[quote who="Cruxador" reply="24" id="2861318"]

Civ IV has randomness in resource placement. And yet, it doesn't have a system that

-either partially destroys randomness (if the techs spawn the resources in your territory directly)

-either gives you techs that can hurt you if you discover them. (if the techs can spawn resources outside of your territory). I mean, seriously, how can that even be good design, having techs that will spawn resources for your opponents to use !

More choices are only good when 1) they do not break the rest of the game and 2) they are meaningful. They can be bad because they clutter the game unnecessarily, because they force the designers to take them into account for the rest of the game, etc. And I've yet to use a pants-only armor. The complete mess that the game balance currently is is mostly due to that nonsensical armor parts system. Does it really add anything meaningful to the game, seriously ?

First hand kills might be your definition of fun, not mine. Mind over Matter (and lots of other cards, like Tolarian Academy) destroyed any aspects of Magic I'd call interesting. Then again, I only play in sealed formats.

Clearly you've never played Chrono Trigger.

Chrono Trigger or Alpha Centauri? It's hard to compare the two, but they're both excellent, excellent games. Both #1 in their categories, as far as I'm concerned. Secret of Mana wasn't that bad, either. I still get Glenn's Theme stuck in my head sometimes.

*sigh* I miss high-quality games like that.

Great games, to be sure. Especially SMAX.

But the whole point of magic was to bend the rules a bit - its difficult to know how far you can bend the rules without breaking them (MTG veteran - STOPPED playing around weatherlight and still remembers timetwister and plague rats with affection)

I don't agree that it stinks... I actually enjoy the game; however, it still needs a lot of fine tuning. For all that the devs have tried to do and accomplish, it still is not a game of MAGIC (Elemental or any other). 

Not sure what I mean? I will tell you.

Here's how you win:

Research:

- Heavy Armor

- Slicing Weapons (Broadsword and Battle Axe)

- Squads

- Horses (Optional)

(Note the lack of the need for spells??)

Create 2-3 Squads of Heavily Armored Soldiers and stick your sovereign with them. Attack any enemy. Win and don't worry about losses -- you won't have any.

Magic makes the game more interesting and definitely makes it easier, but when I can use 2x 4-man squad with Heavy Armor and battle axes, spell blast and teleport; I can beat the computer AI, hands down, any time. Want to make the win even easier? Level up your children to 25 intelligence and put 2 or 3 of them with you. That's 3-4 spell blasts at about 8-11 damage per mob per cast. 

On a side Note: I got dragons in my game last night; the fire breath animation won't stop once you cast it.

Still, as I said, love the game, very interesting concept and it still needs some work (Not that I can do any better myself).

IMHO:  I appreciate anyone's attempt to communicate what seems to be a heartfelt opinion about the possible / probable future of Elemental.  He is right.  I keep downloading the updates.  But  I haven't played  Elemental at all for over a month.  I do read about the updates... but I will bide my time and wait for the tac battles to be updated.  I really hope its not turn based, and the user has only limited control over what his /her units do. But Froggy and co will decide that.

No one knows, right now, how Elemental will finally turn out.  However, if the new 'mod man' can do his magic on the game, with out dumbing it down for ** all ** players, I'll be happy.  This IS possible via a customization input screen, allowing more advanced playing to be automated, allowing some players to play 'dumbed down' and others to embrace the full game environment.  Take a look at what they did with Distant Worlds.  I remain very hopeful that we will be rewarded for our patience.

BTW, having an excellent tool for modding almost any aspect of the Elemental game will extend its lifespan greatly.  Just look at how active TES4 (Oblivion) players are - even as the game gets older and older - because the game environment is so modifiable via player mods.  So, those are my two greatest hopes for the direction Elemental goes: extensive modding tools accessible to players, and a tac combat system that is unit based, rather than side based, and that allows conditional orders to be given to units.

And if SD feels an easier to play version is necessary for marketing reasons, as MIGHT be indicated by the new team lineup, than do it via player customization, but allowing the player to automate some functions / tasks.  One button or two?

 Yes, i want ice cream, too!  And I am happy that the originator of this forum felt comfortable enough here to post his concern.