Fallen Enchantress

[Scott Tortorice]

Guess it's time to give this Elemental spin-off its own thread.

Today, Stardock released some interesting info on the weaponry in FE. Check it out:

FE Weaponry

Like I wrote, this is definitely a step in the right direction. The special abilities and combat factors, combined with their rarity, should make for a MUCH more interesting experience.

 

[kawaiku]

Suppose I'll wait for this one now instead :crosseye:

 

[Scott Tortorice]

Two vids I forgot to post somehow (unless I did out front...don't recall):

[video=youtube;Nd1TCEPMwMI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nd1TCEPMwMI[/video]

[video=youtube;jSxnfVJ7tJo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSxnfVJ7tJo[/video]

Too early to tell but after seeing some of the changes coming to WoM 1.3, and the direction FE is heading in, there might be hope yet.

 

[Batou]

Unimpressed so far, what is the difference between this and WOM and why should I care?

 

[Scott Tortorice]

Interesting:

http://www.gamesquad.com/screenshots/fallen-enchantress-screenshots-released

The new tech tree sounds spot-on. It will even be randomized now!

I notice the game description now mentions building a "family dynasty". Let's hope!

As an aside, I tried version 1.3 of base Elemental...and I have to conclude that it still remains in a pretty sorry state. I'm still finding bugs from version 1.0, as well as all sorts of missing common-sense features. For example, I attacked a caravan...and got nothing! Really? Nobody thinks attacking a caravan should reward the player with loot? Unbelievable.

I am keeping my fingers crossed that FE will be the game EWOM should have been right along.

 

[Scott Tortorice]

I'm trying to remain pessimistic )), but it definitely seems like Stardock has listened to all the complaints about EWoM and have basically pulled the game apart and redesigned it from scratch. For example, check out this dev diary about the changes coming to unit design:

Fallen Enchantress: Armies

But that doesn’t mean we don’t support unit customization. Players can still design the armies they want to train. If you want to create archers faster, make a cheap version without the precision trait. Or make some elite units by loading up on your favorite armor and weapons. Just remember that units have an encumbrance limit based on their strength, so you have to make hard choices between massive shields, big weapons and heavy armor. Especially if you are playing one of the smaller races (each faction has different starting stats).

Traits are new to Fallen Enchantress and are so much fun to design units we have some unlocked from the beginning of the game. Initially the design required the player to have certain techs before they unlocked traits and trait slots. But now players start with a trait slot and a small selection of traits they can use. Later techs unlock new traits and additional trait slots, so late game units can really specialize.

Traits and encumbrance have been two of the most sorely-missing features...and now they're in!

Check out this screenie:

View attachment 33749

I love all those new stats!

I have to admit, I am starting to look forward to FE.

 

[Scott Tortorice]

Nosing around the EWoM forums and found this from Mr. Wardell:

The beta [of FE] should be out in about a month.


I shouldn't say this (not publicly anyway) but FE is a little discouraging to me as I don't think anyone is going to want to play WOM after FE is available. I was hoping that FE and WOM would just be different but FE is just better.


One of the consequences of the Gamestop acqusition of Impulse is that Stardock Entertainment hired up. The team on FE is significantly larger than the team that made WOM. The WOM updates have been done via maint. updates while everyone else is on FE and the differences are pretty significant.

Cool...I hope. :nofear:

 

[Vinnie]

Hmmm. I initially got excite about EWOM until I read the reviews here. Hopefully FE will not suffer the same fate.

 

[Scott Tortorice]

This sounds hopeful:

Fallen Enchantress
Most of Stardock Entertainment’s resources are currently being put on the second Elemental title (Fallen Enchantress) which is a fairly radical departure from War of Magic (other than art resources). I can’t go into much detail regarding it other than to say it that it is much more similar to a Civilization/Master of Magic style strategy game versus a Galactic Civilizations/HOMM style strategy game (i.e. every tile of terrain matters i.e. building near rivers or forests or hills and that kind of thing will matter and there are things like unrest and tax rates and that kind of thing).


Of course, the decision to make Fallen Enchantress effectively a new game (other than art assets) has meant that its date is being pushed out to being more like a sequel’s release. That said, our plan is for the beta to come out this Fall still. However, bear in mind, that other than both existing in the Elemental universe, the gameplay of the two are very different.

It sounds like they are heading in the right direction.

 

[Scott Tortorice]

Rivers!

View attachment 34172

In general, interesting dev diary on the new UI here: http://forums.elementalgame.com/411455

 

[Scott Tortorice]

Update:

Elemental: October Status Report

It definitely sounds like it continues to take a big step in the right direction. I really like the new combat mechanics that sound closer to what we had in GalCiv II than the boring and unimaginative mechanics in the first game:

Players have the choice to either instantly resolve a battle or go to a tactical battle screen. Once there, they can either watch the battle resolve turn by turn, fight it out themselves or just resolve it.

