ELEX ELEX RELEASE THREAD

[ERYFKRAD]

The whole knocked down/killing blow aspect really is missing from the previous games.

I don't recall did any of the Risens allow you to perform a coup de grace?

The first 'un did. That's how you basically make the Don's camp your bitch.

 

[Elex]

ELEX has heart. It has soul. If ELEX sang the Blues, you'd want to listen. This is a game made by people who genuinely loved what they were doing, and it's clear that rather than asking themselves "How can we best serve the market?", the developers instead asked "Wouldn't it be awesome if . . .?" It has all the enthusiasm and the quirkiness (for better and worse) of an indie game, but the production values that only a multi-million dollar budget will buy.

It has flaws - plenty of them - but ultimately it's a great game. I have had more fun with ELEX than with any rpg released in the last few years. ELEX is not "game as art," as Gothic 2: NotR and (more recently) Age of Decadence have tried to be. Instead, it is "game as game", something that has been equally rare recently in the roleplaying genre. There is a focus on exploration, on combat, on depth of setting and on immersion. ELEX is enjoyable, addictive, and deeply satisfying, and I wholeheartedly recommend it. If the Codex gave numerical scores, I'd give this an 8.5 out of 10. Since we don't, pretend you didn't see that.

I recognize that gay blowjob!

so in 10 years we will all login “GJG” German janky games, the new platform for dowload an buy games and the top selling game will be ELEX 3 with an absurd budget of 800 millions euro (400 millions only for the marketing)

pc gamer will have 10 article with jax naked on a bathub

reddit will be full of sexy cosplay of nasty and caja (for the joy of foot fetishist)

and we we play elex 3 and forgot about the embarassing trainwreck called cyberpunk only playable online even in the singleplayer part full of multyplayer microtransaction the first (and last) cdproject “game as service”

 

[Zlaja]

I'm kind of disappointed by how many of you seem to prefer the Clerics. To me they are the most boring ass faction. They got the most boring NPC's and the most boring quests. And the stupidly broken Black Hole thing you can get by joining them is just another reason NOT to join them IMO. The only good thing I have to say about these boring fags is the fact that their armor looks pretty cool. That's it.

 

[Haplo]

Hm, I really like the IDEA behind the melee combat. The combo meter and timing your attacks is a really nice system in THEORY. A really nice development of the simplistic Witcher 1 rhytm based combat (minus the critical hits and "group" style).
Plus the interesting Attack Strenght + Parry/"Poise" Shield/Two-hander/Single hand stagger/knockdown dynamics. Plus light and heavy attacks, Q special attacks, Jet Pack attacks. Has enough components to make for a varied and interesting system. Could definitely be one of my favorite action cRPG combat systems. But something seems off in practice.

First you start with slightly too low Stamina, IMO, which makes early combos tricky. Getting Stamina I skill is easy enough, but there is very little information that would make you prioritize this without extensive research about the game systems. Pots can trivialize Stamina later on (probably too much so!), but chances are you will be halfway trough the game before you even learn about them.

Secondly it is rare that I fight an isolated enemy. The system works decently well as a dueling mechanic. But when you have 2-5 mobs wailing on you it all becomes a clusterfuck and you only want to get some hits in and get away, forget about combos. You may recommend to bring companions along to equalize the chances. But then it will become even more of a chaotic clusterfuck. And either retardedly easy if you tag team an enemy or still difficult if your meatshield loyal companion gets mobbed and instagibbed and you start the retarded Benny Hill chase scene. I wish there were many more single enemies out in the wild.
Plus herds were easier to separate in Gothic 2, I believe. Sure, if you shot a bow, everyone would charge you right away. But when you entered the alertness perimeter of one animal, it would "wake" and do the threatening hisses, and approach you after a while. It's buddies would stand back if you alerted only one. Here, the entire group tends to charge once one enemy has given its warnings.

Third, I think the Stamina regeneration rate is off. Due to the significant recharge delay it's too easy to keep humanoids stunlocked indefinately. At the same time, once it starts regenerating, it seems to actually refill too quickly. So it's fairly easy to do hit'n'run tactics, constantly disengaging and re-engaging enemies with full Stamina (or run around a hill/table in practice).
I think the pool should be significantly larger, the recharge delay smaller and regeneration far slower for a more tactical approach to melee combat. Then you'd actually conserve Stamina and use it as a tactical resource, rather then spending it all the time to instantly recharge afterwards.

