Game News ELEX II Factions Trailer

[JDR13]

I hope the "Albs are Elves" theory is supposed to be sarcasm, because that's beyond retarded.

Why would it be beyond retarded to have elf-cultural-equivalents in a setting?

I didn't say that. I said it's retarded to claim that about the Albs.

It would mean either you haven't played the game or weren't paying any attention during it, since the origin of the Albs was cleary explained.

The in-game explanation for the name and the design origin of the name need not be the same. In this case, they intersect.

It didn't seem like "the design origin of the name" was what was being discussed, but ok.

 

[Ismaul]

I hope the "Albs are Elves" theory is supposed to be sarcasm, because that's beyond retarded.

Why would it be beyond retarded to have elf-cultural-equivalents in a setting?

I didn't say that. I said it's retarded to claim that about the Albs.

It would mean either you haven't played the game or weren't paying any attention during it, since the origin of the Albs was cleary explained.

The in-game explanation for the name and the design origin of the name need not be the same. In this case, they intersect.

It didn't seem like "the design origin of the name" was what was being discussed, but ok.

It might not have been clear, but I thought it was obvious since we were talking about PB's naming conventions.

 

[JDR13]

I hope the "Albs are Elves" theory is supposed to be sarcasm, because that's beyond retarded.

Why would it be beyond retarded to have elf-cultural-equivalents in a setting?

I didn't say that. I said it's retarded to claim that about the Albs.

It would mean either you haven't played the game or weren't paying any attention during it, since the origin of the Albs was cleary explained.

The in-game explanation for the name and the design origin of the name need not be the same. In this case, they intersect.

It didn't seem like "the design origin of the name" was what was being discussed, but ok.

It might not have been clear, but I thought it was obvious since we were talking about PB's naming conventions.

Ok, but I still don't think that's what PB was going for there since they're not remotely similar to elves.

 

[Darth Roxor]

You're thinking elves in genericfantasyland terms, whereas elves in germano medieval volklore are nature spirits, typically malicious, like the sidhe. See Goethe's Erlkönig for reference.

In fact I'm p. sure albs/alps specifically are vampire spirits that come at night to sap people's life, and if that doesn't sound remotely similar to the albanians in ELEX, then I don't know what more to tell you.

 

[Ryzer]

Only if you're being anal about how unrealistic it is. PB doesn't make getting loot easy like most developers. That's one of the best things about their games.

Hope they will change the loot system in the next game so that I don't feel like a garbage collector everytime I wander in the wilds.

 

[Ismaul]

Ok, but I still don't think that's what PB was going for there since they're not remotely similar to elves.

High elves, as I said. If you had to use one word to describe them, it would be: cold. Same as Albs.

All terms related to cold that describe them: pale, reserved, distant from others, intellectual, calculating, emotionless, arrogant, self-important, have the most developped knowledge, etc. And that's in D&D btw.

 

[Burning Bridges]

I prefer to think of Albs as a reference to Perfidious Albion.

Linguistically it is not hard to find out.

In old books I have often seen it used like "Alb" meaning "horror". You should find it in the other Germanic languages as well, possibly even English, because the word seems really old.

There is the word "Albtraum" German word for nightmare. Which was interestingly also called "Nachtmahr", of course the same as nightmare

Now a closer look in the dictionary, they define it as a creature that comes into your dreams and makes you afraid, just like Freddy Krueger. And of course various similar meanings exist related to that idea.

1. (im alten Volksglauben) koboldhaftes, gespenstisches Wesen, das sich nachts auf die Brust des Schlafenden setzt und bei ihm ein drückendes Gefühl der Angst hervorruft; [Nacht]mahr
   BEISPIEL
   • etwas liegt wie ein Alb auf jemandes Brust
2. schwere seelische Last, seelische Bedrückung, Beklemmung
   Gebrauch
   gehoben
   Grammatik
   ohne Plural
   BEISPIELE
   • ein Alb ist von mir gewichen
   • von einem Alb befreit sein

Now if you look even closer, Goethe's Erlkönig comes to mind and eventually it can only means that "Alb" is basically the word for various ideas of ghosts. It is in fact much older

Alphito
That said, it is no coincidence that historical evidence points to one of the oldest myths of the Mediterranean: the legend of the sinister goddess Alphito [according to this site, the Goddess Alphito was the “Arcadian White Grain Goddess who was given sole rights over the ability to inflict leprosy. .. Alphito terrorized people in ancient Greek times. The words “nightmare”[German ‘Albtraum’] and “Albino” (for “white”) were derived from the name of this goddess, and also the name of the river “Elbe”.

