Editorial RPG Codex Report: Gamescom 2016 - Vampyr, ELEX, The Guild 3 and Battle Chasers

[Q]

I liked Risen1 and Risen3, but just can't stand Risen2. Tried it several times - it's ugly and boring, and pirates theme is shit. I even kinda liked gothic3, but sand and snow areas was too much. I played Elex alpha and it's kinda clumsy and all. But I like hancrafted exploration, not some randomized or levelscaling shit. Setting is more interesting than pirates at least.

 

[Bohrain]

I find it fascinating how the devs don't see any issue in the setting being such a mishmash of fantasy and scifi. Is thematic consistency so rare these days that people don't see any value in it?

 

[JarlFrank]

I find it fascinating how the devs don't see any issue in the setting being such a mishmash of fantasy and scifi. Is thematic consistency so rare these days that people don't see any value in it?

There is no issue in it. It's actually pretty damn awesome.

I've been waiting for something like this since the old Might and Magics where you ran around shooting dragons with blasters in the endgame. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME FANTASY AND SCIFI WAS COMBINED IN SUCH A WAY?
Not since Wizardry 8, as far as I know.

I wish more devs would do this. Seriously.

 

[Santander02]

I got a "good cop/bad cop" vibe from JarlFrank and Bubbles in that ELEX interview, with Jarl playing "good cop" of all people. Feels weird.

 

[commie]

b-but risen 2 and 3 were already risen 1 with guns

Ah but Risen 1 was still like a poor man's Gothic, being set on one island, 3 factions, decent exploration etc. R2 and R3 had the short lived obsession with PIRATES!!!111 in RPG's on multiple small islands and modern trappings like automap. Guns in R2 and R3 were a truly shitty addition and didn't improve from one to the next. ELEX using guns fills me with dread that it might end up being some kind of bastard child of Risen(which was an earnest attempt to go back to the Gothic 1 vibe) and the crappy additions of Risen 2 and 3.

 

[Paul_cz]

I enjoyed all PB games, even Risen 2 and 3, although they were much weaker than Gothics and Risen 1. And their endings fucking suuuucked.
But Elex, from the videos I have seen, looks terrible. The animations, the color palette and general art direction, it all looks like shit. I have no idea what is going on there.
I hope they will somehow pull through and make it play and look good.

 

[Bubbles]

I've been waiting for something like this since the old Might and Magics where you ran around shooting dragons with blasters in the endgame.

Yes, in the endgame. ELEX offers grenade launchers and metal swords at the same time. During the demo, hitting somebody with a sword did more damage than hitting them with a salvo from a plasma rifle or with a direct hit from a grenade launcher. Melee has to do more damage for balance reasons, but you might argue that it feels a teensy bit strange.

 

[JarlFrank]

Yeah, that it does. Still, it's something different.

Seriously, even if the game ends up sucking, it won't be because of the setting. I like unorthodox settings like this.
But then, I'm also a Spelljammer fanboy and most people consider that setting to be "silly".

 

[Excidium II]

Is just looks dumb. I'm ok with mixing stuff but at least try to make it plausible/thematically consistent.

 

[Roguey]

Clearly the solution is to replace the swords with laser swords.

 

[Excidium II]

Clearly the solution is to replace the swords with laser swords.

Monofilament edges would be fine.

 

[Bubbles]

Half of the game is still meant to be in the fantasy genre, so they want to offer stuff like iron swords and clubs, healing potions, leather armor, giant rats etc. It might work if all the good fantasy weapons are actually enchanted, and if the sci-fi weapons can't be enchanted because of the fickle whims of ELEX or whatever.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Is just looks dumb. I'm ok with mixing stuff but at least try to make it plausible/thematically consistent.

i cant hear you over me chopping down androids with my ninja faerie and samurai furfag and then going forth to disarm the atom bomb placed above the city

 

[Bubbles]

Today's Piranha Bytes and late-80s Sir-Tech are not the same company.

 

[vortex]

I'm still mad Pirahna didn't use Unreal or Cryengine for Elex.

 

[Lhynn]

Is just looks dumb. I'm ok with mixing stuff but at least try to make it plausible/thematically consistent.

Thematic consistency is overrated, especially in fantasy rpgs about beating the bad guys.

