The game truly is great. It is awesome enough that I've devoted a lot (!!) of time to making the quest wizard. This is a game I plan on playing for a long time (well, that and it's expansions and sequels).
I'll buy you a beer for that. Well how about a pitcher!
Also agree with your sentiment, Murteas.
Re: Umber and Capitar. This would be SO easy to put in an update after the fact, or build an expansion/campaign around as well as telling their stories.
I voted conservatively as some main concerns still exist. Yes I think the project as a whole is going the right direction. But there's still some issues lingering or not addressed. Can it really be done by just tweaking? I don't vote for what I thought it would be, rather what it is now.
- Lessen impact of champs owning everytyhing from start and never letting up.
- "Summoner" type play get some love and not be a horrible pick at creation.
- The Attack / Defense thing, huge improvements have been made. May need something, but am positive this is fixable.
- Magic shard scaling. Really? Are you ever going to get more than a couple unless you play with huge map sizes or dense settings? Better scaling to this fact or give spells a boost based on the magic setting factor.
- Magic Books balance. Can you be a warlock and not pick fire/death? I guess you could, but would you be good at it? Summons are all over the place in terms of power and effectiveness.
- the quest map thing( faction pick heroic? wanderlust? ) can be super OP if a person wants to limit # of quests and having a faction with unlimited quests xp and rewards is bad in that regard. Maybe it needs a price adjustment based on what it spawns. *shrug* I see this as one factor why champs are so darn more powerful than anything else. There's no limit.
- last albeit nitpicky, but Hiergamanon could use a section on faction prestige and growth or at least explain the concepts somewhere. Also spell mastery and resist could use a section. Say how it affects spell casting. Say what is a base for say normal unit and a sovereign. I'm fine if you don't want to get into what it is for monsters. I would like to knoiw how much even a +1 or +3 change to these things could affect me. Ie, do I give the codex thingy to my sov or champion B? the resist thingy? Being equipped to make meaningful choices
- UI. Yes great strides have been made. Sorry if it feels like the horse has been beaten dead already. It is largely there. Just how much can we crack out before release? Still looking for essence in city level up screens. Also helpful would be stating how much grain and essence it has when choosing at the first level up (when city becomes level 2 ) I am seeing numbers for production and grain, this is good but not doing it for me alone. Even a simple number in parentheses before the actual production/food value would be enough for me.
Factoring in TA, yes FE will be just as awesome in it's own right.
My 2 gildar for now.