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[Woorloog]

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Release date: October 23rd 2012 (Released)
Platforms: PC
Genre: Turn based strategy with RPG elements
Developer and Publisher: Stardock Entertaiment
Modes: Single player only, scenarios and sandbox

Overview
Elemental: Fallen Enchantress (FE for short) is a fantasy 4X turn based strategy game made by Stardock. As Stardock puts it, "A Strategy Game in an RPG world".
While similar to the previous entry in the series, War of Magic, Fallen Enchantress is a completly new, standalone game with nearly everything redone or overhauled.
In addition to 4X elements (explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate) the game also has RPG elements, you level up your Sovereign and Champions (and even cities).
But not only the game has RPG elements, it also has quests, ranging from simple fetch quests to more epic quests. Quests reward the player well so doing them is recommended.
Since it is a RPG world of sorts, it has quite a lot of lore. Each unit has a description, you can write a backround for your custom Sovereign should you make one etc. For more lore, see here.

More details about gameplay at Fallen Enchantress site.

The game's main mode is the sandbox mode but the game also contains a scenario (and supports player-made scenarios), that plays more like RPG than 4X game.

Features

• Choose from 8 Sovereigns and nations, either Empire or Kingdom, or create your own.
• Recruit Champions for your cause. They are secondary heroes after your Sovereign.
• Create your own units: armor, weapons, equipment, horses or wargs, group size.
• RPG elements. Level up your Sovereign, Champions and cities.
• Tactical battles. Battles can be fought on a tactical map, like in Heros of Might and Magic series.
• 4 victory conditions, Conquest, Diplomatic, Master Quest and completing the Spell of Making.
• Good AI.
• Highly moddable. The game includes variety of tools like map editor but nearly all important stuff is XML files which are easy to edit.

Screenshots and media

More here: Fallen Enchantress media, including trailers and concept art.

Miscellaneous

System requirements:

Minimum:
Windows® 8 / 7 SP1 / Vista SP2 / XP SP3
2.4 GHz Processor
1 GB Available System Memory
128 MB Video Card (GeForce 6800 / Radeon X1600 or Better)
DirectX 9.0c Compatible Sound Card
5 GB Hard Disk Space
DirectX 9.0c

Recommended:
64-bit Windows 8 / 7 SP1
2.2 GHz Dual-Core Processor
2 GB Available System Memory
256 MB Video Card (GeForce 7900 / Radeon X3800 or Better)


Available from Stardock, Steam and others.

Manual is available from here.

War of Magic OT here, in case anyone is interested in the previous entry. It won't be available after FE anymore.

I will update this OT with more detail later on.
I will update this OT for important news, new features and such. If I seem to have missed something, PM Woorloog.
I will have to re-do the screenshot section, didn't quite workout as planned...
Please point out typos and grammatical errors, I'll fix them.

 

[Keasar]

Hm, if they fixed a lot of the problems I heard about the first game, then I would like to play it once I get money next month.

Other then that, like last game, it sounds very interesting.

 

[Avallon]

I got this for free... is it better than Elemental was?

Does it include the original campaign?

 

[Woorloog]

I got this for free... is it better than Elemental was?

Does it include the original campaign?

I'd say, despite my limited time with it, yes, it is better. If for nothing else, at least it is more polished.

No original campaign ATM. Not sure if they plan on porting it. Or if modders intend to do it.
Gotta say i'd like to see the original campaign here, i never finished it.

 

[Mengy]

Subscribed. I'm looking for firsthand opinions and impressions on the game GAF. I bought the original but got my money back due to it being so bad. Please tell me it's a game worth playing now, I want this to be a good game.

 

[Woorloog]

Subscribed. I'm looking for firsthand opinions and impressions on the game GAF. I bought the original but got my money back due to it being so bad. Please tell me it's a game worth playing now, I want this to be a good game.

Based on my limited experience with the beta, yeah, i'd say it is worth playing. Especially if you like the genre.

Hmm. Guess i should make AAR from my first game.
Is there some easy, simple program for taking screenshots? Should FRAPs do that properly (ie put them somewhere easily accessible?)

