Elvenar: Year 1 Retrospective

[DeletedUser17455]

Hello, I started playing Elvenar in March of 2018. It is not roughly March of 2019

I played Elvenar for roughly 1 year and it is possible/likely that I will continue playing it. It is a good game for the bus, unless you are in chapter 8. I have much to say that is somewhat negative, but please remember that I have also chosen to continue playing Elvenar.

Overview:

Here is my Elvenstats.

As you can see from the Elvenstats account, my score has increased roughly 5,000 points per month. By December (after about 9 months) I reached the Orcs chapter. I began the chapter optimistically, building 70 or so orc buildings, and by the end of January my spirits had been so crushed that I barely played, left my fellowship, and uninstalled the app.

On March 24th (two months after abandoning the game) I received an email about the Phoenix event, which is the event that I enjoyed during my first month in the game. I reinstalled the app and have enjoyed the Phoenix event (alone ToT; ). I also managed to push through the Orcs chapter and am now breathing a sigh of relief as my city is being reborn as a beautiful green forest.

Who knows what the future holds. I have started a fellowship of 1 so that I can continue to benefit from tournaments but I am not confident yet that I will play actively enough to want to be part of a fellowship.

My tournament average was, at it's peek, close to 1500 per week. I think that is a good number.

My fellowship participated in several fellowship adventures. I found playing the role of fellowship organizer to be fun (maintaining spreadsheets, keeping moral high, recording data for next time). I think everyone probably agrees that the fellowship adventures are a slog, and that the rewards are barely worth the effort.

Oh also: I have paid for this game. Thank you Inno for making this game, I think I paid like $20 bucks? It is not often that you pay $20 bucks for a game and then play it for a year. So... Inno is doing something right something that appeals to a part of my brain that I am maybe ashamed of D:

Thoughts:

I think that Elvenar is not a "fun" game, but it does a good job of hooking a player. It does not "spark joy" and if I was Mari Kondo I would cut it out of my life. It is the equivalent of a rash that is satisfying to scratch. It brings me about as much real joy as facebook notifications. Seeing the tiny red icon that says "you have a message" feels good. I think that videogames, even idle games and clickers, can be more fun than notifications. Try playing "Universal Paperclips" and tell me that it isn't 100x more fun that Elvenar despite being pretty similar.

I enjoy Elvenar when it is asking me to be an active participant. Every chapter so far has begun with a lot of interesting decisions, moving buildings around, doing research, etc... but inevitably becomes nothing more than a repetitive slog. Queuing up the same builds every day, sometimes for months, is not fun. I think that it could be possible for a game like Elvenar to have a rhythm, with periods of busy action and peaceful stretches of idilic calm. I don't think that's what Elvenar accomplishes. In each chapter you build a machine, and then are invited to power it by hand for a month.

I enjoy the tournaments, events, and fellowship adventures for the same reasons: they invite me to be an active player. I enjoy thinking about Ancient Wonders, or planning out how many barracks make sense. Elvenar has this habit of encouraging active participation at the beginning of some "event" and then just asking you to turn a winch for one week. One week of turning a winch is not fun.

Ludonarrative:

I find the art and whimsical themes of the events and event buildings to be very fun. At first I enjoyed decorating my city with thematically unified sets of event building. Later I realized that, if you do the math, there are clearly better and worse building... and this kind of ruined it for me. My city currently has 20 of the same mana producing building because I calculated that it's mana/hour/tile is the highest available to me. I'm sure that the game's goal is to appeal to the aesthetic folk who want to decorate, as well as the power gamers who want to win... but it fails to appeal to the aesthetic power games. I think the game would be improved for me if it felt more like there were multiple "right answers".

Imagine, for example, if the chapters had multiple "paths" that encouraged different styles of play. I know: typical player just wants the devs to work harder. "Moar contents! Opener world!". Sorry!

The writing has never succeeded in bringing me into the narrative. Each chapter feels like a guest shows up and tries to teach me something new, but in the end they leave nothing behind. I don't have an Dwarf buildings, or Orc buildings, these peoples arrive, boss me around with quests that do not interest me, and then leave no mark. The "orcs" and "mana" feel a little bit like something has been left behind, and I know that mana will continue to be a mechanic... so maybe this ludonarrative dissonance is something that the team is aware of and is correcting?

Orcs:

The Orcs chapter should be discarded or re-implemented. I have mixed feelings on this one (hmm no, no I don't). Let me try this again. The orcs chapter was so awful that it took me from enthusiastic player with a tournament score of 1500 and a fellowship that loved him, to the guy getting the emails that say "come back, we will give you diamonds". You hurt me Inno, you did me wrong. The Orcs chapter should be discarded or re-implemented.

