What still needs to be done
Elemental Forums
After a few games, here are my impressions. I've written much more about the negatives, but that does not mean I'm bashing the game - I just want it to become as good as it is possible.
what's good:
- addition of essence
- city management and development, to a point (see below)
- character development
- wildlands concept (needs more love, though)
- resources
- customization
what could be improved:
- combat should be more tactical, but I reckon it won't be changed at all at this stage
- number of items, creatures and the like could be bigger (it's not uncommon to find several identical pieces of equipment right now in a row, like hate stones, tears of cyndrum, etc)
what definitely needs more work:
- factions. Resoln is good, unique. Magnar has a cool theme, but its mechanics are more fluff than real impact on game. Altar is specific, I don't really care because I won't be playing them. Gilden are straightforward and passable. The rest, however, are BOOO-H-RIIING. What the game needs is more uniqueness:
- faction-only spells,
- faction-only creatures or units,
- faction-only equipment (and lots of them),
- faction-only technologies (Trogs could have bigger units, for example)
- bigger differential in basic 'villager' stats (+/- attack, +/- health, +/- accuracy, +/-initiative), some built-in attacks (see: barbarians or dark elves in Master of Magic), resistances
- bigger differential in economics (+/- food, +/- production, +/- research)
- and the most important: unique mechanics, like Resoln has.
- magic (see here)
- population-based effects (see here)
- balance, balance, balance:
- champions are too strong compared to units (see here)
- early-game creatures (mites, spiderlings, bear cubs, etc.) are too weak and pose no danger to a single champion (not to mention two)
- end-game creatures are too weak compared to end-game heroes
- overally, creatures should be much more aggressive (I've had a pioneer unit dancing around two wolf packs for three turns until they at last attacked)
- champions' wounds from getting knocked out in battle should be nastier (what's a -1 to attack? make it -10% attack at the very least)
- armor progression is too strong compared to weapon progression (see here)
- factions need not be overly balanced, it's not starcraft
I'm also conducting a Let's Play on the dreaded RPGCodex forums: http://rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/lets-see-elemental-fallen-enchantress-beta.75663/
