• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Elex |OT| Gothic 5: Risen From Jank

Moff

Member
No, critical keys like E and Q are also locked, basically can't use ESDF instead of WASD at all...

no they are not.
I rebound E. standard is I think special attack and I rebound E to sprint, it's definitely possible.
the locked keys are context sensitive, the locked E is for menu only. you can rebind it, don't worry.
 

Artdayne

Member
Dialogue really matters in this game. It's not uncommon to have a quest completely fail/cancel on you because you made a dialogue choice.
 
What is "cold" and does it affect much? Should I focus on being pure "cold' or pure "warm" in terms of interactions? I assume this is the games "good and evil"
 

loganclaws

Plane Escape Torment
no they are not.
I rebound E. standard is I think special attack and I rebound E to sprint, it's definitely possible.
the locked keys are context sensitive, the locked E is for menu only. you can rebind it, don't worry.

Try rebinding E to move forward and let me know how that goes...
 

Anoxida

Member
Ooh man deciding faction is going to be hard. Gameplay wise im leaning towards beserker but lore wise both clerics and outlaws sounes better..

Edit: whats your favorite playstyle? Melee, ranged, magic? Melee feels very risky to me so might try ranged weaponry.
 
I'll preface this post by saying I first played Gothic 2 and Risen 3 in 2014 and loved both of them. When I first learned about this game nothing made any sense. The graphics looked like a huge step back from Risen 3, the combat and ranged gunplay looked terrible and the mishmash of genres used to create the setting made absolutely no sense to me. Despite my love for their previous work, I was afraid Piranha Bytes had lost me with this one. After reading the OT this morning during a stressful 8 hour trip, I loaded up steam on my mobile device and bought it, thinking, I'm having a terrible day, why not?

No joke: this may actually be my GOTY.

According to Steam I am about 3 hours in and this game has completely gripped me where other open world rpgs have failed. The world the developers have created here and the struggle between the factions that inhabit it create a true sense of freedom and player agency. From the very first dialogue choice you are given, you are made aware that nearly every decision you make in this game will make a meaningful impact; not only on the living, breathing world and its inhabitants, but also on the type of experience you will have throughout the entire game. Want to play a gunslinging badass outlaw? There's a faction for that. Want to play a battlemage, switching freely between destructive magic and brutal melee combat? There's a faction for that too. Ultimately, your experience and playstyle will be shaped by your own decisions.

I may be in the minority here, but I think this game is absolutely beautiful. Not every texture or piece of geometry is perfect, but there is some insane lighting and shader work that has made my jaw drop on a few occasions. Performance has also been absolutely rock solid on a GTX 1070 and 6600K with everything maxed at 1080p.

There are, of course, some negatives. Combat can take a while to get used to, animations can be jerky and the ui is atrocious. There are clearly some bugs to be worked out, and everything can sometimes feel like it is all slapped together with duct tape.

But somehow, despite all of these things, it works.

qt19Xq.png
 

Valdega

Member
When people say the UI is atrocious, are they just talking about the aesthetics or are they talking about actual functionality? I don't really care about aesthetics but an efficient and usable UI is pretty essential in an RPG. Skyrim had a very slick and fancy-looking UI but it was awful to actually use. If Elex has the opposite problem, I'd be perfectly okay with that.
 
When people say the UI is atrocious, are they just talking about the aesthetics or are they talking about actual functionality? I don't really care about aesthetics but an efficient and usable UI is pretty essential in an RPG.

It's an awful combination of both. The game uses a really ugly menu for all inventory and quest related information. It's all just a bunch of menus and submenus that are offensive on both an aesthetic and functionality level.
 

Havel

Member
First thing I did when started the game was turn off the mini map and cranked the difficulty to the highest.

Loving it so far. Feels like a true successor to Risen 1, complete with the typical PB rough edges.
 
When people say the UI is atrocious, are they just talking about the aesthetics or are they talking about actual functionality? I don't really care about aesthetics but an efficient and usable UI is pretty essential in an RPG. Skyrim had a very slick and fancy-looking UI but it was awful to actually use. If Elex has the opposite problem, I'd be perfectly okay with that.