However, it is worth saying that: I think it is OK for a videogame to hurt a player, or do them wrong, in service of the narrative. I think it could be fine to have a long, painful, destructive chapter to introduce the evil orcs. I think it could be interesting to have the familiar game mechanics suddenly be flipped and become a form of violence against the player. I think it _could_ be interesting, but the orcs chapter does not accomplish the subtle dance of game design that such an experience would require. The writing is not there, the game design is not there. The Orcs chapter should be discarded and or re-implemented.

Thank you! This has been my 1 year retrospective.

 

[Mykan]

Thank you for sharing, it is interesting for me as someone who has played for years and witnessed many changes to hear how a newer player sees the game as it is now.

Each chapter feels like a guest shows up and tries to teach me something new, but in the end they leave nothing behind. I don't have an Dwarf buildings, or Orc buildings, these peoples arrive, boss me around with quests that do not interest me, and then leave no mark.

With this comment you may have missed it (or dismissed it) but each gust race takes ownership of a factory type. If you look at the tech tree going forward they will start to have the guest race name associated with that factory. So in wood elves look at the tech to upgrade steel factories, you will note it is owned by the dwarves. Along with the name the architecture also keeps to the style of the owner, this might be good or bad news depending on your boosted goods (and sentient goods)

From memory:

• Marble - Elementals
• Steel - Dwarves
• Planks - Wood Elves
• Crystal - Amuni
• Scrolls - Sorceres and dragons
• Silk - Fairies
• Elixir - Halflings
• Dust - Orcs and goblins (bad news this is your sentient good)
• Gems - Constructs

Personally I think the gems factory looks amazing once the constructs take hold of it.

 

[DeletedUser17455]

With this comment you may have missed it (or dismissed it)

Actually, I did not notice that! My boosts are steel/crystal/elixir so the only one I would have seen is steel and I actually don't have any steel manufactories. I get all my goods from set buildings and trading.

That's a nice touch, for sure. I think what I would like is something with a bit more umph. It looks like mana and orcs are here to stay though, so it may be that the later chapters will feel like they have a more lasting effect.

 

[Mykan]

I can appreciate the more umph, which sadly is limited. You will find some new stuff like seeds (with halflings) and then the sentient goods from elementals on, you will need some factories for these so read up on elementals when your in halflings to be prepared. Personally I think of those as more game dynamics but there are some new challenges as a result of those.

The quests in the construct chapter explain the back story of how we came from being the Elvenar (High men) to just humans and Elves. So you may wish to read the story there if it interests you. We do seem to be on a journey back towards becoming the Elvenar...we will see what happens in the future.

 

[DeletedUser2959]

Orcs damn near made me quit. Glad I didn't, mind you, but it was close.

 

[Mykan]

Orcs damn near made me quit. Glad I didn't, mind you, but it was close.

I feel like I am the only person who enjoyed the orcs chapter. Shows how warped I am . While I mostly liked the visuals of wood elves, they made me feel like a naughty child who was told to go sit in a corner.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

Actually, I did not notice that! My boosts are steel/crystal/elixir so the only one I would have seen is steel and I actually don't have any steel manufactories. I get all my goods from set buildings and trading.

That's a nice touch, for sure. I think what I would like is something with a bit more umph. It looks like mana and orcs are here to stay though, so it may be that the later chapters will feel like they have a more lasting effect.

Starting with Halflings, Divine Seeds are here to stay too.As long as you have leftover guest race goods, you can always put down some of their streets as a reminder of them. And as long as you have the space, there is no rule that says you have to upgrade every single residence and workshop to current chapter, so you can always keep one from each chapter around for the looks.

 

[Deleted User - 3932582]

I feel like I am the only person who enjoyed the orcs chapter. Shows how warped I am . While I mostly liked the visuals of wood elves, they made me feel like a naughty child who was told to go sit in a corner.

Make that two. I actually really enjoyed the Orcs, I didn't even find it much more difficult than other chapters (finished in 36 days, never techlocked). It requires some planning to do it right though, and I think this is probably why so many people have problems with this chapter. I believe that the cost of mistakes in the Orcs is high, probably the highest of all the chapters that I've seen so far. Miscalculate your production, and you can set you back for days, and these add up fast.

Also, in most other chapters you can follow the quest line on autopilot, and you'll probably do OK. I don't think that in Orcs quests were particularly helpful.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

Make that two. I actually really enjoyed the Orcs, I didn't even find it much more difficult than other chapters (finished in 36 days, never techlocked). It requires some planning to do it right though, and I think this is probably why so many people have problems with this chapter. I believe that the cost of mistakes in the Orcs is high, probably the highest of all the chapters that I've seen so far. Miscalculate your production, and you can set you back for days, and these add up fast.