 

[Avallon]

Subscribed. I'm looking for firsthand opinions and impressions on the game GAF. I bought the original but got my money back due to it being so bad. Please tell me it's a game worth playing now, I want this to be a good game.

Check out their website. Owners of the original Elemental got Fallen Enchantress for free, or perhaps at a discount. See if you're eligible here

 

[Spl1nter]

Will play it this weekend, just to busy this week. I stayed away from the BETA as I wanted the 1.0 experience to be completely fresh. From all the impressions I have seen it looks like it is a great game.

 

[Corto]

Based on my limited experience with the beta, yeah, i'd say it is worth playing. Especially if you like the genre.

Hmm. Guess i should make AAR from my first game.
Is there some easy, simple program for taking screenshots? Should FRAPs do that properly (ie put them somewhere easily accessible?)

Yes, you can set in what folder FRAPS can save the screenshots. The free version only permits to save BMP format images though. I'm very curious about this game. Never bought the first one due to all the negative feedback at the time, but Jon Shafer being behind this gives me confidence in the quality of the final product.

 

[alstein]

I got this for free... is it better than Elemental was?

Does it include the original campaign?

It doesn't include the original campaign, it has a new campaign I haven't touched yet (under scenarios- they didn't want to call it a campaign since they say it's much more RPG-ish than the sandbox game)

As for it being better than War of Magic, it's as good as War of Magic was bad. Best TBS since Civ IV.

 

[Spl1nter]

As for it being better than War of Magic, it's as good as War of Magic was bad. Best TBS since Civ IV.

That is what I have been hearing, pretty excited for when I get to play the game.

 

[Woorloog]

Yes, you can set in what folder FRAPS can save the screenshots. The free version only permits to save BMP format images though.

Well, i will crop them and edit them anyway so it won't be a big problem to convert them to PNG while at it.

I will keep journal about my first proper game here. With pictures.


EDIT oh, yeah, if people here have anything to add to the OP (which is kinda limited), post here or PM me, i'll add them to OP, with credits naturally.

 

[Fragamemnon]

As for it being better than War of Magic, it's as good as War of Magic was bad. Best TBS since Civ IV.

I played a very early Beta of Enchantress and it was more than playable-it felt pretty fleshed out even then. And that was like almost 7-8 months ago. I'd imagine by now Kael and the crew have gotten all the systems working just right, and the comments from Brad W. that they didn't need crunch points to a well-managed, mature release.

Stardock's really turned it around with this one.

 

[Decado]

I'm interested in this one and oh so let down from what I heard about WoM. Age of Wonders is one of my favourite game franchises and I was hoping this could be a successor.

A couple quick questions:

- Is there a proper campaign where you can develop your hero or is it just map, reset, map reset like a lot of these games?
- Is there strong mod support?

thx

 

[Sinatar]

I downloaded and installed my free copy last night, haven't got around to trying it yet but it's encouraging to hear that it turned out good.

 

[Woorloog]

I'm interested in this one and oh so let down from what I heard about WoM. Age of Wonders is one of my favourite game franchises and I was hoping this could be a successor.

A couple quick questions:

- Is there a proper campaign where you can develop your hero or is it just map, reset, map reset like a lot of these games?
- Is there strong mod support?

thx

There is strong mod support, yes.
As for the campaign, it is a "scenario", that plays more akin to a RPG (i think Warcraft 3 The Frozen Throne's Orc "campaign" would be a good comparison).
The sandbox is still the main focus.

 

[Decado]

By sandbox do you mean random maps?

I tend to have trouble getting into RPGs or tactical games that don't allow me to progress a character/army through a lengthy campaign. Jagged Alliance 2 is by far the best example I've come across.

 

[Mengy]

As for it being better than War of Magic, it's as good as War of Magic was bad. Best TBS since Civ IV.

I played a very early Beta of Enchantress and it was more than playable-it felt pretty fleshed out even then. And that was like almost 7-8 months ago. I'd imagine by now Kael and the crew have gotten all the systems working just right, and the comments from Brad W. that they didn't need crunch points to a well-managed, mature release.

Stardock's really turned it around with this one.

Nice. I love what I'm hearing. Elemental shocked me so much coming from Stardock. This is sounding good so far.

