Piranha Bytes has shut down, Bjorn Pankratz founds new studio

[Gilius Thunderhead]

The Elex setting was built as a free buffet of different varieties of mainstream RPG. Are you a Piranha Bytes fan who loves Gothic? Here's your Berserkers. You like Fallout? We made the Outlaws just for you. Mass Effect? No problem, here's the Clerics. It's a laughable attempt at building mass appeal for their game and a mockery of a "setting".

That said, videogames are made for that kind of thing and can still work pretty well if certain principles are respected and the overall quality is good. You could explore lush forests, deserts and volcanic Iceland all in the same map and all of it was great. There's an eye to detail everywhere. A forest in a PB game feels like a real life forest. Bethesda, even at their best, never came close. No rewards for exploration? Pfft, I would've liked it regardless, but that's not true. You can get pretty OP before you ever interact with the main story. In fact, that's the main problem with PB games, the way they bottleneck your progress with a linear story and force you to make choices you wouldn't necessarily be interested in. That's why most of the fun is in the initial chapter.

 

[sosmoflux]

PBs desperation to become a AAA studio could only end one way. Crazy that it took this long for the ship to sink.

These Bjorn types never figure out that if you make something genuinely good, even if it's niche, it's fans will drive the cart and bring it to the normies.

 

[Tuco Benedicto Pacifico]

PBs desperation to become a AAA studio could only end one way. Crazy that it took this long for the ship to sink.

You could make an equivalent but opposite argument about how their inability to do so it's what doomed them.

These Bjorn types never figure out that if you make something genuinely good, even if it's niche, it's fans will drive the cart and bring it to the normies.

The weird thing about their trajectory is that they never seemed able to figure out how to do it decently.
When a game like Gothic (and Gothic 2) gain a so called "cult following", what everyone is waiting from the studio is to stick the good ideas that made them stand out and ramp up the production value in the following games.

They always did pretty much the opposite: their games became more and more technically outdated and artistically inconsistent as the time went on, while they kept changing their core design and gameplay for the worse, in a misguided attempt to cater to a non-existing "larger audience of casual gamers" who were supposed to be interested in ugly and janky games.

 

[ShaggyMoose]

Bugger. Overall I enjoyed the game they have been trying to make for the last 20 years or so... Unlike all their other games though, I might never play Elex 2 since by all accounts it is a step backwards.

There are the remnants of Blue Byte known as Ubisoft Germany.

Huh, I remember Blue Byte from Battle Isle and later Settlers; they have really been around for a long time. Hope Embracer isn't fucking all of their offshoots.

 

[Gangrelrumbler]

What I don't get is why they just couldn't figure out a decent melee combat model after 20 years of making these games. Each game from Gothic 1 to Elex II was criticized for janky, unfun melee combat. They just needed a basic functioning sword-swinging action model, nothing more complicated than Morrowind or Hexen 2 and tweak it a round a little with each game. I've seen indie games with better combat than their games, it's genuinly baffling.

 

[Peachcurl]

I prefer janky to the same formulaic dodge-roll-hit that every other game does.

 

[Abu Antar]

They were actually on to something with the Risen 1 combat, but then they made combat worse in the sequels.

 

[Gangrelrumbler]

I prefer janky to the same formulaic dodge-roll-hit that every other game does.

I'm the opposite. I play PB games for the exploration and quests so it would be perfect for me if combat was serviceable and didn't get in the way. ELEX was miserable for me until I got to the point I could just blast everything with guns.

 

[Zoo]

What I don't get is why they just couldn't figure out a decent melee combat model after 20 years of making these games. Each game from Gothic 1 to Elex II was criticized for janky, unfun melee combat. They just needed a basic functioning sword-swinging action model, nothing more complicated than Morrowind or Hexen 2 and tweak it a round a little with each game. I've seen indie games with better combat than their games, it's genuinly baffling.

Gothic 1-2 and Risen actually have better melee combat than Morrowind. I think the combat system of Risen with a stamina bar and a little less jank could have been great. Gothic 3 has stamina bar, but melee is a mess in that game.

 

[Igge]

Loved Gothic 1, Gothic 2 (and the NotR) was nice, especially the first chapter, but the story is meh, and the atmosphere is largely gone, gothic 3 - sword fighting was too weird for the game to be enjoyable, Gothic 4 - made by another studio, actually not as bad as people complained about it, Risen 1 - the first 2 chapters were good, but the remaining are so boring that I felt that I wasted my time finishing it, so Risen 1 is shit IMO, Risen 2&3 - didn't play, Elex was too clunky for its time to feel enjoyable for me, Elex 2 - didn't play. Overall, I'm looking forward for the Gothic 1 remake and don't really care about PB games.

 

[Peachcurl]

They were actually on to something with the Risen 1 combat, but then they made combat worse in the sequels.

Melee combat, yeah. I liked the gunplay in the sequels though. But definitely not for its challenge.

 

[mediocrepoet]

Speaking as someone whose first introduction to PB was the boxed release version of Gothic 3, "Good riddance."

