I know everyone is posting their thoughts, but I wanted to do the same. I'm curious what others in the community might think. Here is my current thoughts of Elemental and the areas I think they should focus on.
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With Elemental, I almost have the feeling of when I start to put a new computer together. I like each individual component, but it doesn't do a whole lot of good until it's all put together. Elemental is in that stage for me. I like the dynasty stuff. I like the concept of Essence and choosing how to use it. I like being able to have almost an adventure/rpg game in my TBS fantasy game. It just needs to all be put together into a refined whole rather than a collection of interesting parts.
I don't think Stardock needed until February to put it all together, but if it were an option to them (I know it wasn't), I think an October release could have been pretty dang good.
Right now, the areas I feel need the most work:
-AI, both tactical, strategic, and "flavor". As it is, the AI players don't have much personality. They just seem to randomly declare war. I know that's what Brad's working on the next few months, so I'm sure we'll see improvements here.
-Spells. Magic, in my opinion, has the greatest potential for "cool" stuff. Right now the spells kinda suck. Far too many spells are far too similar. They also need to stop being generic "From 0 to INT" in damage. Even creating variations among the books would be nice. Fire is high mana cost but big damage, Ice may have some combat spells with secondary effects, like slows and freezes. Earth could be defensive magic with a few powerful attack spells that function at short range. Air could have the best range, light on mana costs, but highly variable damage (lightning is unpredictable, etc). Not to mention the possibly for more interestingspells that aren't just about damage.
The biggest issue I have with Magic is it's so generic. Can anyone really say "Ooo, I really like taking the Fire book when I create a sovereign". Functionally, it's practically identical to every other one out there. There needs to be much more 'flavor' between the spellbooks.
-Champions are pointless. "Civilian" champions both don't level up, and don't get any better with levels. Why do you want a Level 4 merchant instead of a Level 1? It's still just +1 gildar. Boring. Combat champions should be broken up (via customization on leveling up) into Leaders and Warriors. Leaders should be the tacticians leading from the rear, have abilities that focus more on enhancing your troops: increasing their morale, attack, defense, granting them special abilities, etc. Warriors should be the ones up that, properly nurtured and equipped, can stare down a dragon... let alone a damn squad of swordsmen. Accomplish this by adding abilities to select on leveling up, instead of just stats. Every 3 levels unlocks a new ability, for instance. Leadership, Leap Attack, Whirlwind, Dual Wield, etc.
-Polish, polish, polish. Fixing all the bugs. Making the UI nicer. Better pathfinding (with graphical indicators of where your unit will move BEFORE you move it). Tie all the features of the game in together a lot better, etc.
Elemental pushes all the right buttons for me, it has everything there, it just needs some time to bake and come together.
