ELEX Pre-Release Thread

[Junmarko]

Ohhh, Outcast! Them memories. That's a remake?

Yes, after a failed kickstarter in 2014 for a kinda soft HD version, the original devs got a publisher and did a full remake. More info here.

Junmarko as far as I understand it's a remake, not a sequel.

Outcast is easily one of the best games ever, especially for its time and, aside outdated graphics, even today. Add seamless space travel and exploration and it's what Mass Effect should have been.

Really? I just thought "Second Contact" and 0:23-:0:26 - yellow shirt + shaved head and visor, looks like guy from first.

EDIT: Nevermind. Been way too long.

Thanks for the link

 

[Epsilon]

I believe Witcher 3 gets all the praise just because the NPCs actually seem kind of realistic. They have somewhat understandable motivations and reactions and you get that from the dialogs with them.
This makes such a big difference (especially compared to the braindead NPCs of Skyrim for example) that people are amazed.
Other than that I agree with Alieman

I didn't get that feeling.
As an example I was walking on the road, I had just passed some peasants. A rabbit jumped onto the road, I quickly slashed with my sword and the rabbit was dead. The peasants started running around screaming "MURDER!", but when I ran over and talked with them they talked in a complete monotone. I noticed this behaviour amongst NPCs in other scenarios too, where their reaction had nothing to do with what actually happened.
The only point where they acted like people were either in cutscenes, or when you had extended talks with them, so they couldn't react to the situation that was going on around them, like a wolf killing their friend in the background, but they kept on talking.

 

[Jimmious]

Haha yeah I mean the actual talking to them or some random interactions they have in the background.
You'll do some sidequest with some minor reprecussion for an NPC and you'll notice later something happening "in the background" because of that. Like someone getting arrested or something equivalent.

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

Ohhh, Outcast! Them memories. That's a remake?

Yes, after a failed kickstarter in 2014 for a kinda soft HD version, the original devs got a publisher and did a full remake. More info here.

Junmarko as far as I understand it's a remake, not a sequel.

Outcast is easily one of the best games ever, especially for its time and, aside outdated graphics, even today. Add seamless space travel and exploration and it's what Mass Effect should have been.

What makes Outcast so good? Never played it, but looks fun.

 

[Icymad]

^ Exploration, doing quests and seeing the world react based on the player actions. On a side note i actually prefer Gothic 3 combat, let's be real, Gothic 2 combat is shit, so at least i can put the game on easy mode and steamroll towards the shitty sections (i still die quite a bit lol).

 

[Gepeu]

^ Exploration, doing quests and seeing the world react based on the player actions. On a side note i actually prefer Gothic 3 combat, let's be real, Gothic 2 combat is shit, so at least i can put the game on easy mode and steamroll towards the shitty sections (i still die quite a bit lol).

2/10 others tried it before

 

[Icymad]

Can we just agree that all Gothic games have bad combat?

 

[DramaticPopcorn]

Can we just agree that all Gothic games have bad combat?

This. Both the horrendous controls of the first and shitty lmb+sidestep spam of the second are some of the worst combat in open world games.
The exploration is top-notch, though.

 

[Rev]

What makes Outcast so good? Never played it, but looks fun.

I'd say first and foremost its world and the atmosphere. I've only played when it was already old (like 7 years ago, IIRC), so the graphics were outdated and controls a bit clunky at first, but if you get past that you get to experience a very cool open-world experience. I can't even point out a single excelent element (aside from exploration and the open gameplay), I believe it's one of those games were the end result is actually better than the sum of its parts: story and characters aren't top-tier but they do their job, gameplay has a lot to offer but is also a bit "raw", there are secrets to be found, puzzles, quests to do and the world is quite reactive. Also, the soundtrack is outstanding.

 

[coldcrow]

Risen 1's combat was almost perfect. Just give more reach to polearms, limit shield blocking by giving a timeout and small pause between recurringblock attempts and polish magic a bit. I am still amzed how they went from the combat model of Risen 1 to the utter garbage of Risen 2.

 

[Outlander]

What makes Outcast so good? Never played it, but looks fun.

The attention to detail I believe was unprecedented for a 1999 videogame and makes you go 'huh, that's cool' even today.

