I literally devoured all the beta videos and demonstrations that are out there and I am a little bit confused about the availability of spellbooks in the final game. In the Sovereign creation screen I have identified the obvious ones (Fire, Earth, Water, Air) but apart from them it seems to change with every video I've seen. In the June Beta demonstration video ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5wya5o1An8&
They stay definitely until they are killed or you release them. I am sure that there are spells to summon creatures during combat, too. I think it will be very similar to Master of Magic, though I don't know how the upkeep mechanic works. One of the spell books is just about summoning stuff.
yes, but since you participated in the beta you will likely get early access to the game. One day, maybe even two days before the official release date on the 24th.
Indeed. You can summon fantastic creatures via spells and build city improvements near ogre camps and the likes to train them. In addition, the more you advance in the diplomacy tree the more wild creatures that are roaming the world can be tamed.
Most of your questions cannot be sufficiently answered at the moment (no crafting, dungeons and triggers on day-0 though), but one thing is for certain: When Elemental will be released it won't be as intricate as AoW:SM. Nevertheless there is a promising prospect for the game to become a AoW:SM killer and much more thanks to the integrated modding capabilities and the company behind the project.
The real and only means to spread the word in Germany would be a localized retail version. Since the audience for strategic and roleplaying games (let alone a combination of the two) is pretty large in Germany, it's a shame that it won't happen. Elemental would've gathered many costumers, me thinks.
Of course it is only in multiplayer. It's not "real" real-time, rather a time limit for every turn to get going. It is very reasonable, because not everyone in a mutiplayer match with, say, 15 other players is willing to wait for every single one of them to enjoy the view. In singleplayer you have all the time in the world, don't worry.
Guilds: no idea. Dungeons: Brad stated that there will be no dungeons in the day0 game, but that they will most likely add them in later patches. He also said that the quests of the day0 version won't utilize triggers because they were not sure whether the game mechanics supported them. Since they found out it is possible to implement, they will come up with new quests that are activated and directed by triggers in the future (meaning more complex que
Thanks for your answers, I already borrowed my mother's credit card to pre-order it again. [e digicons];)[/e]
Not to put you off, but as far as I understood Elemental will be for the experienced 4x crowd in the first place. No, I don't know it first hand and it may be approachable at the same time, but everything Brad indicated the last couple of days clearly hints in that direction. He said that there will be no Tutorial per se and that the campaign plus an ingame "encyclopedia" will be the only means of explaining game mechanics. Also, in the latest interview with FiringSquad he clearly stated that
No one here can tell you, since no one except internal beta testing team and the developers have played the final version of the game. You have to wait until after release and read up on some reviews by day 0 customers.
[quote who="Wintersong" reply="5" id="2713851"]Why must salaries be different in different countries? It's not a matter of fairness or justice...[/quote] [quote who="Pantasd" reply="6" id="2713854"]becouse in germany the ppl earn 3x more[/quote] Sorry if this is slightly off-topic, but I have to put that a little bit into perspective regarding "fairness": Yes, ppl in Germany earn 3x more, but they also pay 3x more for energy, rent, food etc. The actual e
[quote who="kyogre12" reply="3" id="2713770"] They way paypal works. When you buy something with paypal, it immediately subtracts the money from your account. Stardock only takes your money when they can give you a product. When the beta is open, you pre-order and immediately get access to the beta, so they charge you. When it's closed and you pre-order, you don't get anything, so they don't charge you.[/quote] This is reasonable, but rather counterproductive in my case, we
[quote who="kyogre12" reply="1" id="2713747"]You can buy it with paypal once it is released, yes. You can only pre-order with paypal when the beta is open, but since the beta is over, that won't be happening.[/quote] What is the reasoning behind that policy?
I have a problem. I pre-ordered the game over a week ago but had to block the card because of a letter of warning from the bank and some fishy withdrawals on the bank statements (I'm still waiting for a reply from Stardock). Now after everything will be cleared up, hopefully, I would love to pre-order the game via PayPal, but when I tried it before it said that I have to wait till release. Is there no other way to pre-order the game, because I would like to get my hands on it be
[quote who="Steve Dickson" reply="3" id="2712866"]> "...the lone adventurer is forced to make the voyage home on foot." Ouch. This could have been better written, as a voyage directly implies a journey by water (as does the included image), and then... "on foot"? It does not scan well. I volunteer to help with the editing (although it may be too late now). Nit picking aside, though, I am very excited to hear Elemen
[quote who="LEADER MkII" reply="33" id="2712327"]What moral dilemmas? You either save the girls or not, then shown some good/evil ending which serves to proove that only in video games where the gray area sudenly fade off[/quote] Well, that's exactly my point: There are no moral dilemmas in BioShock, it's a pure gameplay mechanic providing the player with different sets of abilities and amount of Adam. I have to say though that I like the good ending, it is quite poignant. The b
[quote who="Polynomial" reply="24" id="2712210"]I'm beginning to wonder if anyone on these forums even likes video games. First no one likes Bioware games, now people slam one of gaming's landmark games.[/quote] I love BioWare games, I am looking forward to SW:TOR and, yes, BioShock is a landmark game, but not in the story and character department, at least on the whole, not with the AI and not with moral dilemmas.
[quote who="joasoze" reply="123" id="2712115"]Why does Blizzard do this? To secure better/faster connections, to save money or what?[/quote] The ultimate reason for everything in this world: to earn more money.
[quote who="mastroego" reply="67" id="2711313"] Quoting phazonfreak, reply 65I too vote for the already mentioned Alpha Centauri, a vastly, vastly underrated game. Even though it had some issues with the AI, graphics and a horrible exploit, it was the perfect continuation of the Civilization franchise and it offered something no Civ-style game before and after did: an actual story and thoughtful, challenging ideas. It was deeply philosophical and with its rather grim view on h
[quote who="Tormy-" reply="120" id="2712088"] Quoting Tasunke, reply 119Please tell me that Elemental does NOT region lock their multiplayer. Stardockians? Yes/No? Region lock? What the hell is that exactly? [/quote] He is talking about locking out cross-region online matches, i.e. someone located in the United States playing against someone located in Europe, like Blizzard is doing with Starcraft 2 (big mistake!). I don't know about
[quote who="Grove12345" reply="28" id="2712023"]The lighting and tiles look better than mine. WHY? Still hate the models faces/heads.[/quote] Seconded. I do like the graphical style of the game a lot, but the character's faces look unsightly square. When I watched the beta footage I chuckled about the "ugly" option for the Sovereign as if it were truly optional. [e digicons]:D[/e]
You may also want to check out Battleforge. It is basically the Magic: the Gathering card system redone in a real time strategy game. Lots of cards for creatures and spells, hence lots of combinations and possible stratregies. It is highly competitive, if that is your cup of tea. You can download the game for free, but have to pay for new booster packs. So, the only real downside to this game is the money sink if you want to stay competitive.
I assume the only way to find out whether the concept of testing the final beta internally is effective will be to play the finished product. I agree that the concept of beta testing seems to work differently here than what is considered standard, but I reserve my final judgement until I've experienced the game.
[quote who="awuffleablehedgie" reply="12" id="2711744"]System Shock has a boring and cliched concept (rogue AI). Bioshock had a wonderful character and narrative structure that let you discover who you were ALONG with the character and with a bumpy ride, and with fantastic atmospheric tension and memorable bosses and environments. [/quote] As cliched as the concept of a rogue AI might be, Shodan is by far the more menacing and interesting villain compa