The_Harlequin

[quote who="ollyollyenglish" reply="216" id="3137272"]This is my first post and probably last. I have watched Elemental grow into the game it is today and will continue to do so. I decided to post because i think a lot of the posters here are missing the point. To start with I ask myself a simple question. Why was I attracted to Elemental? The answer is simply - Civilization and fantasy. Before I elaborate, I should give a bit of information about myself. First, I've been a gamer for 45 y

[quote who="DsRaider" reply="58" id="3070988"]Radical changes to the way the game works aren't needed. All champions need is some sort of nerf to health, experience, or progression. Why do champions basically start with more health then entire squads? Higer recruiting costs and wages are a must as well. Troops need higher starting health and to lose less dmg when they are attacked. Making it so squads don't lose members until they lose over 50% of health would work. The abi

That's quite possible Joasoze. I've seen how monstears can tear AI's appart. They can often become an effective barrier between you and them. That said, I'm not sure if this explains the more passive AI some people are seeing. In my (still little) experience with 0.9, the only time where I faced a very aggressive AI was in ridiculous difficulty.

OK, I voted good because the fun factor was greater compared to the last beta. I like how the game is shaping up as it goes. I read only the first 2 pages, but I have to agree with those that said they haven't noticed decisions empire-wise to have much weight. I'll go as far as to say that for me, there was no need to make those decisions. I blame this to how strong your sovereign and champions quickly become. I played a normal and a chall

Cheers guys! Huge list, thank you! ETA 10 mins to finish downloading :)

The changes sound awesome. Can't wait to try them out. I wonder what other modifications have been made to the path of's.

Double post, sorry. Is it possible to delete it?

[quote who="ddd888" reply="85" id="3126940"] companies dont have a choice, who doesnt listen to ppl just make shit like civ5 who had half (or even 2/3 ) of the community not happy at all [/quote] Then you'll be happy to know that Jon Shafer , former lead designer for civ5 is involved in FE as well, lol. I don't agree with you, though. I like Civ5.

No no, take your time and do it right. That's what we're expecting. There's no gain otherwise.

Awesome read... I totally agree with him. And I'm glad Jon is part of Stardock's team :)

[quote who="Magog_AoW" reply="22" id="3126742"] Quoting Gandhialf, reply 7 Quoting Magog_AoW, reply 3If Triumph studios are working on AoW3 it will be interesting to see how they handle the transition to 3D. Are there any clues that it is the case? Some extremely vague clues. On their website they are looking for people who can do high fantasy art in 2D and 3D. Also, the original writer for AoW1 recently made an appearance on the forums, asking which AoW charac

But still, if it was a design choice, the power of items is easily modified. I would not worry about that until the very latest of beta builds. We should rather focus on gameplay elements IMO.

[quote who="Lord Xia" reply="8" id="3117006"]Low level or high level, it only matters with magic, their combat is about 90% related to the gear you give them. Would be nice if level 1 heroes didn't have crack baby ability scores. They seem to have sup-par stats, and high level heroes have very good stats for no real reason, but less abilities for their level. Either way, it's pretty moot, as all that matters what gear you give them.[/quote] Pretty sure that&#

The problem I found with low level heroes appearing later in the game is that, if the game is an advanced enough stage, they can't overcome the experience needed to make them relevant. They just lack the robustness in abilities and stats to compete (or survive). OTOH, don't forget that champions don't spawn, they are available from the start of the game. So, if they were all low level, they'd all be killed by the time you got to find them and you'd be only left wit

[quote who="seanw3" reply="2" id="3116761"]A better solution would be to have Hero specific traits that you only get from that hero. It would take alot of work and thought, but it might happen at some point in beta 4. I always wish heroes that have titles like the stonecutter would get +50% damage against stone based units or do an extra 33% penetration through armor. Then we would be getting rare traits from those locked heroes instead of choices we could have made ourselves. I agree, that i

Didn't know there was a thread specifically for this topic. So I'll just quote what I think from another thread regarding champion progression: "As for champions, I belive they should expand on the great, great idea of the "paths of...". IMO, all those paths should be trees themselves, that you would be unlocking as your champion levels. Using trees give you the advantage of specializing your heroes, removing the randomness and still making them very powerful (with powerful ab

Disclaimer: I didn't read all the posts in the thread yet, but I will! (I promise). I'm usually against randomness in strategy games, but seeing as this one focuses on single player, I really don't mind. As long as it doesn't go overboard, I think it does add some spice to it. Anyway...I don't see the randomness in the tech trees you talk about, but I agree they should be somewhat customized for each faction to make them make sense and give them flavor. It&

Very nice! The spell effects have certainly been beautified and brought to what you can expect of them nowadays. They look impressive, especially the tidal wave :) Keep it up!

[quote who="Frogboy" reply="10" id="3113414"]Great feedback. Derek (lead designer) has very similar views to this as well. So far, we've had Beta 1 and Beta 2. Beta 1 was just the initial beta to test the "new engine". In WOM, we waited way too late to do that and that resulted in a lot of launch problems. Beta 2 had been our general gameplay feedback beta. That is, get the AI playing the game, get the raw mechanics going, etc. Next

For standards to be standards, you need to have precise definitions, limits or rules that are widely accepted so they become the minimun acceptable benchmark. For example: From a reviewer's POV, they seem to agree that bugs are undesirable. But do they agree on how bugs and their severity impact a game as a whole and to what degree they detract from it to reach a final score? So, unless they can reach consensus on exactly what they'll be taking into c

Awesome feedback, all of it! +1 karma from me as well :)

[quote who="DGB246" reply="147" id="3113053"]Without a clear scoring criteria these scores often seem meaningless to me - they are just some guy expressing an opinion at one particular time. What exactly are the criteria for a strategy game that falls in the 70 something % band compared to something that is in the 80% band? Reviewers seem to just express an opinion on a case-by-case basis rather than applying a set of standards to each grade. [/quote] I think that&

I think it's more about preparing the ground for when the game is released than showing its beta capabilities. If the game is aiming at a september launch, then it is important to start installing it into people's heads now, so they are alerted and aware of what's on the horizon. There are very, very few games of this kind. And even fewer that are good enough. So I think it's guaranteed it will get all the attention from the group of gamers it's targeting to. And w

[quote who="Kantok" reply="84" id="3111907"] Quoting Nick-Danger, reply 82My rating for the FE current beta release, using Civ4 BtS as the standard '10.0', is 2.0. To those that will say Civ4 BtS is an unfair comparison -- that's ok, opinions are just that, and feel free to substitute your own standard. Civ4 BtS is the product of ~20 years of work and several expansions. FE had Elemental so it's not a new product, plus the 'wheel' doesn'

[quote who="Ihfacny" reply="73" id="3111831"]I would currently give the game somewhere around 6.0- 6.5 based on the latest beta, but it is clearly on the right track. I think some of the comments above are too generous regarding the current state of the beta, as for me, I have put the beta on the shelf for now. There is clearly some content missing including: Faction differentiation, diplomacy, proper hero paths, fixing the tactical battle wierdness (no distance penalty for ranged