The HUD looks better on gamepad mode with everything in corners.

Speaking of, how good is the gamepad support in this game? I watched ACG review for a bit but I'm not sure if that's on PC/XB1.

The description of the video doesn't help either.
Karak takes a look at Elex for PC, PS4 and Xbox One.
 

Humdinger

Gold Member
I played 2+ hours. I am enjoying it. World exploration is a real hook.

I turned the camera motion down.

I'm still trying to make my way to the settlement to get some armor. I keep getting myself killed.
 

Hambone

Member
The HUD looks better on gamepad mode with everything in corners.

Speaking of, how good is the gamepad support in this game? I watched ACG review for a bit but I'm not sure if that's on PC/XB1.

The description of the video doesn't help either.

It natively supports the Xbox controller as I'm playing on PC with one. Works perfectly with the controller.

I turned the camera motion down..

Same. Turned it down a couple of notches, and it's perfect.
 

Raven77

Member
Someone compared this games world to Morrowind. Can anyone say how accurate this claim is? I absolutely adore the world in Morrowind...
 
Finally got a partner. I'm not sure exactly where I went, but I ran into an Alb who was also exiled. He ended up joining me.

Someone compared this games world to Morrowind. Can anyone say how accurate this claim is? I absolutely adore the world in Morrowind...

In terms of world-design, it's fantastic.

Every location is interesting, instead of the cut & paste nonsense that plagues Oblivion and Skyrim.
 

plenilune

Member
Why have all these skill checks in the berserker town when you barely have the point to level any of them? Although I suppose it's probable you could skip this town completely...
 

Buckle

Member
Why have all these skill checks in the berserker town when you barely have the point to level any of them? Although I suppose it's probable you could skip this town completely...
Was wondering the same, thought it could be skipped but I imagine it's pretty hard to level outside of Edan at the start so it still makes me wonder.

The other zones might have beginner friendly enemies and quests but I get the feeling that might not be the case. Would be awesome if it was though and I can just go straight to Tovar.
 

Kevtones

Member
Fucking. Hell. I had no idea this game existed. How?


I LOVE Risen. Risen II. Risen III.


Varying qualities sure but I loved that series. I even enjoyed other dev eurojank like Arcania and Venetica (seriously) because I loved Risen so much.


Jank me up with your jetpacks, PB. Take my $60.
 

Banzai

Member
I didn't get to play at all yesterday, but today is Elex day. Still need to download a couple of gigabytes but then I'll be ready to go!

I'm really liking what I'm reading here so far. Wish I had some vacation days left...
 

Eldon

Member
As soon as I activated the teleport of the Berserker Factions, I went on the mission to find the Albs separatists. Oh that Piranha feeling of running from everything and everyone was sorely missed. I even got to kill two Albs, but only with the help of some found Alb spells. Then I finally went to the Berserker city and holy shit, this is actually bigger than expected.
 
Dos this have any type of Pro support?

Also, anyone played it on PS4, hows it look and run?

Thanks
Not yet apparently, that's coming soon.

But it does seem remarkably clean on my Pro - like it's supersampling, and I'm sure even if it's just boost mode the unlocked framerate is at the smooth end of 'up to 60 FPS' much more than it is down the bottom end.

I'm meaning to install it on my normal PS4 today to see if there are any meaningful differences.
 

Banzai

Member
I'm trying to get 50 intelligence first because I saw a trainer in Goliet (toilet?) has training for "gain +1 attribute on every level up". Gotta max them stats!

You just had to go and say that, didn't you lol. Now I'll have to do the same thing. If there are items that give a permanent bonus on intelligence my early game will be very tough.

I remember running around the world in gothic 3 to find stone tablets that increase ancient knowledge so I could learn the perk to gain extra points on levelup on level 1. That was interesting.

edit: Anyone know of a list of all perks online? Might as well plan out my character a bit while I'm bored at work.
 

