Best alternative to Civ: Fallen Enchantress or Endless Space?

Aaron90495

Aaron90495

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Hey guys,

I know this is a bit off-topic, but I've been growing slightly tired of Civ. I still plan on playing a lot more, but I've logged 450 hours and would like an alternative. So would you guys recommend Endless Space or Elemental: Fallen Enchantress?

Both are on sale on Steam now, so quick replies are greatly appreciated. Thanks!
 
E:FE is a horrible, horrible game. I say this, because I bought the original game (the one before this retooling), hoping it was a revision of Masters of Magic. Even after all the extra work, E:FE disappoints on so many levels.

What is Endless Space?
 
Really? E:FE got pretty good reviews , but I have heard the original was horrible. Endless Space is another TBS game and seems similar to Civ, except with some tweaks and being set in space.

Other thoughts, people?
 
I haven't played E:FE, but Endless Space is pretty fun. My biggest gripes are that the developers never seem to finish something before moving on (e.g. the bonus faction) and that some of the victory conditions are very vaguely defined (e.g. economic, diplomatic).

I just lost a game to the Amoebas when they got a diplomatic victory, but I don't kn ow how they did it.
 
Kwami said:
I haven't played E:FE, but Endless Space is pretty fun. My biggest gripes are that the developers never seem to finish something before moving on (e.g. the bonus faction) and that some of the victory conditions are very vaguely defined (e.g. economic, diplomatic).

I just lost a game to the Amoebas when they got a diplomatic victory, but I don't kn ow how they did it.
Click to expand...

So you would say it's worth $15, especially for a big TBS player like me?
 
Aaron90495 said:
So you would say it's worth $15, especially for a big TBS player like me?
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's worth $15. That's just about the perfect price, I think. The added hero isn't too special and the extra faction is a perfect clone of one of the default factions because the developers never finished it, so the upgrade probably isn't worth it.
 
For $15, I'd say Endless Space is worth a go. The gameplay is pretty traditional turn-based 4X fare; not as many unusual design decisions as in, say, Sword of the Stars 2 (which is much improved from its original launch). But that also makes Endless Space easier to pick up and play. I liked the UI; sleek and easy to use, for the most part. The AI does some dumb things, but it seems to have improved some since launch, and in any case it gives me a good game. Yeah, some victory conditions aren't well-documented, though supposedly the latest patch improves on documentation and tooltips in general. I like Civ 5 G&K better, but ES kept me entertained for several weeks this summer.
 
Fallen Enchantress is a great game. I can see why someone might not like it, but calling it horrible is kinda harsh. War of Magic was horrible, Fallen Enchantress is good. To each their own but I'd suggest giving FE a shot if you're thinking about it.
 
I'd be much more inclined to play E:FE if they lowered the price to $20. I can't imagine how they justify the $40 launch price.

I watched one of MadDjinn's E:FE videos earlier. It looks pretty fun, if a bit buggy.
 
Endless Space was alright. The combat was too simple for my liking, and games were more or less decided within the first 50 turns, the rest being clean-up.

I put in almost 80 hours, which isn't bad if you can get the game for cheap. Not much compared to the 800 I've put into Civ5, but keep in mind ES is from a smaller, less-established company.

I've also picked up E:FE, but haven't played it much yet. First impressions were that the customization of units is great, but game overall has much less strategic depth than Civ. May be worth getting into if you are big into modding games though.
 
either is fine if you get them on sale. Low cost game = lower expectations = can't complain about spending too much money on them given the state they are in.

I've streamed both E:FE and ES, so you can always go check them out to see if you like it before you buy them.
 
I've got both games, and I played about 50h in each.

The 50 hours I played on Endless Space felt something like: "let's see if I can have some fun with this game, I payed quite a bit for it after all".
The 50 hours I played on Fallen Enchantress felt something like: "crap, I've got to back to work already, but I really wanted to play one more turn!".

So yeah, I'd say Fallen Enchantress is a much better game, for me. It's the one I'm still playing, between those two.

Endless Space might become a good game someday, but it needs a lot of work to become interesting and less repetitive, and I don't see patches coming often.

Of course, your mileage may vary.
 
Ellye said:
I've got both games, and I played about 50h in each.

The 50 hours I played on Endless Space felt something like: "let's see if I can have some fun with this game, I payed quite a bit for it after all".
The 50 hours I played on Fallen Enchantress felt something like: "crap, I've got to back to work already, but I really wanted to play one more turn!".