 

[Elex]

I'm kind of disappointed by how many of you seem to prefer the Clerics. To me they are the most boring ass faction. They got the most boring NPC's and the most boring quests. And the stupidly broken Black Hole thing you can get by joining them is just another reason NOT to join them IMO. The only good thing I have to say about these boring fags is the fact that their armor looks pretty cool. That's it.

i joined outlaw

my inventory was full of powerfull stimpack +200% damage, +attack speed% +100 elemental resistance

tons of grenades for the machinegun grenadelauncher (the unique one)

in the end i never used that stuff because all enemy die in 2-3 shot and only trolls need more ammo..

i also stopped using the broken perma ccstun flamer/plasma because you need more time for kill stuff with that vs simply shoot the mortal beam

oh yes the real advantage of the outlaw is the top damage melee weapons (but you can find one of the outlaw axe exploring)

even only 4-6 extra damage (+30%) is a lot of damage and if you add to that the +200% stimpack.. well you can kill a troll in one combo?

all the outlaw skill are pointless (recicle weapons, create ammo and the recipe you can simply but from doc) so you save skillpoints.

so yes just join the faction you want and ignore the opness of blackhole and other stuff because all faction are good.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Adding to what Haplo said, I think another significant hurdle for the combat is that you never unlock any new moves or movesets other than the jetpack slam.

 

[Dexter]

Dexter

You rated 'citation needed'

Spoiler

It's the miner's armor, which has the highest defense of any armor you can get without joining a faction, and the mortal coil which is the best laser rifle I believe (and gives bonus mutant-killer talent).

Where do you get that? Still running around with the Hunter Armor pants that I got from a chest NorthWest in Goliet near some Ballistas outside and Hunter Armor torso from a chest at the house where Geron and Lennart are hanging out and hunting.

Adding to what Haplo said, I think another significant hurdle for the combat is that you never unlock any new moves or movesets other than the jetpack slam.

Yeah, that's definitely a "Missed opportunity", I remember Leveling Swordfighting in Risen and it had very useful Upgrades to the Skill every few levels:

Spoiler

With Level 2 you got a Counterattack that does work if you time it right with RMB (and you're standing close enough).
With Level 3 you got sidestrokes with which you could attack an enemy from both sides by pressing A or D while attacking.
With Level 4 you got longer Strike Combos.
With Level 5 you got Faster Attacks and yet another longer Strike Combo.
With Level 6 you could wield a Bastard Sword as a One-Handed Weapon and use a shield with it.
With Level 7 you got a Power Strike which did lots of Damage and broke the Parry of your enemy by holding LMB to charge.
With Level 8 you got a Saving Blow that broke enemies Counter and uses it against them if timed right.
With Level 9 you could wield a 2-Handed sword as a One-Handed Weapon and use a shield with it.
With Level 10 you got infinitely long Strike Combos.

Maybe they chose to forego that since they added a lot of different kind of weapons including shit like guns, grenades, flamethrowers and plasma rifles and didn't want people to zero in on some of the early game weapons?

 

[Zerth]

An idea to improve the melee combat against several groups would be adding a moveset of wider range heavy/fast attacks. Weaker than single target moves but allow to fight enemies ganging up in close combat without resorting on hit n' run tactics.

 

[Tigranes]

I'm kind of disappointed by how many of you seem to prefer the Clerics. To me they are the most boring ass faction. They got the most boring NPC's and the most boring quests. And the stupidly broken Black Hole thing you can get by joining them is just another reason NOT to join them IMO. The only good thing I have to say about these boring fags is the fact that their armor looks pretty cool. That's it.

Yup, ultimately I enjoyed my Berserker far more than my Cleric. Clerics are the default "I like technology I like knowledge surely they are best faction" mentality + OP black hole that reduces combat to spamming + boring quests + ugly area.

 

[Shadenuat]

First you start with slightly too low Stamina

1 backstep taking away 1/3 all stamina
"slightly"

 

[Murk]

Dexter

You rated 'citation needed'

Spoiler

It's the miner's armor, which has the highest defense of any armor you can get without joining a faction, and the mortal coil which is the best laser rifle I believe (and gives bonus mutant-killer talent).

Where do you get that? Still running around with the Hunter Armor pants that I got from a chest NorthWest in Goliet near some Ballistas outside and Hunter Armor torso from a chest at the house where Geron and Lennart are hanging out and hunting.

Spoiler

There's a chest in front of the giant vault that doesn't open in that place. The weapon is just on the ground, but the armor is in the chest. I'd suggest going in from the side of the volcano from the north as you can easily avoid the various molochs/rottmolchs/cycplops in doing so. You can grab that stuff while and just jetpack out. There's a ton of loot in that area, of course, but those are the major ones.

