Codex Review RPG Codex Review: ELEX!

[Deleted Member 16721]

You can read my review on Steam if you'd like. I spent 160 hours with the game and am still going back (taking a short break now) to finish it.

While I'm a bit hyperbolic about it, fuck it, it deserves it. Because no other RPG dev team besides Piranha Bytes would even dare to make a game this size, scale and this hardcore in 2017. While it's not perfect (no game is) and you will notice some things that just aren't as polished or as high quality as you'd like due to lack of resources (29 devs and a tiny fraction of a typical open-world RPG budget), the game is damn amazing for what they managed to pull off. A miracle, even, given their overall amount of resources they have.

My GOTY easy for 2017. And probably my favorite open-world design of all-time so far (hearkens back to Morrowind and RPGs of that era rather than Skyrim.) Buy it and support PB, even if only to salute them for having the balls to make an RPG this hardcore in 2017.

And here's a long, boring YouTube ramble about the game, for anyone interested. Shows gameplay, etc.. - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRMvtOCfyQU&t

 

[Kyl Von Kull]

Were you maybe playing it that first week before they patched Elex potions? Initially they did not increase your cold, at least for the first few days. So there were probably sixty or seventy potions I used in that period that didn’t even end up counting in my cold score.

No, I didn't start the game but after the second week. I drank less than a hundred Elex potions, so I assume the few emotional choices I picked kept me within the neutral threshold; until I started to progress through chapters, where I was systematically taking cold dialogue choices. Jax then reached unenthusiastic state and I noticed companions reacted to it, But nothing else besides unlocking the synth passive ability and some cold dialogue options.

dialogue option compensate any elex potion use.
even first week was only invisible.

also pure elex use increase cold, but mana consume don’t decresse it.

There are a finite number of warm dialogue options, there is no real limit on Elex potions. It’s very easy to abuse them too hard if you’re trying to get the top level combat skills (remember, you need like three potions to increase a stat by one point once it’s over 60).

 

[Doktor Best]

I rate this review ELEX out of 5!

 

[Orobis]

Good review, easy to read. As expected from the polak rat.

 

[HeatEXTEND]

Most reviewers, especially IGN & Gamespot etc., don't actually know how to review.

They don't have to. They write commercials, not reviews.

 

[harhar!]

The game interface also has a few issues with handling 5:4 resolutions, which, as perhaps the last user of a 5:4 screen on this planet, I will mention until the day I go extinct.

We are both German and use 5:4 monitors. I think statistically we are now the same person. You can pry my Syncmaster 730BF out of my cold, dead hands.

Starting the game, I was dead sure that it would be horrible.

Do you mean to tell me that your pre-release hype was not genuine? Shocking revelation.

 

[JDR13]

My question is: Does Elex keep one's interest after the first playthrough? In other words, will it make me want to come back for more if I appreciate its good aspects?

That depends. I wouldn't play it back to back as it's too long for that imo. It's the type of game you replay a year or so later. I think the factions are different enough to give it replay value especially if you're role-playing - i.e. sticking to Beserker weapons when playing as a Beserker.

 

[Darth Roxor]

We are both German

No.

 

[Rpguy]

Were you maybe playing it that first week before they patched Elex potions? Initially they did not increase your cold, at least for the first few days. So there were probably sixty or seventy potions I used in that period that didn’t even end up counting in my cold score.

No, I didn't start the game but after the second week. I drank less than a hundred Elex potions, so I assume the few emotional choices I picked kept me within the neutral threshold; until I started to progress through chapters, where I was systematically taking cold dialogue choices. Jax then reached unenthusiastic state and I noticed companions reacted to it, But nothing else besides unlocking the synth passive ability and some cold dialogue options.

dialogue option compensate any elex potion use.
even first week was only invisible.

also pure elex use increase cold, but mana consume don’t decresse it.

There are a finite number of warm dialogue options, there is no real limit on Elex potions. It’s very easy to abuse them too hard if you’re trying to get the top level combat skills (remember, you need like three potions to increase a stat by one point once it’s over 60).

There is a soft limit... you reach a certian point where consuming elex is pointless , I ended the game with all stats at 85-90 and all skilled learned and still had the lowest cold value and had no point in consuming more potions.

Elex potions do actually raise your cold value.

I know and that's my point. They raise cold, but cold doesn't have any real gameplay impact.

It has a direct impact on 3 skills that do make a gameplay difference, and it has a big effect on the story/ending of the game. I actually prefer it that way.

 

[Hoaxmetal]

https://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/7iqxb3/rpg_codex_review_elex/

 

[Darth Roxor]

It has a direct impact on 3 skills that do make a gameplay difference

More like 3 shades of the same skill.

and it has a big effect on the story/ending of the game.

I.e. 3 or 4 dialogue checks.


