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[Spl1nter]

Elemental: War of Magic is a turn-based strategy game set in a world of magic, warfare and intrigue. In it, players take on the role of a powerful sorcerer known as a “Sovereign”.

Players found new cities, research new technologies, study spells, build a family dynasty, engage in diplomacy, fight wars, go on quests and much more as they strive to overcome all enemies and dominate the world.

INFORMATION

Developer/Publisher: Stardock Entertainment
Platforms: PC
Genre: Turn Based Strategy with Role Playing Game Features
Release date: August 24, 2010
Price: $49.95 US | EU
Purchase: Impulse

Official Website | Twitter | Youtube | Facebook

Minimum System Requirements

The game is able to run on almost any recent computer while still taking advantage of powerful modern hardware. Supposedly the game is able to run on a netbook if the Cloth Map is enabled. System requirements are similar to those of Galactic Civilizations 2

• 2 GHz Intel Pentium 4 or equivalent
• 512 MB RAM
• 128 MB VIDEO MEMORY

Retail Availability

The game will not be available in Europe/UK at retail. To play the game you will have to purchase it on Impulse or Import the game. If you purchase the Digital Download from Stardock you can choose to have the game mailed to you for the additional cost of Shipping and Handling.

Limited Addition

Extras:

• 18"x26" Elemental Poster
  [*]18"x26" Cloth map of the Elemental world
  [*]Lore Book: The Hiergamenon
  [*]Elemental music CD
  [*]Pewter Elemental dragon

Limited Edition Unboxing
Available through Impulse

FEATURES

• A strategy game in an RPG world
• Randomly Generated Maps
• 10 Unique Factions. In-Depth unit and character design
• Tactical Battles
• Rich, story-driven campaign developed by Random House’s Del Rey
• Incredible replayability
• Single player or Multiplayer (up to 16 players)
• Plays on very low end hardware
• Takes advantage of the latest hardware
• Massive modding support
• From the people who brought you Galactic Civilizations and Sins of a Solar Empire

LORE

Once, legend says, the world of Elemental was filled with magic. All peoples made use of this sorcery; with it, they built great kingdoms – Malaya in the south, Hallas in the west, fabled Al-Ashteroth in the East – raised splendid palaces, magnificent civilizations.

Then came the Titans, immortal beings who sought control of Elemental, and the magic contained within it. They waged war amongst themselves, and in the process turned men into their vassals - and worse. Seeking control of the world’s enchantment, in the end, they all but destroyed it. At the last of the great battles they waged, the land itself was broken. Civilization perished, and the Titans vanished from the world entirely. There were survivors. This is their story.

Visit the Elemental Site to read more about the Lore of Elemental

Stardock Entertainment has partnered with Random House's Del Ray to expand upon the Universe of Elemental. Brad Wardell (CEO of Stardock and Executive Producer of the Game) has written a novel Elemental: Destiny Ember's which will release along side the video game. By purchasing the book you will receive a code to unlock an additional campaign which will be released as DLC.

Campaign

Elemental features a campaign written by Random House's Del Ray and created by Stardock. Unlike the sandbox game, the Campaign has no tech tree and is a single continuous adventure where technologies, spells and such are gained through quests rather than buildings. Thus, the campaign plays completely differently than the sand box mode. It was also created, 100% with the included mod tools.

Modding

Elemental has been designed from the ground up to be highly moddable and community driven. Released with the game is a number of editors which the developer used to create the game.

• Map Editor
• Tile Editor
• Particle Editor

The games data is heavily XML driven which allows for easy and extensive modding. Included with these capabilities is an in-game system which allows one to submit and download other people creations from the editors and complete mods.
To learn more about mods and Elemental head over to the Elemental Mod Forum

Screenshots

Videos

Gamescon 2010 Launch Trailer
G4TV Interview
CEO Walkthrough Part I: Story & Characters
CEO Walkthrough Part II: Mechanics
CEO Walkthrough Part III: Mod Tools

Developer Journals

Stardock is renowned for their community interactivity. Brad Wardell (Frogboy) the CEO of Stardock and numerous other employees read and post on the forums frequently. There are a number of development journals available to read about the past and current development of Elemental.

