If you purchase it now, you may find yourself walking away upset with the things that do not work, or are not balanced.

There are FAR worse games out there. You have most assuredly purchased some of them in your gaming lifetime.

As many have stated, Stardock seems to be inclined to continue working hard on Elemental and getting it working right and maximizing its potential.

If you value a company that makes such games as Elemental and want to see this game succeed, you can speak with your wallet and buy a copy, knowing it will most likely be well worth your investment in the long run.

Or, you can choose not to encourage game companies to release games in such states by not purchasing it.

I personally do not regret buying the game and supporting Stardock. I do regret buying it on release, as it may have diminished my desire to play it for quite some time.

I disagree.

I regularly was on the Civ 4 forum when it came out : many users loudly complained because of a lot of bugs and broken features.

Later on, I purchased the official sequel Civ 4 : Colonization (developed by the very same Firaxis, and produced by the very same 2K companies) : there were even more complaints on the forums. The situation was so bad, it took a lot of time for a first patch to be released (1.01) ... Then, Firaxis and 2K ran away with their profits and did not invest in another patch -- abandoning Colonization to its very flawed state. 

In August, Stardock officially released Elemental versions 1.00, 1.01, 1.05, 1.06, and 1.07 (plus a few hot fixes to those versions), and you can be assured that the game will be patched at least once a week during the coming month -- up to the projected, major-upgrade version 1.10. After that, 1.10 will continue to grow.

Based on their track record for the various Civilization 4 titles, I doubt very much that Firaxis and 2K will diligently work to patch and hot-fix their probably "very" bugged Civilization 5 after its release date. 

Except for CivNet, I have yet to experience a Civilization game that was anywhere close to being as shoddy and unfinished at release as Elemental is right now.

A simple comparison with what else you get in the release ready range (between 40-60) for games these days should make the answer clear. By the measure of 'do you get equal value for money' no. But you might consider it a healthy tip in a jar, if you were so inclined, and believed this company was worth supporting.

Agreed, I bought Civ4 on day 1 and while it had it's problems, it was years ahead (almost literally) of where elemental is now, even with 1.07.  Sorry, but that's the simple truth.

Hahah my friends still make fun of me for picking this up for $50. Live and learn, I guess.

"worth" 50 bucks, well that is very subjective. I would say if you only have 50 bucks to spend on a game in the next month or so then no, wait for CIV5 (in the TBS realm). If the money is not as much of an issue I would say yes, for the most part it is worth it.

First let me say that I have not had the crashing issues so take that into consideration with what i am saying. Ive only had 2 crashes and because of the autosave every 5 turns i just reloaded and lost a cpl of turns.

I have played 4 sandbox games so far. the first 2 were kind of learning the ropes. Next 2 played till completion. I have about 20 hrs of gameplay in for those 4 games total. I have spent 60 bucks on console games that i have completed in 10hrs or quit after much less than that because of poor game elements. (silent hill homecoming anyone? Tom Clancy's EndWar anyone?)

So if i look at it in the terms of hours of entertainment i think it is probably worth it. Now i understand that the expectations of a good TBS is to get 100s of hrs and to be playing it yrs into the future (ala CIV4). Will that happen with Elemental after the promised updates? That remains to be seen.

I plan on playing again today and can see myself getting another 20 or so hrs out of it before i get bored of it in its current state. I do expect stardock at WORST to put out some updates that will add some new features that will allow me another 20 plus hrs (3-4 games) before i get bored of them.

I think the potential is there for an awesome game but I wouldn't spend 50 on potential. If 20 to 40 hrs of gameplay exploring a new and exciting 4x4 TBS, flawed tho it may be, is worth 50 bucks to you then yes. If the 50 is all you have for a while and TBS is your fav game genre, then CIV5.

 I'm very happy with the game right now.    Knowing it will be even better is just a plus.    I paid $58.99 for the limited edition and I'm glad I did not just get the standard version.    I do play at a slower pace than most here and that's  probably why I'm still enjoying what it has to offer.    I don't feel cheated or robbed.  I do feel sorry   for all those that feel they were.  But hey, it's only a $50 game and in America you can make that much just begging on the streets.   I'll continue to play and wait for updates and expansions to add more gameplay.  Stardock, you can keep my money, I wouldn't want a refund and I'll probably be giving you more in the future. . Thanks Stardock

$15 at most.

Really, $0.  It's not worth the time, heartache, or disk space.  Check back at first expansion.  Assuming Stardock is still in business at that point, of course.

King's Bounty: Crossworlds comes out in two weeks, and Civ5 a week or two after that.  Spend the $50 on those (KB:C is $20, and there will be a $20 discount on Civ5 at release in some stores).

