Well as of 1.06 I'm now getting a crash an hour and it is quite annoying; enough that I think I'll play to the next crash then shelf the game until the next patch. My machine does not have an ati card or 64 bit os and does have 2GB of memory. Grrrr.... the mechanics need work but crashes are just plain annoying.

I have to agree in that I would like to know what this reviewer was smoking.  9/10 may be realistic in 6 months or a year, but unless you're just giving points for potential the game ranks at more like a 6/10 right now due to missing mechanics, disfunctional/broken elements, or mechanics that need massive overhauls.  For me it has nothing to do w/ performance issues at this point(although those would be nice to have worked out as well).  I enjoy the game and I love Stardock, but the game does not deserve a 90% rating at this point.  I'm glad the homepage link comes to this thread instead of going straight to the full review...maybe this way potential buyers will get some additional perspective on the game as it stands instead of reading a 9/10 review and rushing out to spend their $50 right away.

And to the person saying this is the best game on PC for many years...you evidently need to play more games, or at least read more PC gaming magazines.  You've clearly missed titles like Empire: Total War, Warhammer 40K Dawn of War 2 and Chaos Rising, Torchlight, fallout 3, Arma 2, Batman: Arkham Assylum, along with the slew of others another poster mentioned, plus many more.

Admit it, he was paid !

Part of the problem is that Elemental seems to be a very different beast on different machines.  At least from the stability side of things. I do sympathize with those of you out there with the "wrong" graphics cards or chipsets, that is pretty raw and no fun.  Being told to be patient does not make it better, or right.  We can only hope that Brad tries to QA the game on a wider variety of machines next time (and right now would be good too, if the problems are to go away.)

As to playability, I am well into a 250+ turn game on a large continent and the AI is finally waking up a bit.  The critters remain the most aggressive elements, but if you don't research Adventuring (beyond quests) they don't begin to spawn until later.  The game played like a pure wargame (without critters for the most part) for the first 200 turns.  After that, when the AI apparently opened the adventure gates, all heck broke loose, literally.  By then, I'd covered much of a continent so the critters were mostly a peripheral threat.

Glitches there are.  I built my capital on a seacoast and now it won't expand to give me the remaining tiles.  Frustrating to find out when you really want those extra large improvements and can't build them.  Also, I have yet to divine why some cities are allowed to build some improvements and not others.  That is especially frustrating when, for instance, I have specialized the cities by building them near map resources like lost temples, only to find out that even when they reach level 4 or 5, I cannot access the temples in those cities, but can in cities with no arcane labs even yet built!

So for those of you that can't play at all at this stage, you have an absolute right to be pissed off and I hope for everyone's sake that your stability problems are taken care of first.  Then, later, we can ALL enjoy the game's gradual improvements in gameplay, UI, AI, mods, whatever.

This situation reminds me of the 3 blind men who were asked to describe an elephant.  The guy near the elephant's trunk felt it and said, "Its like an anaconda, wrapped around me."  The guy standing next to the belly reached out and said "Its like a wall."  And the guy near the tail said "All I did was pull on the rope and the next thing I know, I was covered in crap."

Demigod...

... wasn't developed by Stardock. It was developed by Gas Powered Games, Stardock only published it.

 

I love when people post stuff that is wrong:)  Bet he won't say anything more.

*smirk*

Well well well. You seem to be forgetting Empire's launch. How it was literally unplayable, and how you were invincible as Britain for the sheer fact that the AI couldn't use transports...all that seemed to be handwaved away by most (a little uproar, and then it was fine...not to mention CA's continued sub-par AI) while you all are jumping on this bandwagon of easy hate.

DoW 2 and expansion: mediocre.
Torchlight: Meh. Pretty decent, I suppose, if you like that sort of thing.
Fallout 3: boring and really quite poor
Arkham Asylum: Undeniably good, just not my thing.

Plus many more.


Doesn't mean you can't like any of them, and it doesn't mean any of them need to be so lambasted for things like being horrifically broken down to me simply not being into it.

The reviewer gave his score, he liked it. A lot.
Get over yourselves, haters; it is feasible whit ALL the variables in PCs that he didn't really get crashes or instability. It is also feasible that he just plain liked it where you do not.
...or do you? Maybe you do and hate anyway. Anyway, that was a brief thought. I don't actually care.

Back to the point: was the reviewer false anywhere? Nope. (you can have mages...for an essence sacrifice...and BAM, that unit is a mage in addition to whatever else. Perhaps it was too simply lumped in with the others, but by no means false)
Ignorant? Nope...was a beta tester, too, so he knew about the process and much behind this launch.
He likes it.
Accept that. It is likable, no matter how much you want it not to be so the hate is justified. Well...even then it wouldn't be justified.
Release sucked, it (and we) are being supported (RAPIDLY), and the game is likable and can be great fun. Too many enjoy it quite a bit to contest that.

That's why these things are subjective.   If he had fun with the tactical battle, then so be it.

Hey why we are at it lets blame them for hearts of iron 3 and silent hunter 5....oh and all the other software they have on impulse which they don't develop...seriously Dudus need a wake up call slap around with a fish.

 

No, just no.  DoW2 was released to early.  THQ was on the verge of bankruptcy.  They had to push it out.  They also supported the shit out of it after it was released.  The 2.0 patch that was released after 1 year added new unit`s and graphic improvements and alot of new voice over work.  DoW2 has seen the best post release support I`ve ever seen.  It is an absolutely fantastic product, One of the best PC games I`ve ever bought.

Are you the same Istari that posted "Brad's pretty used to it. Once he sees people posting "game won't make date" he just starts ignoring all their posts and focusing on people with useful feedback." back in June (at that time an SD employee)?

If not, NM.

If so your current view is... interesting.

I've been banished as a fanboy for appreciating this game so I won't say much. However, I will say I'm still on patch 1.05 because I don't want to lose my save game I currently have, which is a massive battle between myself and Yithril where are adjacent cities were 2400+ and 1600+ defense respectively.We've been SLUGGING it out. AI needs improvement, that's for sure, but this has been pretty darn fun.

 

It's been great fun, needs to be a bit more magicky (if that's a word), but the review is pretty good.

I agree, the game has been very well supported and is fun as well. I had no idea THQ was in such bad shape though.

Must be why I have seen that THQ pack on sale for so long.