Developer Journals

Gameplay Example Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6

Tutorials

Here are a number of video tutorials done by the Stardock team to guide you through your first game.

Tutorials

Reviews

Metacritic
Gamerankings

If they is anything you think I missed or should add just tell me

 

[Aaron]

This close to Civ V, I need a demo to convince me. I've watched the vids, and still on the fence.

 

[BananaBomb]

Game is looking quite nice but it's certainly somewhat stripped down from what was suggested about a year ago. Hopefully they fixed the terrible performance issues for release.

edit: and turn based, piece of shit tactical combat to boot. Ugh.

 

[Ceebs]

I have it preordered with a retail box being shipped. Never did participate in the beta through so I am going in fresh. This game looks like it will be scratching a much different itch for me than Civ 5 will.

 

[Victrix]

It has a pretty significant RPG aspect to it, though it's still very much an empire builder. You have a main 'hero' unit, you can have kids who will grow up and become heroes as well, you can recruit other wandering heroes, etc.

All of those units (and your main army units) can have equipment purchased for them from your shops (upgraded through research), and all hero units can level up and improve their statistics.

Heroes can also be (or become) spellcasters, unlocking tools for strategic or tactical gain.

Between that core and the moddability (and the quest engine already in the game), I wouldn't be surprised to see some very RPG slanted mods coming in the future.

As for the base game, it's somewhere between MoM and Civ, as you might expect.

They did some nice things with city growth and research that I like, there are some other areas that are less refined, but they have a very good track record of post-game support.

Also keep in mind this is a Stardock game (Galactic Civilizations 2), not Ironclad (Sins of a Solar Empire) or GPG (Demigod).

Still has the damnable issue of somewhat forgettable races/empires that GC2 had, Stardock just doesn't seem to have a flair for creating an engaging mythos (this is especially ironic in light of the fact that Brad published a novel for the game, the CE has a world-lore book, and the SP campaign was written by Del Ray internally).

We'll see if the SP campaign helps, but going in cold, I couldn't find much to really grab me immediately and go 'ooh cool'. Fantasy tropes like Elves and Dwarves can be painfully cliche, but they also tell you a lot about a race immediately (this one likes trees and magic, this one likes mines and gold). The Kingdom/Empire split in this game is less obvious, and the individual differences between Kingdom/Empire 'races' are also less striking. More like Civ in that regard, though I confess I miss the wildly diverse races of MoM.

Again, not a straight strike against the game, and again, something very easily modded for flavor purposes.

 

[ElectricThunder]

Nice job on the OP!

Sadly, the game eluded me entirely as far as Beta doings went due to PC woes and just getting too busy otherwise---I cringed when I finally heard a couple weeks back about the loss of Hex doings though.

Still, given the modding potentials, even though even that has apparently shifted around a good bit versus the Python notions from the early days, and Stardock seemingly going All-In on this for probably the remainder of this year and next, I don't regret my pre-order in the slightest and think this stands an excellent chance of becoming a historically significant game indeed.

My biggest concern is finding time to ultimately play it....

Oh, and did the new/improved Impulse Reactor finally launch with this or did that also fall out of step during the Beta?

 

[Victrix]

I'm not actually sure what the story is with MP. I know they talked about handy cloud storage type stuff (saved games online etc, and drop in-drop out multi), but I don't actually know what's in on launch.

I'd expect some pretty significant patches down the line though, so if that isn't in now, it should be later. I'm not too fussed about MP yet, I'll be diving into the custom games and modding (maybe the campaign, if it turns out to be any good, though that's not usually my favorite part of these games) .

 

[Dennis]

I am not getting this day one. I need to see the reviews and whether it needs a patch or two.

 

[Victrix]

Looks like some stores broke the street date, so they're unlocking the game for preorders/beta testers tomorrow, and everyone else Monday.

I'll post some impressions tomorrow after I get some time in with it, the last beta was in pretty rough shape (all pieces in place, but not polished enough to be a really fun game yet), so I'm curious to see how much it has improved in the weeks since then. I'm skeptic #1 against the It's Just A Beta excuse, but I do like the various elements (haha) that are in place, so a little polish could go a long way.

