will 'enjoy' playing the game - but not sure yet whether I will 'love' playing it.

I'm finding that the game is lacking personality at this stage. I'm hoping that sound will make a dramatic improvement but at this stage the factions are all pretty much the same.

My greatest fear for Elemental is that the quest system will be relied upon too much to provide the interest and personality. The last thing I want is a strategy game that tries to be a role-playing game. If the role-playing doesn't directly support the strategy then for me it is an unwelcome distraction.

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Reply #3 from Elemental Forums Top

Good stuff!