Back when I was alot younger I was a huge fan of Master of Magic (despite its AI and balance problems).  Over the years a few games have come and gone that follow in its footsteps.  Some terrible (an rts hybdrid that I forget the name of comes to mind) and some exceptional ones (Age of Wonders series).  A while back when I heard that Elemental was in the works I got very excited about the possibility that there would be an MoM game to rule them all.

Elemental came out while I was away on vacation (and without a computer) and I only released it was out during my work week (week work, week off, with no game time during the work weeks).  This gave me plenty of time to read reviews and then later the forums around here.  I noticed that the reviews grilled it for being an unfinished product and the forums resembled a warzone.  Not wanting to lose hope of having a true epic fantasy turn based game to spend my free time on, I started looking for signs of hope.

Most reviews had mentioned the "Just one more turn" syndrome and apperantly people where playing the game judging by the forums.  Also I trust Stardock to tinker with their games until they become the game that the developers themselves want to play.  I figured that it was a bad idea to get it but also that someone out there was having fun playing it.

So crazy as it sounds (given that Stardock has stated that the game isnt ready as is), I went ahead and bought it!

My impressions after 20 hours or so game time (with 1.7 and then 1.8) are as follows.

First, I love customization in turn based games, naming cities, units etc. to make the world your own really adds to the immersion.  Theme and the amount of starting customization really drew me in and gave me the motivation to keep at it.

First few games where dull and confusing and not very immersive (in part due to fearing that everything in the game might be broken).  After a long learning game in 1.7 against one AI the concepts started to come together but overall the experience was somewhat dull (long passive game of building with only one lopsided offensive at the end to finish it).

Then came 1.8 and I started a new game against 3 AI and trying an Empire faction.  Again this was a game set to easy but it turned out to feel wonderfully epic in parts.  A Sovereign decided to attack one of my cities with a larger force (and me teleporting in to balance the odds) lead to the extintion of the faction in a very underwhelming way (I understand that this is being worked on) but it was balanced out by a huge two front war against a second faction where I simply could not locate the Sovereign and his forces keept striking where I didnt expect them to.

I was hoping the game would be fun and it delivered with about 8 hours so far of pure turn based bliss so far.  For what I thought would be a bad investment its actually a better return then several other games I own.  Its not Gal Civ polished yet, but it will be an interesting journey.

I figured that coming into it with the mentality that its a work in progress helps, Stardock was very honest on that part once they realized that the game was nowhere near their own standards at release.  I didnt get burned but at least those that feel that they did can expect to get future enjoyment out of the game rather then support shutting down due to a failed launch or the game being terminated (as recently happened with APB).

I really wish that the game was in perfect working order, balanced and bug free but I dont regret getting it (or recomending it).  Trusting Stardock to get it there isnt blind faith since they already delivered on Gal Civ.  My only problem now is deciding if I want to patch or finish my current game!