Endless Legend, the new turn-based fantasy 4X strategy game from Amplitude Studios and Iceberg Interactive, is now available on Steam Early Access. This is the third title set within their “Endless” setting. Their previous two games include Endless Space, which we reviewed and then re-reviewed, and also Dungeon of the Endless, a roguelike game.
The focus of this early access release is to “prove the core game loop to players”, and will focus on the core game mechanics. Many of the game features are already present, though not all, and some are present in a reduced form. For a full list of what is present and what is missing, check out this post from the developers.
Here’s the teaser trailer.
A Brief Look
For those of you considering purchasing Early Access, I’d like to offer some first impressions based on my experiences with it thus far. Endless Legend is the first fantasy title I’ve played since Fallen Enchantress: Legendary Heroes that truly feels like a “4X” strategy game. It incorporates many of the elements we typically desire and have been asking for, as well as many unique features I’ve never seen before. At the same time, there are some potential negatives, with the most notable of these being a streamlined combat system. It is important to note that both “additional battle options” and a “finished battle system” are on the “What is missing list”, so combat itself is still very much a work in progress.
Rather than do a deep dive into the game, since I’ve only had a few hours with it, I’ve decided to gather up some highlights and images for you. This should not be taken as a preview, but instead as a brief glimpse at the game, both positive and negative, as is stands today in Early Access. I’m not including a lot of detail, so if you’d like specifics, please ask in the comments and I will do my best to answer. We will of course have further coverage and a more in-depth look in the future.
Overall (as at Early Access launch)
- 4 Unique factions with diverse and unique mechanics (8 will eventually be in-game).
- Faction specific and miscellaneous quests, some with timers and multiple steps.
- New “Influence” currency has multiple uses and must be spent carefully. Used for Empire Planning (think temporary bonuses), Diplomacy, and Minor Faction assimilation.
- No evidence that “magic spells” or their equivalent exist in this game.
- Summer and Winter seasons. Affects movement speed, vision, food, and dust production.
Combat
- Combat is quite streamlined (3 phases) and highly automated currently.
- Phases are deployment, followed by target selection, followed by attack/defend/stand ground setting. Press go and watch it unfold.
- Basic combat attributes consist of attack (ranged or melee), defense, initiative, speed, critical chance, and life.
Heroes and Units
- Hero leveling and customization. Skill trees somewhat small and seemed similar to one another, at least with the initial heroes.
- Hero and unit customization. New weapons/armor/accessories can be edited into designs based on research and resource unlocks.
- Only a few unique units per faction currently. Neutral minor faction units can also be recruited (and customized) once assimilated.
Research
- Research trees are similar, but factions do have some unique options.
- Research is broken into “Ages”. You can select any research option for an unlocked age without pre-requisite, and they all cost the same amount of research.
- Each successive research in an age costs more than the previous one, so research does get progressively harder. This encourages prioritizing your research selections.
- You must research quite a few items from an age before unlocking the next age. Unlocking the next age can also upgrade your unit customization options.
Exploration and City Building
- Ruins can be searched and anything from dust to new quests can be uncovered.
- Quite a few minor faction villages can be conquered. Conquering a village grants your city in that region bonuses.
- Minor factions can also be assimilated, allowing you to recruit a new unit and granting additional bonuses. Uses “Influence”.
- Unique resources and luxury goods can be discovered such as Glassteel and Titanium. These can be used for new weapons/armor/accessories once unlocked.
- Cities can be expanded using additional boroughs, and these physically increase the number of hexes your city consumes, making it look more impressive.
Other
- Unique art style and great music thus far.
- Lack of tooltips on many of the special abilities currently. It is a tad frustrating not knowing what many of them do.
- One city per region and you own the region. This system should reduce total city count and micromanagement. I quite like the way this works so far!
First Impressions
It took me some time to warm up to Endless Legend’s Early Access build. My first effort at playing the game left me a bit frustrated and disappointed, specifically with the combat system. However, my second attempt lasted a few hours, I got past my initial grievances, and I really had a good time uncovering the game’s unique inner workings. Endless Legend is certainly a game that grew on me. While the game is still an Early Access alpha at this point, I was able to have fun with what is present thus far.
