Elex -RPG by Piranha Bytes

Jag · Post by **Jag** » Tue Oct 17, 2017 5:37 pm

Elex is out today. A Euro-jank RPG by Piranha Bytes in the mold of Gothic and Risen. I liked the Risen games, so this was a day 1 buy for me.

It's post apocalypse instead of medieval, but there is enough of a throwback with factions that wield swords or magic along side shotgun wielding robo suits...so basically Fallout.

Story:

Science-Fantasy

Advanced in technology, civilized and with a population of billions, Magalan was a planet looking to the future. Then the meteor hit.

Those who survived are now trapped in a battle to survive, a struggle to decide the fate of a planet. At the center of this fight is the element “Elex”.
A precious, limited resource that arrived with the meteor, Elex can power machines, open the door to magic, or re-sculpt life into new, different forms.

But which of these choices should be the future of Magalan?
Can technology or magic save this world?
Or will this new power destroy all those left alive amongst the ruins?

Setting:

One of the games standout features is that it's set in a world with wasteland, scifi and fantasy elements.
If that reminds you of certain huge RPG franchises, that might just be a coincidence.
But what did the developers intend?

This footage leaked directly from the Piranha Bytes headquarters and might shed some light on the issue:

Features:

You get 1 full 60-80 hours game

No loot crates, no dlcs, no season pass, no preorder shenannigans, no microtransactions
Instead, they added huge replayability.

Decision based story

Being raised as an Alb and fed pure Elex to strengthen your body, which also stripped you of all emotions, your world of cold logic and military discipline were all you knew.
Set to rise through the ranks, a scourge to your enemies, your destiny seemed certain.
Now, as the smoke rises over the wreckage of your glider in the mountains of Edan, you are trapped far from your home Xacor.
With no access to pure Elex, you are experiencing emotions for the first time in your life.
Stranded amongst your enemies and outcast from your people, in front of you lies a new and open path, as heavily laden with magnificence as it is with ruin.
The decisions you make will decide the fate of the world. Magalan – will you be its slayer or its saviour?

Role-Playing

Find a companion, choose a faction and influence the world.
In Elex there is no traditional class system. Instead you must earn the trust of experienced teachers to develop the skills you select.
But, skills alone won’t be enough to survive in this harsh and challenging world. Your attitude towards the people you meet will influence those around you.
Will you make an ally or an enemy? Is now the time to show emotion or take the course of logic? Every choice will forge the future of your game.

Exploration

Thanks to the open world, players have access to all five regions of the game world right from the very start.
Go where you want, choose your battles and your allies.
The only thing in the world that will stop you are the mutant creatures that live in Magalan’s Elex-polluted landscapes.
Walk, run, or punch your jetpack into action. If you can see it, you can reach it. Open world role-playing has never been more open.

Combat

From swords and axes to bows, crossbows and harpoons, Elex offers one of the widest selection of weaponry in the history of role-playing.
Pick up a shotgun, power up a plasma rifle or unleash a flame thrower – there’s a weapon and combat style for every fighter out there.
Be it a hammer, a rocket launcher or the power of magic, Elex balances science, fantasy and brute force to let you choose the combat style that fits your role best!

Oh and jetpacks:

Jolor · Post by **Jolor** » Tue Oct 17, 2017 7:12 pm

I've been aware of this one for a while. Glad it's out so we can see what the community says. Because, on one hand, Gothic; on the other hand, Risen; but, on the gripping hand?

Max Peck · Post by **Max Peck** » Tue Oct 17, 2017 9:31 pm

I picked it up, but I probably won't get started with it until I wrap up Shadow of War. Which might take a while given that I'm more inclined to mass-murder uruk-hai than advance the plot.

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Tue Oct 17, 2017 9:59 pm

Definitely curious about this one. It seems like it's been awhile since we've had a sci fi/fantasy crossover. I've always had an affection for those, ever since the White Plume Mountain. Expedition to the Barrier Peaks.

