ELEX ELEX RELEASE THREAD

[Incantatar]

.......

I'm assuming the 'translators' couldn't actually read German and nobody at PB could read English

On the other hand...

I played the entire game in German and there were MULTIPLE instances where the writer clearly didn't know that you cannot literally translate an ENGLISH idiom into German word for word.
This I found dreadfully confusing.

I am assuming the game was first written in German. And yet, you get these weird fucking phrases at times that are CLEARLY from English, just word-for-word translations into German. So either the Germans who wrote this spent so much time on the Internet that they forgot that some English idioms cannot be translated that way into German, or it was written in English first, or whoever wrote it was simply an idiot.

I think it's the latter.
It's a PB game, babe.

Haven't seen this yet. The strange inclusion of English terms and names is present in all PB games. They clearly wanted their games not to sound too German. A bit awkward

Half German, half English is wrong. As I stated above they had a lead writer for the English localization rewriting the dialogue.

 

[Jasede]

No, not the English place names and people names. I mean idioms.

An example, when I first wrote my post, I wrote "On the opposite side" instead of "On the other hand" because that's how the idiom goes in German. I have seen the same problem in the German writing a few times.

 

[fobia]

Jasede is right.
What I can't remember is, whether this was already the case in Gothic II. Though I don't think so. They included english names, minecrawler, mudrat etc.
But the german dialogues felt real. This is not the case in Elex. But I think I must've said that three times now. The time to mourn is over.

What actually surprised me, was that the german gaming press didn't comment on that at all. While they are often very critical when it comes to translations and subs.
But then again, the influence English has on german manners of speaking is very strong. Most people don't even realize they are using loanwords or wrong grammar.

 

[Jasede]

I think it's really possible it was written in German but because of browsing in English all the time they made these subtle mistakes and nobody noticed.

The writing is a step down from Gothic 1 and 2, which, next to RoA, have really 'real' German writing. Even the English names in it just kind of work.

 

[NotAGolfer]

I have to say that I'm starting to get tired of combat in this game.
At first the randomness didn't bother me and I thought "it's not a bug, it's a feature".
Now I'm not so sure anymore. You have "pest rats" and "critters" chilling out next to those hairy giants called "Unhold" in German, and a stone's throw away there's a group of mutants and their nasty dogs side by side with some monster chickens.
There's no structure to any of it, XP rewards are all over the place, there are a few easier areas for low level characters (mainly Edan) but even there "Unholde", mutants, poisonous spiders, these infuriating mutant dogs with the ridiculous attack radius (the only reliable way to evade their attacks is the dodge roll and I hate using that shit, it wastes stamina) and other things will kill you in seconds.

I think I must have reloaded a few hundred times now and I'm growing tired of it.
While some vistas in this gameworld are really nice and there are a few interesting things to discover this clearly isn't the same type of exploration like in the Gothic games.
The Gothics didn't have fully open worlds. There were gateways to higher level areas guarded by high level enemies that scared you off if you tried to get there too early.
Here I can't even travel to the faction main bases without dying all the time. It's like they let an algorithm fill the game world with loot containers (no rhyme and reason there either) and enemies.
And what's with these fucking desert spiders? How can an overpowered enemy like that be so common there? Who balanced this shit?


I still like the melee combat quite a bit, but ranged is utter horse shit. Now unlike melee this really feels clunky. Aiming is either use ironsights or hope you get lucky (no crosshairs before you aimed or took your first shot) and if something knocked you out you can put away and redraw your gun again because there's a glitch that causes it to unload.
And there's another glitch that makes the game forget that the weapon you are holding has different fire modes, so if that one happens you can holster and draw it too. Really fun, whoever designed this shit should be taken out back and shot with a sawed off shotgun... Filled with rock salt.

 

[Xeon]

Are you using the jetpack?

When I played for the first time I thought I had another option beside the three factions and went to the former Albs base in the snow area by running and jetpacking thru a lot of monsters to reach it with little problems.

Spoiler

The leader told me to go and pick a faction or something.

 

[NotAGolfer]

Of course I'm using the jetpack. Doesn't make the combat any more tolerable.
I think I really need better armor.
And I need a way to make ranged combat useful.
Plasma gun plus ammo detonation mode or electro shock mode seems to be the only thing that makes sense there atm, because damage output is just too ridiculous compared to a chain of melee attacks.
Also some crowd control method would be nice, because I am often facing 3 or more very aggressive enemies at the same time (like 3 mutants or 3 mutants plus 2 dogs plus a chicken that also decided to join the party) and my companion is completely useless most of the time. And with 3 or more enemies I can't chain attacks to a point where I get good damage output.

