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Oct 30, 2017 17:45:49 GMT
Post by AnDromedary on Oct 30, 2017 17:45:49 GMT
Didn't find a thread, dedicated to this game. Apologies if I missed it. But here is the thread for Elex: I've been playing the game for just about 15 hours so far and I really really like. It does take me back to the good old days of Gothic 2 and the likes. Some may find it too old school and clunky but after two rather average (borderlining on bad) Risen games, IMO, Piranha Bytes did almost everything right with this one. So what is it all about? It's a third person RPG, set in a post-apocalyptic scenario where a meteor impact devastated the world of Magelan and introduced the magic element Elex. After this event, the survivng humans split into a couple of factions which are engaged into various degrees of hostility against each other. The player takes the role of Jax, who is cast out by one of the most hostile factions and now has to make his own way through the world. From there, the typical Piranha Bytes style RPGing ensues. Yes, it is very difficult (I play on the easy setting and I find that to be quite hard already) but it's by no means unfair, it just requires a different approach than most RPGs nowadays. That approach can be summarized by one sentence "Always choose your battles." In the beginning especially, you can barely defeat even low level single opponents but you can go anywhere and even in the starting areas, there are high level enemies, which you need to avoid. So you do quests to gain XP while trying to avoid difficult fights the best you can. You collect and steal everything you can because you are always in need of equipment and money. You really think about whether to take the "honorable" route within a quest or maybe the profitable one because you could really use the extra stuff you get. This generates an atmosphere that you don't get a lot these days in games, a real need to prioritize and act strategically. Especially in this dark post-apocalyptic setting, this is a nice change from the norm and the self-serving attitude you necessarily adopt is very fitting. The controls are a bit clunky at times, I will admit but I do like the combat system quite a bit. Again, it deviates from the norm. Your character is not super reactive to your controls. If you initiate an action (like a punch with your melee weapon), you need to watch what is happening on the screen and then time your next action accordingly. Button mashing is an absolute no-go and will get you kiled. Only if you get the combos right and use your special move will you a have chance against your opponents (and even then, be prepared to get beaten quite a bit). Graphics are certainly not up to AAA standard, especially faces and animations are sub-par. However, the style and world design are some of the best I've ever seen. I'd go so far as to argue that even CDPR should look closely at what Elex did right in terms of world design and how to entice and reward players for exploration. The world is chock full of interesting locations with many nooks and crannies that can be explored but are not all easy to find or reach. If you do however, you'll always be rewarded with useful items, lore bits (in the form of text or audio) or just beautiful vistas. Dialogues are the typical PB style rough and tough language (I play the game in the original German language version, so I can't say how good the English one would be). I'd say over all, dialogues are ok but not exceptionally good. The quests are interesting with even most side quests offering a twist in some way. Also, you get to make quite a lot of decisions, even in the side quests, lot's of which will have consequences down the road (some are cumulative, meaning if you mess up too many side quests for one faction, they might get angry with you). I do like the very unusual setting, that combines Sci-Fi, post-apocalypse and fantasy rather successfully into one single coherent world. This provides for some very unusual situations of (magic enhanced) sword fighters from the woods fighting battles against guys in Mass Effect like armor who have laser rifles. It gets close but never quite exceeds the borderline towards the ridiculous, It certainly won't be everybody's cup of tea but I like it, it is refreshingly different. So if you don't mind a tough game, that may at times balance on the edge of frustrating but which has an interesting setting, a nice storyline, good quest desing and an absolutely stunning open world, I'd say give this one a try.