 

[alstein]

I'm interested in this one and oh so let down from what I heard about WoM. Age of Wonders is one of my favourite game franchises and I was hoping this could be a successor.

A couple quick questions:

- Is there a proper campaign where you can develop your hero or is it just map, reset, map reset like a lot of these games?
- Is there strong mod support?

thx

The Campaign supposedly plays more like an RPG, so yes to this. Supposedly it plays nothing like the sandbox game.
You develop your champions throughout the game in a fashion similar to an RPG- I think the system could be expanded, but it works well as is.

Mod support is super strong, some mods already created that are nice.

As for how this compares to AoW: tactical battles are much better in AoW, faction differentiation better in AoW, but this game actually has a functioning AI and a concept of balance, neither of which AoW had. It's a stronger game.

If you want more of a high fantasy feel to FE, I think Stormworld mod might be best bet. I haven't messed with mods much, I was waiting until release.

 

[Mengy]

As for how this compares to AoW: tactical battles are much better in AoW, faction differentiation better in AoW, but this game actually has a functioning AI and a concept of balance, neither of which AoW had. It's a stronger game.

Really? Did you ever play Master of Magic? I still play that 19 year old game now and then. To this day no 4X fantasy game has truly captured the fun I get when playing MoM. I was hoping that Elemental would be that game, it was very far from it. Does anyone have any opinions on how Fallen Enchantress compares to MoM?

 

[Twinduct]

Looking forward to this. Played the beta (third? second?). Seemed really nice although was terrible amount of bugs and the always online fashion of the beta was annoying as hell.

Downloading the final built now. Will be able to give my impressions in a few weeks

 

[Woorloog]

By sandbox do you mean random maps?

I tend to have trouble getting into RPGs or tactical games that don't allow me to progress a character/army through a lengthy campaign. Jagged Alliance 2 is by far the best example I've come across.

Yes, sandbox game=random map though pre-made one is an option.

And when i said campaign, it is not a campaign in the traditional sense, it is one long mission on a large map.

 

[Decado]

Thanks guys. I'll see how it is received in the coming weeks and look into it a bit more. I'm generally more interested in tactical combat than the grand strategy component of these games.

I'll probably pick it up...particular if it looks like campaign mods are being developed. I don't use multiplayer.

 

[Woorloog]

Thanks guys. I'll see how it is received in the coming weeks and look into it a bit more. I'm generally more interested in tactical combat than the grand strategy component of these games.

I'll probably pick it up...particular if it looks like campaign mods are being developed. I don't use multiplayer.

There is no multiplayer. The game is not probably for you, it is more of as strategy game, with tactical combat and RPG elements, not the other way around.

I'll write about my first game as i play it and take screenshots, explain stuff that way.
Once i get started, ah, so much to do...

 

[alstein]

Thanks guys. I'll see how it is received in the coming weeks and look into it a bit more. I'm generally more interested in tactical combat than the grand strategy component of these games.

I'll probably pick it up...particular if it looks like campaign mods are being developed. I don't use multiplayer.

If you want a Tac combat 4X, Warlock is your best bet.

FE is more of an RPG spin on 4X, with some tactical thrown in, though Derek Paxton has mentioned he has some good ideas for TC that will likely be implemented in a future patch for FE.

For me, the most fun part of this game is the exploration and levelling up your guys.

 

[Woorloog]

Anyone else having issues with screen tearing?
Vanished only after forcing triple buffering from Nvidia control panel in addition to VSync, is that normal? Don't know about stuff like that.

Also, what nation/leader are you guys using? I think i'll go with a custom one, not one of the pre-made ones seem interesting. Not one of them seems to be a jack of all trades type.

 

[jaundicejuice]

This is my first Stardock game, despite owning Sins and GalCiv, bought during a Steam sale but haven't gotten around to playing either. Played through FE's tutorial this morning, it gives you a brief walkthrough of the basics: founding a city, initial city development, border expansion, unit training, research, hiring champions and combat. I like what I've seen thus far.

 

[Decado]

If you want a Tac combat 4X, Warlock is your best bet.