Hellers

Member
I'm loving how open this is but it's giving me choice anxiety :)

I'm only about an hour in at the first town. The first real story mission (Find out who murdered that bloke) seems to be a tour around the area you start in. I figure that is as good a place as any to start. Is that a good idea?

Playing this on my PC and it's running lovely. Fast and smooth. Bit annoying when the AI just stands there and lets you die but hopefully that'll get patched fairly quickly.
 

Leezard

Member
I'm trying to get 50 intelligence first because I saw a trainer in Goliet (toilet?) has training for "gain +1 attribute on every level up". Gotta max them stats!

Ouch. I might go for that too, but my first 30 points have not gone towards Intelligence. I wonder if it's retroactive.
 
I'm currently downloading the game now. For those that've reviewed the game or played for quite some time, is magic / ranged fighting a viable fighting style, or do they merely accentuate melee combat?

I've always preferred to go for the more exotic playstyle in RPG's, that often start out weak then end up being rather absurd end-game.
 

Steez

Member
Still is, isnt it ?

Absolutely and deservedly so.

They haven't made a new poll since then, but it was a few years ago and gothic 2 was 10th place.
I assume D:OS1/2 or PoE would kick it outside if they were making another poll today, but who knows.

PoE? Very unlikely. Codex doesn't like it that much. Original Sin, yeah, maybe. Gothic 2 was 9th place, btw.




I'm about two hours in and I'm really liking it so far. I absolutely hate the exposition, the duuuuumb names and the UI/Inventory is a real bummer but other than that, yeah, it seems pretty good and reminds me of classic Gothic.

The amount of hidden places I found between the starting point and the first city is really impressive. They don't reuse locations either, everything feels hand-crafted and unique, lots of verticality, too.
If they can keep the quality of the world throughout the entire game, then this just might be the best world PB ever created. At least when it comes to exploration.

Everything else really feels like a Gothic game. The dialogs (I'm playing the German version), the settlement and its NPCs, the way the player organically receives quests and directions (I don't think there are quest markers in this game), faction armors, etc.

I had a feeling Elex would turn out better than Risen 2 and 3 but so far it exceeds my expectations.
 

Leezard

Member
Absolutely and deservedly so.



PoE? Very unlikely. Codex doesn't like it that much. Original Sin, yeah, maybe. Gothic 2 was 9th place, btw.




I'm about two hours in and I'm really liking it so far. I absolutely hate the exposition, the duuuuumb names and the UI/Inventory is a real bummer but other than that, yeah, it seems pretty good and reminds me of classic Gothic.

The amount of hidden places I found between the starting point and the first city is really impressive. They don't reuse locations either, everything feels hand-crafted and unique, lots of verticality, too.
If they can keep the quality of the world throughout the entire game, then this just might be the best world PB ever created. At least when it comes to exploration.

Everything else really feels like a Gothic game. The dialogs (I'm playing the German version), the settlement and its NPCs, the way the player organically receives quests and directions (I don't think there are quest markers in this game), faction armors, etc.

I had a feeling Elex would turn out better than Risen 2 and 3 but so far it exceeds my expectations.
There are definitely quest markers. They even point to every single item I needed to fetch for a fetch quest. You can turn them off I think, though.
 

Anoxida

Member
I'm trying to get 50 intelligence first because I saw a trainer in Goliet (toilet?) has training for "gain +1 attribute on every level up". Gotta max them stats!

This sounds wise. I'll probably end up doing the same. The skill that grants you extra health per level seems good too. Still dont know what faction to chose. Its between berserker and outlaws since I dont want to be in some religious cult for RP reasons, even tho PSI powers sounds cool. Waiting for more impressions regarding outlaw faction, gunplay and berserker magic. Looking for something that makes combat the least tedious since melee so far to me feels like shit (and gets you easily killed).
 

Alebelly

Member
Just bought it for PC. I've had an itch to play certain game for awhile now and it seems Elex is finally scratching that itch. Love it so far, only complaint is not being able to resize the HUD.
 
Top Bottom