gmot

Reply to Stardock hires Civ 5 lead designer Jon Shafer in War of Magic Stardock Forums

I guess that's my attitude too. I have no idea what the environment was at Firaxis but I'm imagine it's much different from Stardock. People perform much differently in different environments. I've seen great people do badly in one role but fantastically in another with a change in manager, duties, freedom, whatever. So I prefer to think I'm being cautiously optimistic rather than pollyanna-ish. But obviously time will tell.

Reply to Is Elemental enjoyable now? in War of Magic Stardock Forums

Very good to hear that you will be focusing on the UI but it won't stop me from enjoying the game now. Frankly, I haven't gotten far enough yet to see the issues with the AI, but GC2 is a good model. Yes, easier access to info and one-click ability to do things (e.g. scroll through a list of my cities and build/train from that list) would be key.

Reply to And you decide to hire the guy that could do great things for elemental??? in War of Magic Stardock Forums

I'm sure there are demonstrable gameplay issues, perhaps even serious ones. I never suggested that there weren't. Never seen a game without them. If in your estimation, they make the game unplayable and you don't play as

Reply to And you decide to hire the guy that could do great things for elemental??? in War of Magic Stardock Forums

Leaving aside the comments from the apparently 5-year Femmefatal... Lots of people think Civ 5 is fine - many people don't. As is usually the case, those who don't are much louder on forums... Full disclosure - haven't played Civ 5 because my interest in the Civ franchise has waned. But played all the others, and though I liked it a lot, Civ 4 had its flaws too. Certainly not a perfect game, and got to be a real drag near the end.

Reply to Is Elemental enjoyable now? in War of Magic Stardock Forums

So I foolishly ignored most of the advice in this thread (which I asked for in the first place) and bought the game. Have played it a couple times and although it was a little baffling at first now am enjoying it. I like controlling the way the cities expand out and grow and the interesting mix of city building, exploration and resource issues. The main issue I'm having is the UI - has some serious design flaws, which make it quite cryptic and hard to know how to do things. I use

Reply to Stardock hires Civ 5 lead designer Jon Shafer in War of Magic Stardock Forums

Not sure why any of this is our business anyways. Stardock is a private business and they can make their own HR decisions without us randomly speculating. All I care about is the type and quality of games Stardock puts out and their excellent attitude towards their customers. Bring on the code crazy baboons if that's what it takes!

Reply to And you decide to hire the guy that ruined the 20-year old Civilization franchise??? in War of Magic Stardock Forums

I think you meant to say Y-O-U S-I-R A-R-E A H-E-R-O

Reply to And you decide to hire the guy that could do great things for elemental??? in War of Magic Stardock Forums

[quote who="rebelito" reply="14" id="2860760"] This is your chance, boy. Show me wrong! [/quote] This is the lamest comment I've seen all week. This guy seems to be channeling True Grit as imagined by a 14-year-old.

Reply to Is Elemental enjoyable now? in War of Magic Elemental Forums

Thanks for the good replies. I might wait for the next patch, or I might dive in now - probably depends on whether I get bored with the other games on my plate... I usually like to have 2 or 3 on the go at any one time, and right now Distant Worlds is the only one I'm playing much of (besides stuff on my ipad). Any idea on when the next major patch is tenatively scheduled?

Reply to Elemental'ists that own GalCiv2 in War of Magic Elemental Forums

GalCiv 2 is a great game and I enjoyed playing it alot with the Twilight of the Arnor expansion. However, I did find I eventually got bored with it. The space 4X I'm playing now is called Distant Worlds and it's great and a lot of fun - very deep. It's put out through Matrix. The small developer (CodeForce) is a lot like Stardock in that their responsiveness and fan support is excellent. Another fantastic game set in space is Space Rangers 2, available through Impulse. A great rollick

Reply to You Sir are Called in War of Magic Elemental Forums

Over 40 now so I keep waiting for the slowing metabolism. Actually it's my wife that's waiting...

Is Elemental enjoyable now? in War of Magic Elemental Forums

Is this game honestly enjoyable now? Should I buy it with the 1.1 patch, or wait for the next one? Are there still major issues preventing people from enjoying it? Looked at it back in the fall and decided to wait until some of the problems were worked out first - has that time come? I like in-depth strategy games, perferably turn-based, with lots of playing options, but not obsessive micro-mangement. I've liked previous Stardock games - e.g. GC2, also Civ series, EU3, Distant Worlds,

Reply to You Sir are Called in War of Magic Elemental Forums

I so am seriously underweight that I don't cast a shadow when I turn sideways.

Reply to And you decide to hire the guy that ruined the 20-year old Civilization franchise??? in War of Magic Elemental Forums

This is all pretty entertaining to read. I'm a long-time buyer of Stardock and other strategy games, and am thinking about buying Elemental so just checking the forum. Held off until the patch was in place. Played all the Civs up to IV, but haven't played 5 yet. Just gotten a little bored with the series I think - nothing against Civ5 specifically. Quite amazing the stuff spewing out of some people. I've been a developer and now a product manager for business software for 20 years, an

Reply to GALCIV type games? in Galactic Civilizations II GalCiv2 Forums

I'm always on the lookout for space 4x games, as I love them the most. Right now, GCII:DA is the best, although it has some flaws. My chief gripe with it is that it doesn't immerse me enough in my civilization - I always feel a little distant. Perhaps that says more about my expectations than about GC itself. Ascendancy was the first game I loved so much I took the terrible AI as a personal betrayal. A fantastically designed & structured piece of art that was near impossible to lose sin

Reply to my display driver crashes almost right away when trying to play Dark Avatar in Bug Reports GalCiv2 Forums

Well, here's an update. Disabling point sprites is the key. If that is disabled, then DA doesn't crash, regardless of what other settings I have - although it will run choppier at very high quality. If point sprites are enabled, then guaranteed display driver crash. Perhaps that will be helpful to others with intel vcards. Thanks to all for advice.

Reply to my display driver crashes almost right away when trying to play Dark Avatar in Bug Reports GalCiv2 Forums

Thanks kryo. A new computer isn't in the budget right now, so perhaps I'll look for a PCI card. Moosetek13, I'll try that. I was able to run DA fine on "low" settings so I'll try bumping up setting by setting and see what works. It still looks pretty good.

Reply to my display driver crashes almost right away when trying to play Dark Avatar in Bug Reports GalCiv2 Forums

Thanks guys. I was thinking that would be the best option as Europa Universalis 3 doesn't run on intel integrated either and I was looking forward to that one as well. I'm a hardware moron (just a software dev) so how can I tell what kind of card would work on my Dell?

Reply to my display driver crashes almost right away when trying to play Dark Avatar in Bug Reports GalCiv2 Forums

Hi - I have the exact same problem as nyudude. Running DA at 1280 x 1024 (same as the desktop) it gives me that error after about 10 turns or so. I've got an Intel video card (82865G) with 96 mb. I updated the driver but have seen no improvement. I also tried playing with the settings a little but didn't see any change. I also have never had any problems with DL and was actually able to play it with no errors last night. I will try DA tonight with the low settings nyudude has used but t