Endless Legend borrows a lot of the useful elements from Endless Space, yet has done away with many of the less desirable ones. Several of my major complaints with Endless Space, such as failing to innovate, and failing to create a “living” world, appear to be addressed, and this is fantastic news. One of my complaints with Endless Space, regarding combat being too basic, appears to still be an issue here. We must remember though that we are still in Alpha, and combat enhancements are mentioned several times on the developer “What is missing list”. Still, if you’re worried about combat, or any aspect of the game at all for that matter, I’d certainly advise waiting to see what additional features are implemented.
While I had issues with Endless Space, I do believe in second chances. Amplitude Studios has certainly gained my attention with Endless Legend’s unique take on the genre. I am looking forward to seeing the end result of their efforts.
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Again with the boring, soulless combat? One would think they took a cue from Endless Space. The combat in this game was horrendous to me, so much that it basically killed the game.
If one of the features lacking in combat in EA is some sort of card system, this is gonna be a pass for me, which sucks because it did look really good.
I guess this comes to show that devas rarely listen to criticism even while they pretend to. They’d rather keep “player suggestions” to snuff like city (star) names, item names and stuff like that. Maybe I’m being harsh but that’s how I see things at this moment.
It is already significantly more fun than Endless Space and promises to get better. I think Keith is being a little too critical of the combat. It’s fun, the animations are great, and the geography actually plays a significant role.
They’ve listened. I thought Endless Space was good, but lacking soul. This is easily the best 4X game in a generation. No exaggeration.
Perhaps I just haven’t played enough yet to see how involved combat can be? Thus far it seems very simple. Place ranged in the back and infantry or cavalry near the in front. Focus fire the opponent units since they do full damage until death and only get one counterattack. Press launch and wait.
Now I have seen a ranged Broken Lords unit that uses a ranged attack “spell” to do damage and also heals a troop adjacent to him. I also know other special abilities exist like Last Stand and Confidence, but I have no clue what these do as there is no in game encyclopedia or tool tip right now.
Again, very early impressions here. Also I have just played AoW 3 and Warlock II, both of which have a lot of unit special abilities in place, so that is surely having an affect on my feelings about the combat.
Look at this guy min 31.17-32.55.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zNBww3oJuY
He is a VIP member and about me a semi-dev.
Titan, thanks for linking that. That explains quite a bit and I frankly had no idea that those types of things were actually impacting combat.
The takeaways I got from that were: moving reduces your damage output with each step you take. Also, being on higher ground increases damage (ranged and melee?). ashbery76 also mentioned being in forests reducing damage.
I wish these aspects were a little clearer within the game itself.
One question: in that video clip, the initial arrows do 4 damage, and later arrows do 11 damage. Is this due to long range vs short range? Is range listed within the unit stats somewhere I’m missing, or is this not explained anywhere?
It seems more and more that a lack of tooltips and information is actually my bigger issue with the game right now. That’s not unexpected for an alpha, but it has made combat feel a bit shallower and random then perhaps it actually is.
I don’t know but i think he mentioned some where that is like a range penalty. I think that will be main problem with this game like Endless Space where only persons the knew something about formula for damage, accuracy, evasion, defense etc other then devs will be only the VIP-members. This will be the main flow of the game in my opinion.
Here it is a example of the Endlee Space:
http://forums.amplitude-studios.com/showthread.php?20671-1.1.34-combat-mechanics-and-optimal-ship-design
http://forums.amplitude-studios.com/showthread.php?18761-Accuracy
http://forums.amplitude-studios.com/showthread.php?18855-Evasiondisorientation
But you can request some info from the devs because for VIP members they offer full info and support and you are one of two editors of this site.( and the files are not CIA files:P)
I remember it is the high of the ground :P
well i already watched some recent PL’s of this game and the combat onetheless seems REALLY basic. only generally stances and movement. no special abilities and NO MAGIC. wtf i mean a fantasy game without magic?
also this game is easily NOT the best 4x game, for completely new players to the genre and / or little kids maybe because its quite simple / light in terms of depth but i don’t think how it should be “the best 4x game”?
the recent “generation” of 4x games include games like civilization and co.
