Lord_Potato
Arcane
And pazaak
-
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ELEX ELEX II - Jax is back
- Thread starter Cassar
- Start date
Child of Malkav
Erudite
Every game needs its own jetpack. There you go, exploration + 100.
rusty_shackleford
Arcane
- Joined
- Jan 14, 2018
- Messages
- 50,754
exploration sucks because there's nothing to look forward to besides more oddly placed cooked food
That was a bit of a problem in Elex 1 too. Getting another pack of soft toilet paper or cigarettes got old after a while... Still heaps better than Morrowind.
Lord_Potato
Arcane
There are some unique weapons scattered in the countryside and lots of Elex potions, priceless especially when you haven't mastered chemistry yet.
rusty_shackleford
Arcane
- Joined
- Jan 14, 2018
- Messages
- 50,754
once you have a decent weapon there's nothing to look forward to, because the itemization is terrible and exactly one slot matters at all
lies
you can also look forward to alb supply crates with lettuce, cigs and teddy bears
Lord_Potato
Arcane
The most surprising part of itemization is how often murdered Skyand drop toy trains. Like wtf dudes?
Anyway... I completed the game. Took me 74 hours. In the end the game did overstay its welcome for about 10 hours.
For the first 60+ hours, I had a good time with Elex 2. Despite dumbed-down combat (no combos) and script which was at best serviceable and often pure cringe-worthy. Despite ugly faces and poor performance in towns (as compared with other, much more beautiful 3d open-world games). There was pure joy in exploration and questing. Also, the improved jetpack was pretty dope.
But finally, I managed to complete all the side-quests and had to focus on the main plotline. And the endgame is just pure decline. It's badly paced, terribly written, all logics jump out of the window and die. The great plot twist fails to shock or impress. Moments that should be moving fail to move.
The worst part is Dex's sacrifice. I could see it from 10 miles ahead when the boy first started talking about entering Skyandid capsule. When the inevitable happened it was plain stupid: Dex killed the main Skaynd AI, Cassandra, but could not open the forcefield blocking access to the main Former. So he decided to kill all remaining Skyand systems and by doing it, suicide himself. Jax's reaction to his infant son sacrificing himself for the salvation of mankind? A short monologue and two cutscenes when he's raging around the capsule. To make matters worse, due to lack of time or bugs in scripting the devs did not include dialogues concerning Dex's death from other characters. Neither Asgar, Dex's guardian and protector, nor Caja, his freaking mother, comment even once on his death! The final dialogue between Jax and Caja is surprisingly joyful, considering the grim tone of the ending and the fact they FUCKING LOST THEIR SON.
Before Elex 2 I played Horizon: Zero Dawn. It strikes me how much the plot of Elex 2 and its reveals are similar to the plot and reveals of that game. There is even an article about it: https://gamerant.com/horizon-forbidden-west-elex-2-similar-setting-cliffhanger-endings/ However I must say Horizon's story is much better written, delivered, paced and the ending actually manages to cause an emotional reaction. Elex 2 ending tries to achieve as much, but without success.
Concerning gameplay, for the most part, the game offers a nice RPG experience with lots of factions and multiple builds for Jax, but ultimately, the system becomes completely broken, especially when you abuse Elex potions (and with the Cold mechanism gone, there is no real downside to abusing them). In Horizon Zero Dawn, which is less "hardcore" RPG than Elex 2, I did not manage to max out Aloy, there were still two skill trees that I did not complete due to lack of skillpoints. In Elex 2 however, I managed to get it all. Every combat, survival, personal, and crafting skill, plus all the abilities of Albs and Clerics. When I ended the game at level 60, my stats were: 100s in Intellect and Strenght (you cannot go higher), 85 in all others. Jax became the Gary Stu of Magalan.
In the end, I really liked the gameplay of Elex 2 but was left unmoved by its story and writing and quite displeased with its technical side. The badly paced ending soured the whole game for me. At the 60th hour I'd give Elex 2 a solid 7/10. After reaching the ending I could not award it with more than a weak 6/10.
Anyway... I completed the game. Took me 74 hours. In the end the game did overstay its welcome for about 10 hours.
For the first 60+ hours, I had a good time with Elex 2. Despite dumbed-down combat (no combos) and script which was at best serviceable and often pure cringe-worthy. Despite ugly faces and poor performance in towns (as compared with other, much more beautiful 3d open-world games). There was pure joy in exploration and questing. Also, the improved jetpack was pretty dope.
But finally, I managed to complete all the side-quests and had to focus on the main plotline. And the endgame is just pure decline. It's badly paced, terribly written, all logics jump out of the window and die. The great plot twist fails to shock or impress. Moments that should be moving fail to move.
