ELEX ELEX II - Jax is back

[Bah]

The issue though is not that the games are trying to achieve the same goals or that they are even in the same genre (although I'd argue they both still fall under the general purview of "ARPG"), that doesn't really matter. I've already bought ELEX II and I think that most people who have been following Piranha Bytes for a long time have as well, but putting it on sale directly following Elden Ring, same core audience or not, is absolutely bound to overshadow ELEX II and keep the game from being noticed by potential new players. This absolutely can affect total sales and there is historic precedence of this effect from the many, many other indie and AA developers that saw weak sales in the shadow of a well-publicized AAA release.

I recognize this argument, and it has merit. But I counter with an argument that I don't want Piranha Bytes to become a major AAA successful studio. We saw what happened with CD Projekt after that happened, and every single game they released after Witcher 1 was worse than the prior game culminating in the absolute shit-show that was Cyberpunk 2077.

So I'm perfectly happy for Piranha Byte to remain an obscure studio, who never achieve universal recognition and funding from the masses, and who remains faithful to their fan-base, releasing game after game that maintains the style they've been developing for since Gothic 1 in 2001. I hope they never bow to mass-success and journalist pressure to make their games worse with each generation.

 

[Ryzer]

It looks great for a PS2 game!

 

[Darth Roxor]

It looks great for a PS2 game!

Indeed! Can't wait to explore all that vast countryside!

 

[Ismaul]

I've played literally every Piranha Bytes games. You're just a seething faggot that can't accept that people can like multiple things. You also can't seem to come to terms with the fact that ELEX/Gothic and Elden Ring/Dark Souls share a lot of the same philosophical DNA.

No, you and RapineDel are the retards who don't know the meaning of words.

This is what you said:

ELEX's combat is literally inspired by the Souls stamina-management combat archetype

But as Bah showed, PB's games with stamina were released first, therefore it is logically impossible for PB's combat design to be inspired by Dark Souls.

And now you're changing the goalpost by pretending that you said that PB's games and Dark Souls share a lot. That is not the same claim.

 

[Hellion]

Perhaps my only 2 real complaints from the game is that its plot follows ELEX's plot too closely (Elex Converters in 1, Skyand Spires in 2, you have to eventually enter and deactivate both), and after a certain point you start receiving some generic cringe Main Quests along the lines of "Go there and Kill 50 robots". It's almost as if the devs got bored and wanted to add stuff without really thinking about it.

Other than that, it's pure jank. Toxic, masculine jank.

 

[razvedchiki]

no gunpowder rifles or pistols either this time around, oh well melee is always more engaging. really hope you will be able to mix and match equipment from different factions ie a 2handed beserker sword with an outlaw shotgun.
also it seems you get a base right away, wonder how this will play out.

 

[Crispy]

Is this really coming out tomorrow?

 

[razvedchiki]

why not? real life fallout 5 imminent?

 

[Abu Antar]

Man, work is going to be me thinking about getting home and getting my fill of ELEX II, tomorrow.

Will it be good? Will it be bad? Who knows, but I just want to play!

 

[Tihskael]

Spoiler

 

[Skdursh]

I've played literally every Piranha Bytes games. You're just a seething faggot that can't accept that people can like multiple things. You also can't seem to come to terms with the fact that ELEX/Gothic and Elden Ring/Dark Souls share a lot of the same philosophical DNA.

No, you and RapineDel are the retards who don't know the meaning of words.

This is what you said:

ELEX's combat is literally inspired by the Souls stamina-management combat archetype

But as Bah showed, PB's games with stamina were released first, therefore it is logically impossible for PB's combat design to be inspired by Dark Souls.

And now you're changing the goalpost by pretending that you said that PB's games and Dark Souls share a lot. That is not the same claim.

