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ELEX - Sci-Fi ARPG for PC/PS4/XB1 - by Nordic Games Piranha Bytes, Gamescom reveal

Hopefully it will be at the same level of gothic 1 and 2 (or even risen 1) and not mediocre like gothic3 and the 2 last risen games.
 
Let's hope it keeps following this arc.
Their last good game was in 2009 - the first Risen - so yeah, not really excited about this one, tbh. We'll see what they show on Gaemscom.
1.5+ years until the release season they're aiming for. I don't really expect them to show a lot.
 

Dinda

Member
Finally! I was hoping for a long time that Piranha Bytes would leave their comfort zone and try to do something different than Gothic or Risen. (which were at heart the same franchise)

I hope they try many new things with this one and i really hope we get some kind of character Creation and not again some nameless hero.

Looking forward to the real reveal. Piranha Bytes Games may not always be the best games (other than Gothic 2) but they all have a certain charme that i just really like.

Edit.
Germany i am dissapointed! I thought i could already visit worldofelex.de!
 

Pyrrhus

Member
For all our sakes, I hope they're going with new tech and assets here. I don't want to see Gothic guy's run cycle in yet another one of their games. I liked Gothic and its first sequel and Risen 1 and was even able to enjoy Risen 2 for what it was. But they need to step things up.
 

Dinda

Member
Wait i just looked at the artworks and it doesn't look Sci-Fi at all. If you would have told me that is the artwork for a new Gothic/Risen i would have totally believed you.......
 

derFeef

Member
Wait i just looked at the artworks and it doesn't look Sci-Fi at all. If you would have told me that is the artwork for a new Gothic/Risen i would have totally believed you.......

It's Science Fantasy. Think Warhammer 40k, or even Star Wars.
 

Jotthah

Member
Piranhabytes though.....but scifi fuck yes!!!

Piranha Bytes though! Love those guys. Sure their stuff can be flawed, but the are 25 people and try to create worlds that rival AAA games so iI'm not too bothered.

Conceptart looks cool so far, can't wait for Gamescom.
 

derFeef

Member
Cool. I hope it looks good. Anyone else think that's a very Halo-y font?

The whole logo is a bit Halo-ish ;) But you will see that in scifi logos...

Halo-2-Combat-Evolved-Logo.jpg
 

Moff

Member
at first I thought this was the new Mike Hoge Science Fiction game, but apparently it's something completely else.

I would not have minded a risen 4, I honestly don't care much. all I care about is that they do the same step again they took from risen 2 to risen 3 and make an excellent RPG.
 

Big_Al

Unconfirmed Member
Loved the Risen games (well 1 and 3, never played 2) so I'm there for this day one :) Keep rockin on Piranha Bytes.
 

Morrigan Stark

Arrogant Smirk
ELEX — which is an acronym for "eclectic, lavish, exhilarating, xenial"
ELEX is going to be edgy, dark, uncompromising, complex, and we love it already
*groan*
I hope the game turns out interesting, because my initial perception is already tainted by the pretentious wank and stupid buzzwords.
 

Vuze

Member
For those interested in the game, todays issue of GameStar (DE) has a 6 page title story about it. I don't think gaf allows magazine scans so I'll just read through it and edit some info into this post later on.
 

Hung_real

Member
For those interested in the game, todays issue of GameStar (DE) has a 6 page title story about it. I don't think gaf allows magazine scans so I'll just read through it and edit some info into this post later on.

can you pm me the scans
 

loganclaws

Plane Escape Torment
For those interested in the game, todays issue of GameStar (DE) has a 6 page title story about it. I don't think gaf allows magazine scans so I'll just read through it and edit some info into this post later on.

Yes please!
 

Vuze

Member
Here you go, quite a bit of background info.

- two hour interview with creative director Björn Pankratz
- idea for the game came up with planned Star Trek easter eggs for earlier Gothic games
- hero has a name (not revealed yet)

- Elex is a drug everybody in the universe is after
- Elex reached the game's planet via meteorite impact
- Intake of Elex results in continous loss of humanity (also refered to as "coolness")
- Elex causes mutations to addicts

- catastrophe on the planet caused the rise of several different groups
- some heavily rely and focus on tech, some dropped every modern technology and sort of live in the middle age
- civilisation before the catastrophe similar to our current status
- devs want to adress serious issues (acceptance of drugs in society, 'right' form of society...)