FE is more of an RPG spin on 4X, with some tactical thrown in, though Derek Paxton has mentioned he has some good ideas for TC that will likely be implemented in a future patch for FE.

For me, the most fun part of this game is the exploration and levelling up your guys.

Hehe. I have warlock, but since there isn't a campaign I haven't really been able to get into it.

We'll see...I really like RPGs, as well. Obviously this isn't a game I should be in a rush to buy, though.

 

[Woorloog]

Game 1.

Settings:
Playing as Tarth, Sovereign is Lady Irane.
Random Medium map, random type with random resources, magic strength, wildlands, and random events set to random.
Beginner level world and beginner AI
3 enemies, 2 empires and 1 kingdom, don't know who they're.
Epic speed.

Here is the starting location.

EDIT founded city of Hope to square north-east of my starting position, the one with 4,2,2 resources.

 

[a secret-boss]

saw this on steam looks interesting.

subscribe for more impression

 

[Woorloog]

Third turn.

Recruited a champion and sent him to south. Irana explores north.
There seems to be a good place for another city in the south (green area) and possibly in north as well. A couple quests too.
Training a pioneer right away, not sure what i should do. A settler is a good idea in Civs early on, i suppose that will work here as well.

Let's see how this will go on.

EDIT found a bug, floating ruins or something.

EDIT Turn 12. My city leveled up, chose Town specialization for it. Also won my first battle, Magar beat 2 bandits and a wolf while exploring. No noteworthy loot.

EDIT also, my town is enchanted with a couple of spells. Remember to do that. A square with 2 essence is a good place to settle, as that allows two enchants to that city.

 

[Spl1nter]

Everyone should know that the best thing about stardock TBS is that when you start a new game you can hit CTRL+N to regenerate the world. Always rerolling for the perfect start local

 

[Woorloog]

Everyone should know that the best thing about stardock TBS is that when you start a new game you can hit CTRL+N to regenerate the world. Always rerolling for the perfect start local

That is cheating


Turn 22

Founded another city. Both my Champion and Sovereign lost battles and are recovering in Hope. Argh.
Need to train some troops.

 

[Aselith]

Can I scroll the map with wasd?

 

[Woorloog]

Can I scroll the map with wasd?

No, i don't think so. I'll try, and check the manual too.
EDIT manual says arrow keys... No key customization. Doubt WASD does that...
EDIT oh, S selects sovereign. Goodbye panning with WASD.

 

[Lactose_Intolerant]

time to play left handed

 

[Aselith]

No, i don't think so. I'll try, and check the manual too.
EDIT manual says arrow keys... No key customization. Doubt WASD does that...
EDIT oh, S selects sovereign. Goodbye panning with WASD.

I love Stardock but I wish they would get with the times. Arrow key scrolling = fine. No ability to even change this setting = not ok!

 

[nonnocere]

Downloading the update now. Only an hour and a half left!

 

[Keasar]

Still on the edge about this game but the more I read the more it gets interesting.

 

[Anno]

I played a lot in the first few months of the beta and really enjoyed it. Been reading on and off since then, so I'm excited. And it's still such a pretty game in its own way.

 

[jaundicejuice]

I forget the name but I chose the kingdom faction that has the stealth ability so my units can range the world without fear of being attacked by monsters.

I didn't do enough scouting early on and am hemmed into my corner of the map by one of the empire factions with just two cities of my own. As is typical to my playstyle with Civ I got caught up in the city development and neglected to expand. I have one stack of doom with my faction leader, champion and the few military units I've bothered to make, which probably isn't wise. I suspect that my neighbour who has me hemmed in is going to attack me sooner rather than later. They demanded a tribute, which I refused and now I cherry picked an iron ore deposit that was near both of our borders with an outpost along with one of their horse ranches which was interesting. I wonder what else can allow you to eat away at a neighbours border.

Right now I'm just muddling my way through the first game, trying to get a feel for the tech trees, what my build order should be, obviously scouts and more pioneers in the early game next round.

 

[Woorloog]

I forget the name but I chose the kingdom faction that has the stealth ability so my units can range the world without fear of being attacked by monsters.

