Elemental: War of Magic - Fallen Enchantress Developer Diary
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Category: News ArchiveHits: 1785
Despite the greater variety in the starting environments, we still want to maintain the players ability to transform the world as your empire grows. Empire lands aren't as dark as they were in War of Magic for practical reasons (it was hard to see units on them).With the amount of work they're putting into this, I find myself really looking forward to Elemental for a second time.
The map has also gone through considerable rework. Notice the amount of inland bodies of water. With those, mountains and chasms forming natural choke points specific pieces of land become more valuable and allow players to focus their armies at key locations. Owning a pass of an extensive mountain range means more, as does wiping out a Bone Ogre that is keeping you from getting through to valuable resources.
Also notice the large Spellbook button on the bottom right of the screen. Any strategic spell your casters have access to can be cast from here. You don't have to find the caster. If you want to raise a mountain and you have all the requirements, go into your spellbook and cast it. If you want to enchant a city or unit, open a Shadow Gate or drop a Falling Star on an enemy army, it can all be done from here. This was hotly debated. There is a psychological effect as the player doesn't feel like his champion or sovereign is casting the spell. Your fire archmage champion didn't seem to cast that spell (even though we show who is able to cast it in the spellbook, so you know who is enabling these spells) which removes a little of your feeling of connection and attachment to them. But we gain the fact that magic feels very global and player based. If you have mana and powerful casters you can start unleashing spells. And of course it's fatser and easier than hunting for casters.
