Elin vs Elona+

[Paradoxical]

Elona+ 2.21 to be exact the version I still play. I've seen how this is "Elona" in reviews and topics but how close is it really? We talking vanilla? What features are missing?

I don't really want to buy this and end up playing Elona+ anyway. Though if this games dev is the original developer of Elona or developer Elona+ I may. I feel like that would be the right thing to do after getting thousands of hours of entertainment.

[Lake]

Don't expect any features from Elona+, that's a huge mod made by a totally different devs. Noa hasn't played it.

[Shazza]

Keep in mind that Elona+ is a fan-made mod for Elona and not an official release, meaning the game design pathways are going to be inherently different due to different developers.

Elin is being developed by a small team including Noa themselves (the OG solo dev), mostly fronted by Rusty (LAFrontier).

Elin is currently getting daily hotfixes, and is extremely active on its Discord.

The core gameplay loop is definitely grindier than Elona/+ and focuses more on the basebuilding/management aspects - you can build your own houses, tile by tile, and set up rooms/beds for residents for automatic production (to a degree, it's not as smart as Rimworld/Necesse and more relies on "will spawn X item at a % chance".

Skills level up much slower and power upgrades don't come quickly. But there are apparently a lot of holdover gimmicks from the original, including material downgrading (hammers/shrines/statues).

Elin's QoL is definitely better; you can change party AI behaviours (Strategy skill), you have an Auto mode (for your own combat AI), you have a much earlier means of selling gear (shipment container) and the tutorial feels more fleshed out.

Honestly, get it to support Noa. Going by Rusty's claim (on the Elin AMA he posted in 2022) Elin was the only way Noa could commercially release Elona's concept as the original is coded on HSP (likely some distribution/sales rights issues).

[Suwako]

It's essentially a remake of vanilla Elona. Crafting is more important, and so is gear. Balancing is significantly better, and you dont see some horse with 700 speed like you do in Elona+, you dont end up chugging hermes potions 2 hours into a new save to even compete with anything E+ adds past vanilla stuff.

Elin looks and sounds quite a bit better than Elona. Unity also allows Noa to do some fancy stuff. Fireworks legit look gorgeous here. https://prnt.sc/lGfvUGOfUF-r

Lots of quality of life and reworks of systems that were kinda funky in Elona.

No more funky ring eating or turning armor into food, simply eat the correct food and you get potential, making cooking and farming actually usefull.

Controls aren't full keyboard and take an adjustment period, I personally play with a controller.

Story content is kinda limited, but if you're an Elona vet then you know that's not were the fun is.

and finally, im my opinion, the biggest and most important improvement. Workshop support. if this community grows enough, there will eventually be people constantly making QoL or preference mods, but most importantly there will be people making content and additions of their own, extending the life of the game. No more weirdly lining up pixels in character.bmp or items.bmp. or fiddling with the users folder, just click "sub" and 10 seconds later its ready to go.

[derpenstein]

the auto dump feature and search for item feature is alone enough to switch to elin and never look back lol

[Paradoxical]

Ok, if the original dev is in on it I'll get it today. I wasn't sure because there was a mobile game that I think he had nothing to do with. I knew Elona+ was a mod but it also greatly expanded the content so yeah, right up my alley. Even if I never really play this in my mind at least, I've given some compensation for all that playtime of original Elona and mods.

Edit: Steam made a link of my ellipsis lol

[Suwako]

You can change the UI to how you like as well. This is how I made mine.

https://prnt.sc/vo0gKAF05qx4

This alone just makes the game look so much better. You can share or use presets in the menu.

[Vantezzle]

How would I safely download/play Elona+ without risking malware?

[X-Games Legend Player]

Originally posted by Vantezzle:

How would I safely download/play Elona+ without risking malware?

The best way is to check the links from the Elona Discord Server[discord.gg] always.

[Reffy]

I didn't knew about Elona until like last week. Even though I played the spinoff flash game "Elona Shooter" a lot.

Elona is like driving a car from 1920. I'm having fun, but it's a bit old.
Will definitely keep an eye on Elona, mods and Elin.

[Kohaku]

Originally posted by Shazzamon:

Keep in mind that Elona+ is a fan-made mod for Elona and not an official release, meaning the game design pathways are going to be inherently different due to different developers.

Elin is being developed by a small team including Noa themselves (the OG solo dev), mostly fronted by Rusty (LAFrontier).

Elin is currently getting daily hotfixes, and is extremely active on its Discord.

The core gameplay loop is definitely grindier than Elona/+ and focuses more on the basebuilding/management aspects - you can build your own houses, tile by tile, and set up rooms/beds for residents for automatic production (to a degree, it's not as smart as Rimworld/Necesse and more relies on "will spawn X item at a % chance".

Skills level up much slower and power upgrades don't come quickly. But there are apparently a lot of holdover gimmicks from the original, including material downgrading (hammers/shrines/statues).

Elin's QoL is definitely better; you can change party AI behaviours (Strategy skill), you have an Auto mode (for your own combat AI), you have a much earlier means of selling gear (shipment container) and the tutorial feels more fleshed out.

Honestly, get it to support Noa. Going by Rusty's claim (on the Elin AMA he posted in 2022) Elin was the only way Noa could commercially release Elona's concept as the original is coded on HSP (likely some distribution/sales rights issues).

would you mind replying with a discord invite link?

[Shazza]

Originally posted by Kohaku:

would you mind replying with a discord invite link?

You can find it by selecting News on the main menu and, under Elin Update Information, clicking "Discord - Elin Community, Questions, General Discussion".

[Grundlator]

Man, I got somewhere around 900+ hours in elona+ and played that game on and off for so many years. It's so mind-blowingly good that it genuinely worried it would've made Elin seem disappointing, but... I'm having the best time in a new game release I've had in a very long time.

It's definitely its own thing, and I'll still play E+ for many more years, but even in its early access state, I could see myself easily getting hundreds of hours in Elin.

They're both beyond fantastic, and the overwhelmingly feature-rich E+ honestly won't make Elin feel lacking. If anything, it's the QoL Elin has that will make E+ feel sluggish now.

[X-Games Legend Player]

Originally posted by Kohaku:

would you mind replying with a discord invite link?

Originally posted by X-Games Legend Player:

The best way is to check the links from the Elona Discord Server[discord.gg] always.

https://discord.gg/elona

[Darx]

elona+ has a crap ton more features and stuff in it that elin. elin is closer to vanilla elona but with better graphics.

[Empurress MeowMeows]

It's made by the same person who made Elona and it has much better controls than Elona does. It also has some extra races and classes compared to vanilla. It's only going to get better and right now it's pretty good.