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Elex |OT| Gothic 5: Risen From Jank

Big_Al

Unconfirmed Member
Isn't it Piranha Bytes games that tend to be quite sweary in their dialogue ? Or at least in the more recent Risen games, not sure about the Gothic games. I always found that hilarious
 
Yeah you still need to time attacks but the system is still more like Risen 2 and 3; the roll is still there instead of the short dodge from the Gothics and Risen 1, the light and heavy attacks also make a return which are again from Risen 2 and 3... The combat in the Gothics and Risen 1 was more about carefully blocking/parrying/dodging and striking at specific times based on the enemy, each enemy had a different pattern that you had to learn. In Risen 2 and 3 the combat became more about overwhelming the opponents with a string of attacks in a combo and mashing basically, so much so that in Risen 2, dodging wasn't even in the game until a patch after the game's release.


Hmmm I see. That's a shame. Would have been great to have that back. Took a while to get mastered but once you did it felt great.

Some more Xbox One gameplay while we wait:

https://youtu.be/CCLLOLRSSOo
 

Sendero

Member
Great OT, kudos for it.

I believe that even if the melee aspect is atypical (rhythm/combo based with Lock), having a jetpack to explore around, paired with the post-apocalyptic theme should prove to be interesting for a lot of people.

The challenge though, is to convince them to give it a fair chance: I saw a (very confused) youtuber complain on an on about the game for the first minutes.. and then travel across almost all the map, with the initial weapon. He got killed multiple times, and missed a lots of places that clearly had good stuff. And yet, he seemed to had a great time, since it felt like he was playing a survival type of game (hiding, rushing, escaping) and eventually even got awed by some of the mountain vistas at north.

Unfortunately, the first hour or so is rough enough (and the archaic interface does not help), that it will likely dissuade a lot of famous players.
 
Isn't it Piranha Bytes games that tend to be quite sweary in their dialogue ? Or at least in the more recent Risen games, not sure about the Gothic games. I always found that hilarious

Yup I believe so, sometimes totally out of blue which was indeed rather funny.

Man I remember the Arcania demo on 360 and I encountered this dude that told ME that my wife was pregnant and my guy just said "she's pregnant? How?!!!" oh man I'll never forget how absolutely ridiculous that was, hahaha.
 

loganclaws

Plane Escape Torment
Yup I believe so, sometimes totally out of blue which was indeed rather funny.

Man I remember the Arcania demo on 360 and I encountered this dude that told ME that my wife was pregnant and my guy just said "she's pregnant? How?!!!" oh man I'll never forget how absolutely ridiculous that was, hahaha.

Arcania wasn't developed by PB!
 

FlyinJ

Douchebag. Yes, me.
I have this preloading on my Pro. I can't freakin' wait.

I loved every PB game except for Risen 2. I hope this isn't a Risen 2.
 
What a great OT man.

Im very excited, this game was zero on my radar. Hope it turns out to be good. Loved the old Piranha works.

LOL @that gif
 

Moff

Member
there is a live twitch stream in German by the magazine Gamestar with PB lead Björn Pankratz at the moment
https://go.twitch.tv/gamestarde

It's interesting because unlike all the other let's plays it's from later in the game and not the beginning

reviews should hit in 50 minutes if I heard that right
 

Champloo4

Member
I have about 3 hours in on the XB1 version. I am really, really enjoying it.
A few gripes here and there, but the world is the star here. Gorgeous.

One thing I advise is that you talk to every named character in the game (at least the first main town). I noticed that quests will unlock only after exhausting every response.
 
Man, the combat looks dogshit again. Can't they just copy Dark Souls like everybody else? The shittiest Souls combat iteration in any given game is better than what PB ever developed.
 
I have about 3 hours in on the XB1 version. I am really, really enjoying it.
A few gripes here and there, but the world is the star here. Gorgeous.

One thing I advise is that you talk to every named character in the game (at least the first main town). I noticed that quests will unlock only after exhausting every response.

Does it look crisp on your TV? I mean these YouTube videos look fine on my phone but a TV is a different story.
 

Audioboxer

Member
Was going to post a youtube too. Describing him doesn't do it justice. Makes me want to play Risen 2 again.