However it turns out, I'm confident it will be improved, but whether it's a 'buy now omgomg' or 'wait for a few patches', I don't know yet.

 

[Ceebs]

Looks like some stores broke the street date, so they're unlocking the game for preorders/beta testers tomorrow, and everyone else Monday.

One more reason to love Stardock.

 

[graywolf323]

I preordered it only because I think I had a 25% off coupon or something :lol

 

[HamPster PamPster]

I was looking on amazon - no kindle version of the book? Come on stardock you better then anyone should understand the digital future!!

Edit: Nevermind! Not sure how I missed it - http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003F3PKO0/?tag=neogaf0e-20

I assume it still comes with the code - correct?

 

[arstal]

The MP is going to be disabled until Tuesday. Stardock is being cautious with that due to the Demigod debacle, just as a heads-up.

As for the digital of the book, I think they said it was coming, but not 100% sure. You can always go nag on their forums and you'll get a response.

DennisK4: it will need patching, it's a Stardock game. That said: it will get more then its share of support. Stardock gives better support then any company out there for their stuff (and that includes Valve). They've already said 2011 is going to be all Elemental work.

This is potential GOTY right here to me. This game is what makes saying no sale to Civ V easy.

 

[graywolf323]

This is potential GOTY right here to me. This game is what makes saying no sale to Civ V easy.

as much as I love Stardock games the idea of saying no to Civ V just sounds crazy to me

 

[Ceebs]

as much as I love Stardock games the idea of saying no to Civ V just sounds crazy to me

I can see some people saying no to Civ 5 for the time being since it's more of a refinement of the formula than a brand new game. It's not like this or Civ 5 will be going anywhere soon anyways.

 

[Victrix]

as much as I love Stardock games the idea of saying no to Civ V just sounds crazy to me

Concur, there's no way I'd miss Civ 5

Oddly, this replicates an event some years ago with MoM/Civ :lol

Though whether this game can stand up to MoM is another question entirely (betcha it's less buggy at release though )

 

[EviLore]

Videos
CEO Walkthrough Part II: Mechanics

That's really how they choose to show off the battle system? Against one little guy, which takes forever and is bugged out preventing a death animation? Looks awful (not taking into account beta bugginess), will wait and see.

 

[arstal]

I can see some people saying no to Civ 5 for the time being since it's more of a refinement of the formula than a brand new game. It's not like this or Civ 5 will be going anywhere soon anyways.

Yeah, it's wait and see- plus I don't see a need to have two TBS games within a month.
I have a bad feeling about the game given 2K's involvement also.

Overall, Stardock has earned my trust more then Firaxis under 2K has.

 

[Takeda Kenshi]

LE preordered and ready to go.

 

[bigmit3737]

Damn like everyone I am on the fence with this one as well.
Going to eventually try out, but not day one for me.

 

[WanderingWind]

Maybe one day. This looks like it needs another year to bake.

 

[epmode]

The battle system didn't turn out anywhere near as epic as early mockups led us to believe but I'm much happier with the decision to make it turn-based over a quasi-realtime Total War style. It'll get better over time. It's Stardock, after all.

I've had this ordered for months now, looking forward to the unlock.

 

[Spl1nter]

That's really how they choose to show off the battle system? Against one little guy, which takes forever and is bugged out preventing a death animation? Looks awful (not taking into account beta bugginess), will wait and see.

Ya it should be noted that is an extremely old build of the game, around beta 3b. There have been some major changes including unit specific special abilities. The videos dont really do a good job of showcasing the game as none of them are even of the GOLD version of the game which is drastically different from beta 4. Ill be adding new videos to the OP once the game is released. I plan to upload some footage myself as the game can only really be understood through seeing it be played.

However it turns out, I'm confident it will be improved, but whether it's a 'buy now omgomg' or 'wait for a few patches', I don't know yet.

Thats always is the difficulty with Stardock games. GalCiv2 was a great game at launch but the current Ultimate version is simply one of the best TBS games ever. Easily would choose it over Civ4 simply do to the great and AI and customization.

 

[eznark]

Maybe one day. This looks like it needs another year to bake.