Jaymann · Post by **Jaymann** » Wed Oct 18, 2017 12:09 am

I loved Gothic and Risen so I will keep an eye on this one.

Sepiche · Post by **Sepiche** » Wed Oct 18, 2017 10:11 am

With the caveat that I've only had an hour or two to play so far, I'm liking it a lot. Feels a lot more like Gothic 1 & 2 than Risen 1 & 2, which I couldn't really get into. In fact it feels a lot like Gothic meets Fallout so far as one might expect, but the addition of the jetpack does give a fun new twist to exploration.

killbot737 · Post by **killbot737** » Wed Oct 18, 2017 11:56 am

The bottom right of that jetpack pic looks Very consoley (select your weapon with the d-pad!). I'd like to see some comments on the available control schemes. If it "works best with a controller" I'm out.

Sepiche · Post by **Sepiche** » Wed Oct 18, 2017 12:55 pm

I see controller is available in the options, but I'm using keyboard and mouse just fine. Movement is a hair floaty at times, but not a big deal.

With KB&M there's a toolbar you put weapons and items in and you use the number keys to activate them.

Jag · Post by **Jag** » Wed Oct 18, 2017 1:33 pm

killbot737 wrote: ↑Wed Oct 18, 2017 11:56 am The bottom right of that jetpack pic looks Very consoley (select your weapon with the d-pad!). I'd like to see some comments on the available control schemes. If it "works best with a controller" I'm out.

It's not consoley, but it is floaty like Sephice said. I refuse to play console ports and this isn't a port although it is optimized to be playable on consoles.

If you have ever plaid the Gothic or Risen games, it is much more like that and the open world gameplay has been great so far. I've spent more time exploring and running away than questing.

I also like the fact that quests have different outcomes depending on how you handle them. I'm trying to get friendly with one faction but apparently they don't like how I'm resolving their quests, so instead of making them happy, i'm just pissing them off. Which is actually fun. It is more interesting than "go fetch me 5x boar ribs". Ok, now we love you.

Also, I realized that GIF is from a console. That's not what the PC version UI looks like. This is PC:

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Wed Oct 18, 2017 5:52 pm

Gonna need a bigger bow.

Jag · Post by **Jag** » Thu Oct 19, 2017 10:02 am

Daehawk wrote: ↑Wed Oct 18, 2017 5:52 pm Gonna need a bigger bow.

You run/jetpack away ALOT in this game.

Mattc0m · Post by **Mattc0m** » Thu Oct 19, 2017 5:03 pm

I've been having fun with it, but I kind of wished I made the decision earlier this week to play Shadow of War over it. It's fun, but ultimately very frustrating, and the rewarding bits are still a long ways off.

I've logged about 20 hours so far, and still getting my ass kicked by everything. Even trying to move about the map is a challenge. Finally gave up and being faction-less, joined a Faction to get some better armor and gear, hopefully this works out.

I've seen a few reviews and commentators call it an "old school-style RPG," which I'm not sure is accurate. It's a game that has no leveled enemies (as far as I can tell), everything in the world will kick your ass at the get go, and you're required to grind out missions and XP until you can come back and defeat said enemies. Running away is not only a viable strategy, you find yourself doing it for the majority of the "early game." And by early game I'm level 15 and 20 hours in -- and still just am getting wiped constantly. On Normal difficulty--it's insane.

What's crazy is, I love RPG games like this. The leveled scaling and constant respawning in Skyrim and Fallout is easily one of my biggest complaints--I love a game that has the progression where you gain your levels and can come back and kick the ass of things that were giving you a run for your money earlier in the game. It's very satisfying.

What isn't satisfying is how much grinding this requires, how there's zero direction on where and how to get those early levels, and ultimately it becomes an exercise in frustration. That glorious moment when you can finally destroy the enemies that were eating you for breakfast just moments before--I love that moment. But it's more elusive in this game than it has been in previous Gothic games (I never played the Risen games).