recent great 4x fantasy games for example are:
– Age of Wonders 3 (now THERE is indepth tactical combat)
– Fallen Enchantress – Legendary Heroes (again indepth tactical combat)
i would put endless legend maybe on the same spot as warlock 2, a neat light 4x version. i will MAYBE buy this game lateron if they enhance the combat a bit or if its on sale. but for fantasy 4x lovers which love depth to their games and an actual tactical combat (which endless legends NOT has) should go with the beforementioned games.
nonetheless a game which i will observe if its improve on its weak points (weak combat and no magic it seems in a fantasy world is very “:/”).
also many LP’ers i’ve seen love the UI, i find the UI quite bad, in endless space the UI was fitting because the setting was sci-fi, this UI looks like a recolored sci-fi display. the good functionality from endless space is there but the design / artistic style is just bad (or a cheap recolor from ES).
last time i bought endless space on an impulse and had to sadly refund it before release, so i’ll be careful and watch if they improve the points i mentioned.
I wouldn’t say that Legendary Heroes had great combat. There’s quite a few issues with the tactical combat I think of the game. It feels hallow, the combat.
Age of Wonders 3 has its own issues. Tactical combat is pretty good but the strategic layer feels empty at times.
Hmm … what we need is something with the strategic depth of Civilization (with some of the better mods) combined with the tactical combat of say, some of the better Total War series games (like Shogun 2 or Third Age).
Okay, so “best” is more likely about it’s potential than actual state.
My bad. I got carried away on the hype train there for a second.
I for one really like the sound of the combat system, which appears to be taking the approach of “assign orders and watch the consequences.” In my mind, it strikes a nice balance between the very dry combat of something like Civ V versus the need to do detailed turn-based tactical level combat, which tends to steal way too much of the game’s focus and playtime IMHO.
For me, an single turn order->resolve system provides a bunch of advantages (YMMV)
– It is much faster to resolve, a plus for multiplayer
– It puts more emphasis on fewer but more consequential decisions
– It keeps the emphasis on the strategic layer, rather than the tactical layer
– Tactical combat becomes rote overtime in so many games – I’d rather just avoid dragging it out longer.
THAT SAID … I also want the streamlined tactical combat to make some amount of plausible sense in how the system is designed. Endless Space’s card-system was an interesting approach, but it just made NO sense to me logically (why always a long-medium-short range progression? Why some cards and not others? Why it always follow the same pattern? etc…).
The BEST example of such a system BY FAR is the iOS 4X space game “Starbase Orion.” When a battle happens, each player assigns each of their ships an order for the combat. Orders include both movement and targeting priorities. So you can assign, for example, units with long range missiles to maintain long-range and prioritize shooting at the closest enemy unit. Your close range units you can order to move in to close range and target the “weakest” units to quickly erode enemy forces – and everything inbetween. It’s a brilliant system that strikes a perfect balance (for me) between significant strategic combat choices with quick resolution. It’s great.
The combat really killed endless space for me. I really hope they pull this one off. My concern would be the cap limit on units and the world size. I do think amplitude is really good with the back story and do hope they find a “soul” for their game as endless space looks so beautiful but lacks a “soul”
Yeah, the fleet CAP sizes were another thing I didn’t like about Endless Space. The whole combat system, mechanically, was playing second fiddle to the visual desire/limits of conveying the conflict it seemed. Hence having this programmed battle sequence, fleet cap limits, etc.
The game is superb for alpha state,better than most full releases in recent times.
If the upcoming features are implemented well this could be the best of the fantasy 4x bunch.The combat is looking interesting too.You have a lot more interaction than in ES and it’s snappy suiting the strategic game pacing.Lots of innovation in this game.
I wonder if this is the game that I wanted AoW3 to be? I really enjoy AoW3 but recognize it’s really all about the tactical combat. Great game from that perspective – but I was wishing it had more of a balance towards the empire building. Seems like Endless Legend may fit better?