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Oct 30, 2017 18:33:11 GMT
via mobile
Post by Julale on Oct 30, 2017 18:33:11 GMT
Had an eye on this one but when I heard it’s really hard I decided not to buy it. The story should be pretty good but I’m quite bad on hard games 🤷♀️
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Oct 30, 2017 19:08:37 GMT
Post by AnDromedary on Oct 30, 2017 19:08:37 GMT
Had an eye on this one but when I heard it’s really hard I decided not to buy it. The story should be pretty good but I’m quite bad on hard games 🤷♀️ Yes, I can see how the difficulty level can be a deterrent. Personally, I think it's difficult in a way that motivates because you can basically always find an alternative solution to any problem. It forces you to always look for the path of least resistance to get a few extra XP here and there, level up and be able to tackle the next challenge. In that sense, it's got a bit of an adventure component to it, which very pleasantly reminds me of Gothic 2 (which also got super difficult with the add-on). But yes, you will die a lot (fortunately, the quickload is almost instant on a decent PC) and it's not a game for people who are too proud to run away from an enemy ... because you will run. I just got my first companion a few hours ago though and they make your life quite a bit easier (especially at this early stage I'd imagine). I would agree with those people though, who argue that PB should have added an easier difficulty level below "Easy" for people who want to enjoy the game and the story more in line with what today's standards are. It wouldn't have hurt anyone to do this and it would have potentially opened the game up to a wider audience. I have no idea why they didn't do this. Maybe they'll patch one in eventually.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 30, 2017 19:21:31 GMT
I have read the reviews for a few days, and while the setting sounds rather cool, I was too turned away by the comments on how hard and clunky the game is, mixed reviews on the quality of the dialogue, too much emphasis on the open world over the storyline (I am at the point of starting to sprint for the hills the moment the reviews praise a game for its excellent open world without casual-oriented hand-holding), on top of the artwork being unattractive to me and the protagonist having no customized appearance. Might pick it on sale a couple years down the road if I have a dry spell Maybe by then someone mods it to make combat easier to handle.
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Oct 30, 2017 20:27:51 GMT
Post by Superhik on Oct 30, 2017 20:27:51 GMT
Played it for a few hours, couldn't go more with it. Whole world feels...cartoonish, I guess? The concept is interesting, but execution ranges from poor to silly. A lot of issues come from presentation and one note characterization, along with really poor writing ( Exposition: Hey, I have feelings again!) Feels like PB is stuck in past while other devs have moved on...for example, Far Cry Primal, invented a whole new language, based on "proto-european". And the same is with gameplay systems. I do like their approach to exploration and factions ( something lot of devs could take a look) , but like with all of their games, execution is way, way off.
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Post by Psychedelic on Nov 2, 2017 2:06:59 GMT
It's true, not one of the factions is particularly likeable, just different kinds of assholes. I am still trying to do as many quest as possible before joining a faction, because that will make quite a few questlines unavailable, but it really bugs me that I don't have access to magic (or any other advanced skills) for the better part of the game. The only reasonable playstyle for the beginning is melee, which is also the one I like least. As to the difficulty, in my opinion running is a valid tactical decision . Makes the game much easier if you don't try to kill everything in your path. There are also different groups of enemies hostile to each other, so running through a bandit camp with a monster on your heels can solve two problems at once (or get you killed even quicker). What I really miss is some good music in the game. It may seem like a minor point, but in my experience it enhances the gameplay a lot, especially when exploring. The Gothic series had some great tracks, the soundtrack to Night of the Raven is one of my favourites. Elex is the first game ever where I disabled the music completely because it was getting on my nerves. I do not regret buying the game, but I am not terribly motivated to play on, either.
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Nov 2, 2017 19:49:36 GMT
Post by AnDromedary on Nov 2, 2017 19:49:36 GMT
Hmmmm, I don't mind the music. Sure, it's not Gothic 3 but IMO it fits well enough. I do agree with the problem of melee being the only viable option for a long stretch of the game though (especially if you don't want to join a faction right away). This has been an issue with PB games for quite a while though, ever since the Gothic games as far as I remember. I was hoping they'd take a page out of the Mass Effect book to make ranged weapons more fun but unfortunately, they seem only marginally improved over their previous games. A cover system would really help there because the ranged attacks of most enemies are pretty devastating and really hard to dodge if you try to counter attack at the same time. @laughing Man: I saw your post about the magic system in the other thread. I am not far enough to have magic yet but I was planning to join the Clerics and go mainly for the buff spells like Shield, the damage buff one and "The last Battle" one. But now that you said that those are somewhat underwhelming, I am not sure. Can you share what exactly you found lacking in these spell types?
