I agree with Kemsley that Elemental is not finished. Stardock should have assessed its state, looked at how balanced it was, where the campaign was, etc., and waited. But they had a window to release it in and in order to not miss out on sales in this time spot, they released it. That's the way I see it anyhow.
Had they waited a few months, released it in March or whenever the next opportunity is, they may very well have released something far better than any of their previous games. Elemental could have been GOTY in 2011, a game that got 9s and 10s from reviewers.
But instead it will be pitted against Civilization V and although some of us will continually revisit it, many will forget about it altogether. Meanwhile, unsold copies will sit on store shelves and people might ignore them because they know it's the game that was rushed.
So while the Gamers Bill of Rights might be a load of crap, as PC developers and publishers routinely release buggy games, Brad told us pre-release that the Day 0 build would fix most of the issues, that the game would be done and ready for us to enjoy. Retailers breaking street dates has nothing to do with this, and I frankly feel sorry for anyone who installs from disc and never updates.
Bottom line is Stardock is still not done with even V1.0 of Elemental. What we have is a decent sandbox game that is unbalanced. It has some fun aspects, and I still play it daily, but with games like Civ V and Fallout New Vegas coming out in the next couple of months, I wonder how I'll feel about it then? Will I even care?
I hope so.