Some random stuff:

Enemy soldiers are naturally an obstacle to your objectives and early on the game tells you through NPCs that you should avoid combat as much as possible, but by doing some related quest chains, you can weaken them: disrupt their food production and they take less shots to die, disrupt their tax collection and they lose morale so there are less soldiers to fight, disrupt their weapons manufacturing process and their weapons do less damage.

No handholding, no magic GPS. You make use of the generic NPCs to give you directions to places or find other important NPCs 'go south west of X', they will even point to it with theirs arms if close enough.

NPCs have schedules, very few of them are static.

As someone said already, the soundtrack is very, very good.

Stealth gameplay is possible. One of the weapons you can acquire shoots non-lethal darts, a device can make you invisible for a limited period of time, and you can use teletransportation devices (place device somewhere, go anywhere on the current map, activate device and you travel back instantly)

Completely open from the start (after the mandatory tutorial). All regions are available to travel to.

The only thing it lacks in my opinion is a day-night cycle, but Gothic took care of that a couple of years later.

 

[Alienman]

It's a fantastic game, but gets a bit samey unfortunately.

 

[Aenra]

I've already mentioned my butthurt pet peeve with dinosaurzzz and weaponzzzz of light!!!111 all in one game.

Just thought of another one. Modding..
You know it's gonna be a must. You know it's gonna launch unfinished and buggy as fuck, leaving it to some illiterate German fuckhead to fix it. With all this entails, we've seen it before. Awesome mod, except horribly translated. Perfectly working mod, had you followed instruction number 2672512, except it's in fucking German (because the motherfuckers can't speak any other language) and Google Translate isn't particularly good at game/tech-related texts.

Am getting 'mod fatigue' just thinking about it. And before you say i'm exaggerating? Gothic 3.

edit: will give it a try though, 'bout a year or so later. Few first person "RPGs" out there as it is; desperate is desperate

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Can we just agree that all Gothic games have bad combat?

This. Both the horrendous controls of the first and shitty lmb+sidestep spam of the second are some of the worst combat in open world games.
The exploration is top-notch, though.

Only üntermenschen complain about Gothic's controls and combat.

 

[Ismaul]

Ohhh, Outcast! Them memories. That's a remake?

Yes, after a failed kickstarter in 2014 for a kinda soft HD version, the original devs got a publisher and did a full remake. More info here.

I pledged to that kickstarter
Didn't follow after that.

I was always hyped for Appeal's projects, even after Outcast 2's cancellation, the forming of Elsewhere entertainement, their cancelled projects, the closing of their forums, the hasty failed Kickstarter... ended up with not much hope.

 

[Ismaul]

What makes Outcast so good? Never played it, but looks fun.

I might add this that really impressed me back in the day:

NPCs have schedules, they move a lot around the map, which is big. For some objectives, you want to find certain people, but where they are isn't a fixed point, so you need to ask directions. NPCs tell you where/when they saw last the NPC you're looking for, the direction they were going, who might know where they are. This is dynamic, always changing, and NPCs are unreliable because the one they're talking about is moving. This was really immersive for me.

Also, freedom of movement, no handholing, really great graphics at the time (them voxels!). It had animal riding, also shooting while you ride (haven't seen that a lot, was it the first?). Great story, atmosphere, sci-fi world. Really nice voice acting for the time with a main character that has a sarcastic attitude (english actually got the shaft, french an german voices were played by the guys that dub Bruce Willis in their language, that was great). Plus the orchestra track. It was the first video game made like a blockbuster movie, with an european touch so it wasn't shit.

 

[DramaticPopcorn]

Can we just agree that all Gothic games have bad combat?

This. Both the horrendous controls of the first and shitty lmb+sidestep spam of the second are some of the worst combat in open world games.
The exploration is top-notch, though.

Only üntermenschen complain about Gothic's controls and combat.

Pretty meaningless rabid fanboism for a game series that will never be revived.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Can we just agree that all Gothic games have bad combat?

This. Both the horrendous controls of the first and shitty lmb+sidestep spam of the second are some of the worst combat in open world games.
The exploration is top-notch, though.

