1st day playing beta

Just ramblin'

from Elemental Forums

 Yea, just started testing today.  So far I have been able to get to turn250-300 then crash.  I won't start submitting bugs for couple days as I want to learn current mechanics first.  Every game I have played has crashed.  Some crashed after the first 20-30 turns.  I have won one fight with spider leader, and died every other time.  I am mostly using the first premade character but I have created several games where I used the customize feature for the Soverign.  I was able to upgrade unit equipment.  I haven't fielded any new troops yet. 

 The download was stable but slow(my current connect is comin from a wireless router adsl).  I am running an XPS 700 system with 2 6400 @ 2.13 GHz processors with 2GB of RAM.  I have a NVidia GeForce 7900GTX.(comments on cheap quality part upgrades accepted but won't necessarily be acted upon) I am also using a CreativeLabs SB X-FI.  I probably won't be upgrading much this year other than maybe some RAM.  I am also running a paid version of Bit Defender.

  The intro music and art gives you that old Master of Magic feeling.  Then it quickly moves to the Elemental:War of Magic load screen.  The music also changes(for the better).  I enjoy the comment at the bottom of the load screen.  A little blurb about how betas are rough work. 

  The beta 1Z lets you create a custom soverign much in the same way as MoM.  For being a rough work in progress it shows much promise. Hopefully, the stability issue will be resolved before to long as this will actually make it "close to fun".  I can already see(premonition) this game far outstripping many others(STRATEGY/RPG) with the customize features currently implemented.  Since this is just a rough draft, I can't wait to see a full fleshed out and bug free game.  I am glad that I prepaid for a limited addition copy.  I will actually be able to help(teeny weeny bit) with its success/failure, direction and expansion.  This is awesome for long time gamer with no previous beta(gaming) experience.

 For those who are worried that Elemental won't achieve the same great feeling we had when playing Master of Magic; I want to let you know I think Elemental could actually eclipse it in a big way.  I don't think any of us were playing MoM right out of the box.  I couldn't.  It took a few years or so for the patches to be effective.  My memory is foggy.  Anyways, it was only fun after it had been patched and afterward it still has some annoying bugs(mostly AI?).  It had most of what we wanted out of a fantasy strategy game except in how it ran.  I think Elemental will be fairly, if not very stable game at release with much polish.  It will aslo have the developers actually helping the modders do some modding and/or helping in other ways.  MoM was not really moddable(MO).  Yea some have tried and mostly failed(speculating).  Elemental takes modding into consideration right from the beginning.  AND/if multiplayer works well it will be the game to get for everyone.  I definitely will enjoy playing Elemental(and testing) long before it is released.

elemental
9,087 views 10 replies
Reply #1 from Elemental Forums Top

I don't think any of us were playing MoM right out of the box.

I was. Then again....I'm old :P

Reply #2 from Elemental Forums Top

  I'm not sure what games I was playing then, maybe it was those SSI games which were pretty fun for the most part.  I had so much fun playing the original Pool of Radiance.  Actually completed game, which is rare.  "Then again....I'm old :P  "

 Then you will probably be fun to play against in multiplayer beta 2; if your testing that feature?  Anyways, age doesn't mean much online. 

 By the way, for all who want to know the download was 884.30MB for the current beta 1Z build.

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Reply #3 from Elemental Forums Top

Loved MoM originally on DOS lol.

 

and this beta is too unstable for me still.

Reply #4 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Magicke, reply 2
  I'm not sure what games I was playing then, maybe it was those SSI games which were pretty fun for the most part.  I had so much fun playing the original Pool of Radiance.  Actually completed game, which is rare.  "Then again....I'm old  "

 Then you will probably be fun to play against in multiplayer beta 2; if your testing that feature?  Anyways, age doesn't mean much online. 

 By the way, for all who want to know the download was 884.30MB for the current beta 1Z build.

Oh yes, I'll be testing it. It will be relevant to my plans for the Multi player version of the Dragonlance Mod. Not to mention I really, Really, want the chance to play against Frogboy and Boogie. :)

The original "Pool of Radiance" Module for D&D was one of my all time favorite campaigns. I played the pen and paper version, the original PC game, and the remake PC game which came out a few years back. Great stuff, good memories.

Reply #5 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Raven, reply 1

quoting post I don't think any of us were playing MoM right out of the box.
I was. Then again....I'm old

 

I don't think that's what he meant.

 

However, I played it out of the box for a couple years before I even realized there was a patch since I didn't know what a patch was when I first bought MoM.  Hell the state of the internet at that point was pretty much usenet anyway.

Reply #6 from Elemental Forums Top

"I had so much fun playing the original Pool of Radiance.  Actually completed game, which is rare.  "Then again....I'm old" :P

 

Ditto that. Damn! I am old too then. :beer:

Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top

I have played all the gold box games when they came out. I even mapped the entire homm 1 game on graph paper by zone.

Reply #8 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting ChrisOregon44, reply 7
I have played all the gold box games when they came out. I even mapped the entire homm 1 game on graph paper by zone.

I really do miss doing that sometimes.  I still remember the maps I used to make of the Eye of the Beholder games.  Epic.

Reply #9 from Elemental Forums Top

Eye of the Beholder... ooo those tunnels were neverending it seemed!

And Yes I think many people have been waiting for someone to take a page from MOM and make something like this.  It has been a long time coming (too long).

How it turns out will depend upon how the betas go IMO.  I hope that there is not too much influence from things like WoW (although take the good and leave the bad).  Also in such a large game, there can be a tendancy to get tooooo technical, which I must admitt I generally dont mind, but I think that that can sometimes reduce the general enjoyment of a game.

Reply #10 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting Madocs, reply 9
How it turns out will depend upon how the betas go IMO.  I hope that there is not too much influence from things like WoW (although take the good and leave the bad).  Also in such a large game, there can be a tendancy to get tooooo technical, which I must admitt I generally dont mind, but I think that that can sometimes reduce the general enjoyment of a game.

I remember reading (I can't find where, but it I'm sure it happened, I promise!) that Frogboy is shooting for a game with a lot of possibility for technical depth, but still make it possible to play without an immense amount of micromanagement.  A tricky proposition, to be sure, but I think things are shaping up quite well.