So it's the modern concept of Elves that is retarded in this context. People were obviously very afraid of ghosts, the concept of human like species that terrorizes us (during our dreams and everywhere where it is very dark) exists in each of us and from that the idealized image of Elves took shape. You could also say that psychologically they are identical to Aliens, who also come at night and steal pieces of your brain and nibble your testicles. So psycho-historically those are also "Albs"

 

[Gradenmayer]

You get to pick between: literal Autists, underground Deus Vultards, Criminal Scumbags who accuse you of lacking loyalty (???), Unwashed greenpiece degenerates and Clerics/Engineers.

Ye, I will go with the Morkons, just cause they might be able to kill off the other factions.

 

[1451]

I'm also siding with Vultards this time, I tried joining the outlaws but they betrayed me in the final fight. What a joke of a faction.

 

[Ismaul]

In old books I have often seen it used like "Alb" meaning "horror".

That's interesting. But do you see any connection between this and the game?

Albs are seen as dangerous by other factions, but as horrors? As terrorizing ghost nightmare aliens? I don't see the inspiration, I don't think PB's designers went that deep into the linguistics of the word.

 

[JDR13]

Ok, but I still don't think that's what PB was going for there since they're not remotely similar to elves.

High elves, as I said. If you had to use one word to describe them, it would be: cold. Same as Albs.

All terms related to cold that describe them: pale, reserved, distant from others, intellectual, calculating, emotionless, arrogant, self-important, have the most developped knowledge, etc. And that's in D&D btw.

Right, but that describes how High Elves are naturally as a species. For Albs, most of those qualities only exist due to their consumption of Elex.

 

[Ismaul]

Ok, but I still don't think that's what PB was going for there since they're not remotely similar to elves.

High elves, as I said. If you had to use one word to describe them, it would be: cold. Same as Albs.

All terms related to cold that describe them: pale, reserved, distant from others, intellectual, calculating, emotionless, arrogant, self-important, have the most developped knowledge, etc. And that's in D&D btw.

Right, but that describes how High Elves are naturally as a species. For Albs, most of those qualities only exist due to their consumption of Elex.

Yes, and? It's not because the origin of their behavior is different that one can't be an inspiration for the other.

Also, everything I described about High Elves is also cultural. Fantasy races are basically racialized cultures and ways of being. Archetypes. I'm saying they used the same archetype for Albs as for High Elves, and that's why they used the name.

Obviously, now that Albs use less Elex, they're gonna be less high. Literaly and archetypaly.

 

[Burning Bridges]

In old books I have often seen it used like "Alb" meaning "horror".

That's interesting. But do you see any connection between this and the game?

Well it's easy to check and Google translates "Alb" to "Elf". But nobody checks what "Elf" means. What I mean is that the knowledge gained from a lot of old books is much bigger than the electronic database. And from that I see no connection to what we usually envision when we speak of Elves.

A term like this sent through an automatic translation is so wish washy that people probably subconsciously find their personal bias confirmed.

In reality the term Alb used to mean some creature that people were afraid of, and it found its way into our modern language (Albtraum).

Here is a translation of the poem Der Erlkönig, which describes a ficticious encounter with the King of such ghosts that ends with a boy killed

Genius English Translations – Johan Wolfgang von Goethe - Der Erlkönig (English Translation) | Genius

 

[JDR13]

Ok, but I still don't think that's what PB was going for there since they're not remotely similar to elves.

High elves, as I said. If you had to use one word to describe them, it would be: cold. Same as Albs.

All terms related to cold that describe them: pale, reserved, distant from others, intellectual, calculating, emotionless, arrogant, self-important, have the most developped knowledge, etc. And that's in D&D btw.

Right, but that describes how High Elves are naturally as a species. For Albs, most of those qualities only exist due to their consumption of Elex.

Yes, and? It's not because the origin of their behavior is different that one can't be an inspiration for the other.

Also, everything I described about High Elves is also cultural. Fantasy races are basically racialized cultures and ways of being. Archetypes. I'm saying they used the same archetype for Albs as for High Elves, and that's why they used the name.

Obviously, now that Albs use less Elex, they're gonna be less high. Literaly and archetypaly.

And it's still a quite a stretch.

But I suppose it's something that's fun to philosophize about.

 

[Ismaul]

it's still a quite a stretch.

Have you ever run a homebrew PnP roleplaying campaign? If you did, this wouldn't seem like a stretch.

Let's take D&D as it's the most known example. If you're going to create your own setting, you'd first look at what's been done before, for inspiration. You'll also know that one of your main goals, before you can start playing, is to explain where characters come from. You need to account for races and classes. You need a history for each race, an environment where they live or many, culture(s), political relations etc. You also need cultures that lead to characters having the available classes, places where skills are taught, groups of experts, their role in society, etc.

