GDC 2009: Elemental: War of Magic Walk-Through (PC)

bad game Stardock should have made Sins of Solar System 2 with a real campagn

Brad Wardell said that they deliberately made the beta unenjoyable to play because they wanted testers focusing on and testing specific aspects instead of just playing the game and ignoring the whole "test" half of "beta test". Stardock does real beta tests and not the beta demo that most other companies do as a marketing stunt. Visit the following thread for a better idea of what the release version will look like: http://forums.elementalgame.com/390858

The man said it was a very early beta of the game, and any early beta isn't going to look good. I've been in the beta for the past few months and at first it was quite unenjoyable but as they said it's supposed to be painful, then with the last couple versions the game became addictive for me. Problem was it was still beta and the crashes/hangs and other bugs made it a bit rough, but since they have been ironed out I think this will be a fantasitic game. Never ever judge a game by early beta, that would be foolish.

That looks pretty bad. Reminds me a bit of Magic the Gathering from the 90s. Concept sounds cool though, so will surely try the demo if the game comes out.

@vernholio..Cant agree with you more mate, too many people these days go by graphics, which is why so many dev's are making pretty games rather than deep and interesting games. The only great mix I can think of in the last few years is Mass Effect 1 & 2 and probably GTA4 imo

To those complaining about the graphics in this video, well, check out the new video walkthrough on the other site, the graphics are so much better.

hmm try the beta version and you will fast see that browser games a much better..... the style of the game sucks so much that multiplayer games on browsers are much better with style and gameplay....

@TheTrueObelus... Understand what you're saying, but you're kind of reinforcing my point... Too many people these days are looking for too much immediate satisfaction, and aren't open-minded enough to look past the quickly obvious, and look deeper in to what the game COULD be -- "No great graphics means the game immediately sucks", which flat-out is NOT the case here. Call me biased, I guess... Stardock's own gaming properties have amazed me to date, and I'm willing to be open-minded and give this one the benefit of the doubt. Just wish more people would take the time to READ about what a game can/is supposed to be, rather than just be so quick to rate it based on it's outer shell... "A book goes beyond the dust jacket, man".

I think people say graphics but what they mean is art design. The game looks ugly and clunky. You can have simple graphics and still have something that's very appealing to look at. And the reason this concerns people isn't because they are just shallow, but because it suggests a lack of attention to detail by the designers.

@Gladestone1 - With you 100%! The TV-dinner, instant-gratification mindset that all the fanboys have due to the consoles churning out graphic-intensive FPS games one after the other has poisoned the gaming industry. While I love visually stunning graphics as much as the next guy, my mind is open enough to look at a game based on its playability and not just all of the immediately visible "shiny shinies". The thing is, those looking for immediate graphic stimulation wouldn't be into a game like this even if it did have fully-rendered, anti-aliased x16 graphics with full anisotropic filtering enabled, yada-yada-yada... It's turn-based, and takes some thought. LOL! Regardless, I can't wait for this game... It looks fantastic, and it's undoubtedly going to be a massive "time-suck", in the same way that GalCiv was... all with a nice taste of RPG thrown in for good measure!

Looks great wish people would stop with graphics..Omfg its not ubah graphics like crysis or this or that..Jees get over it, every game is not about graphics..Good game-play is all games are about.. Suunman hope your right..Love master of majic..Still have my copy around here some place..Looks like fun an its do out in august its even better..So far madden an this for me an mafia 2..Makes august a good month for myself..

great graphics, great animation and looks like great gameplay. i like map zoom, this could be epic game.

Its pretty sad how people come to browse a "Turn-Based Strategy game" and base their opinion on the graphics. Go replay Crysis while you wait for Crysis 2 if you want graphics. An efficient interface and design to make for easy micromanagement helping deep gameplay is what is needed. On another note the game is early beta. For crying out loud you xbox 360 kids piss me off sometimes. This game is looking amazing, and Stardock never seems to disappoint when it comes to gameplay value.

of course the graphics don't look good its an early beta

if you guys care more about graphics than gameplay maybe you should be watching more movies instead of playing games. The design for this looks so epic and good.

looks nice but graphics sux

Miraklum, there are different games for different people. Besides, what you saw was an early, early beta. Look for newer examples to get a better impression.

ace

I just don`t understand why these guys make games look so stupid...I like serious stuff, not this.

looks kinda lame

I've been playing the beta - no frills - no graphics - just the game play from the overview map level - I have to say i was surprised at how much fun the game is even at that early stage of development. I feel like I finally have a hope of having as much fun as I did with Master of Magic

so fantasy civ4? even if its doesnt have the slightest comparison it seems like an okay game.

remember this is an early alpha. Look at the screenshots to see how the game looks. its cartoonish, but looks good to me.

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So I *think* the cursor is supposed to be a stylized leaf ... but who else thinks it looks like a jalapeno? The guy's moving around a chipotle pepper for a cursor! mmMMmmm... Chipotle. I could go for a burrito. Nummy num num.

It sounds like a nice idea.

Haven't seen a lot of this but if it's anything like the classic Masters of Magic I will surely buy this.

sounds interesting

Looks really fun, can't wait.

hmmmm this could be interesting.

the game looks absolutely beautiful I love stardock, they are fast becoming my favourite PC game publisher/developer

This sounds like a really cool idea, as long as they can get enough content in there. Yea sounds like neverwinter nights meets civilization.

It's great that they have a zoomed out "tactical" view like in Gal Civ 2 and Supreme Commander. Ever since Heroes of Might and Magic went 3D, I've had to constantly rotate the camera to find stuff.

It's great that they have a zoomed out "tactical" view like in Gal Civ 2 and Supreme Commander. Ever since Heroes of Might and Magic went 3D, I've had to constantly rotate the camera to find stuff.

this game sorta feels like heroes of might and magic, but i guess one will be able to build stuff around in the world or else this seems like a bad rip-off of heroes of might and magic! Innos007666: uhm... so where the heroes in heroes of might and magic?

might give the beta a go

What is this, half RPG half strategy game? This character is almost high like whole castle :( we will see

:|

that didn't tell me as much as i hoped it would, but it still sounds good.

Looks very promising. The ability to zoom smoothly from map scale to unit scale reminds me of "Sins of a Solar Empire". :)

interesting. i want to hear more about the campaign. i hope they create some more detailed textures, especially for the ground. modding is good