I agree 100% with this review. The game is awesome in its current state. My 2 sons and myself can't stop playing it. Just imagine how it will be in a few weeks or months !!!

Well done guys !

By te way, I'm half way trough the Destiny's Embers book. I love it too...

I read the review. I want some of what he's been smoking.

No doubt the worst problems will be fixed in the next 2 weeks or so. After all, many are just typos in the unit stats or other trivial crap.

But such a hot recommendations for "normal" users just yet? I love the game but I'm a bug-hardened veteran, steeled through literally decades of buggy releases.
Crash bugs? Laughable. That's what autosave is for.
Unbalanced gameplay and broken magic? I use the parts that work.
Cheating AI? I cheat right back.
What's the problem?

But what if someone just wants to play a game for an hour here and there? Someone spoiled by far more simplistic but working games? Then this game is hell.

But grats on good press. HEHEHE

You've evidently missed the last five years of PC gaming then, even if all you like to play is 4x. 

So your conception of attention to detail is a heavily bug ridden release with multiplayer disabled, and numerous unfinished and/or broken game mechanics that weren't tested properly?  Yeah, they really went over Elemental with a fine toothed comb.  What variety, exactly?  There aren't that many techs, build order is negligible, and everyone will basically end up in the same place.  You can only level through combat, all the playable races at this point are human, and diplomacy does nothing.  Most of the quests you get are to go to someone's lab and retrieve an item, or to bring them back a few stones so they can make a new weapon or piece of armour.  Units lack specialization, and Defensive and offensive characteristics all get combined into 2 statistics, and dynasties don't work. 

And as far as other developers not putting "true effort" into their products...well...speechless, honestly.

Yes, yes it will...as soon as it actually does deserve it.  No one here is short sighted, we just don't like reviewing a product based on what it might become a year from now.

And I just want to add a qualifier here: my above comments probably make it seem like I'm one of the ones who think the game is complete trash and unplayable.  It's playable, and it's fun even as it stands, and I do like it...a year from now I fully expect to have my social life sucked away by Elemental obsession.  I just don't understand how some people here think Elemental is Stadock's gift to mankind considering all of the things that need to be fixed, completed, and added.  It's extremely possible to be happy with the game as it stands now, but I think you're misleading yourself if you look at Elemental and think that it is anywhere close to where it could have/should have been, think it is a polished product, or deserves 90% reviews as it currently sits.

Its good to see a positive review for this game.

I give the game a 9/10 also, I was expecting a 5 or 6/10 game from all that I was reading but man thsi game is tons of fun.

It coudl be a 9.5 or 10/10 if the late gaem slowdown gets fixed and some of the ai gets worked out (:

Its got nothign to do with me being a stardock fanboy, I have only bought 3 of there games and have enjoyed 2 out of those 3.

Yes it has problems but to me PERSONALLY.. this is the best game in years and years FOR ME!

You obviously had bugs I did not when playing the game.  You state at the end of your rant that the game will "suck your life away when it is fixed" ,yet you seem offended that it is not up to your standards now.  I think you just like to bitch and think the world owes you your perfect gold standard.  I think you should make a complex and difficult to program game yourself since you' re so fucking good.  Asshole!   For Master thief if anyone wonders.

I agree.  No one should spend money on this game.  It's nothing at all like what was promised, it doesn't work at all, and it was all a big sham scam to get dat $$$

You're right...I am disappointed that I paid $50 and it is not up to not only my standard, but general industry standards of polish and completion.  I am also, as mentioned, at a loss for how a game in this state can receive a 90% review.  It's not an issue of me making a complex/difficult program, but an issue of Stardock not being able to deliver a finished one when other development studios are able to.  My issue is not with bugs, but with broken/unfinished features and mechanics that are present in all copies of the game.  I see nothing conflicting in the opinion I posted...that the game is currently broken, but that through the mess I see oodles of potential that I hope will be built upon in the next year and transform the product into something everyone can hail as one of the best 4x games of the last decade.

You apparently have some anger issues, and are unable to participate in civil dialogue. 

Istrari you stated it very well.  I was a bit upset when i posted before because I had few problems with the game and I can see Stardock tried to do an excellent job with the game.  I still think it deserves a 9 out of 10, but everyone is entitled  to their opinion.  I suppose if people want to rant about how "unfinished" it is I should not let it bother me, though to me it is far and above most shlock that comes out for mass market gaming.

I apologize for the lenght of this one, but bare with me...

We're all gamers here.  The first questions during an interview are "What games are you playing ATM?", "Whats the last game youve completed?", and "Whats your favorite game of all time?".

From both the gamer and developer perspective, the Elemental release has thrown me for a loop...what the hell happened? When GalCiv2 shipped, it had a FPS bug that melted video cards and garnered a similar 'master list' of bug fixes, missing features and polish points that we wanted to get in but couldn't. I feared the worst there, and its release was a dream compared to Elementals launch, which I enjoyed considerably more (when I got a chance to play it) than GC2's launch version equivelant.