Holy shit, another retard. How convenient that you completely ignore my other comment as you are just absolutely determined to revel in your spergery. From Software released King's Field in 1994, their first ARPG with stamina-management. Following that was King's Field II, III, IV, Shadow Tower, Shadow Tower Abyss and 11 Armored Core games, all with stamina-management and each building upon the formula with each successive release. Regardless, to even pretend like there isn't a world of difference between Gothic 3's combat and ELEX's just shows how disingenuous you are. When compared side-by-side the combat in Gothic 3 versus ELEX are worlds apart. Gothic 3 is spam left-click or use magic with a stamina system that barely registers. ELEX took the Dark Souls-style stamina management that forces you to control your button mashing, the dodge rolls with i-frames, the slow methodical skill-based combat (though ELEX harbors a janky interpretation of it) and general overall combat ethos. No, the games are not exactly the same and I never insinuated they were, but the overall combat is highly derivative of Dark Souls. It is indisputable that ELEX looked specifically upon the Dark Souls series (of which Dark Souls 1+2+3, Bloodborne and Demon's Souls all released before ELEX) as a source of inspiration due to their extreme popularity not to mention the fact that there is fucking Dark Souls easter egg in ELEX as I previously shared.

The issue though is not that the games are trying to achieve the same goals or that they are even in the same genre (although I'd argue they both still fall under the general purview of "ARPG"), that doesn't really matter. I've already bought ELEX II and I think that most people who have been following Piranha Bytes for a long time have as well, but putting it on sale directly following Elden Ring, same core audience or not, is absolutely bound to overshadow ELEX II and keep the game from being noticed by potential new players. This absolutely can affect total sales and there is historic precedence of this effect from the many, many other indie and AA developers that saw weak sales in the shadow of a well-publicized AAA release.

I recognize this argument, and it has merit. But I counter with an argument that I don't want Piranha Bytes to become a major AAA successful studio. We saw what happened with CD Projekt after that happened, and every single game they released after Witcher 1 was worse than the prior game culminating in the absolute shit-show that was Cyberpunk 2077.

So I'm perfectly happy for Piranha Byte to remain an obscure studio, who never achieve universal recognition and funding from the masses, and who remains faithful to their fan-base, releasing game after game that maintains the style they've been developing for since Gothic 1 in 2001. I hope they never bow to mass-success and journalist pressure to make their games worse with each generation.

I understand the desire, but games cost a lot of money to make, especially open-world RPGs and as technology grows and time goes on the demands on these games get ever higher meaning they get ever more expensive to produce. If Piranha Bytes only stagnates and never grows there will come a point where there is no financial incentive for them to keep making games and indeed it will be a financial disincentive for them to keep making games as the cost exceeds the return. When that happens studios close.

 

[Hellion]

If you can't handle the training jank...

 

[HoboForEternity]

Are the performances that bad?

 

[Kleptocratic debt serf]

Unpleasant! https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/elex-2-review

A "disabled and fat" tranny talking about unpleasant characters.

Honestly, the comment section is just as over the top with whiny faggotry.

No doubt at least some writers at Piranha are proud of being anti-woke, anti-PC edgelords. Yuck.

PB adds brown people to the game and they still get shit on, why bother? Never try to appease or appeal to woke tranny motherfuckers, waste of time on an insignificant demographic. Even the weak willed lemmings that bob their heads in rhythmic choreographed approval to their woke virtue signaling RPS inspired fat-fuck tranny overlords prefer to play non-woke games. They just don't have the testicular fortitude to come out and say it, instead they genuflect to their intellectually stillborn gods of wokeism hoping to earn extra social credit on a trash website like RPS.

 

[Zombra]

Imagine, trusting reviewers....

There's a difference between reading a review to gain information and "trusting" it.

 

[Dodo1610]

I have read reviews from people who loved Elex and they are somewhat disappointed
-the quest and factions are less interesting, there are fewer interconnected quests with different outcomes: One Reviewer even compared it to Ubisoft style RPGs where you simply walk from quest marker to quest marker since you can not do anything wrong.
-in the beginning, you can kill enemies by just spamming attacks without any thought. Which makes the entire world feel less threatening
-Story is much worse, just generic save the world from aliens crap that somehow gets worse at the end.