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Nov 2, 2017 22:14:22 GMT
Post by AnDromedary on Nov 2, 2017 22:14:22 GMT
... @laughing Man: I saw you post about the magic system in the other thread. I am not far enough to have magic yet but I was planning to join the Clerics and go mainly for the buff spells like Shield, the damage buff one and "The last Battle" one. But now that you said that those are somewhat underwhelming, I am not sure. Can you share what exactly you found lacking in these spell types? I'd say that the buff spells are actually the most useful type of magic probably. Buffing energy weapons as a cleric is more than viable, as those weapons are powerful to begin with...
Also, from what I hear the Clerics actually have some decent attack spells, specifically some kind of black-hole spell, some kind of lightning spell, and a hard stun. Basically, the clerics seem to be the best faction overall when it comes to power.
What I found overwhelming is the inability to play a straight caster, because magic in itself is hampered in the extreme by the facts I mentioned in the post you mentioned.
Cool, thanks for the info. Then I'll give that build a try.
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Post by AnDromedary on Nov 3, 2017 18:02:06 GMT
Wow, I just discovered the stealing skill for myself last night. Don't learn it, there is a thief's amulet, you can find somewhere in Tavar that will give you the skill. I just made about 10.000 Elexit in about a hour just running through the major towns, stealing everyone's money. It's a tad too easy to do this and you really can make shitloads of money because every single NPC has at least 30 Elexit in their pockets (with more important NPCs havong more like 150). So yea, money is no longer a factor in my playthrough.
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Nov 8, 2017 21:27:53 GMT
Post by AnDromedary on Nov 8, 2017 21:27:53 GMT
I know, I know, three posts in a row is not exactly good manners in a forum but hey, it's just another update on my playthrough: Last night, I think I reached the tipping point in the game balance. I am level 26 now, just made the highest rank with the clerics (got their best armor) and have a !H sword with about 85 damage. At this point, I can beat even huge enemies with a few hits. Furthermore, I think I found a combination of items/skills that is almost an exploit. Basically, I have an amulet that slowly regenerates my energy (the clerics mana-equivalent) and "the last stand" power of the clerics, which will give me a 30sec aura that will reset me to full health if my hitpoints reach 0. So technically, I have twice the hitpoints for basically no cost, which makes me almost unbeatable and which also means I'll never have to sleep or drink a healing potion/eat food ever again. Got low health? just cast the spell, let yourself be hit by a monster before you kill it and BAM, you are fully restored. While I do enjoy running through the world at the moment, getting sweet revenge on all those big monsters that I had to run away from for so many hours, I do think PB might have tweaked the game balance a little bit more. It was super hard in the beginning but at a certain point, it just tips over and gets very easy, that's not great. Anyway, exploration is still as fun as ever and I think I might just finally pick up the main story-arc again and finish this thing. I am curious as to how the story will play out. There are quite a few interesting tidbits that I could gather already: One companion quest seems to hint that elex is actually somehow sentient ... wonder what that will mean in the long run, cool idea though. Also, I keep gathering audio logs and written records from the time of the asteroid impact, which hint that the most powerful of the old world knew that it was coming for quite some time and started out on a bunch of plans to save parts of the old world (underground bunkers, space evacuation, etc.). Wonder if the main plot will pick this thread up or not. In any case, finding out about the past through exploration makes running around the world, turning over every stone a lot of fun. Also, one last pro-tip: try and find or buy the "practical sun glasses". Best item ever! It highlights normal items, so they are easier to see. That way, you won't miss anything during your wanderings.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 8, 2017 21:40:53 GMT
Ah, don't worry about posting in a row. It's totally fine in the Let's Play'ish threads You can also go wild and post screenshots!