Oh yes the strategic game is miles deeper than AOW3 even in alpha.
uhm no i don’t think so, EL in general seems VERY streamlined in all aspects of the game (also empire building). if you want a more “balanced” 4x fantasy game then i recommend you fallen enchantress – legendary heroes. in terms of balance between tactical combat and empire building its the best 4x fantasy game in that regard. it also has quests, heroe leveling (skill tree) and item customization, unit customization (you can design every unit like in an 4x space game with items and traits) and general livelyness of the game world. many random events, wandering monsters etc. … and MAGIC….endless legend doesn’t seem to have that sadly :/,
I have 70 hours played in FE thank you much.Hence, I have played both unlike you.
FE was pretty poor game until 2 expansions made it decent.EL’s potential is to better that in the release version.
Yes, I see significant potential here. Could be the greatest fantasy 4X of all time. Not hyperbole.
Though you may not realize it, I actually agree with you. This COULD be “the one”. I certainly hope it is. I will say that some of their innovations are real eye openers, and I love how they have tackled the excessive number of cities often found in these types of games.
I have to remain skeptical and critical though. Many games are very exciting at first and then with further play the true weaknesses can appear. I have learned my lessons regarding “potential” and hype.
I agree, it could be the best if it meets its full potential. I’ve learned to be leery of getting too excited about potential though.
Have you seen some complexity to the combat that I have not? Special abilities or other considerations? I asked Devildogff the same question. I am just wondering if I haven’t played enough yet or the fact that I don’t know what the special abilities do (lack of tooltips) has hidden some of these aspects from me?
I think combat by design in going to be pretty simple and quick.Terrain placement is mountains,hills improve attack damage and forests protect.Each unit type is better vs another ala RPS.Abilities and so forth could add more factors.
Thanks for the follow-up. Both you and Titan have introduced me to a few mechanics I had no idea were even present in the game. I wish these aspects were explained or more obvious, but I suppose for an alpha it is to be somewhat expected. It’s the same with the unit abilities, many of which are a mystery to me right now.
Fine for now, but I don’t want to have to hunt down this info on the net by the time the finished game is released.
well if they don’t expand that part then its one big dealbreaker.
i understand the euphorism for certain games but why declare it “the one”? i LOVE 4x games, especially space and fantasy ones but the current lets play videos and feature list of endless legend isn’t blowing me away. it seems a decent step from endless legend but in general still targeted for newcomers to the genre or people which don’t want a 4x beast but a light 4x enjoyment.
lacking in the magical aspect (spells) is another dealbreaker for me, besides having some mystical monsters to fight, why on earth should there be no magic? as it stands now all i see is a slightly improved reskin version of endless space in fantasy look with the slight improvement being that now you can at least tell your units which enemy to target and where to move, which is VERY basic. games like AoW3 or FE:LH deliver more depth in the feature list and the latter especially in all aspects of its gameplay.
i’m sorry but this MAY end up being a good 4x fantasy game but please give more some good reasons why this should be the omnimous “the one”? also i said it before (maybe), but the UI is bad in this game, not in terms of practicality but in design. i mean really a cheap recolor of the endless space one? it looks more sci-fi than fantasy which is bad!
From the screens, I just want to add that I love the graphic look. I like seeing the topography as a tiered topo map – pretty cool visual style.
EDIT: It reminds me of the landscape cinematics at the start of each Game of Thrones episode :)
I loved Endless Space, though admittedly when it first came out, I found it laughable; it was only after some patches following the expansion that I realized it was one of the best 4X ever made. The biggest problem with that game for me was the space lanes. Space lanes are ridiculous, I can’t imagine what would possess a developer to make a game that way, although ES did do some slightly innovative things with them.
As far as the combat goes, there was a brief period of time (shortly after discovering there were some fantasy 4X that I actually LIKED) where I thought every game should have tactical combat Age of Wonders style. Then, I actually played AOW, and scaled that opinion back significantly. In every game I’ve played, strong emphasis on tactical combat seems to suck most of the strategic depth out of the game, for various reasons that I won’t expound upon here. I have yet to see what I consider a “good” solution, I hope the GalCiv3 team will do something innovative. While the combat system in ES seemed hollow (although I always seem to have to remind people how many of the most renowned games have completely simulated combat with no choices to be made by the player whatsoever), the combat in EL seems rather bizarre, since all of the elements of a traditional turned based tactical combat seems present, but it does not allow the players to make many of the decisions. That said, I’m much more skeptical about full-blown tactical combat in general that I had been.
