Quick Impressions on Beta 3

from Elemental Forums

For the first time since I got sick and tired of WoM, I've sat down and spent hours on FE.  Beta 3 is an incredible improvement, and the game is already fun - much more fun than WoM ever was.  But don't stop here; there are a lot of things that need improvement.  Here are some of my quick impressions:

1.  Load times take forever.

2.  The magical item selection is nonsensical.  I said it in the WoM beta, and I'll say it here - and please, Stardock devs, pay attention:  You need to have an Item Forge like Master of Magic.  Look, this is a Stardock game.  Customization is standard.  I've spent hours designing my ships in Gal Civ.  You have part of it, allowing us to design our own units, but this game will not be complete without the ability to design your own items.  (Not to mention, it will give me something I can do with my demon horns and whatnot.)  This wouldn't be too hard of a change, either change the techs where you would get magic items so that it unlocks potential enchantments, or drop those techs entirely, and unlock potential enchantments when you unlock spells.  You could even require (or allow) that any caster who can cast a spell may enchant with that spell.  I want to design my own items, give them my own names, etc. 

Otherwise, it's like Sauron, getting ready to make the one ring, and finding out that he can't, because it isn't in the list.  But he can buy all the Dragon Cloaks he can afford . . .

 

3.   I'm totally clueless about how the food/materials work.  I wouldn't mind some sort of quick summary about this when I settle a pioneer, or even when I look at the details screen.  It might acually be there, but the city details screen is extraordinarily opaque.  If I have to search for the information, I won't bother.  It's a game, not a research project.

 

4.  Do away with the current level-up screen for cities.  I don't always remember what city is specialized to what, and as I never know ahead of time when I'm going to level up, I don't doublecheck first.  Two things:  First, allow us to do the city level-up when we want to.  Put a button on the city details screen, or whatever, so that if I want to check things out, maybe revise my plan, or wait three turns to level up, I can.  Second, integrate the level up options into the city details screen, so that when I make a decision, I know what buildings are in the city, what resources there are, how I've specialized, etc. 

 

5.  Both the city details and the unit details screen need to be completely reworked.  They are very difficult to understand.  A tremendous leap past WoM, sure; but nowhere where they should be.  I'd recommend just starting from scratch.

 

6.  I can't find a lot of things in the Homnomnom.  A search function would be great.  If there is one, a search function that I can find would also be great.  I have no idea what spell mastery does (and by the way, it doesn't appear anywhere I can readily find it on the unit screen) nor do I have any idea about what injuries there are, and how they can be cured, etc.  They can be cured, right?  My d00d who got whacked by Ukbuk the Underdweller and picked up pneumonia isn't going to have pneumonia for the rest of his life, right?  And if so, really?  Really?

 

7.  See number 4 for the unit level up screen.  This isn't quite as bad as the city level-up screen, as at least I know what traits and such I got beforehand; but I don't quite remember what weapons I gave my d00d.  And as that makes quite a difference, I'd really like to know.  Incorporate this into the unit detail screen.

 

8.  Speaking of screens that need to be scrapped and started from scratch, the Inventory/Shop/Trade and Equip screen.  Hard to use, hard to understand, just bad all around.  Equipping my characters isn't a joy; it's a chore.  And maybe a little drag and drop?  There is absolutely nothing intuitive about this page.

 

9.  Lots of cities getting stuck at level 2.  I know how to get out of it, but it is a pain and I don't like it very much.

 

10.  Need some better mouseovers.  I wouldn't mind more information on enemies, as it is difficult to figure out what they have, and how they are going to attack me.  I'd also like to know what weapon my d00ds are using on the mouseover so I can quickly figure out what I want to do with them.  Sure, I can memorize it or whatever, but that detracts from the fun factor.

 

11.  Tactical combat is much better.  But what is essential is allowing me to place my units before combat starts.  This must be added.

 

12.  Couple of the quests are bugged - on the scrap golem one, one of the golems was generated on a mountainside and that was it; also the game never noted when I whacked Bupkiss the Underbreather.  I'll upload my save game when I get the chance.  This, by the way, was why I stopped playing the game before I won.

 

13.  I still occasionally get the thing where when I zoom out, I don't get the cloth map.

 

14.  The game also seems to slow down as I keep playing it; exiting and then re-entering fixes the problem.  It isn't a crash.  It is a memory leak.