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Nov 20, 2017 17:33:04 GMT
Hawke likes this
Post by AnDromedary on Nov 20, 2017 17:33:04 GMT
Alright, one more post in the Elex thread. I finished the game this weekend, so here are some concluding thoughts on it: First, I think it's the best Piranha Bytes game since Gothic 2. Does that make it a perfect game? Not by a long shot but it does make it a very good game. Basically you can divide the game up into two parts: The first half is a lot of exploration and finding stuff (find your faction, find companions, find loot and XP). During this part you are a whimp and basically run away from 80% of everything and everyone in the world because you have no chance of beating them (which btw makes the exploration all the more exciting and challanging, IMO making exploration too easy is a mistake a lot of games, especially those with leveled opponents make these days). In the second part of the game, it's about finishing up stuff, finishing up the story, doing the long lasting exploration quests (if you are so inclined, there are 3 quests that are really made to be very difficult to solve and require you to explore every nook and cranny in Magellan), finishing companion questlines (which are nice but the dialogues don't come close to BioWare or CDPR standards), finishing up enemies and monsters you had to leave alone during the first part. At this stage, you are almost too powerful (see my post above). It's fun to beat those foes you feared before into a pulp now but it gets very easy (I needed all but 3 blows for the final boss, that was 4 seconds!). So the balancing really is a bit screwed up but it still is a lot of fun though. When you become that powerful in the end, you really feel like you earned it. The story gets surprisingly good at the end. I was really interested in the background of Magellan, the Elex and all the other stuff that's being revealed throughout the story. The finale pulls off a very neat trick where it provides a decent and satisfying ending for the story at hand but at the same time leaves open a lot of potential for a sequel. I don't think I have seen that one pulled off that well probably since Mass Effect 1. Good job on that PB! At least I really liked the idea of the Elex having a consciousness and I am really curious as to who or what those alien masters of the Elex are and what will happen when they arrive. There is also some pretty neat post ending content which depends on your final decision. Some factions will not like your final decision and they will (after a short dialogue) actually start to attack you post ending. Nice idea, haven't seen that before in other games. So in summary, the game certainly has its flaws and it lacks the polish of a AAA title but I still enjoyed every second of my 80 hour playthrugh (during which I really turned every stone in this world and I am a slow player, so this is probably the max, you can easily play the game in half that time or less). All in all, I'd give it an 8 to 8.5/10.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 20, 2017 17:37:34 GMT
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the game!
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Post by AnDromedary on Jun 15, 2021 17:14:16 GMT
Nice!
I really hope they'll improve the gameplay and balancing in Elex 2.
Elex 1 had serious issues in that department but it was a very fun game and the story and setting were very cool. Looking forward to the next one.
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Post by SirSourpuss on Jun 17, 2021 12:23:40 GMT
I'm looking forward to it. Between this and the Gothic remake, looks like we're due for some Piranha Bytes kino. I never got to finish Elex in the 3 times I've started it, because 2 times my PC was due for a format and the third time, I updated my PC.
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Post by AnDromedary on Jun 17, 2021 20:20:43 GMT
I'm looking forward to it. Between this and the Gothic remake, looks like we're due for some Piranha Bytes kino. Yep, though the Gothic remake is not done by PB themselves but by a new studio in Barcelona. I hope they'll manage to capture the flair of the original though. The demo they released on Steam a while ago looked great visually but they changed way too much in there. However, the team said that they got a lot of criticism about the fact that they went too far with the changes in the plot and the characters, so they want to dial that back and stick closer to Gothic 1 in that respect. I think if they do that and get the visuals similar to that demo, it could be a great remake. Fingers crossed.
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Post by SirSourpuss on Jun 17, 2021 20:24:43 GMT
I'm looking forward to it. Between this and the Gothic remake, looks like we're due for some Piranha Bytes kino. Yep, though the Gothic remake is not done by PB themselves but by a new studio in Barcelona. I hope they'll manage to capture the flair of the original though. The demo they released on Steam a while ago looked great visually but they changed way too much in there. However, the team said that they got a lot of criticism about the fact that they went too far with the changes in the plot and the characters, so they want to dial that back and stick closer to Gothic 1 in that respect. I think if they do that and get the visuals similar to that demo, it could be a great remake. Fingers crossed. Yeah. Read about that, which is why I'm hopeful. The demo hadn't ... captured me in the same way as the original back in the day.