 

[Xeon]

Yeah, unless you are in a faction, you are shit out of luck when it comes to good armor. They need to trust you to take your measurements and make that special armor. I thought range sucked at first but after watching Coh struggling at the start on Ultra with range, he is now killing everything with ease.

Its all about equipment in this game, screw anyone who says its about the characters stats or skills.

Someone posted this Link earlier in the thread, pretty helpful for finding the best weapons and whatever. Another useful link I found yesterday.

 

[Luckmann]

Get to Dexterity/Intelligence 65.
Talk to the Separatists.
Go to the Converter in North Abessa.
Shut it down.
Get the Redeemer.

Proceed to laff at evrything.

Game over.

 

[NotAGolfer]

Nah, this is still a PB game so I will try to make melee work. Fuck ranged combat, it's way too buggy anyway.
So I guess I really have to join a faction asap. And probably get my chain sword upgraded to 70 or 80 damage.

Still, the gameworld really is a mess, no structure, no high and low level zones and too many pointless places with too little to find.
For example I just cleared an unnamed bandit fort in Edan. About 8 or so bandits in there, so it was a hell of a fight (companion useless of course) even though that fight didn't look like the nice little choreography you would expect from a PB game but was quite cheesy, with me running away from these idiots all the time, only to stop after 2 or 3 missed their attacks at the same time so I can get a few swings of my own in there.
Anyway, the reward for taking on these bandits was ... I can't really say, I think they had a shitty bow lying around somewhere in there and that's it. Maybe a letter too, but letters in this game are unimaginative and dull, they even remind me of the ones you could find in the ruins in Fallout 3.

Another thing that's bothering me is the fact that different weapon types have different attack animations that don't take the same time. There's a one-handed axe in this game that has slightly better damage output than the chain sword, but I won't use it because it comes with a ridiculously slow power attack, while the sword just uses a fast and efficient thrust.
Wtf, PB?!

Also what's the point of the strong attack really? It doesn't even fill your power attack bar so why would I ever use it if I don't want to knock things down but to kill them?
Because I don't use shields, they severely reduce my damage output.

 

[Hobo Elf]

Melee is fine, although you'll want some kind of ranged option to handle the Mechs, otherwise it'll be a pain to deal with them.

 

[Darth Roxor]

these infuriating mutant dogs with the ridiculous attack radius (the only way to reliably way to evade their attacks is the dodge roll and I hate using that shit, it wastes stamina)

I think I must have reloaded a few hundred times now and I'm growing tired of it.

and if something knocked you out you can put away and redraw your gun again because there's a glitch that causes it to unload.

Press "R", FFS.

 

[NotAGolfer]

Press "R", FFS.

I'm pretty sure I tried that and it didn't work. It might be a similar issue to the one where you suddenly can't switch the ammo type anymore. It's as if your char forgot that he's holding a gun.

And yes, I died a few hundred times because melee combat is why I buy PB games. I mean what else should I buy them for, their uninspired stories or the same formula since fucking Gothic 1?:
Start as a nobody, join one of the factions and work your way up the ranks so in the end the faction bosses will let you in on the secret about that big challenge/danger that's completely diconnected from the faction conflict, completely devaluating it in the process. Yeah no, fuck that. Good enough to keep me busy but nothing more and very predictable and unambitious.

So I try to deal with enemies that I probably should run away from. In the Gothics I got quite good at beating them underleveled and underequipped. Here it's more difficult, ranged attacks, enemy groups everywhere and the absolutely bizarre distribution of enemies (again, this is not Gothic design, this is randomized open world shit) turn every quest outside of towns into a gamble.

 

[Darth Roxor]

And yes, I died a few hundred times because melee combat is why I buy PB games.

maybe you'd die less if you considered dodging (wtf does it even mean that it "wastes" stamina??)

 

[Elex]

I have to say that I'm starting to get tired of combat in this game.
At first the randomness didn't bother me and I thought "it's not a bug, it's a feature".
Now I'm not so sure anymore. You have "pest rats" and "critters" chilling out next to those hairy giants called "Unhold" in German, and a stone's throw away there's a group of mutants and their nasty dogs side by side with some monster chickens.
There's no structure to any of it, XP rewards are all over the place, there are a few easier areas for low level characters (mainly Edan) but even there "Unholde", mutants, poisonous spiders, these infuriating mutant dogs with the ridiculous attack radius (the only way to reliably way to evade their attacks is the dodge roll and I hate using that shit, it wastes stamina) and other things will kill you in seconds.