Amen. Although we may get Seven this year. I didn't even realize that I loved Euro RPGs so much. Can't stand Japanese ones though. Haven't found a single one I like, including Dark Souls like.

Risen 2 is such a mediocre, mediocre PB game if you catch my drift. Jaffar and some other characters are brilliant. So bad they're soo good. Non-stop random swearing can come across quite crass but it works soo well in a pirate themed game with a potty mouthed gnome.

Risen 1 was good, 2 was iffy and 3 was better than 2 but not quite 1. As I love pirate themed games (AC Black Flag is my fave AC game) 2 and 3 for all their faults still resonate well with me.

PBs deadpan voice acting and scripts just have some sort of B-tier movie charm to them. When some things do cross from soo bad to they're soo good.

When I see 4-6/10 for a PB game I accept that is probably what it's worth. It doesn't make most of them any less enjoyable to actually play. Combat is always absolutely garbage though. No lies detected.

It would be nice to see a character selection in a PB game too. They're not going to do male/female VA as they probably can't afford it, but some basic male models to cycle through would probably be a welcome addition. Their main protagonists are always trash lol. Apart from some of the lines of script you can deliver.

I should also say as much as I love Euro Jank PB could actually ascend in Obsidians tracks. Rough gems that count where it counts most. Often writing, delivery and heart. Alpha Protocol is a great game criticised for the budget priorities, but the priorities were arguably focused in the right areas for a cult classic. PB games are often cult classics, but at times they would benefit from a tiny bit more polish squeezed out of them. Just a bit. Not everyone can reach TW3 levels and that is fine, a AA market should be allowed to exist without the pressure for every dev to balloon their budgets/staff count.
 

Champloo4

Member
Does it look crisp on your TV? I mean these YouTube videos look fine on my phone but a TV is a different story.

Yes, it looks great. The environments are very pretty - and varied.
(I am on a 58" 4K.)

Solid action-RPG. Lots of dialogue, so-so combat, terrible hud map.

I will try and post more impressions as I play more. Bottom line, this is the best Piranha Bytes game to date. Impressive feat for a small team.
 
Yes, it looks great. The environments are very pretty - and varied.
(I am on a 58" 4K.)

Solid action-RPG. Lots of dialogue, so-so combat, terrible hud map.

I will try and post more impressions as I play more. Bottom line, this is the best Piranha Bytes game to date. Impressive feat for a small team.

That's damn good to know man, because I was worried it wouldn't look too hot on big size TVs. I got a 65 inch myself and I sit about 3 meters from it. Should be fine. Did PB perhaps to get the game at 1080p even on Xbox I wonder?
 

loganclaws

Plane Escape Torment
Yes, it looks great. The environments are very pretty - and varied.
(I am on a 58" 4K.)

Solid action-RPG. Lots of dialogue, so-so combat, terrible hud map.

I will try and post more impressions as I play more. Bottom line, this is the best Piranha Bytes game to date. Impressive feat for a small team.

Have you played the Gothic games? Kind of a big claim saying it's the best PB game to date!
 

SomTervo

Member
Man, the combat looks dogshit again. Can't they just copy Dark Souls like everybody else? The shittiest Souls combat iteration in any given game is better than what PB ever developed.

I played it at a convention about 6-7 months ago and the combat actually plays a lot better than it looks. It's got some solid gameplay going on.
 
Character creation and i'm in, But a generic bald white guy does nothing for me considering i have to play as him for hours on end. Looks fun though so hope it does well for them.
 

nOoblet16

Member
How is it that after being in business for so many years and making so many games Piranha Bytes still can't get rid of jank? You'd think that they'd atleast get the UI and character movements right after all these years. I don't think it's skills because their games are usually very good technically and they have good art as well instead of feeling copypasta. But the combat is always so weird, there are so many games that they can simply copy when it comes to combat so as to make it less repetitive and more fun. Deck 13 did that with their games when they copied Dark Souls system and it worked out for them atleast with The Surge. Is it that the powers that be just don't care even if the people making the game want to address it?

I mean CDPR is huge right now after TW3, but they managed to gradually rid their games of jank with each new Witcher game and this was before they blew up and became huge.
 

loganclaws

Plane Escape Torment
Character creation and i'm in, But a generic bald white guy does nothing for me considering i have to play as him for hours on end. Looks fun though so hope it does well for them.

