Elven Legacy - Under The Radar

Dhruin

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A site called The Koalition has an Under the Radar series that has now covered Elven Legacy in what is essentially a review:
The AI in this game is absolutely brutal! It seems that no matter how much you think you’re in control of a battle, the AI seems to have a few tricks up its sleeve. You may have wiped out a number of enemy units with your men, next thing you know a larger wave of enemies comes out from nowhere and cripples your units! Even if you outnumber them, the level of your units and the perks attained determine the outcome of a clash between units. In addition, the odds are drastically in favour of the AI, where more enemy units are hidden in the fog of war, outnumbering your army 2:1. You will need some quick, strategic thinking in order to measure up to these odds.
More information.
 
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This game sounds very hardcore. While it seems attractive, I'm probably too much of n00b to play this (unless there is a n00b difficulty setting)…
 
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I'm not sure how long your personal gaming history goes back, but it's the spiritual and technical successor to Fantasy General, which was basically a quick art switch on Panzer General.
I find this game superior, and the AI to be at least as good. Those games by SSI were noted for their often brutal AI.
I started with the first in their series, Fantasy Wars, and have never been disappointed with it or any of its sequels or expansions.
Difficult, but fair, is how I'd categorize the games. The 'Ranger' expansion (for EL) was the easiest of the bunch so far.
The games are some of my favorites of all time.
There is, indeed, an easy mode, and you can switch difficulty levels on each mission in the campaign, if you were so inclined.
 
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I played war games using die cut cardboard units and hex boards with paper back in the day. I have little experience with computer wargames.

Does "brutal AI" consist of smart tactics or overwhelming you by huge numbers? Fighting the latter can just be tedious rather than actually interesting…

But more importantly the missions are "Timed". Ugh. :( I like to have the time to think through options and explore...
 
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But more importantly the missions are "Timed". Ugh. :( I like to have the time to think through options and explore…

It bothered me at the beginning but in fact, you have 3 types of victory depending how quick you win : gold, silver and bronze. For the gold victory, you need to be fast and your reward is usually some nice artifact. The bronze usually leaves you at least with twice as much time, so you can take your time, and as you can explore at leisure, you can find cool artifacts "hidden" on the map.

So the result is basically the same, just a symbolic challenge for those who like to play "blitz". I did a first play through on the whole series taking as much time as I needed, and a second trying to achieve gold for each mission.

On the question of difficulty, you just have to think and look at the strength and weaknesses of your units. I saw my girlfriend play, she put the archers in front only once. You learn quickly from your mistakes.

Sometimes the objectives aren't very clear and you can get bogged down if you take a reckless strategy for instance and missing a crucial sub-objective. You can look at the objectives list in-game or have a quick look at a walkthrough.
 
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I really do need to remember to grab all the DLC expansions from gamersgate at some point...should be much fun to be had in sum.
 
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The AI is fairly intelligent, but there will always be those who find most any AI to be lackluster or of minimal challenge. Perhaps it's not perfect, but I can't name a strategy game whose AI is better.
The computer will usually have superior numbers, but it makes sense in the context of the game, and there are always several smart ways through most given missions. The key for me is to try to never lose a single unit, as they progressively gain veteran status and perks, which can lead to an edge on subsequent missions.
 
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I enjoyed the game a lot, and almost beat it. Have to go back some day and finish the final scenario. It's difficult as mentioned if you focus on just getting Gold victories, but enjoyable and perfectly playable on Bronze/easy for those who don't thrive on stress.

The only thing I wish is that there were some general non-spoiling walkthrus available so you could plan ahead a bit instead of having to be surprised, discover your strategy was inappropriate and replay.
 
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I played the demo for this game, to see if I'd like it. If I remember correctly, this game has time limits for the missions, which I found very frustrating. I played Fantasy General and enjoyed it much more because I didn't feel so stressed out due to running out of time. I searched to see if there were any mods or cheats which would remove the time limits(if the game didn't have time limits I might consider buying the full version, because then the game might actually be enjoyable to me), but was unable to find any, so I promptly uninstalled the demo and decided not to waste any more time with the game.
 
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As already posted above, you can exceed the time limits in the scenarios, you just get a bonus for making them. Finishing within the first time limit(Gold) usually gets you a free unit and an artifact, finishing in the second level (Silver), one but not both freebies, and you can play til you're tired at the Bronze level without any penalty, just no added goodies--you actually will level your units more, so you get a sort of bonus anyway. It's just a challenge system for those who want the added edge.
 
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like others said, the 'time limits' are not entirely there. You feel constrained because there is one, but really, it's a way to balance the game. For gold victories, you really need to focus on the objectives. Silver victories are doable and still do some exploration. Bronze victories are doable and you can explore a lot (except in a few scenarios). But if you were to get all the goodies in all the maps, plus mission rewards, it would make it tough to provide a challenging gameplay as you go through the campaign.
 
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What hasn't been said about time limits and rewards is that you really need those Gold or at least Silver rewards. If you only make the Bronze every mission, and only score a reward now and then, you're going to find out down the road that you're screwed. Those artifacts aren't bonuses, they're absolutely necessary.

Also, while it's true there are hidden treasures to be found if you take your time and go the Bronze route, you also have to fight more enemies to find them. Fighting more enemies means more losses for you so it's not really a trade-off.

My biggest complaint about the game isn't the unforgivingly brutal fights —those are great— it's that small losses along the way can't be made up later. You could lose an expensive key unit in Mission 3 and find out that Mission 7 is impossible because you couldn't replace it.
 
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I never had that particular problem, but I mostly made Silvers. Still, I do agree that the game is somewhat on rails about what units you need to have leveled up, or else—that's one of the reasons I can't complete the last scenario—my leader units just can't hack it. Of course, one tries to spare them any near death encounters (and indeed has to spare them since their death is a loss condition) but it's often hard to get them into the fray to gain experience without risking their lives.

It would be really nice, as I said before, to have some guidance either via a walkthru somewhere or ingame, about what is going to be needed in upcoming fights so one could plan ahead, make sure a particular unit survives, etc.
 
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I once tried the demo of the precessor, and found it too hard for my taste.

Since then I've decided not to buy any games from this series.

I like to think, but not with these odds against me !
 
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