If FE was anything like CIV V, I would not be here. First version of the beta was better than CIV V.
CIV IV is the yardstick here. Now, that was a GREAT game. I think FE is gonna be game of the year for me, and I just bought XCOM.
Without trying to being offense to Lord Xia, this is simply the way I feel about the CIV series aswell. Maybe it's the way CIV IV was released, being after the epic failure found in CIV III. Maybe it's because CIV V just veered too much off of what CIV is all about. I've played them all, with aside from the nostalgia that will always exist with the original CIV, I agree that CIV IV is the benchmark to beat.
Considering that CIV, Colonizations, and MoM all had strong similarities in their engines, I had always hoped that when Colonizations game was remade on the CIV IV engine, that MoM would be shortly behind, but it never happened. Derek's Heaven mod made came as close to MoM as that game was going to get for the CIV IV engine and was really fun to play. Ultimately this fact was the tipping factor that led me to buying and being a part of the FE beta experiance. All the best CIV IV had to offer, with the fantasy of MoM merged in, on the WOM engine....one of the best I've ever seen...the release of FE can EASILY steal 'game of the year' if, and I'll say it again, IF enough time, attention, and detail, is put into the gold release. As much as Stardock has been able to do over the past several weeks (and it has been ALOT), there is some polishing that needs doing.
I've never been apart of a beta testing before, but I must say that the employees at Stardock, with their openness and willingness to respond, have really made the experiance an enjoyable one. Thank you Stardock!!