Why make a new game? » Forum Post by Krowe93

Quoting ,

This always bothered me. The Elemental games have been just shy of good in the past (Haven't played LH enough to justify a judgement), but instead of just rolling out the changes in patches, a standalone expansion is released instead. Normally I would think it's jsut a scheme to get more money, but the IP isn't even all that established.

What I'm asking is, why bother making a new game, twice now, when you could have just patched the fixes and features into the original?

Not necessarily about milking money, but money is definitely a main issue. That and marketing. People would rather try out brand new game that promises to fix the broken past, than try a game that was known to be broken but was claimed to be fixed through patches.

Sort of a promise of a new start, as misleading as that might be.

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Perhaps because game companies want to *gasp* earn money? Did you honestly expect them to simply patch War of Magic for almost 3 years now without expecting some form of income in return. That they improve on the game just for the fun of it because they got nothing better to do? Fallen Enchantress was a very different game when it came out and completely warranted a price for the development it took. You could at least try to argue that the jump Legendary Heroes does is not as high, but I still think it is perfectly fine to ask a discounted price for owners of the predecessor. They were nice enough to give away free copies of both games to everyone that preordered and bought the game at release. Seriously, you seem to have really weird expectations...

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Frogboy

Join Date 03/2001

+2394

I wouldn't say it's a "new" game as opposed to simply the next in the series. Sequels and expansions are pretty common.

If LH is successful we hope to make another game in the dowries in the future.

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Quoting Frogboy,

reply 3

I wouldn't say it's a "new" game as opposed to simply the next in the series. Sequels and expansions are pretty common.

If LH is successful we hope to make another game in the dowries in the future.

Not to be harsh, but imho, the jump from FE to LH wasn't significant enough to warrant $20. Maybe its because there wasn't enough brand new content added into it, it's just that nothing I experienced in LH couldn't have simply been done by the modding community had the scripts been open for modders to modify. There was very limited (if any) new assets, and most of the changes were philosophical rather than technical.

Not that I don't like the new direction, but I think with 20$, the game could've gone a lot further. With every RTS and TBS games out there, their expansion packs usually includes not only the overhauls to the formula, but also new content, toys, to play around with.

To elaborate my point, I believe mod Stormworld, is far more deserving of the 20$ price tag, than legendary heroes.

Maybe it's just me, but I believe refining the formula, fixes, and balances should be free, because these are the things that the developers failed to deliver.

Content should be paid, because these are extra things that are completely optional for the enjoyment of the game, but enhances it.

+1

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Quoting phazonfreak,

reply 2

Perhaps because game companies want to *gasp* earn money? Did you honestly expect them to simply patch War of Magic for almost 3 years now without expecting some form of income in return. That they improve on the game just for the fun of it because they got nothing better to do? Fallen Enchantress was a very different game when it came out and completely warranted a price for the development it took. You could at least try to argue that the jump Legendary Heroes does is not as high, but I still think it is perfectly fine to ask a discounted price for owners of the predecessor. They were nice enough to give away free copies of both games to everyone that preordered and bought the game at release. Seriously, you seem to have really weird expectations...

You do know War of Magic wasn't free, right? It's not like they would stop making money if they patched it to a, dare I say, enjoyable state. WoM to FE might have had some worthy content changes, but LH doesn't have enough new content to justify a separate game (a separate game at $40 I might add).

You should probably refrain from being sarcastic; you don't come across as edgy or smart, just a butthurt nerd.

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Quoting Replicators,

reply 4

Quoting Frogboy, reply 3
I wouldn't say it's a "new" game as opposed to simply the next in the series. Sequels and expansions are pretty common.

If LH is successful we hope to make another game in the dowries in the future.

Not to be harsh, but imho, the jump from FE to LH wasn't significant enough to warrant $20. Maybe its because there wasn't enough brand new content added into it, it's just that nothing I experienced in LH couldn't have simply been done by the modding community had the scripts been open for modders to modify. There was very limited (if any) new assets, and most of the changes were philosophical rather than technical.

Not that I don't like the new direction, but I think with 20$, the game could've gone a lot further. With every RTS and TBS games out there, their expansion packs usually includes not only the overhauls to the formula, but also new content, toys, to play around with.

To elaborate my point, I believe mod Stormworld, is far more deserving of the 20$ price tag, than legendary heroes.

Maybe it's just me, but I believe refining the formula, fixes, and balances should be free, because these are the things that the developers failed to deliver.

Content should be paid, because these are extra things that are completely optional for the enjoyment of the game, but enhances it.

I tend to agree with most of what is said here. Is not that LH is a bad game. On the contrary, is one of the best games I have ever played in any platform and any genre, but it's the "jump" from FE to LH that I see rather insustantial. Perhaps is that I am looking at it the wrong way and fail to see all the new additions that are in LH and did not were in FE, but I am pretty disappointed with how few things (in my opinion) LH adds to FE and all the effort put in changing things that perhaps were not perfect, but were not wrong either.

On a positive note, perhaps that's a smart movement from the marketing perspective as reviewers who have not followed the game closely and missed to review FE now are reviewing LH as a very good game, and that's good for all Fantasy/4X/TBS fans as all the good press will ensure more Elemental games.

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Given that LH is a half price game for an FE owner surely it merely needs to justify being an extra 'half a game' rather than a full game?

Apart from the obvious sales/marketing benefits (which are obviously more than a little bit important when you are making games as a business!) I can see there would also be advantages in making a standalone game because Stardock could remove mechanics and make bigger changes while still letting people who preferred the old ways play the old game (ie FE).

Whether Stardock have made the RIGHT bigger changes though is the question. I think combat is greatly improved (more depth) but I'm not nearly so sold on the various changes to do with heroes, hero traits, hero equipment (encumbrance etc). I also strongly dislike some of the changes which seem like just meddling to me such as the hard cap on tile yield (maximum 9 yield now, so sad even tho I very rarely found a better spot in FE).

+2

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