1st and only post so no need for all the fanboys to get their nickers in a knot trying to convert another blind man to their light. I just feel like I spent so long eagerly anticipating this game that I gotta make a goodbye post.
I loved Stardock and Brad's vision. The concept the gamer's bill of rights was particularly great. Great enough that I felt inspired to get Impulse and spent mebbe about $1000 on games through there instead. I enjoyed GC a lot and your affiliated games like Sins. None were great like Civ4 great, UFO great, MoM great, AoE great, etc. but they were solid games - kudos.
I was particularly looking forward to Elemental more than anything in a long time. I get into games for 2-8 years - spent 10,000 hours plus hobby modding on NWN over 8 years for example and Civ4 for same length, I had pegged Elemental as that next game. Perhaps wrongly - but Stardocks - Brad's - your messages got through and given the reputation you seemed to have earned, I was inspired and ready.
Prepaid Elemental and it was - of course for me as well - a disappointment and a joke. The fanboys on the forums and the guys giving it 10/10 almost make me angry. Almost - it's hard to imagine people get more behind games than me, but clearly there's heaps on them. I feel pity for each in this instance.
I gave it a few patches to look for a glimmer of potential - I hoped for what seemed impossible - I spent only an hour today playing 1.836. There was no way to spend more time because it's simply too boring. For someone with 3 kids and 2 jobs who can spend 6 hours that should be spent sleeping planting single strands of grass carefully to make a map look better, boring should not be a risk. I can spend days on Capitalism or playing Australia on Hearts of Iron. But I can't even feel inspired to craft a properly witty and insulting 'fuck you goodbye post'.
Because I've never been so tremendously bored. I'm done with Elemental. Stardock spent their entire reputation for me not just in this game, but in how the myriad of random posts on the forums make it look like you have zero vision for this game and need every wankers opinion on the entire internet to make any decisions about how a game should be. An alien concept to me because every game I've created I've known every detail of my vision to to straps. I don't know what the hell you are thinking.
Impule is starting to shit me too - definately influenced by all these embarrassing posts Brad and SD representatives and the blind-core fans are making. But little things like now you are e-mailing me to tell me to buy MoO2 because I get MoO 1 for free with it. Really really dumb kind of advertising that tells people you think they are morons. Disappointing - all of it. Just simply, disappointing decisions. The passion is gone at SD I guess.
And rightly so - for me too. I must say though, I got something out of all this. I enjoyed discovering GOG from links in the forums and I enjoyed Kings Bounty AP, & Elven Legacy pack linked from disgruntled Elementalists. Thanks for those links.
There is no point waiting for Elemental to get better because unfortunately, it is simply boring at every single level possible. How it looks and sounds, the early game, the mid game, the late game, researching spells, techs, tactical combat, spell effects, special effects, city building, champion building, unit designing, modding and map constructing (I spent 6 horus building a large map to get a feel), character creation, conquesting, defending, choosing the irrelevent difficulty setting vs the non-existent AI, every single aspect of this game is boring. It's almost impressive - to turn so many concepts into a null event.
If you actually had a vision I could imagine 3 to even as many as 5 out of these 20+ concepts becoming fun with enough time and energy spent by SD. But there clearly is no vision. And with no elements being at all fun or in any way creative or strategic or tactical, I am sad to finally admit to myself that there is no potential either.
You can keep your money. I'll take the lesson with me. The only interesting aspect to come out of Elemental. Thanks, but sorry guys, no thanks.
Goodbye.