For example, you're constantly getting half-way done with quests, only to find there's a group of enemies you need to blast your way through to finish said quest. Guess what? It's 5 robots with laser rifles, against your one bow and a sword. There's nothing you can do, and you have to head your way back home and just finish said quest later. This happens all the time -- only about 1/4 of the early game quests had a path to completion that didn't involve wiping enemies that massively out-leveled you.

And what's worse is some of these quests give you no warning. For instance, just talking to an NPC I met in the dusty Outlaw-styled town, put me into an non-skippable dialogue that led me to being teleported to the next quest in the series. With an enemy that just looked at me and killed me earlier. And with no way to know if I could actually continue this quest after being teleported (and then running away, what you find yourself doing all-too-often), I had to load up an earlier save.

I wish these examples were the exceptions, but it's a common theme. You have to find this invisible line of quests and beatable enemies that the game gives no direction on. I enjoy the challenge and I enjoy the non-leveled aspects -- I just don't enjoy that it's so trial-and-error that you just end up wasting a ton of time and effort in unwinnable challenges, and there's no clarity to what is-and-isn't possible at your level.

And thematically, it just doesn't make sense. As the story explains: you've lost all your special-power-juice called "Elex," turning you from the one of the most feared commanders of the "bad guys," into some guy who has begun to think and feel emotions! *gasp* But apparently, even having met other "Separatists" who have gone through a similar transformation, it didn't turn them into completely weak meatbags. Even without said Elex, I somehow forgot to use weapons, swords, etc.

The Separatists NPC's are shocked and awed to see me--because they know I'm a fucking bad ass. "Commander Jax?" they ask, "The feared commander who is known to be a total bad ass?" Yes, yes, I'd talk, but I look behind me pleadingly at the four low-level creatures that have followed me into this conversation, which they blast down with no effort. Where's my plasma rifle I wonder? Probably another 20 hours of farming away. The explanation for why I'm so weak just isn't there. And if I *am* that pathetic, then why does every NPC that recognizes me in complete awe and fear? Makes no sense.

And that gets me to the next point: combat. It's so bad. The melee system is questionable, buggy, and you're honestly just "hitting buttons in rhythm" more akin to a Guitar Hero game than a RPG. I also feel like there's little depth -- besides kiting enemies and bringing them to friendly NPCs (or other enemies), or fighting an enemy head-on, there's little other decision making. I felt like the Fable series had more depth and interesting combat -- and that's meant as an insult.

There's also zero ways to deal with groups of enemies. If you're against one guy? Pretty easy to smash your melee combos and get a few stuns / knockdowns in there and win it. Two guys? Can be tougher, but you can tank a bit and down some health potions while running away (if the lock-on system doesn't totally mess you up). Groups of three or more? They'll constantly "chain hit" you, disrupting your attacks, and basically just messing you up. There's grenades available, but rare and not overly effective. Ranged combat (a bow) doesn't really help, either, as they close the gap to you and it does so little damage.

So most combat boils down to running away, going for a melee combo, running away and chugging a health potion, and hoping the enemy misses you on the next lunge. Some high-level tactics involve jump-jets and hoping the enemy doesn't shoot a giant fireball out of his mouth (seriously, if you shoot giant fireballs, why the fuck are you swatting me with your paws?), or hoping that the enemy gets stuck on terrain and can't find you because of the awful path-finding. Seriously -- using the bad AI is probably the best way to beat groups of enemies. And it doesn't feel rewarding once you win.

I feel like the game will get more interesting once you get some "powers" (depending on your faction), grenades become more common, and you unlock some later items in the skill-tree (such as the jumpjet melee smash, which looks awesome). But how am I 20 hours into the game and still feel so incredibly limited in what I can do, and combat is still boring? That's bad game design.

