ELEX ELEX II - Jax is back

[rusty_shackleford]

The animations and VO are painfully bad and detract from the experience

So it's dramatically worse than E1? In a game with the same engine, with recycled assets, suddenly the graphix is unbearable? I've seen a few videos, looks p. much the same.

People didn't fall in l love with PB games for animations, VO or writing.

maybe, idk, play the game before commenting on it?

 

[just]

for me the only thing thats truly atrocious are the faces
god help the ones who made them
when in conversations my fov narrows and eyes zoom to the subtitles
i swear i can make better ones in blender in one day without tutorials

 

[cvv]

maybe, idk, play the game before commenting on it?

maybe idk i dont have to play the game to comment on teh vizhuls?

 

[ADL]

Every review I've seen applauds the game for being immersive and the complaints are typical camera/combat jank. They should lean into that feedback. After this, which I'm sure I'll thoroughly enjoy, I'm sick of the devil I know, I'm curious what a first person Piranha Bytes game would look like.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

only thing that seems to affect performance is resolution, I go up maybe 5 fps turning everything from highest to lowest setting...

 

[Lyre Mors]

Got a chance to try it out for a few hours today, and found it quite fun actually. I think it's probably one of the worst openings to a Piranha Bytes game ever (maybe Risen 3's is a little worse), which isn't great when you're trying to draw the player in. The first hour is pretty rough, and I can see why it'd turn a lot of people away. But a couple more hours after that, and things start to smooth out as you get back into the ELEX groove and start exploring. Also, the writing and flow of conversation seems to have somehow gotten better past the first hour too. I have a theory about this. I feel like they had their opening developed, and then were given that CGI budget and had to cut apart and patch together what they had in order to fit those cutscenes in. Why would they do this? Don't know, maybe THQ Nordic was like "we need something to get the player PUMPED! How about a chase scene?" The dialogue is still on the rougher side past the first hour, but it's no longer nearly as off-putting as it was in that first hour. Interestingly enough, that area they start you off in has got to be one of the ugliest parts of the game, but the world gets much better just a mile or two away from that. Just a slew of strange decisions for this opening.

I would say the challenge on Ultra is much more similar to the early PB games than ELEX was, with hits landed on you taking a huge portion of your HP, but still being able to manage fights with enemies that might be a bit out of your comfort zone.

So yeah, I definitely haven't written the game off now that I've gotten a bit further, and am starting to have a lot of fun with it. Take that as you will.

create some strange Ubisoft-PB hybrid game

Not sure where you're getting that, but I haven't felt that to be the case in the time I've spent with the game. We'll see how they handle the Gothic formula as the game progresses, but it seems to be well on the right track from what I've seen.

 

[Darth Roxor]

You can't just spam LMB, you do have to attack with a rhythm and pay close attention to your stamina usage. I was pretty suspect of it at first, but it's starting to grow on me.

Wat, that's just fake news. There is no difference between attacking in any sort of 'rhythm' and just mashing LMB. In fact in my experience not mashing LMB will more often than not make Jax refuse to chain attacks together.

Yesterday I bashed an angry lizard to death with a lead pipe on first try after going berserk with LMB on it, FFS.

 

[Lyre Mors]

Wat, that's just fake news. There is no difference between attacking in any sort of 'rhythm' and just mashing LMB. In fact in my experience not mashing LMB will more often than not make Jax refuse to chain attacks together.

Yesterday I bashed an angry lizard to death with a lead pipe on first try after going berserk with LMB on it, FFS.

Ah yeah, I just went back in game and tried it out again. Seems like you're right about that. My bad. Seemed like it was making a difference for me right in the beginning, so I just started doing it with rhythm from there on out. Edited my post accordingly.

Still haven't found the combat terrible.

 

[JDR13]

Those are just low-level enemies in the beginning though. I doubt we'll be able to spam LMB for every enemy, but you never know.

I agree about the start of the game being pretty bad. There's also way too much loot in the beginning. What happened to just barely scraping by at the start of a PB game? I had nine healing potions within the first 15-20 minutes.

 

[Tyranicon]

Not that anyone cares, but Elex 2 sales are looking heckin' rough right now. Compare 6k player launch peak to 22k for Elex 1's launch.




I wonder what's the culprit....

Spoiler

 

[JDR13]

Idk about that... very different RPGs. Imo, the low sales are more due to shitty marketing on PB's part.

 

[Tyranicon]

Idk about that... very different RPGs. Imo, the low sales are more due to shitty marketing on PB's part.