Also, in most other chapters you can follow the quest line on autopilot, and you'll probably do OK. I don't think that in Orcs quests were particularly helpful.

Oh, the chapter itself was not that bad and the ugly buildings were survivable, the issue I had with the chapter was with the orcs themselves and their ugly dialogues that popped up with the quests.

 

[Deleted User - 3932582]

Oh, the chapter itself was not that bad and the ugly buildings were survivable, the issue I had with the chapter was with the orcs themselves and their ugly dialogues that popped up with the quests.

I mean, these are Orcs. You wouldn't expect sophisticated conversations from them, would you? They're supposed to be the embodiment of ugly. Sounds like Inno did a good job there

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

I mean, these are Orcs. You wouldn't expect sophisticated conversations from them, would you? They're supposed to be the embodiment of ugly. Sounds like Inno did a good job there

I got the feeling that they were more amusing and less....icky in the language the dialogue was originally written in. Same thing with the Valentine Event storyline. And after all, there have been plenty of examples where the writing for this game does not seem to translate well, or make sense, once it is in English. And even if you want to pretend things are somewhat realistic, I could maybe see Human cities letting the orcs in and working with them, but the Elves?

 

[NightshadeCS]

Orcs are polarizing, for sure! I have seen others on the forum laud Orcs and Goblins as their favorite chapter, but I will hazard a completely unsubstantiated hypothesis that many of us who start this game like lovely things, so are offended by those gross orcs and goblins!

 

[Sir Squirrel]

It is like happiness, you wouldn't appreciate it as much without occasional sadness. Orcs are the sadness of the game, so you appreciate the other guest races more.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

It is like happiness, you wouldn't appreciate it as much without occasional sadness. Orcs are the sadness of the game, so you appreciate the other guest races more.

No, things can be both sad and beautiful. Orcs are neither.

 

[Deleted User - 3932582]

OK, I fixed @Sir Squirrel post just a bit (in bold):

It is like beauty, you wouldn't appreciate it as much without occasional ugliness. Orcs are the ugly of the game, so you appreciate the other guest races more.

 

[Sir Squirrel]

yeah that's what I meant !! lol

 

[bkbajb]

I have been playing for over 3 years and as many will tell you, I play slowly.. I am in Halflings. I like upgrading my AW's since the bonuses I feel are important, some do not. The Orc chapter was a pain, but I dealt with it and moved on. The only time I think about is when people start complaining about it. Is this game exciting, no. But it is a thinking persons game. Their are many challenges to concur. Some would love to have a warehouse to store buildings. Bad idea in my book. Do real cities get to build something then move in case they need it at a later time? No. It you want to dissect the game and quit, come back, etc. please do. As for me I would rather continue on seeing what is around the corner. They have added a lot to this game. But you have to want to use these new items. More importantly, learn how to use them. Whether you stay or go again, good luck. If you stay try spending some time learning what to do and when to do it. It makes a big difference.

 

[Mykan]

I have been playing for over 3 years and as many will tell you, I play slowly.. I am in Halflings. I like upgrading my AW's since the bonuses I feel are important, some do not.

This sounds like a strong suit to your game. I often find a lot of people complaining about certain game aspects and often it is because they have rushed through certain things (often from advise of "experienced" players) only to hit walls that are inherit in the game. It's like they missed learning the mechanics in a rush to get to the end.

Learning how the game works is really important, a person will find their own pace anyway. But understanding the mechanics can help you move quicker and/or be more adaptable as the changes arrive, some of which we are yet to even see or consider as more chapters are still to come.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

I have been playing for over 3 years and as many will tell you, I play slowly.. I am in Halflings. I like upgrading my AW's since the bonuses I feel are important, some do not.

Yep, I am sort of opposite of you. I have been playing a little over 2 1/2 years, am most of the way through chapter 13 (Amuni), and I have not built even half the Wonders and I only have two of them at level 11, with the rest lower than 10. And I do not feel like I am missing out on anything by doing that.

 

[DeletedUser17455]

I think this game is at its best when it is asking me to make decisions. During those moments, it does feel like "a thinking person's game". For example, during the seasonal events I always have to re-arrange my city to maximize the number of tier 1 workshops and manufactories in order to finish the sequential quests quickly. Thanks to elvengems I am able to queue up multiple quests at the same time, which is an interesting planning problem. This is done very well.

