Game News ELEX II Factions Trailer

[Infinitron]

Tags: ELEX II; Piranha Bytes; THQ Nordic

THQ Nordic announced the launch date for ELEX II last week, but instead of putting together a gameplay trailer to go along with it they tried to hawk the game's Collector's Edition. How disrespectful. But here now is a proper trailer introducing ELEX II's five major factions. The three factions from the first game are joined by the Albs, who are now a playable faction as well, and a new group of fanatics called the Morkons. The accompanying press release has more information:

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Essen, Germany / Vienna, Austria - November 17th, 2021: Five major factions are holding the power in Magalan. The Berserkers are skilled magicians, who use the power of Elex to perform all different kinds of spells. They have managed to transform the desert of Tavar into a green and lush utopia and have established an outpost in the former stronghold of the Outlaws. This faction is scattered throughout Magalan - some outlaws have joined the Berserkers when they took over Tavar, some moved to the crater landscape of Ateris, and have continued their life of crime.

The Albs have learned from their defeat in ELEX and have returned as a playable faction. Jax can once again choose to become an Alb Commander. They have reduced their usage of Elex drastically, as they have seen how effective an Alb with actual emotions can be when Jax brought down the Hybrid. They are still not the most joyful lot, but their combat prowess makes them an interesting choice. Faction number four is the Clerics, who are famous for their love of engineering and crafting powerful combat robots powered by Elex. The Clerics paid a high price in the war against the Albs. Not only did they lose their home in Ignadon but many of their brothers and sisters fell on the battlefield as well.

The Morkons are a brand new faction in ELEX II. When the meteor hit Magalan, some survivors fled to an underground tunnel system and lived a life of darkness and deprivation. But recently, they've started to leave their isolation and want to spread their religion all over Magalan and wipe out anyone standing against them.

These are the playable factions in ELEX II, each offering their own unique weapons and skills. It’s up to the players to decide where their allegiance lies!
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Looks like like the Skyanides are called "Skyands" now. Okay!

 

[Gilius Thunderhead]

Looks stupid as hell, thanks.

EDIT: New leaked cutscenes from Elex 2 (is Jax really back?)

 

[JDR13]

 

[Ismaul]

Massive

 

[luj1]

Factions in the first game were some of the blandest i have ever seen. I see they are continuing the trend.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

I hope I'm not the only one thinking jetpack flight and aerial combat is a spectacularly bad idea.

 

[ADULF HITLOR FAN KLUB]

I hope I'm not the only one thinking jetpack flight and aerial combat is a spectacularly bad idea.

Verticality is a good thing and it is also an ability you have to earn, so I am down with it.

 

[Ismaul]

I hope I'm not the only one thinking jetpack flight and aerial combat is a spectacularly bad idea.

I'm willing to be pleasantly surprised.

I was wary of the jetpack in the first game, thinking it would kill the exploration, but it didn't actually, it enhanced it. Still, it was limited in its use, maybe because the devs themselves were wary of its impact on gameplay. But it looks like they saw it worked well and could be expanded upon.

Now that there's jetpack flight, the impact on gameplay will be greater. For exploration, it's likely to be a much more fun fast travel option, with the option to interrupt travel at anytime to explore some point of interest you just discovered. That'll be great actually, much better than fast travel in other games. Much more interactive and immersive. And the fact that you don't have it at the start also allows for slow-paced first experience of the setting. I think overall, in that aspect, it'll be a net positive.

For combat, it's another thing entirely. Flight allows you to skip past enemies and dangers, which is a bit contrary to usual PB design, where enemies are often obstacles to bypass or overcome somehow because they're too tough (at the highest difficulty anyways). This is something I love about PB games, having to deal with enemies that are too hard and must be approached creatively. This will remain true before we get the jetpack, but after? To keep that monsters-as-obstacles design, they might have to design some areas differently, and put some objectives in a place unreachable by flight, say a cavern, guarded by monsters. Or maybe change monster behavior and make them chase you, or give them ranged attacks like they did to mediocre effect in the first game.

Another thing that will be impacted is melee combat. It's always been PB's most fun combat style IMO, but I wonder how flight will work with it. We've seen video on in-flight melee, might be cool actually, but it depends on monster behavior and that's not obvious to design and code. I liked that Gothic kinda forced you to time your blocks, rather than just flying away. We'll see. I hope it remains challenging.

The poor impact I can see it having is on worldbuilding. Like in the first game, they're going to have to make monsters able to challenge flying and ranged characters, which will likely end up being that they give ranged attacks and some kind of super-jumping or flight to many of the monsters, continuing what they started in the first game. It's weird having even basic wildlife with such abilities. Sure, they're going to justify it by saying ELEX and dark ELEX have affected the fauna, but I don't know, that seem like a meh solution to a gameplay problem.

 

[Ibn Sina]

Shit game with anal prolapse tier animations has sewage factions, news at 11.

 

[Ismaul]

Shit game with anal prolapse tier animations has sewage factions, news at 11.

Hey man don't you go shitting on anal prolapses! They reveal who you truly are on the inside.

 

[Murk]

Too bad they ditched the robot voice actor from the first game.

More factions -- hopefully with more faction specific shenanigans and interactions. Here's to joining whoever wants to nuke everyone else.

 

[lukaszek]

Another thing that will be impacted is melee combat. It's always been PB's most fun combat style IMO, but I wonder how flight will work with it. We've seen video on in-flight melee, might be cool actually, but it depends on monster behavior and that's not obvious to design and code. I liked that Gothic kinda forced you to time your blocks, rather than just flying away. We'll see. I hope it remains challenging.

in elex1 aerial melee skills were bugged hard.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

I'm willing to be pleasantly surprised (...)

That's nice theorycrafting, but in the videos so far it looks like poo poo and I'm willing to bet it's gonna be a major contributor to the overall perception of jankiness, both in the eyes of the general public and among actual gamers.

 

[Zed]

Always crack up at "Albs"

 

[Raghar]

https://youtu.be/x8maVaJUbw8?t=11
If this is JAX, I liked previous version better. A skinhead without brain, but he's funny moron who has principles. He was far more likeable character.

 

[Nazrim Eldrak]

"Skyands" and I understood sky ants.

 

[JDR13]

PB has always been shit with naming things. Oh well.. their games are good enough to get away with it.

 

[Cunt Dickula!?]

PB has always been shit with naming things.

ULU-MULU

 

[Outlander]

"Gothic", "ELEX"

 

[Tyranicon]

At this point I'm convinced they have someone on staff to ensure that a certain level of jank stays in the game. Like some kind of evil QA person.

 

[Zeriel]

Looks stupid as hell, thanks.

EDIT: New leaked cutscenes from Elex 2 (is Jax really back?)

Honestly that would make a great game. Imagine having arguments with NPCs.

"You are nothing but a SPERM STEALER", and then the boss fight is beating your no-good cheating ex into an inch of her life.

 

[Ismaul]

At this point I'm convinced they have someone on staff to ensure that a certain level of jank stays in the game. Like some kind of evil QA person.

Evil? The jank is adorable. Gives you that handcrafted feel.

 

[thesoup]

Always crack up at "Albs"

 

[Burning Bridges]

Looks stupid as hell, thanks.

EDIT: New leaked cutscenes from Elex 2 (is Jax really back?)

If we were real actors this could be a normal night in the codex.

 

[Crescent Hawk]

Why cant these germans hire better art people? Its still generic fantasy\ci fi land with a bald dude.