ES primarily had two features that were vastly superior to other games in the genre, and which really roped me in (admittedly, it took me a while to realize their significance):
First, for me it struck exactly the right level of manageability. If I really wanted I could personally manage EVERYTHING in my empire, without feeling overwhelmed or feeling like there is nothing to do in the first place. In my opinion, no other game has hit quite the right balance (unless I’m counting the classic Star Trek: BOTF, although GalCiv came close).
Second, the colony management aspect is superb, just superb. I’m really not to sure what would make it better (keep in mind, it has to be manageable, not a whole separate game that makes your turns take 10 hours). It’ll be interesting to see what the ability to allocate population points to specific tasks (a la BOTF) will do to it in EL.
Also, I felt that some of the races in ES were somewhat better differentiated from one another than in most other 4X games, though still not nearly enough. EL seems to promise doing a better job of that, though it remains to be seen if they are successful.
The prospect of ES without the ridiculous space-lanes is a wonderful thing though, if EL proves to be that, it may be the best 4X ever made. If only they had made a ES2 instead of the stupid fantasy crap, I would be ecstatic.
The manageability in Endless Legend is one of its best aspects. Amplitude has a knack for making empires easy to manage, and even though I had issues with Endless Space, that is one element I loved about it. I am happy to report that Endless Legend retains that same feeling. This is due to the region based management, with one city per region, as well as the availability of city governors that seem like they will work similar to those in Endless Space.
Assigning population units to specific tasks is not that unlike assigning people to different planets in Endless Space.
I can see that you prefer space games to fantasy, but there are two things to note here. First, Endless Legend fantasy is NOT classic fantasy. All of the unique races, the unique environment, and the lack of spell casting are evidence of that. Secondly, the lush landscape of Endless Legend is something you just can’t get in a space game. Finding a rare resource in Endless Legend means actually seeing it on the map, not simply uncovering it or seeing an icon as in Endless Space. As a side note, the “pirates” in Endless Legend are replaced by villages with wandering monsters, villages that you can capture and assimilate. It is a much more interesting system.
I definitely agree that the lore and appearance of Endless Legend is vastly preferable to the same old tired wizards and dragon nonsense that it is so hard to get away from if you want to play good video games. It would have been better if it were set more “believably” in the ES universe though (not that ES is “believable”, but it’s internal consistency and depth that makes sci-fi what it is, non necessarily consistency with the real world).
I have to completely disagree with you about the look of the game though. Sure, Endless Legend looks gorgeous, but I’d take stars and ships and galaxies and nebulas and black holes and neutron stars and quark stars and diamond-graphite worlds and ocean worlds and ferrous worlds and methane gas giants and hydrogen gas giants and asteroid fields in space over some boring forest or mesa ANY day. Doesn’t even come close. In fact, take a screenshot of the colony screen in ES and the city screen in EL, put them side by side: can you really tell me ES doesn’t look A LOT better?
Also, the presence of minor factions you can capture and assimilate in EL is definitely cool, but there is no reason you couldn’t have the same thing in an ES2.
Of course, at the end of the day, it’s just personal preference, and it certainly seems that about 60% of people prefer fantasy 90% of the time. Nothing breaks my heart though like one of my favorite sci-fi franchises going fantasy though (well, people calling Book of the New Sun fantasy does a better job of that, but I guess it’s somewhat open to interpretation). It’s, just, I don’t know, so lame.
well if you think to have experienced the best 4x space game with endless space then you should try “distant worlds”, THIS is the best 4x space game with a plethora of features, a living world and much to do.
you can read a comprehensive and well written review on this very site. i myself got a refund for endless space because i PERSONALLY think of it as a coffee break 4x space game or a game which underaged newcomers to the series might like. endless space had zero immersion for me and zero depth.
I’ve played Distant Worlds. I want to like it, it certainly has some very impressive features. I in particular love the existence of private industry and a thriving Elite-type economy within your empire.
At the end of the day, I find it unmanageable. Sure, there is lots of wonderful automation, and it works quite well. The problem is, when it’s time to actually control something directly, it’s a huge pain in the ass. The fact that it’s real-time doesn’t help.