So yeah, I'd say Fallen Enchantress is a much better game, for me. It's the one I'm still playing, between those two.

Endless Space might become a good game someday, but it needs a lot of work to become interesting and less repetitive, and I don't see patches coming often.

Of course, your mileage may vary.
Click to expand...

Specifically, what was wrong with Endless Space? You seem to be the first person in the thread who prefers E:FE.
 
Aaron90495 said:
Specifically, what was wrong with Endless Space? You seem to be the first person in the thread who prefers E:FE.
Click to expand...

ES is lacking some features (generally) and is closer to the 'grand strategy' side - Ie little micro in battles, most of the game is in the menus. The developers are also not fixing the core bugs (game balance, etc) in favour of adding 'new' stuff that people have voted on (which is a bad dev style).

E:FE is getting constant patches, and started feature rich, but a lot of the features are late beta stage, rather than 'complete'.
 
Fallen Enchantress is a very good game. I would definitely recommend it.

An even better game that is very comparable to how Civ V plays is Warlock. That game rocks. It plays like a simpler version of Civ and the setting is in a magical medieval era.
 
MadDjinn said:
ES is lacking some features (generally) and is closer to the 'grand strategy' side - Ie little micro in battles, most of the game is in the menus. The developers are also not fixing the core bugs (game balance, etc) in favour of adding 'new' stuff that people have voted on (which is a bad dev style).
Click to expand...
While the Grand Strategy style isn't really a issue for me (I'm a fan of Europa Universalis, Crusader Kings and the like), the patching process is indeed one of my major problems with Endless Space.
Also, the game feels a bit too repetitive, and the creative part of the game feels way too generic. Technologies with generic sci-fi names that mean nothing, factions that are just a combination of different bonuses and penalties... I don't know, it's a bit hard to express it, but the game feels "soulless".
I do honestly have hope that it might become a good game someday, though - they just need to actually focus on improving what they currently have.

(Not to say that the game can't be enjoyable - I think it's at least worth a try, if you are looking for a space-themed TBS. You might very well end up enjoying it a lot more than I did, after all.)

torfish said:
An even better game that is very comparable to how Civ V plays is Warlock. That game rocks. It plays like a simpler version of Civ and the setting is in a magical medieval era.
Click to expand...
Warlock is indeed closer to Civ V. Elemental strays quite a bit into RPG-y lands, while Warlock remains closer to wargaming territory.
The only reason I can't fully recommend Warlock is the AI, which needs some work. But otherwise, it's a pretty decent Fantasy X4.
 
Forget Endless space get Distant worlds it is much better than Endless space.
 
Fallen Enchantress I never even heard of, but Endless Space sounded interesting.

So I sit here now wondering if they're worth trying?

And now we got a new contender: Distant Worlds.

I still haven't tried out my Mass Effect 2, maybe I should do that while you ppl find out the better game of the other ones...Not sure if ME2 is to my liking, I'm old and fragile and have no reflexes. Turnbased is so much better for me. :)
 
I've played both these games. Endless Space for ca 20 hours, Fallen Enchantress for 100's of hours. Endless Space I'm abit bored of already, Fallen Enchantress I still keep playing and still have alot of fun with. Say no more..... ;)

Both are interesting TBS games, but Fallen Enchantress really has something special going with an interesting world to discover, conquer and settle.

If people want a great Space 4X/Strategy TBS game I'd rather recommend the grand classic Galactic Civilizations 2 then Endless Space.

When it comes to Fallen Enchantress I can't think of any better Fantasy 4X/Strategy in ages, perhaps ever. Sweat memories of Heroes 3 and 4, Masters of Magic and Age of Wonders comes back to life, but this time arround you can do alot more in your world because the empire building concept and diplomacy is widely expanded upon compared to those old classics.
 
gozpel said:
Fallen Enchantress I never even heard of, but Endless Space sounded interesting.

So I sit here now wondering if they're worth trying?

And now we got a new contender: Distant Worlds.

I still haven't tried out my Mass Effect 2, maybe I should do that while you ppl find out the better game of the other ones...Not sure if ME2 is to my liking, I'm old and fragile and have no reflexes. Turnbased is so much better for me. :)
Click to expand...

You might be interested in this article which mentions DW against Endless space.
http://www.blog.playscifi.com/explore-and-expand-or-exploit-and-expire/#
 
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