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Post by AnDromedary on Mar 2, 2022 18:24:12 GMT
So Elex 2 is out! Started playing yesterday night and already played about 8 hours. It's basically the exact same as the first one so far. A few first impressions: Graphics: There are a few small improvements, especially in the lighting system and characters have a few more details but in principle it looks very similar to Elex 1. This is not exactly great. Elex was already outdated in 2017 so now it's even worse. The most glaring issue is that the characters do not have facial expressions. I mean, none whatsoever. No matter if they are upset, relaxed, surprised or outright yelling at you (which happens quit a bit), their faces do not change at all, just the lips are moving and maybe an eyebrow here and there. Given that the presentation of dialogues is similar to BW games, it's rather disturbing that this feels worse than the 15 year old Mass Effect 1 (the old version, not MELE ). Story and dialogue: Starts off ok. It's a pretty direct sequel to part one and the story - though there are quite a few years in between - picks off pretty much where the ending of Elex 1 left us. This is a good thing, I was intrigued by the ending of Elex 1 and this gives us a rather fitting continuation. I don't think you necessarily need to have played the first game to get it though, it's all not that complicated, the intro does a good job of catching you up and while I already met quite a few characters, I remember from back in the day, which is nice, I think you'll get what they are about very quickly either way. I did read in tests that story and quests do fall apart in the late game but that' rather usual for Piranha Byte games, so I was almost expecting it. But as long as you are still just exploring the world in the first 30 or so hours, it's cool, so you get quite a bit of great times out of it and after that, well, you just finish the story. It's been like that since Risen 1. Works for me. As for voiceover, I am playing the German version, which is of the same quality as we have come to know form PB since Gothic 1, even most of the voice actors we know since back then. It's good, not great, but good. The world: This is the most important part about PB games IMO and so far, it follows in the footsteps of their previous work, which is to say: It's brilliant. They just know how to design a world so that exploration is fun and rewarding. Again, the world is designed with density and verticality in mind. You find stuff to pick up everywhere, so it's always rewarding. There are enemies everywhere, some you can fight already, others you need to avoid, so there is challenge and tension. The world has always been the secret star of PB games and here it's no different. In a way, Elex 2 is similar to Gothic 2 in the sense that they took the world of Elex 1 and re-built it. For example, the desert area from Elex 1 is now a lush forest area because the Berserk faction has transformed it (which fits the lore of the game very well). So you will recognize a lot of the landmarks from the first game but it's all different now. Very cool. The combat: Well, it's ... serviceable. But really no more. it's just as clunky as it was in Elex 1. Hit boxes are weird, enemies will sometimes telegraph their attacks but sometimes they wont, etc. You will need to get used to it. t least they got rid of the "always sidestep" thing from Elex 1, so now you really do need to evade or block and watch your stamina but all in all, it still doesn't hold up to other decent action RPGs, let alone something like Dark Souls or Elden Ring. In terms of difficulty, I am playing on Normal, middle of 5 difficulty levels. I'd say Normal is now similar to what "Easy" was when Elex 1 first came out, so it's a decent challenge. But if you want to, now you can make it easier for yourself by playing either on "Easy" or "Story" mode. Also, you get companions again (a little quicker this time, I already got my first after about 3 hours), which allows for a few nice diversion tactics. always liked that about Elex. The jetpack: One of the few new things in Elex 2 is that the jetpack can now be upgraded to the point where you can apparently fly around like Iron Man (or Anthem if you feel like that comparison). I haven't been able to test this yet as I am not far enough into the game yet to have the upgrade. For now, the jetpack works exactly like it did in Elex1, which is to say that it does provide quite a bit of freedom (and often a convenient way out of a fight that gets too hard). UI: It's horrible, at least on PC, the inventory is scrolling hell. It's been developed for consoles and it shows. Bah! PB had a decent UI in Gothic 3 and Risen 1. The kept consolifying (yes I am making that a word) it and it got worse and worse again. Elex 2 with it's huge buttons and weird screen space allocations is a new low again. In conclusion, Apart from a few very subtle improvements (and the UI dis-improvement) it's basically Elex 1.5, which is not a bad thing at all. If you liked the first part and don't mind the stagnation, go for it. I sure had a very fun start. If you don't know the games yet and are unsure, it might actually be better to first get Elex 1 in a sale for 5 bucks or something and try that. It'll give you a very good idea about what the second one is all about and this way, you can catch up on the story a little better, too. How the game will develop in it's later stages (I remember the balancing issues, Elex 1 had, see above), I cannot say yet but I'll update this thread once I am further along.
