ELEX ELEX II - Jax is back

[Darth Roxor]

Now I'm deciding whether to start playing ELEX 2.
So Codex opinion is needed - is this the worst Piranha game?
I've played all the games from Piranha. But I only like Gothic, because it was fun to play at every moment of the game.
I like the setting of Risen 1-2-3 and the first ELEX, but the plot and the gameplay are not as addictive as in the first Gothic. During my playthrough, I took long breaks for a year or two until I became interested in the game again.
If there is a consensus that ELEX 2 is the worst game, then it's better to skip it.

It isn't the worst, but it's really fucking bad. Avoid.

My personal beef with the game is this - it's almost exactly the same as E1.

Yeah I sure wish that was actually the fucking case.

 

[Jinn]

Yeah, ELEX 2 is almost Risen 2 levels of bad. It's the kind of situation where you shake your head throughout the game and say to yourself "what were they thinking? how could they have made this worse than its predecessor?" But they did, and it's much worse. Disappointment of the decade really, especially after the near return to form of ELEX. I'm not particularly sad PB finally shut down. They can't hurt us anymore.

Also, Darth Roxor, Chronicles of Myrtana is like ten times better than ELEX and you're absolutely insane for not seeing that. You've got jetpack fumes in your eyes or something. Or you're letting your disdain for modders blind you.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Archolos is not good. Sorry but not sorry.

 

[Jinn]

Archolos is not good. Sorry but not sorry.

It is good, and you're deranged if you enjoy ELEX over it. Mind boggling. It's a better game in pretty much every respect. Just cause you had to follow a guy a few times through the city to do a quest doesn't make it bad.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Quest design in Archolos is total garbage and there's largely nothing left to do in the game once you lawnmow the big map other than progressing along the garbo main quest. Sure, lawnmowing is fun as long as it lasts because it's Gothic, but after that you play the game on total autopilot, not to mention that the dumbass potatos didn't even have the common sense to gate content behind chapter progression or whatever, so you can get master alchemy instantly and start pumping them stat points to become invincible after 15 hours of playtime. Archolos has more in common with Oblivion than with Gothic.

 

[Jinn]

Quest design in Archolos is total garbage and there's largely nothing left to do in the game once you lawnmow the big map other than progressing along the garbo main quest. Sure, lawnmowing is fun as long as it lasts because it's Gothic, but after that you play the game on total autopilot, not to mention that the dumbass potatos didn't even have the common sense to gate content behind chapter progression or whatever, so you can get master alchemy instantly and start pumping them stat points to become invincible after 15 hours of playtime. Archolos has more in common with Oblivion than with Gothic.

You didn't even finish the game, did you? Also, again, hilarious that you enjoy ELEX so much and try to lambast Archolos for progression and difficulty curve. ELEX is an absolute joke in that regard. And sure, there were a couple good quests in ELEX, but overall the quest design was not great, and hardly better than what you find in Archolos. On top of that all, I doubt you could find too many instances where Gothic 2 excels over Archolos in quest design. I get that you were a different person when you played Gothic 1 and 2, and nostalgia certainly plays a part, but your bias is a little absurd in this situation. Clearly you can't be swayed, but the only reason I bring it up is because it's so strange to me that this is the opinion you've landed on. I'm just saying that it makes little sense that you could enjoy ELEX as much as you did, yet have such a low opinion of Archolos, given that it does the entire PB formula better than most PB games.

At least we can both agree that ELEX 2 was shit and a massive disappointment.

 

[Darth Roxor]

On top of that all, I doubt you could find too many instances where Gothic 2 excels over Archolos in quest design.

Nigga pls I get that you like Archolos a lot but this kind of reality bending is just unbecoming. Daily reminder that Archolos doesn't even have the bare modicum of the Gothic formula that's "beat up a guy to take his quest stuff if you don't feel like running his errand" because in all fucking instances quest-related Archolos NPCs are immortal and can't even be knocked down to be looted.

That's also without mentioning the cutscene deaths that Archolos really likes to pull on you.

And the fact that there is simply not a single quest in the game that isn't a fetch quest. Zero. Nada. Null.

 

[Jinn]

Daily reminder that Archolos doesn't even have the bare modicum of the Gothic formula that's "beat up a guy to take his quest stuff if you don't feel like running his errand" because in all fucking instances quest-related Archolos NPCs are immortal and can't even be knocked down to be looted.

If this is really the only element of quest design you think Gothic 1 and 2 excels in over Archolos, then I'd beg you to go back and take a closer look at everything else surrounding it. I don't feel I'm bending reality by pointing this out, and it seems like your high praise of this single differentiating aspect does more so.

And the fact that there is simply not a single quest in the game that isn't a fetch quest. Zero. Nada. Null.

There most certainly is, but they're more along the lines of social navigation, ala Gothic 1 and 2. Text fetch quests, if you will.

It's not about me liking Archolos and wanting you to. It about this strange bias you have against it, even though it's largely the same as Gothic 1 and 2 in nearly every regard.

 

[Gnidrologist]

But all that could be forgiven if the game didn't reek of apathy and creative burnout. It feels so tired, you can almost see the devs being totally checked out behind the monitor.

Seems similar to my perception of the game. I haven't actually finished it. Saves are still there and there's probably good chunk of it left even before the much talked about anticlimactic ending chores, but yeah, it just like Drax himself, the game seems a bit depressing in lot of aspects. Draxes personality and his interaction with all the obnoxious NPCs in this game especially highlights it. Doesn't feel like your main hero wants to be in the game and storyline environments don't help with that. World building and exploring is still as good as in most PB games. I don't mind changes in combat as i played with ranged guns both E1 and E2. Shotguns + some cheesy other stuff > everything.
Definitely not worst PB game. That title will forever belong to Gothic3.