This is the type of game that I really look forward to seeing it grow and playing it as it matures. Personally I don't see a reason to wait really. I am really enjoying the latest beta.

That said, Tom Chick's impressions over at Fidgit make it seem like not many of the bugs from the latest beta have been worked out.

 

[Cday]

I can see some people saying no to Civ 5 for the time being since it's more of a refinement of the formula than a brand new game. It's not like this or Civ 5 will be going anywhere soon anyways.

Civ 5 is about as brand new as anyone could hope a Civ game to be. Civ 4 was a refinement and there was definitely nothing wrong with it.

 

[arstal]

If you're wondering, there's been delays in the game coming. ETA right now seems to be 6PM or so.

 

[Spl1nter]

That said, Tom Chick's impressions over at Fidgit make it seem like not many of the bugs from the latest beta have been worked out.

A note from the CEO of Stardock (frogboy on the forums):

Hi guys,

Let me add some points here:

1. Tom Chick is one of the top gaming journalists in the industry. He's not just some guy.

2. He is reviewing the gold version (he is NOT playing the day 0 version). I.e. He is NOT playing a beta.

3. While I would quibble with some of the content (yes, we multiply bonuses. We multiplied them in Entrepreneur, we multiplied them in GalCiv, and we multiply them in Elemental and have throughout the beta).

4. I agree with Tom that the Hiergamenon page should make it more clear that those bonuses are being multiplied and that there is a text bug in the description of Educated that was since addressed.

5. The math system under the hood does work as designed, even in the gold version. It's not buggy but I think Tom brings up a valid point that the way it is explained to the player needs work (I think Tom would also agree it's light years ahead of how we "explained" the math in GalCiv II which was, essentially we didn't).

6. This isn't a review, it's a diary. Please read Tom's other works. It doesn't mean he hates the game. He is pointing things out that he thinks can be improved in the game and we can all benefit from it.

The confusion was Tom read the bonuses as +25% + 50% = 88%. In reality Stardock has the equation correct but in the form +25% * +50%. The math is all correct but could use a slightly better explanation.

In other news Elemental: Game Play Example – Part 6.

Highlight of the journal I find to be this picture which I just find stunning. I love the city building aspect of the game. Spreading your city in a certain direction to block of territory.

Here are all of the entries so far if you are interested in reading them:

Gameplay Example Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6

 

[vesp]

Was really excited but I think I'm gonna just wait till Civ5, play my first stint of that, then come back and pick up Elemental after a few patch cycles. I loved Demigod (I know stardock only did aftermarket support not core developement) but that games launch made the game stillborn and I'm not making that mistake twice. The lack of positive beta impression isn't helping either.

 

[Spl1nter]

Info on release for Beta and Pre-order

The official release date of Elemental is August 24th. However, some retailers have broken the street date and to make sure that those who helped us in the beta as well as those who pre-ordered it don’t miss out, we are going to release a pre-day 0 version of Elemental tonight.

This version is beyond the digital gold version that reviewers currently have but it is not quite the day 0 version either. There’s been a lot of polish, tweaks, and other improvements to the game in this version.

If you did happen to get Elemental early from retail, you will want to load up Impulse (which was installed) and update to the latest version.

This version should go live in approximately 90 minutes.

ETA 10PM EST

 

[Bento]

Info

Holy crap! So we'll be able to download the good tonight? Awesome : D

 

[Joseph Merrick]

ah pretty good

 

[Sinatar]

Info on release for Beta and Pre-order



ETA 10PM EST

Any updates on this? Almost 11 and no sign of it.

 

[Spl1nter]

Any updates on this? Almost 11 and no sign of it.

The release is delayed to earliest at 11 but possibly sometime late tonight. However here is a video of the current world were the Gameplay Journals have taken place.


Video Clip
Video Clip 2
(May take a bit to load)

 

[arstal]

1.00 is out on Impulse, though they still have to reactivate beta keys, which may take a short while.

Stardock's IRC channel has exploded worse then GAF during the World E3 Cup this year.

 

[Spl1nter]

1.00 is out on Impulse, though they still have to reactivate beta keys, which may take a short while.

Stardock's IRC channel has exploded worse then GAF during the World E3 Cup this year.