Launching in Elden Ring's wake has got to have an impact. Personally speaking, I held off on buying Elex 2 because I only had time for one massive openworld game (and work) at a time. Now, seeing the codex's reaction, I'll probably only pick it up on a sale.

Launch windows are very important.

 

[Haplo]

Idk about that... very different RPGs. Imo, the low sales are more due to shitty marketing on PB's part.

Launching in Elden Ring's wake has got to have an impact. Personally speaking, I held off on buying Elex 2 because I only had time for one massive openworld game (and work) at a time. Now, seeing the codex's reaction, I'll probably only pick it up on a sale.

Launch windows are very important.

I'm exactly in the same boat.
Was roughly similarly interested in both. Finally bought Elden Ring after initial Elex 2 impressions.

Now ER (and WotR) will keep me busy and Elex 2 will have to wait for a sale.

 

[Ryzer]

Or maybe it's due to the fact that Elex 2 seems to be a terrible sequel.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

this is how many healing potions(all the red ones) I had after 3 hours of play btw

I didn't buy a single one, they were all picked up off the ground. I also used a few, so add some to the total.

 

[Nikanuur]

The animations and VO are painfully bad and detract from the experience

So it's dramatically worse than E1? In a game with the same engine, with recycled assets, suddenly the graphix is unbearable? I've seen a few videos, looks p. much the same.

People didn't fall in l love with PB games for animations, VO or writing.

No, it's pretty nice and vivid (except for the faces), and the animations, while not being the pinnacle of gaming industry are pretty alright for this kind of game.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

anyone who rates the animations above prosper-tier is flat out lying to you lmao

 

[Nikanuur]

Codex 2017: Elex so good, exploration, gameplay, factions, adventure, PB back I form.

Codex 2022: Elex 2 so shit animations and VO not AAA at all literally unplayable refunded.

The animations and VO are painfully bad and detract from the experience. It's not that they aren't AAA level, it's that they aren't 2006 struggling developer level.
Doesn't help that the writing is terrible.

This idea that art isn't part of games is ridiculous and absurd. VTMB would never be considered anywhere near as good as it is if it had ELEX 2-tier animations.

You don't deserve the icon of Edér, and this opinion is bitter, superficial nonsense.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Codex 2017: Elex so good, exploration, gameplay, factions, adventure, PB back I form.

Codex 2022: Elex 2 so shit animations and VO not AAA at all literally unplayable refunded.

The animations and VO are painfully bad and detract from the experience. It's not that they aren't AAA level, it's that they aren't 2006 struggling developer level.
Doesn't help that the writing is terrible.

This idea that art isn't part of games is ridiculous and absurd. VTMB would never be considered anywhere near as good as it is if it had ELEX 2-tier animations.

You don't deserver the icon of Edér, and this opinion is bitter, superficial nonsense.

what would you like me to judge the game on then?
The stellar writing and line delivery? The combat where you're rewarded for spamming LMB? The atrocious performance of a game that looks worse than their previous game released 5 years ago?

One of the first things you hear is Jax talking to himself saying: "Shit, this damn tower landed right on my fucking house!"
might as well add a laughtrack on top of it.

 

[Haplo]

Or maybe it's due to the fact that Elex 2 seems to be a terrible sequel.

I would have still bought it, were it not for Elden Ring. Makes no sense for me to buy 2 games at the same time - even less to buy 2 similar games (for me, at least).

 

[rusty_shackleford]

One of the first things you hear is Jax talking to himself saying: "Shit, this damn tower landed right on my fucking house!"
might as well add a laughtrack on top of it.

This game being $49.99 instead of $9.99 is the real joke though.

 

[Fedora Master]

Lots of angry cope going on right now.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Decided to judge the game based on the number of chili con carne I find laying around without a single person within miles of my position.
Currently at about 10 or 11 chili con carnes.

 

[Nikanuur]

It's always good to make fun. And I agree that Jax's demeanor (...and that of some other characters) - especially in the beginning - is comically rude, sort of backwaterishly haughty, somewhat unnecessarily and wrongly shifted. Really, it's best described as if...

Spoiler

...Shackleford and Fedora_Master joint clone appeared in game, took the semblance of Jax, and acted to the best intent of showing some of their own peak moments

 

[cvv]

Not that anyone cares, but Elex 2 sales are looking heckin' rough right now. Compare 6k player launch peak to 22k for Elex 1's launch.

Might not be that bad in the end. Player numbers aren't sales numbers, I pre-ordered E2 but haven't even installed yet, still occupied with Elden Ring. Would be true for a lot of people out there.