 

[Bubbles]

I'm still mad Pirahna didn't use Unreal or Cryengine for Elex.

Using the Gothic 3 engine was a lot cheaper for them (and, I suspect, allowed for a bit of easy asset re-use).

 

[Excidium II]

Is just looks dumb. I'm ok with mixing stuff but at least try to make it plausible/thematically consistent.

i cant hear you over me chopping down androids with my ninja faerie and samurai furfag and then going forth to disarm the atom bomb placed above the city

That's different.

 

[Excidium II]

Is just looks dumb. I'm ok with mixing stuff but at least try to make it plausible/thematically consistent.

Thematic consistency is overrated, especially in fantasy rpgs about beating the bad guys.

It's not and it's not. I could fart a better setting.

 

[vonAchdorf]

I'm still mad Pirahna didn't use Unreal or Cryengine for Elex.

Using the Gothic 3 engine was a lot cheaper for them (and, I suspect, allowed for a bit of easy asset re-use).

They had to invest money to add modern capabilities to the engine (I think they talked about some features they added (PBR?)). But they probably wanted to re-use their in-house development tools for quests, dialogues etc. instead of rewriting them for another engine.
3D assets aren't re-used to a large extent between different games I think.

 

[Santander02]

Is just looks dumb. I'm ok with mixing stuff but at least try to make it plausible/thematically consistent.

Kotor got away with it (seriously one of the first melee weapons you get is actually just called "longsword", without even the description giving the "cortosis weave" handwave they use on vibroblades)

 

[Bohrain]

Is just looks dumb. I'm ok with mixing stuff but at least try to make it plausible/thematically consistent.

Thematic consistency is overrated, especially in fantasy rpgs about beating the bad guys.

If the setting aims to be immersive in any sense of the word there is no excuse for thematic inconsistency. Just because JRPG's have chibi characters running around with modern soldiers in the same screen doesn't mean it should be the standard.

I've been waiting for something like this since the old Might and Magics where you ran around shooting dragons with blasters in the endgame.

Yes, in the endgame. ELEX offers grenade launchers and metal swords at the same time. During the demo, hitting somebody with a sword did more damage than hitting them with a salvo from a plasma rifle or with a direct hit from a grenade launcher. Melee has to do more damage for balance reasons, but you might argue that it feels a teensy bit strange.

I think the correct way would be making both sword strike and couple of gunshots lethal, but give melee advantages in terms of mobility and/or stealth.

 

[Lhynn]

Is just looks dumb. I'm ok with mixing stuff but at least try to make it plausible/thematically consistent.

Thematic consistency is overrated, especially in fantasy rpgs about beating the bad guys.

It's not and it's not. I could fart a better setting.

Better setting than what, what the fuck are you even talking about? I was just answering your retarded statement. have no idea what game you are discussing, nor do i care to find out tbh.

If the setting aims to be immersive in any sense of the word there is no excuse for thematic inconsistency.

Yes there is, the perfect excuse actually, its called FUN, you retarded pretentious cunt.

Just because JRPG's have chibi characters running around with modern soldiers in the same screen doesn't mean it should be the standard.

What the shit are you talking about. Because im talking about ultima games with space ships and phasers, standard D&D with starwars shit thrown in, might and magic with aliens, etc.

 

[Excidium II]

Better than what you like.

 

[Fairfax]

I'm still mad Pirahna didn't use Unreal or Cryengine for Elex.

Unreal is expensive. If you're a small developer, 5% of total revenue can make a huge difference in the end. CryEngine is also expensive (big upfront fee, or so I've heard), has little support and is not nearly as flexible as Unreal or even Unity. Star Citizen needed help from Crytek so often that they now have an in-house team of Crytek programmers tasked with developing the engine for them.
Epic has streams, videos and docs teaching devs what to do, and they offer direct assistance as well. Unity has a bunch of resources as well, plus the asset store.

Nowadays it's better to develop or improve your own engine if you have the money for it. Just look at Ubisoft, EA, Square-Enix, ZeniMax, and so on. The problem is that smaller studios don't, so they go with Unity or take the risk with UE4. Source 2 was going to be the saviour, but as usual, you can't count on Valve to do anything, so it's still stuck in Valve Time.