There's some good aspects. I think it looks pretty awesome, there's basically zero loading times, exploration can be pretty fun (and rewarding), there's a lot of changes in the different biomes, and there's a ton of voiced dialogue (which is pretty bad so I end up skipping 90% of it -- so, like everything else, kind of a mixed bag).

Anyway, I want to love this game, but it's just been a miss for me.

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Thu Oct 19, 2017 9:48 pm

Great write up, thanks Matt.

Oddly, you haven't put me off the game, but I am still cautiously optimistic.

Jaymann · Post by **Jaymann** » Thu Oct 19, 2017 9:59 pm

That reminds me exactly of Gothic (remember the killer boars?). But now I will probably wait until a walkthrough comes out.

Jag · Post by **Jag** » Fri Oct 20, 2017 9:04 am

Jaymann wrote: ↑Thu Oct 19, 2017 9:59 pm That reminds me exactly of Gothic (remember the killer boars?). But now I will probably wait until a walkthrough comes out.

Gamepressure has a good guide with maps. Which helps alot.

Mattc0m · Post by **Mattc0m** » Fri Oct 20, 2017 12:52 pm

I feel like min/maxing and using guides a lot (at least for your first playthrough) kind of breaks the fun a bit of the game. But in Elex's case, I find myself running for a guide more often than I care to admit.

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Mon Oct 23, 2017 2:01 pm

GreenGoo wrote: ↑Tue Oct 17, 2017 9:59 pm Definitely curious about this one. It seems like it's been awhile since we've had a sci fi/fantasy crossover. I've always had an affection for those, ever since the White Plume Mountain.

Er, I meant Expedition to the Barrier Peaks.

My bad.

Jag · Post by **Jag** » Tue Oct 24, 2017 9:13 am

Still having a ton of fun with this. The open world is fantastic. I find myself just running around picking flowers and enjoying the scenery as much as playing the game. Gameplay is very gothic like and the game will not hold your hand. There are definitely some really annoying parts, the lack of any sort of explanation of game mechanics is probably the biggest, but it doesn't take away from the fun factor for me.

Jaymann · Post by **Jaymann** » Sat Oct 28, 2017 12:13 am

I'm hooked! Working now to get a companion.

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Sat Oct 28, 2017 12:49 am

Tempting...

I should probably read up on the mechanics. The witcher didn't really do it for me, although I tried hard to get into it.

Jaymann · Post by **Jaymann** » Sat Oct 28, 2017 11:35 am

Sweet, I was able to lure a full camp of reavers near some raptors and a troll, and a massive battle ensued. My companion and I just backed off and enjoyed the carnage, picking off a couple reavers that left the melee. The troll smashed them all then we looted with abandon. Now that's the kind of action I remember from the Gothic series.

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Sat Oct 28, 2017 12:51 pm

GreenGoo wrote: ↑Tue Oct 17, 2017 9:59 pm Definitely curious about this one. It seems like it's been awhile since we've had a sci fi/fantasy crossover. I've always had an affection for those, ever since the White Plume Mountain.

/derail on

If you have access to a PS4, Horizon Zero Dawn fits this bill remarkably well. It also happens to be the most fun I've had with any game in years.

/derail off

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Sat Oct 28, 2017 4:30 pm

Thanks for the recommendation!

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Sat Oct 28, 2017 7:18 pm

Watched a bunch of buy/don't buy videos. My main issue based on those is that the combat is clunky. After games like the Surge, I really love smooth, interactive, cool combat. I'm not sure I can go back to clunky animations, slow response and weird model behavior. Hearing that the ai on your companion is glitchy also wasn't a great selling point.

I'll probably wait for a sale. It does sound cool though.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Sat Oct 28, 2017 10:06 pm

Well, it is supposed to be reminiscent of the Gothic games! It wouldn't be Gothic-like if the controls weren't a pain in the ass!

Zitterbacke · Post by **Zitterbacke** » Sun Oct 29, 2017 9:18 am

Good point!

