[.86] Views of a non-powergamer

from Elemental Forums

So, I'm not a powergamer.   I could care less about the minutia of the differences of .01 to .013 on numbers and don't care about finding the absolute optimal way of squeezing the most out of the numbers (or exploiting them).

I'm a casual gamer. I play to be entertained and lose myself for a few hours.

I played .86 last night for the first time and you know what?  I loved it. I played it until 3am.  I still am not sure what the hell I'm doing and I'm generally one of those "build everything in a city" guys (at this point).  I try to role play (ie Heros/sov with trained army) and I really had a good time last night. That's was quite possibly more hours in one sitting than I played all of WoM. I stopped playing WoM simply because it was not fun. Again, I didn't care less about the numbers of how unbalanced it was. It was simply not fun, boring and lacking of content. 

FE is not. Really had a good time with it last night.  Does it need work? Probably, though I saw nothing glaring (well, pathfinding seems to suck a bit and tactical AI seems... simple so far). 

So, SD, I've slagged you guys off in the pass for WoM. Big time. But this is really coming along. Well done.

 I just thought SD would appreciate a different sort of opinion not from the usual (much smarter than I) crowd. :D

Now I hand over the floor to you number crunching uber geeks. (said with love boys!)

9,724 views 11 replies
Reply #1 from Elemental Forums Top

I have to agree... I've posted a few small things, sent crash reports from my non-supergamer laptop and posted numbery stuff again only recently because I'm excited (again) by all the improvements in FE over WoM. The problems atm don't distract from the amount of fun I've had in a few games so far. I'd like more doodads, but I'm greedy and I have to say if I'd gone in to the release version of WoM with the current beta of FE I have now I would have played with a smile and been glad of the chance to play it for longer (rather than grumbly as I was). I look forward to the future of it and how modders will play with creating their own worlds.

It's a little like watching a shiny art gallery pop into existance, first reading the building plans and looking at the maps and being excited then finding it spend a long time empty, but now it's really starting to be filled with interesting pieces that you look forward to seeing... with room for additional attractions in future and decorated with a few cool gargoyles and grotesques here and there that I've only just noticed.

Thank you frogboy and team, thanks for hiring Derek (you can feel his hand has been guiding things). I wish you well and good luck with future plans.

Reply #2 from Elemental Forums Top

Yea ... the WILDLANDS really cranks up the fun factor for me :)

Star Control: Origins
Reply #3 from Elemental Forums Top

I'd like to add that FE always has something fun to do, whether it be hitting up goodie huts, choosing upgrades to cities and champions, or designing units to fit your needs.  The variety of monsters, art style and flavor text also add immensely to the pure FUN factor this game already has.  I also am not a powergamer, but love 4x games...there are probably more of us!

Reply #4 from Elemental Forums Top

I probably only powergame for about 10% of my games ... (usually)

Reply #5 from Elemental Forums Top

I'd also like to add that I played a bit of MOM recently, and think this FE beta is a lot more fun...

 

Reply #6 from Elemental Forums Top

I power game all the time, but there are so many temptations to just roll into the fun of it just for the fun of it.  It really is a great product!

Reply #8 from Elemental Forums Top

The point is that the fun factor is the draw factor.

Reply #9 from Elemental Forums Top

the "fun factor" is always what makes the majority of people play games, from hardcore gamers to casual gamers. If that was the point it's not a very revelatory one.

Reply #10 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Tasunke, reply 8
The point is that the fun factor is the draw factor.
End of Tasunke's quote

 

Because normally people play games that aren't fun?

 

Theres a fun game in FE. I'm just not sure it's as fun the second game as much as the first at present.  Once you understand how things work (or dont), you see where the wheels are coming off, and where opportunities are being missed.

 

I definitely think it can get there, though.

Reply #11 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Bingjack, reply 10

Theres a fun game in FE. I'm just not sure it's as fun the second game as much as the first at present.  Once you understand how things work (or dont), you see where the wheels are coming off, and where opportunities are being missed.

 

I definitely think it can get there, though.
End of Bingjack's quote

This