Since you're not actually buying a product at this point, and are instead buying the promise of a maybe complete, maybe enjoyable product at some enigmatic time down the line that the echochamber of fanbois swear up and down is coming, you have two essential questions to ask yourself:

1.)  Do you want to bankroll Stardock's development?  Elemental is not finished.  It's not even halfway finished.  It's broken on a technical level, but worse, it's broken on a fundamental design level.

2.)  Do you want to support these business practices?  Stardock deserves to be punished, not praised.  Every dollar you give them is the same as saying "I am OK with what you did with this product."  If you're the type that thinks what they pulled is OK, by all means, throw money at them.  Hell, buy a few copies for friends and family.  Maybe you'll push their post-release sales into the triple digits if you do so.

If you are going to spend the $50, first make sure you can afford it so you won't have buyer's remorse later.  Next, read the forum and site carefully and see if what you read of the game appeals to you and the existing bugs or unfinished AI don't put you off.  Finally, if you spend the $50 on Elemental, think of it as a long term investment in a game you will likely play for quite a while.  Bargain bin?  Perhaps some of the store copies may end up there, good luck finding them. 

I think many retail buyers may be comparing this to console games that get played out and traded/discarded fairly quickly.  This type of PC game is different.  I expect it to be on my hard drive a long time.

If you have a low frustration or patience level and little cash, then what you do with your $50 is up to you.  As people are saying, Civ V is just three weeks off, but recall that Civ's past releases were not entirely flawless either.

Best wishes for your gaming experience in the future.

I got it for $40. I've put Elemental up for now. Playing Tropico 3's expansion from the current sale while I wait for my Civ5 pre-order. I will get back to Elemental now and then.

This is a great idea. I bought Tropico 3 from a sale on D2D, do you have any idea if the expansion will work with that? I've already been burned by Impulse's copy of Oblivion not being compatible with some mods, so I am hesitant to buy from this service again.

Really??  Which stores?  I'd love to know.

Before I bought it, I looked through the Impulse forums, and someone asked the same question.

http://forums.impulsedriven.com/381917

If you read through it, you can see it worked with the boxed version. So it will probably work with D2D one.

A K-Mart representative on Cheap A** Gamer is talking about a "deal" for Civ5 the week it comes out.  Most every K-Mart video game deal these days is a $20 coupon that can be used on a future purchase.

Oh, one more thing.  There is no reason to "invest" in Elemental.  You don't get anything special for it.  Just buy the game when it's done or when it's dirt cheap.

Unless you want to play it RIGHT NOW, just wait.

Well, that's kinda the rub for me.  There isn't much to 'play'.  This is basically a tech demo at best.  The AI is so horrible that the only fun is finding new ways to win while handicapping yourself.  And with a severely gimped campaign and no multiplayer... well... there just isn't much 'play' to be had ATM.

Very disappointing.  A very poor piece of workmanship.  Very poor...When its patched properly it might be worth $20.  There's no campaign.

I first tried this game when a friend of mine bought it at version 1.01, and we both could not stop playing it. I myself just purchased version 1.07, and don't feel ripped off in any way. I have been a fan of many Stardock games in the past, and I'm sure the company will make this game as incredible as Galactic Civ and Sins Of A Solar Empire. It's very rare these days to see a game company support their  customers the way Stardock does, and the game right now is so addicting, can't wait to see what they do to it ! The hell what everyone is saying right now, Brad, you will do the right thing !

I can only be grateful to the community for their honesty.

Me and 2 my friends were following the developement of this game since it was announced, considered it was such rare to see a new TBS. We just didn't buy it on Day 0 and waited for reviews and community feedback due to previous release of Demigod.

That's really a shame that we have to wait this game to become a budget one or be released with an expansion at discounted price, when we are TBS enthusiasts.

I really hope Stardock don't have enough financial troubles but it's what they really deserve for their behaviour.

We all recognize the issues with Elemental on release but I still think it is a hell of a lot of fun and have gotten my money's worth so far. I only expect more and better to come going forward and when the modders get to work there will be lots out there for this game.

The $50 question is subjective. I have felt it worth the money I spent.

Give it 6 months ,  could be good with some work.  

Civ V

No way - just don't feel any need for another Civ title.  Just me though

Thanks for the replies all very helpful,  I think the general consensus is wait for civ 5 which is exactly what I plan on doing now.  Its a shame, this game had lots of potential.

50 was kind of steep for the condition the game was in & still is in, I mean a lot has been done with 1.07 but the game needs a lot of

work, is a very ambitious project, lots of information & concept is missing from the manual.