This map has a cube labeled 'west ignadon', it's in the middle of that section in the company premises near the smaller volcano.

http://game-maps.com/ELEX/img/ELEX-World-Map-Magalan.jpg

The armor gives 1 armor more than the scrap scavenger armor, though I personally prefer to roll with said scavenger armor. The miner armor looks nearly identical to when you're not wearing any (sleeveless shirt + scarf around neck) except you have some mud/soot on your arms.

EDIT: The combat system is straight up gothic 3 redone, to me. It even features the missing "jump attack" that G3 didn't have (jetpack now).

I agree, that skills are mostly passive % upgrades is quite disappointing. I still think this game is G3 "done better", and I never quite got the G2/R1 vibes some people said (though they may have just been saying that as praise that PB had returned to some of its former glory.)

 

[Xeon]

This link was posted in this reddit post which was posted by axedice.

The map is interactive with collectibles and whatever.

 

[Murk]

Nice map, though it seems to be missing armor locations.

 

[Lahey]

I'm kind of disappointed by how many of you seem to prefer the Clerics. To me they are the most boring ass faction. They got the most boring NPC's and the most boring quests. And the stupidly broken Black Hole thing you can get by joining them is just another reason NOT to join them IMO. The only good thing I have to say about these boring fags is the fact that their armor looks pretty cool. That's it.

I will happily disavow my pre-release statements supporting the Clerics. Everything you've said is spot on.

Spoiler

Their mind control suggestion was also poorly implemented into dialogue. Storywise it was interesting in some quests and presented enough nuance within the faction's leadership to intrigue me, but this subplot ultimately led nowhere like so many others in the game.

The truth of Calaan was another disappointment. Exciting to discover, but Reinhold's reaction felt lacklustre. Ulbricht died in my game so perhaps his reaction is better, but I don't want to do another Cleric playthrough for just that. The reactivity across all 3 factions seems rather shallow so this isn't just a Cleric criticism. In the future i'll probably stick to the Outlaws since they have the best weapons, NPCs, quests (small margin), aesthetic, and when I put my storyfag hat on their dark underbelly isn't as bad as the other factions. They're also the only honest faction, which tickles my fancy.

Would've been nice to consciously join the Albs well ahead of the cold ending too. It's okay to be Alb.

 

[Tygrende]

Reinhold's reaction felt lacklustre. Ulbricht died in my game so perhaps his reaction is better, but I don't want to do another Cleric playthrough for just that.

Reinhold's reaction is better if you tell him about it while being a cleric yourself. Ulbricht's response is reasonable regardless.

 

[Lahey]

I was a Cleric.

 

[Tygrende]

Were you a Paladin/Regent (english translation switches between the two all the time) though? That's when I told him about it.

 

[Lahey]

I think so. Might've been legate but can't remember precisely. Are you sure his reaction differs by rank or is this speculation?

EDIT: I did a quick sleuth and the reaction I received seems to be in line with how others have descibed it at top rank.

 

[Tygrende]

Pure speculation. I only checked when being factionless and as a Regent.

 

[Xeon]

Watched it during a stream, their reaction seemed reasonable.

Spoiler

Reinhold:


Ulbricht:

 

[Darth Roxor]

Speaking of the above spoilerinos, by far the biggest disappointment ever in this game is that

Spoiler

you can't tell Herbert the truth about Calaan

 

[Lahey]

Spoiler

Xeon thanks for linking those, especially Ulbricht. The Reinhold convo was the same one I experienced. I wasn't as enthused as Professional Hype Man over the ethical dilemma and felt like a short talk with no follow up was lacklustre. Perhaps my expectations were too high, but it would've been nice to actually expose the secret and not be railroaded into complicity. Thankfully the cold ending facilitated sweet revenge.

Speaking of the above spoilerinos, by far the biggest disappointment ever in this game is that

Spoiler

you can't tell Herbert the truth about Calaan

Spoiler

Or anyone else, for that matter. One would think this information valuable not only to the Duke and Thorold, but pretty much anyone with ears.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Holy shit the fucking VO in that Reinhold convo

 

[jungl]

They really cant do open world right. By level 20 you practically maxed out your character and the game turns into a boring grind you killing ice birds and finishing up quests and the game for 10 or 20 more levels. It was nostalgia I got playing gothic 3 killing wolves in the artic region. Bored with the game and wishing it was gothic 2 instead.

 

[Murk]

Though the writing was awkward and roboJax is corny, the ability to force the world to submit and/or die was very satisfying in the cold ending.

Fitting that Outlaws and the filthy neutralists in Abessa acquiesced.