In this age of expensive DLC, deceptive F2P tactics, and a myriad of other ways that huge game publishers try to milk their customers of all their worth; I just wanted to point out a game developer/publisher that still cares about its customers.  Stardock.

Last year, Stardock released a fantasy 4X game, Elemental: War of Magic.  And it was BAD.  I mean, reaaaal bad.  A MAJOR letdown.  And this was very disappointing considering they have an excellent track record in 4X games with the Galactic Civilization series.

I will admit, I was pissed I preordered it.  But then Stardock impressed me.  First, Stardock's owner and the game's designer, Brad Wardell, publicly and candidly apologizes for the game, saying that he basically got too caught up with the development of the game and couldn't see the forest from the trees.  

Then he announces that, not only are they committed to trying to fix the game with patches, but they are going to develop a completely stand-alone "expansion" to the game that will try to fix everything that was wrong and make the game what it should have been.  Then he hires one of the best fantasy 4X modders out there (Kael, Fall From Heaven) to lead the project. Then he says that the stand-alone expansion will be FREE to anyone who purchased War of Magic early on and felt betrayed.

As I write this, I am downloading the beta to Fallen Enchantress (the expansion) right now.

THIS is how companies should act when they disappoint their customers.  Stardock has really made a loyal customer out of me, and I wish them the best.

Bravo Stardock, bravo.

Take note Kerberos.

I still don't know how to play Sword of the Stars 2. xD

Fall from Heaven the civ mod I assume? That was one of the best Civ mods.

I hadn't realized Kael is working on the expansion. That is excellent news, since I played all the iterations of Fall From Heaven for Civ 4 and pretty much only played the modded version.

Once this releases I'll have to load up Elemental again.

Originally posted by Andraxx

I hadn't realized Kael is working on the expansion. That is excellent news, since I played all the iterations of Fall From Heaven for Civ 4 and pretty much only played the modded version.

Once this releases I'll have to load up Elemental again.

 

Check Stardock's page, you may be able to download the beta now :).  I'm not sure if I'll be able to actually play it yet, but I am definitely downloading it.

Originally posted by paterah

Fall from Heaven the civ mod I assume? That was one of the best Civ mods.

I agree.  I actually liked it better than vanilla Civ 4, which I thought was awesome.  Each Civ in FFH2 felt completely unique, such a good game.

I have to admit I didn't try the game you are speaking of, but I am a huge Stardock/GalCiv fan and have always been impressed with them.

They are indeed a shining star in the industry and one I will always give my business to.

Excellent post pointing out that some developers try to do it right when so many take the money and run.

Stardock's been alright for me for several years now.  "GalCiv" series and "Sins of a Solar Empire" are outstanding strategy games.  Never had a complaint with them.

I remember Brad bending over backwards trying to sort out the issues with Demigod when that game came out. It's too bad Demigod never really took off, loved that game. Sins of a Solar Empire was and is absolutely amazing though. Spent tons of hours playing that one with my friend. Anyone try the Star Wars mod for it? It looks well done.

@MIkeB, Cres

Yea.  Demigod is where I saw it go downhill.  If that had been implemented early on it would have taken off with the LoL crowd. That game moved Stardock from my "must buy" list to my "wait for review" list.  With Elemental, it launched under VERY similar circumstances so I'm glad I did.

I am glad however that they are doing something for their loyal customers.  While I'm not rabid about their stuff anymore, it shows that I need to keep a closer eye on their future releases.

Originally posted by MikeB

I remember Brad bending over backwards trying to sort out the issues with Demigod when that game came out. It's too bad Demigod never really took off, loved that game. Sins of a Solar Empire was and is absolutely amazing though. Spent tons of hours playing that one with my friend. Anyone try the Star Wars mod for it? It looks well done.

Mike, I couldn't agree more regarding Demigod. I absolutely fell in love with that game when it was released. At the time, there wasn't a single MMO holding my interest and that game kept me occupied for months. I couldn't understand why more people didn't take an interest in it.

It is nice to hear about companies taking care of their customers. 

Originally posted by MikeB

I remember Brad bending over backwards trying to sort out the issues with Demigod when that game came out. It's too bad Demigod never really took off, loved that game. Sins of a Solar Empire was and is absolutely amazing though. Spent tons of hours playing that one with my friend. Anyone try the Star Wars mod for it? It looks well done.

I did not try a Star Wars mod for Sins, but I did try a nice Star Trek mod, "Sacrifice of Angels 2."  Very nice stuff.

Just wanted to give everyone an update on the new Elemental game since I had a chance to play the beta (there is no NDA).

The new Elemental (Fallen Enchantress) is much, much...MUCH better than the original (War of Magic).  It's very early beta, and even though the game still has a lot of bugs and issues, it's just leaps and bounds above War of Magic.  As I write this, I'm coming off of a marathon play session and my eyes are bleary just to give you an idea of the game's potential.

That said, there's still some major issues with the game, but it's nothing that can't be sorted out before release.  With a few more months, I think Stardock will be able to deliver a truly awesome game here.

Also, if anyone wants to know more about the game, just let me know...

Originally posted by Creslin321

Just wanted to give everyone an update on the new Elemental game since I had a chance to play the beta (there is no NDA).

The new Elemental (Fallen Enchantress) is much, much...MUCH better than the original (War of Magic).  It's very early beta, and even though the game still has a lot of bugs and issues, it's just leaps and bounds above War of Magic.  As I write this, I'm coming off of a marathon play session and my eyes are bleary just to give you an idea of the game's potential.

That said, there's still some major issues with the game, but it's nothing that can't be sorted out before release.  With a few more months, I think Stardock will be able to deliver a truly awesome game here.

Also, if anyone wants to know more about the game, just let me know...

That's good to hear as Elemental WoM was an extremely broken game at launch.  It improved since then... but nowhere near the calibre that it should be. 

But, that's the real issue... Stardock's history with really bad games at launch.  They did it with Elemental ("really bad" is an understatement), and, from what I've read, they did it with both Galactic Civilization 1 & 2.  I picked up Gal Civ 2 with the Ultimate edition (all the xpacks), which I played MANY hours on that game, so I never experienced the launch of the game.  However, I have heard that both Gal Civ 1 and 2's launch were really bad as well.

So, it's good that they are offering the people who bought Elemental WoM at launch the first two xpacks for free (if they even get past the first xpack).  And, it's good that Fallen Enchantress' beta seems to be going fairly good as well.  However, I don't have very high expectations that they'll pull Elemental out of the fire (so-to-speak).  And, I have learned not to buy anymore of their games at launch as they have proven to be incapable of actually launching unbroken games.