ELEX Pre-Release Thread

[iZerw]

It's a suicide to make an open world action RPG after Witcher 3, don't they understand it?

 

[Alienman]

Witcher 3 is not the end all open world. Risen for an example is 10 times better, and if ELEX continue on the same path like that game it will be better by default. Witcher 3 consists of the same game-play throughout the whole game. Walk up to NPC, talk to him/her, get quest, do the quest and return. In Risen, the Gothics, and even Oblivion if you wanna use that game for an example, you can for an example use stealth for a different approach without it having to be a scripted sequence. And there is so many other things that Witcher 3 just sucks at. Like for an example NPCs has no personality outside their scripting and dialogue, and they don't care if you rob them blind. There is now law system. Total immersion breaker for me. Sure, it's a nice sight-seeing game I guess, but it has zero interactivity in the world. Everything feels static. Like those old western-movie backdrops.

 

[CreamyBlood]

"We?"

Gothic 2 + NotR was the last PB game I completely finished. G3 I gave up half-way through, Risen 1 around two thirds in, and Risen 2 was uninstalled after 30 min.

Almost the same experience with me too except I tried G3 three times and always gave up. Finished Risen 1 and lasted a few hours in Risen 2. Didn't even look at R3 after getting burned on R2. Like many here have repeatedly said, we all know PB is long dead and this will be yet another disappointment no matter how much we want to be proven wrong.

 

[iZerw]

if ELEX continue on the same path like that game it will be better by default.

I did not follow the development, you surely do. So, does it continuous G1/2 (did not play Risen). No mini-map, no markers, classic dialog system, non-console inventory system, no autohealing, PC only controls etc, further improvement of NPCs mundane activities?

 

[Alienman]

if ELEX continue on the same path like that game it will be better by default.

I did not follow the development, you surely do. So, does it continuous G1/2 (did not play Risen). No mini-map, no markers, classic dialog system, non-console inventory system, no autohealing, PC only controls etc, further improvement of NPCs mundane activities?

I don't follow the development. But from I have seen it seems they are sticking to crafting an "organic" world - a la Risen and the sequels.

 

[curry]

I don't follow the development. But from I have seen it seems they are sticking to crafting an "organic" world - a la Risen and the sequels.

Risen 3 was supposed to be "organic" just like G1&2 and it wasn't. I'm not believing a word PB devs say anymore

 

[Alienman]

Well, compared to Witcher 3 everything is organic

 

[Haplo]

LOL, you really hate the Witcher 3, don't you? The world felt sufficiently alive to me. Game has issues, like level/stat bloat, level scaled damage, horrendous itemisation (probably worst I have seen), level gating, poor character development, only servicable combat. But world-building and atmoshpere are some of its great strenghts, alongside side quests and characters (and graphics).

 

[Alienman]

I don't hate it. It just perplexes me how much praise it gets. Everywhere, even here. And it worries me, because its success will mean everyone will now focus on movie-like RPGs. Witcher 3 is like a movie with some mediocre combat sprinkled in between with added bad MMO loot system. The new Mass Effect comes to mind. The thing is I enjoyed Witcher 2. It felt tight and well structured. The NPCs in that game were the static type as well, but you actually interacted with them a lot over several different quests which made them feel more alive. And the world/area changed depending on what you did. In Witcher 3 you meet someone, do the quest, move on and forget about the place. Can't remember how many towns I just rode through, not giving a shit because every town is the same, with the same animatronics doing their random stuff.

 

[iZerw]

its success will mean everyone will now focus on movie-like RPGs

You forget FF VII, ME and DA:O and others, Witcher 3 changed nothing. As for PB: I remember their take on open world ala Morrowind, it was Gothic 3 and it was abysmal.

 

[Alienman]

Those games are structured the same way as Witcher 2, which to me is much more enjoyable. I mean if you are going the movie-RPG way. Witcher 3 has awful pacing thanks to the open world, and the open world in itself has nothing interesting in it. There is no playground. At most you do is sight-seeing and fight random creatures with levels. It is such a boring slog just to get to the good parts - the payoff which to me at least is the cinematic and the stuff that push the story forward.

Gothic 3 might not be the greatest game ever, but compare it to the Witcher 3 open world design and its leagues ahead. You can kill everyone in Gothic 3. You can sneak, steal stuff and people react to the stuff you do. NPCs feel much more alive. You can drag enemies into the villages and camps and they will actually fight the creatures and help you out. I'm not arguing for what game is the best, Risen 3 is pure shit and Risen 2 wasn't much better. But at least the world they built didn't feel dead, filled with robots just waiting for you to get close to activate and do a little show.

 

[Kem0sabe]

Risen 2 and 3 were shit, small self contained areas/islands, silly quests, silly characters, silly story, oriented for consoles in every aspect.

Not sure what recent work PB had done to deserve any reasonable expectations of elex.