The worst part is Dex's sacrifice. I could see it from 10 miles ahead when the boy first started talking about entering Skyandid capsule. When the inevitable happened it was plain stupid: Dex killed the main Skaynd AI, Cassandra, but could not open the forcefield blocking access to the main Former. So he decided to kill all remaining Skyand systems and by doing it, suicide himself. Jax's reaction to his infant son sacrificing himself for the salvation of mankind? A short monologue and two cutscenes when he's raging around the capsule. To make matters worse, due to lack of time or bugs in scripting the devs did not include dialogues concerning Dex's death from other characters. Neither Asgar, Dex's guardian and protector, nor Caja, his freaking mother, comment even once on his death! The final dialogue between Jax and Caja is surprisingly joyful, considering the grim tone of the ending and the fact they FUCKING LOST THEIR SON.
Before Elex 2 I played Horizon: Zero Dawn. It strikes me how much the plot of Elex 2 and its reveals are similar to the plot and reveals of that game. There is even an article about it: https://gamerant.com/horizon-forbidden-west-elex-2-similar-setting-cliffhanger-endings/ However I must say Horizon's story is much better written, delivered, paced and the ending actually manages to cause an emotional reaction. Elex 2 ending tries to achieve as much, but without success.
Concerning gameplay, for the most part, the game offers a nice RPG experience with lots of factions and multiple builds for Jax, but ultimately, the system becomes completely broken, especially when you abuse Elex potions (and with the Cold mechanism gone, there is no real downside to abusing them). In Horizon Zero Dawn, which is less "hardcore" RPG than Elex 2, I did not manage to max out Aloy, there were still two skill trees that I did not complete due to lack of skillpoints. In Elex 2 however, I managed to get it all. Every combat, survival, personal, and crafting skill, plus all the abilities of Albs and Clerics. When I ended the game at level 60, my stats were: 100s in Intellect and Strenght (you cannot go higher), 85 in all others. Jax became the Gary Stu of Magalan.
In the end, I really liked the gameplay of Elex 2 but was left unmoved by its story and writing and quite displeased with its technical side. The badly paced ending soured the whole game for me. At the 60th hour I'd give Elex 2 a solid 7/10. After reaching the ending I could not award it with more than a weak 6/10.
Just like any other Piranha Bytes games then...
- Joined
- Jan 15, 2015
- Messages
- 13,235
dont forget how in prologue you start all mighty after elex1, only to run away from few alien dogs and lose all your stats yet again. Then you pump your stats back up to kill aliens in bulk
Grimlorn
Arcane
- Joined
- Jun 1, 2011
- Messages
- 10,248
For those who have played to the end a quick question.
I'm wondering, does it end with it turning out the aliens only sent a small mining operation that Jax barely beat, with it coming out they are sending a real, full force alien invasion for Elex 3?
- Joined
- Jan 15, 2015
- Messages
- 13,235
not really. First thing you actually learn what elex is, where its coming from
then you learn that that big elex planet is accelerating to be reunited with those tiny pieces that everyone is snuffing
Basically I didn't like 2 things at all in Elex 2: performance and none of the other factions have not even close te content of the Berserkers.
Made one incomplete playthrough with Albs and other whit the berserkers, no comparison.
In Elex 1 it was more equivalent between them.
Made one incomplete playthrough with Albs and other whit the berserkers, no comparison.
In Elex 1 it was more equivalent between them.
That's unfortunate. Are there plans to actually expand the other factions a good bit?
Lord_Potato
Arcane
So, Berserkers have more quests?
Alb questline is kind of short, but it allows you to doublecross them and join the Clerics (who unfortunately have no faction quests at all, except for the endgame quests concerning the reprogrammed robots) and this time I wanted to ally with them (being a Berserker in Elex 1).
Lord_Potato
Arcane
Not really but close.
Jax learns from Adam Dawkins that Skyands are not really aliens, but human scientists mutated by Dark Elex. And the incoming threat is not more Skyands but the entity they stole Elex from - the mysterious Singularity that closes in on Magalan to retrieve its lost parts.
You can doublecross the berserkers or the Morkons and join the outlaws.
Lord_Potato
Arcane
Yeah, but who would want to join these edgy junkies? Baxter is an insufferable bitch.
Cryomancer
Arcane
Outlaws are the most boring faction in the game. BTW, I loved Alb tech cryomancer.
Grimlorn
Arcane
- Joined
- Jun 1, 2011
- Messages
- 10,248
I still might end up playing it at some point in the future, but it crossed my mind this could end up like Command and Conquer 3 did. So I was curious.
ADULF HITLOR FAN KLUB
Arcane
Outlaws were really cool in ELEX... but to be honest, all of the old factions in ELEX 2 took a deep nose dive regarding engagement.
I still like ELEX 2 and had fun playing, but there is no denying that ELEX is the vastly superior game.
Think there are chances to improve those factions?
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