Glad you're liking it.

Over time, we're going to be adding a lot of cool additional features that we hope you'll really like.

Here'a a few examples:

1. The magic system is going to get a lot more interesting in terms of spells and how they work.

2. The quests will get a lot more interesting as players are able to start entering dungeons during quests.

3. The AI is going to get a lot better and more sophisticated (i.e. not just more challenging but more interactive)

4. If you have friends, you will be able to play games that have virtual cloud storage (This should be turned on this week assuming base memory issues are addressed).

And everything I just mentioned you'll get in free updates.

Thanks again!

Basically, you can access "your stuff" from any computer.

Yeah, I agree about the game being fun even with it's issues.  Most end product games I buy give me less enjoyment than elemental has.  People just seem to get caught up in the bad and totally miss all the good things.

Can someone give me a reasonable explanation about what is 'fun' currently about this game?  The AI is pathetically easy to beat, the campaign is ridiculously short and there is no way to play against a human opponent.

Seriously, I really, really, really want to like this game, but after playing 3 sandbox games now, I just have 0 interest to start another as I know exactly how it will go...

How is it unique?  What exactly is unique about it?  It's a 4x game and that isn't unique.  It has a very simplistic tactical combat which is nothing new, the spell system is nothing new.  The tech branches are uninspired and definitely have a 'been there done that feel' even when they aren't giving X% boost to resource Y.  The only thing really novel about it that I can see is the lack of a distinction between the 'city' view and the map view, which I guess is cool, but I'm not sure I would call the entire game 'unique' because of it.

Create your own lore?  What does that mean?  You mean you have the ability to create a new 'leader' and give him points for various things based on a points pool?  If you are talking about that, then yes, it's a nice feature, however the shallowness of what stats actually affect and redundancy and blandness of spells really takes a lot out of that.  It's fun for about 2 seconds given the imbalance and bugs.  If the spell system gets more complex and flavorful, then this feature might shine.  Might need to rework what stats do and maybe introduce skills as an alternative to magic (and for those heroes without magic).

The 4x side of the game play is pretty standard, there isn't anything special about it.  And that's about as kind as I can be about it.  I won't bash the quest depth and diversity and lack of equipment too much, suffice it to say that currently, I just don't see anything that makes me go 'wow' about the 4x side of things.

Modding.  That one I may concede.  It DOES appear that tools for modding seem fairly accessible although I haven't tinkered with those tools too much so I don't know.  I guess we will see how that shakes out, but unless I just missed something, it's a bit early to call modding the savior of elemental.

I appreciate your post and attempt to explain what is fun to you, but 'you will either like or not' isn't quite what I was looking for.  I would think that all the people saying "this game is AWESOME' would be able to point to a few concrete things and say "Yes, but did you look at THIS?  This piece is REALLY cool, try looking at it this way!"  or something...

Again, I just can't seem to find that engaging element (no pun intended) that others have.  And although I do see stability issues, they don't bother me as I save often and aggressively adjust autosave.  I'm trying not to consider stability at all in my assessment of what is fun here.

That's actually not all that far from true.  However, please note that it didn't start that way...

the operative term in this statement is "I"..

I agree 100% with James009D on his points, however that is my (operative term "my") opinion.. We do not all find the same foods tasty, books interesting, or enjoy the same sports.  it is an opinion. No less valid or correct then yours is for you, for the person voicing just different..

I find it fun..  and have been playing it non stop since its was available.. Each patch made changes so I restarted and be gain again..I look forward to where its heading. I am sorry that you do not seem to agree but I respect that...

I find it entertaining because its Not civ 4 its a different dynamic in humorous kinds of ways. I am so burned out on that game after years of playing. It makes a good hold me off till my copy of Civ 5 arrives. All games are just a temporary stop till Star Wars: The old Republic, because if that lives up to its potential I surmise it will be like wow for me. WoW got her claws in me for over 4 years. I didn't play a single other game hardly, and I can foresee that possibly happening with SW:TOR. Don't let me down Bioware...

To be fair, every game has potential... In fact, anything that isn't implemented or is broken is simply potential.   Seems like a platitude to me.

Sorry, but seeing stuff like "I'm having a blast!" and "This game is awesome!" seem a bit more like practical fun being had and less theoretical potential, respect and patience.  The latter I understand, it's the former that has me puzzled.  But again, I'll just go back to my theory that there are some folks on here that love it unconditionally.

It's so silly to respond, but I just have to.  None of it matters.  None.  The threat of scraping by like that is only in your mind, in the long run you will easily steamroll the AI, monsters and all.  Even if it takes a few turns longer to get that shrill hive (which is is completely unnecessary as well).   The AI just isn't smart enough to stop a steady build up and steamroll completely breaking the illusion of any early game tension... at least that's the way all my games have gone.

The healing/pork is just 1 of 100 or so inexplicable, poorly documented or otherwise broken things that add nothing to the game besides confusion or monotony.  Which is doubly frustrating because I can definitely imagine, if a little more thought were put into it, why pork might be strategically advantageous over the healing potion.  Don't focus too much on this example, I'm not.  It's just more grist for the WTF mill.

If you think this is a 'nitpick' then you are simply playing too much of the game in your mind and not enough of it on the machine.

Good post, I think I see how some people could like it for the parts rather than the sum.  I'm a sum kinda guy, myself, but I can accept that not everyone else is.  Also good job explaining what you find unique about it.  I disagree with you slightly about City building...  It doesn't really take more planning.  The potential I guess is there if stuff were tweaked/working, but you could easily get by with a 'build everything you can' approach because the AI is so bad.  I guess when multiplayer arrives, that won't be the case, but the SP game makes almost anything but the most basic strategy overkill.

I agree that the unit designer is VERY cool and a great idea, but once again, problems really mar the luster.  Equipment for the units is all over the place ranging from illogical tech advancement to soldiers that look like rapstars with 500 rings and amulets.  I even't went so far as to name one of my archer units Chamillionaire.  The stats for the units are difficult to understand as well as the groups.  The rule of thumb that 'bigger is better' applies nicely, but that's hardly a tacticians fantasy.

The 9 different resources are very flawed... one of them (prestige) doesn't seem to affect ANYTHING other than that initial marriage proposal making it basically useless after that, and another (elementium) is so rare that by the time you get to that point in the game to build any units with it, the outcome of the game is a foregone conclusion.  

Again, as others have stated, there is lots here that COULD be good, but just simply isn't.  If I didn't think these things would be ironed out eventually, I wouldn't still be here.  But the fact remains that we are 2 weeks out from launch, 3 (or is it 4) patches from release and the game just still reeks of missed opportunities.  I'm very happy for the folks that can ignore the smell.

haha, excellent gameplay summary there stax77. That's how I play the game too. If you just go turn to turn clicking the button and doing the first thing that comes to mind... maybe TBS strategy gaming and especially Elemental isn't your cup of tea. A lot of thought should be going into the game, thats where it becomes a challenge, and that's when it becomes fun.

You say that's the right way to play?  I say playing strategy games 'for the long run' is the right way to play.  It's called strategy.  If the long run is predetermined, then it makes very little difference how I play this particular turn, assuming I don't just charge the enemy with only my sovereign (a tactic the AI enjoys).  If that is exciting for you, more power to you.