The problem with using the 'master list' as solid proof that we should have KNOWN the game was unfinished is that ALL games ship with lists of 'wish we coulda done that' features and content. Releasing a game is always going to be a calculated risk..no matter how polished it is, and how much time it spends in the cooker, there will ALWAYS be lists (like the one posted in the journals) of things a game studio wished they could have improve upon.

And we will always want more time, and it will always go out 'too soon' for our stantards...but this time we greatly miscalculated what was needed for the game to be 'done', by both critical measures (averaging 6/10 in reviews) and public mesaures(50% dissatisfaciton rate in the forum poll).

As an employee of Stardock that worked on a product that many customers find sub-standard, I apologize. As a fellow gamer, I can understand the frustration and anger. Final Fantasy 13 sits, collecting dust at 10 hours in because it's not what I had hoped for and dreamt of as a next-gen FF game. And while I dont think we'll ever match their crazy levels of polish (it's mind-blowing, really) the only consolation I can give is that we can take everyones complaints and frustrations and make Elemental BETTER from them....one of the remaining benifits of PC development.

Most games are-what-they-are, and I agree that Elemental should be graded on the same measure. But I do ask that you view the master list, and our goals from this point on, not as proof of failure, but as proof that Elemental can, and will, be improved to a level of quality that knocks that 50% disatisfaction rate down to something less...horrible.

As gamers, we agree with almost all of the suggestions posted. As developers, we'll continue intergrating those suggestions to make the game something worthy of a Neoseeker-like review in everyone's eyes.

(Though I'm still going to enjoy the 9/10 we received.) 

OK, back to wrapping up 1.07!

Quoting Istari:

I am all for the publication of the list. But it does show the game is not a 9/10. The list did never annoy me, only the tone of this OP in light of reality, just to make things clear.

To me at least this seems like a very brave and good thing to do, especially for a politician. We are not machines you know, words do matter. But then we need action, as we both agree.

My only comment to this must be that I was troubled when Elemental came out in this state, seeing the reactions on the web, in other reviews ... For a company, the release time is when you have the spotlight. This is when you have the chance to project the image and message you want to get across. So, yes it was in the interest of all of us to get especially that moment right. But, forgive me, I don't think we should consider putting a gag on Elemental's own forum, not then and even less now. I can assure you that the main message is already out, whatever is said in a short reply here. To the contrary, a frank debate here can at least change things, as is clearly shown too!  

Yes, like just stated. Also by BoogieBack himself. So, hmm, after the exchange with the dev team right above where this is the conclusion, you write a long reply going back again... Let's just move forward now instead, with the answer we actually got from the dev team themselves!   

I can understand why you would find that annoying, as it is putting a better spin on something that does not completely reflect the accolades. It may help to view it from a different perspective though. EWoM has had obvious problems at launch that could affect its overall success via unfavourable reviews and negative internet chatter. Consider this image problem to be an illness, and the treatment to be the positive spin and friendly communications with the community.

There had actually been a good deal of public pressure on the previous administration to make this concession, and they refused. Rudd had nothing to lose and everything to gain by apologising. Having said that, his apology was utterly useless, and more than that, it was very insulting and condescending when he did not follow up with appropriately adequate policy. The point here is that if a choice arose between words and promised action, or just action, the latter is always preferrable as it is in itself a far more sincere form of apology.

My point here was not about one or two comments in one or two forums, but rather the amalgamation of negatively toned responses to the issues as a whole. While I don't presume to tell anyone what or what not to say or do, I can still point out the consequences of these collective actions. Were there not already large scale amendments being made and problems addressed, a frank debate and call for apology might to some degree have an overall beneficial effect. But when the remedy is already being applied, this category of complaint can only be taken as detrimental negativity, and not contributing to an improvement in the state of affairs.

Sorry, I was in the middle of typing my comment when BoogieBac posted his. However, I would like to point out that you yourself seemed to be placated by the very same public relations strategy that you said you found annoying. When BoogieBac responded in a friendly way with smiley faces, and told you what you wanted to hear (not to say that he wasn't sincere), your tone changed immediately and you were satisfied. This was despite the fact that your comment and those like it actually result in a resource shift from development to PR, with BoogieBac in this instance having to take the time to post a positive comment to counterbalance the negativity of yours.

@ Istari

Why don't we just cut the crap (sorry for language) on this. Did you read Frogboy's (Brad Wardell, CEO of Stardock) own comments on the launch in the thread on Why everyone is so upset? In light of this, I think you should just stop, without me explaining why.

Maybe you just wanted the last word, or you have been smoking something (that last line was a joke, no?). I asked for an apology and got one five minutes later by the dev in charge at the moment, so yes I replied I appreciate that. Doesn't mean there are no issues with the game, but this is not the thread to sort all of those out.

And yes, if you want the last word you are welcome to reply to this and I won't continue this "exchange".