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Post by AnDromedary on Apr 5, 2022 19:39:42 GMT
Ok, finished Elex 2 after about a month and well over 100 hours. Note: You can probably easily finish the game in half the time but I enjoyed running around and exploring every last corner of the world so much, I just spent a lot of time just roaming. This meant that at the end, I as again OP as hell but at least it wasn't quite as crazy as in Elex 1. There were still enemies that needed quite a few hits to fall and the could do some damage to me. I don't think I died at all from combat anymore late in the game but also keep in mind that, since the mechanics didn't change much from Elex 1, I knew them very well, min-maxed the crap out of it and got a lot of XP from all that roaming. I would suspect for a "normal" player, the balancing might actually work pretty well. In terms of story, I really enjoyed the main plot. There was one grindy quest that dragged a little (but it was also done in like half an hour, which in such a game is not that long). There are two really weird things in the plot. One of them is the romances which are really just not done well (the devs should probably have skipped that altogether). The other is anoher big thing at the end where the protagonist (and one other NPC) should really show some feelings but the only dialogue you get is cobbled together from recycled bits of earlier dialogue (something that never happens usually in the game, so I really wonder if they just forgot and had to tag something on there? Either way, it's really jarring). Maybe the Germans are just not that comfortable with all that emotional stuff. Other than that, I really enjoyed all the quests. Piranha Bytes is getting better and better with this stuff. I really enjoyed the staggered companion quests for example, which trigger bit by bit with the main plot. There is some really solid story telling there. Also, the ending suggests that there will need to be either an Elex 3 or a really big addon, it should get really interesting and weird and I am here for it. All in all, with all the technical and graphical limitations and the fairly clunky gameplay, a truly objective score would probably settle around the 7/10 mark but honestly, the things that I like, the dialogues for example (again, I am playing in German, can't speak for the English version there) are great IMO. And if you ask me, no current dev team can build open worlds as engaging as PB does, This is not Ubisoft copy/paste, this is a world where every bit of it looks recognizable, unique and interesting. Therefore, my personal subjective and knowingly irrational score for this is 9/10 purple Elex pieces.
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Post by DragonKingReborn on Apr 5, 2022 22:13:23 GMT
I was intrigued by the original, but never actually took the plunge. Saw quite a few reviews (both professional and people around the interwebs) who noted 'monotonous, repetitive combat'.
Is the first game required playing in order to fully appreciate this one? Or can you just dive in?
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Post by AnDromedary on Apr 5, 2022 22:21:11 GMT
I was intrigued by the original, but never actually took the plunge. Saw quite a few reviews (both professional and people around the interwebs) who noted 'monotonous, repetitive combat'. Is the first game required playing in order to fully appreciate this one? Or can you just dive in? The thing about the monotonous combat is true in the later parts of the game. I think in the beginning it's actually quite intriguing because of the difficulty and because you kinda have to judge which fight you want to get into and which ones rather not. It is a bit clunky though (see above).
I'd say you probably could start with Elex 2 if you really wanted but you'd miss out on a lot of background story from the first one (it would be a bit like starting with Mass Effect 2 instead of 1, possible but not the best experience). And the improvements in Elex 2, compared to the first one are ... minor is a strong word but the two games are not massively different. So I would in fact recommend to check out Elex 1 first. Especially right now, you can probably get the first one for way cheaper than the second one anyway, so you might as well give it a chance first.
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Post by DragonKingReborn on Apr 5, 2022 22:27:28 GMT
I was intrigued by the original, but never actually took the plunge. Saw quite a few reviews (both professional and people around the interwebs) who noted 'monotonous, repetitive combat'. Is the first game required playing in order to fully appreciate this one? Or can you just dive in? The thing about the monotonous combat is true in the later parts of the game. I think in the beginning it's actually quite intriguing because of the difficulty and because you kinda have to judge which fight you want to get into and which ones rather not. It is a bit clunky though (see above).
I'd say you probably could start with Elex 2 if you really wanted but you'd miss out on a lot of background story from the first one (it would be a bit like starting with Mass Effect 2 instead of 1, possible but not the best experience). And the improvements in Elex 2, compared to the first one are ... minor is a strong word but the two games are not massively different. So I would in fact recommend to check out Elex 1 first. Especially right now, you can probably get the first one for way cheaper than the second one anyway, so you might as well give it a chance first.
Ok - thanks. Might look into it a bit more, then.
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