I saw some potential in Risen and Elex, but they never seemed to fire on all cylinders.

 

[Tuco Benedicto Pacifico]

Speaking as someone whose first introduction to PB was the boxed release version of Gothic 3, "Good riddance."

I saw some potential in Risen and Elex, but they never seemed to fire on all cylinders.

One hell of a start.
While I have mixed opinions on MOST of what PB released after Night of the Raven, to this day I still consider Gothic 3 their most inexcusably broken pile of crap.
Yeah, even worse than Risen 2 and 3 (which I mildly enjoyed despise the flaws) or ELEX 2, probably.
Not to mention their ugliest game by a landslide, when it comes to overall art direction.

 

[Peachcurl]

Speaking as someone whose first introduction to PB was the boxed release version of Gothic 3, "Good riddance."

I saw some potential in Risen and Elex, but they never seemed to fire on all cylinders.

You could have started with Forsaken Gods for maximum unfun.

 

[mediocrepoet]

Speaking as someone whose first introduction to PB was the boxed release version of Gothic 3, "Good riddance."

I saw some potential in Risen and Elex, but they never seemed to fire on all cylinders.

You could have started with Forsaken Gods for maximum unfun.

I'm not sure that would be true. When FG came out, it was already known that G3 was a dumpster fire and even the Community patch couldn't solve that.

When G3 came out, it was hyped to all hell and plebs like me are like, "Well G2:NotR gets a lot of love, and these previews are interesting, this should be a great time!" Followed by the gaming equivalent of until uninstallation.

I still have that fucking box on my shelf. Maybe I'll burn it in effigy.

 

[Justicar]

I'm not sure that would be true. When FG came out, it was already known that G3 was a dumpster fire and even the Community patch couldn't solve that.

When G3 came out, it was hyped to all hell and here plebs like me are like, "Well G2:NotR gets a lot of love, and these previews are interesting, this should be a great time!" Followed by the gaming equivalent of until uninstallation.

I still have that fucking box on my shelf. Maybe I'll burn it in effigy.

You have subhumans on codex defending that pile of shit called Gothic 3.

 

[Tweed]

Gothic 3 when patched and engine fixed is...a somewhat above average experience. Unpatched and unfixed it's a jittery wolf-rape simulator.

And I mean in the wolves rape YOU.

 

[Justicar]

Gothic 3 when patched and engine fixed is...a somewhat above average experience.

Above average in what nigger? Story is total trash, retconned lore from previus game, quests are mmo tier with collect 10 wolf pelts and kill 20 boars, art style ranges from ok to total trash, combat is a joke you must be retarted to play it.

 

[Tuco Benedicto Pacifico]

Gothic 3 when patched and engine fixed is...a somewhat above average experience.

I think it's genuinely bad (and once again, UGLY) now after tons of patches, fan support and so on...
And it was downright UNACCEPTABLE at launch.

I remember it distinctly because I actually bought a copy at the time it launched (in an era where I was also younger, poorer and more conservative with spending my money) and for the following years I lamented it being the worst thing I had ever spent my money on, when it comes to entertainment.
I'm not even exaggerating when i say I completely gave up on playing it until who-knows-how-many years later.

 

[Lord of Riva]

Speaking as someone whose first introduction to PB was the boxed release version of Gothic 3, "Good riddance."

I saw some potential in Risen and Elex, but they never seemed to fire on all cylinders.

Have you at least played Gothic by now?

Elex had potential, it was really good and I thought a possible return to form which could be improved upon... and then came elex 2, what a shit show.
The G1 remake will most likely be pretty bad, we have not seen anything from them for ages and the demo was utter trash, so with PB gone the Series will die and maybe at this point it's for the better.

We still can play G1 and 2 and with mods like Archolos giving the series it's swansong there isn't really anything to complain about. it's time to let it rest.

 

[mediocrepoet]

Speaking as someone whose first introduction to PB was the boxed release version of Gothic 3, "Good riddance."

I saw some potential in Risen and Elex, but they never seemed to fire on all cylinders.

Have you at least played Gothic by now?

I have them, but they're on potentially infinite backlog. I've played enough of their other games to know that even if I like G1 or G2 better than the later games, they're not likely to be what I'm normally looking for. Only so much time in a day/life, etc.

 

[luj1]

Gothic 1 > Gothic 2 >>>>>>>>>>> Risen >>>>>>>>> Gothic 3 >>> ELEX >>> ELEX 2

 

[Peachcurl]

In ELEX 2, at least you have a jetpack. What do you have in Gothic 3? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Also, everything is better with jetpacks.

 

[Old Hans]

fret not everyone. im sure these guys will bounce back, start a new company and make a new rpg that has your charter wash up on a beach resulting in you having to deal with several different factions.

 

[Tweed]

fret not everyone. im sure these guys will bounce back, start a new company and make a new rpg that has your charter wash up on a beach resulting in you having to deal with several different factions.

D1P