Hi all,

I've been reading the forums and journals since War of Magic. I've never played a beta. But I definitely am going to buy Fallen Enchantress the moment I can. I can't wait to start playing the finished game.

Thanks for all the hard work Stardock. I have a feeling I won't be disappointed.

Ten9

It is quite funny and addictive game and I really enjoyed the time in Beta. I like Stardock culture, SD is one of my favourite SW companies so far...and FE could be another great piece in the puzzle:)

Hope it does well...good luck, FE!

Actually, I won game by quest victory day ago, in 0.983 version, on Hard difficulty level. I started quest chain with 15-16 level heroes and finished it with 18 level as I remember, last boss was two-shotted with melee attacks of just one hero with Path of Defender (even not Warrior or Assasin) buffed with two spells from support mages. Please note that I used very few magic (and don't used direct damage spells at all), so major magic nerf in 0.984 won't affect this. So yes, game can be easily won, and total imbalance is still present. It could be won even more easily by wiping AI factions because their defense is much weaker than quest monsters, I just played "good guy" in that game.

Regarding CTDs, I've seen much less CTDs since 0.983, but still have 2-3 after Alt+Tab from game and switching back after some time. Some other situations where I have CTDs before just replaced by horribly degrading game performance, so I need to restart game anyway.

And yes, monsters still ignore AI. Yesterday I spend entire evening just to observe AI behavior near AI and player units/cities. Yes, it seems wandering monster can raze AI city, but it seems like pure accidents - monsters wander in random direction and if there accidentally happens to be AI city on dragon's way, it's doomed. But player units/cities are actively hunted. For example, there is cave bear sitting in his cave. About 10-15 turns I observed several AI units like scouts, pioneers and some minor armies wandering near it. But every time when I tried to move my scout in, he was attacked.

If the monsters treated the AI exactly the same way as they do the player, then it would be fine.

They will have to be very careful.  If there is something wrong with the game, anything at all, then Steam will rip it to shreds and spit out the bones.

Well, I think that most of the forumites have played the game for too long. If you've got 200+ hours on your gaming meter then the perspective will be very different than from reviewers and gamers who try the game out first time (some reviewers might be active betas though)

Just under 30 hours played, I would say the game is ready for launch, for the reasons:

1) No apparent game-breaking bugs. I've had no CTD's during the 30 hours on beta 5. Just once the ocean disappearing bug (cosmetics) and occasionally slight slowdown. Nothing to prevent launch IMO

2) Good AI. Just from newbie perspective of course. AI usually gets worse when one accumulates gaming hours . Can be improved in patches IMO

3) Balance is good. And have improved hugely from the first beta 5.

4) Good game

Reasons not to release are mainly gripes from design decisions

1) Obsolete units/items as tech progresses

2) No random spawns

3) Awkward(not fun) levelling up mechanism for heroes

The simple monster AI code as Frogboy explained awhile back is actually unbiased in that respect (if we don't factor in potential issues from having simultaneous turns etc). After all it's just a dice roll modified by world difficulty that determines whether or not a monster is going to attack.

It's just that "random" behavior is not going to necessarily be perceived as "fair" most of the time, case-in-point is a monster freed from its lair simply ignoring an adjacent AI settlement because of a lucky roll and then bizarrely going after the player's 20 tiles away.

I think the monster AI should be very aggressive to anything in its territory, and only go outside its territory if it has built up a massive force.  I think anything in a certain radius around monster dens should be attacked or destroyed if it has a 50 or 60% chance or more of destroying it (the only monster who wouldn't move would be the one starting on it) which means empty towns would mostly be targeted by anything bigger than the smallest group of the lowest level monsters, and outposts and resources will always be targeted UNLESS there is a FUNCTIONING Warden Outpost?

Frogboy, what's wrong with monsters getting a "I'm extremely hostile and actively target any intrusion on my turf" radius, a smaller radius for stronger monsters, and then as monsters accumulate or lairs upgrade the radius expands, meaning the land becomes more hostile if you don't eliminate the nasties?

Why should there be a roll: 90% (or whatever) chance I attack this nearest settlement or 10% chance I attack the human player on the other side of the map?  And why should outposts and resources only be targeted when the monsters accidentally "bump" into them?  I mean, they have been placed on their turf, right?  Dalek exterminate should apply here.

Monsters placed after the game has started should be more discerning (as in requiring a higher chance of victory), but still have some sort of turf radius where they are a LOT more aggressive.

This game is a piece of art, a masterpiece that is still improving! I'm a happy fanboy!

That's right, enjoy what you get

Sincerely
~ Kongdej

I will say this, for all the little tidbits here and there that players hoped FE would still include before release, the AI is far superior to the AI in MoM, and that alone speaks volumes.

Great job Stardock!

Ya, it speaks volumes about you. 

MoM AI was awful, so giving FE credit for being superior to awful is just sad.

AI is not hard to beat even on ridiculous.  AI still needs some work but most games have weak AI's so this will not be unusal.

Okay, but the people saying the AI/game is too easy are hardcore players. You only represent a very small minority of players. I am one of the hardcore players and have been making a mod just for you guys. So we can play at a much higher difficulty with a much more aggressive AI and almost all the content features anyone asks me to add, like a full RPG leveling system. The vanilla game is just not quite aimed at you guys. Modding is going to be the only way to satisfy people like us.

The most important thing for a game being a commercial success is the INITIAL impression.

While hugely improved over WoM, the game is still not quite what it should be and has the potential to be.

It is very close but I do not think a mere 2 weeks are going to be enough to do sufficient polishing before going gold.

I find the current beta very polished.  I've been away from the forums a bit playing Torchlight 2. It's awesome but I bet its beta testers would have said it needed more polish too.

Over at CivFanatics, they would say that Civilization V, latest version, is still not polished enough for release. 

I'm reading the same forums you are. And as someone who spoke out against WOM and Demigod publicly and got flamed by the fanboys at the time, I think I have some credibility in my opinion that this game has long since crossed the threshold of being excellent.