Great idea, maybe it COULD be the best with a comprehensive overhaul of the interface, but managing it in its current state is PAINFUL. Depth is wonderful, but it doesn’t do any good if controlling it is more of a hassle than dealing with the consequences of automation.
ES isn’t my favorite 4X (I guess I’d have to begrudgingly give that to GalCiv2, though it certainly has its share of problems. Really BOTF is better but it’s showing its age), but playing it certainly isn’t painful. You should give it another shot, when it first came out I had a very similar opinion to the one you expressed, I wanted my money back. Eventually some patches and an expansion came out, the cumulative effect of which was to change it drastically from its original state. In the intervening year, I played a lot of other 4X’s, including DW, doing so I start to realize the merits of doing something slightly simpler in favor of actually being able to manage it in a meaningful way.
ES certainly has a lot more than “zero depth”, though admittedly the hated star lanes feature does a lot to put you in the shallows. I WANT to find a game with as much intricacy as DW but which is easier to deal with, but it doesn’t seem to exist yet.
Did you try Armada 2526 with the Supernova expansion? I think Armada 2526 is by far the best of the recent era space 4x games.
It manages to generate a surprising amount of depth and tough/interesting choices while also being relatively streamlined and easy to manage. Choices in the game (e.g. system development choices and tech advance choices) are the kind of choices that open up different strategic pathways, as opposed to just providing incremental bonuses and improvements to things you do anyway (ala Endless Space). It makes it a very rewarding and rich experience IMHO.
I think Armada 2526 got a bad impression because the tactical combat is real-time (but pause-able!) and not terribly deep. I just auto-resolve all the combats as a matter of practice. The UI also takes some getting used to, but it is actually quite good and efficient to use once you get a handle on it. There also isn’t any ship customization or race customization, which is sadly a non-starter for many people – but I find there is enough variety inherent in the system, with enough else already going on, that I don’t miss either of those features at all.
Plus it has support for PBEM multiplayer – and it works pretty well in that regard ;)
I watched a 20 minute ‘Let’s play’ video on youtube. HATED the ‘plain Jane’ art style on the interface – it’s absolutely inappropriate for a fantasy themed game.
I dislike that complete absence of any style. The graphics are awful, I hope that improves over time. The GUI looks cluttered and difficult to loose.
I cannot imagine any reason not to play another round of CiV instead of this.
May I recommend a visit to the opticians.
I suppose it’s entirely subjective, but it’s rather surprising to me to see anybody saying this, I think it looks gorgeous.
Even if you don’t like the graphics, I’m quite confident that if you give it a chance you’ll see that it has far more depth to it than Civ and you will find tons of reasons to play this instead of another round of Civ, though if you are skeptical it goes without saying that you should wait until it is further along.
graphics of world and units yes, UI is horrible in color and more so in its asthetical form.
You’d prefer have dragons in the ui ? Come on, the endless legend interface is great ergonomically, aesthetically and efficiently talking. You don’t like the colors?? So what, it’s your opinion and it stills badly subjective as well… In facts, this UI deals perfectly with the amount of infos the player have to manage. Here design not cosmetics!
Considering it’s an alpha, it’s possible that the UI is a leftover from ES, and that at release EL will have a more fancy one…
Did I read this right:
“No evidence that “magic spells” or their equivalent exist in this game.”
No magic in a fantasy game? An alternate universe perhaps, but where is the fantasy element?
If you look at LOTR and GOT you do not get weekly fireball attacks.
I don’t know… Dragons, trolls, wizards, orcs, gigantic eyes mesmerizing everything in view, specters, and magic swords SURE SOUNDS LIKE magic. A fantasy game without magic is like a space game without space travel.
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” — Arthur C. Clarke
There are “magic” elements in the game, but there is no user magic interactions like Warlock. The game is fantasy, and it’s exactly that, with all sorts of fantasy like characters with their own unique abilities and spells/magic.
Literally the whole story of LOTR was about a MAGIC ring ;)
GOT has plenty of supernatural stuff, like dragons and fire priestesses spawning demonic creatures.
