Tyranicon
A Memory of Eternity
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ELEX ELEX II - Jax is back
- Thread starter Cassar
- Start date
Grampy_Bone
Arcane
Played this for awhile and got bored once I had the best weapons and the challenge disappeared. That's how all PB games are but I feel like they pace it out better?
Usually armor is the gatekeeper for tougher enemies but in this it didn't even matter. It's the Gothic 3 problem where combat is more or less skill based (if dodge roll spam can be said to be a skill) and stats just determine how fast stuff dies. All the top end melee, lazor beams, and ice magic felt piss weak, while even a mid-tier shotgun rapes everything with ease. So the challenge is dependant entirely on your willingness to abuse the boomstick.
I would have probably kept slugging through the story for completionism sake but it crashed and lost progress too often for me to want to bother treading the same ground.
Usually armor is the gatekeeper for tougher enemies but in this it didn't even matter. It's the Gothic 3 problem where combat is more or less skill based (if dodge roll spam can be said to be a skill) and stats just determine how fast stuff dies. All the top end melee, lazor beams, and ice magic felt piss weak, while even a mid-tier shotgun rapes everything with ease. So the challenge is dependant entirely on your willingness to abuse the boomstick.
I would have probably kept slugging through the story for completionism sake but it crashed and lost progress too often for me to want to bother treading the same ground.
Tuco Benedicto Pacifico
Arcane
That's part of the issue, though. ELEX was already far from being a flawless game. It was "mostly kinda good" DESPISE its collection of flaws and shortcomings.
Which makes even more... let's say jarring to see that ELEX 2 not only hardly fixed anything but somehow even managed to do worse in some areas.
Yeah i want to get back to this now i have a 3080, but the game crashed everytime after piranha bytes logo
soulburner
Cipher
- Joined
- Sep 21, 2013
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- 846
Feels like everything is worse here than in Elex 1. Exploration is less rewarding, the story makes less sense, the graphics are uneven (the world looks ugly but the interiors are much more detailed), the combat system is pretty much a mindless click-to-kill mechanic (unless you find a one-shot-to-kill-all shotgun), the human models look funny, but have pretty good lip sync tech.
Somehow, even the Piranha Bytes' charm is gone.
The game was also abandoned by the developers - the DX11 mode still performs like crap and the DX12 mode has barely been updated since the beta, so we still have broken antialiasing, broken shadows (try walking around at the Morkons camp - your eyes will dry due to the ever changing shadows), ultra-bright foggy nights. The performance is still barely acceptable - the framerate increase is pretty impressive, but still not enough to stay at steady 60+ fps. Oh, and you download two copies of the game on Steam now. Seriously, there are two folders: one for the DX11 version and one for the DX12 with all the assets in both places. Double the size, double the fun.
I got Elex 2 through a giveaway, so at least I'm happy about not paying for it from my own pocket.
Somehow, even the Piranha Bytes' charm is gone.
The game was also abandoned by the developers - the DX11 mode still performs like crap and the DX12 mode has barely been updated since the beta, so we still have broken antialiasing, broken shadows (try walking around at the Morkons camp - your eyes will dry due to the ever changing shadows), ultra-bright foggy nights. The performance is still barely acceptable - the framerate increase is pretty impressive, but still not enough to stay at steady 60+ fps. Oh, and you download two copies of the game on Steam now. Seriously, there are two folders: one for the DX11 version and one for the DX12 with all the assets in both places. Double the size, double the fun.
I got Elex 2 through a giveaway, so at least I'm happy about not paying for it from my own pocket.
Exploration is exactly the same as in E1. Mostly identical assets are strewn around mostly identical map and populated with mostly identical items arranged in mostly identical piles. You and Roxor must've played Elex 1 on some kind of drug to think it was dramatically different and/or better game.
Have you played on Easy? Because I assume only on Easy you can just stand, swing and tank through mobs' hits. On Hard that I played on the combat is decidedly not a mindless mouseclickfest, you have to dodge and parry and block and sometimes jet away to survive, even in the endgame.
soulburner
Cipher
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- Sep 21, 2013
- Messages
- 846
The games' differences are not dramatic. The timed combat in E1 was interesting and fun when mastered, the sequel is much less engaging and you can kill everything by spamming the left mouse button. I play on normal, hard usually means enemies have too much health points, so I very rarely play on it. And I mostly shotgunned everything during my playthrough.
Exploration was more interesting in E1 because of the lore to be found - letters, audiologs describing what the world was like soon before the comet hit. E2 seems to "only" have a unique weapon in some remote areas.
Exploration was more interesting in E1 because of the lore to be found - letters, audiologs describing what the world was like soon before the comet hit. E2 seems to "only" have a unique weapon in some remote areas.
Indeed, Elex is crap for the exact reasons Roxor lists
Daily reminder this kind of shit would have never happened in Elex 1.
BruceVC
Arcane
I also disagree with this post, its definitely not a shit game and you exaggerating. Are you sure you didnt play Gothic 4 by mistake and thought it was Elex 2, thats probably what you did?
thesecret1
Arcane
- Joined
- Jun 30, 2019
- Messages
- 6,811
I'm pretty sure that even Elex 1 had a German translation
Daily reminder this kind of shit would have never happened in Elex 1.
- Joined
- Sep 25, 2012
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- 30,038
What a nuanced and substantial rebuttal.
