I have been playing all the way from War of Magic to Fallen Enchantress and now Legendary Heroes. I have played hundreds of hours in the Elemental world through all these titles and two of the betas and still come back fro more. For me it holds up well to multiple play-throughs. I think my father has spent even more hours than I have but that is one of the perks of being retired for him; more time for gaming.
Wow, if I was retired and had time to play this game non-stop, I would be so happy. So is playing through the world of Elemental a long standing tradition in your family?
There is a lot of elements i really like about the game:
1) I really like the combat system. I am not a big warmonger, but this give me enough tactical combat without boggin me down.
2) I like how you can change the world with your magics.
3) Building armies i find a lot of fun and has a good element of customization while again not being too much.
but it has its weakness too.
1) The AI is pretty weak overall. I feel like i fight the monsters, not the other civs.
2) The building aspect is very shallow compared to other games.
3) The tech tree also feels pretty shallow.
So its a great game...but i wouldn't say best 4x game ever.
That's kind of how I'm feeling right now too. A lot of the empire management strategy isn't as expansive as some other games have done, but the inclusion of heroes and the fantasy setting really does it for me. The whole is greater than the sum of it's parts.
Quote;
"I have played hundreds of hours in the Elemental world through all these titles and two of the betas and still come back for more."
I guess "hundreds" could mean up to 999 hrs. I think I've put up into the thousands over the 3 versions. Whatever you paid for it was probably the best money you could have ever spent for a game.
Its a given that I was asleep for a few hours here and there at the computer, but come on! I haven't played a game this long since galciv. Its just the type of game we all want. Aint perfect, but who cares.
So you are definitely a veteran of the world of Elemental, yes? And a big Stardock fan, no doubt.
And I'm definitely with you on it being not perfect, but it is the perfect game for me at this moment. Absolutely loving it.
"best game ever?" is pretty subjective, but add my name to the list of people playing 1000+ hours and still playing. I'd say this is one of the Top 10 Best Strategy Games of all time.
Indeed. I guess what I should say is, does it have the potential to be the best game ever? For me at least, all the aspects of the game currently are very enjoyable and exactly what I like in a game. Perhaps more work here and there, and it would be the Rosetta Stone of video games.
Same here.
It has flaws certainly, but every game does.
Very true. It's the enjoyment I get out of the game that defines it's overall appeal to me, as it should be in every case.