Having said that, judging from the screenshots, there seem to be fantasy creatures in the game. Fantasy is more than just casting spells ;)
i can´t second this.
i find the idea of another world without magic very appealing.
since when fantasy = magic ? And no, it´s not like having no space travel in a space game. that´s not comparable.
Amplitude Studios? After Endless Space? No. Just no. Their game appeals to a different demographics than what most people that read SS is looking for.
Sure, I’ll check it out once released (out of curiosity), but won’t be holding my breath :)
I’ve put about 8 hrs into the game so far and I’m enjoying it for the most part. For being in Alpha, it feels almost like a Beta. It feels like a complete game to an extent. The one thing that this game really lacks so far is information. You don’t have tooltips, tutorials, or detailed info on units. This just means there are more things going to be added to the game, which is a good thing.
I was always a huge fan of Endless Space’s colony management, and this is no exception. It is very well done, and can be easily managed. I’m digging the environment, anomalies, resources, and everything the main environment has to offer.
The one thing that I’m not sold on so far, is the combat. It still looks like work needs to be done with it. The concept of planning what units kill what, then watching it, I’m not quite sure at this point. I think mainly it’s because they still haven’t finished parts of the combat. For example, when I choose hold position, and select my targets, my units will move and attack those units instead of holding their ground. The only way for them to hold, is to not assign them targets, then they just fire at random units. Regardless it’s not horrible, but I would rather just control my units. I don’t like not being able to change targets in mid combat.
I think this will turn out to be a solid game though, I’m already having a good time with it at its current state. The same goes for Dungeon of the Endless, an excellent game in its current state. Amplitude Studios is making some great games. I look forward to any future projects they have.
”SpaceTroll Creative Director : in the final game we plan to offer a game setting that will allow you to control every round if you wish so. It will probably be 3 settings: simple (1 order phase), Normal (3 phases), Advanced ( 6 phases). In all these setting we always keep the same number of rounds (6 rounds), not to change the game balance.”
http://forums.amplitude-studios.com/showthread.php?27393-About-manual-combat
Yeah, I just saw that too. That makes things a whole lot better. At its current state I’d rather just auto-combat.
That sounds promising. Combined with a bit more information about how combat works (unit abilities, terrain modifiers, range modifiers, other combat modifiers), this could be all they need to do. Right now there are just too many unknowns for my liking.
I look forward to seeing the final release, but I’m burned out on betas and “early access.”
Word.
no spells, no buying. I guess their excuse is to cover the fact their engine can’t do that.
Right, their engine can´t do that. Do you even know what an engine is?
but who cares what whocares has to say? i care, that´s why i´m answering. I bet thousands don´t care and thats good. But i´m not caring about the fact that it has no spells.
i bought it, i like it.
so long, and thanks for all the fish.
I bought the big pack of endless space back in the day, and only played it once and moved on, has it gotten that much better? And how come no one mentions sword of the stars? It’s still my go to 4x game (not #2 *shudder*).
Definitely gonna pick this one up if I can save enough off my next disability cheque lol, love Endless Dungeon too heh.
Endless Space empire building part has gotten quite intricate with all those new factions, old ones got some new unique techs too it would seem…
Combat is still quite shallow, but at least now you can set up the battle cards before the combat (and then auto-resolve it), and in SP you won’t miss a fight because it’s on a timer anymore.
SotS1 is my favorite game too (all genres combined actually), but what is the connection to the article here?
After watching a LOT of the ‘let’s play’ video’s I broke down and bought this.
I didn’t like Endless Space much, but this looks to be a much more well thought-out design.
I think doing an early buy for this is good – support the kind of games you like.
More sales = better game (I hope).
If I had to guess I’d say release-date of Q4-14 or Q1-15. We shall see.
Wanna take back what you said earlier, then?
I wasn’t a fan of Endless Space either.. no matter how much time I gave to the game, it just never grabbed me.
Endless Legend however, has already grabbed me. I haven’t even played AOW 3 or Warlock 2 in weeks because I’m engrossed with EL.
There is still a lot of balancing that needs to be done, but everything from the interface to the game itself is quite fantastic and easy to get into.. leaving just enough to let you figure it out on your own.
I’m looking forward to playing as they shape the game into a release state.