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Sun Oct 29, 2017 9:31 am

I remember those controls of Gothic 1. Took me three tries at that game..maybe just two. I recall hating the controls so much I quit early. When I did play it and give it time they fell into place and were very easy to use. Then Gothic 2 came out and they changed them. Cant recall if I got used to those or if I changed to the Gothic 1 setting which they came with built in.

Jag · Post by **Jag** » Mon Oct 30, 2017 8:19 am

GreenGoo wrote: ↑Sat Oct 28, 2017 7:18 pmHearing that the ai on your companion is glitchy also wasn't a great selling point.

It was a bug that was just patched out.

Effidian · Post by **Effidian** » Mon Oct 30, 2017 6:25 pm

30 hours in and finally able to kill easily. I do really like the beginning of these games, where every large rat can kill you in a few seconds. I usually go for money making skills first, which makes it take longer to get effective in combat.

Still haven't joined a faction, and now am actually starting to explore the wilderness (rather than just the cities).

I've seen a couple quirks with the Companion AI, but nothing bad. I relied on companions for most of the kills up to now.

Very happy with my purchase, but I've like all the PB games.

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Mon Oct 30, 2017 6:45 pm

Jag wrote: ↑Mon Oct 30, 2017 8:19 am
GreenGoo wrote: ↑Sat Oct 28, 2017 7:18 pmHearing that the ai on your companion is glitchy also wasn't a great selling point.
It was a bug that was just patched out.

Good to know.

Jaymann · Post by **Jaymann** » Wed Nov 01, 2017 1:23 am

Level 15 now and starting to feel like I can roam the earth, at least somewhat. The weapon upgrade skill seems to be worthwhile, but be sure to save before you upgrade - the stat requirements go up and you want to make sure you can still use it.

And if you are having trouble killing things, the flamethrower is the great equalizer.

Jag · Post by **Jag** » Wed Nov 01, 2017 9:02 am

Jaymann wrote: ↑Wed Nov 01, 2017 1:23 am And if you are having trouble killing things, the flamethrower is the great equalizer.

The Flamethrower is game changing. Free, low equip requirements and most importantly, it has a knockback that lets you keep tougher foes at a distance. Also fuel is 1 elexit each.

This is a list of useful items you can grab for free

The Flamethrower MK2 and Sunglasses (that highlight loot, even up and down) are the ones you should make a beeline for as early as possible.

spelk · Post by **spelk** » Wed Nov 01, 2017 9:52 am

I've been tempted by this on console, but don't want to pay the full monty, if its not going to deliver an experience I can really get behind.

I wonder if anyone who has played it has also played The Technomancer, and how does Elex compare with it?

Jaymann · Post by **Jaymann** » Wed Nov 01, 2017 10:31 am

Jag wrote: ↑Wed Nov 01, 2017 9:02 am
Jaymann wrote: ↑Wed Nov 01, 2017 1:23 am And if you are having trouble killing things, the flamethrower is the great equalizer.
The Flamethrower is game changing. Free, low equip requirements and most importantly, it has a knockback that lets you keep tougher foes at a distance. Also fuel is 1 elexit each.

This is a list of useful items you can grab for free

The Flamethrower MK2 and Sunglasses (that highlight loot, even up and down) are the ones you should make a beeline for as early as possible.

What does this mean:
Classic Sunglasses (30% DR AFTER Armor is applied, detect life):
How do you apply Armor?

Jag · Post by **Jag** » Wed Nov 01, 2017 11:17 am

Jaymann wrote: ↑Wed Nov 01, 2017 10:31 am
Jag wrote: ↑Wed Nov 01, 2017 9:02 am
Jaymann wrote: ↑Wed Nov 01, 2017 1:23 am And if you are having trouble killing things, the flamethrower is the great equalizer.
The Flamethrower is game changing. Free, low equip requirements and most importantly, it has a knockback that lets you keep tougher foes at a distance. Also fuel is 1 elexit each.