 

15.  If you have a quicksave, you need a quickload.  'Nuff said; make mine Stardock!

 

16.  By the way, it doesn't appear that there is much of a need for specialization, except where there are buildings that are one per faction.  Outside of that, it's build everything you can, with no real limit.  I have plenty of spaces to put buildings, and maintenance is pretty much nonexistant given the low cost of maintenance and the huge piles of gold I make per turn. 

 

I think that's it for right now.  If I think of anything else, I'll add it.  It's a good game already, and actually fun to play - but there is much more that you can do before it will be great.  And that's the point, right?

6,606 views 7 replies
Reply #1 from Elemental Forums Top

Wow, what a bossy mood you're in... kind of takes my attention away from the actual post...

Sincerely
~ Kongdej

 

Reply #2 from Elemental Forums Top

Well, part of beta feedback is giving them honest appraisals of what works and what doesn't from a user perspective. If I'm coming across a little strong, well, I wasn't as straightforward as I should have been on WoM, figuring that they saw what I saw, and that turned out not to be the case. Lots of things have changed, and Stardock is doing much better this time around - but what I feel I owe them is to speak plainly.  If that's bossy, and I suppose to some extent it is, then so be it.  They have thick skins, and they are big enough people to take it - especially given that I'm not making personal attacks.  They know as well as I do that they make the decisions on what changes will be made.

Galactic Civilizations III
Reply #3 from Elemental Forums Top



..the Homnomnom

End of quote

That's magnificent. I am calling it this from now until the end of days.

I agree with most of your more specific points, maybe not some of the "...completely broken" ones.

Reply #4 from Elemental Forums Top

11. Tactical combat is much better. But what is essential is allowing me to place my units before combat starts. This must be added.
End of quote

In D&D you had a mechanic for a chance to surprise the enemy in wilderness encounters.

If you surprise (ambush) the other side, I would like an option to have the computer place my units close to the enemy.

Likewise if the enemy surprises you, they should have the option to place units close to your units; most likely choosing close if they don't have ranged attackers.

 

Reply #5 from Elemental Forums Top

Pretty much agree with everything on that list, OP.

 

I would also add that the weapons are horribly placed in the research trees, with plenty of useless things at the back of the tree and a long distance to many decent item combos. The wands are completely uselss with their low damage in combination with the high initiative hit.

Reply #6 from Elemental Forums Top


I know that it seems a little harsh to call for scrapping the Unit, Equip, and City screens, and starting from scratch.  I'm not making this argument lightly.  I've seen these screens in their evolution from the early days of the WoM beta, and they are roughly the same screens, with most of the problems and very little improvement.  In fact, the Equip screen is actually much more inpenetrable than it used to be. 

I think it's easy for the dev team to either fall in love with their admittedly hard work, or to simply get used to the screens and ignore their problems.  Perhaps that is what is happening here, or perhaps it is something else entirely.  But from my outside perspective, these screens don't come anywhere near doing the job that they should be doing. 

At some point, one has to look at it and say, well, we've been working on these screens for quite some time now, and they still aren't working.  (Because they aren't working.)  Does one stick with it and keep trying, or would a fresh approach be better?  Well, they've changed a lot on FE from WoM - certainly they've seen the advantages of a fresh approach - and what I would say is that enough time has been spent training a lame horse.  It's time for a new one.

Except for the Item Forge, I'm not requesting significant changes to the game mechanics itself.  I think that it's pretty much a good game.  But one difference between a good game and a great game is polish.

In regards to the Item Forge, I would like to point out to the Stardock Devs who are hopefully reading this that if you don't add it in, at some point it's going to be like the Shipyard expansion to the original GalCiv 2 - something that seemed so obviously necessary in hindsight.  Why not do it now? 

Reply #7 from Elemental Forums Top

4.  Do away with the current level-up screen for cities.  I don't always remember what city is specialized to what, and as I never know ahead of time when I'm going to level up, I don't doublecheck first.  Two things:  First, allow us to do the city level-up when we want to.  Put a button on the city details screen, or whatever, so that if I want to check things out, maybe revise my plan, or wait three turns to level up, I can.  Second, integrate the level up options into the city details screen, so that when I make a decision, I know what buildings are in the city, what resources there are, how I've specialized, etc. 
End of quote

 

I've been waiting on this since WoM.  I have exactly the same problem.  We'll see what happens with Beta4.  The use and interpretation of the city level screen will likely change (for the better).