But races and classes are archetypes, or even stereotypes. So you start thinking in those terms. Relations between races and between nations are informed by those archetypes. Hell, even Gods are just that: idealized archetypes, and each has a magical portfolio tied to his archetype. It's all built like that.

As a designer, those are the atoms you work with. And everyone that's in that field, at the time anyways, has passed by D&D. It's the basis, the standard. If you've learned D&D archetypes, worked with them as a young kid, they stay with you. You still go back to them when designing, they're part of your design tools. Notice how PB's factions are just that: archetypes. This is how they design.

So the high elf archetype? They know it for sure. Sure, in Germany, D&D's not the dominant RPG, it's Das Schwarze Auge (The Dark Eye), but it's no different. It has that same archetype, except they're called Firn Elves. I haven't played DSA, but wiki describes those elves that way: "live in the north, in perpetual ice; for them, life is a hard struggle." Here we go with the cold again. But frankly, their knowledge of such an archetype need not come from D&D or DSA, since those are inspired by folklore, faiiry tales and such. It's all there.

It seems obvious to me that PB's designers had first their idea of Elex as something that numbs emotions and makes you cold. And then they linked it to a "cold" racial archetype to embody it. And a "cold" environment to house them, etc.

 

[JDR13]

it's still a quite a stretch.

Have you ever run a homebrew PnP roleplaying campaign? If you did, this wouldn't seem like a stretch.

Let's take D&D as it's the most known example. If you're going to create your own setting, you'd first look at what's been done before, for inspiration. You'll also know that one of your main goals, before you can start playing, is to explain where characters come from. You need to account for races and classes. You need a history for each race, an environment where they live or many, culture(s), political relations etc. You also need cultures that lead to characters having the available classes, places where skills are taught, groups of experts, their role in society, etc.

But races and classes are archetypes, or even stereotypes. So you start thinking in those terms. Relations between races and between nations are informed by those archetypes. Hell, even Gods are just that: idealized archetypes, and each has a magical portfolio tied to his archetype. It's all built like that.

As a designer, those are the atoms you work with. And everyone that's in that field, at the time anyways, has passed by D&D. It's the basis, the standard. If you've learned D&D archetypes, worked with them as a young kid, they stay with you. You still go back to them when designing, they're part of your design tools. Notice how PB's factions are just that: archetypes. This is how they design.

So the high elf archetype? They know it for sure. Sure, in Germany, D&D's not the dominant RPG, it's Das Schwarze Auge (The Dark Eye), but it's no different. It has that same archetype, except they're called Firn Elves. I haven't played DSA, but wiki describes those elves that way: "live in the north, in perpetual ice; for them, life is a hard struggle." Here we go with the cold again. But frankly, their knowledge of such an archetype need not come from D&D or DSA, since those are inspired by folklore, faiiry tales and such. It's all there.

It seems obvious to me that PB's designers had first their idea of Elex as something that numbs emotions and makes you cold. And then they linked it to a "cold" racial archetype to embody it. And a "cold" environment to house them, etc.

It's a stretch.

 

[Edija]

Gothic's approach to armor is wrong. Why can't I murder a paladin, steal his armor and then equip it. What's stopping me since we are both humans and have the same anatomy.
Just make the armor devoid of any magic since I'm not an Innos follower but being unable to loot it is simply dumb.
Weird how we never saw women paladins, Innos seems very peculiar about his choice of followers.

They want you to earn it. This way it feels way cooler and more rewarding when you get it in the end. There's this psychological subplay of you watching paladins for like half of the game thinking how cool they are and then you actually get to be a part of the gang, the armor also acts as a status symbol, especially since NPCs do react to it as well.

Also, short edit: there are no women Paladins since Innos is based. Love from RPGCODEX.

 

[Crescent Hawk]

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

yeah the lack of originality in this franchise is comical

Yes, what Piranha Bytes really needs is to hire experienced art people from California, so that they can teach them that bald white dudes are bad and they should be more creative by concentrating on gender selections, colored hair and pronoun choices.

Ok but what if they hired korean mmo trash artists and every girl would be a jiggly ay lmao big tits and ass girls in sci fi armor like that project eve thingy and the main dude a long haired gigachad. It would be awful.

And still better than this.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

lmao the main character of elex is a fucking elf

 

[Tihskael]

Why does Jax look like a pre-pubescent bald man child in the trailer?

 

[1451]

The side effects of consuming too much elex.

 

[Justicar]

Why does Jax look like a pre-pubescent bald man child in the trailer?

Look's like typical germoid dont see a problem.

https://gothic.fandom.com/pl/wiki/Björn_Pankratz

 

[Sibylla]

lol

 

[Kev Inkline]

Always crack up at "Albs"

Spoiler

I always thought it was a mountain range.

 

[catfood]

Alb means white in Romanian.