This is a list of useful items you can grab for free

The Flamethrower MK2 and Sunglasses (that highlight loot, even up and down) are the ones you should make a beeline for as early as possible.
What does this mean:
Classic Sunglasses (30% DR AFTER Armor is applied, detect life):
How do you apply Armor?

Not sure. I'm guessing it is 30%DR off total armor from all sources. I only use the loot glasses and don't worry too much about actual number values since the game doesn't give you much information. This is not a min/max game at all.

Jaymann · Post by **Jaymann** » Fri Nov 03, 2017 4:31 pm

Level 28 now, the leveling actually gets faster at higher levels since you fear few enemies and quests are easy to complete. I joined the Cleric faction-they are insufferable pricks, but they have heavy weapons and tech armor. I did a save just before joining so I can try the other 2 factions without starting from scratch.

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Mon Aug 27, 2018 1:41 pm

Everything Mattc0m said is true, but I picked this up over the weekend (sorry sale ended like 40 minutes ago) and I am really enjoying it. The combat is atrocious, as are the voice acting and the sound effects yet somehow the game is inverse of the sum of its parts.

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Mon Aug 27, 2018 4:00 pm

This game is one that I always get excited about when it goes on sale because I confuse it with another 1 or 2 games. Every time it goes on sale I read up on it to clarify my confusion, and I'm always disappointed in what I read.

This time when I got the sales notice, read up on it to figure out which game it was, I said enough is enough and removed it from my wishlist. I think I've removed maybe 2 games from my wishlist, ever.

If the combat was compelling I might have bought the game, but since the combat is so terrible, I'm not sure what's left. It seems to be a mildly interesting RPG with a different enough setting that it seemed like it might be worth the time, except combat, which ranges from 50% to 100% of the fun of any RPG, is terrible. I just can't get behind playing a game for the story when I will be cursing and complaining and in general having a terrible time every time I need to fight something.

At this point in my gaming career, it's hard to imagine playing any game with combat, if the combat is known to suck.

Bye bye Elex. You spent a year or something on my wishlist, and that was a mistake.

edit: I don't mean to crap on the game in general. If you're looking for a new, non-mainstream experience, without the standard RPG tropes, this game sounds like it might fit the bill. I'm just not willing to fight the controls and terrible combat system instead of the baddies.

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Sun Sep 02, 2018 12:28 pm

Finished it this morning. The combat got better when I found the option to turn off target focus. Free targeting has problems of its own, but it is better than auto-targeting.

The freedom and options allowed in the game makes Fallout 4 look even worse by comparison. Yes, you still have a limited selection of factions to work with and none of them are really the "right" faction, but you have so much more freedom of choice in the game. There are a few times prior choices kind of railroad you, but it's still so much better. Also the companions are much more interesting and real. Note: I am not saying this game is better than Fallout 4, it is just superior in the options you are given in the story. Fallout has other advantages that make it worth playing even though the railroading (heh) in the story sucks.

Jag · Post by **Jag** » Tue Sep 04, 2018 8:59 am

coopasonic wrote: ↑Sun Sep 02, 2018 12:28 pm Finished it this morning. The combat got better when I found the option to turn off target focus. Free targeting has problems of its own, but it is better than auto-targeting.

The freedom and options allowed in the game makes Fallout 4 look even worse by comparison. Yes, you still have a limited selection of factions to work with and none of them are really the "right" faction, but you have so much more freedom of choice in the game. There are a few times prior choices kind of railroad you, but it's still so much better. Also the companions are much more interesting and real. Note: I am not saying this game is better than Fallout 4, it is just superior in the options you are given in the story. Fallout has other advantages that make it worth playing even though the railroading (heh) in the story sucks.

Glad you liked it. Definitely a Gothic style game with a Fallout feel. Worth picking up on sale for a playthrough. I probably won't play it again though.