1921

Most likely Stardock is just getting this set up so that we can preload the game, but will be unable to register/play it until Sunday/Monday. :(

1922

Well, maybe I just snuck in, but I just fired up Version 1.00.

The cutscene art appeals to me. Reminds me a lot of King of Dragon’s Pass which I loved. A very stylistic, hand painted look.

First bug I noticed, I immediately went to the options to try and set music to 50%. I hear the music pop/cut/static a bit as I move the slider bar, and it recovers when I stop, but the music volume hasn’t changed. Works correctly from within a game though, just not from the main menu screen.

Edit: Yes/No buttons are backwards from “standard”. Yes is on the right, but most every Windows dialog box has “OK” on the left. Yea, it’s a nit, but it’s one of those usability things I always tend to notice right away.

Edit2: Seems to dislike Alt-Tabbing. I’ve crashed it twice with a “DX Error” switching between it and the Qt3 forums. Never happens on the first switch though, just on subsequent ones sometimes, so beware.

Edit3: Brad, can you make double-clicking a unit default to bringing up it’s details? (same as click on it’s picture after you’ve selected the unit on the map). I keep double clicking on a unit expecting it to “open” it, like double clicking on a windows folder or some such. And “Esc” to dismiss the modal dialog that contains the unit details.

1923

It’s running for me.

I have some big news for those of you on the fence because of an outstanding problem that was noticed recently, and it’s been addressed: There’s a new voice actor for the intro movie.

EDIT: I’m not having any problems with the sound or with volume sliders like ckessel. I use a set of USB headphones, and they’re working fine so far.

1924

Bah, my Impulse detects an update to Elemental, but says my registration is invalid. Damn :)

1925

it is indeed fun, I was worried abit as I had almost no fun in the beta’s… so far 40 turns into my first game and I am really enjoying the overall flow of the game.

the leap is like night and day in terms of fun.

took me almost 20 turns to realize I just click on the fertile land to build a farm now :p

1926

You guys were in the beta, right? I pre-ordered but they wouldn’t let me pay last week. Hopefully I’ll get a payment request soon, I’m looking forward to the game.

1927

I’m glad you have beta testers to tell you about basic features of games you claim to be inspired by.

Snark, snark, snark. I’ll look elsewhere for a game that does something new or advances the state of the art, but that obviously shouldn’t stop anyone else from having fun. I look forward to reading people’s impressions, especially once you’ve had a chance to play it for a while.

1928

I know you admitted snark, but seriously, what the hell could you be looking for? Civ V? StarCraft II? Age of Empires XIIVLC? Elemental has dynasties and deformable terrain and perhaps the most involved questing system I’ve ever in a 4x TBS. If this isn’t the TBS you’ve been waiting for that “does something new”, then what the heck could you possibly be holding out for?

1929

I’m just curious, but did you flex your arm and kiss your bicep after writing that post?

1930

Same here, no fun tonight… ah well, patience is a virtue, they say!

1931

He’s referring to Master of Magic, which Elemental is supposed to be a spiritual successor to, or at least serve as the inspiration for Elemental. Master of Magic’s advanced units have special abilities which are used during tactical battles.

1932

Concerns about a “barren” world definitely have been taken seriously. There’s stuff all over. Little ruins, heroes, random monsters. It’s definitely a world coming back from cataclysm, but it’s also one populated by tons of little pockets of things to be looked at and investigated.

Very cool stuff Stardock. I haven’t had this much fascination with just sort of exploring the facets of a game since, oh, maybe Age of Wonders. Poking around almost has an RPG feel to it.

1933

Yea, I pre-ordered, was in beta and was charged for the game early last summer.

1934

Shut up, you bastard. Have pity on us that didn’t get lucky with the download :) Totally kidding! It’s torture but I’d love to hear your impressions.

1935

I also pre-ordered and was charged, I did not have the Beta installed (un-installed for release) and I’m getting the invalid registration message =(

1936

Me too, a very early beta user (the pre-beta actually, which I’m probably safe to disclose by now…man was that serious not fun, but it was cool to check out). I’ll admit I feel awfully lucky to have this early access because after beta 0, I really didn’t do much of anything with the other betas.

1937

I pre-ordered and played in Beta Releases 1-3, I don’t remember if I updated to Beta 4. I did not uninstall, and I’m getting the invalid registration message too.

1938

Crossing my fingers that I’ll be one of the lucky ones tonight, still have about 30 minutes to go before I can check.

1939

Damn. Invalid registration. BRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!

1940

Exactly, this is one game where you DO NOT want to turn on auto-explore!!!