During events, often each quest requires you to make some decision. During an event, I have to decide whether and when to collect coins, for example, since a coin quest could be around the corner. I have to decide how many workshops vs how many manufactories to include in my city. I frequently have to tear down a few workshops to make room for manufactories, or move buildings around in order to group productions logically to lessen the chance of collecting by mistake. The pace of these decisions is also good: often I will open up the game, finish a long quest (for example, 15 groceries) and then have 4 or 5 short quests that can be done in 15 minutes or an hour, followed by a longer quest. This pace breaks up my day, and it feels very natural. This combination of a good rhythm and the small puzzle of organizing the city is fun.

Another thing that is fun during the events is thinking about which daily prizes to go for. I have an elaborate spreadsheet that I use to calculate the per tile values of event buildings, ancient wonders, etc... and it is enjoyable to expand and maintain this spreadsheet. Scrolling through the daily prizes on elvengems thinking about my current goals (do I need culture? more space? mana?) is interesting.

(I should say though: if there was no elvengems, then I suspect the events would be a lot less interesting for me. Having to make a decision based on FOMO is a lot less fun than thinking about each decision as it fits into the larger scheme.)

The chapters begin this way too, with a fair bit of planning and city management.

For orcs I finished a seasonal event and then... cleared out my city! I made a huge amount of space, upgraded all of my residences, workshops, and barracks with the new orc tech, and then sold all of my culture buildings in order to make more space for the mushroom farms. This was neat, and I had to think hard about whether and why it made sense to operate at low culture during the chapter. I was able to build 70 mushroom farms, and 5 or 6 of the rally points, and this city building phase of the chapter took a few weeks, during which I was pretty happy.

Similarly, I have just started the wood elves chapter and have been thinking a great deal about mana... I found a great mana building (the burning pool) and won 20 of them in the event. I have a little street running down the right side of my city that is all burning pools and then also 7 or 8 weeping willows. I'm sure there will be more interesting space-making challenges to come. It feels like Inno has done a good job of spacing things out. I am accumulating mana while I wait to unlock the wood-elf goods. Presumably there will be another mid-chapter city building section, followed by another (hopefully shorter) period of daily accumulation with not much change.

So it is there! The fun is there. The thing that is a drag is once you have established the necessary infrastructure for a chapter. Once I had my 70 mushroom farms... it was hundreds of clicks every day to get them producing hardshrooms. For a month. I shudder just thinking about it! Especially bad because this wall of clicking is standing between me and a game that I have enjoyed playing for (at that time) close to a year. I had a similar experience with dwarves and fairies: the setup is enjoyable but then... it's just the same thing every day for a long time. In Dwarves and Faeries this was tolerable because there were not _that_ many buildings to queue up.

I think it would be fair to say: maybe I should not have built 70 mushroom farms. Maybe Orcs is a marathon, not a sprint, and I shouldn't have thought that I could bullrush my way through. Maybe I should have thought about how many clicks / day is comfortable for me, and stayed within that upper bound. I have build 70+ workshops during a fellowship adventure, but those are much shorter. I think I thought it would not be a problem. This, I think, is a fair argument. However, that isn't what I did, so I can't champion that idea. Orcs took me out of the game and as someone who otherwise enjoys this game, it feels to me like a design issue.

It would still be possible to have an Orcs chapter that was "ugly" and even long without having it take the joy out of the game. For example, orc buildings could be non-rectangular (lol, can you imagine, with like, angles?) and the productions could require a resource like mana (I'm thinking dung) that accumulates at a rate that you don't have much control over. That way the chapter could be long, but would not feel like there is a way to power through it. Just a thought!

They have added a lot to this game. But you have to want to use these new items. More importantly, learn how to use them. Whether you stay or go again, good luck. If you stay try spending some time learning what to do and when to do it. It makes a big difference.

I think you are making an uncharitable assumption about my play-style. I know I won't be able to convince you, but I do know what I'm doing. I've maintained an excellent tournament average; I experiment with different culture bonuses; I use the crafting; I build wonders and upgrade them; I encourage and co-operate with my fellows in the adventures; my city is organized and gorgeous; I have a ridiculous surplus of goods but almost no manufactories; I grow my ancient knowledge by investing it wisely; etc... There isn't a system that they've added to this game that I haven't spent time thinking about, reading about, and experimenting with. I totally understand though: I imagine a lot of players probably complain about Orcs at their 1 year anniversary. Mine is probably a pretty "typical" reaction so it is fair for you to imagine that I am a "typical" player.

I think I should finish by saying: maybe it didn't sound like it because of the negativity around Orcs, but my review of this game is mostly positive. It doesn't "spark joy" in my life like (modded) Minecraft or A Good Snowman is Hard To Build, but it is a work-horse... a game that I've played a little bit every day for a year.