I played Elex The First
far longer than some other unnamed open world game which sort of witcher senses itself (when it's not playing another goddamn bloody cutscene).
But, at some point, I stopped playing.
I think this vintage post goes a bit into it all, as that was the tipping point by which the game gradually degressed for me. Once the challenge was gone, and the late-game sent me to places I'd already seen many times over, I stopped playing. Thus, I never actually finished Elex I. I still may one day get back to it.
It also occured to me that what I liked about Elex I was pretty much a given in open world games some twenty years ago: that you're not being guided and baby-sitted this much that the thing blatantly plays itself.
-I was never particularly hugely fond of the game's world though.
-Nor the narrative, for that matter.
In those regards, aforementioned unnamed open world game which sort of witcher senses itself (when it's not playing another goddamn cutscene) fares a tad better.
In particular the first realization is intriguing, and I think it's where PB went wrong, considering that exploration in the original Gothics was/is such a joy. Whatever was iffy about the Risens (never played any of them except some demos), with Elex they're doing what even blockbuster studios on occasion appear to struggle with (hence lots of filler stuff even in Bioware/Bethsoft games, let alone Ubi et all): Building huge ass worlds and then trying to fill them with content.
Gothic (1) was basically Ultima 9, a 3D simulation of a world, except arguably more successful. It also wasn't a huge ass world. It was adequate in size. What set it apart wasn't so much the size, but the detail. Detailed NPC schedules, each NPC being more or less unique, a landscape you could actually travel and map by its unique landmarks. Had PB gone down this route and really nailed their expertise --
maybe by now they would have blown Warren Spector's dream project out of the water and carved their own niche truly. But then Hoge et all have also long left the building already, so the company and its design ethos may be very different from back then from the ground-up.
Somebody please forward this to Pankratz, or volles Pfund aufs Maul.
A Love Letter to GOTHIC's Open World Design - YouTube