I'm pretty sure the main guy is modeled after the developer Bjorn.

347221534.jpg
 

Moff

Member
How is it that after being in business for so many years and making so many games Piranha Bytes still can't get rid of jank? You'd think that they'd atleast get the UI and character movements right after all these years. I don't think it's skills because their games are usually very good technically and they have good art as well instead of feeling copypasta. Is it that the powers that be just don't care even if the people making the game want to address it?

I mean CDPR is huge right now after TW3, but they managed to gradually rid their games of jank with each new Witcher game and this was before they blew up and became huge.

CDPR is 10x bigger than piranha bytes, they hardly qualify as jank anymore
 

xrnzaaas

Member
Wow so many people actually care about having a character creator? I don't care it for myself and even if you're bothered you're playing a (white ;)) bald guy you'll quickly find some cap or a helmet anyway.
 
A character creator is not something that's gonna make a difference for the experience but I really would've loved a few more preset options for the look of the protagonist.
 

nOoblet16

Member
CDPR is 10x bigger than piranha bytes, they hardly qualify as jank anymore
I mean come on man.
How is it that after being in business for so many years and making so many games Piranha Bytes still can't get rid of jank? You'd think that they'd atleast get the UI and character movements right after all these years. I don't think it's skills because their games are usually very good technically and they have good art as well instead of feeling copypasta. But the combat is always so weird, there are so many games that they can simply copy when it comes to combat so as to make it less repetitive and more fun. Deck 13 did that with their games when they copied Dark Souls system and it worked out for them atleast with The Surge. Is it that the powers that be just don't care even if the people making the game want to address it?

I mean CDPR is huge right now after TW3, but they managed to gradually rid their games of jank with each new Witcher game and this was before they blew up and became huge.

CDPR wasn't 10x bigger than Piranha Bytes when they were making TW2 and TW3, yet their games had considerably low number of jank. They became big huge TW3 but they haven't made any brand new game since then apart from that Gwent game..
 
A character creator is not something that's gonna make a difference for the experience but I really would've loved a few more preset options for the look of the protagonist.

Yeah same here but it is what it is. Hopefully we do get plenty of different clothing and hopefully helmets or hats too.

Reviews should be hitting any minute now?
 

Moff

Member
I mean come on man.


CDPR wasn't 10x bigger than Piranha Bytes when they were making TW2 and TW3, yet their games had considerably low number of jank. They became big huge TW3 but they haven't made any brand new game since then apart from that Gwent game..

they were 10x bigger when they made witcher 3, 200+
I don't know how many people worked there when they made witcher 2, but I would be very surprised if it was fewer than 30, that game was already pretty polished

witcher 1 is about on PB on the jank scale
 

SilentRob

Member
My review still takes some time but:

It's very, very good. The quest design is among the best in the genre, the amount of choices and consequences available are at times staggering. Even a simple fetch quest can turn out to be some epic betrayal between friends you spend an hour on. Sometimes the consequences of your actions only become clear 10, 20 hours later. The put a huge focus on choice and consequences and it makes the world and characters both way more "alive" and interesting than open worlds normally are. Also, one of the best, most fun to explore open worlds since Gothic 2.
 

Durante

Member
My review still takes some time but:

It's very, very good. The quest design is among the best in the genre, the amount of choices and consequences available are at times staggering. Even a simple fetch quest can turn out to be some epic betrayal between friends you spend an hour on. Sometimes the consequences of your actions only become clear 10, 20 hours later. The put a huge focus on choice and consequences and it makes the world and characters both way more "alive" and interesting than open worlds normally are.
Wow.

This damn year.
 

Karak

Member
ACG review (from the perspective of a Gothic and Risen fan)
https://youtu.be/oTicsIK5umw

I loved many parts of the game and the open ended quests have to be one of them. I could have done a video just about those. And the world is fantastic to explore. But jezuz the AI even all patched up is insanely bad. Like next level poor and sadly the game pushes companions and their stories. Also some bugs with quests, incredibly horrid voice acting, collision detection, and other little issues.

If you are a PB fan you might be ok with it. But if your a PB fan you are probably in one of 2 groups. Those who buy day one, and those who love later after patches.

For me the issues put me in the latter
 
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