Ya the IRC is hilarious. Download ability in approx. 300 seconds

Edit: Downloading it at 1MB/s

 

[arstal]

I'm in, but stuck on slow ass work internets.

Will be 3-4 hours before I can play, and can't even post here in the meantime.

Time to watch my animus and play Din's Curse, and hope internet doesn't conk out.

 

[Spl1nter]

I'm in, but stuck on slow ass work internets.

Will be 3-4 hours before I can play, and can't even post here in the meantime.

Time to watch my animus and play Din's Curse, and hope internet doesn't conk out.

I think I will go to sleep and play in the morning.

 

[KuroNeeko]

Is this game out only for beta testers? I preordered the game but can't seem to DL it through Impulse.

 

[arstal]

Is this game out only for beta testers? I preordered the game but can't seem to DL it through Impulse.

Pre-orders are supposed to be in, though you are 2nd priority after the testers, should be avaliable now or at worst in the morning.

83% for me right now.

 

[Sinatar]

Well first impression: This could use some kind of tutorial cause I can't beat the first campaign session. Why? I cannot for the life of me figure out how to equip weapons on my guys and thus you know hit stuff and not die horribly. :lol

 

[DiscoJer]

After my experiences with both GalCivs (not including the OS/2 version) I think I am going to wait until Elemental Gold. The initial versions were both somewhat buggy and (IMHO) a little barren content wise, and this seems to be the same, from what I've read.

 

[arstal]

Well first impression: This could use some kind of tutorial cause I can't beat the first campaign session. Why? I cannot for the life of me figure out how to equip weapons on my guys and thus you know hit stuff and not die horribly. :lol

Should be go to your inventory, and click on the weapon.

 

[Sinatar]

Second Impressions: The manual is utterly useless.

Should be go to your inventory, and click on the weapon.

Where is the inventory? I'm clearly missing something here.

I found it, it's next to the HP bar.

 

[Spl1nter]

Second Impressions: The manual is utterly useless.



Where is the inventory? I'm clearly missing something here.

Little icon right beside where you can see a characters hitpoints

Well first impression: This could use some kind of tutorial cause I can't beat the first campaign session. Why? I cannot for the life of me figure out how to equip weapons on my guys and thus you know hit stuff and not die horribly. :lol

Also Im pretty sure I read in the IRC that they were putting some tutorial videos together. Anyways ill try to pump out a video or two tomorrow.

Edit: Tutorial Videos are already up here and placed a section in OP


First impression. Alot of polish has been done to the game. Nevertheless I did have a CTD when I was in the main menu during the campaign after alt tabbing and tried to open up the workshop. To tired to play more. Going to sleep now for real.

 

[arstal]

I gotta second the increased polish, though I haven't run into any bugginess yet.

I'll be delving into this game for a while- fighting-game folks may not see me too much over the next few weeks hopefully.

 

[graywolf323]

downloaded but it seems to be having problems installing :-(

edit: no wait it just seems to be taking forever to install since something more just happened

I did get a notepad file opened up claiming something about my serial being wrong though

 

[epmode]

The tactical battles are definitely looking a lot better than the last public beta, as is the rest of the game. I don't think I'll be able to put any real time into it for the next few days though.

BTW, does anyone have a bug where the mouse cursor will be caught on the far left side of the window until you alt-tab away? Happens to me every single time I launch the game but never reoccurs. It's been happening since the last public beta and I figured it would be sorted out by launch.

edit: I'm pretty sure it has something to do with the Impulse overlay since the mouse works once I switch to the overlay, then breaks again when I close it.

 

[biocat]

I might grab this if I can play it on my little Fujitsu CULV. Are the rumors true that it is netbook playable?

Say a laptop with:
Intel SU2300
GMA 4500HD
4 GB ram
??

 

[Victrix]

Massively improved over the beta, I'm shocked. I'll post more detailed impressions later.

 

[Spl1nter]

I might grab this if I can play it on my little Fujitsu CULV. Are the rumors true that it is netbook playable?

Say a laptop with:
Intel SU2300
GMA 4500HD
4 GB ram
??

Ill try it out tomorrow and I only have 1gb of ram on my netbook