I didn't do enough scouting early on and am hemmed into my corner of the map by one of the empire factions with just two cities of my own. As is typical to my playstyle with Civ I got caught up in the city development and neglected to expand. I have one stack of doom with my faction leader, champion and the few military units I've bothered to make, which probably isn't wise. I suspect that my neighbour who has me hemmed in is going to attack me sooner rather than later. They demanded a tribute, which I refused and now I cherry picked an iron ore deposit that was near both of our borders with an outpost along with one of their horse ranches which was interesting. I wonder what else can allow you to eat away at a neighbours border.

Right now I'm just muddling my way through the first game, trying to get a feel for the tech trees, what my build order should be, obviously scouts and more pioneers in the early game next round.

Tarth is your Kingdom.

Doesn't sound too good a situation. And this reminds me to read the manual again, specifically about influence and borders and such.

I'd fast expand and create some soldiers rather than concentrate on developing cities... at least that's how i play Civs...

 

[-tetsuo-]

It doesn't include the original campaign, it has a new campaign I haven't touched yet (under scenarios- they didn't want to call it a campaign since they say it's much more RPG-ish than the sandbox game)

As for it being better than War of Magic, it's as good as War of Magic was bad. Best TBS since Civ IV.

That is some extremely high praise...

 

[jaundicejuice]

Yeah, the shift in border influence when I created that outpost surprised me. I should probably read through the manual a bit before starting my next game. I understand the basic skirmishes you can get into with the unaffliated npcs and monsters but I'm interested to see how warfare with another faction is supposed to play out, specifically how you're supposed to defend or capture cities.

Edit: I really like the concept of being able to use a pioneer to build an outpost in areas that would not support a city to claim a resource.

 

[loganclaws]

This game seems really interesting but I never played Civilization or any of the previous games from Stardock. The closest thing I've played is Heroes of Might and Magic 4 for a short while. Is the learning curve super difficult for someone new to this genre? I ofcourse have played many TB stragtegy games before like XCOM, Jagged Alliance and the like but never this 4X style games. Would really appreciate your input GAF!

 

[eznark]

Got like an hour in it so far and not a single crash! Already a stunning victory!

I've been in the beta since well before the OG Elemental came out and man I cannot believe how far this game has come. It's really fantastic at this point.

 

[Chairman Yang]

I'm intrigued. How distinct are the factions from one another?

 

[jaundicejuice]

I'm finding the game to be pretty frustrating when I play as any faction other than Tarth, even on beginner or novice. I've been fumbling through a few different games, none of which I've bothered completing, trying to find the right balance of city development, unit building and what branches of the tech tree I should game my way up. Fallen Enchantress seems to be really geared towards combat, I really feel driven to found cities near or to expand my borders to encompass iron deposits and spend most of my research to unlock metal weapons as quickly as possible so I can make a Civ IV-esque stack of doom.

You have to have a decent garrison in your cities, if any enemy stack of doom attacks your city and you don't have a proportionate defensive force, it gets destroyed in one turn, Civ IV fast. That I don't much care for.

The monsters that roam the world are on par than Civ V Nights barbarians in terms of strength and are numerous on the default setting. They can make expansion incredibly difficult and will destroy tile improvements if you don't have a roving military force to keep them at bay.

 

[Nyx]

Have been playing the beta for a few months now, already love it.
And with winter around the corner, many hours will be spend !

 

[Woorloog]

This game seems really interesting but I never played Civilization or any of the previous games from Stardock. The closest thing I've played is Heroes of Might and Magic 4 for a short while. Is the learning curve super difficult for someone new to this genre? I ofcourse have played many TB stragtegy games before like XCOM, Jagged Alliance and the like but never this 4X style games. Would really appreciate your input GAF!

Do you like Heroes of Might and Magic? If you do, you might like this one. Slightly more strategy, since you also build cities. I'll continue my playthrough today, follow that if you're on the edge.

I'm intrigued. How distinct are the factions from one another?

They're specialized to certain things, i'd say, they do not play radically differently. Empires and Kingdoms have different tech trees... i think. I haven't touched any Empire ever, not in WoM, not in FE beta.
Maybe a bit like SMAC or GalCiv2 (pre-TotA)?