BruceVC
Arcane
Read my review of the game in this thread if you want an objective post
- Joined
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- 19,312
Fuck this gaym.
It has all the shit of the first one but none of the good stuff.
Oh, you're starting out with a Shitty Sword of Suckitude? No problem, there's 20 better weapons lying around. But oh wait, you need 69 strength and 78 constitution to use the slightly better one, and each level gives you 10 attribute points. LUL.
Oh but guns are good? Sure, here's a shotgun. Oh fuck this one needs 50 something DEX, too bad you spent everything from your last 8 levels trying to pump STR so you can use the slightly less sucky sword
It's gonna be the same as Eelix 1, I just might be able to upgrade to a slightly better weapon before the final boss fight.
It has all the shit of the first one but none of the good stuff.
Oh, you're starting out with a Shitty Sword of Suckitude? No problem, there's 20 better weapons lying around. But oh wait, you need 69 strength and 78 constitution to use the slightly better one, and each level gives you 10 attribute points. LUL.
Oh but guns are good? Sure, here's a shotgun. Oh fuck this one needs 50 something DEX, too bad you spent everything from your last 8 levels trying to pump STR so you can use the slightly less sucky sword
It's gonna be the same as Eelix 1, I just might be able to upgrade to a slightly better weapon before the final boss fight.
GrafvonMoltke
Shoutbox Purity League
Decided to give it a go. Playing it right now.
My God what the fuck. Why is Jax's new voice actor so terrible? Why does Jax look even worse than the first game?
My God what the fuck. Why is Jax's new voice actor so terrible? Why does Jax look even worse than the first game?
GrafvonMoltke
Shoutbox Purity League
WHO IS THIS IMPOSTER AND WHAT HAVE THEY DONE WITH THE REAL JAX?!?!
Sadly he got stage 4 cancer. He ate the purple stuff when he was told not to.
ELEXmakesMeHard
Learned
- Joined
- Jun 19, 2021
- Messages
- 807
If only you knew how bad things really are.
WHO IS THIS IMPOSTER AND WHAT HAVE THEY DONE WITH THE REAL JAX?!?!
Mikeal
Arcane
He got married between games.
Ryzer
Arcane
- Joined
- May 1, 2020
- Messages
- 8,017
But worst of all, he's got a child.
Paul_cz
Arcane
- Joined
- Jan 26, 2014
- Messages
- 2,146
Finished this couple weeks ago.
At first, I could not get into it. I played about an hour a month for six months. Then I got to a larger settlement, got some quests going and it finally clicked. And for the next 50 hours or so, I was convinced I would give Elex 2 at least 7 or possibly 8/10, because I was having a blast, despite some annoyances. The handcrafted world was there, fun questing, great exploration with a jetpack, fun character progression. Good times!
But then chapter 3 and chapter 4 came, and…yeah. Piranha Bytes have always sucked at latter half of their games - always, even going back to Gothic 1 with its stupid boring dungeon - but Elex 2 takes the shit cake.
Basically all the companion missions are copy pasted laziness, and most of the ending quests are “go to X and kill 50 enemies”.
I expect this kind of trash in JRPGs. I do not expect it, nor want it, in WRPGs.
The only saving grace of the last two chapters is that with difficulty set to “story”, enemies can be dispatched fairly quickly and those two chapters combined took me some 15 hours. But it was still 15 hours too many, given their absence of quality.
Then there is the utterly bizzare writing, where I felt like half the dialogue flat out made no sense.
In the end…I am still glad I played it, and 50 hours of good fun is nothing to scoff at, but Elex 2 IS Piranha’s weakest game ever made.
Archolos: Chronicles of Myrtana team thoroughly schooled Piranha Bytes on how to make their own type of game.
At first, I could not get into it. I played about an hour a month for six months. Then I got to a larger settlement, got some quests going and it finally clicked. And for the next 50 hours or so, I was convinced I would give Elex 2 at least 7 or possibly 8/10, because I was having a blast, despite some annoyances. The handcrafted world was there, fun questing, great exploration with a jetpack, fun character progression. Good times!
But then chapter 3 and chapter 4 came, and…yeah. Piranha Bytes have always sucked at latter half of their games - always, even going back to Gothic 1 with its stupid boring dungeon - but Elex 2 takes the shit cake.
Basically all the companion missions are copy pasted laziness, and most of the ending quests are “go to X and kill 50 enemies”.
I expect this kind of trash in JRPGs. I do not expect it, nor want it, in WRPGs.
The only saving grace of the last two chapters is that with difficulty set to “story”, enemies can be dispatched fairly quickly and those two chapters combined took me some 15 hours. But it was still 15 hours too many, given their absence of quality.
Then there is the utterly bizzare writing, where I felt like half the dialogue flat out made no sense.
In the end…I am still glad I played it, and 50 hours of good fun is nothing to scoff at, but Elex 2 IS Piranha’s weakest game ever made.
Archolos: Chronicles of Myrtana team thoroughly schooled Piranha Bytes on how to make their own type of game.
Sorry but not even close. Risen 2 and 3 are worse, especially 3, and although Gothic 3 shows the potential of a Top 10 RPG of all times the final product is what it is - a broken, unfinished mess beyond fixing.
G2 > G1 > R1 > E1 > E2 > R2 > G3 > R3
(I really believe G3 is still better than R3, even in its tragic, half-finished state).
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