I think I must have reloaded a few hundred times now and I'm growing tired of it.
While some vistas in this gameworld are really nice and there are a few interesting things to discover this clearly isn't the same type of exploration like in the Gothic games.
The Gothics didn't have fully open worlds. There were gateways to higher level areas guarded by high level enemies that scared you off if you tried to get there too early.
Here I can't even travel to the faction main bases without dying all the time. It's like they let an algorithm fill the game world with loot containers (no rhyme and reason there either) and enemies.
And what's with these fucking desert spiders? How can an overpowered enemy like that be so common there? Who balanced this shit?


I still like the melee combat quite a bit, but ranged is utter horse shit. Now unlike melee this really feels clunky. Aiming is either use ironsights or hope you get lucky (no crosshairs before you aimed or took your first shot) and if something knocked you out you can put away and redraw your gun again because there's a glitch that causes it to unload.
And there's another glitch that makes the game forget that the weapon you are holding has different fire modes, so if that one happens you can holster and draw it too. Really fun, whoever designed this shit should be taken out back and shot with a sawed off shotgun... Filled with rock salt.

because your character is weak or you have no idea how to build your character.

i kill all this stuff in 2-3 hits when in group i use aoe (plasma or flamer or missile launcher/grenade launcher or fireball or void stuff)

i use melee only when they manage to sneak on me or they are too many.

the game have insanely powerfull healing items (bone marrow soup +510 hp and extra armor with the 300% healing bonus skill) so even if enemy deal damage you can regenerate it fast.

around level 20-25 you should be capable of kill any enemy (without wasting 400 ammo) because each faction have some spell/skill/drugs that do tons of damage


around level 40 the damage is pretty much the same (maybe sone extra 10-20%) the difference is jax thougness, you can take troll stones and similar stuff with little problem and some cheap healing item.

in late game it’s all about being lazy shotting stuff and chewing bone marrow.
melee also have basically infinte stamina and do more damage than ranged but is easier to shoot dead ball of plasma/fire.

i am actually surprised that jax keep grow in strenght in later level, because even a small bonus ,a red stone on a weapon, or extra HP really matter even trolls become easy target and not hp bloat.

 

[Darth Roxor]

these infuriating mutant dogs with the ridiculous attack radius (the only way to reliably way to evade their attacks is the dodge roll and I hate using that shit, it wastes stamina)

Re-reading this and noticing that you write "attacks" plural, now I'm wondering whether you mean all their attacks and not just the charge (that can easily be dodged away).

If you mean all their attacks, here's an honest protip, no spite included: use blocking. It took me a longer while myself to realise you can safely block most animal attacks.

 

[Havoc]

where the review Darth Roxor

 

[ERYFKRAD]

where the review Darth Roxor

Inb4 SOON(TM).

 

[Darth Roxor]

where the review Darth Roxor

donate to my patreon to speed up the process

 

[Tigranes]

NotAGolfer dude you shouldn't be clearing any bandit forts at level 8, that's sort of like firing up Gothic 3 and trying to liberate a city when you're wearing diapers and wielding a stick. You can reload a hundred hours, abuse the AI (though you can't just sit on top of a roof and be safe anymore), but if you're going to spend 2 hours reloading to win a 1-100 odds fight dodn't complain about it.

You can complain that there should be more killable things at level 8, but that's different.

To me ranged and magical combat was always janky and nonfun in every PB game - you stand there trying to aim while enemies run at you and if you can press the buttons faster you win. Blackhole/plasmaing everyone is just win button, it's only satisfying in the context of all the shit you had to shovel to get to that point and not the fun in combat itself. Melee is where it's at.

Edit: Elex power progression is basically
Early levels (at least till ~8): You can kill nothing except rats that have come down with pneumonia
Join a faction, get some abilities: You can kill weaker enemies in the food chain but remain vulnerable
Bump @ ~level 15, probably 2nd level weapon skill & 2nd tier faction armour: You can kill most things
Final bump ~25: You have everything you could want & you can destroy anything probably

 

[Darth Roxor]

also reading up again...

Also what's the point of the strong attack really? It doesn't even fill your power attack bar so why would I ever use it if I don't want to knock things down but to kill them?

Nigga, you are doing something very, very ronk.

Also, strong attack is useful because it is much more likely to stagger stronger enemies than light ones. You'd know this if you tried experimenting.

 

[Tigranes]

Knockdown is win button anyway, so even if it did no damage or didn't fill your power attack bar it would be useful...

 

[Grimlorn]

Why can't I pick up this amulet?

 

[Elex]

Why can't I pick up this amulet?

because around 3% of the items in elex are stuck inside polygons.

and that shocked me: now i imagine how many stuff is unlootable in gothic and risen game because stuck inside a rock.

 

[Elex]

Knockdown is win button anyway, so even if it did no damage or didn't fill your power attack bar it would be useful...

i upgraded a shield to +3 now i can kill weak enemy with shield slam only.

a dream.