Something about "thoroughly enjoying the game as it is" yet it still "needing significant work" (your exact words used in the same sentence) aren't typically synonymous, so I guess you are correct that I am making a bad assumption there 

As for the defense of the 54% from the polls, I sure hope none of my friends would recommend something that still needed "significant work" lulz

Who is this "most of" you speak of.  Are you now speaking for the majority?

I don't recall comparing their releases.  I was comparing the impact that the modding community had on the games and when those games truly blossomed.

And no, you don't have to use the mod tools to take advantage of the modding community.  You can simply download the ones created by the modding community and put them to use.  FYI, Civ 4 was buggy as hell upon release.  NWN had a decent campaign.  But both shined like diamonds once the mod community got a hold of them.  Then, and only then, did they both reach their true potential.

No, they aren't typically synonymous.  That should tell you something about the game itself, that even with its bugs, there are a lot of people (54%) still enjoying the hell out of it.

As for your friends recommending the game or not...  this is still not relevant as to whether most people recognize that the game still needs work.  And I repeat, even Stardock recognizes this.  It still does not mean that people cannot have fun playing it.  Some people's tolerance for bugs is simply higher than others.

I am speaking for the majority. Because the majority bought a game, which according to Stardock themselves should have been better than it is.

You know how long it took Civ and NWN to get good mods? Making mods takes time, NWN's amazing modules and Civ's Rise of Mankind or Fall From Heaven didn't spring up overnight.

People that purchased both Civ and NWN didn't do it because of "future potential", they bought it for present day fun, and both games delivered. I'm glad you have relatively few complaints about Elemental, but you are part of a minority (there are communities beyond the official Stardock forums, just FYI).

EDIT: Yes, NWN and Civ "shined like diamonds" because of mods, but they didn't stink like a turd like Elemental does upon release.

You can't back up your stance just like I can't back up my stance.  There is no way to know where the percentages lie.

Opinion.

LOL, the beta was a crappy unplayable mess, so this is faaar better than that was, but still lots of what they say on here is very true. The game has a lot of issues, especially in the late game.

I cannot say that I agree at all.  First of all, it is only one opinion.  Second, my own experience is positive.  I am about 250 turns into a large map playing 1.06 and have had but one crash and I was able to recover from the autosave (I save each turn.)  The game is a work in progress, there are minor graphics and other gameplay glitches, but it is certainly playable and enjoyable. 

I concede that a relatively small development firm cannot have the resources to test out software on many, many different configurations of PC's and laptops and that may be part of the issues here.  But it seems that many of the people I see complaining about game crashes have underpowered or older PC's.  There may also be BIOS and chipset combinations that the game does not handle well, so I'm not saying it is only the customer's fault, but given time, I think many of these issues will be worked out.

But I would not in any way call this game unplayable, at least in the 1.06 release.  Some may not be able to play it as yet, but there are fixes on the way.  The forum would be absolutely inundated with gripes if it were unplayable as described and retailers would be clamoring for the unsold units to be returned.  That is not happening.

Sometimes common sense goes a long way.

"dur hurr hurr hurr I don't know why people buy video games"

But you can keep your head buried in the ground if you want.

Elemental is perfectly playable as a piece of software, but not as a game.

Hm i don't know... i wouldn't say that the game is unplayable but it's certanly far away from being a polished product. It reminds me a lot of Gothic 3 but Stardock is the developer, so i really think it will be a good game in some months.

I wouln't recommend the game to a friend because of three huge problems:

Poor Performance:

after my first tries with poor performance (i have 12-20 fps as soon as there is a city in sight) and crashes, i really lost interest and never was "into it" . I mean its not even looking as good as warcraft 3 ^^ what is sucking up the performance?. Even people with a i-7 and the latest GPU have the same problems.

No Info:

I have no idea what I'am doing or what i can research and the "manual" isn't really helping... we need more text ingame and more info .... a ton of it

Stability:

Crash after crash i can't even minimize the game...^^

If those three problems are solved we could go from there and improve the mechanics.

i got the game and it is taking a little getting used to. this is because im used to rts and am still getting the feel for turn based and i may be getting some mods. i think itwould have made a great rts though

And I can see that trying to have a civil discussion with you is completely pointless.  Thank you for showing your true colors.  You really have no desire to contribute anything to the discussion, nor to try to think outside of that little box you painted yourself in.

I see what you did there! Well spotted and well put!