 

[Rev]

Not sure what recent work PB had done to deserve any reasonable expectations of elex.

They did nothing to deserve it, we just want to believe that a new good Gothic-style game by them is still possible.

 

[Ismaul]

They did nothing to deserve it, we just want to believe that a new good Gothic-style game by them is still possible.

I don't even care if it's by PB anymore. I just want a Gothic-style game, and no, The Witcher isn't it, even if it does borrow from the Gothics a lot.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

The witcher is the last thing I'd call a gothic clone, I mean seriously.

 

[Jimmious]

I believe Witcher 3 gets all the praise just because the NPCs actually seem kind of realistic. They have somewhat understandable motivations and reactions and you get that from the dialogs with them.
This makes such a big difference (especially compared to the braindead NPCs of Skyrim for example) that people are amazed.
Other than that I agree with Alieman

 

[Elwro]

No scaling, no respawning. Still no animation artist also, I see.

D1P for me certainly

 

[Ismaul]

The witcher is the last thing I'd call a gothic clone, I mean seriously.

Agreed. But you have to admit though, the insipration is clear throughout the series.

• Gruff pre-made hero
• Harsh world and NPC attitudes
  
• Harvesting monster parts for crafting, and you needing to learn it to do it (in W1 anyways)
  
• The potion brewing and the cumbersome to drink potions in fights (W1)
• Swordfighting as a main thing, with magic as secondary, that in W1 you get later in game
• Timing-based chaining of attacks (in W1), with animations unlocking with skill (W1), and later you still have the different animations depending on fighting style
  
• Choosing a faction's side in the main story
• Coup de grâce on stunned / knocked down dudes, a bit like killing a defeated opponent in Gothic (W1 only? I forget)
  
• Parry/block, and also dodge/roll in W2+
  
• The villagefolk animations in W3, people hammering on their homes, blacksmith on the wheel, etc., pretty much directly lifted
  
• The shitty implementation of stealing from Gothic in W3, with guards kicking you and taking your shit (though townsfolk do nothing)
• Wildlife hunting wildlife in W3
  
• Other shit I forgot...

Every time they added some things in the game, their baseline has been the Gothics, which they then modified.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Nameless hero is gruff?
Hang on, I'mma get back to later.

 

[Junmarko]

The witcher is the last thing I'd call a gothic clone, I mean seriously.

Agreed. But you have to admit though, the insipration is clear throughout the series.

IIRC, I think a young CDProjekt did the localisation of Gothic 1/2 in Polish - so they were definitely inspired. Both games show their European roots too, which really made them stand out amongst a genre full of copycats.

 

[Junmarko]

This looks like it has more Gothic 1/2 DNA than ELEX. Especially the "cheesy-but-charming" aspect



I'd actually believe someone who told me this was being made by the old Piranha Bytes.

 

[iZerw]

The witcher is the last thing I'd call a gothic clone, I mean seriously.

Agreed. But you have to admit though, the insipration is clear throughout the series.

Maybe the main inspiration is the series of books called Witcher? No?

• Gruff pre-made hero - books
• Harsh world and NPC attitudes - books
  
• Harvesting monster parts for crafting, and you needing to learn it to do it (in W1 anyways) - OK
  
• The potion brewing and the cumbersome to drink potions in fights (W1) - books
• Swordfighting as a main thing, with magic as secondary, that in W1 you get later in game - Books
• Timing-based chaining of attacks (in W1), with animations unlocking with skill (W1), and later you still have the different animations depending on fighting style - OK
  
• Choosing a faction's side in the main story - OK
• Coup de grâce on stunned / knocked down dudes, a bit like killing a defeated opponent in Gothic (W1 only? I forget) - OK, I think it was in every Witcher
  
• Parry/block, and also dodge/roll in W2+ - Dude, W2 is the first in the series wich was made for consoles and with gamepads in mind, prety standart for console action game.
  
• The villagefolk animations in W3, people hammering on their homes, blacksmith on the wheel, etc., pretty much directly lifted - Well, OK
  
• The shitty implementation of stealing from Gothic in W3, with guards kicking you and taking your shit (though townsfolk do nothing) - OK
• Wildlife hunting wildlife in W3 - OK

And it's just waste of time to compare a proper pc rpg with consolised arpg. BTW is ELEX multiplatform?

 

[Ismaul]

Ohhh, Outcast! Them memories. That's a remake?

Guy's face should look more like Bruce Willis though, the original inspiration, at the very least he should be older and snarkier.

 

[Outlander]

Ohhh, Outcast! Them memories. That's a remake?

Yes, after a failed kickstarter in 2014 for a kinda soft HD version, the original devs got a publisher and did a full remake. More info here.

Junmarko as far as I understand it's a remake, not a sequel.

Outcast is easily one of the best games ever, especially for its time and, aside outdated graphics, even today. Add seamless space travel and exploration and it's what Mass Effect should have been.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Outcast is cool and all, but does the remake have melee combat?