- huge world, barely scripted, exploration
- 3rd person view, skill system, join fractions, melee, magic, ranged weapons
- crafting
- streamed world, no loading screens
- in-house engine with PBR
- no outsourced inventory management, minimal HUD (GS speculation: Dead Space like)
- optional tutorial

- fans of Gothic will definitely recognize the Piranha Bytes touch
- Pankratz says Gothic 3 was "too generic", "barely any dialogue", "stories not involving", promises to alleviate these issues in Elex
- no pick-one-out-of-three ending in Elex (apparently also a huge flaw of Gothic 3? i dunno)
 

Vuze

Member
are there any screenshots in the mag? might check it out later, if I go to town.
Yup, three to be precise plus some concept art. Don't show much tho and don't look particularly mindblowing in terms of IQ and tech but I guess that's better than touched upon bullshots.
 

loganclaws

Plane Escape Torment
Here you go, quite a bit of background info.

- two hour interview with creative director Björn Pankratz
- idea for the game came up with planned Star Trek easter eggs for earlier Gothic games
- hero has a name (not revealed yet)

- Elex is a drug everybody in the universe is after
- Elex reached the game's planet via meteorite impact
- Intake of Elex results in continous loss of humanity (also refered to as "coolness")
- Elex causes mutations to addicts

- catastrophe on the planet caused the rise of several different groups
- some heavily rely and focus on tech, some dropped every modern technology and sort of live in the middle age
- civilisation before the catastrophe similar to our current status
- devs want to adress serious issues (acceptance of drugs in society, 'right' form of society...)

- huge world, barely scripted, exploration
- 3rd person view, skill system, join fractions, melee, magic, ranged weapons
- crafting
- streamed world, no loading screens
- in-house engine with PBR
- no outsourced inventory management, minimal HUD (GS speculation: Dead Space like)
- optional tutorial

- fans of Gothic will definitely recognize the Piranha Bytes touch
- Pankratz says Gothic 3 was "too generic", "barely any dialogue", "stories not involving", promises to alleviate these issues in Elex
- no pick-one-out-of-three ending in Elex (apparently also a huge flaw of Gothic 3? i dunno)

This basically sounds like a Gothic/Risen game but with a different setting which is not a bad thing at all. Here is what needs to happen to make it a good game:

- Don't divide the world into small islands like in Risen 2 and 3.

- Quality over quantity, don't create this huge world and leave it empty or fill it with boring shallow quests like in Gothic 3.

- Add complexity and don't streamline the character development system to "reach a wider audience". The RPG system used in G2:Night of the raven is a good example of a good system.

- Add skills that matter and make them visible on the character and avoid the "5% more damage" kind of skills. A good example of this is again in Gothic 2 where if you increase your melee skill to a certain point the attack animations of the character change completely and become more proficient. Or when you increase the dexterity to certain point, the character's jump animation changes to a cool dive roll that covers a lot more distance.

- Spend budget on good writing but avoid long scripted cutscenes or set pieces.

- No randomized loot system. Hand place everything.

- Make the game hard.
 

purdobol

Member
Sound very interesting. Gothic 1 and 2 were brilliant games. And it's not generic fantasy setting again? Oh man if they can pull this off this will be classic :p
CDP is making cyberpunk game. Piranha Bytes Sci-Fi rpg. So happy...

Here you go, quite a bit of background info.

- Elex is a drug everybody in the universe is after
- Elex reached the game's planet via meteorite impact
- Intake of Elex results in continous loss of humanity (also refered to as "coolness")
- Elex causes mutations to addicts

Sounds like Dune to me.
 

Moff

Member
sounds like an interesting setting, but given PBs history, i don't think there is any way to judge this game until it's released. but most likely day 0 for me.
 
How in the hell is Piranha Bytes doing that?
They are a team of 25 - 30 people. How can they develop these large scale games (with big worlds and really good graphics) with such a small team? Crazy, imho.
 

PnCIa

Member
How in the hell is Piranha Bytes doing that?
They are a team of 25 - 30 people. How can they develope these large scale games (with big worlds and really good graphics) with such a small team? Crazy, imho.
Thats why i respect them so much, despite their more mediocre output over the past years. They are tiny and do things that other companies would just throw hundreds of people at.
Also, some concerns voiced here were already adressed by the devs:
It will be one big gameworld, not seperated islands. The game will be harder again, and more akin to the style of Gothic 1 and 2 with hard enemies blocking your way. Also, the game wont be cutscene-heavy like Witcher 3. They dont even have a tiny fraction of the money that would be required anyways.
 
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