My personal preference right now is to handle the first few turns and then turn it over the the auto play and watch the gory results.

Fallen Enchantress combat works based on initiative. There are no “rounds”. The faster a unit is, the more turns they get. There’s no counter-attack (unless that unit has it as a special ability).

Some spells take time to cast and that spell will appear in the film strip on the left so that players know what’s coming up and can see if there’s time to counter it.

Some units are more effective than others. Mounted warriors are harder to hit via archers and thus a very effective counter.

There’s a lot of combat in Fallen Enchantress and the battles tend to be fairly quick. They visually look a lot better as well (since every fighter in a given unit will take part in a given action rather than simply the lead one as was the case in WOM).

The most obvious difference in Fallen Enchantress, imo, is that nearly every unit has some sort of special ability. You can even design them into your soldiers if you have researched the appropriate techs.

I'm gonna remain cautiously optimistic. Elemental was so maddening because you could see the good game trying to claw its way out of its botched tomb (the fact that that amateurish game came from Stardock still stuns me). But it looks like Elemental has a chance of redeeming itself. I hope it does because I don't think Stardock is gonna announce GalCiv III until Elemental finds its footing.

 

[Rindis]

Fallen Enchantress combat works based on initiative. There are no “rounds”. The faster a unit is, the more turns they get. There’s no counter-attack (unless that unit has it as a special ability).

Some spells take time to cast and that spell will appear in the film strip on the left so that players know what’s coming up and can see if there’s time to counter it.

This sounds a lot like the Final Fantasy Tactics way of handling things; perhaps applied a bit more rigorously. About time someone did that.

Some units are more effective than others. Mounted warriors are harder to hit via archers and thus a very effective counter.

Horses are notoriously easy to hit with archery.... Any advantage should be based on high speed/movement values....

 

[Scott Tortorice]

SD posted a new dev diary, this time on how they remade EWoM's bland random map generator. Based on this screenshot, it does look much improved:

View attachment 34652

I like the new lakes. That reminds me: I wonder if they are adding more naval vessels to the game?

You can read the diary here.

 

[Scott Tortorice]

The public beta has been delayed:

http://forums.elementalgame.com/413876

No word on how long. I am fine with this. I could not suffer another EWoM fiasco. And I doubt Stardock could survive it. Take all the time you need, guys.

 

[SoccerDJ]

I hope they get it right to, but I'll be glad when I can finally get my money's worth out of the game...

 

[Scott Tortorice]

Vid preview:

http://www.screencast.com/t/bYqzAuZw9T9

I really like UI changes. Everything seems much more streamlined. Also, it seems like they added some much needed chrome to equipping your sov, as well as to champions. I would have liked to see a tactical battle.

 

[Scott Tortorice]

Yes! Another much requested change is (partly) implemented!

Champions may not die, but they might wish they had

 

[Scott Tortorice]

Wardell has posted an end of year report on FE.

Fallen Enchantress: Where we stand at Christmas

Some good sounding stuff in there. I am eager to find out if FE will finally deliver on the promise of WoM.

The BETA of FE will be released on January 19th to those who were part of the original WOM beta and January 26 to everyone else (we’re doing a tiered release because we’ve never rolled out this many betas at once before – you should assume that the process will cause your PC to catch fire and your pets to suffer).

 

[Scott Tortorice]

Beta vid:

[video=youtube;NAsAPJYR1YI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAsAPJYR1YI[/video]

Some nice changes seen in that vid. But I am becoming suspicious by how tactical combat has yet to be shown. It might still be a heavy WiP.

 

[Scott Tortorice]

Less than 10 days to go…

In 10 days, we’re going to start activating Elemental: Fallen Enchantress on tens of thousands of user accounts. It’ll be, by far, the largest “beta” release we’ve ever done.
We’re going to be rolling the dice a little here. There’s no NDA. Players are free to praise or pan what they get.

In the past year, we’ve greatly expanded our development team, brought in industry veterans and with the sale of Impulse, our top game developers have returned to the game unit to work on Fallen Enchantress.

We’re both excited and nervous for how people will react to Fallen Enchantress. It has been our collective “baby” for the past year. More so than anything we’ve worked on before.

I won’t go into too much detail on how many long hours Derek and I have brain stormed different quests, different types of loot, interesting spells, and how to make the AI play differently from one another in a way that’s obvious to players. It’s been a very enjoyable experience having this kind of time to do this kind of thing. And we’re not done.

Owners of Elemental: War of Magic (WOM) will be getting an email next week going through what Fallen Enchantress is and how they can download it.

The beta release will go in two phases. January 19 will be to everyone who pre-ordered WOM. A week later will be everyone else who got WOM in 2010.

Stay tuned!

Seeing that there won't be a NDA, I am definitely planning on writing a preview. I am really curious to see what SD has done with the Elemental formula.