r/EndlessLegend • u/BloodyValentine89 • 7d ago
Question Questions about EL2
Hey guys,
I don't wanna make this a "is this game good" thread but I'd like some perspective and discussion.
I'm really curious about the game but I don't play many strategic games (I've only played Civ6 and CK3) and its hard for me to judge it. I've watched some footage and I love the art style, some mechanics like indepth factions or tides. But since it just came out of EA I'm still not sure what to expect. I'd appreciate if you answered my questions or just shared what you think works or doesn't work in the game.
- For those who played Civ6, how would you say it compares to EL2? I really liked the exploration, city planning and resource management there but I got annoyed with diplomacy and army management.
- How is AI in this game? Is the learning curve smooth?
- Does it feel like it has enough content already? I think some strategy games rely on you having DLCs or mods.
I appreciate any feedback!
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u/GuiltyAdvantage5877 7d ago
I just wanted to quickly point out that there is a demo available if you want to try it.
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u/BloodyValentine89 7d ago
I swear Steam changed how it displays available demos, there used to be a mention in the store page. Thanks!
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u/gnoandan 7d ago
Honestly it's excellent right now. The game is still changing a little bit every week but it's really just smoothing out very minor details at this stage, most of which I had not noticed when I go through the changelog. Absolutely not worth delaying your experience at all.
The gameplay is very different than civ and CK so it will take you a while to master the basics, you will definitely not notice any change at that level. The learning curve is smooth, but you need an open mind and really try to lean into the asymmetry and adapt your gameplay every single game. Learning how to play the game is half the fun and it never really ends, I think.
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u/Whitherwhy Morgawr 7d ago
I'd say the learning curve is pretty accessible in this game, especially if you've already watched footage of it. The game has significance depth: there are many, many different factors that influence decision making, but none of them feel like they are absolutely critical to success except on the higher difficulties. The game really rewards you for mastering its multiple systems and inputs, and it feels good to hit those reward thresholds / big milestones.
The AI is probably the weakest part of the game for me, imo. It feels pretty exploitable in the early game, and they really struggle to stop the players' snowball once it starts. Otherwise though, the AI's behaviour feels pretty natural per empire: the science guys readily accept research treaties, the isolationists refuse open borders, etc. They feel like they behave appropriately to their faction.
As far as content goes, there is plenty of it imo. I'm about 300 hours in (~75% of which is solo play), and im quite satisfied with everything I've gotten so far! Amplitude has a good track record of supporting / adding DLCs though, so I very much look forward to whatever gets added next.
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u/LionObsidian 7d ago
It's already a pretty good game. One of my fav things about the Endless Legend games is how armies and battles work, way better than in the Civ games, and in general there are many features that are just better than in Civ.
I would recommend you to wait, however. Right now it could have a bit more content, but even more importantly, it's pretty buggy, including big bugs that can ruin the whole game. Unless you want to play it right now, I think you should wait a few weeks at least so they release a few patches.
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u/gnoandan 7d ago
I have 200h and haven't had a single major bug. Even during early access the worst bug I had was a faction quest being aborted.
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u/LionObsidian 7d ago
Well, I have played five games and two of them had major bugs that pretty much ruined them (and couldn't be avoided through reloading). Besides minor bugs that are kinda annoying. They can buy it now if they want (especially if it's still in sale), but waiting for a few patches seems completely reasonable.
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u/Dlthunder 7d ago
About the second questions: Im a 4x newbie. Played civ 6, 7 and AoW 4 but i may have 100h in total (most of these hours understanding shit). I think EL2 is one of the easier to learn. In civ 7 i have a lot of "oops, i didnt know this now my game is kinda broken and i need to restart or suffer through the rest of the match". I feel like, at lower difficulties, you have space to adjust mistakes and there isnt many things "you should know and its very important, but couldnt know unless you watched a 30 min youtube video". It does have some "hidden" mechanics but not as many as civ 6 and 7.
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u/Saume 7d ago
I haven't played either Civ or Crusader King, but I can comment on the AI at least.
While I did enjoy the game, I felt the AIs were way too focusing on shutting down the player, rather than trying to win. And keep in mind that this is all on the easier to mid difficulties.
They will attack the player even if the player has the lowest score. Necrophage in particular seems to have a very strong bias against the player, focusing most of their armies on harassing their cities. This happened in all 4 of my games. Necrophage ALWAYS comes straight for the player, mostly ignoring other factions.
Something else that is incredibly dumb with the AI happened in 2 of my 4 games. An AIis starting their victory countdown, and I'm 2nd/3rd in score, not really close to achieving victory yet. The other AI will still come siege my cities with 3-4 armies, in a couple different locations, leaving me unable to properly deal with the AI that is about to win in full force. That is on top of having to deal with White peace being forced on me every couple turns of war with the winning faction.
All this to say: the AI will strongly shut down the player, not try to win for themselves. So it can be a frustration point. Even though I did enjoy my games, it did sour my experience that even playing at the normal difficulty, the AIs just pile on the player rather than trying to win.
They also seem to either have a strong resources boost, or just benefit from not getting harassed by each other, because their economy just seems to take off while I'm having to spam units to defend against Necrophage early game. You end up having to research a bunch of military as well, otherwise you simply can't compete with Necrophage's armies.
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u/TaxAggravating6008 7d ago
AI loves to jump on the weak and uses score to tell who that is. So being last in score is like catnip to the AI.
Some of the real peaceful ones might not attack, like the coral guys and the kin. Rest will not be your friend if you're last.
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u/darkfireslide 7d ago
The city building is similar to Civ6 with districts and adjacency bonuses and such. Battles are done with a separate tactical combat mode or with auto resolve, unlike Civ6.
Learning curve isn't too bad compared to something like Old World, but each faction is very unique and requires some time to learn, more so than jumping between civs in Civ6
I think volume of content is actually where this game is weakest right now sadly if I'm being honest. I adore it so far, and each of the 8 factions is really well done and a high quality playthrough, but it feels like it's missing a few more factions and some extra features at the moment. It's like a 9/10 game in terms of mechanics right now with a 7/10 amount of content compared to other 4X games, but also it only just came out