Though the one part people agree upon is that the combat, jetpack and RPG mechanics were really improved.

 

[Mauman]

Imagine, trusting reviewers....

There's a difference between reading a review to gain information and "trusting" it.

You'd be better off trusting fortune cookie papers for information than most of these "reviews".

You might find a nugget of gold in a sea of shit....by why the hell are you mucking in shit when there's better ways of doing things?!

 

[Lyre Mors]

the quest and factions are less interesting, there are fewer interconnected quests with different outcomes

We'll see. They seem good from what I've seen so far. A lot of people said the same about ELEX 1's factions, and I found them all interesting.

there are fewer interconnected quests with different outcomes

Already read the complete opposite in several reviews.

in the beginning, you can kill enemies by just spamming attacks without any thought. Which makes the entire world feel less threatening

Hope not, but we'll see once we get in the game and crank up the difficulty.

Story is much worse, just generic save the world from aliens crap that somehow gets worse at the end.

As long as there's still strong world building, environmental storytelling, interesting characters, and a good atmosphere, it'll be like nearly every other PB game then. Shit main storyline, good world building with unique, assholish characters.

This is all so subjective and vague, I wouldn't put much stake in it.

 

[razvedchiki]

in the beginning, you can kill enemies by just spamming attacks without any thought. Which makes the entire world feel less threatening

maybe they mean the sickly/weak/young versions of standard mobs you usually find around the starter area? those were kinda easy to kill in elex 1 even in lvl 1 with a rusty pipe.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/elex-2-review

For me, this came to a head during a late game conversation with his son, Dex (who is, for the record, seven or eight years old at most) where I was presented with the option to threaten to beat him. Worse still, at least one of the companion characters will approve of that decision. Even with the general nastiness of the characters in the game, this blindsided me, forced me out of the game and away from my computer for some time.
There is certainly room for games that deal with child abuse as a subject matter, or that have such deeply flawed people as protagonists, but that requires care and tact. Neither of those are on display here, or anywhere else in the game.

hol' up
you guys didn't get beaten by your parents as a kid?

 

[HoboForEternity]

Hope not, but we'll see once we get in the game and crank up the difficulty.

reviewer probably play on easiest difficulty. if you play on hard or ultimate, even sick rats are threat in elex 1 before you reach level 5

As long as there's still strong world building, environmental storytelling, interesting characters, and a good atmosphere, it'll be like nearly every other PB game then. Shit main storyline, good world building with unique, assholish characters.

the appeal of elex for me is mostly the worldbuilding and the mystery revolving the nature of elex itself plus the secrets thrown about like the true nature of calaan, the hint there's something wrong with mana that the berserker arent telling , etc. i hope they do get explored.

Already read the complete opposite in several reviews.

same. ACG said the quests majority of the time are excellent even better because I will turn off mini map and half of the fun is finding clues based on directions given by NPCs so discoveries are done organically (healing root quest in elex for example, that secretly points you to the fire blade hidden in the grove)

 

[Harthwain]

I will buy Elex. But I will not pre-order it, and those of you who are doing so are retarded. :^)

So buying it tomorrow for 10% more money is less retarded than buying it right now? Day 1 purchasers are bigger idiots than pre-orderers.

Generally speaking, if you wait a few days after the release for the actual unedited gameplay footage and reviews (in whatever form and at whoever you trust) you might save yourself 100% of the cost by not buying a game. So, yeah, I would often not pre-order and buy the game some time later, unless the game fits my tastes well enough for me to buy/pre-order it right away, because I see it as a way of supporting a developers' approach.

 

[Tihskael]

I have been telling ya, but nobody believes me - It is the year of the Todd.

 

[Bah]

I have been telling ya, but nobody believes me - It is the year of the Todd.

What a horrifying thought.

 

[Darth Roxor]

stop giving rps attention, that site is long overdue for landing in the dumpster