Only üntermenschen complain about Gothic's controls and combat.

Pretty meaningless rabid fanboism for a game series that will never be revived.

Mods will fix it, little man.

 

[Ezeekiel]

What makes Outcast so good? Never played it, but looks fun.

The attention to detail I believe was unprecedented for a 1999 videogame and makes you go 'huh, that's cool' even today.

Some random stuff:

Enemy soldiers are naturally an obstacle to your objectives and early on the game tells you through NPCs that you should avoid combat as much as possible, but by doing some related quest chains, you can weaken them: disrupt their food production and they take less shots to die, disrupt their tax collection and they lose morale so there are less soldiers to fight, disrupt their weapons manufacturing process and their weapons do less damage.

No handholding, no magic GPS. You make use of the generic NPCs to give you directions to places or find other important NPCs 'go south west of X', they will even point to it with theirs arms if close enough.

NPCs have schedules, very few of them are static.

As someone said already, the soundtrack is very, very good.

Stealth gameplay is possible. One of the weapons you can acquire shoots non-lethal darts, a device can make you invisible for a limited period of time, and you can use teletransportation devices (place device somewhere, go anywhere on the current map, activate device and you travel back instantly)

Completely open from the start (after the mandatory tutorial). All regions are available to travel to.

The only thing it lacks in my opinion is a day-night cycle, but Gothic took care of that a couple of years later.

It also had some really beautiful areas... The initial snowy place for example had amazing vistas for the time. footprints with seeming depth in the snow during those days, done really well. Also lovely water (not realistic per se maybe, but great to look at) and reflections.
Many graphical artifacts etc due to being a software + voxel landscape game, but a real pioneer when it comes to graphical stuff and open world game design.
Pretty awkward in many other areas though.

Oh yeah, the enemy a.i. was pretty decent in that they circle around you, surround you in general etc.
In a game like f.e.a.r. you can kill them so fast that you never really see the a.i. in action, but in outcast you usually get to experience the full range of their capabilities over the course of the game.


As far as being a pioneer game, that particular brand of open world or the software graphics never took off at all iirc.

 

[Icymad]

Can we just agree that all Gothic games have bad combat?

This. Both the horrendous controls of the first and shitty lmb+sidestep spam of the second are some of the worst combat in open world games.
The exploration is top-notch, though.

Gothic 3 at least offers a constant source of amusement with combat features like epileptic convulsion every time someone dies (i laugh every time) and the fact that wolves are more dangerous than arch-demons melee-wise. I think it is a testament to the qualty of these games how much it hold my attention despite those shortcomings, Blade of Darkness these games are not.

Can we just agree that all Gothic games have bad combat?

This. Both the horrendous controls of the first and shitty lmb+sidestep spam of the second are some of the worst combat in open world games.
The exploration is top-notch, though.

Only üntermenschen complain about Gothic's controls and combat.

Pretty meaningless rabid fanboism for a game series that will never be revived.

Mods will fix it, little man.

Modders managed to include dynamic shadows, god rays and wet surfaces in Gothic 1 and yet no mods to make Gothic 1 play at least like Gothic 2, lol.

 

[Trodat]

 

[iZerw]

ps2 level of graphics...

 

[Junmarko]

ps2 level of graphics...

Eh...visual fidelity isn't the problem, everything just looks derivative. The setting is meant to convey a chaotic world of "high tech/low tech/primal/alien" - yet, against Goat Simulator, the assets aren't showing much more than an ounce of artistic consistency/cohesion.

I wonder how much of it has been out-sourced to meet the deadline...

Also, looking back at the recent interview Infinitron posted, I noticed they've been interviewing the publisher, THQ Nordic.(missed the guy's job/name-drop initially - thought he was just a new Piranha guy).
So no one from Piranha Bytes, at present, is willing to actually stand by this game as it's publicly demoed? And it's meant to release in...six months?

 

[iZerw]

I mean, excluding these two gorillas there are like exactly 1 copy pasted tree everywhere. The road is in the perfect condition, that bunker thing looks like it has no textures on its primitive, the white grass, why it's white?

 

[Trodat]

Maybe it is a screenshot from a super early build?

Spoiler