I also much prefer that it's not a cookie cutter alignment system where each tier gives you +10 stranf, but there's still a huge discrepancy between the mechanic and the world. "HEY, IF WE SEE YOU CONSUMING ELEX YER DONE FOR PAL", "yeah, sure" *empties 10 elex potions in front of the dude, nothing happens*

 

[Trashos]

My question is: Does Elex keep one's interest after the first playthrough? In other words, will it make me want to come back for more if I appreciate its good aspects?

That depends. I wouldn't play it back to back as it's too long for that imo. It's the type of game you replay a year or so later. I think the factions are different enough to give it replay value especially if you're role-playing - i.e. sticking to Beserker weapons when playing as a Beserker.

I am the kind of gamer who does repeat playthroughs of fucking long games. I was obsessively playing and replaying FO2 or Shadows of Amn for months. I am currently replaying New Vegas to death (150h+ per playthrough), so I actually prefer longer games. But the game needs to give me reason to get obsessed, and trying a different faction is not what turns me on (ability to choose a faction is nice, but only so that I can find the faction I enjoy best). What gets me going is the ability to optimize my character by tweaking my favorite build or discovering new things that make me view the game's world in a new light.

Kind of hard to explain. But thank you for answering.

 

[Cosmic Bane]

DnD system has actual gameplay involved so it is easy to spend time on. Most supposed RPG today just want to tell you a stowy, but I have books (written by much better authors) for that.

 

[aweigh]

i'm very much same way concerning RPGs as Trashos. always nice to spot another codexer who realizes c&c isn't comprised only by branching/mutually exclusive if/then statements.

<Acknowledge my agenda>

 

[ERYFKRAD]

You can read my review on Steam if you'd like.

 

[Irxy]

Fourth, arguably the least important, the voiceovers in English are extraordinarily bad, while in German they are actually pretty good

Is it possible to play with German VO, but English texts?

 

[Rpguy]

My question is: Does Elex keep one's interest after the first playthrough? In other words, will it make me want to come back for more if I appreciate its good aspects?

That depends. I wouldn't play it back to back as it's too long for that imo. It's the type of game you replay a year or so later. I think the factions are different enough to give it replay value especially if you're role-playing - i.e. sticking to Beserker weapons when playing as a Beserker.

I am the kind of gamer who does repeat playthroughs of fucking long games. I was obsessively playing and replaying FO2 or Shadows of Amn for months. I am currently replaying New Vegas to death (150h+ per playthrough), so I actually prefer longer games. But the game needs to give me reason to get obsessed, and trying a different faction is not what turns me on (ability to choose a faction is nice, but only so that I can find the faction I enjoy best). What gets me going is the ability to optimize my character by tweaking my favorite build or discovering new things that make me view the game's world in a new light.

Kind of hard to explain. But thank you for answering.

You can play multiple times to try the different factions and the exclusive skill tree each faction offers , but there is no tweaking or optimizing beyond that - your character eventually learns everything and max every ability ( except the faction tree ) and can use every item in the game.

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

You can read my review on Steam if you'd like.

What is that supposed to mean. I write prestigious user reviews on Steam.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

You can read my review on Steam if you'd like.

What is that supposed to mean. I write prestigious user reviews on Steam.

/

 

[Trashos]

i'm very much same way concerning RPGs as Trashos. always nice to spot another codexer who realizes c&c isn't comprised only by branching/mutually exclusive if/then statements.

<Acknowledge my agenda>

Brofisted, but be warned that I am a big fan of AoD. It was short, but scratched all the other itches, and the way its world building slowly unfolded through the eyes of different factions was very impressive. That said, not every game has to be like AoD.

Anyway, back to Elex.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Fourth, arguably the least important, the voiceovers in English are extraordinarily bad, while in German they are actually pretty good

Is it possible to play with German VO, but English texts?

Afaik it isn't, because the dialogues are also differently structured at times. Or at least that's what I remember folks saying in the Elex thread.

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

i'm very much same way concerning RPGs as Trashos. always nice to spot another codexer who realizes c&c isn't comprised only by branching/mutually exclusive if/then statements.

<Acknowledge my agenda>

Brofisted, but be warned that I am a big fan of AoD. It was short, but scratched all the other itches, and the way its world building slowly unfolded through the eyes of different factions was very impressive. That said, not every game has to be like AoD.

Anyway, back to Elex.

Not sure if it's been mentioned but the Age of Decadence devs are also big fans of ELEX.

 

[aweigh]

yeah VD wrote a glowing review of Gothic 3 when that turd first came out. I would concede that ELEX is definitely much better than G3 tho.

 

[Orobis]

I would concede that ELEX is definitely much better than G3 tho.

Everything is better than G3.

 

[Kalin]

Which turd is better and why? DISCUZZ!!!